The Last Hurrah!

Wednesday 10th

We had our classes that day and a quiz in theatre which was a waste of time. This was the last time we would be in that class together since our teacher would be in India the falling week. We did an exercise in class which is a theatre game people use to warm up. One person was the 'car' and one was the 'driver.' The car would close their eyes and the driver would put their hand on the cars back to make them move and place would tap them on the head to stop. It was actually quite an amusing exercise of trust. I really enjoyed being the car more than the driver because you had to do more of the wondering and trusting that they wouldn't run you into other cars.

In the evening we headed over to the London Eye courtesy of London Met to eat dinner and then ride the Eye for free. We had a three course meal but had to order weeks ahead of time which could be risky since your palate might change between the ordering and the actual meal. I lucked out with a 'soup of the day' appetizer. I feared what it might be but ended being a cheesy sort of soup which I liked. For dinner, I had spaghetti and meatballs. They were okay but better once the cheese was grated over it. I sat with a lot of the people on my floor, my roommate included. But two other girls from theatre class, Amber and Crystal sat next to me at the end of the table. I had talked to Amber before and thought she was nice but never with Crystal. Where had these two been on semester? They were so nice and we got along better than we did with anyone else in our class. Dessert was served and I had tiramasu. It was okay, but I wouldn't eat it again.

Afterwards I ran into my friend from editing class Sara. She was also a study abroad student but she was from California. We hit it off really quickly in class and we were delighted to have found it each other so we could hang out for the evening. We stayed inside the restaurant longer than the others since it was cold outside and not yet time to go to the Eye. We were finally asked to kindly leave by the waiter and so headed over to where our next event was. For those of you who don't know this is the London Eye:

At Night!

We waited out front for while bouncing about in the cold until the London Met leaders showed up and we all began getting into our groups so we could be together in a car. Sara, Amber, Crystal and I made it onto one. It was amazing being so high up. It didn't feel like we were moving at all. Sara wasn't too keen on being in the air but our conversation distracted her enough for her not to mind.

It was a really nice gift of the school to take us on this little outing before we left. This was our farewell dinner, and our last time altogether. We stopped into the gift shop after and looked around and then hurried onto the Tube to go home since it was so cold.

Sunday 14th

The gap in events is so large because I have been writing two papers in between these events. What fun! Luckily I managed to take a break and meet up with Kim and Allie to go to the Tower of London! Free of charge! I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. In all my English studies, this tower of torture and imprisonment shows up in my studies time and time again. It was the tower that the two young princes were murdered in, where Queens Elizabeth and Mary where imprisoned, where King James I personally oversaw the torture of suspected witches. I needed to visit this place for myself.

We saw the armory and the tower where important prisoners were kept. This particular tower was covered in graffiti from the 1600s from these noble prisoners. It was fascinating to look at. There was a lot of Christian imagery and motifs carved into the walls probably since many of these people were to be executed. We also got to see some of the equipment used during the tortures. It was brutal.

Here is King Henry VIII's armor. He had syphilis as you can see by the front of the armor, this was taken into consideration when building the armor. He was a large man as you can see from the second picture just how wide the armor was.

There were many people milling about the inner walls of the fortress. There are even some actual residents within its walls. We saw one family come out of their house to go somewhere. We think that they might be the family of the guards working here. There were also ravens everywhere. There is a myth that if the ravens ever leave, the Tower will fall, crumble. So they of course clip the wings of the ravens inside the walls. Mostly as a tourist attraction then actual belief in the superstition.

These guys were absolutely massive and vocal. They were all over the place and there was a particular area where there was this little pen where they would flock to. Probably where they were fed from. There were tours every thirty minutes that gathered in front of this fountain but we decided we would just wander at our own pace. Some of you may be wondering if we saw the crown jewels. We did indeed. I just didn't take pictures because it was dark and I couldn't get any good shots. Also gems don't interest me as much as the history in the walls of this place. Kim had to leave us to go to her niece's birthday party so we hung around a bit longer to look around and then headed home ourselves since Allie and I still had papers to finish.