I would love life here if every day were this fantastically full, but I would be exhausted, physically and mentally. I'd probably be in better shape though. Maybe it'd be alright then.
This morning, all five of us guys got together and walked to our classroom, a seemingly straightforward affair. However, we ended taking the long way there, going all the way up near King's Cross Station and the British Library. Two places I for sure want to visit, just not today. After about an hour of walking, we got there, with Mary standing outside the building and pacing, waiting for each group to arrive.
It was nearly an hour later that the final group of girls arrived, the very same group we had offered to take with us this morning, and who had declined our gracious invitation. That sure showed them to not trust us and our Londoner sense of direction.
Class began, and Mary talked to us about the major themes that run through all of our readings, and really all of British literature. Issues of class, class conflict, war, rebellion, and generational change permeate everything we are to study on this trip, issues that forever fascinate me. We also talked for a bit about Mrs. Dalloway, one book that is for sure growing on me. I didn't get to speak my peace on it in class, but the opening scenes appear to me cinematically, as a changing of camera angles and point-of-view, to see the same scene from different angles. I realize that means nothing to most people, but I really dig it. Virginia Woolf makes me feel like a terrible person though, and that I will never accomplish anything, because I can't pull anything off as beautifully and amazingly rich as she can. That got me thinking about what, as an artist, or just person in general, I can do to set myself apart and establish my work as an individual.
This trip is one that is almost purely personal in scope for me. I chose to put myself into debt to come here for probably selfish reasons, amidst personal turmoil. It is escapism, it is introspection, it is a journey not only of the United Kingdom, but of my own psyche at points. Although I have much coursework to do within the confines of hectic city life, I am hoping to still have time to work on personal projects. Ideas have come to me for stories, and novels, and other works, but I simply have been unable to work on them with the constant distractions back in Lawrence. Most recently, I've been toying with the idea of a tribute to the scientific romances of old, a far-flug adventurous journey across alien landscapes, made by someone nearly as nerdy as myself.
The second half of class was actually pretty intimidating, as it was our art history course. I know very, very little about art or art history, and the assignments sound quite daunting. We are required to visit various sites around the city and analyze them, something I have absolutely no idea how to do.
Class didn't last very long this first day, being the introduction and all, so when it was over, we all headed to the basement of the ACCENT building to print off the assignment sheets none of us bothered to look at before the trip. Loren and I once more lead a large group back to the flats, stopping at a quick takeaway shop for lunch.
After a few of us spent some time relaxing in the flat, we all headed off for the National Gallery, to meet Mary and Megan there to see some quite famous paintings. We wandered for a while looking for the Farringdon tube station, only to find that it was closed for the day. Eventually we came to the Chancery Lane station, which got us to Trafalgar square with only one changeover. On the stairs down to the platform, I saw a young man helping a woman carry her stroller, child included. At first I thought he must be her husband, as they appeared the same age. However, once on the platform, he walked away. This lead me to ponder upon the depths of human kindness. Despite the amount of evil in the world, we are still capable of loving one another as we do ourselves. And to me, it is more difficult to help someone you could not know with something very small than either someone you know or something very big. Normally, one would think, "oh, she doesn't need help, she can handle it herself," but to help someone with something that is merely a bother rather than difficult really shows how far we humans will go for one another.
Anyway, we came out of the Leicester Square tube station right in to Trafalgar. I had forgotten how incredible it all was. Nelson's Column, the beautiful fountains, the National Gallery, they were are quite awe-inspiring. Here we met the rest of the group and went in to the Gallery, with Megan the Art History Professor as our guide.
In the museum, we talked about the the Wilton Diptych, the van Eyck wedding portrait, The Ambassadors, the equestrian portrait of Charles the I, and the works of the British Romanticists. If I didn't have to write papers on these, I would go further in to detail, but I have much writing to do on them anyway. I may post some of it here, if I can. After the required site visits, I visited the Picasso exhibit with several others. What was here was his much lesser-known works, and I found it hard to keep concentrated on them for very long. In one of the larger galleries, I sat down on a bench and started writing in my journal. Before I knew it, I had been sitting there for nearly half an hour, and everyone else was getting ready to leave.
Nearly the whole group departed together for our dinner at Pizza Express. Despite the name, this restaurant is about a far from fast-food pizza as it gets. In fact, it is a quite posh Italian restaurant, the kind in which you drink red wine with your meal, which I in fact did, washing my Pollo ad Astra pizza down with a large glass of Merlot. I sat across the table from Mary at dinner, and all of us at that end of our (quite long) table had wonderful conversation the whole meal. I talked to Mary about fiction, science writing, and science fiction for what seemed like an hour. This seems to be a recurring conversation topic with us, and it spread to me having conversations about SF with several other people as well. All in all the dinner was pretty wonderful. I finished it off with a heaping helping of tiramisu and headed with the gang back to the flats to reconnoiter.
On the walk back, many of us decided that we wanted to go out tonight, so when we got back, I got dressed and headed out with all five of us guys, plus Taryn, Julia, Rachel, Kelci, Bethany, Abbie, Dorie (sp?), and Andrea. Loren and I had scoped out the area earlier and found a pub that looked pretty hoppin', but it turned out to be reserved for a wedding reception, so we ended up at a quaint little place called the Wilmington Arms. The place is pretty laid back and nearby, so I could see all of us spending quite a bit of time here.
At the pub, I had myself an Imperial pint of Hoegaarden (sp again?) and some more fantastic conversation with everyone that went. As I said before, this is a really great group, and we are all getting on just wonderfully. I know it is only the second day here so far, but I hope that many of us stay friends after this trip.
Well loyal readers, I'm a little tipsy and a lot tired, so I'm going to sign off once I get done on Facebook.
Goodnight all.
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