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I am not too great at updating this thing on a regular basis, but I really should, because we do so much in one day that I forget the things we do after a few days. I guess the biggest thing on my mind as of right now is the security situation here. In short, early Friday morning they found two cars with explosives in them near a nightclub and then Saturday two men crashed their Jeep through the entrance of Glasgow airport in Scotland. As a result, the security level has been raised to critical, which is the highest level. In the States, I've never been one to concern myself with the color coded threat system, but it feels different when you're in an unfamiliar environment. It doesn't make me homesick, but I do miss my family and friends a lot back home after learning of these events, espeically because communication is not as accessible as it is at home. Between the time difference and the fact that calling people from my cell phone is SUPER expensive, I've felt kind of isolated from home. That's not to say that the friends I've made on this trip aren't helpful, but
Big Ben!
B-Town and I in front of Big Ben we're all in the same situation and having the same feelings about home. I guess the biggest thing to keep in mind is that life goes on, and some things are out of your hands. But enough about that, there's so much more to discuss, which is a lot less depressing. Classes have been pretty cool so far. Earlier in the week we had a guest lecturer from University of Westminster and he was the most cheerful, enthusiastic professor I've ever met. Honestly, I would love to take a class with this man, he seems like he has a lot to teach. He taught in China for two years and he showed us his students work, which was absolutely brilliant and moving. After class, Ellen and I hopped on the Tube and went to Camden Town. It was SO cool! They have these open air markets and really funky shops. We found some nifty things there, and some really interesting people. On a side note, the McDonald's there was really fancy! Weird. But anyway. I don't want to bore you with all this talk of museums, but that is a lot of what we do while we're here. We went
Big Ben!
I walked out of the Undergound and it was right there! to the Tate Britain to see a photogaphy exhibit called "How We Are: Photographing Britain" which spanned from some of the earliest photographs... y'know, like William Henry Fox Talbot and Lewis Carroll... all the way to the present. It was really fabulous to see the transition of the role of photography through this exhibit. There was also a display in the Tate with a bunch of protest signs againt the war, President Bush and Tony Blair. It was powerful by itself, and it became even more powerful when I found out that there recently was a law passed against protesting within 1.5 kilometers of Parliament. Half of the Tate Britain is within this distance, and so there is a black line going through the middle of the museum, and the protest signs are on the other side. There are things about London which kind of harken back to 1984... there are surveillance cameras everywhere, which come in handy when they are trying to find terrorists. It still freaks me out nonetheless. Other than that, I saw Big Ben yesterday, which actually exceeded my expectations, but most of the architecture here does. That whole area is really tourist-y but really interesting...
London Eye
Fun to photograph, but no way in hell will I get on that thing! we walked down by the London Eye and there were all these human statues and performers, and some breakdancers. There was an exhibit at the Hayward Gallery by Antony Gormley. His work was absolutely fantastic... one of his pieces was huge glass box filled with a cloud. You are allowed to walk inside it, and it is the strangest sensation I have ever felt. The visibility is about two feet before other people in the room start to disappear and reappear. At one point, I couldn't see anyone in the room, but I could hear everyone talking and it was really strange. It was the coolest thing I have ever done. Gormley is a fucking genius. All his work is concerned with humans and their relation to space. I would love to see some of his other exhibitions. I've been having a really great time, meeting some great people and seeing things I never expected to see. I love every moment of it. I can't believe my life sometimes 😊
PS Happy July!
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