Madison Across the Pond: Day 7, 8, and 9: So Many Things

As I progress further and further into my study abroad experience, my posts on this blog become further and further apart. I'm attempting to write everyday, but as you can see, it doesn't always work out that way... Therefore, I'll attempt to consolidate here my first few days in London.

On our first full day in the city, we did a lot of exploring. We were still attempting to figure out how to work our new apartments because although we have all the same appliances in the U.S., they do not necessarily work in the same way. For example, the washing machine is located in the kitchen and takes approximately five hours to wash and dry one load of laundry. Also, every outlet and appliance that requires electricity must be turned on with a switch including the oven and the washing machine. This explains why for the first few days, we thought all our appliances were broken...

Today was comprised of exploring and getting a sense of where we would be living for the next three weeks. We walked to Trafalgar Square where we saw many of Britain's famous statues as well as the National Portrait Gallery. We also took the Tube for the first time which is very similar to New York's subway system or Washington D.C.'s metro, but honestly has a much easier system of navigation.

Later in the evening, we went down to the South Banks where we were seeing a play called The Suicide at the National Theatre. I loved being able to see a show in the National Theatre and this particular one had an amazing set and use of video media. They were able to create entire houses, subways systems, and fiery hell dreams on stage while utilizing them interchangeably. However, that is the extent of the things I enjoyed about this play. The entire premise of the show surrounded Sam, a man who had lost his job, was struggling in his marriage, was forced to move in with his mother-in-law, and essentially made to feel like there was nothing else for him to live for. (I should add that this show is meant to be a comedy, which is part of the reason I had such a problem with it.) Once word gets out that Sam is contemplating suicide, a swarm of people begin to ask favors of him that involve his death. The argument is if he is planning on dying anyway, why not help me spread the word about my new cafe and have your last meal there or let me film your suicide and make it into a documentary? The entire play then became joke after joke about how Sam isn't important, but his suicide, and what it can do for everyone else, is. I understand that this show was supposed to be satirical and shed light on society's occasional tendency to overlook the importance of mental illness, but I personally don't think we are at a point in society where we should be joking about his kind of thing. Especially since anyone who has either contemplated suicide or known someone who has committed suicide, this show would be extremely triggering and I did not appreciate it nor think it was funny.

Okay, rant over.

Sunday was our first free day in London and we were overwhelmed with the amount of possible activities that could occupy our time. Even though it was also our first day to sleep in, a few of us decided to get up early and stand in line to take our picture with Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. Once each one of us was satisfied with our photo, we hopped on the Tube and rode to Camden Market. We happened to overlook the fact that it was Sunday, so the market was extremely crowded. After about an hour of attempting to navigate six people through hundreds of people in tiny spaces, we decided to find something a little less claustrophobic to do. One of the members of our group found a park nearby and we discovered that if you climbed to the top of this massive hill, you were able to get an amazing view of the city, which of course we did.

The next morning was our first official day of class. Our classroom is a good hike away from our apartment on Russell Square, so every Monday through Thursday from 10 am to noon, we spend some time as a group watching and discussing different British films and there effects on culture. After class, we went on a duck boat tour of London. For those of you who don't know what a duck boat is, it is a large vehicle that can also go into the water. I don't think anyone was as excited for this tour as I was because I have always wanted to ride on a duck boat for some unknown reason. I learned so many random facts about London during this tour, such as the fact that there are no letter X's anywhere on Big Ben or in the Westminster Palace even though the clocks use roman numerals. Apparently, the architect was afraid of the letter X and thought it would summon the devil. Therefore, in place of all the X's on all of the clocks in the palace and on Big Ben, yo will find the letter F (A picture of Big Ben is featured below for you non-believers who think I'm lying).

The night before, we decided as a group to purchase tickets for the London Eye . So at 8:30, just as the sun was about to set, we began our half hour rotation around the world's longest Ferris wheel. I thought I was going to be a lot more nervous than I actually was while riding the Eye because I do not enjoy heights. However, the wheel moves in such a slow, consistent motion, you hardly notice that you're moving at all. The clear pods you are encased in give you a 360 degree view of London that was utterly incomparable. Definitely one of my activities we've done so far.