Settling in to a New Life

Hello!

I am afraid that it's been two weeks since I have blogged. To be honest, I have been either too busy or too tired and thinking of having to come up with a summation of all I have encountered was too daunting for me to attempt. My mind has been utterly overwhelmed by first week in school and I just honestly hope I manage to blog more regularly in the future. I want to have the record of my adventures as much as you all want to read about them. So perhaps blogging is in part selfish...but aren't journals always? In any case, blog I will, and hopefully once a week...

~*~*~ Flashback to Two Weeks Ago ~*~*~
Unbelievably, at the beginning of the week of September 5th, I spent two days in class at Roehampton learning about the English Education System, Religious Education, English Education, and anything else Susie and crew could give us to help prepare us for this past week. The sessions were long but so insightful and needed. I have been very thankful to Susie, Lesley, and Phillipa for being very direct about what we need to know and what we need to do. I don't think there was a moment where I was bored (aside from I suppose in technology when I was having ED100 flashbacks...but alas, I hate technology and even that session was useful to prepare me for my smartboard infested school! ;) ).

Having lunch at Roehampton!

On Wednesday we were able to visit the Imperial War Museum for class. We'll be doing a group project on planning a trip to the museum for a joint History and English course. After we could have left, following a discussion on what we would do, we found ourselves too enthralled to leave until the PA system called out the minutes until the museum's closure. Focusing on WWI and WWII primarily with a bit on the wars following, it was an utterly unique museum with everything from simulations to model airplanes to medals with the stories of the heroes that were given them. The terrors of war came alive in the powerful Holocaust exhibit and the struggles on the homefront were clear in the model home complete with the tales of children living in England at the time. I was profoundly moved and once again left a London museum with plans in my head to return.

French fighter plane

I must admit that I utterly love getting to go to museums for class! Clearly they are educational, but I am such a huge nerd that I find them fascinating. As a kid I hated going to museums because they were "boring" and I "couldn't touch anything." My elder brother LOVED them, especially transport museums...ironically, now it's me taking pictures of Model T's and fighter jets! How time changed me and enlarged my adoration for all things incredibly geeky.

It's fine, since clearly on Thursday I visited the National Gallery with Emily and Piper (also for class) and then we headed off to the Globe Theatre! The gallery was filled with a little bit of Rembrandt and Monet but a great deal of realism and countless pictures from the Renaissance - ie. religious iconography, lots of Mary and lots of Jesus due to the great Italian influences and the sheer number of Italian pieces. Every piece was lovely and stunning with so many sprawling landscapes and countless wall high portraits of angels and saints. It was actually the first museum we managed to get through! It was a massive building in the gorgeous Trafalgar Square, but the gallery rooms were in a sensible order of straight hallways organized by style of art so you could linger where you liked (the impressionists) and go quicker through other parts. I was very glad to have visited!

The afternoon, however, was what held my attention and excitement. I was finally going to the Globe! To Shakespeare's Globe!! Even now I find myself trembling at the thought. What a magnificent place! The theater was surprising small and wedged in between much more modern buildings along the Thames. We came upon it quite suddenly after a long walk from the Gallery (involving, of course, getting lost, again). It's prefect white walls and dark brown wood concealed the simple wooden benches and wide pit encircling the simple stage with its lovely bright coloured paints.

This picture may give you a sense of my sheer joy at standing there.

We saw an incredible version of Much Ado About Nothing done in period costumes. There was just the right amount of awkward in their relationship and the perfect splash of comedy. I was in stitches the whole time! To be honest, it was difficult to restrain myself in the gift shop but I managed to walk away with a show poster and a Globe mug for my tea! Because how much more of an English major could I possibly get? If only it were possible to return...Though I know I'll come back eventually, also known as the second The Taming of the Shrew goes up, whenever that is.

Our view over the crowd

Thursday night was also the beginning of the semester party. A big group of us hung out at the bar turned club and danced away for several hours. Though the music was a touch too loud to engender real conversation, it was nice to relax and enjoy ourselves as the real work loomed ahead of us!

Piper, Jess, and Sarah at the party!

I enjoyed my last sleeping in before heading to a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Though of tour guide was intensely irritating, the sheer beauty of the building inside and out, steeped in history, made it worth it. I stood on the stairs and the ground where Guy Fawkes and Sir William Wallace were tried and stood by the chairs the MPs in the House of Commons decide law from. It was an awe striking place with a hall dating from William Rufus in 1097 to rooms rebuilt after the Blitz.

Oh hai there, Parliament!

It was then that the weekend before student teaching arrived! The nerves amped up to overdrive, but two days of exploring London lay ahead of me to focus on instead...and then I got miserably sick. A cold came through the chain of people I knew and smacked me right down. Congestion, headache, coughing, and, of course, a rapid diminution of my ability to speak.

Despite the impediment, I went to the market on Saturday morning followed by the grocery store. While these are less exciting things, they still happened and were followed by the much more exciting visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) with Emily T. We were transported to the 19th Century, surrounded by lavish furniture, rooms, chandeliers, and artifacts. Echoing with our chatter and awe, we wandered through the first floor and ground floor, seeing medieval pieces, Asian pieces found and saved in addition to the Victorian rooms. The incredible interior museum was stunning and will - are you sensing a pattern? - require another visit. In the statue room the white plaster and bright lighting stung my eyes with beauty and made me think on the latest Pride and Prejudice's scene in Pemberly.

We also spent some time wondering how they got that beautiful arch in there...

On Sunday, despite my worsening condition, the sun beckoned in a bright blue sky for me to step outside. I was thrilled to be able to walk the enders of my bread loaf down to the pond in Hyde Park to feed my first swans of the semester! A tradition I've always associated with visiting my granda in Scotland, I felt obliged to pay the beautiful birds a visit. It was a lovely morning and Piper and Emily's company made it even more enjoyable.

The day was relaxing, complete with a delicious pub lunch and some time at the Thames River Festival to celebrate the end of summer. It unfortunately got cold and damp and ended in me ducking home to shower and sleep before the firework display; however, the magnificent parade was filled with bright colours and dancing! It was just the sort of relaxing but out and about kind of day I needed to really give me the yes, I live in London feeling. A day like that Sunday was so normal, so average and yet so enjoyable that I felt really at home for the first time; I had settled.

Dancing teapots at the parade!

Stay tuned for a blog entry about my first week teaching and this past weekend! I have so much to say and so many lovely pictures to share, but I feel that this entry may be quite long enough and my bed calls out to me.

Much love to everyone and hoping all is well,

Fallon