Falling Slowly

One morning in London I went to the Charles Dickens museum. The museum is located inside Dickens' old house down on Doughty Street. It was very interesting walking around the neighborhoods that Charles Dickens was so familiar with all those years ago. I tried to envision what it was like to live in the 1800's and it was amazing to see some of the structures that were still in place. Charles Dickens was a very prestigious writer and is still well-known today. On this trip I had to read Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and Hard Times - So I am very familiar with his writing! Dickens was a very interesting man and obsessed with maintaining an impressive status in his community. His efforts were clearly seen in his four story house. The house and museum was beautiful. Every room was restored to its "original" state and filled with the authentic furniture Charles had owned. I toured his dining room, study, bedroom, and learned all about his life within his family and career. Touring the museum didn't last long, but I learned so much more about Charles Dickens by being in his environment. When I first started reading all the novels I wasn't fond of Dickens' writing style and would dread to endure another story. However, after learning all the struggle he experienced throughout his life, I have gained some respect for him. He was man who didn't agree with child labor and wished social classes would be generous and courteous to each other, which was rare in the Victorian Era. As the day turned into night I went and saw "Once the Musical." This was my fourth and final show on this trip and I knew this production in particular was going to be special. The story of this musical is about a man who is a very talented guitar player and singer  who had his heart broken. He then meets a girl who inspires him to continue with his music and they both make an album together. The story was absolutely memorizing and reminded me the importance of individuals in my life and how much they can make a difference.

July 22nd: Cambridge

  Hello, this is Autumn Pepper! Last Monday we all took a trip to Cambridge. It was so gorgeous! When we left in the morning we had to figure out how to get to the right coach station, but once we made it on the bus I think we all slept. Once we got there we made our leisurely way to where we were supposed to meet our tour guide, and then broke off to check out the little market happening right in front of our starting place! I bought a Jamaican chocolate muffin and a leather pen. You never know what you'll find! Our tour guide was so fun. She told us a lot about the college and about the community. I enjoyed her company very much! So many scientific discoveries happened in Cambridge. It really is so rich in history, it's unbelievable. We found the place where the tree stood that made Newton wonder about gravity. We passed by the buildings where the electron was discovered. We entered a chapel that was built during the Wars of the Roses. And then we had high tea! It was by far my favorite meal since being in London. We had little mini sandwiches, scones, and cakes--along with tea, of course. It was so filling and delicious! After tea we all relaxed a bit and did our own thing. Kyle and I went to the water's edge and just relaxed. It was so, so nice. Then we all came home and took it easy after a long day...but then Julie and I went out to salsa dance! London has truly been a surprising place. You can find so many great and unusual things to suit your fancy. It's the second to the last day here, and I'm going to HAVE to come back. Travel has taught me that I have power over my life and that I can truly just succeed in whatever I want to try. What this trip has given me is priceless, and I'm so grateful to everyone who has made it possible!

This was the Eagle: a little iconic restaurant in Cambridge.

The grass was incredibly green in this part of the university!

This is the breathtaking ceiling of King's College Chapel.

A replanted tree on the site where Newton saw the apple fall! You all know what happened after that.

Just a few handsome Americans walking through Cambridge. :) (this is our whole group)

July 24th

This entry is for two days ago on the 24th.  Time flies when you're having fun!  Myself, Chole and Sarah Staron first went to the Docklands Museum.  That museum contained so much information and knowledge that I knew nothing about; it was a museum unlike any other I'd been to.  I am used to going to art, science, or history museums, but a Docklands museum was different in itself.

Afterwards Chole and I went to the Tower of London where we saw some torture tools, prison cells, the Tower Bridge, and of course The Crown Jewels.  They were breathtakingly beautiful and well worth the hour we waited to see them.  My body was covered in goosebumps by the time we saw them all; I was blown away.

I gave myself some downtime in the afternoon because that evening a few girls and I attended a musical called Once.  You maybe not be familiar with this production because it originally came out as a relatively small movie, and now it is a musical.  When we showed up we got automatically upgraded to better seats, and the musical itself was quite good.  During intermission they turned the stage into a bar which was fun.

Traversing New York and London by myself has given me more confidence than I already had regarding traveling and more importantly traveling alone.  I now feel more comfortable in taking risks in choosing my future setting for either schooling or the rest of my life.  I think I would be completely comfortable moving across the nation, or the world.  I love the idea of setting up shop somewhere new and discovering a new adventure everyday.

                                                                 Outside of the Tower of London

                                                                   Tower Bridge

                                                                   The White Tower

                                                                     Beautiful!

July 24, 2013

It's Olivia again!

Today, Cait and I took a trip to the Museum of Britian. The Museum was incredibly beautiful. The ceilings were the highest I've ever seen. There was such detail in everything that even the staircases were beautiful. There were various exhibits on art from all around the world including China, India, Africa and South America. Cait and I decided to split up after the museum and explore on our own. I went to find lunch and did a little bit of window shopping. The fashion here is pretty different than in America but I think most of the group really enjoys the style of clothing here. I of course had to make a quick stop at Starbucks where they serve different drinks than at the American Starbucks. Of course, I ordered a Venti which here is really the size of our Grande. Everything is smaller in London!

A Beautiful Day--in EVERY Way Possible

Well this post is a little late, but Thursday the 18 of July was one of my most favorite days of this entire trip. It started with an early morning breakfast of friends who would rather be asleep, and then catching the Tube to head over to Highgate Cemetery. We arrived to the stop that we were supposed to get off an hour before our tour was scheduled to start though, so we took our time walking over to the cemetery. We were originally going to walk all the way around the city (which happened to be positioned on one of the steepest hills I have ever seen in my life) but Julie stopped and asked someone for directions, and we found a shortcut. Not only did this shortcut save us from trying to defy gravity, but it also took us though a beautiful deli and garden--but most importantly, a PLAYGROUND! There was a tire swing, a rope obstacle course thing that looked like it belonged in military training grounds, and much more! It was fantastic and everyone's inner seven year old came out to the forefront. :) After the play break, we made our way over to the cemetery entrance and met our perky tour guide. This woman knew almost everything there was to know about Charles Dickens. The tour she led us on in the cemetery taught me more about one man's life and connections than I know about any other person. It was incredibly detailed! She started this particular tour last February for Charles Dickens' Bicentenary. She led his own family on the tour and it was very successful. The cemetery itself was absolutely gorgeous. It was huge and very green.

That evening, we went to see Billy Elliot the Musical. Oh. My. Goodness. It was the story about a boy who was brought up in a family of miners. However, the town had gone on strike and the older brother and father were huge members of the community leading the strike. The father and brother also want Billy to grow up and become a boxer, but Billy's heart lies in the field of dance. His mother passes away, and his father and brother forbid him from dancing, but he still secretly dances. It was unbelievably amazing. My favorite part was when the 12 year old actor does a solo performance to the song "Electricity." His passion and his love for dance clearly poured through every moment of his body when he moved and in the end, he received a full standing ovation, 500 strong. He tried so hard to hold his end pose for as long as he could, but he broke character and let the pure, innocent look of surprise and gratitude and amazement sweep over his face. It was the most incredible look in the world, and I wanted to stand there and clap for him forever. I absolutely loved the musical, and I am so glad and so lucky I had the chance to see it. 

London and Things

London, Day 3:
Hello from London. This is Jake from the UA Honors and such.
The weather here is exceptional so we spend our days walking the dickens out of London.
Yesterday was Dickens' friends and family at the Highgate Cemetery, today was Dickens' house, and there was a lot of walking in between all of that. And shopping. And eating. Oh, and learning! Almost forgot. Much learning swims around the Sundial Court and throughout the streets of the Motherland, and there is more learning still to come as we travel deeper down the Dickens hole...That doesn't sound right...
Well, De Berry is maxin' and relaxin' all cool while some of the crew are getting psyched out of their minds about some dance electronic music EDC festival thing that's happening tomorrow. What am I doing? Getting pumped for making some epic pasta and jamming to British pop music because I am about that life. There are still numerous things that must be done such as:
Meet Daniel Craig
Meet Pierce Brosnana
Meet Carey Mulligan
Meet Emma Watson
Meet Sherlock Holmes
Meet Peter Pan
Meet Harry Potter
Eat

That sums up the majority of this colourful life. I hope all y'all aren't missing us too much, and I'll see you next time on Our Tale of Two Cities.
Stay classy.

Across the Pond

Preface: We didn't have any wifi connection yesterday, so this blog post will talk about yesterday's adventures.

Yesterday felt like the longest day ever. We arrived at Heathrow at 6:35 and went through customs. The line was really long but the process took 5 seconds. After customs, we got our baggage and then headed outside to grab a taxi. Obviously, the first thing that we noticed was that the cars drive on the other side of the road, and the steering wheels are on the opposite side of the car. 

We took a cab all the way to our dorms, and upon arrival, I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a disaster. Our rooms weren't ready yet and everyone was dead exhausted, so we hung out in the basement and almost everyone took a nap.

After a while, we got up and walked around a little bit. I have to say, London isn't what I expected it to be, and I'm not sure if I mean that in a good way or a bad way. However, it was fun to see what was around us, and I LOVE the accents.

After walking around, we came back and finally got our rooms. We unpacked and rested for a while, and I did laundry, and then we met up at 8:15 to go out for Cait's birthday.

We went to a place called Globe, which was really good, to be honest. Afterwards, we walked around a while and then finally headed back. I think a lot of us just immediately passed out, which was good because the jet lag is just awful. 

But, I knew that we were all looking forward to the next day in London.