Well Midterms are over, and I am now officially on my one-and-a-half week Fall Break, which is obviously quite a relief. I leave for Italy at 8am tomorrow, it's horrible, but all I can think about is waking up early and then having to wait for the girls in the airport for four hours. Although after Ireland I should be a little more accustomed to staying in an airport for a long period of time. The fact that I'll be in Rome tomorrow has probably crossed by mind twice today. I know once I'm climbing the Spanish Steps worrying about the hassles of travel will melt away. Okay, I will admit I am very excited for this trip. Twelve days in the Old Country with good friends, it doesn't get much better than that. And yes, I may end up maxing out yet another credit card, but in ten years time that won't matter at all - but those twelve days will. That's essentially how I've been living my life out here, with a kind of reserved recklessness in which I collect debt like it's fashionable in order to live my life from one once-in-a-lifetime moment to the next. I'll pay for it later, but I will never regret it. On that note, I just finished booking my four day November trip to Bergen, Norway. Which I am obviously very excited about, because then my heritage tour will be complete (sorry Sweden). That now means that I have booked every weekend until I leave, again, the reserved recklessness.
I figure I should give a little mini-update on this week, because these three days will pale in comparison (in my memory especially) to Italy.
Monday, October 15th
Class all day. Two midterms. Parliament session at night, which was a bit disappointing because John Hayes (the MP that teaches those sessions) didn't talk about the recent developments in British Politics. Basically the Conservatives under David Cameron are now 8 points ahead of Labour under Gordon Brown, and the Conservatives haven't been ahead of Labour since 1992 - I'd say that's a pretty big deal. Oh by the way, British Politics are way more fun than US Politics.
Tuesday, October 16th
Worked on museum project and turned it in the afternoon. It was an assignment for my Museums and Galleries class in which I had to design a temporary exhibit. Everybody else did art exhibitions, I did an exhibition on the history of war and peace between Britain and Ireland in the 20th century. Which may have had something to do with my recent trip to Ireland's National Museum and the London Imperial War Museum, just maybe. It'll be interesting to see what an Art History PHD thinks of it. Spent the evening finishing up my British Politics presentation that I have to give the Monday I fly in from Milan.
Wednesday, October 17th
Visited the British Museum with Museums and Galleries class. It was very interesting because we've been studying the controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles for the past week, and we were able to see them in person, and then argue amongst ourselves in the exhibit. I will risk having an opinion and say that I believe they should stay in the British Museum. We toured the museum for three hours with our professor lecturing, which was a good learning experience, but exhausting. I then took the one-hour Tube ride to Richmond, which is a city/town right outside of London (where the freshman/sophomore campus of Richmond University is, hence the name) that I haven't been to yet. It was absolutely beautiful. I met up with my History of London class and we went on a two-mile river walk along the Thames, and I actually realized that not all of the Thames looks like an enormous, horribly polluted and garbage-choked version of the Puyallup River. It was very picturesque, but two miles in the mud is quite tiresome to say the least. We reached our destination, which is called Ham House. I expected a quirky cottage judging from the name, but it turned out to be a lovely 17th century country home/mansion. The gardens were amazing in their size and design, but being that it is the middle of Autumn, everything was a shade of green or brown. After spending about two hours on the grounds I trekked the two miles back in the mud, with no shoes, in the snow, all uphill, whilst being chased by dogs. Okay, it was just two miles in the mud, and there was one little incline, but I assure you I was tired. All right, that's enough whining about walking from the twenty-one year old.
So needless to say, I found my way back here. I spent the evening once more finishing up my presentation, packing, and fending off invitations to the pub. Italia, here I come.
I figure I should give a little mini-update on this week, because these three days will pale in comparison (in my memory especially) to Italy.
Monday, October 15th
Class all day. Two midterms. Parliament session at night, which was a bit disappointing because John Hayes (the MP that teaches those sessions) didn't talk about the recent developments in British Politics. Basically the Conservatives under David Cameron are now 8 points ahead of Labour under Gordon Brown, and the Conservatives haven't been ahead of Labour since 1992 - I'd say that's a pretty big deal. Oh by the way, British Politics are way more fun than US Politics.
Tuesday, October 16th
Worked on museum project and turned it in the afternoon. It was an assignment for my Museums and Galleries class in which I had to design a temporary exhibit. Everybody else did art exhibitions, I did an exhibition on the history of war and peace between Britain and Ireland in the 20th century. Which may have had something to do with my recent trip to Ireland's National Museum and the London Imperial War Museum, just maybe. It'll be interesting to see what an Art History PHD thinks of it. Spent the evening finishing up my British Politics presentation that I have to give the Monday I fly in from Milan.
Wednesday, October 17th
Visited the British Museum with Museums and Galleries class. It was very interesting because we've been studying the controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles for the past week, and we were able to see them in person, and then argue amongst ourselves in the exhibit. I will risk having an opinion and say that I believe they should stay in the British Museum. We toured the museum for three hours with our professor lecturing, which was a good learning experience, but exhausting. I then took the one-hour Tube ride to Richmond, which is a city/town right outside of London (where the freshman/sophomore campus of Richmond University is, hence the name) that I haven't been to yet. It was absolutely beautiful. I met up with my History of London class and we went on a two-mile river walk along the Thames, and I actually realized that not all of the Thames looks like an enormous, horribly polluted and garbage-choked version of the Puyallup River. It was very picturesque, but two miles in the mud is quite tiresome to say the least. We reached our destination, which is called Ham House. I expected a quirky cottage judging from the name, but it turned out to be a lovely 17th century country home/mansion. The gardens were amazing in their size and design, but being that it is the middle of Autumn, everything was a shade of green or brown. After spending about two hours on the grounds I trekked the two miles back in the mud, with no shoes, in the snow, all uphill, whilst being chased by dogs. Okay, it was just two miles in the mud, and there was one little incline, but I assure you I was tired. All right, that's enough whining about walking from the twenty-one year old.
So needless to say, I found my way back here. I spent the evening once more finishing up my presentation, packing, and fending off invitations to the pub. Italia, here I come.
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