So proud of my new British Library pass.. !
And.. one epic comparison I completely skipped over! Thanks Dad.
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Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
The British Museum and Windsor Castle
January 21-27, 2011
Dear loyal fans, I'm back with a long-awaited post concerning my adventures over the past week. To start things off, I've got some fun photo comparisons for your enjoyment.
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On the left, Planet Organic. My new favorite place for all my health food aspirations. They've got kombucha, and the best tomato soup: lactose, vegan, and allergen free, and of course-- organic. On the right, witness "Bangers and mash," a traditional British meal. And, if you guessed that this was not actually my meal, you guessed correctly. This photo was taken of my friend's meal at a pub outside Windsor Castle. Her verdict: not very good, the sauce had a bad flavor.
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Here are two artifacts from the British museum. On the left, an unidentified sculpture (and by that I mean I, personally, have no idea what it is) that might be a Bhuddist sculpture. However, one can infer a certain level of vanity in the gold color of the statue, her pronounced womanly features, and monumental pose. Witness the artifact on the right: you may not recognize what this is-- this is because it's an ancient crushed skull of a woman. She was found with her gold jewelry still on, or around, her, plus a small powder cosmetic case. Bonfire of the vanities?
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This isn't really a comparison. Just a small sculpture I admired in the ancient Egypt section. It's a ram, caught in a thicket and although it's small, it's incredibly striking in person.
As I was taking this picture, I heard a man telling the woman he was with that this is his favorite piece in the whole museum. It might be mine too.
(Also note that the above entry is written in the style and tone of Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart, and is also thematically relevant-- remember this when reviewing bullet pt. 5 at the end of the blog entry.)
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The Rosetta Stone-- "Amazing. I thought this thing only existed in legends." --Jordan.
...And as software for learning Spanish, Italian, or French from the comfort of your own home... But no, this is in fact the real deal, a sizable chunk of the original Rosetta Stone. I stole this useful description from Wikipedia:
"The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts:the upper one is in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle one in Egyptian demotic script, and the lower text in Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some differences between them), it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs."
On the right, a poster made from Zimbabwe currency, which as the text proclaims, is actually so worthless that it became cheaper to print on the money than on paper. From messages carved in stone to statements emblazoned on dollar bills.. oh how far humankind has come.
Dionysus, Greek god of wine, stolen from the Parthenon in the 19th century
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T.K. Maxx, discount clothing store, name stolen from T.J. Maxx in 1994
On the train to Windsor Castle! Had to change trains at Slough, home of the British version of The Office.
Just outside the castle walls, one of the homes of Britain's monarchy for centuries..
Her Majesty appears on horseback!
Morning, mid-day. Entering the castle.
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Late afternoon, leaving the castle.
The dogs were having their day...
This one reminds me of my friend Jamie's dog.
People..
On my way into the castle, I was distracted by a vision.. a woman from the past! Jordan and I quickly followed the apparition, only to find ourselves in a shop, where I bought a "William & Kate" t-shirt.
"Let's take a picture." "Ok." "You stand here. I'll stand there." "Ok, sounds good."
Entering the castle walls..
We did actually get to go inside some of the rooms, which were incredible, but photography was not allowed. I was particularly struck by the incredible collection of artwork, which included some fantastic paintings by Rembrandt, and Bruegel's "Massacre of the Innocents."
A Short Series,
Lampost and Lovers in recession
From behind the castle walls, high above the town..
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Other highlights from the past week:
- I rode on a rickshaw around town with some new friends. I was very pleased with my bartering skills, as I managed to take the rate from 10 pounds down to 9. After all, you can't very well split the cost of 10 pounds among 3 people..
- I learned that in Saudi Arabia, it's considered impolite to refuse a gift, offering, or invitation of any kind, no matter what it is. Apparently you don't have to actually eat it if it's food, or go to the party if it's an invitation. You just have to take it. Hmm.
- I met with my tutor to work out my first paper topic.. Shakespeare and food. My project for tomorrow, when I will walk the two blocks to the British Library, where they have every book known to man, and state my case for needing to look at their books (the books I need aren't available anywhere else, and the British Library staff is notorious for denying access to the books without providing specific and adequate reasoning for why you need to do so).
- I lament the amount of butter and mayonnaise in all the food here, yet paradoxically love the delicious unpasteurized butter available for spreading on bread yourself..
- My new British friend Jack lent me 3 books from his impressive collection after our Chinatown excursion last Tuesday (unbelievable peking duck from a place called "The Four Seasons"), and I've spent almost the entire day today, and most of yesterday finishing one of the books, called Sputnik Sweetheart, by a Japanese author named Haruki Murakami. Seriously, just one of those amazing books that had me in a grip I couldn't get out of (not that I wanted to). I sat in various coffee shops around town almost all day reading, knowing that I had to make it to the very last page. As my friend Hillary noted when I told her about this experience, it's good to know it can still happen-- that just as you start to think you'll never be grabbed by a book in that way ever again, it happens, catching you completely by surprise. Like falling in love.. but with a book.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
It's been way too long..
Wow I feel like it's been ages since I updated this thing. I didn't realize just how much of a problem this was, however, until I received a concerned phone call from my father asking why I hadn't been posting!
15 January, 2011
Let me update you on what I've been doing. Last time I uploaded photos, I spent the day "getting lost in Harrods," and Harvey Nichols too (another fancy department store) with Hillary and Jenny. We ate the most fabulous macaroons from Ladruee, a Parisian cafe in Harrods. It just so happens that we were there during Harrods famous one and only sale of the year, which happens right around Christmas time. For this reason, it was absolute craziness, particularly for anyone with claustrophobia. It just made me feel kind of drunken and topsy turvy. I did manage to find one beautiful green grey sweater from Whistles, an iconic London brand, which I have practically not taken off since I bought it. At Harvey Nichols, I discovered Penhaligon's, which is a famous perfumer that has created colognes and perfumes for everyone from Winston Churchill (lemony gin and tonic scent), to Her Majesty herself. Oh, and Nicole Kidman too.
16 January, 2011
The next day, I traveled to Kensal Green for lunch at my cousin Jodi's house, with her Italian husband Simone, and two adorable children, Julietta and Marciello. Jodi's mother, Sandy, or "Alysara" as she goes by these days, was also visiting from Israel! It was such an amazing feeling spending the afternoon with them, and just knowing that I have such amazing people in my family and that they're here, in England, and I can see them as often as I like. You never really feel so grateful for your family, I think, until you're in a new and strange place.
17 January, 2011
So that was pretty much my weekend, and then I had classes on Monday and Wednesday, which all went quite well. I bought a week pass to go to different clubs every night (it really feels strange to be going out this much, particularly during the week, but it's been pretty fun!). So Monday was TigerTiger and Tuesday was Koko. Koko was definitely much better than TigerTiger, which seemed like a night club for International visitors only here for a week, whereas Koko in Camden was a much younger, hipper scene with lots of UCL and other college students. I went out both nights with my Wash U friends, Hillary, Cameron, and Paula, and on Tuesday we met up with another Wash U girl, plus some Cornell guys. We had a great time!
19 January, 2011
Last night (Wednesday) I met up with my friend from high school, Brittany, and the two of us took the tube to Angel for dinner at a sweet little place called Med Kitchen. It was so great to finally see her! After dinner, took the tube home and met up with friends at Ramsay, who were playing a ridiculous game of Kings with a group of British fresher (freshman) boys. Deciding to take a break from the clubbing scene, we head to the Union bars (literally at the UCL Student Union). It was Mollie's last day of Princeton exams, so we were going out to celebrate. And that's when I more or less hit my limit. After several days of non-stop partying, it was time to stop. So I called it a night early, and headed on home.
20 January, 2011
Woke up this morning feeling better rested and headed around the corner for some breakfast at Pret. On my way back into my building, I ran into an American Juicy-branded mother waiting with her son for her daughter to come downstairs. As soon as she heard me say something to the woman at the front desk, she was thrilled to have found an American friend for her daughter. So anyway, she (the mother) invited me to go out to dinner with them tomorrow night, and bring a friend! Her daughter was clearly completely embarrassed by the whole incident but I thought it was pretty funny.
Later on, I ventured over to campus and wandered around Waterstone's (my favorite bookstore) for a little while, then stopped in to Planet Organic (of course) for some delicious (organic) tomato soup and "V" water, as it's called here (rather than "vitamin water"--it's actually completely different although a very similar concept). Then I went to the English department for a viewing of Metropolis, which I had no idea was a 2 and a half hour film, but nonetheless was very interesting and entertaining. I went for my Modern Literature seminar, which is film-based, called "Civilization and its Discontents," and this was the first film we had to watch. It was a really surreal experience to watch this movie, because since it's a classic film I could not stop thinking of all kinds of more modern movies that I'm sure this film must have been referencing (kind of like when you're reading Shakespeare). It was also very rich with biblical allusions, so it seemed like every 5 minutes I was picking up on either a biblical or modern allusion of some sort, from Moses all the way to Black Swan.
Afterwards, I ended up chatting with the British boy I'd been sitting next to and found that we had a ton of things in common! His name's Jack, and he's an English major and also very interested in art, and even though he's only a fresher and very young looking he was really interesting to talk to. I was also impressed by the fact that he's not even in my seminar, just interested in classic films since his mom was an art film major. He told me that his goal is to get his PhD in English, and then move to New Orleans and become a politician, which kind of blew me away. Then we were talking about our favorite authors and artists, and he told me his favorite artist is Barry Flanagan, and asked if I've ever heard of him, and I said no, I hadn't. Then he proceeded to tell me about how he makes sculptures of bunnies out of metal that are very rough looking and stretched out and lanky and I realized OH MY GOD !! That's the bunny from Wash U!!! What an insane coincidence that that would be his favorite artist! Well, it turns out Jack's from Cambridge, and Cambridge University also has one of these rabbit sculptures on their campus.
Small world. Very very small world. So anyway, at that moment it seemed like fate and I of course gave him my number. And he invited me to see Much Ado about Nothing. My first British friend!
Then met up with Mollie, Hillary, and Jenny and took the tube to Topshop. Once again, did not buy a thing (except dinner). Oh well, still a fun night!
Also, my mother requested I post more pictures of myself:
15 January, 2011
Let me update you on what I've been doing. Last time I uploaded photos, I spent the day "getting lost in Harrods," and Harvey Nichols too (another fancy department store) with Hillary and Jenny. We ate the most fabulous macaroons from Ladruee, a Parisian cafe in Harrods. It just so happens that we were there during Harrods famous one and only sale of the year, which happens right around Christmas time. For this reason, it was absolute craziness, particularly for anyone with claustrophobia. It just made me feel kind of drunken and topsy turvy. I did manage to find one beautiful green grey sweater from Whistles, an iconic London brand, which I have practically not taken off since I bought it. At Harvey Nichols, I discovered Penhaligon's, which is a famous perfumer that has created colognes and perfumes for everyone from Winston Churchill (lemony gin and tonic scent), to Her Majesty herself. Oh, and Nicole Kidman too.
16 January, 2011
The next day, I traveled to Kensal Green for lunch at my cousin Jodi's house, with her Italian husband Simone, and two adorable children, Julietta and Marciello. Jodi's mother, Sandy, or "Alysara" as she goes by these days, was also visiting from Israel! It was such an amazing feeling spending the afternoon with them, and just knowing that I have such amazing people in my family and that they're here, in England, and I can see them as often as I like. You never really feel so grateful for your family, I think, until you're in a new and strange place.
17 January, 2011
So that was pretty much my weekend, and then I had classes on Monday and Wednesday, which all went quite well. I bought a week pass to go to different clubs every night (it really feels strange to be going out this much, particularly during the week, but it's been pretty fun!). So Monday was TigerTiger and Tuesday was Koko. Koko was definitely much better than TigerTiger, which seemed like a night club for International visitors only here for a week, whereas Koko in Camden was a much younger, hipper scene with lots of UCL and other college students. I went out both nights with my Wash U friends, Hillary, Cameron, and Paula, and on Tuesday we met up with another Wash U girl, plus some Cornell guys. We had a great time!
19 January, 2011
Last night (Wednesday) I met up with my friend from high school, Brittany, and the two of us took the tube to Angel for dinner at a sweet little place called Med Kitchen. It was so great to finally see her! After dinner, took the tube home and met up with friends at Ramsay, who were playing a ridiculous game of Kings with a group of British fresher (freshman) boys. Deciding to take a break from the clubbing scene, we head to the Union bars (literally at the UCL Student Union). It was Mollie's last day of Princeton exams, so we were going out to celebrate. And that's when I more or less hit my limit. After several days of non-stop partying, it was time to stop. So I called it a night early, and headed on home.
20 January, 2011
Woke up this morning feeling better rested and headed around the corner for some breakfast at Pret. On my way back into my building, I ran into an American Juicy-branded mother waiting with her son for her daughter to come downstairs. As soon as she heard me say something to the woman at the front desk, she was thrilled to have found an American friend for her daughter. So anyway, she (the mother) invited me to go out to dinner with them tomorrow night, and bring a friend! Her daughter was clearly completely embarrassed by the whole incident but I thought it was pretty funny.
Later on, I ventured over to campus and wandered around Waterstone's (my favorite bookstore) for a little while, then stopped in to Planet Organic (of course) for some delicious (organic) tomato soup and "V" water, as it's called here (rather than "vitamin water"--it's actually completely different although a very similar concept). Then I went to the English department for a viewing of Metropolis, which I had no idea was a 2 and a half hour film, but nonetheless was very interesting and entertaining. I went for my Modern Literature seminar, which is film-based, called "Civilization and its Discontents," and this was the first film we had to watch. It was a really surreal experience to watch this movie, because since it's a classic film I could not stop thinking of all kinds of more modern movies that I'm sure this film must have been referencing (kind of like when you're reading Shakespeare). It was also very rich with biblical allusions, so it seemed like every 5 minutes I was picking up on either a biblical or modern allusion of some sort, from Moses all the way to Black Swan.
Afterwards, I ended up chatting with the British boy I'd been sitting next to and found that we had a ton of things in common! His name's Jack, and he's an English major and also very interested in art, and even though he's only a fresher and very young looking he was really interesting to talk to. I was also impressed by the fact that he's not even in my seminar, just interested in classic films since his mom was an art film major. He told me that his goal is to get his PhD in English, and then move to New Orleans and become a politician, which kind of blew me away. Then we were talking about our favorite authors and artists, and he told me his favorite artist is Barry Flanagan, and asked if I've ever heard of him, and I said no, I hadn't. Then he proceeded to tell me about how he makes sculptures of bunnies out of metal that are very rough looking and stretched out and lanky and I realized OH MY GOD !! That's the bunny from Wash U!!! What an insane coincidence that that would be his favorite artist! Well, it turns out Jack's from Cambridge, and Cambridge University also has one of these rabbit sculptures on their campus.
Small world. Very very small world. So anyway, at that moment it seemed like fate and I of course gave him my number. And he invited me to see Much Ado about Nothing. My first British friend!
Then met up with Mollie, Hillary, and Jenny and took the tube to Topshop. Once again, did not buy a thing (except dinner). Oh well, still a fun night!
Also, my mother requested I post more pictures of myself:
Me and Hillary
ChiO's night out
Me and Jordan at The Rocket
Also took some pictures of myself in my new Whistles sweater.. see how it makes my eyes pop?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Getting lost in Harrods
15 January, 2011
Macaroons! I had the pistachio.
Harrods, all lit up.
16 January, 2011
WIRED, Kensal Green
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