The moment I arrived in London the first thing I took notice of was the people. All sorts of different people live and work here, and it is a big mix of different cultures, backgrounds, and unique stories. If you tune in at any given moment in a public place, you’re bound to hear at least three different languages being spoken around you. It is a very curious place to wonder, but an even more fascinating place to inquire.

              When we arrived at Spitalfields Market on we were immediately granted with the opportunity to do just that! I was with my shopping and travel buddy Leah, who is studying costume design and is the go-to fashionista on this adventure. She immediately noticed a pair of flowing green pants that she fell in love with and decided she wanted to try on. She ended up buying them, and when I returned, I found her chatting with the vendor who ran the booth. We discovered that he designs all the clothes that he had on display! This was exciting even for me, who knows nothing about fashion.

              My grandmother is multi-lingual, and she always told me growing up that knowing different languages is like having all the keys to different worlds. She enthused me many a time about how speaking someone’s language will open them up and show you a portal into a different part of someone’s soul. I was reminded of her as we continued to speak to this fashion designer.

              His name was Hector, and as we continued to get to know him, we found out he was from Colombia! Leah began to speak Spanish with him and his whole face lit up and he became so animated and excited! He told us about all his favorite places to eat and dance in London! We learned that he loves to Salsa, and he gave us recommendations for the fun salsa dancing clubs in London. He showed us his drawings of his design process and we found out that he designs the clothes, and his mom makes them! He told us that sometimes his dreams of what he wants to create are limited because of the cost it would take to make them. I was fascinated by this, I wondered how much of our creativity is limited by things such as materials and monetary cost. He told us the story about how he worked for one of the most famous fashion designers in the world at Dior, and then left to open his own company. I had so much more admiration and respect for this man who I wouldn’t have known a single thing about if we hadn’t taken the time to ask. I asked if I could take his picture and we follow each other on Instagram now, I unexpectedly made a new friend!

              With this experience now under my belt I wanted to keep going. I walked across the way to a booth that was full of handmade greeting cards. The cards had different sayings on them that the vendor described as “mean and nice.” Some of the cards were pointedly harsh, but hilarious. The others were sentimental and sweet. As I read through her designs I chuckled at her sense of humor. She opened to me and told me that she has been in two difficult and painful relationships, and this is what inspired her to make the cards.

              “Every time I had a bad feeling, I made a card about it.” She told me. This really touched my heart. I admired her way of using art to express her feelings. She told me she couldn’t even draw a straight line when she started, and I told her how amazing it was that she had created her own art style from scratch like this! Even more proof that art is meant for everyone. “I started out making the mean cards,” she told me, “And then I met someone really sweet, and I started making the nice cards.” At this point I was falling in love with this woman’s story. I was picking out all the cards that I liked to take home with me and I saw a card with a cow on it that I really liked about being ‘moody.’

              “My family would get this one for me.” I told her, “My favorite animals are cows and I’ve always been the ‘dramatic’ one of the family.” She giggled at this and proceeded to show me all the cards she had made with cows on them!

              Then she showed me two cards. “This was the first card I made, and this was my most recent one.” The most recent card had a big red heart and three keys. It read, “when you gave me the keys to your heart, I wish you had told me that you had made duplicates.” Tears immediately sprung to my eyes. I related to this woman and her story so deeply, and I loved the way she had chosen to turn her pain into something beautiful for others to connect to. I ended up buying about twenty of her cards, and she gave me a discount and then said, “throw in that cow one on me,” and gave me what she could tell was my favorite cow art for free! I asked if I could take her picture and she told me that she is from Michigan! I won’t be forgetting her and her story anytime soon.

              As we moved along, all the people at the market were so friendly! They would strike up conversations with us and crack jokes. It was such a welcoming environment.

              When we got hungry for lunch we were absolutely overwhelmed with options. We joked that we could come back here every single day and have something different for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each time—but this wasn’t an exaggeration! Everything looked amazing! They even had a food truck that was just different types of cobbler. Even the things I’m used to having in America were vastly different, the burgers, the cupcakes, everything! It’s making me hungry right now just thinking of it. I decided to go with Piadina Bros, the Italian Artisan flatbread. The way the smells of the grill called out to me was irresistible and I immediately knew the choice had been made for me. Leah chose something yummy from an authentic Greek food truck. That has been one of my favorite things about the food experience here so far; if you’re choosing food from another culture, it’s typically made by the people of that culture, and you get the sense that you’re genuinely experiencing something from another part of the world!

              My piadina was absolutely delicious, the vegetables were fresh, and I watched the man cook it right in front of me! He was an interesting character too, covered in tattoos with cool hair! I almost asked to take his picture, but he seemed overwhelmed with orders, so I didn’t bother him. Leah let me try a bit of her Greek food and it was also fantastic.

              After we had walked around a bit (and I spent plenty of money), we saw a sign that said “Best Chai in London!” I normally don’t like chai, and the chai latte I had when we first arrived in London wasn’t too impressive. However, I decided to take a risk. I was sure the advertisement was just an exaggeration, but I was trusting. The vendor allowed us to sample the chai we were ordering before we committed to it and I picked the chai that was ‘best for coffee lovers.’ After I got my hands on that sample, I very emphatically ordered a full cup. It was delicious, truly the best chai I’ve ever had.

              “I’m not even sure you can call this chai, it’s so good.” I told Leah. It was like a drink sent down from the heavens; the perfect level of cream mixed with spice. The flavor hit just right, and I can’t wait to go back and get more as soon as I’m able.

              We found several stores and vendors that we want to go back and visit once we have some more time. I found a vintage store that is so on brand for me they might as well have named it “Margaret’s.” They have vintage dresses covered in flower patterns! My favorite!
             

              This was one of my favorite days in London, it was so peaceful and perfectly encapsulated everything you’d want from a shopping trip in London. I was impressed by the quality of everything. Contrary to most things I’ve found in America, everything there was well made. You could tell a lot of time, thought, and quality materials were put into the creation of everything there. From the clothes and the hair accessories to the food and drinks, everything was top of the line.

              I’m officially a fan of Old Spitalfields Market! I’m also endlessly thankful that I have a travel buddy like Leah; someone who is open to new experiences and loves to talk with a stranger just like me! You never know what is waiting at the end of a good conversation. Having someone likeminded and willing to try new things with me has been a true gift. I learn new things from her every day, and she makes stepping out of my comfort zone not so scary! She inspires me every day, and I can’t wait to travel to Amsterdam with her at the end of our London adventure!

              But for now:

Signing off from London,

                                           Margaret

June 7th, 2022

After touring Westminster Abbey, I totally understood why Molly said there was a clear difference in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. While I awed over Westminster’s architecture and history, I can see how St. Paul’s is considered the people’s church, while Westminster Abbey is deemed for royals. Its longstanding history is truly remarkable, especially seeing the coronation church. I especially thought it was a little disheartening (but also realistic) when Molly said that a few school-aged boys wrote on the chair, so now it will forever be graffitied. 

My favorite part of the tour of the abbey was seeing the writers whom I have looked up to and learned from to be memorialized and/or buried there. I have studied individuals like George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), T.S. Eliot, and Lord Tennyson, all of whom are commemorated in the abbey.

Mary Ann Evans, or otherwise known as George Eliot, was an English novelist during the 1800’s. Evans is famous for her work, as she believed her pen name made her work able to be taken seriously compared to other works which were written by women. Through growing up and studying her, I found that I looked up to her because of her desire to redefine what women authors wrote about. 

T.S. Eliot is another author who is buried at Westminster. During my first year of college, I became really fascinated in the modern era, which in turn made me interested in Eliot’s work. His works have stood the test of time, and I will always hold dear “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land.” Through his attempts at redefining literature during the modern era, he has ultimately changed the way writers interact with their pieces, especially as it relates to disillusionment, war-hysteria, identity fluidity, etc. In my opinion, Eliot remains the first modern day poet and will continue to hold this title.

Lastly, Lord Alfred Tennyson, an English poet, is also buried in the abbey. Living in the 1800’s, Tennyson wrote poetry and was deemed the Poet Laureate due to his impeccable publications. Being one with the times, his poetry often dealt with nature and the sublime, as his imagery was often very descriptive and beautifully written. Even with his death in the late 1800’s, Tennyson’s name will live on, as seen through his burial site location. 

I found it interesting that Charles Darwin would be buried in Westminster Abbey due to his controversial studies in evolution. However, I believe that it just goes to show that during this time period – and through today – there are individuals who believe in a balance between religion and science: with the two of them being able to coexist with one another. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed looking at Westminster Abbey’s architecture and stained glass. The design on the ceilings are wonderfully made, and I will indeed be recommending this tour to any and all who visit London.

-Maggie Martin

Hello everyone! There’s a lot to cover today, but I will start from the beginning. I slept in a little today and got Wasabi again for breakfast. I decided to go a different route today and get their curry and chicken katsu which was really good! I’ll definitely be getting it again.

After eating in the company of my roommate Tabi, we realized that all the tube stations would be down for the strike that has been ongoing during our trip. I found out the strike is happening because of a dispute over jobs and pensions (very specific, I know).  After learning this, we found out the walk to our next destination, the Westminster Abbey, was a 50-minute walk away. I already knew there wasn’t much of a chance I would walk for nearly hour and then do a tour, so Tabi and I decided to go via bus which was a great idea! We got there quickly, and we went at a good time since there weren’t huge crowds for the buses yet.

We got to the Westminster Abbey earlier than our group did, so to pass the time we got tea from the Cellarium Café & Terrace. The tea was refreshing and exactly what I needed before a long tour!

We then met up with our tour guide Molly outside of the Abbey gift shop, and as always, Molly had all answers to our questions! Before we even walked into the Abbey, we learned stuff like what the difference was between a cathedral and an abbey, and what exactly the abbey was used for. To answer these questions for you guys, abbeys house monks and nuns rather than archbishops, and it is used as a church for royals. Some more things we learned were that the Westminster Abbey is where royals have coronations and weddings, and it is much smaller than the St. Paul’s cathedral that we previously visited. That’s a lot of information to give you all right off the bat, but it’s just a taste of what we were able to learn before our tour started! I don’t think our group could have gotten any more lucky with who our tour guide was. Throughout our time together, Molly as very knowledgeable and had an answer for every question we presented to her.

When our group had everyone in it, we made our way into the Westminster Abbey. Even going through the entrance was breathtaking because we went into an alternate entrance, and as soon as we walked in, the walls were covered with memorials and sculptures. It intimidated me a little bit, but I knew from the moment we walked in that there was so much history and general knowledge I would be able to gain from our tour. I quickly learned that the Abbey is full of memorials and graves. It is virtually impossible to walk without stepping on someone’s grave, which I tried to avoid if at all possible. Something interesting about the mapping of these graves is that the some of the people buried are divided accordingly into groups such as the musicians’ aisle, the statesmen’s aisle, the scientists’ corner, and the poets’ corner. I really enjoyed both the scientists’ corner and the poets’ corner. In the scientists’ corner, I got to see memorials for Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, and Stephen Hawking. It was amazing to see how these people were represented in their memorials. For example, a lot of detail went into Sir Isaac Newton’s memorial. His memorial made reference to his four novels and depicted cherubs carrying out his life’s work.

In the poet’s corner, I was especially interested in the graves of Lewis Carroll, Percy Shelley, and William Shakespeare. Lewis Carroll was the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and was also a mathematician. Lewis Carroll is a household name because of the fame he garnered from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. There are so many spin-offs of this novel that have and are being created! His memorial was on the floor, so it was easy to miss. His memorial also queued me into the fact that he was a student of the Christ Church of Oxford and is currently buried at Guildford.

Percy Shelley is another name that I recognized instantly; however, it is not because I know him, but rather his wife Mary Shelley who authored Frankenstein.  Some of Percy’s work includes The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound. I have not read these books, but I think I will have to check them out! I honestly thought his memorial was for his wife until I noticed that the birth and death years were off. Seeing this memorial made me wonder where exactly Mary Shelley was buried, and I came to find out that she is in Bournemouth at St. Peter’s Church.

The final name that interested me was William Shakespeare, and not just because of the sheer beauty of his memorial. It is because I have a newfound interest and respect for William Shakespeare after reading about King Lear and analyzing it with my fellow study abroad students. Shakespeare was prolific in that he wrote a ton of plays, and many of them grew to be very popular. Just seeing his memorial and how opulent it was made me excited to read more of his plays to understand why he deserved such a grand memorial.

The Abbey itself was beauty personified. It has been maintained well enough to where you’re in awe when you first walk in. When you go to the Abbey, make sure you look up! There was so much detail in the ceilings that you appreciate the effort that went into the building to a greater extent. I think my favorite part of the whole tour was when we got to learn about the grave of the unknown soldier. This was a grave that represents the fallen soldiers of the First World War and is never to be stepped on. This grave was built to bring comfort to the families of these lost soldiers by allowing them to associate their loved ones with a proper burial. The grave was also surrounded by poppies, which were the flowers that surrounded the battlefield that the soldiers fought on.

After our tour of the Westminster Abbey, we said our goodbyes to Molly. Hopefully we can meet her again one day in the future! From Westminster, I met back up with my mom. Today was her last full day in London, so I 100% wanted to see her before she went back home! We walked to Chinatown, and I took her to Rasa Sayang, the Malaysian restaurant I went to at the beginning of the trip. The food was just as delicious as it was the first time around! I got the salted egg prawns, and I was surprised by just how good they were. We both got some great drinks as well, so I want to go back sometime during my trip to try out the other drinks they had on the menu! After Rasa Sayang, we got a dessert which I had never tried before that had herbal grass jelly. Underneath the herbal grass jelly there was shaved ice, and it was topped with mochi. This dessert was very refreshing! I would have never tried it on my own, so I’m glad I was able to share the experience of having it for the first time with my mom.

After we ate together, it was time to part ways with my mom and head to the show of the night, The Glass Menagerie. We were lucky enough to be able to see Amy Adams perform in this production – I absolutely love her films! The Glass Menagerie is about a southern family figuring out how they will support themselves. It centers around Tom Wingfield, Amanda Wingfield, Laura Wingfield, and Jim O’Connor. Laura and Tom are siblings, both mothered by Amanda. Jim is Laura’s love interest who turns out to be engaged to a girl that he is “going steady with”. It is important to know that Amanda is hell bent on Laura finding a husband to care for her, since she worries about Laura’s physical disability and severe shyness. Something important about this play in terms of symbolism is that Laura has a glass collection, which her mother calls a “glass menagerie”. This glass collection shadows the fragility and transparency of Laura’s life.

Seeing a quintessential American play in Great Britain was an interesting experience. To be honest, the magic of being immersed in the plot was ruined whenever I was able to hear incongruities with a true southern accent. There was also a lack of character in the portrayal of characters if that makes sense. For example, as talented and amazing as Amy Adams is, she gave a very monotone performance. I wish she would have given more emotion to drive home the point of Amanda reaching her wits end in her confrontations with Tom. Without a large range in character portrayal, I think that the most this production had going for itself was its script. I was hoping that the production we saw would make more artistic decisions than it did, and because of this, our viewing of the play just felt like a reread of the script.

Another issue I had with this performance was the set design. I have seen shows in London where the set design absolutely blows my mind. I understand that not all shows will do this; however, I was expecting there to be more meaning behind the set. I feel like nothing was placed deliberately enough for symbolism to be seen in the staging. Despite this, I will say that I enjoyed the use of the physical glass menagerie. A lot of times, you could see a character looking through the glass, and it signified that character seeing the performance as more of a memory, or from an omniscient point of view.

This play is also set in St. Louis, Missouri, and I do not think any part of the play was unique to this area. I wish that there were more artistic decisions made to play into the authenticity and essence of the setting of the play. If I viewed this play without any context, I don’t think I would know where it took place at all.

Sadly, I was very underwhelmed by this production of The Glass Menagerie. I have heard great things about other performances of it, and I was especially excited to see it after all our interesting discussions in class. If you are going to view this play, I would recommend you check the reviews of the production you will be seeing! This is because I know there are many directions to take in this play, so even though the production we saw was not a hit, the one you see may be amazing! In spite of my less than stellar review, I was still happy to see Amy Adams, and the performance by Jim’s actor was very believable and personable.

Phew! Long post, but it’s done! Tomorrow will definitely be shorter, but we did a ton of important stuff today that I am ultimately glad I did and needed to document. Until next time! 🙂

Blogs 9 and 10

By Isaac Overman

June 6 2022

For our journey today, we ventured to Westminster Abby. The church was glorious—but I have the feeling that if not for our wonderful guide Molly—we would have had a much greater chance of missing out on the beauty and significance that this church has maintained throughout the centuries. In one of the corners of the church, there is a small section devoted to the artists, poets and writers. This section had members such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen whose bodies did not reside there and others like Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens. Honestly, the Poets Corner, as it is affectionately called, is filled with pretty much every single major player in the British literature scene. But for me at least, the graves of Charles Dickens and Handel were amazing to see. I know Handel is not technically a poet or writer but he is close enough. I was curious more than anything the story behind Charles Dickens being buried at Westminster. After a little research, I learned that he almost was not buried there at all. In fact a grave had been dug at Rochester Cathedral near his home. He even asked that he be buried there in his will but in the end he was given a spot at Westminster. It might not be exactly what he wanted but he definitely deserves to be amongst their ranks. Handel on the other-hand bewildered me because he was born in Germany. I learned that the reason he was entombed there is because he changed the landscape of British music and wanted to entrench himself as being that figure rather than being a German outsider. He left 600 euros which was a lot for the time, in his last will and testament so that a monument could be built for him. Both men had a massive impact on their eras but both ended up at Westminster for polar opposite reasons. It was beyond amazing to see all these great authors in one place.

Following this great tour, we all had some time to catch a light dinner. I ate at Prima which was a small trattoria. I dined alone in the back of the restaurant and the food was good. After we all regrouped to see The Glass Menagerie featuring Amy Adams. My fresh impression is that it was a very safe interpretation of a play that should be anything but safe. I love Tennessee Williams and this play is near and dear to my heart. But it took very few liberates from the script. It did not feel free in anyway. It felt more confined by the script than anything else. I am glad that Amy Adams was there though. Her midwestern/southern bell accent was on point and I feel like she captured the uniqueness of the mothers mental state. But that is where my compliments end. I think the lighting was strange and could have either been brighter or darker. It felt far too in between the two extremes. And then there was the portrayal of the sister. And I do not understand why she made the sister borderline inept at dealing with day to day life. In the script she clearly has anxiety issues but in this version it felt like she was closer to a severe mental illness rather than a struggle to be overcome. I feel like the beauty of the play is that every character is culpable for the dysfunction of the family unit but it did not feel like she was in anyway. She was more of a bystander rather than apart of the family. The accents where solid in my opinion. But it is weird to be an American watching the British in England playing Americans. As an American I think the plays setting is less important then many make it out to be. I do not think that the play would lose any of it luster if it was set in Liverpool instead of St. Louis. It was a play that described something very personal to Williams and I think that if nothing else came across the fact that there was pain, real pain there is undeniable. I hurt for Tom and that is why even though it was not perfect—I enjoyed my time with it. That being said, I struggled with the seating. I am a 6 foot three and this seating was brutal. During the last half, I basically lost all feeling in my legs. And on top of that the guy behind me kept telling me to move my head, or that I was moving too much. At one point he started kicking the chair when I did not respond to his insistent prattle. This pretty much ruined the experience but at least it was not while watching Life of Pi or Straight-line Crazy. Today was heaven in the morning and hell after dark.

June 6

Westminster Abbey

June 6^th

I knew the Abbey was a popular place for tourism, but I think it was increased due the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Westminster is the church for the royalty’s use where many of their weddings and all the coronations take place. I find it mindboggling that we went through another place older than our entire country. Molly, our tour guide, was a delight as usual and she always added some fascinating details about the royalty. It can be hard to separate the differences between an abbey and a cathedral, but Molly created easy distinction between a church for the people (St. Paul’s) and a church for the royals (Westminster Abbey). My favorite part was the stained glass and the extensive ceiling design.

One of the gravestones that immediately caught my eyes was Lewis Carroll. I found it mesmerizing that his memorial curved around in a circle. It highlights his pen name while his biological name is left smaller in the center. The artistry reminded me of his bizarre stories and how he is known to have visions/hallucinations that inspired his stories. Westminster wanted the quote, arrangement, or statue to reflect the type of person buried beneath it. Carroll wrote the incredibly famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which has become a classic and helped introduce the ideas of alternate worlds and fantasy. His stone reads “Is all our life, then, but a dream?”

William Wordsworth was my favorite memorial for its combination of beautiful sentiments and the thoughtful statue. He was a revolutionary romantic poet and started to change the atmosphere around writing in the early 1790’s. He is the earliest writer that I am focusing on in this blog. I am not sure who wrote his memorial, but it mentions how he gave the public “nobler loves” and “made us heirs of truth.” It was a lovely remembrance for the beauty he brought to poetry.

Dylan Thomas was the one I was the most surprised and delighted to see. Thomas has become one of my favorites to study within poetry and I still remember writing a whole paper on a few of his lines. It is the simplest structure, but I thought it was profound. His most famous poem is “Do not go gentle into that good night” and it is a realistic reflection of his struggle against time. This was referenced on his stone by saying that he sang in his chains.

Westminster Abbey was a beautiful church with so much historical weight. Once you walk through, you will be transfixed by the architecture and the immense number of memorials for famous English figures. A few were Darwin, Austen, Dickens, Hawkins, and Shakespeare. The three writers I have touched upon were all buried in different places as is often the case. But make sure to see the tombs of Mary and Elizabeth I.

-Tabi is Booked

            On the morning of May 30^th my trip to London took an unexpected turn. I woke up with sweating with body chills. Every bone in my body was aching and every muscle was sore. I was feeling sick to my stomach and my eyes hurt like they had been pierced with lasers.

            We weren’t meeting in the lobby until 11, so I had planned to spend a relaxing morning taking a walk to the park and reading. Instead, I spent it seeking the cold comfort of the bathroom floor. After a couple hours my symptoms started to fade, and I was feeling better. I really didn’t think much of it, I was just excited to begin my day. I got dressed and headed downstairs.

            We began our walking tour to The National Gallery. As we walked, I noticed my legs weakening, but that morning we had discussed how everyone had tired legs from all the walking we had been doing. I chalked it up to exhaustion. Once we arrived, I was immediately overtaken by the sights in the courtyard. The statues towered above me, and the children giggled as they climbed on the lion figures and splashed in the fountain. On one of the statue podiums there was an art piece of what appeared to be a giant pile of whip cream with a cherry and a drone perched on top. It caught all our attention as we questioned its purpose. Shawn informed us that it was a rotating art exhibit! While I still didn’t really understand the purpose of this one or see it as aesthetically pleasing next to all the other much older statues, I had a greater appreciation for it as I thought about what I would put in its place if given the opportunity.

            When we went inside, I made a beeline to the café as usual. This time, as I sat and ate and enjoyed my mocha, I could feel my symptoms coming back and started to panic a bit. I googled symptoms of ‘study abroad burnout.’ I was sure that I had just pushed my body too hard, walking everywhere and constantly out and about.

            So, as I began to explore the museum, I decided to take it easy, sitting and studying the art where I could. As soon as I entered the exhibit I was overtaken with fascination, and I completely forgot about any limits my body was trying to put in my way.

            I absolutely adored this museum. I must take back what I said in my previous blog about modern art being more colorful, the colors in these old paintings popped. How did these artists create such vivid images like this? What has always fascinated me about period art is the clothing. The way these artists paint fabric to make it look as if you could reach out and touch it and the satin would fold under your fingers. The brilliancy of the colors is truly indescribable with words. The folds and creases in the dresses made by a paintbrush?! The details in the lace and the brightness of the colors, it was all so realistic and strikingly sharp.

            The amount of detail work in some of these paintings was fascinating as well, and I wondered how much time was spent slaving over just one part of these paintings to achieve that level of specificity.

            As I walked around, I noticed a lot of the paintings were of a religious nature, depicting Jesus after his crucifixion for example. I found it a lot easier to connect with the biblical stories this way, regardless of personal belief. Such as The Dead Christ Mourned by Annibale Carracci. The emotion that was captured in these paintings was undeniable. It allowed me to think about other aspects of the story that I’m not typically faced with, and it was impossible not to empathize with the grief that was depicted. It made me think about the artist, and their purpose in creating art like this. What were they feeling and how heartbreakingly beautiful is it that this was the only true way they could find to express it?

            Before we had entered the building, I heard that there was a Van Gogh piece in this museum, and I was beyond excited. Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists and so the moment we stepped foot in the art rooms I had my eye out for his name. As I explored the other galleries a museum employee struck up a conversation with me about where I’m from and my study abroad experience here in London. He was a very sweet man, and at the end of our conversation I said, “I heard there is a Van Gogh in this museum?”

            He put on a knowing smile and told me where to find it. As he sent me on my way, he uttered four magical words: “He’s waiting for you.”

            Indeed, he was. I entered the room and knew immediately I was in the right place when I saw the swarm of people gathered around one painting. Then, I saw it. One of my favorite paintings of all time, Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I stood in front of it. I couldn’t believe I was seeing it in real life! The brushstrokes were so fascinatingly detailed, the colors particularly chosen. I felt like I was meeting Van Gogh himself!

            In the same room as Van Gogh, I got to see a Georges Seurat painting, the same artist who inspired the play Sunday in the Park with George. His style was immediately recognizable. One of the famous Water Lilies paintings by Monet was here as well!

            Because I had saved this painting for last, I went to the gift shop and bought up all the Sunflower related merchandise I could find and headed out.

            First, by Brendan’s recommendation I found the painting entitled “The Beheading of St. Margaret” and took my picture with it.  Right next to this there was a man sitting and recreating the artwork in front of him—his work was gorgeous. I wondered if the artists who created this piece all those years ago knew that one day their work would be hanging in a museum like this and someone generations ahead of them would admire it so much as to draw it themselves. I wonder if any of us can even hope to leave an impact as great as that one, proof that art and ideas can change the world, even if we aren’t around to see it.

            After the museum I was feeling quite awful again. Pressed up against the door of the crowded subway I watched the walls of the underground race by and wished to be zapped from existence. I got back to the hotel and took a much-needed nap. I woke up feeling better, but I could still feel the symptoms lingering.

            We went to go see Lift, which was not at all what I expected it to be. It was a show about a man in a lift, and he creates the stories of the people around him in his head! Just like I had written about in my previous blogs! I thought the set was creative, and the way the story progressed kept the audience on the edge of their seats to be sure not to miss any details. We weren’t at all sure what exactly was happening until the end of the show. The story arc of this man getting through a heartbreak by projecting his feelings and issues into these stranger’s lives was impactful for me. Being inside of his head felt a bit like what it’s like in my head, and it was a musical! Right up my alley!

            The moral of the story was saying how you really feel. Quite ironic as we exited the theatre, I had no choice but to admit that something wasn’t right. As I began to cry, I realized that I truly was sick in a foreign country. But when I signed up for this trip I asked to be thrown in the deep end. I wanted to learn all that I could, and it seemed the next lesson London had in store for me was how to survive on my own; really and truly on my own.

            I tested positive for Covid that night. I’ve been in isolation in a hotel room all by myself ever since. I plan on coming out of quarantine tonight; masked up of course! So, for now my next few blog posts will be reflective of the ‘before covid’ portion of my trip. As I said when I first got my test results, everything happens for a reason I just have to figure out the reason for this one!

            I’m thankful to be feeling better, and that I got to experience such an amazing day even if I was experiencing the beginnings of covid all at the same time.

Signing Off from London,

Margaret

Our day at regions park was some of the most fun I’ve had on this trip, but Legally Blonde was a little disappointing. It was my first time seeing theatre outside on a stage of that scale and it made me realize how many challenges arise with operating an outdoor venue. The Play started at 7:30 so it was bright out until the second act and that caused for a total absence of stage lighting in the first act. The lack of stage light was a huge disadvantage for the production. From an audience perspective it felt totally nonimmersive and I’m sure this put a lot more pressure on the actors to just sing and dance their faces off but there’s really not enough you can do to compensate for that kind of thing. It was cold and windy for most of the show and in the second act it started to lightly rain which made me extremely anxious that the performers could slip on stage. There was an impromptu intermission where the stage management dried the stage with towels which was done quickly and smoothly. As a lover of theatre, I enjoyed seeing the stage management act on their feet and dry the stage, that to me is the embodiment of the theatre saying that every show is different.  As far as the actual show went, I have mixed feelings. This was my first time seeing Legally Blonde the musical. It was clear to me that most of the audience had seen the musical many times because applause brakes happened when characters simply appeared, which I guess was fun for those who knew the play but for me not so much. I liked the music and the script is funny, I just felt like it could’ve been executed funnier. Since watching the show at regions park, I have watched youtube videos of how the show is usually done and I am able to see now that this rendition of Legally Blonde was extremely camp. I think the problem with this is that Legally Blonde is already inherently camp so making it more campy feels just goofy and takes away from the actual humor of the show. Despite all these criticisms of the show, I did enjoy myself. I spent a day drinking and hanging out with my friends in the park and got to watch professional theatre, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Legally Blonde the musical at an outdoor theater was a fantastic experience. This is the first time I had the opportunity to experience legally Blond as a live performance. The theater was located in a lovely park that I had the opportunity to wonder around and explore for a while. In the park you could find many different types of flowers and plants all very well cared for and very beautiful. I included some of the photos I took with my phone to share with you. The weather was very nice for most of the day, and the rain that was predicted only showed it’s self as a very light sprinkle during the performance. The performance was held at a transition of scenes only for a few minutes for the crew to dry of the stage, other than that the performance continued as normal. The performance stared around 7:45 while it was still light out, and the lighting on for the stage did very little to effect how it looked. Glancing around to all the lighting equipment I recognized many of the equipment being used for the musical. I was surprised by the fact that the only defense from the weather for much of the equipment was a peace of wood hanging above the fixture or for movers a small box around the circuit board area. I am curious if they put more covers over the equipment when they run into actual bad weather or what they do to prevent damage to some fixtures. As far as outdoor theater goes the amount of fixtures used was more than what I expected. With The lights at the beginning of the show was limited by the sun but it quickly got darker and the experience became more enjoyable with the stage lights. The actors and stage both gained more presence and power with the stage lights. This being my first experience with legally Blonde it was very enjoyable, including how much the audience was excited to see it. I can see why many people really love this performance. After watching many of the shows in London, I have noticed difference in how lights are designed here vs the shows in the US. They seem to use less brightness in many of their shows, however sometimes I feel like I am missing something because it can be to dark at times.

Our second art museum on this lovely trip was The National Gallery, which has a decidedly less…eclectic collection of art than the Tate Modern. We were also supposed to visit the National Portrait Gallery that day, but they will be closed until 2023, so unfortunately, I will have to catch it on another trip.

Luckily, the National Gallery had more than enough to keep me occupied! There was so much to see that I would need a full day (not to mention stronger feet) to view it all. I am sure I missed some really impressive pieces, but I still viewed and photographed plenty of excellent pieces of art, ranging from the 1200s to the 1500s.

As expected of European pieces of art prior to and leading up to the Renaissance period, there was no shortage of Christian iconography. A great majority of pieces I viewed contained Jesus, the Virgin Mary, one or numerous saints, or members of religious orders; that is if all four of those were not present in the same painting. Several were part of elaborate altar displays that simultaneously glorified the stories and figures of the Bible, allowed illiterate members of congregations to intake those same stories and figures while attending service, and demonstrated the wealth and power of the Church.

As logic would dictate, there were less pieces available from the earlier periods and more available from the later periods. And as the age of the paintings got less and less, the level of detail proportionally increased. The difference in level of realism between the 1200s and the 1500s was startling, though that may have struck me as such due to how close these pieces were to each other spatially, only being separated by a small number of rooms. Some of that increase in realism may be due to the transition from egg tempura paints to oil paints, or the medium changing from wood to canvas.

Earlier on in my tour, there were four rooms covering roughly the same period (the early-mid 1400s through the early 1500s) that each contained works from different Italian city-states. Specifically, they were works made in the traditions of Siena, Florence, Padua, and Venice. Having these rooms immediately next to one another allowed for easier comparison of the artistic styles native to, or at least preferred in, each locale. The first city-state presented, and the one that loses most by comparison with the others, is Siena. The creation date of the works compiled from Siena range from around 1300 to around 1450, which gives it minimal overlap with the collections from other city-states, whose ranges into the later half of the Fifteenth Century and the start of the Sixteenth Century show more innovations in realism. From what range the collection does have, I managed to make some insights (though I am not certain of the factuality of them). First, the frequent use of gold-colored paint suggests that the Sienese held great value in the subjects of their paintings and wanted others to hold those same subjects with that same value as well. Second, people and the actions in which they are portrayed hold more significance than where those people and actions are portrayed, given the rare use of backgrounds and, even in the cases of backgrounds being utilized, the human subjects being of a larger scale than the settings they occupy.

The second city state, Florence, had a greater amount of private life and historical/mythological content depicted in art, but the majority was still Biblical in nature. The human figures have slightly more definition and pronounced features than those in Sienese works, but a sense of the figures being like stock images with identifying marks or features added on top still remains. And while the focus is still largely on the human subjects in the paintings, more respect is given to the detailing of backgrounds, and a sense of larger scale is allowed to exist.

The third room in the sequence, displaying works made by artists who studied in Padua, was the first to really impress me. There was a very sudden jump in the level of detail in the human features and settings; it seemed impossible that these paintings were only made about 20-30 years after those in Florence! Things like the wrinkles on an older man’s face, or the Adam’s apple of St. John, or the tendons in the hand of St. Catherine were present in a way previously unseen. But easily the most impressive, in my mind, was one spot on the leg of St. Sebastian in Carlo Crivelli’s The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian, 1491. The saint is represented in the manner in which he was killed: pierced with many arrows. In his right leg, the viewer can see an arrow entering and exiting his flesh, and, amazingly, the shape of the arrow’s shaft is visible under the skin!! Such an astounding feat of biological realism would be impressive among artists with today’s references, but to create it at the turn of the Sixteenth Century is mind-boggling!

The fourth and final room in the sequence consisted of pieces from Venice, ranging from around 1460 to around 1510. The level of detail in these pieces is yet another step up from the Paduan artworks, with features like the gleam in people’s eyes being worked into portraits. In addition, a lot more effort is put into the background environments of pieces that have them, with many settings having a larger scale in comparison to the human characters occupying them.

The National Gallery held plenty of other pieces that caught my interest, like this painting of St. Michael depicting him with rainbow wings, and I certainly enjoyed my time there! But it was not the only event scheduled for the day.

After a few hours of respite, I joined the group in the lobby for our journey to Southwark Playhouse and its musical, Lift. Shawn spoke very highly of this company’s work prior to our departure from the U.S., so I had fairly high expectations. After having some very nice conversation with Cath and Maggie, we filed into the small, black-box style space and the production began.

Altogether, I would say the musical was pretty good. The vocals were excellent, with harmonies and different melodies blending together with high levels of skill. The instrumentals, both those provided by one of the actors onstage and the pit member (members?) were also well executed. The dialogue allowed for plenty of funny moments, but a healthy does of heavy, real moments too. There were only a few aspects of the show I found lacking. The first was in the pronunciation of the actors while they were singing. The musical is set in London, so a range of English accents makes perfect sense character-wise, but it meant that oftentimes consonants would be dropped off of words and understanding what was being sung was difficult. The other aspect of the show that left something to be desired was in the pacing of the story. This story consists of several different storylines that interconnect with each other at various points. Different characters share the same name, different characters are played by the same actor depending on the scene, and altogether it makes for a jumbled, confusing mess until the audience gets used to it; in my experience, that took about half of the show’s runtime.

All in all, I’d say that today was a day of exploration; of finding new things, or things that express familiar ideas in new ways. Given my intended career field, where stories are constantly being adapted and reimagined, days like these are excellent food for the mind!