British Friends Describe Thanksgiving

A little taste of what I am dealing with this week...

Another Weekend in Londonia…

This weekend I stayed in London with my friend Crystal.  Thankfully, our hostel experience was a lot better than the last time (Elephant and Castle… super sketch). On Friday, after a chilly walking tour of the East End, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is essentially a history museum.  I really enjoyed the fashion exhibit.  There are samples of clothing on display from almost every decade since the 1700s.  Also, I apologize for the grainy pictures.  Unfortunately, all of these are from my iPod camera, which is pretty wretched.  Deal with it. 

The entrance to the V&A

After wandering through the museum, we headed into Harrod’s.  In case you live under a rock, Harrod’s is a famous, prestigious department store that is known for its high end merchandise.  We were greeted at the door by an enormous security guy who told us we had to carry our backpacks in our hands, not on our backs.  The place is massive!  And because it was a Friday night, it was packed with shoppers and, of course, tourists.  We spent most of our time in the Christmas-themed food section of the store.  I wish I could say I bought something, but everything was really expensive – even the chocolate.  There was a special plate of Christmas chocolates on display for £248.00.  I wanted to examine the label to see if the chocolates contained any gold, but I was afraid to touch it!  I've heard stories about the dress code at Harrod’s, but thankfully we were allowed in even with our jeans and trainers.  I felt kinda uncomfortable walking through there, but it was an interesting experience, to say the least.

Harrod's: Home of the most expensive everything

The next stop was Covent Garden.  We wandered through the Christmas lights display and stopped at the Shake Shack to grab dinner.  Everything was very beautiful.  The only thing that could have made it better?  Snow. :)

Inside the Covent Garden shopping area

We were near Yumchaa, so we couldn’t really pass up the opportunity to have some tea before turning in for the night.  Honestly, the tea at this place is incredible.  I had a tea called Notting Hill, which was apricot and strawberry flavoured.  Can you say perfection?  Mmmm.

The next day had a typical hostel breakfast: bread and generic corn flakes and watery orange juice.  We met up with Amber, my friend from high school, and explored London together.  It was so great to see her!  She is studying in Dublin for the term and had come down to London for the Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary celebration.  I’m glad we had the chance to spend the day together.  She is such a sweetheart. 

From the Christmas market at South Bank Centre to the lights at Hyde Park, I’d say we had a successful day filled with Christmas spirit!  That was probably the last weekend (maybe the last day, even) that we will ever spend in London.  Unless we are able to go back before the 14^th, which is unlikely. 

 London on a clear day - which is pretty rare

 Christmas Market at South Bank Centre

 Hyde Park Winter Wonderland!

Today has been really slow and unproductive for me.  I've done literally nothing.  Well, I take that back.  I turned in three (3) essays!  And did laundry.  And cleaned my room.  And stalked my mom’s Facebook because I miss her so stinking much.  Other than that, I've been relatively inefficient. To be fair, I've spent the past week working hard on those three essays I just finished.  

I've got three essays left of my academic term at CCCU and I couldn't be more depressed about this fact.  It reminds me that I’m leaving in three weeks… booooooo.

When I went to campus to turn in my essays, I overheard a conversation in the café between a female tutor and a student.  The student needed help with a research article and the tutor was trying to explain it.  The tutor was looking the article over and said something like “Is this written by an American?  Americans have this way of using the most complicated words… like, what is this?  This is not a word.  I think she’s made it up.” (looks at the front cover of the article) “Ah, yes.  She’s from Yale. You might need a dictionary to read this one.”  Pretty much made my day. 

THIS WEEK IS GONNA BE AWESOME.  We are headed to Rome on Friday and will be there until Sunday.  Please pray for safe travels!  I’m quite nervous about sight-seeing in Rome because of the infamous pickpockets there. 

On Thursday we will be having our Thanksgiving feast and party at CCCU.  To get into the spirit, I've made a brief list of who and what I'm thankful for.  Enjoy :D

 New friends and fun times in Canterbury!

 Skype because, honestly, I'd be a homesick wreck without it...

 Family (not all of them are pictured, but I love them all very much!)

 These awesome women of God :)

 This beautiful friendship that just keeps getting better. I love this woman<3

 My jobs. Despite how much I say I hate them, I actually love them.  I just need to be reminded of that.

 Canterbury and the amazing experience it has been to live here for three months.

 These cool people

LONDON!!

 These precious women who have become like sisters to me on this trip

And, of course, traveling and seeing more of the world than I've ever dreamed possible!

The Globe Theatre and the Tower of London – and a pensive reflection which you may feel free to skip over

Shocking truth: the Globe Theatre as it currently stands is not actually the original Globe, nor is it on the site of the original Globe.  I had no idea that the Globe was completely burned down to the ground.  Guess I need to brush up on my British history.  In June 1613, a fire triggered by a cannon shot (which was used as a special effect in one of the productions) burned the entire theatre to the ground.  Thankfully, everyone escaped and no one was hurt too terribly.  Because the entire theatre was made of wood, it burned down in just an hour!  Talk about a fire hazard.  Anyway, I’m done with my history lesson. 

My camera has been acting funny and I can’t seem to upload pictures onto my laptop.  So here are some pictures that I've stolen from friends. 

I would love to see a play at the Globe.  Unfortunately, their season doesn't start until the spring.  I was fascinated to hear our guide talk about the playhouse in such detail.  The theatre was a lively place full of drunk, loud, and wild people.  I remember learning about the Globe in high school, but being there in person really helped me to imagine the smelly and rowdy groundlings crowding together near the stage and the wealthy people of the town sitting in their box seats, looking down disdainfully at the groundlings.  Our guide told us about the interactions between the audience and the players.  If a certain actor was performing poorly, the audience let him know of their disapproval by throwing things at him, calling him names, or talking over him.  Likewise, if an audience member was being particularly rowdy, an actor would direct his lines towards this person to regain this person’s attention.  Today at the Globe, the actors try to recreate the same atmosphere and encourage audience interaction.  In fact, the audience seating is always lit up, like a stage, so the actors can see everyone’s faces.  This is how it would have been in the seventeenth century.  Sometimes the actors perform with an all-male cast, as women were not allowed on stage in Shakespeare’s time.  Our guide assured us that, in order to make things fair, the Globe will sometimes use an all-female cast for certain plays. ;)

After our tour of the Globe, we had some free time for lunch.  I have been packing my lunch from home to save money.  Never in my life have I eaten so many PB&J sandwiches.  Not even in elementary school.  The things I do in the name of frugality…

The Tower of London was our second and final stop for the day.  I must be really ignorant because I thought that the Tower of London was literally just one tower.  Wrong.  It’s basically a town inside of these fortified walls.  Among other things, the crown jewels and the royal armour collection are kept there.  We saw the torture chamber as well.  The rack, the scavenger’s daughter, and the manacles were kept in a creepy little basement room in one of the towers.  Also, we were able to see some pretty cool carvings from the prisoners that were kept in the towers. 

Our guide was HILARIOUS

View of the Tower of London from the street

 Where the Crown Jewels are kept!

View of Tower Bridge from inside the Tower (NOT THE SAME AS LONDON BRIDGE)

The weekend held nothing particularly exciting or special.  I spent a lot of my time writing another essay and hanging up posters around campus for our American Thanksgiving celebration.  I cannot believe that I have been here for over two months!  Somehow time has slipped away from me.  And I still feel like I am living someone else’s life.  Going home will be a bigger transition than I previously thought.  How do I go from a place so rich with history, so full of inspiration, so packed with memories… back to my dull little life in Illinois?  Not to mention leaving my friends! :(  

(The following is the part you should skip if you’re not particularly fond of contemplative and overly-pensive wordiness)

I remember the advice someone gave me before leaving to go on this trip.  I was still really nervous about going so far from home, and this person told me, “Home will always be the same. Even after you come back.  Your family will still be there for you when you come back.  And so will your friends.  This is why you need to go.”  She didn't say any more, and I understood she meant a great deal more than that.  I don’t think she necessarily meant that home will never change in the physical sense, but at the time I couldn't possibly understand what she meant by it.  Now I think I finally get it.  It’s not something I can adequately explain.  Through this experience, I have learned to let go of my anxiousness and be spontaneous.  I have learned to push the boundaries of my faith.  And I have learned the difference between loneliness and solitude.  Quite frankly, I can always go home.  I am fortunate enough to have the kind of family that will always be waiting for me and loving on me, no matter where life takes me.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that “home” is no longer a physical place for me, but a state of mind.  After living abroad, the whole “home is where the heart is” has this earth-shattering truth to it.  I've never really subscribed to it before, but now I am completely convinced. 

(Faint of heart may resume reading now)

Anyway, next weekend we are headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I've no idea what there is to see there, but it should be interesting and free – two adjectives that I’m quite fond of.  This week I've been hard at work on another essay.  I love that I have so much free time to write and rewrite and edit and analyze the crap out of my essays in true English major fashion.  That’s all going to change when I get back to NCC… le sigh.  Well, if you've read this far, wow.  You either have a lot of time on your hands or you are super dedicated.  Either way, I’m flattered. 

Have a lovely day!

– K