Rockin' It for Thousands of Years

---

So here is my weekly update! I figured it would be easiest on all of us if I just posted weekly, mainly because the fun and interesting things mostly happen on the weekends since classes and most of the internship stuff doesn't change much.

Quick class and internship update though: We didn't meet for the theatre class this week, so instead I went exploring...again, but more on that later! In the Traveling Along the Thames class, we had a group presentation on Tuesday about our walk from Albert Bridge to Chelsea Bridge. It was a rather short walk, and there wasn't much to see. We walked by the Royal Hospital (thank you for helping produce Prince Harry.....and William! hehe). For my internship, a lot of it was research based this week, which wasn't all the bad. I got a copy of the BAFTAs which is pretty awesome!



So on to the fun stuff!

Since I didn't have the theatre class this week, I was planning on spending a little time at Starbucks to upload pictures and such, and then head to Windsor Castle or Hampton court. Unfortuntately, it took me longer to upload everything and catch up on Glee then I thought it would, so instead I just picked a random stop to get off at and explore! I ended up going to West Kensington and Hammersmith. Both were interesting. In Kensington I found the giant, 24 hour Tesco and just had to go in. I ended up buying cooking spray! Now I don't have to use butter or oil every time I try to cook on the stove! I'm not be sarcastic when I say that I was actually really excited about this find...From there I walked around Kensington a little. The houses are beautiful of course, but it is a little difficult to tell the neighborhoods apart. I also came upon St. Margaret's Church (Church of England) and thought it was beautiful! They were doing some construction on its sides, so I didn't try to go and see if I could go in or not. I definitely got a lot of weird looks walking randomly around, with pretty much no purpose or end destination, and with a camera out. I'm expecting someone to tell me to stop taking pictures at some point...

Once I got to Hammersmith, I went to the Primark there. Primark, if you don't know, is a pretty cheap clothing store. A lot of the clothes and such are under £10 or no more than £15. I ended up getting some tights since I forgot to pack some and needed it for my outfit to the polo match. I ended up taking the bus back towards home, and got off at Notting Hill. These houses seemed huge and beautiful, but like most places here are probably a bunch of flats...Also, I wonder how much extra it adds to the cost of a house if you have a backyard...

On Thursday after class, Mary Kate, Jenna, Laura and I went to Trafalgar Square. It was sunny, beautiful, and perfect lion climbing weather. I actually walked around some without my coat on! We did a little photo shoot at one of the lions. Jenna and I were asked to be in a picture with these two Asian guys. It made me laugh...This little adventure reminded me of my lack of upper body strength. I basically rolled onto the lion when trying to climb up...From there, we took the bus back to our flat where we had lunch and I got ready to go to the polo match with four other girls in the program.

The polo match was amazing! It consisted of an exhibition match between Cambridge and Oxford (Cambridge won), a celebrity match (where we knew none of the celebs...), the Ambassador Cup between Scotland and South Africa (Scotland won!), and the Churchill Cup between England and Argentina. England won the cup in probably the best match that night. For Argentina they had the Ralph Lauren Polo model playing. He's alright, but some of the Cambridge and Oxford guys are cuter. Just saying...Unfortunately we didn't get there in time for the part that you could try polo for yourself...sad day. But, even though we didn't understand all of what is going on, and this was Arena polo so there were only 3 players per team instead of 12, we really got into it, cheering for England. I really need to find a place to ride...


Today was our trip to Stonehenge! We (Leslie, Hayley and I) were going to go on the afternoon tour, but it was cancelled and we were moved up to the morning tour. So after only 4 hours of sleep, we were on our way to Stonehenge at 8:30. I passed out on the bus...but woke up in time to hear our bus driver comment that there was bacon to the left...i.e. there were pigs...This made me laugh...

Stonehenge was AMAZING! It may just be a couple of old rocks...but saying Stonehenge is JUST a bunch of rocks is like saying the Thames is JUST a river...which we all (should) know is not true, especially after taking a class centered on the Thames. i would love to go back on one of the solstices or equinoxes...but I know that won't happen during this trip, so it's on my bucket list! Just walking around the roped off part of Stonehenge was amazing...between the history that has been uncovered to the possible theories of how it was constructed and why to the myths that have sprung up around them...it's hard not to be in complete awe (and show my nerdy side).

So, that's basically been my week. Tomorrow should be interesting since the Bakerloo line (the tube line that comes by our flat) is down all day. It will be the day to become experts on the bus lines!

Cheers!

---

Photos

The group
Me, Hayley Moll and Leslie Hart

Comments

[AJ]

Stonehenge
If you go back to Stonehenge this may help http://www.solvingstonehenge.co.uk/page8.html