What do these three very different things have in common? The answer: they all fit into my day today! This is going to be a shorter entry than usual, as I need to do some laundry, dishes and general housekeeping tasks in the morning-a time I normally reserve for blogging.
I’ll see you on The Dark Side of the Moon… with a linear diffraction grating!
My day began with blogging, and then continued with my Isaac Newton class, in which we built our own spectrometers. For those of you who (like me) had never heard of these before, spectrometers are instruments used to observe, measure and/or record spectra like light. It sounds high-tech, but our professor showed us how to make one using our phone cameras, black paper, duct tape and a linear diffraction grating (a special transparent sheet similar to a prism).
In the afternoon, we took the tube to King’s Cross station-I suspect Harry
Over 170 million volumes from countries across the world!
Potter fans are now on high alert-and walked from there to the British Library, one of the most extensive on Earth. You can’t check out books unless you are a registered member of the library, so we headed straight to ‘Treasures of the British Library’, an admission and camera-free exhibit available year-round. Some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notes, the
Me pretending to be Vivien Leigh as Shakespeare’s Titania!
Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, original Beatles lyrics handwritten by various members and the only existing manuscript of Beowulf. They also had an exhibit about the rise of punk rock, with particular emphasis on the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, which I loved!
After spending several hours in the library, we returned to King’s Cross and then took the tube back to Scape… Just kidding! We couldn’t pass up
Hogwarts Express, anyone?
the opportunity to visit Platform 9 3/4! Unfortunately, we arrived during rush hour and there were dozens of people in line to take pictures underneath the sign, so we opted to wait and come back another day/time when there are fewer people.
No photography inside the exhibit, but what an experience to see them!
My English Lit class reconvened yesterday morning to finish up our examination of Beowulf; I really enjoyed the tale, and it was fun to read something that I might not normally pick for myself, though I would be lost without the translation into Modern English! After our discussion and lecture, we debated whether or not the tongue of Shakespeare’s era is considered ‘Early Modern English’, early ‘Modern English’, or just ‘Modern English’, an exchange made more energetic because my two professors (who are team-teaching in a very unorthodox yet effective way, with both of them actively teaching simultaneously, as opposed to the more traditional method of switching off on various days) are experts in different time periods: Medieval Literature and Early Modern Literature. The two sort of blend together during Shakespeare’s time, which led to the debate.
Walking around the perimeter of the Tower; the green lawn is where the WWI memorial poppies were located.
After class, we walked to and through the Tower of London. It felt odd following in centuries of footsteps from prisoners to princesses alike…or both, in the case of Elizabeth I! Much of the grounds haven’t changed in hundreds of years; it was as though we traveled through time. I saw things like Traitor’s Gate, where Queen Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth I and second of King Henry VIII’s six wives, arrived by barge for her execution, the famous ravens that, according to legend, can’t leave the Tower or else England will fall, and the Crown Jewels, which have been used by the royal family since the 17th century! I had read about these things since elementary school in books like Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor in the Royal Diaries series, Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter and The Other Boleyn Girl by
Looking out toward Tower Bridge!
Philippa Gregory. I also really enjoyed an exhibit about the recent 100 year anniversary of WWI in 2014, in which all 16 acres of Tower lawn were filled with hand-made ceramic poppies, each one commemorating an English soldier who died on the front lines. It was all so spectacular!
Last night, I went grocery shopping to re-stock my little kitchenette, and, after nightfall, when the glow of the city lights lit up the sky, I explored new areas around Scape with friends. We even got to walk in warm, refreshing rain! It’s been pretty warm here, so that was a welcome change. A Level 3 heatwave alert was put out by Public Health England for the London area a few days ago, which essentially means that it’s a lot like typical Corvallis summer weather, with daily highs in the mid to upper 80s. People here aren’t used to that kind of heat, though, so in addition to our various excursion sites being far less crowded (yay!) they’ve been doing things like passing out free bottled water in the tube stations during rush hour! When it started sprinkling tonight, throngs of people emerged from their air-conditioned flats to cool off, and it was fun to be a part of that celebration. For dinner, we found a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that played Sing! China in Chinese on a TV, with subtitles (interestingly) also in Chinese.
There’s no class for me this morning-there is for the other HC 407 class, Natural Hazards Engineering, which I’m not taking-so instead, I finished reading the General Prologue and Retraction of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in preparation for tomorrow’s English Lit class/Monday’s day trip to Canterbury. This afternoon, we’ll be visiting the British Library!
Sir Isaac Newton. The man. The myth. The apple-infused legend. Despite attending Isaac Newton Magnet School for middle school, until registering for HC 407: Isaac Newton: Opticks, Colour, Gravity and Navigation (my other course here in London), I knew very little about the man after whom my old school was named. That changed after yesterday’s class discussion about Isaac Newton by James Gleick. None of us realized that, in addition to his revolutionary discoveries in calculus, gravity, etc., Newton dabbled in rather controversial subjects, like alchemy, theology and even what we of the modern era call embezzlement. He had a pretty diverse resume!
A pair of our OSU College of Science Rainbow Glasses in action.
We also did some experiments with prisms and bending light, since Newton explored ‘opticks’ and ‘colour’ as well. These activities were designed to prepare us for our visit to the Tower of London today, where we’ll get to see the Crown Jewels.
Following class yesterday morning, we
On the London Eye, with the British Parliament building in the background!
had a few hours of down time before a quick tube ride to Waterloo Station and the London Eye this afternoon. It was amazing!!! One turn around took about 3o minutes, and at the top, we were 443 feet up (a bit under the height of the Washington Monument)! We could see for miles in every direction, including a new take on the Parliament buildings and Big Ben!
It was quite hot yesterday, so after taking our ride on the London Eye, we split off into smaller groups and wandered along the refreshingly breezy Thames through Jubilee Gardens before crossing the river toward Covent Garden, a trendy district ripe with street performers, pubs and shops. We found the East India Company shop inside a marketplace from the 1830s, which sold a tea called ‘Boston Tea Party’, designed to ‘revive one after revolutionary activity’! Interestingly, The East India Company was founded under Queen Elizabeth I to search for spices believed to cure the plague, but ended up bringing goods like sugar, coffee and tea to England. That’s right, tea! Tea has only been a part of English culture for a few hundred years! How would Brits be today without access to a good cuppa?
Admiring Leicester Square!
From Covent Garden, we meandered into Leicester Square, aka Theatreland. The area evokes a New York City/Times Square vibe, as it’s packed with glittering lights and signboards, people speaking in all languages and dialects, massive posters for upcoming events and more street performers (including a phenomenal beat boxer). To contrast this modernity, there’s also a statue of William Shakespeare in the middle of the square, surrounded by a fenced-in grassy area where many families were having picnics.
We continued west to Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are located (both are places that we’ll visit as a group later). It was here that I truly noticed that the classic architectural style we in the US associate with places of importance, such as the White House, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, etc., runs rampant amongst even ordinary residences in London. Despite the high-tech skyscrapers and contemporaneity, this really is a city steeped in history.
Sunset over Buckingham Palace in St. James’s Park.
We concluded our explorations as the sun set in St. James’s Park, a lush haven set just behind the Horse Guards Parade Ground and just in front of Buckingham Palace. It was a lot of fun taking a break from walking (we got in about 12 miles after our trip on the Eye alone) and relax on a bench, watching the passers-by.
St. James’s Park Tube Station was our portal home tonight, and once we returned to Scape, we made dinner in the communal kitchen and had a study party to prepare for today’s English Lit lesson on Beowulf, continued from Monday.
Today was ripe with introductions! Firstly, to my main class during my time in London, ENG 204H: Survey of British Literature (Beginnings to 1660), and secondly, to the western portion of the city and the riverfront.
In addition to exploring and experiencing a new culture while abroad, I get to learn more in two subjects with which I have little to no knowledge:
My profile & the Thames’ profile!
medieval to early modern literature and physics. My English lit class met for the first time this morning, and we began with several fun, interactive activities to establish a foundation for us to build upon as we read works like Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, etc. One of these activities involved finding examples of kennings, which, in Old English poetry, are compounds of two words that together offer a metaphorical description/synonym of an ordinary word. Some of them are hilarious! A friend joked that we should bring them back… “You have beautiful head-gems (eyes)!” Also, make fog or mist seem more exciting by calling it ‘cloud-murk’!
Wow!
After a break for lunch, we all met as a group to walk to the Tower of London. There, we got on a double-decker, open-top bus with a great tour guide, who spun tales and pointed out significant/interesting/funny places around the western portion of the city. I was most excited to see Big Ben up close, and I later found out that the name ‘Big Ben’ actually refers to
Quintessential London… Bustling sidewalks, black cabs, gorgeous flats, red phone booths, the London Eye on the horizon… Also, an advert for the comedy ‘Naked Magicians’!
the 13 ton bell inside the tower, not the building itself! Our route took us all along the Thames and the many famous landmarks in that part of London, most of which we’ll be visiting on foot later. Tomorrow, we’re taking a turn on the London Eye!
My flat’s view of Eastern London. Note the double decker bus on the ‘wrong’ side of the road!
After a good night’s sleep, I’m rested and ready to take on the day! Currently, I’m enjoying some coffee (because, well, tea isn’t really my cup of tea) and taking in the view of the city. I feel entirely comfortable and at home and yet distinctly foreign and unfamiliar.
One of the main things I’ve noted since arriving in the city is that overarching idea of contradictions: everything from the dialects used in print versus in the streets, to the official and unofficial rules of the road, it seems as though two very different takes on London coexist harmoniously. Even the buildings themselves are a pleasant hodgepodge of sleek, modern high-rises and squat, historic brick churches or cottages.
Crossing the Tower Bridge over the Thames! The London Eye and Parliament can be seen in the background on opposite banks.
On the drive from Heathrow to our housing, it became very clear that, similar to California, drivers here pay little to no attention to the many, many street signs (another odd juxtaposition). Our cab driver took a creative route through town that involved several u-turns and short-cuts through alleys to avoid traffic, and during that ride we passed by everything from Buckingham Palace to Alfred Hitchcock’s house to Westminster Abbey. While we (that is, Katie, Hayden and I, who had flights that arrived around the same time yesterday) ogled at the sights, to our driver, it was no big deal to pass a palace on a daily commute!
An excerpt from this yogurt’s nutrition information: “Fat… of which saturates… Carbohydrate… of which sugars…” Also, ‘colours’ and ‘flavours’.
We all went out to dinner last night to Nando’s, and this was our first mass-exposure to British accents, which vary extremely in understandability, yet all share a heavy use of slang, idioms and a casual tone. Afterwards, we walked to a nearby grocery store, Sainsbury’s, where I noticed that the labelling of nutrition facts was far more polite than both how locals speak and how our food is labeled in the States. It’s very odd seeing the prices of things labelled in pound sterling/pounds/quid, because everything looks cheap!
My flat – I love it!
Yesterday was full of excitement, so I was ready to get to sleep when I got back last night, which was roughly the same time as when I would normally go to bed back home; in other words, the adjustment to London time was way easier than I’d expected! Hurrah!
I’ll update this post with a few more pictures later this evening, as we’re going to visit our classroom and take a barge along the Thames this afternoon!
Update:
Our barge was actually through the canals of Little Venice, which was
You can almost hear the accordions of Italy…
beautiful! Some of the highlights of our boat excursion were seeing the second largest garden in London (in the yard of a sultan, whose property acreage was just slightly less than that of the Queen’s at Buckingham Palace), getting to know each other post-jetlag, and, of course, people-watching as walkers and runners passed by on the shore. After our tour, we took the tube to Paddington Station, which is the
The OSU Honors College crew!
closest stop to our classroom. Although we couldn’t get into the building since it’s closed on Sunday, we located our college campus and were then set loose to roam the city. I went with several friends who also wanted to explore this area of town, and together we found a cute marketplace to try fish and chips for the first time (yum!). A
Upper level of a red bus! Great view, and made for fun turns!
famous double decker red bus was our ride home this evening, which was really fun!
Today’s entry is brought to you, dear reader, over American, Canadian and British airwaves! Specifically, those of PDX (Portland, OR, International
Tick, tock, tick, tock, London’s on the clock!
Airport), YVR (Vancouver, BC, International Airport) and Scape East (my dorm/home away from home). I love air travel and being in airports – there’s a unique, indescribable charge to the atmosphere, and airports are one of very few places that are designed for only temporary occupation. It’s a bustling hive of perpetual going. People often talk of ‘enjoying the journey’ and say that ‘the journey, not the destination, is what matters’, yet paradoxically dislike spending time in airports, which are inherently crucial to most long-distance journeys. As a kid, I agreed. I wanted to be able to get on a plane right away and get to wherever it was I was going.
I’m smiling because the plane is on time!
Now, however, I’ve grown to appreciate the diversity in both the visitors and their journeys; I cannot fathom the sheer number of people who have used, are using, and will use Portland/Vancouver/Heathrow/etc. as a vessel for their travels, nor can I imagine exactly how and to what extent those people and journeys have crossed paths with my own. We’re all strangers to each other, and we will most likely never see many of those around us again in our entire lives.
Vancouver bound!
But we’re here now, together, on separate paths that collided by chance in bright airports with, for example, famous carpet.
After traveling for a lot of hours (honestly, I lost track after awhile), I made it safely to London around 2:30 pm local time, and am posting this from my flat after experiencing some technological difficulties at the Vancouver airport during my layover between flights. Cheerio, mates!
I’m more than stirring, I’m positively bursting with excitement! It’s weird to think that I’ll be in the air and on my way across the Atlantic in just 24 hours. The bags (as well as their carrier) are ready to go to Portland tomorrow…
Today I submitted the last of the required forms and materials to my OSU Global Opportunities (aka OSU GO-isn’t that clever?) application, including my passport and flight information. I’ll be flying from Portland, OR, to Vancouver, BC (it will be my first time in Canada), then on to Heathrow airport, where I will be meeting my classmates for a shuttle to our dorm. Overall, I’ll be spending roughly 10.5 hours in the air, plus a short layover in Vancouver. Whew! This will be the longest I’ve ever spent in a plane, but it’s completely worth it! I’m already thinking what books to bring and will be sure to triple-check that I have my headphones for music, although I like flying and don’t think the length of time in the air will be an issue. The time difference and jet lag, well, that’s another story! Only 54 more days to go…
My countdown to London… It says 54, but it feels more like four!
Welcome to blogs.oregonstate.edu/adventuresacrossthepond! This is where I’ll be posting some fun pictures and tales from my time in London. Friends, family, strangers: enjoy!
