Today has been a really good one, and it's not even 5:30 yet! I woke up at 7:45 and had a great breakfast (bread, bacon, apple, eggs, and water) with Mary Beth. Then I had colloquy. Colloquy wasn't the best because I was still really, really tired and didn't contribute much, but the discussion was good to listen to as well. After that, I went back to the room and took a 2 and a half hour nap. THAT was heaven. When I woke up, I went down to the Blue Room and started the reading assignment, this time from St. Augustine's "Confessions". We had to read sixty pages, and I read about forty. It's really, really good. He reminds me a bit of me in terms of how he writes and what he says to God. Except he's got the Psalms down WAY better than I do.
After reading, I went back up to the room and bummed around on the internet a little, getting through another batch of QC and some other stuff. Then Adam and I went to the British Library for the last part of our weekly MAG (Museum and Gallery assignment). We got off at King's Cross (more on that later), and found the library with relative ease. The British Library is a mammoth building that's almost like a museum. Our assingment was to look at the Codex Sinaiticus, which just happens to be the earliest manuscript of the complete New Testament from the 4th century A.D. So that was really impressive. Right next to it were papyrus fragments of the second oldest copy of Paul's letter to the Hebrews. After we looked at that, we wandered around the exhibit a little longer, finding a whole bunch of stuff including an original page of a play written by Shakespeare in his own handwriting.
After the MAG, Adam decided to go back to the Highbury Centre. I, however, fully intended to check out King's Cross. Now we had all been on the Underground part of King's Cross many times. I mean, we go through it every time we take the tube because it's the first stop after the Highbury & Islington station (the one we use). We had even left the tube and walked through the Underground part of King's Cross to transfer onto different lines, like the Piccadilly line. But I've never been in the actual station before. So that's where I went after Adam and I parted ways. And oh my God, it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! I went all the way back to the platforms, right next to the actual trains! I could've gotten in one if I wanted to! The station was massive and loud and busy, and whistles were going off and it was just nuts! There were no steam engines, of course. I think they use all-electric now. But they're still trains! I wandered around like a kid in a candy shop for about 10 minutes, just walking up and down the platforms, looking into the trains, watching people load their luggage onto trolleys. I even found Platform 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter! (I didn't try walking through it, though.) It's not in the same location as the movies, but it IS between Platforms 9 and 10, and it even has it's own official sign! I'll take a picture of it some time, but I wanted my first visit to the actual King's Cross to be all to myself, so I left my camera off. That's going to be my policy with all of these big landmarks: first time there is for me, second time is for you.
Well, I've got 25 minutes to do some more reading, and then it's dinner. Then I'll finish reading and maybe watch a movie. Today was really fun and productive. I love/miss/will talk to you later!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
24601
I know I said I'd make a post about the Highbury Centre, but I keep forgetting to take pictures of it, so this is just a post about today. You'll get the HC later. Today was pretty standard: colloquy, then lunch, then back to the British Museum for a bit. But after the museum, Adam, Dave, Lindsey, Zeke, Rachel, Tabitha, and I went out to get our tickets for Les Miserables! Rachel wasn't going to see it until tomorrow, but the rest of us had plans to see it tonight. We split into two groups: Adam, Zeke, and Tabitha sat together and I sat with Lindsey and Dave. With our ISIC (international student identity cards), we all got tickets 1/2 off!!!!!
We went back to the HC for some reading and a quick dinner, then we went right back out. It was the farthest into the city that I've been at night, and it was really cool. Everything was all lit up and there were giant advertisements on screens that reminded me a little bit of New York City.
The musical started at 7:30, and holy crap was it good! Incidentally, I had heard a lot of the songs way back in the 90's, when my parents and Andy and Jenny Martin were really into it and played the soundtrack a lot. But now it all came together, and it was spectacular. It totally changed my mind about musicals. Between seeing this and "Wicked" with Emily last year, I've decided that musicals are fine; it's just the stupid, cliche high school musicals that suck. So that's that.
Tomorrow is Wednesday. Another day of colloquy, then I'm going to go to the British Library for a bit. I should also get more food, as I ran out of bread last night and ham and cheese this afternoon. So I guess I'll also go shopping tomorrow. And I'll get around to doing that HC post someday too. Later!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Questionable Content
I read this today and it made me smile, as does most of the QC comics. I'm feeling a lot better about the whole "who am I?" thing due to some awesome people and a 4 hour nap. I know I said this a couple times now, but I fully intend to make a post about the Highbury Centre in the next few days. Later!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
If you've got a Facebook, you're probably used to this kind of crap from me by now.
Ok, I’m starting this one out with no idea where it’s going to go. But it’s going to go there, I promise. I also don’t know if I’m going to make this a Facebook note or a blog post. I’ll probably end up putting it both places. Some people my age are getting weirded out by all the adults that are getting Facebooks nowadays, but I don’t mind it all too much. It’s fun for me to find people in my life that I care about on Facebook, if not a little awkward at times because three of them are pastors and two of them are my parents. Yeah. But to any adults reading my blog right now, if you get a Facebook and I know you, I promise I’ll add you because I love you guys. Now that I’ve efficiently talked about absolutely nothing, I’m going to start talking about something.
I don’t know who I am. I know that that is possibly the most clichéd/angsty/teenage thing that I could ever say, but I swear to God I mean it. If you want some proof, ask Emily. She’s the one who told me I don’t know who I am, and when it comes to knowing me, that girl is wrong about 2% of the time. It’s true though, I really don’t know who I am. I know who I am to different people. I’m Emily’s boyfriend. I’m Matt and Roberta’s son. I’m Dan Nalgene. I’m Uncle Dan. I’m rrfan3267. Some people still view me as Danny, and I totally love that. So I know that much. I also know who I am to different groups. I’m a Tent Camper. I’m a Koinonian. I’m a Highlander. I’m an ex-member of Sugar and Jazz. I’m a Williamsville South graduate and a Houghton College student. I’m a Christian (not a United Methodist, thank you very much). I’m an American (not a Democrat or Republican, thank you very much).
So some guy could read that last paragraph and be all, “Well Dan, it looks like you DO know who you are. You just rattled off two lists of who you are. Problem solved.” No, Mr. Hypothetical Guy, problem NOT solved. Take another look at the lists. I said who I am TO OTHER PEOPLE. I did NOT say who I am TO MYSELF. Want some proof? Take a look at the last two sentences. Those two groups are very different from all the other groups I mentioned in that they involve me making a stance and a choice based on who I think I am. And what do you know, I couldn’t do it. I don’t know who I am, so I don’t know what my religious beliefs are, other than I’m pretty sure that God is real and Jesus is his son. I don’t know who I am, so I don’t know if I’m conservative or liberal or pro-life or pro-choice or anti-this or anti-that. I just know that I live in America, thus, I’m an American.
If you’re my friend, then one thing you know about me is that I’m way too dependent on the people I love. Here’s what I said about that in one of the best Facebook notes I ever wrote:
“I feed off of their smiles and thrive off of their laughs. I expect a lot from them, because I know they are good people that are capable of anything. I guess I am judgmental in a backwards sort of way. I want them to do the right thing, because I know that they are good people. So, I consider things like smoking and drinking to be below them, and I feel that they are lowering their standards and cheating themselves when they get involved with stuff like that. I get very sad when my friends lower themselves to the level of everyone else when it comes to things like drugs. I admit that I let it impact me more than I should, but I love my friends, and when they hurt themselves, they kill me […]But if I tell my friends that, then I’m judgmental and unwilling to change. I don’t understand it. I know what my friends are, and I know what my friends aren’t.”
The truth is, I AM too dependent on people. And not just in the ways listed in the previous paragraph. I literately base my entire personality on the person I’m currently hanging out with. When I’m around Adam Kneeland, I act smart. When I’m around Steve Corell, I act spiritual. When I’m around Steve Dulanski, I act emo (or Goth or whatever Shteev happens to be). When I’m around Bocadillo, I act crazy. When I’m around Mark Lauer, I act cool. When I’m around Joyce Taylor, I act silly. When I’m around Elisa Shearer, I act expressively. I reflect the personality of the person I’m around. It’s interesting to note that the people I have a hard time doing that with are the people who know me really well, such as Emily, Joe Paul, and Mel and/or the people who have known me forever, such as Jordan and Christina.
In the same rockin’ note I quoted earlier, I also said the following:
“I don’t have a true, established worldview. I basically make it up as I go along. I am easily influenced by the people around me, and I often contradict myself. I also often backpedal and change my worldview when it benefits me, and as such I have very shaky opinions on a lot of issues.”
Further proof that I don’t know who I am. On a side note: when the hell did I start saying “rockin’”? Hmm. Well, I said it, so it stays. I could delete it and this paragraph and probably make myself sound a lot less retarded, but I must’ve said “rockin’” for a reason, so it stays, by golly, by gum! (Further proof that I am losing my mind and/or powers of words and/or I really should delete this utterly useless and embarrassing paragraph but it made me laugh and maybe it’ll make some other foolish person laugh so I’m keeping it and ending this ridiculous run-on sentence.)
But seriously, do you know where I’m coming from? I hope so, because I sure don’t. I sat down to write this with nothing but some half-formed thoughts in my head and an intense craving for cheese. The latter was fulfilled about an hour ago, but I still want to finish these thoughts. Unfortunately, I’m too tired and confused to do so right now. So I’m going to stop writing because I don’t even know what I’m writing about anymore, and the authorial voice doesn’t really sound like me anymore. But hey, I got the initial problem out there. This is the part where you geniuses get to mull it over and give me the answer I’m looking for, because I am damned incapable of doing so myself. Know that I’m definitely going to be pondering this one for a while, and I’ll keep you guys updated on what I come up with when I come up with it, because I would sure love to figure out who I am. Thanks for your patience. I love you guys. And I miss you more than you know.
I don’t know who I am. I know that that is possibly the most clichéd/angsty/teenage thing that I could ever say, but I swear to God I mean it. If you want some proof, ask Emily. She’s the one who told me I don’t know who I am, and when it comes to knowing me, that girl is wrong about 2% of the time. It’s true though, I really don’t know who I am. I know who I am to different people. I’m Emily’s boyfriend. I’m Matt and Roberta’s son. I’m Dan Nalgene. I’m Uncle Dan. I’m rrfan3267. Some people still view me as Danny, and I totally love that. So I know that much. I also know who I am to different groups. I’m a Tent Camper. I’m a Koinonian. I’m a Highlander. I’m an ex-member of Sugar and Jazz. I’m a Williamsville South graduate and a Houghton College student. I’m a Christian (not a United Methodist, thank you very much). I’m an American (not a Democrat or Republican, thank you very much).
So some guy could read that last paragraph and be all, “Well Dan, it looks like you DO know who you are. You just rattled off two lists of who you are. Problem solved.” No, Mr. Hypothetical Guy, problem NOT solved. Take another look at the lists. I said who I am TO OTHER PEOPLE. I did NOT say who I am TO MYSELF. Want some proof? Take a look at the last two sentences. Those two groups are very different from all the other groups I mentioned in that they involve me making a stance and a choice based on who I think I am. And what do you know, I couldn’t do it. I don’t know who I am, so I don’t know what my religious beliefs are, other than I’m pretty sure that God is real and Jesus is his son. I don’t know who I am, so I don’t know if I’m conservative or liberal or pro-life or pro-choice or anti-this or anti-that. I just know that I live in America, thus, I’m an American.
If you’re my friend, then one thing you know about me is that I’m way too dependent on the people I love. Here’s what I said about that in one of the best Facebook notes I ever wrote:
“I feed off of their smiles and thrive off of their laughs. I expect a lot from them, because I know they are good people that are capable of anything. I guess I am judgmental in a backwards sort of way. I want them to do the right thing, because I know that they are good people. So, I consider things like smoking and drinking to be below them, and I feel that they are lowering their standards and cheating themselves when they get involved with stuff like that. I get very sad when my friends lower themselves to the level of everyone else when it comes to things like drugs. I admit that I let it impact me more than I should, but I love my friends, and when they hurt themselves, they kill me […]But if I tell my friends that, then I’m judgmental and unwilling to change. I don’t understand it. I know what my friends are, and I know what my friends aren’t.”
The truth is, I AM too dependent on people. And not just in the ways listed in the previous paragraph. I literately base my entire personality on the person I’m currently hanging out with. When I’m around Adam Kneeland, I act smart. When I’m around Steve Corell, I act spiritual. When I’m around Steve Dulanski, I act emo (or Goth or whatever Shteev happens to be). When I’m around Bocadillo, I act crazy. When I’m around Mark Lauer, I act cool. When I’m around Joyce Taylor, I act silly. When I’m around Elisa Shearer, I act expressively. I reflect the personality of the person I’m around. It’s interesting to note that the people I have a hard time doing that with are the people who know me really well, such as Emily, Joe Paul, and Mel and/or the people who have known me forever, such as Jordan and Christina.
In the same rockin’ note I quoted earlier, I also said the following:
“I don’t have a true, established worldview. I basically make it up as I go along. I am easily influenced by the people around me, and I often contradict myself. I also often backpedal and change my worldview when it benefits me, and as such I have very shaky opinions on a lot of issues.”
Further proof that I don’t know who I am. On a side note: when the hell did I start saying “rockin’”? Hmm. Well, I said it, so it stays. I could delete it and this paragraph and probably make myself sound a lot less retarded, but I must’ve said “rockin’” for a reason, so it stays, by golly, by gum! (Further proof that I am losing my mind and/or powers of words and/or I really should delete this utterly useless and embarrassing paragraph but it made me laugh and maybe it’ll make some other foolish person laugh so I’m keeping it and ending this ridiculous run-on sentence.)
But seriously, do you know where I’m coming from? I hope so, because I sure don’t. I sat down to write this with nothing but some half-formed thoughts in my head and an intense craving for cheese. The latter was fulfilled about an hour ago, but I still want to finish these thoughts. Unfortunately, I’m too tired and confused to do so right now. So I’m going to stop writing because I don’t even know what I’m writing about anymore, and the authorial voice doesn’t really sound like me anymore. But hey, I got the initial problem out there. This is the part where you geniuses get to mull it over and give me the answer I’m looking for, because I am damned incapable of doing so myself. Know that I’m definitely going to be pondering this one for a while, and I’ll keep you guys updated on what I come up with when I come up with it, because I would sure love to figure out who I am. Thanks for your patience. I love you guys. And I miss you more than you know.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Museum Fun and a Little Glimpse of Hope (Or, How to Put Off Writing a 5-Page Paper)
The past two days have been the same thing: Colloquy, lunch, and off to the British Museum to look at pottery, busts, statues, and stuff like that. It wasn't nearly as cool as the Victoria and Albert Museum, but Steve, Adam, Tabitha, and I soon put an end to that (Adam having a beard helped immensely)...
We got our first 5-page paper assignment today. It's due on Saturday at midnight. Here's the topic:
"With appropriate and specific references to this week’s assignments (readings and museums), explore the interplay between the needs of the state and those of the individual in Greek and Roman cultures. What do your sources suggest about how these cultures understood, valued, and attempted to balance these needs and interests?"
Yeah. Not fun. It won't be be nearly as terrible as I thought it would be, but it's still kinda scary. I mean, I've got some ideas from some of the reading assignments, but not nearly enough to fill up 5 pages...but more ideas will come as I write. They always do.
This has been a very tough week. I've been intellectually pushed to my limits with colloquy and the reading/museum assignments. I've made an idiot out of myself on several occasions, especially in terms of being late. I've had it rough in the city, dealing with endless walking and second hand smoke. My knees feel like they're gonna melt, and when you sneeze or blow your nose, it comes out kind of greyish-black. I've been having a hard time adjusting to the food, especially dinner. The dinners at the Highbury Centre have been less than good. As a matter of fact, I've yet to finish one. The showers at the HC have little to zero water pressure. On several occasions, I've woken up in the middle of the night, unable to stop thinking about random things. This usually occurs after having trippy dreams about people back home. Speaking of which, I've been homesick, lovesick, and friendsick this entire time. And I've been in London for 6 days. And I will be in London for another 89 days.
Depressed yet? I was. But I'm not now. Ok, maybe a little, after just writing all that. But for the most part, I feel much better. How can this be? What helped? Surely it must've been something monumental to help me feel better about such dreary circumstances. Something pretty big must've happened to shake me out of such a big funk, right? Here's what happened to make me come out of my low state of mind, body, and heart:
1. I had a Nestle Crunch bar.
2. I watched a couple of Looney Tunes.
3. I listened to an upbeat love song.
4. I found a shower that actually has decent water pressure.
That's it. The heavens didn't magically open. I didn't magically transport a few dozen days into the future. Emily didn't magically teleport to London. The food (most definately) didn't magically turn into popcorn, Goldfish, and steak. Nothing changed. I'm still in London. The HC is still the Highbury Centre instead of Houghton College. I still have to come up with 5 pages of information by Saturday. I'm still going to suffer through another dinner tonight. But God led me to a few simple pleasures that took care of all my needs, even a little. The chocolate eased my stomach. The cartoons eased my mind. The song eased my heart. The shower eased my body. I still have the same challenges, but God supplies the means to meet these challenges.
That's what hope is. It's not removing the opposition; that's victory. But hope is being in a low physical state and being in a high state of mind and spirit. Even the bad outweighs the good, there's still good to strive for. I can make it through gross dinners for a candy bar. I can suffer through hours of confusing and boring text for six minutes of a cat chasing a canary. I can deal with being 5 hours and 3500 miles away from Emily for one song that makes her seem right next to me. And 89 days are not a lot of days. They might be slow days, but they're not a lot of days. And then I'm in Ireland for 10 days. Ireland. The land of potatoes and beef and great food that I get to pick. The land of no papers, no text, and no classes. The land of beautiful landscapes and hills and water and sky. The land of U2 and awesome accents. The land where I will be for 10 days (or less, if my friends want to go elsewhere) before I come home. (Home....) and if small things like Sylvester and water pressure give me hope and pleasure, how much more will big things like Ireland give me hope and pleasure. And there's good stuff coming up before that, lots of good stuff! I'm going to go to see my family in March which will be like home coming to London for a weekend. I'm going to go to King's Cross- King's Cross!, the holy grail of train lovers. I'm going to go to Wales and ride on the beautiful Talyllyn Railway, a place I've read about in Thomas the Tank Engine books since I was young. I'm going to see Stonehenge, the Tower of London, and a whole bunch of other really cool places that other people dream about.
So this won't be too bad. I'll definately be able to make it, even if it doesn't always feel like it. It won't be easy, but it'll be good for me, you know? When I'm done with this, I'm going to start the outline for my first five-page paper. Then I'm going to eat a dinner that might not sit right in my stomach. That should depress me a bit, but it doesn't.
Because first, I'm going to have a Kit-Kat bar.
We got our first 5-page paper assignment today. It's due on Saturday at midnight. Here's the topic:
"With appropriate and specific references to this week’s assignments (readings and museums), explore the interplay between the needs of the state and those of the individual in Greek and Roman cultures. What do your sources suggest about how these cultures understood, valued, and attempted to balance these needs and interests?"
Yeah. Not fun. It won't be be nearly as terrible as I thought it would be, but it's still kinda scary. I mean, I've got some ideas from some of the reading assignments, but not nearly enough to fill up 5 pages...but more ideas will come as I write. They always do.
This has been a very tough week. I've been intellectually pushed to my limits with colloquy and the reading/museum assignments. I've made an idiot out of myself on several occasions, especially in terms of being late. I've had it rough in the city, dealing with endless walking and second hand smoke. My knees feel like they're gonna melt, and when you sneeze or blow your nose, it comes out kind of greyish-black. I've been having a hard time adjusting to the food, especially dinner. The dinners at the Highbury Centre have been less than good. As a matter of fact, I've yet to finish one. The showers at the HC have little to zero water pressure. On several occasions, I've woken up in the middle of the night, unable to stop thinking about random things. This usually occurs after having trippy dreams about people back home. Speaking of which, I've been homesick, lovesick, and friendsick this entire time. And I've been in London for 6 days. And I will be in London for another 89 days.
Depressed yet? I was. But I'm not now. Ok, maybe a little, after just writing all that. But for the most part, I feel much better. How can this be? What helped? Surely it must've been something monumental to help me feel better about such dreary circumstances. Something pretty big must've happened to shake me out of such a big funk, right? Here's what happened to make me come out of my low state of mind, body, and heart:
1. I had a Nestle Crunch bar.
2. I watched a couple of Looney Tunes.
3. I listened to an upbeat love song.
4. I found a shower that actually has decent water pressure.
That's it. The heavens didn't magically open. I didn't magically transport a few dozen days into the future. Emily didn't magically teleport to London. The food (most definately) didn't magically turn into popcorn, Goldfish, and steak. Nothing changed. I'm still in London. The HC is still the Highbury Centre instead of Houghton College. I still have to come up with 5 pages of information by Saturday. I'm still going to suffer through another dinner tonight. But God led me to a few simple pleasures that took care of all my needs, even a little. The chocolate eased my stomach. The cartoons eased my mind. The song eased my heart. The shower eased my body. I still have the same challenges, but God supplies the means to meet these challenges.
That's what hope is. It's not removing the opposition; that's victory. But hope is being in a low physical state and being in a high state of mind and spirit. Even the bad outweighs the good, there's still good to strive for. I can make it through gross dinners for a candy bar. I can suffer through hours of confusing and boring text for six minutes of a cat chasing a canary. I can deal with being 5 hours and 3500 miles away from Emily for one song that makes her seem right next to me. And 89 days are not a lot of days. They might be slow days, but they're not a lot of days. And then I'm in Ireland for 10 days. Ireland. The land of potatoes and beef and great food that I get to pick. The land of no papers, no text, and no classes. The land of beautiful landscapes and hills and water and sky. The land of U2 and awesome accents. The land where I will be for 10 days (or less, if my friends want to go elsewhere) before I come home. (Home....) and if small things like Sylvester and water pressure give me hope and pleasure, how much more will big things like Ireland give me hope and pleasure. And there's good stuff coming up before that, lots of good stuff! I'm going to go to see my family in March which will be like home coming to London for a weekend. I'm going to go to King's Cross- King's Cross!, the holy grail of train lovers. I'm going to go to Wales and ride on the beautiful Talyllyn Railway, a place I've read about in Thomas the Tank Engine books since I was young. I'm going to see Stonehenge, the Tower of London, and a whole bunch of other really cool places that other people dream about.
So this won't be too bad. I'll definately be able to make it, even if it doesn't always feel like it. It won't be easy, but it'll be good for me, you know? When I'm done with this, I'm going to start the outline for my first five-page paper. Then I'm going to eat a dinner that might not sit right in my stomach. That should depress me a bit, but it doesn't.
Because first, I'm going to have a Kit-Kat bar.
Monday, January 19, 2009
BIG DAY POST
Alright, right now it is 12:36 AM and I’ve got a REALLY big day to talk about, so this’ll probably take awhile. By the way, this is going to come out underlined because the internet's acting goofy again. Just ignore it. So. Let me tell you how today started. Our first plenary (a lecture given by one of two Houghton professors to the entire group) was this morning at 9:15 AM. We had to take the tube (Underground subway) because the LICC (the building where the plenary takes place) was deep in the city. We were going to leave as a group at 8:15 so we’d make it on time. Breakfast started at 7:45, so I decided to set the alarm for 7:30 AM to give us plenty of time. Got that all right? Ok. So here’s how things went down.
Well first of all, my day started at about 4 in the morning because I had a weird dream and woke up. I lay in bed for over two hours (Adam’s watch beeps on the hour) thinking about everything. I mean everything. I couldn’t turn my mind off. Then I fell back asleep for a bit and woke up with the alarm. Adam and I got up with the alarm right at 7:30 and started getting dressed and getting our backpacks ready. And then Adam stopped and just stared at the clock.
“Dan,” he said. “It’s 8:40.”
“That’s impossible,” I said. Of course it was impossible. I had set the alarm for 7:30 just last night. “You’re reading the clock wrong.” I walked over and took the clock from him. 8:40. I shook my head in denial. “The clock’s broken.” Adam looked at his watch.
“Dan. It’s 8:40.” We looked at each other in horror and threw our stuff together as fast as we could. But we were still in denial. It couldn’t be 8:40, because that would mean that we were over one hour late. And we couldn’t be over one hour late because that would mean that everyone else would’ve left. And everyone couldn’t have left, because then how could we possibly get to the LICC on time by ourselves? Besides, if we were over one hour late, we’d never make it to plenary on time in the first place! We ran downstairs. No one was there. They had left without us.
Now, I will say this. Our only shining ray of hope lay in the fact that we were given directions to where the plenary was in the event that someone would get left behind, and I just happened to write them on a post-it note the night before. So we grabbed the note and ran. We ran and ran and ran until we got to the Underground station at Highbury & Islington that would take us to the LICC via the Victoria line, just like our post-it told us to. We got there only to find that the train wasn’t moving. Apparently, the entire Victoria line was down due to a signal failure. Great. The only way we knew to get to the LICC was done. We wandered the station in a dazed stupor for a few minutes and then consulted the Underground map. Here’s where we were fantastic. In about 3-4 minutes we deciphered the map and figured out how to use the tube to find an alternate route. This will probably confuse you, but I’m going to type it anyways because it was confusing for us and we figured it out and were proud. I included a map for you to attempt to follow along with. If you can't see it, go to this link for a bigger version: http://subway.umka.org/maps/london.gif Here goes.
We knew that we had wanted to take the Victoria line (light blue) to the station at Oxford Circus and walk to the LICC from there. But the Victoria line was down. We found a nearby station at Holloway Road that used the Piccadilly line, and we saw that we could take the Piccadilly line (dark blue) to the station at Holborn, where we could then transfer to the Central line (red), which we could then take to Oxford Circus. Then we could run as fast as we could to the LICC. That would work. Now, all we had to do was find the station at Holloway Road. We left the Highbury & Islington and asked around until we found the street. We found it pretty easily and took the tube to Holborn where we switched to the Central line (Note: it was on the way from Holloway to Holborn when it officially became 9:15 and we were officially late to our first plenary session). We made the switch just fine and made it to Oxford! Yay!
We ran two blocks down one street, one block down another street, and two blocks down another street, almost getting run over by a double-decker bus in the process, and finally, finally, FINALLY made it to the LICC at 9:38. We rushed into the building, signed in and slunk into the two seats closest to the door. But to our astonishment, the lecture STARTED about two minutes later! For the entire time we were gone, Prof. Stewart had given a long-winded introduction to the entire course, and we made it in time for the actual lecture itself!
Now I’m going to interrupt myself and brag about how awesome Adam and I were. We woke up an hour late. But we made it to the plenary only 23 minutes after it started! And we didn’t even miss anything (other than breakfast)! And, we navigated the streets of London all by ourselves (despite a close shave with a bus)! AND, we figured out one of the most confusing aspects of London, the Underground, all by ourselves and found an alternate route! Even now, we don’t know how we pulled it off. But we did. And now we’ve got a really funny story and a really great memory.
Now for the rest of the day. The plenary was about ancient Greco-Roman civilization and lasted until 1:00 PM. Then we were given our first museum assignment, and then we went out as a group and got really cheap cell phones. Then everyone split up. Adam, Steve Corell (yes, that’s his name!), Zeke, and I decided to go to the first museum together. We took the tube back to the Highbury Centre (of course, the Victoria line was back up and running at this time) and got some food and our cameras. Oh, and we dressed up in blazers, just because. We kept the jeans though. Then we took the tube to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our assignment was to study the Trajan's Column, from Rome. We also had to check out Michelangelo's "David" and Raphael's "School of Athens". Of course, we got distracted by a crapload of awesome stuff on the way. Here are some things we saw.
Japanese dish that looks like a big, blue, contact lens.
Japanese pottery with dragons that pop out of the pot.
Left to right: Adam, Steve, and Zeke looking at the weird Japanese thing.
Look at that! It's huge! It's massive! And that's not even it's full height! See, both of those columns are the same column! The one on the left is the top half, and the one on the right is the bottom half with the base! See the two black statues in front of it? Each one is about double my height. Spiraling all the way around the column are details describing Roman history that I'm not even going to begin explaining. But we read all about it this past Sunday. Here are more shots of it:
Adam is standing in the middle, and Steve is off to the right.
This is from the second floor. Note the tiny guy in front of the top half of the column. Also note how you can't even SEE where that column ends because it's so big.
The base from the second floor.
Zeke and Steve.
Steve, me, and Adam
"David" and "School of Athens" from the second floor. This was like the bazillionth statue-penis we saw that day.
Panoramic view of "David" and "School of Athens" with some other stuff.
Well first of all, my day started at about 4 in the morning because I had a weird dream and woke up. I lay in bed for over two hours (Adam’s watch beeps on the hour) thinking about everything. I mean everything. I couldn’t turn my mind off. Then I fell back asleep for a bit and woke up with the alarm. Adam and I got up with the alarm right at 7:30 and started getting dressed and getting our backpacks ready. And then Adam stopped and just stared at the clock.
“Dan,” he said. “It’s 8:40.”
“That’s impossible,” I said. Of course it was impossible. I had set the alarm for 7:30 just last night. “You’re reading the clock wrong.” I walked over and took the clock from him. 8:40. I shook my head in denial. “The clock’s broken.” Adam looked at his watch.
“Dan. It’s 8:40.” We looked at each other in horror and threw our stuff together as fast as we could. But we were still in denial. It couldn’t be 8:40, because that would mean that we were over one hour late. And we couldn’t be over one hour late because that would mean that everyone else would’ve left. And everyone couldn’t have left, because then how could we possibly get to the LICC on time by ourselves? Besides, if we were over one hour late, we’d never make it to plenary on time in the first place! We ran downstairs. No one was there. They had left without us.
Now, I will say this. Our only shining ray of hope lay in the fact that we were given directions to where the plenary was in the event that someone would get left behind, and I just happened to write them on a post-it note the night before. So we grabbed the note and ran. We ran and ran and ran until we got to the Underground station at Highbury & Islington that would take us to the LICC via the Victoria line, just like our post-it told us to. We got there only to find that the train wasn’t moving. Apparently, the entire Victoria line was down due to a signal failure. Great. The only way we knew to get to the LICC was done. We wandered the station in a dazed stupor for a few minutes and then consulted the Underground map. Here’s where we were fantastic. In about 3-4 minutes we deciphered the map and figured out how to use the tube to find an alternate route. This will probably confuse you, but I’m going to type it anyways because it was confusing for us and we figured it out and were proud. I included a map for you to attempt to follow along with. If you can't see it, go to this link for a bigger version: http://subway.umka.org/maps/london.gif Here goes.
We knew that we had wanted to take the Victoria line (light blue) to the station at Oxford Circus and walk to the LICC from there. But the Victoria line was down. We found a nearby station at Holloway Road that used the Piccadilly line, and we saw that we could take the Piccadilly line (dark blue) to the station at Holborn, where we could then transfer to the Central line (red), which we could then take to Oxford Circus. Then we could run as fast as we could to the LICC. That would work. Now, all we had to do was find the station at Holloway Road. We left the Highbury & Islington and asked around until we found the street. We found it pretty easily and took the tube to Holborn where we switched to the Central line (Note: it was on the way from Holloway to Holborn when it officially became 9:15 and we were officially late to our first plenary session). We made the switch just fine and made it to Oxford! Yay!
We ran two blocks down one street, one block down another street, and two blocks down another street, almost getting run over by a double-decker bus in the process, and finally, finally, FINALLY made it to the LICC at 9:38. We rushed into the building, signed in and slunk into the two seats closest to the door. But to our astonishment, the lecture STARTED about two minutes later! For the entire time we were gone, Prof. Stewart had given a long-winded introduction to the entire course, and we made it in time for the actual lecture itself!
Now I’m going to interrupt myself and brag about how awesome Adam and I were. We woke up an hour late. But we made it to the plenary only 23 minutes after it started! And we didn’t even miss anything (other than breakfast)! And, we navigated the streets of London all by ourselves (despite a close shave with a bus)! AND, we figured out one of the most confusing aspects of London, the Underground, all by ourselves and found an alternate route! Even now, we don’t know how we pulled it off. But we did. And now we’ve got a really funny story and a really great memory.
Now for the rest of the day. The plenary was about ancient Greco-Roman civilization and lasted until 1:00 PM. Then we were given our first museum assignment, and then we went out as a group and got really cheap cell phones. Then everyone split up. Adam, Steve Corell (yes, that’s his name!), Zeke, and I decided to go to the first museum together. We took the tube back to the Highbury Centre (of course, the Victoria line was back up and running at this time) and got some food and our cameras. Oh, and we dressed up in blazers, just because. We kept the jeans though. Then we took the tube to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our assignment was to study the Trajan's Column, from Rome. We also had to check out Michelangelo's "David" and Raphael's "School of Athens". Of course, we got distracted by a crapload of awesome stuff on the way. Here are some things we saw.
A naked dude struggling with a snake. There were lots of naked statues. We counted over 10 penises (peni?) in one hall. We didn't even bother with the breasts, because we'd have to multiply the count by 2, AND include males because males have breasts too.
Japanese dish that looks like a big, blue, contact lens. Japanese pottery with dragons that pop out of the pot.Not quite sure what this is supposed to be, but it's Japanese and cool looking.
Left to right: Adam, Steve, and Zeke looking at the weird Japanese thing.
This is called a "screen", but Adam says it looks more like a gate. That's Jesus in the middle and a couple other guys too.
This is an awesome glass chandelier type thingy! Again, try clicking on the picture. It might enlarge so you can see more detail.
Vertical panorama picture of the glass thing with domed ceiling.
Ok, so all that stuff was pretty cool. In fact, it was really cool. But it has absolutely NOTHING on the Trajan's Column itself. When we saw it, we all said "DUDE!" in the loudest, most obnoxious, most American way possible. This is what it looks like...
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(I'm building suspense because it's awesome)
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Ok, here it is!
Look at that! It's huge! It's massive! And that's not even it's full height! See, both of those columns are the same column! The one on the left is the top half, and the one on the right is the bottom half with the base! See the two black statues in front of it? Each one is about double my height. Spiraling all the way around the column are details describing Roman history that I'm not even going to begin explaining. But we read all about it this past Sunday. Here are more shots of it:
Adam is standing in the middle, and Steve is off to the right.
This is from the second floor. Note the tiny guy in front of the top half of the column. Also note how you can't even SEE where that column ends because it's so big. The base from the second floor. Zeke and Steve.
Steve, me, and Adam
"David" and "School of Athens" from the second floor. This was like the bazillionth statue-penis we saw that day.Panoramic view of "David" and "School of Athens" with some other stuff.
"School of Athens" by Raphael. The old dude wearing pink in the middle of the painting is Plato. The younger guy in the blue next to him is Aristotle.
We finished up and made it back in time for dinner. After dinner, a bunch of us took a double-decker bus to Sanisbury's, a fairly decent grocery store. I made out like a freaking bandit. I got 6 rolls with bacon and cheese baked in for only 39 pence. Not 39 pence EACH, mind you. 39 pence for all 6. Then I got 10 slices of cheese for £1.84 and 10 slices of turkey for £1.99. So I've got sandwiches for the rest of the week. I got a six-pack of yogurt (2 cherry, 2 strawberry, 2 raspberry) for £1.05 and 7-bag pack of crisps (potato chips) for £1.17. The best part was when I found 6-packs of Dr. Pepper and Sprite on sale. The price was half-off, so I got a six-pack of each for £1.27 each. Basically, I've got full lunches for the rest of the week as well as drinks for the next week and a half all for £8.98. That's awesome.
Naturally, the guys finished before the girls, so Adam, Zeke, Steve, Dan, Brad, Dave, and I took the bus back to the Highbury Centre. Adam and I holed up in our rooms and finished our reading for today: "Antigone", a play I had read last year, so I just skimmed it this time, a couple poems by Sappho, who might be one of the first lesbians ever and the history of the Peloponnesian War which was long, boring, and confusing. We also looked at pictures of people we missed from Houghton. Then I typed this. Now, it's 1:53 AM, and I'm still going to watch a Looney Tune after this. Colloquy, or small group discussions, start tomorrow. And luckily, I'm in the 10:15 group! (Adam's in the 8:30 group. Ha!) But both of us want breakfast, so we're getting up at 7:45. Not 8:45. 7:45. 7. That's all for now. Love you guys. Miss you guys. Bye.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
First London Post
Today was my first full day in London. Things are really hectic right now, and we haven’t even started school yet! (But we have 90 pages of reading due Monday, so I guess tomorrow will be devoted to that.)
Yesterday wasn’t the greatest. It was nice to get to London, but the flight over was long and uncomfortable and I got a cold that got worse when we reached the Highbury Centre (the guesthouse where we’re staying) because it was really, really dusty. But I cleaned part of Adam’s and my room and went to bed at 8:30, so that helped. And we had a lot of issues with internet, but we got that more or less resolved too.
Today, we spent the whole day walking around London. It was pretty cool. Actually, it was VERY cool. We went on the Underground and got to go through King’s Cross!!! (We didn’t get off, but we went through the station.) Then we saw some sweet places like St. Paul’s cathedral. We even got to ride on the top floor of a red double decker bus! Then we had lunch in this one park. Steve, Zeke, and I split a loaf of bread and some cheese, and I also had an apple and a Dr. Pepper (which tastes slightly different than in America). After lunch, we went across the Thames and saw the following places (but didn’t go in any of them):
The Globe Theatre
The Houses of Parliament
Big Ben
The London Eye
So yeah. It was pretty fantastic. We ended the day with a photo shoot in front of Buckingham Palace. It feels really weird to type that, by the way. Seriously. I didn’t bring my camera with me because A), I wanted to see these cool places for the first time without looking through a tiny screen, B) I knew we’d revisit all these places several times later on and C), I left my camera in my room at the Highbury. Oh well. Even if I had it with me, I wouldn’t have taken pictures for reasons A and B anyways.
So far, I’ve got mixed feelings about this whole London business. On one hand, it’s ridiculously exciting, because we get to do all these awesome things. On another hand, it’s ridiculously depressing, because I miss Emily, my family, and my friends, and I have limited access to them for a long time. It’s ridiculously terrifying, because we have all this work to do (like 90 pages of reading due Monday). It’s ridiculously exhausting, because we’ll be doing a LOT of walking. And it’s ridiculously interesting to learn new things. So basically, it’s just ridiculously ridiculous.
Well, right now it’s 10:54 and I have a lot I want to do tonight, including getting a good night’s sleep. So that’s all for now. I’m sorry if you wanted a more substantial post, but this will have to do for the time being. I love you guys, whoever you are. I miss you too. I’ll talk to you soon, I promise. Sometime in the next couple days, I’ll update this with pictures of the Highbury Centre, assuming my internet lets me. So keep checking. Later.
Yesterday wasn’t the greatest. It was nice to get to London, but the flight over was long and uncomfortable and I got a cold that got worse when we reached the Highbury Centre (the guesthouse where we’re staying) because it was really, really dusty. But I cleaned part of Adam’s and my room and went to bed at 8:30, so that helped. And we had a lot of issues with internet, but we got that more or less resolved too.
Today, we spent the whole day walking around London. It was pretty cool. Actually, it was VERY cool. We went on the Underground and got to go through King’s Cross!!! (We didn’t get off, but we went through the station.) Then we saw some sweet places like St. Paul’s cathedral. We even got to ride on the top floor of a red double decker bus! Then we had lunch in this one park. Steve, Zeke, and I split a loaf of bread and some cheese, and I also had an apple and a Dr. Pepper (which tastes slightly different than in America). After lunch, we went across the Thames and saw the following places (but didn’t go in any of them):
The Globe Theatre
The Houses of Parliament
Big Ben
The London Eye
So yeah. It was pretty fantastic. We ended the day with a photo shoot in front of Buckingham Palace. It feels really weird to type that, by the way. Seriously. I didn’t bring my camera with me because A), I wanted to see these cool places for the first time without looking through a tiny screen, B) I knew we’d revisit all these places several times later on and C), I left my camera in my room at the Highbury. Oh well. Even if I had it with me, I wouldn’t have taken pictures for reasons A and B anyways.
So far, I’ve got mixed feelings about this whole London business. On one hand, it’s ridiculously exciting, because we get to do all these awesome things. On another hand, it’s ridiculously depressing, because I miss Emily, my family, and my friends, and I have limited access to them for a long time. It’s ridiculously terrifying, because we have all this work to do (like 90 pages of reading due Monday). It’s ridiculously exhausting, because we’ll be doing a LOT of walking. And it’s ridiculously interesting to learn new things. So basically, it’s just ridiculously ridiculous.
Well, right now it’s 10:54 and I have a lot I want to do tonight, including getting a good night’s sleep. So that’s all for now. I’m sorry if you wanted a more substantial post, but this will have to do for the time being. I love you guys, whoever you are. I miss you too. I’ll talk to you soon, I promise. Sometime in the next couple days, I’ll update this with pictures of the Highbury Centre, assuming my internet lets me. So keep checking. Later.
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