Today was one of the most fun days I've had so far but I'm beyond exhausted. We had British Life and Culture class today so we all met at the University of London building at 11. Justin gave us a lecture on the monarchy and we found out this was the last lecture he would be giving us. This has been my favorite lecture so far. It was so interesting and I learned so many things about the Royal family. The biggest thing I didn't know is that the Queen doesn't really do anything. She doesn't have as many powers as I thought she did and she isn't a political figure. She only has a few roles, one being that every piece of legislation has to have her signature on it. However, she can't ever dispute it and always has to sign it whether she agrees or not. I understand tradition and symbolism but I never realized she didn't exactly get to voice her opinions. She works closely with the Prime Minister and he/she seems to be almost superior to the Queen regarding politics. We also watched a video of the ceremony of opening Parliament. This was 1,000 years of tradition and so intriguing to watch. Parts of it seemed so silly and unnecessary but in the big picture, everything was tradition and symbolical. We then talked about the significance of the Royal family. Justin seemed to be a little biased but I can see both sides of the argument. The Royal family doesn't have much power, doesn't really do a whole lot, and costs millions and millions of dollars every year to sustain. However, the Royal family keeps the country united. Sarah made an excellent point when she compared British commoners and the American people. Most Americans are either strongly for or strongly against Obama and don't seem to be very united, at least right now.
After our lecture, we had about 30 minutes for lunch. There was a farmers market right outside the building so everyone went there. Mary, Anna, and I brought sandwiches so we ate those and got homemade strawberry ice cream from the farmers market for dessert. It was so delicious and I can confidently say the best food I've had in London has been from a market. Then it was time to head to the London Eye!
We all ended up fitting on one cube on the London Eye. It was so fun and gave the best view of the city. I think I took a million pictures of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey alone while we were up there. The weather forecast said it was supposed to rain today but luckily it was bright as could be and sunny so we got to see everything. However, if I had the chance to go back and do it again, I think I would want to go at sunset. Stacy said she did that with her friend and that it was absolutely beautiful. Although the ride was fun and all, my favorite part was after. Jose told us that we got to see a free 4D movie with our ticket. At first, I didn't think anything of it and I thought it wouldn't be worth seeing. The other girls said they wanted to see it so I went with them. Oh my gosh. It was SO good. I think I liked the movie more than the ride itself. At some points, they would squirt water on you or fog would come out of the floor to make you feel like you were in the clouds but my favorite part was the fireworks. The room went wild with sounds and lights and I felt like they were going off right beside me.
After the movie, we decided to walk along the river for a while. We came to a really artsy area. There was a skateboarding place with graffiti everywhere and a huge sand box with rainbow colored sand! The sand started off red and would fade to pink then change to purple then blue then green then yellow. It was the coolest thing. Then we stumbled upon some sort of show going on. There was a group of people on a stage doing tricks and acrobatics. We sat down for a while and watched them. It was called the National Theatre and we found out they were doing a program this summer called Inside Out. The intention was to show the behind-the-scenes and the making of their performances. Everyday they would be on that stage practicing for their performances at night. Anyone could walk up, sit down, and watch.
After watching for a while, we walked along the river more until we came to Shakespeare's The Globe. We took some pictures and decided to walk across some bridge that is apparently destroyed in one of the Harry Potter movies. At first, I didn't care anything about walking across this bridge but then we got to the middle of it and straight ahead was St. Paul's. From the bridge was the most beautiful view of St. Paul's and I loved every second of it. Once we got to the other side, we could barely walk another step since we were so incredibly exhausted. So we got on the tube and headed back to our flat. It was unbelievably hot today and it tuckered all of us out so we stayed in for dinner and watched a little Wimbledon.
No comments:
Post a Comment