London Day 2

I really need to get my phone fixed because it still froze in the middle of the night. Luckily, Katie got up next door so I was able to know I needed to get up as well. Had a headache…which reminds me I should mention that last night we went to a bar. It was fun, but due to lack of sleep and a Strawberry Lime Kopparberg (recommendation of Katie Horton), I wound up tipsy for the first time. Okay, maybe not the first first, but more like TIPSY. Anyway, I was on a beeline back to the dorm b/c I knew I wasn’t going to last another one since my world was distorting. Thanks to Colin going with me, I made it back and after some laptop time, crashed. I woke up feeling like the comforter/bed cover thing was trying to kill me. It was warm too discomfort and very heavy, but I slept well. 

Making it to class on time, thanks to it being in our flat’s kitchen, we had breakfast and started our discussion despite our teacher not being there. We had a break at 10 while the guys went to find him. Upon returning, he led the class for another hour and then we got ready to go to The British Library. That was pretty cool. Lots of original manuscripts, one AWESOMELY being the original copy of Beowolf and a letter written by Charles Darwin.

Next after a break to post a blog about an artifact in the library (posted below this post if you are interested), we met up at 5 to ride the Underground to get to St. Paul. Guess what we went by, guys?! St. Paul’s Cathedral! Wow! How’d you guess? :P Anyway, we ate at a really good pizza place there and then right across from it we went to The Globe to watch The Tempest. It was INCREDIBLE. Now, reading the book was one thing. It was okay…you know. But then you see the play and suddenly it’s an entirely different story. You suddenly understand the comedy (plus lots of comedy was just added in). I never want to read a play again without seeing it live. Surprisingly to me, some of the actors have been in movies and television shows.  The lead (Prospero) was played by Roger Allam who was in Game of Thrones apparently. And three people, Sam Cox and Peter Hamilton Dyer and Colin Morgan, were on Doctor Who. And I will just have to say that Colin Morgan is a VERY attractive man. I mean….may I just fangirl squeal at the fact he played Merlin in Merlin?! Like…TAKE THAT BABOO! I SAW THE LEAD OF A SHOW YOU LIKE A LOT RIGHT ON STAGE. Watch, he’s just laughing at this post like…yeah…okay…that’s great, Gabs. I think I get to fangirl once a day so far….I doubt this will keep up. More about the play is that the guy who played Ferdinand made me laugh. I don't think I have ever seen anyone with better facial expressions. His acting was made through that. I really did just want a pocket version of him to make me laugh whenever I want. The actors for Trinculo and Stephano were both HILARIOUS. (Stephano was Sam Cox, btw). The play had a lot more music than expected and I LOVED it. Colin Morgan dancing femininely with a dude made me laugh so much as well as Sam Cox dancing like the drunken fool he was acting as).

Colin Morgan (He played Ariel...which was funny because he got kinda feminine while also being very, very nimble by climbing around (Something pretty masculine, imo)

Moving on, I got one souvenir from The Globe for a person, not going to disclose who, but I will mention I got a souvenir when I get one. So, HA! Lol So, after the fun we are now back here and I am attempting to read the article I have to read for tomorrow. (You could tell this was a distraction, can’t you? *sigh* Oh, well!)

Now for the best part of the entire day (I’m being super sarcastic, not that you’d know) because this whole day I’ve had a severe foot problem. I feel really bad about as well has it feels REALLY BAD. At first I thought it was just an ankle thing so I go and buy an ankle support to fix it. Yeah, no. Apparently, from walking so much yesterday, I did something to my foot which also affects my ankle so I don’t know what is going on with it. I’m going to the Pharmacy when I can tomorrow. The outside of my right foot kills if I stand with too much weight on it or if I walk. So I had to limp around London which is very, very painful because it causes a blister on the big toe and puts all your weight on the left foot. I need those wheeling things where you rest your knee on it and push or something like that. I’m joking, but then again…I’d feel less like I was slowing people down, but I’d feel more like an invalid. The pain is a sharp pain and when it hits the wrong way, I want to drop down and cry. It takes severe willpower not to cry out and disturb people. It’s very emotionally painful as well to feel like this when you come to a new country to learn and have fun and then feel like you can’t enjoy everything b/c your brain is split between paying attention and not falling onto the floor and giving up. Strangest thing is that I have to wear a sneaker to limp, but my foot feels worse in it than flip-flops. Like…I may try wrapping it to see if that’s the only thing I need to do, but…still, walking in London everywhere with flip-flops? Really? Does that even SOUND like a good idea? Especially when they are cheap and fraying on the bottoms? You may ask “Why did you bring those then?” B/c the wrap only fits with those flip-flops. L Unhappy, Gaby.

So, yes, today was blessed as well as cursed. I REALLY hope things get better, so…I’ll hopefully post again tomorrow about Westminister Abbey. Time to finish the article I’m ignoring. Here are some random pics for your enjoyment.

Blog 2: Chaucer and Shakespeare

At the Sir John Ritblat Gallery at the British Library, I noticed that one of the artifacts was an old book of Geoffrey Chaucer. It was mentioned on the plaque that Chaucer’s work inspired William Shakespeare and he borrowed some of Chaucer’s stories and put them into his plays. I found that really interesting.

Geoffrey Chaucer himself was born sometime between 1340 and 1345 (some think 1343). He has been said to be first great poet in English. According to his history on BBC, “Chaucer's first major work was 'The Book of the Duchess', an elegy for the first wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Other works include 'Parliament of Fowles', 'The Legend of Good Women' and 'Troilus and Criseyde'. In 1387, he began his most famous work, 'The Canterbury Tales', in which a diverse group of people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.”

Shakespeare Online points out that Chaucer was popular even though he wrote in Middle English, which is the English language used from c. 1150 to 1470. That English that most people try to avoid because people find it tedious to try and understand what someone has written. As may be obvious, Shakespeare used Chaucer’s poem Troilus and Crisyde for his play of the same name. Also, thanks to Chaucer, the speech about “Queen Mab” from Romeo & Juliet was a referenced back to Parliament of Fowles. From The Canterbury Tales the story The Knight’s Tale is said to have sparked Shakespeare’s writing of The Two Noble Kinsmen.

All that this means to me is that Chaucer was much more important than I thought. He influenced the one and only William Shakespeare! If there is a while to receive immortality through your writing, it is definitely getting a famous person to write your stories into plays. I always knew that The Canterbury Tales was a famous work by Chaucer, but I have a bigger respect for the poet now. Chaucer directly influenced the literature of the time by being liked by Shakespeare. Since I have never heard of this before, I wonder if people actually noticed that these stories were by Chaucer originally. The fun thought that if Shakespeare could go to The British Library like we did and see one of his own original pieces of work right by Geoffrey Chaucers crossed my mind. I feel like he would be really excited and honored. Maybe just as impressed as we were by seeing the actually hand-writing of Charles Darwin in a letter to one of his friends and the original copy of Beowolf. It is very interesting to see author’s feeding off of each other to create model books of certain times.

London Day 1

First, I must fangirl a little bit at the fact that today was the day that I set foot in the same airport that Key and Minho did once upon a time. (For those of you who do not know who Key and Minho are or have never heard of the Korean Pop group called Shinee, I just told you who they are. I will give a picture to help aid your mind).

Shinee

Key

Minho

Moving on! Let me back track to before we left Charlotte-Douglas Airport. Now, for an airport I am not so fond of in comparison to RDU, it has a LOT of shops in the back. One in particular was a tasty little bagel shop called “American Bagel” I believe. I had a really good Egg and Cheese on a bagel (Asiago for those who care), but the ironic part was that the people who worked there had foreign accents. So after having this good bagel, we sat and sat and so forth. We then got on the plane and the group of us were in the 2^nd and 3^rd to last rows on the plane. This is all well and good except for the fact that I had to sit next to a child who I swear could be no more than 4 years old and who’s vocal record was stuck on the question “Is he a good guy or a bad guy?”. This was due to his father attempting to distract him with a Marvel coloring book. Okay, sure, but here is my question to the father. “Why would you put your son next to me when you could have switched seats with him and put him in an aisle seat where he couldn’t hit, kick, grab, or push me at all? With the added bonus of his mother being next to him across the aisle!” Due to that, I was afraid to sleep b/c I might fall over and squish him or I really couldn’t sleep because he was either hitting me or playing Angry Birds on his dad’s ipad (I hope his dad’s ipad anyway) and lighting up the screen in the dark cabin every 3 seconds. It didn't help either that the boys small sibling sitting with the mom decided to cry for the last portion of the trip. Not my problem as much as the older one, but still. I tried watching “The Great and Powerful Oz” to lull me to sleep. 

It almost worked. With the aid of putting on a music track, I at least lost some sort of consciousness that I know was not sleep because before it could be, the baby started crying (not loud enough to disturb me as it was across the way) but a flight attendant suddenly screeches at the baby “OMG ME TOO I TOTALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THIS RIGHT NOW”. I am glad to say I was not the only disturbed person, but really…I couldn’t sleep AT ALL after that. So, I wound up watching “Identity Thief” which is a TERRIBLE idea if you are sitting next to a four year old. 

This movie is not for children, I just thank the Lord the boy was asleep by then (pushing my leg with his sneakers , mind you). Anyway, the last 45 minutes were spent watching a random episode of “Storage Wars” that the airline had. Okay then…

SO! Arriving at Heathrow. We were taxied around the track quite a few times while waiting for another plane to move out of the way. Then customs was packed. I mean, whatever though, no big deal.  We took a charter bus that took far longer than expected which lulled most of us into naps or attempts at naps. While I was still semi-conscious, I took in the fact that London looks almost nothing like I remember it. This is obvious as I came here twice over a decade ago. The double decker buses are modernized as well as the buildings. The kicker for the buildings was the architecture. Their shapes vary and are REALLY cool. (Sorry, I was too lazy to take out the camera) BUT! I will describe something that is very cool.  Most office buildings here are made of glass. Oh, yes, you are thinking, “whatever, tons of business buildings in the US are, too!” WELL NOT LIKE THIS! These crazy, cool Londoners don’t cover their floor to ceiling glass panels with blinds and such. You can be driving and just look right in on a business meeting. It was awesome. Best part though was the silent excitement I got from seeing London’s SEGA building. Again, sorry about no pics, but right now my head is swimming from exhaustion and I still have to read an article before tomorrow despite my lack of sleep and a plan to go out with the group for some fun tonight.

Once off the bus, we went to our new home for 3 weeks to find that they weren’t ready for us. So after storing our stuff, we walked for awhile and then ate at a pub. No, I didn’t drink. I had water. After that, we went back and got our rooms. Now, here is where it is slightly amusing. The guys are in a suite on the first floor in one building with only 5 stairs to walk up. Us girls on the other hand had to lug our almost 50 lb bags up to the third floor (which is more like the FOURTH floor) which was hard and we never wish to do so again. Anyway, we made it and settled into our rooms before all going grocery shopping. Here are pictures of my room, the area, and Kaitlyn):

Once that was done, we unloaded and then I took a trip with 3 of the other girls (Katie, Danielle, and Kaitlyn) on an adventure around London where we found a gem of a place to eat and have a relaxing drink. A Chocolate Tres Leche Cake and a Classic Margarita

After that we went browsing and successfully learned how to cross streets here in London. This leaves me here. In my room typing this. That is all I have for now and I hope that you guys will continue to read my blog. I will update with entertaining things frequently, I hope. I leave you with random photos of London and one of the pigeons that doesn't care if you are human. Enjoy!

Blog 1: Open City, London: 1500-1700- Market

            Between 1500-1700 in London, there was an extreme growth in population which led to changes in London's market. The Royal Exchange, opened in 1569 by Sir Thomas Gresham, was a very important space mixed with many immigrants and locals alike. According to Kathryn Lynch'spodcast, some of the most important consumers were women, something that proves true even today in many countries. All were there to sell goods and show off their trades. The Folger Shakespeare Library states that "daily trading sessions took place in an open courtyard. Above were two levels of “pawn” shops where one could buy the luxury goods that international trade produced."

            After reading articles and listening to Lynch's podcast, I find immigration to be the biggest reason as to the change in the market over those years. With a higher amount of people in a population comes a higher demand on goods. Immigrants And The Industries Of London, 1500-1700 by Lien Luu states just as much by saying "the demand for basic goods and services...grew by at least tenfold." And why not? There were 50,000 people in London in 1500, by 1550 there was 80,000, by 1600 200,000, and a whopping 500,000 by 1700. Trade would have to grow rapidly to compensate, and thanks to trade companies and trades people, it did grow. Also at this time, the income for those living in London also went up. With higher demand of products also come a higher demand of man power and jobs opened up.

            The market also did well because of London's social structure at the time. Also according to Luu's book, there was the Court, the gentry, the aristocracy, the professionals (doctors and lawyers), and lots of merchants. The Royal Exchange would easily become a merchants paradise as there were people constantly in need of food and other necessities. The Court itself held a lot of people. Henry VIII was ruling at that time and his Court around the 1630s had about 2,500 or more people counting private servants. The servant's families would also mean more money for the market. Those Crowned between 1500 and 1700 put a large amount of money into the market. King James even had a mercer supply him with 5000 pounds worth of silks, 14,083 pounds for "wares, etc." as well as a two jewelers being paid 6,423 pounds for pearls to the King. The gentry, aristocracy, and the professionals came to the area due to the Court being there. With royalty so close, The Royal Exchange (which was originally backed by Queen Elizabeth herself, anyway) grew splendidly. With so much money flowing into the market from those with money, the market only continued to grow. Those living in London at the time were also very interested in luxury items from other countries. Italian cloths and glassware, Portuguese spices, and German metal wares were some of what was popular at the time. Londoners wanted these things in their home. That is the reason why immigrants would do so well in London and why the market was so prosperous.

New Use!

This blog is to have a new use starting late June. I will be blogging on here about my trip to England instead of using it for just photos. I fully intend to have pictures go along with my blog, but you know! Anyway, look forward to what the future of this blog will hold!