Lively London

This week has been insanely busy.

Monday: class in the morning, followed by another trip to the national gallery to see five more artist presentations. because of all the presentations i had hardly anytime to see other works in the gallery, but i hope to make it back tomorrow. after the gallery i did some shopping with my friend brandon at a store called topshop, which is essentially the european equivalent of urban outfitters. on monday night we all had the privilege of seeing les miserables, or les miz. this was only the third musical i have seen in my life, but it will probably be the best. if you dont know the story of les miz, go look it up because i do not have the time to explain it here. in one word, the musical was epic. so many story lines were woven in to the overall plot, and yet they all flowed so seamlessly. the singing was incredible, and the acting was good as well. the production uses a rotating stage, which was used in some clever ways. if you ever have a chance to see a production of this musical, go see it, the story alone is enough to keep you entertained.

tuesday: more class in the morning, followed by a trip to the national museum in the afternoon. the national museum was a bit overwhelming. they have a multitude of artifacts, but only a few things we had learned about in class, so it was difficult to stay focused. they had more artifacts from ancient egypt, mummies and such, than i have ever seen. the most interesting thing in the museum's exhibit were the elgien marbles, which are large relief sculptures taking from the Parthenon in greece. there is a controversy over these marbles, with some saying they belong in greece where the Parthenon is. one of our professors said in 2004, around the time of Olympics in athens, the controversy around these marbles got very heated. after spending some time in the museum i went with some friends to see the london tower. at the london tower i saw the crown jewels, which were very impressive. in the collection is a 530 carat diamond, which was so big it almost looked fake. at the tower there was an exhibit on armour worn by knights and kings in englands history. we also saw were prisoners were tortured and the bloody tower, where two princes were supposedly murdered. after exploring the tower we walked across the tower bridge and ate at an asian fusion restaurant called wagamama, which was delicious.

wednesday: we had an all day excursion on wednesday. in the morning we stopped at coventry to see the coventry cathedral, which was bombed during the blitz in world war II. they have left the remains of the bombed out cathedral as a memorial. looking around these ruins was a very powerful experiences. next to the ruins they have built a new addition to the cathedral. i did not really like this cathedral. the inside reminded me of a house built in the 60s or 70s, with ugly wood paneling. since the bombing, coventry has been very involved in peace and reconciliation work around the world. much of the material for the new cathedral had been donated by countries, such as germany, canada, sweden, and norway. after coventry we went to stratford. while at stratford i saw the house where shakespeare was born. as a group we saw a production of twelve night, which was excellent. john lithgow, who was in the tv show third rock from the sun, played a part in the play and was very funny. twelve night is a comedy about mistaken identity and love. after the play we drove home and we were all very tired after spending the whole day out, but it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of london for the day.

thursday: we had three classes on thursday, which was difficult, especially after our long day on Wednesday. we were supposed to see two galleries on Thursday, the Tate modern and the Tate Britain, but i only made it to the tate britain. the Tate Britain contains works done by British artists. it was much less crowded than the national gallery, which was nice. i didn't really know any of the artists in the gallery, but found some works that i liked anyway. on Thursday night i went with friends to see wicked, and it was not very good. i had heard good things from people who had seen it, but it turned out to be pretty cheesy and the acting was not very good. the lead, who was the wicked witch of the west, was good and had an amazing voice, but all the other actors in the musical were sub par. wicked is basically the prequel to the wizard of oz. it was interesting to see an interpretation on how the wizard of oz happened, but overall the musical just wasnt very good and i was upset i paid so much money to see it.

friday: class in the morning followed by a trip to Westminster abby in the afternoon. the abby was beautiful, edging on gaudy. i enjoyed seeing how england honors their royalty and national heros, it is much different than in the united states. there are so many monuments crammed into such a small space however, that it almost feels claustrophobic. we also attended evensong at the abby. there we heard the abby's mens and boys choir and they sang beautifully. it was hard to stay focused throughout the whole service, however, because for most of the time i didnt know what they were singing about, but it was still a good experience. after the evensong we had a group dinner at a weird restaurant ran by some italians who had a strict set of rules on dining, so that was interesting. after dinner some of went to a bar and then i went to bed.

today i slept in, which was amazing, and this afternoon we are all going to see the merchant of vience at the globe, which is exciting. we leave london on monday morning, so i dont think i will post from london again. my time here has been very busy but a lot of fun. london is a crazy city with a lot of different people. it has been fun riding the tube around town, going to shows and exploring. i think it will be a real shock when we go to bosnia on monday and leave the english speaking world, but i am excited to be someone new again. so far things havent been that terribly different because everyone speaks english and there is somewhat of an american influence present in the united kingom and ireland. please pray that our travels are safe and painless on monday.

love and blessings,
mikey