Run, Forest, Run!

Hi All,

So another weekend has come and gone. It was yet another exciting weekend. On Friday we woke up early and got on the train to head out to Brighton, a famous English beach. We began the morning with a tour of Brighton Royal Pavilion, which was once a royal summer house for King George IV in the early 1800s and sold by Queen Victoria in the late 1800s. The palace was huge, and also lays claim to having the first indoor toilet ever. Afterwards we were free to explore the city and have fun. So of course we headed to the beach. It was too cold to go in (though a couple of girls went in at sunset for fun). I stuck my feet in, which resulted in my pants getting wet (see pictures). It was worth it though. I can now saw I’ve been in the English Channel. We ate lunch on the beach and then went off looking through shops and such. It was a nice day. By sunset, only 6 of us were left. We decided to head to the beach to watch the sunset. The guys had a wine and cheese party on the beach, while Nora and Megan went swimming. I opted to stay on the beach and talk with the boys while the girls went into the water. Afterwards we decided to head to the Pier and see what it was all about. There was a huge arcade and a casino. We played some games and generally had fun. We then walked to the tip of the pier where they had a mini amusement park. The guys and I really wanted to ride the Booster, which swung you around and upside down and out over the water. It was AWESOME!!!!! So much fun! Finally we decided we better head back to London. Unfortunately when we got to the station, there were electrical problems and our train was cancelled. We had to get on a bus, which took us to a different train station. There we were able to catch a train (though not the train our ticket corresponded to. Luckily no one checked our tickets lol). Once back home, I collapsed in bed.

Me glancing out at the Channel

Jamie, Me, & Christine

I decided to dip my feet into the Channel...

But the wave was too big and got my pants wet...

So I was cold and wet but loving it!

The Sunset & I

The guys and I before we went on the Booster

Coolest Ride on the Pier

Me rescuing Rich

On Saturday, my flat woke up early and decided to head over to the South Bank (near the Globe). The South Bank was part of the route for the “Great Gorilla Run.” Yes, I said “Great Gorilla Run.” This happens once a year and is a big fundraiser for gorillas. Every year people raise money and register to run a 7K. Once registered the people are given a gorilla suit to run in, which they are allowed to decorate as they like. We saw American gorilla, ballerina gorilla, banana gorilla, Borat gorilla, Doctor Gorilla, and many more outfits and costumes. It was quite a sight to see all these people in gorilla suits. Afterwards we headed back home and had a lazy afternoon. Napping, movies, and TV ensued.

Clown Gorilla

Sunday I woke and started the day off with homework. I was then able to talk to some family and friends through Skype. Then my flat mates and I went over to the Regents Street Festival. This was a street festival on one of London’s major streets. They shut down the street and they had fair rides, store giveaways, balloons, free cupcakes, and my personal favorite… Calvin Klein underwear models!!!! After standing in line for a free cupcake, which was possibly the most delicious cupcake in the world, Hannah and I wondered the streets and went into stores. As we were passing the Calvin Klein store, the underwear models were out front. We were able to get some pictures with them which pretty much made the weekend a success. After listening to some live bands that were kind of bad, we headed back home. It was a simple evening filled with preparing for my “As You Like It” Theatre presentation.

The excellent free cupcake

Hannah and I with our future boyfriends

Yea I might be in heaven right here

Well soon it will be class time and I must be ready for my presentation. I’ll write again soon.

Much love,
KP

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks

Hey All,

So I’ve come to the end of another school week. My 3rd to be exact. It’s hard to believe that 3 weeks have already flown by. School was alright this week. On Tuesday I went on a SoHo walking tour which was cool. We got to see some old blues joints and learned about the rise of blues. Did you know that though rhythm & blues got its start in America, most of the artist had to come to England to get famous? The English loved the blues movement when the Americans were still ignoring such music. It was very cool to see where artists such as Muddy Waters had played at back in the day.

Jamie and I enjoying a night off

I handed in my first history paper on Wednesday. This is the first time in 2 years that I’ve wrote an assignment in history that wasn’t required to be 5 or more pages. A 2 page paper! Can you believe it??? I couldn’t. I wrote about the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. I won’t bore you with the details of it, so I’ll sum it up in one sentence (albeit a run-on one). Ancient Greeks build Parthenon, English man in the early 1800s gets questionable permission from Turks to take parts of Parthenon mural (aka Marbles), Parliament buys Marbles from English man, and present day Greeks and New Acropolis Museum want Marbles back. Question: Should the Marbles be returned to Greece???? (you are welcome to leave your answer!!!)

Today my Culture by Design class went on an awesome outing to the British Library. Not only does this library have every book printed in the English language (can I move in please???!!!), it also has an awesome museum. The museum, located inside the library, has some real treasures. We saw 1 of the last remaining original copies of the Magna Carter. They also had some cool Beatles memorabilia (see picture) and some of Shakespeare’s original work. The most interesting book in the collection, in my opinion anyway, was the Gutenberg Bible (look mommy, I mentioned the bible). The Guttenberg Bible was the first mass printed bible, printed with the newly invented printing press. Of the thousands made and sold back in the mid-1400s only about 48 survive. Out of the 48, there are only 3 perfect bibles still intact with all its pages. Today, I got to see one of the three. It was awesome. It was in Latin so I didn’t understand a word of it, but to gaze upon it. To look at something I’ve studied many times, and finally comprehend what this printing press and this bible represented was just amazing. I was speechless.

Statue of Newton

British Library (its huge!)

First version of the Beatles "Yesterday"

To end the day, we all went to the theatre. Not just any theatre, I might add, but The Globe Theatre. Shakespeare’s Theatre. Tonight I was a common groundling watching greatness happen. We saw “As You Like It” performed almost as it would have been preformed back in Elizabethan times (except that females actually played the female parts). It was great. I didn’t enjoy standing for 2.5 hours, but when you’re in England and seeing Shakespeare being performed at the Globe Theatre, you can’t complain too much. Luckily it didn’t rain tonight, since the Globe is an open air theatre which means it has no roof. It was a great experience and I can’t wait to give my presentation about it on Monday for Theatre class

Me being a groundling

St. Paul's at Sunset from Globe Theatre

Inside the Globe

Whitney, Hannah, & I

Ok it’s bedtime for me. I must be up bright and early in order to go to Brighton in the morning. I’ll write again soon.

Much love,
KP

Routine

So the past few days I have just started to settle into a routine. I went to 2 different museums for class on Wednesday and Thursday (the Army Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum). At the Army Museum, my class (aka my roommate, myself, and our teacher. yes we have a 2 person class) looked at World War 1. It was mildy interesting, though unfortunately I am not the biggest fan of museums. On Thursday I went to the V&A Museum. This museum is affectionately called Britain's Attic. I found out why when we visited. It is the oddest collection of stuff (one might say junk if they weren't classy like me). They had different size and shape lamps, chairs, bookshelves, couches, Zach Morris cell phone, vacuums (which i wanted because it was pink and purple), and even a pair of Air Nike's. It was odd to say the least.

This weekend was our first free weekend, which meant we were not required to do group activities nor be up at the crack of dawn. On Friday, my flat went shopping. We went to this awesome store called Primark which is all the rage in London. I bought a winter jacket from there. Then we wondered up and down the streets just window shopping. Hannah and I went over to Covent Gardens and looked at some stores there and bought a couple of things.

Saturday was our day of rest. We lounged around the house and enjoyed not having to be constantly in motion. We watched TV, watched some movies, I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was very peaceful. On Saturday night, many people went out. I decided to stay in due to a cold. But I helped the girls get ready. It was quite amusing to watch and help them. Since I wasn't allowed to go out, I stayed in and listened to the JMU Football team kick some VMI butt (GO DUKES!!!). It was quite fun for me.

Today my flat decided to go to the outdoor Sunday market over on the East End. We wondered through shops and carts, had coffee, and generally had fun. I've been doing homework and such for the rest of the day. now it's time for dinner.

Much love,

KP

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered"

Ok so my last post kind of rambled. So I will try to be shorter and more concise. And maybe get the picture thing down while I’m at it. So here we go.

You are all probably wondering why the title of my post is a quote from Nelson Mandela (and if you aren’t then you should be lol). Well as many of you know (or don’t know depending on how close we are), eight years ago when I was 13 years old I ventured across the “Pond” with my family. We came to London for 10 days and explored the city and its history. It was here that I realized the hold history had over me. Here that I fell in love with Tudor England and the Elizabethan period. It was here that I made the unconscious choice to pursue history as a major. In short, it was in this great city that my love of history blossomed.

This weekend we returned to places I had visited so many years ago, when I was young and didn’t know what life had in store for me. On Friday morning we ventured out to the Tower of London. I stood before the armor of Henry VIII, the great Tudor king who captured my attention as an adolescent. I stood in front of the Crown Jewels, which have been used for centuries to crown the monarch of England. I took pictures near where 3 queens lost their heads, most importantly and intriguingly to me, Anne Boleyn. For one morning I was tumbled back into the past. Not Tudor past, but my own. For that moment in time I remembered a sad little girl who knew nothing of what life held for her, but was so interested in this slice of history. She didn’t know that this interest would turn into a passion that would launch her college career.

Later on in the day, we all rode the tube over to Westminster Abbey and did an audio tour inside the Abbey. As I walked into this historic church, I had to catch my breath. Not only was I walking into an important part of European history, I was also retracing the steps of the girl I use to be. I stood in front of the alter where kings and queens of England have been crowned. I saw the Coronation Chair that many monarchs have set in. How could thing’s get better then this? Well they did. I got to stand in Poet’s Corner where plaques honor some of the greatest literary figures ever. Shakespeare, Austen, Byron, the Bronte sisters and so many more. But even this corner could be beaten. I came full circle when I stood in front of the tomb of Elizabeth I and her sister Mary I. They were buried together and on the floor of the room is a quote that I couldn’t get out of my mind all day: “Near the tomb of Mary and Elizabeth remember before God all those who divided at the Reformation by different convictions laid down their lives for Christ and conscience’ sake.”

Elizabeth has always been a hero of mine, and her history has kept my attention for many years. Just being in that room brought so many emotions and reflections to the surface. In that moment I looked back at the past 8 years, and saw what my life had been like. I saw myself as that little girl in awe standing in front of this tomb, and I compared her to the young women who now stood before Elizabeth and Mary’s tomb. It’s amazing, the room and the tomb were just as I remembered, yet something had altered. That something was me. I had done more then aged, I had grown and matured. I had lived life and somehow survived. Most importantly I had lived up to the promise I made to myself so many years ago as I stood in front of this tomb: that one day I would return. Return I have, and let me tell you, though the road was long and hard, it was definitely worth it.

Tower of London, My first love

Me & Tower Bridge

Execution Site for Royalty

Elizabeth's Mother, Henry VIII 2nd wife

Roommates!

Group pic at Tower of London

I guess that was a little more personal and heavy then my usual posts are. I just had so many feelings Friday. The rest of the weekend was much lighter, I promise. On Saturday we took a boat tour (so chilly) to Greenwich. This was an awesome experience since I got to climb up a very high and long hill. But at the top of that hill, I officially entered the Eastern Hemisphere (yea that’s right I’ve been to the East!) It was super awesome. I got to stand at the prime meridian. I got to be in 2 places at once, even better, I got to be in 2 hemispheres at once! Then about 8 of us chilled on the grassy hill, and eventually talked Trevor into log rolling down it (very high hill, yet very fun to watch). After coming down the hill we had an adventure getting back to our part of town. One of the train stations was closed so we had to take a bus to the tube station which resulted in Jamie, Mike, Christine, and I being a bit confused (but not lost).

2 hemispheres at once!

Eastern Hemisphere

Always Anchored, Always Delta Gamma

Sunday brought Speaker’s Corner. This is a place where you can just shout about things you want to talk about. We heard an old British lady on her stepladder tell us we are all bad and evil and don’t deserve to be in the mother country and that we should all leave England. It was very interesting.

We spent the afternoon in Regent’s Park and Camden Town and concluded our evening with dinner at our advisors house. His house was very nice and he fed us lots of Italian food which was yummy. After leaving his house, about 6 of us decided to check out the Thames Festival in which we saw some free runners (jump on polls and off walls and do crazy flips and stuff) and this awesome guy who was an amazing beat boxer. The festival ended with fireworks (I know fireworks in London with Big Ben and the London Eye as background!).

Me holding Trevor in both hemispheres

Great View

Trevor Log Rolling down the epic hill

The Petebox (beatbox guy)

Fireworks!

Yesterday I went to another play and saw "MotherCourage & Her Children." This was a long play yet so cool mainly due to the fact that Mrs. Dursley from Harry Potter played MotherCourage. Today I went to a Hindu temple and learned all about the religion.

Well that’s it for now. I guess this post is just as long as the other. Maybe I shouldn’t ramble about my self-reflection again. Let me know what you like and what you want to hear more of.

Much love,
KP

Week Uno

Ok, so I have officially finished my first school week in London (yea for 4 day school weeks!!). I've been to all 5 classes and they were interesting experiences. My first was theater class on Monday. We spent an hour in class (in which my teacher pulled out her bottle of gin & tonic cuz she can't get through class without a drink lol) and then after a quick dinner back at the flat 6 of us girls went in search of the theater for our first play. We got completely lost and just made it to the theater in time right before they closed the door. The play "Arcadia" was very interesting and lovely to see on stage.

On Tuesday, I had film class. We are currently reading and watching "Atonement" which I'm not gonna lie, is kinda boring!!! But for that class outing we went on a walking tour of "London as a film set." This tour was awesome and we got to see all the locations movies have shot in. I have no idea if that image adding worked, but the picture of me in front of the big building is the Bank they used as Gringotts in Harry Potter 1 (no comments on my dorky reading habits please. i was very excited about this pic).

On Wednesday, I had History class. My history class is a 2 person class in which my roommate and I are the only 2 students. Our teacher is very cool and only made us spend 45 minutes (instead of the 2.5 hours) at the British Museum (which is less then a 5 minute walk from my flat. I know how cool is that. I live less then 5 minutes from one of the oldest museums in the world!!) After class on Wed. a couple of friends and I went up to Camden Town and had tons of fun at the outdoor market. There are so many vendors and I fell in love with this outdoor flea market kind of place. I managed to not really buy much (only a couple of things lol). We also went into this really crazy Rave store. They had all these out of these world outfits for hardcore rave go-ers. We were out of place (no visible tattoos and/or piercings lol). The picture of me on the motorcycle is from Camden Town.

Today I had 2 classes: Culture by Design and Communications. Culture by Design was this morning and it was tons of fun. Our teacher is a JMU graduate who was born and raised in VA and did the London Study Abroad program. He loved London so much that after he graduated he decided to move here. AWESOME!!! He was mad cool and very chill. We went to Camden Town (which was cool. always up for another visit) on a safari. I then had 30 minutes for lunch and then off to my last class. Ok not gonna lie about this class, but I was not a fan. Pretty sure I am dropping it and adding the British Media and Society class instead. Though our outing for that class was interesting. We went down to Brixton (think Baltimore, and not the good parts either lol. more like the rough parts). Though its a rough area it was cool to see some other culture besides the touristy areas and the hipster area (Camden Town anyone?). We went down there to go see an art display at a gallery... but guess what??? The artist had to change his plans so he took his artwork up and left at 3 instead of staying until 5 like he was supposed to. So we got to look at empty walls and the gallery owner gave us drinks on the house for the inconvenience!!!!

This first week has just flown by. I've done so much yet not enough. I've been to the grocery store like 3 times (I'm not very good at it. and I drink A LOT of apple juice. Ah how I miss the days when mommy did the grocery shopping lol). I've been cooking for myself and throwing together my favorite meals (lucky I'm a simple girl at heart). I swear out I've been eating a lot but it doesn't seem like it. Every time I put food in my mouth, I then have to walk 20 miles somewhere so I burn through the food in my body very quickly. I swear after every outing I am always hungry. I also live in the top flat of my house, which means I have a natural stair master. I cannot wait for a nice home cooked meal without stairs and myself as the chef (be prepared mommy).

I've also hit up the party scene in London. Last Saturday a bunch of us went out to Piccadilly Square and went clubbing. It was tons of fun, the music was great, and we met lots of nice English people.

I've added some photos of me around the city and hanging with some of my new fav peeps. I believe there's one of me in front of The Globe, one of the night the girls and I went clubbing, me in front of Big Ben and Parliament, Nora and I annoying the British guard, one of my mini group all stuck in a phone booth, a pic of Madison House, and me standing in front of my future home (aka Buckingham Palace lol).

Well that's it for this post. I got to get to bed because tomorrow I must get up early to go to the Tower of London and Westminster. We are touring the whole weekend so I'll write about it hopefully Sunday (if I don't pass out from exhaustion)

Lots of Love,

KP

LONDON

Hi All,

So this will be my blog. I will attempt to keep this up in the hopes that you visit and keep up with me. I will try to be as witty and entertaining as possible, but as many of you know I am pretty much a boring person. Lots of love,
KP