Busy Bee

Before I get into the new post, there was something I forgot to mention in my last one and I feel like I have a right to brag about this a little bit. For those of you who don't know, my middle name is Wendy after my maternal grandmother. Peter Pan has been a big part of my Grandmom's family because my great grandma Toots was in a production of the play and J.M. Barrie created the name Wendy. I was very lucky that my program placed me in South Kensington, near Kensington Gardens where the Peter Pan statue resides. It was my mission to find it, not only for me, but for my Grandmom and on a run in the snow, I ended up finding it. I can't post the picture here because I took it on my iPhone but if you want to see it, it's up on Facebook. I was glad that I ended up making her happy and on a more sunnier (and hopefully warmer) day, I'll go back and find a picture to post on here.

Anyway, onwards we go!

This week has been the busiest I've had because it's been filled with class field trips, seeing plays, a late night foam party, and wandering around the city. Where to start? How about with my field trip to the BBC Studios?

One of the classes I'm taking over here is called Media in Britain where we discuss British broadcasting, such as television and radio, as well as film. It meets on Tuesdays once a week and last week we had our trip to BBC Studios. It was the last week the BBC would be in its building because they were moving to central London, therefore we were being given the last tour. It was absolutely amazing! We were able to see the main room where every news piece was being broadcasted and people sitting at their desks watching computer monitors. Our guide told us their average work day is about nine or more hours long and by the time we were there, everyone had been working for at least three. Sounds really rough but when you are the biggest broadcasting company in the world, those are the breaks.

However that wasn't the most exciting part for me. Before we entered the studio, there was a very familiar blue box outside of the building and my crazy fan girl persona squealed in major delight. It was back in May when I got into Doctor Who and BBC airs the episodes so I found it extremely fitting to take a picture with the TARDIS.

FYI, TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Mock me all you want, I am not ashamed of being a Who fan and a good portion of my motivation on taking a picture with the TARDIS was to make my equally Doctor Who crazy cousin extremely jealous, so eat your heart out Matthew McCarthy!

Of course it would have made the day a lot sweeter if the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, had been present but he wasn't. However two girls in my afternoon class met him on the Tube and got his autograph so I'm very bitter about that but maybe I'll get lucky and spot my favorite Doctor, David Tennant. Here's to hoping!

So that was Tuesday. Wednesday was a little more chaotic. I had to find my way to the Fulham Football stadium (by myself I might add) because I had a ticket for the evening match against West Ham. Getting there went smoother than I thought. Thankfully most British people are avid football fans and I was able to follow the large crowd to my destination. If you want to know just how big the crowd was, here's a parallel. In the movie Modern Times, with Charlie Chaplin, there is a scene in the beginning where you see a herd of sheep being clumped together as they try to move and then it dissolves into a similar picture but this time of men bustling out of the subway to get to work. That is pretty much how it was from the Tube to the stadium. Also if my film professor ever sees this post, at least you know one student really paid attention in class.

Okay so aside from comparing the crowd to a movie scene, the stadium itself was huge and loud. Once the match was underway, you heard all kinds of chanting from both the Fulham and West Ham crowds. This was the first legit football game I have ever been to. Before this my football was limited to me playing from ages four to 10 and being the ball girl at my sister's matches in high school, so it was interesting to see how different the atmosphere was. Also I've never heard so much swearing in my life. The men in front of me were particularly amusing and I've also learned that the British love to use the F-word more than any other swear word.

 

 



 

I ended up meeting with Brandon and his sporting class and followed them so I didn't have to go back by myself. It took an hour and a half to get home because of the nearby Tube station having too much traffic and then going in the wrong direction three times. Still it was an overall fun time and I would be open to going to another match but maybe an Arsenal or Chelsea match to mix it up a bit.

 

Speaking about getting lost, Thursday evening I had to go north of South Kensington to this small pub that had a production of Twelfth Night and it was in a residential area in Kentish Town, a little bit further than Camden Town. That was an adventure in itself. First off, I left around 6:40 and got on the Piccadilly Line ten minutes later. It stopped twice to even out gap times between the itself and the train in front of it. By the time I got to the Northern Line, it was 7:15, which meant I had 15 minutes until the play started. The Northern Line was worse with stops and when I finally got to Kentish Town, it was 7:29. Thankfully I knew what street to go to and once I cleared the exit of the station, I shot off like a bullet. Made it within three minutes and still had a little bit of time before the play started. These are the times where I'm so thankful I am a runner.

 

The play was hilarious and the actors were brilliant considering the fact I was up close and personal with a lot of them (and it didn't hurt that Orsino and Sir Toby were some pretty good looking guys). Just to make this clear, this was for my Shakespeare class so I had to go and I'm glad I did. We have another show to attend Monday evening but this one is a promenade. We are put into small groups and walk through. I can't wait to tell you all about that.

 

Weekends here I love because I get to do anything I want, whether it is going to local markets where all the food is amazing and you can buy goods at a very reasonable price. One market I can't wait to go back to is Partridges because it had freshly made fudge, pies, confectionary, and vendors selling jams, popcorn, and curd (which is really really good. It's essentially jam but with butter and eggs. So creamy!). I'll be sending home some raspberry flavored curd before I leave here and no one is allowed to touch it until I'm back at home.

 

Here are a few pictures of the market

 

 

 

 

 

One last thing before I go. Last night a few of the girls and myself went to a foam party at a club in Elephant & Castle, just across the river near the London Eye and it was a lot of fun. We were covered in glow sticks and even got free t-shirts. When it came time to leave, we were all soaking wet and had to figure out the bus route to get back home. The one that would have gone to South Kensington was not in service so we jumped onto one heading for Trafalgar Square. Thankfully we had a very nice bus driver who promised to help us figure a way back home and when it came to the end of his route, he called over a manager who then escorted us to the right bus to take. By then I was absolutely freezing and my feet were completely numb (it also didn't help that they were still covered in foam) so when I got to my room, I changed into sweatpants, cranked the heat, and fell right asleep. I nearly didn't go last night but I was glad I was kind of coerced into going because I had a freaking awesome time.

 

Just a warning I may not be posting until after next Sunday because I'll be in Stratford-upon-Avon for a study tour and I want to include that in my next post because I'll have a lot of pictures and, most likely, stories I will want to share. So be on the lookout for next post and I hope you enjoyed this one.

 

Cheers!