Look at that peacoat, tell me he ain't broke

MONDAY
After classes, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. After seeing Young Victoria, I’m in love with anything that has to do with Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. We’ve done so many museums that after awhile I go: Huh, that’s cool. Then move on. A few things, though, still catch my eye and I stand there for awhile and think about how cool this place is. My favorite thing about this museum was probably these cool sensor things in the pond in the courtyard. They show a video pixel image of you when you walk by them. Pretty cool.
That night, Anna, Annie, Arrin, Karalyn, Laura, Leslie and I got standby tickets to see Les Miserables (bless you, international student ID cards). I saw it recently in Oregon done by Broadway Rose, but I had forgotten the plot and the music a little bit, so it was like just seeing it for the first time. And what an awe-inspiring “first” experience it was! I love love love love musicals. Love.
THE TIME BETWEEN MONDAY AND TUESDAY
I had this dream where there was this annoying ringing sound that really bugged me and I wanted it to stop. I wake up to Arrin saying: “Guys. Get up. We gotta get out of here, now.” It was the fire alarm. If we were in a real fire, I would have just slept right through it, I’ve discovered. Arrin saved us all. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a real fire, just the lady who lives in our building shut her kitchen door with the oven on and open. It got hot enough to set off the alarm at 2 in the morning. Oh, the adventures at the London Centre.
TUESDAY
We went to the Sir John Soane Museum. Correction: We experienced the Sir John Soane Museum. This renowned architect collected this mass amount of stuff throughout his life. From pediments to statues, paintings to a sarcophagus, he’s got it all. In his will, he wrote that he wanted his house left just the way it was and to open it up as a museum. His dying wishes were fulfilled. It’s so packed full of stuff that we had to put our bags in other bags so we don’t carry it on our arms and knock things over. Intense.
WEDNESDAY
On this travel outside of London day, we went to Brighton Royal Pavilion. This is where George IV built an elaborate palace out of a humble farm house. And when I say elaborate, I mean elaborate. He had John Nash style with an Asian influence design with golds and yellows and reds and dragons and pagodas. Very cool for a design junkie like me. The dining room had this MASSIVE chandelier held to the ceiling by a dragon breathing fire and cascaded down with crystals and smaller dragons. My favorite room was the music room. The décor was daunting. Another very large chandelier came down from a gold-plated dome. The carpet was lush and the wall painting were scenes from Asia. That’s not the half of it. George went all out.
Whilst in London, I enjoyed seeing the Atlantic Ocean from Brighton Pier. That’s the second place in London where I would live.
Being “queen” of the Culture Community, I got to go to the front of the bus and give a speech about Battle Abbey and the Battle of Hastings on the way there.

Let me enlighten you.

On 14th October, 1066, the Normans went up against the English in Hastings during the battle that concluded the Norman Conquest in England. The Normans won when Kind Harold of England was killed by an arrow going through his eye. Gnarly. Pope Alexander (III?) told the people that they should build a church so that they could pay penance for how many people they killed in the war. The High Altar was built over the spot where Harold was killed on the field in Hastings. Then the poor church was destroyed during the time when King Henry VIII decided to dissolve the monasteries since he became the head of the Church of England. So all that’s left, all that we saw, were two walls and the basement. The countryside was so beautiful and peaceful. A breath of fresh air outside of the inner city London. There were some random sheep on the battlefield and so, of course, Kellen wanted to herd them.



.:Brighton Pier:.



The next stop is almost not worth mentioning. Ok, it was a cute little town where the accents were really thick and the streets were made of cobblestone, so I should give it more credit. Rye’s the name, quaint’s the game. I ate my first English pie mmmm.
I love the countryside probably more than the city. Well, no, there are pluses and minuses for each. But I really love the country. It really felt like the England that you see in Jane Austen movies.
I kinda like it here.