Life Goes On

Well, as Iceland continues to send ash our way and the skies remain clear for the fifth day in a row, life does go on here in London.

Last weekend, at the beginning of all of this, I was happily oblivious to the repercussions of a persistent ash cloud, and I had a lovely weekend enjoying the beautiful sunshine and exploring places I had yet to go.

On Friday, I took an hour-long train ride to Brighton, to visit my English professor Susie by the sea. Susie met me at the train station with her adorable puppy, who was apparently very happy to see me. Then Susie gave me an unofficial tour of Brighton, eventually leading me down to the famous Brighton Pier and the ocean! We walked on the beach (which is made up of pebbles, as opposed to sand) then got lunch at a fish shop on the boardwalk. It felt a lot like Seaside, Oregon to me, only larger. After Susie left me on my own, I went to the Pavilion which is a breath-taking palace built by King George III during the Regency Era. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures anywhere inside, but it was absolutely gorgeous!

Afterword, I explored the North Lanes, which is full of hip and trendy shops geared towards kids exactly like me, pretty much. Brighton is a town full of university students, mostly art students. After seeing about three shops full of adorable 50s-style dresses, I decided I have no self control and I must go in and try a dress on. I walked out the proud new owner of an awesome rockabilly dress. Shortly after, I left Brighton as that was the only guaranteed way to keep myself from spending all my money.

On Saturday, I went with Annie to Kew Gardens. It is ridiculously expensive to get in, but it's huge inside and there is so much to see. It's especially enjoyable on a gorgeous 60 degree day, as this day was. I took 195 pictures at Kew Gardens, and you can see every single one here, in my Facebook photo album!

I finished up the weekend on Sunday by visiting The Globe Theatre with Hannah, Katy, and Liz for a free day to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday (he's 500 something now). The place was teeming with people, mostly under the age of 10, but it was a blast. We watched some plays and skits taking place on the stage, then sat in on a "gentle introduction" to King Henry VIII with a very adorable nerd who was funny but seemed a bit out of his element. We also took silly pictures as various Shakespeare characters, and got to walk on The Globe stage before leaving. But the birthday celebrations are far from over; Shakespeare's actual birthday is this coming weekend, and the entire class is off to Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday to spend the night, see King Lear, and join in the town's birthday festivities.

A new week of classes started up yesterday, but it's not quite the usual routine. Martin, our Britain Today professor and the man in charge at AHA, is stranded in Portland, Oregon until the ash cloud decides to cooperate with British airspace. So his class was canceled yesterday, leaving several students with a large gap of time to fill between our morning class and our evening class. The solution for many students was to watch Jurassic Park (I opted for a nap in the lounge downstairs). I haven't heard from Martin since Monday, so I have no idea where in the world Martin currently is. Hope he's able to return to London soon!

I have decided to write a news story for The Mast about the volcano eruption and its effects on people in the UK. I'm very excited about this (and, apparently, so are staff members back at The Mast), as it's my first piece for The Mast which is not opinion! Everyone should keep their eye on The Mast coming out this Friday, as it will feature two fascinating stories by me; the volcano story, as well as an opinion article defending the beautiful side of Parkland.

In closing, I would like to bring you this very special video from Shakespeare's birthday party on Sunday at The Globe. Some helpful volunteers were snagged from the audience to help the actors on stage sing a song about Macbeth to the tune of Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Enjoy!


An important update has been made since the beginning of this blog! British air space is officially open! However, as the volcano continues erupting and weather patterns may change, we're not entirely out of the clear yet. Keep your eyes to the sky, I suppose.