The building has rebuilt many times since it's original construction in the late 11th century, and it is really interesting to see how various architects have combined new sections of the building with the old ones that still stood. It is also interesting how rooms and sections have been reconstructed to the exact specifications as before, even though a change was probably necessary. The House of Commons for example was rebuilt after being bombed in World War II, but instead of making the chamber big enough for all members of the house to sit in, Winston Churchill instructed that the room should be rebuilt to the exact specifications as before. Now, in order to guarantee themselves a seat in the chamber, members must arrive early and wait inline to claim a seat for the day. While the bicameral style of government is similar to that of the United States, the procedures are far different.
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| Parliament, Big Ben, and Elizabeth Tower |
The list of differences between Parliament and the United States Congress is quite long, but I thought that two of the most interesting differences were the fact that when a member wants to make a speech, he must declare before hand how long the speech will be, which means that there cannot be any endless filibusters, and secondly that if a bill has been up for debate in the House of Lords for over a year, it is automatically passed.
Sunday was another fairly relaxing day of catching up on sleep, wandering through a local market, cooking dinner, and finishing some homework.
On Monday, we returned to our usual busy schedule. We started the day in class and then return to Shakespeare's Globe Theater for the actors workshop that we had to cancel last week. I must admit that, as I am not an actor, I wasn't really looking forward to the workshop, but I was pleasantly surprised and actually really enjoyed it. We learned a lot about the way that the actors interact and work with each other in an environment where they are performing a different show every night and don't necessarily have the time to rehearse every moment of the show, which is how the theater worked during Shakespeare's time.
Once we had finished the workshop, we stopped for a lunch, and then headed over to the Tate Modern Museum. Over the past several days in class we have had debates about what is actually art and I must say that several of the pieces that are on display in the Tate Modern Museum are definitely not art. For example, there is one display called Untitled Painting, which is simply as the description says "mirror on canvas." The artist took a mirror and attached it to a canvas and now it is in a museum. Why that is considered art is beyond me, but while there were many pieces that I didn't care for there were also several that I really enjoyed. After we finished the museum, we returned to our dorms and went out for Indian food for dinner. The food was pretty good, but I wish I had time to get some more Indian food before I left. After dinner, I finished up some homework and called it a night.
Tuesday was another jam packed day. Once again we started with classes in the morning. After class we grabbed a quick lunch then we hopped on the Tube to visit the National Gallery. The National Gallery is an incredible art museum that houses some of the most famous works of art in the world. My personal favorites were some of the works by van Gogh and Monet, but there was something there for everyone's taste. After we finished the National Gallery we made a quick stop at the National Portrait Gallery to see portraits of some of the most famous people in British history. From the portrait gallery, we returned to our dorms to get ready to see the musical Billy Elliot.
Once we had gotten ready for the show, we stopped for some delicious Chinese food. We made quite a mess, but it may have been some of the best Chinese food that I have every eaten. After dinner, we headed over to the theater for our performance. I had already seen Billy Elliot, but still found the performance to be quite enjoyable and actually much different than the previous performance I saw. After the show, we made our way back to the dorms and finally reached the end of one of the longest days of our trip thus far.
Today was another relaxing day. We had a free day, so once again I used it as an opportunity to get
some extra sleep. Once I woke up, I headed over to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is a museum of decorative arts and design. I didn't spend a ton of time in the museum, but it was an amazing museum. From the museum, we headed over the the Leicester Square area with the hope of being able to see some of the festivities for the European premier of the new movie Man of Steel. There was a massive crowd for the premier which meant that unfortunately we were not really able to see most of the actors as they arrived, but we were able to catch a glimpse of some of the stuff they had constructed for the premier.
Our disappointment over not being able to see very much at the premier was short lived however, as we had tickets to see one more show before we left London. This time we decided to see Jersey Boys, which I was really excited about as I had never seen it before. The show was phenomenal. Obviously we knew the music would be great as it is the songs that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons performed, but the rest of the production was just as great. After the show, we returned to our apartments to pack as we are leaving London tomorrow morning.
It is incredible to think that I have already been away for almost three weeks, but every moment has been spectacular and I guess that time really does fly when you're having fun. I'll post again once we reach Edinburgh in a few days.
Sunday was another fairly relaxing day of catching up on sleep, wandering through a local market, cooking dinner, and finishing some homework.
On Monday, we returned to our usual busy schedule. We started the day in class and then return to Shakespeare's Globe Theater for the actors workshop that we had to cancel last week. I must admit that, as I am not an actor, I wasn't really looking forward to the workshop, but I was pleasantly surprised and actually really enjoyed it. We learned a lot about the way that the actors interact and work with each other in an environment where they are performing a different show every night and don't necessarily have the time to rehearse every moment of the show, which is how the theater worked during Shakespeare's time.
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| The View of London From Across the Themes at Tate Modern |
Tuesday was another jam packed day. Once again we started with classes in the morning. After class we grabbed a quick lunch then we hopped on the Tube to visit the National Gallery. The National Gallery is an incredible art museum that houses some of the most famous works of art in the world. My personal favorites were some of the works by van Gogh and Monet, but there was something there for everyone's taste. After we finished the National Gallery we made a quick stop at the National Portrait Gallery to see portraits of some of the most famous people in British history. From the portrait gallery, we returned to our dorms to get ready to see the musical Billy Elliot.
Once we had gotten ready for the show, we stopped for some delicious Chinese food. We made quite a mess, but it may have been some of the best Chinese food that I have every eaten. After dinner, we headed over to the theater for our performance. I had already seen Billy Elliot, but still found the performance to be quite enjoyable and actually much different than the previous performance I saw. After the show, we made our way back to the dorms and finally reached the end of one of the longest days of our trip thus far.
Today was another relaxing day. We had a free day, so once again I used it as an opportunity to get
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| Chihuly Glass Display in the Victoria and Albert Museum |
Our disappointment over not being able to see very much at the premier was short lived however, as we had tickets to see one more show before we left London. This time we decided to see Jersey Boys, which I was really excited about as I had never seen it before. The show was phenomenal. Obviously we knew the music would be great as it is the songs that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons performed, but the rest of the production was just as great. After the show, we returned to our apartments to pack as we are leaving London tomorrow morning.
It is incredible to think that I have already been away for almost three weeks, but every moment has been spectacular and I guess that time really does fly when you're having fun. I'll post again once we reach Edinburgh in a few days.
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