Kensington Palace

Day two of palaces! Even though I haven’t been to tomorrow’s selection, this may have already beaten it out. We went to Kensington Palace. It was absolutely beautiful. It was quiet and calm, so unlike the rest of London, yet smack in the middle of London. So, why is Kensington important? Well, Queen Victoria lived there. So did…Princess Diana. And Kate and William currently live there. Kensington Palace is one of their two residences. If I was royalty, I would choose to live there, and kick all the tourists out because I would want to gardens to myself. There were five exhibits that we went through, so I will discuss each separately to make sure they are each given credit, as they were all great.

Diana: Glimpses of a Modern Princess:

This was a wonderful exhibit on Diana. It was small and fairly new, but great all the same. The entryway had this fabulous wallpaper with artsy drawings of Diana. Some were iconic photos, while others were just beautiful. I may have taken a ton of pictures of this, but who cares? If I could make this the wallpaper in my room, I so would. Inside were several of Diana’s dresses. So pretty! I loved seeing them, simply because I love Diana.

The wallpaper.

Diana's Dresses!

My wedding dress will look like this. Only in white.

King’s State Apartment:

Here we saw rooms occupied by past kings. They were quite spectacular. My favorite may have been the room where dancing took place. It was very colorful and happy, and I could imagine balls taking place there. In this exhibit, there was an interactive game for us to play. In every room we were to collect playing cards that had a different member of court on them. They also contained a letter of the alphabet. Before entering the King’s private room, we were told to pick three cards with letters that resulted in spelling a word. We took these three cards and the word they spelled and went into the room. There, we found cabinets with drawers in them. Each drawer had a different word on it. In order to find out what position we held in court, we found our corresponding drawer and opened it. Turns out, I was the royal physician. Emily and Lindsay were the King’s mistresses. (Floozies.) In some of the drawers, it said things such as “shunned” or “banished.” Thankfully, we were in the King’s good graces. That was a great way to work our way through the exhibit. Once again the rooms were beautiful with wonderful ceilings and tapestries.

The King's Staircase

Jubilee: A View from the Crowd:

Queen Elizabeth recently celebrated her diamond jubilee. Queen Victoria is the only other monarch to also celebrate this landmark event. She reigned for 64 events. This exhibition showed her diamond jubilee celebration. We saw decorations and souvenirs from the event. (I especially loved the plates and china. Is it weird to have a plate collection?) They also had a model of London from that era with scale buildings and a map of London on the floor. That was super cool. We also could write a postcard to Queen Victoria and “mail” it. So of course we did. You could also read some that people had written. On the part where you put why you were in London, someone had written, “I had wanted to go on this trip for 50 years.” How precious is that?! We also saw video footage of Queen Victoria riding in her carriage.

Model of London

Queen’s State Apartments:

Then we saw the Queen’s apartments. Apparenlty there’s a storyline that was to be followed but it wasn’t explicitly set out, so we didn’t get it. I’ll just google the story later. But her rooms were quite lovely.

Victoria Revealed:

So I will admit. I was excited to go to Kensington mainly because I like Queen Victoria, because we share a name. Duh. So I was really excited for this exhibit. The whole exhibit is expressed through Queen Victoria’s own words found in a journal of hers. That was so cool. Every room had her own personal thoughts of that exact room, or that exact dress she was wearing. The best part was the love story between her and Prince Albert. We got to read her words about her affection for him and see the gifts they exchanged before their wedding day. It was precious. Absolutely precious. Sadly, when Prince Albert died unexpectedly, Queen Victoria was heartbroken and wore black for the remainder of her life, which was over 30 years. Isn’t that extremely sad? A few highlights were her wedding dress and we saw a staircase leading to the room where Victoria was told that her uncle was dead and that she, as a teenager, was now queen. In the exact building I was in, such monumental news was received.

One of Queen Victoria's black dresses.

That’s the exhibits. So wonderful. This has been one of the best things I have seen so far and would definitely come back here. We wandered around the palace gardens, which were spectacular. The gardens turned into Kensington Park so we wandered around. The weather was so wonderful and sunny that it was blissful. It was all so calm. We want to go back before we leave and have a picnic there. We were also in search of the Peter Pan statue that was featured in the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, Winning London. It was great. Gotta love Peter Pan.

The gardens.

Kensington Park

Peter Pan statue

We were quite famished after such an adventure so we made our way to High Street Kensington and went to a restaurant called Giraffe. It was absolutely delicious. I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla. Wonderful. I need to go back there before I leave. We then walked in some shops to see if we could find anything. High Street Kensington has all the same great shops as Oxford Street but is so much less insane. There are less people, which I quite enjoyed. It’s a great area of London. I love it. Today was so wonderful, and I can’t wait for the third addition to the palace trilogy. I suppose I will upload pictures to Facebook now! Cheerio!

Week Four: Day Six: BLC 17

Hampton Court Palace

This begins day one of our three days of palaces. That's right. In three days we will see three different royal palaces. The first one on the agenda is Hampton Court Palace. This palace is not in central London so we had to use several methods of transportation to arrive there. We rode the tube to Richmond Station then got on a boat and rode for over an hour down the River Thames. Our boat ride was quite quaint. It was cool to see such a different part of London. It was much more residential and very similar to riding down the water at home. People had docks and boats and I loved it. I sure am missing the water. Once we got there we had lunch at the palace’s café. I had soup with bread and a massive chocolate chip cookie. We then began our tour of the palace. It was quite windy, as it typically is in this city.

Hampton Court was the home of King William and Queen Mary as well as Henry VIII. We began the tour with a bit of history of Henry VIII and his many wives that we know all about. I think one of the main focal points of this palace is the architecture. Each monarch that lived here added wings with their own architectural style. We toured the majority of the palace, the notable items. We saw the kitchens and pantry and learned about the tons of food it takes to entertain the King and guests at the banquets. In one year, they drank 600,000 gallons of beer. That’s a lot of beer. We also saw Henry VIII’s toilet. It was old! And gross! I don’t know why that was saved, or on display. We then saw an exhibit called “The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned.” Basically, this exhibit exposed some scandals of the Stuart Line. If TMZ was around back then, they would have had a field day. We learned about royal mistresses and saw portraits of scantily clad women that kings would hang in their rooms. Scandalous. I think the best part of the palace is the ceilings. They put a lot of effort into those. Each wall also had huge tapestries on them, which were very detailed. That should come back in style that would be so cool. I would have a tapestry on my wall. It could happen. Although we could not take pictures in the chapel, it was easily the most beautiful room in the palace.

Ceiling

And another.

Wall Tapestry

Henry VIII

Another ceiling.

The best part of Hampton Court Palace was the gardens. They were absolutely spectacular with tons of beautiful flowers. We also saw The Great Vine which is one of the oldest vines in existence. The maze was a highlight. It was quite large, with beautiful tall hedges.  We managed to make it through quite quickly! That was a lot of fun.

The Great Vine

The Rose Garden.

We came back to London by train, which is always different and fun. We were exhausted at the end of the day, but I always enjoy day trips. We went for a bit of shopping at Oxford Street. Let me tell you. These Londoners love to shop and Oxford Street is absolute madness.

Tomorrow: Palace #2. I wonder which one it will be?

Week Four: Day Five: BLC 16

The Monarchy

Well, hello friends. Today was a super busy day, so there will be lots to read, but the words will be accompanied by photos! So we began the day with our last lecture from Justin. It's so sad. His lectures were so interesting and complex and made one think. I would definitely take a course from him. Today's lesson was on the monarchy. A little part of me was worried he was going to ruin the monarchy for me. Thankfully he did not, but rather presented some history and pros and cons to the monarchy. So, let's start with some history on the monarchy.

• Elizabeth II is the 40th monarch.
• The line of monarch goes back 1000 years and represents tradition and stability.
• There is no formal constitution or written document.
• The monarchy "has" royal prerogative, which gives them certain powers. These powers have existed since medieval times. These powers are:
• The right to declare war and peace
• The right to pardon criminals
• The right to open and dissolve Parliament
• The right to appoint ministers
• The right to bestow honors
• The right to sign all legislation
• Today, these priviledges have been modified or transferred. They are symbolic powers. The Queen does however sign every legal document, whether she agrees with it or not. This shows that she truly has no political power.
• "She reigns but does not rule." The Queen is a symbolic head of state.
• The Prime Minister has the power. He has more power than a US President. This position essentially has the monarch's power.
• The UK wants to be a democracy while also keeping traditional institutions in tact.
• It is illegal to debate the status/future of the monarchy in the House of Commons

Isn't that all very interesting? I thought so. Lots to think about. So here's some information about the Queen herself. Though she is an extremely private woman, there is some information about her private life.

• She has met every US President since Truman.
• She loves horse racing and dogs.
• The Queen has a 70% approval rating.
• She enjoys gin and tonic.
• Queen Elizabeth is a fully trained car mechanic.

She is simply the most interesting woman. Elizabeth II recently made headlines, this week in fact, for her trip to Ireland. She met with the former leader of the IRA, Martin McGuinness. The IRA was responsible for waging war on Britains during the 20th century and was responsible for the death of a member of the royal family. (A cousin or nephew) This visit, in which she shook hands with McGuinness represented peace between Northern Ireland and England. That's monumental here. Even her wardrobe made a statement. She was wearing the colors of their flag.

And now for the pros and cons of the monarchy:
The Cons:

• The Queen, being and aristocratic white woman, and the rest of the line of monarchs simply cannot represent the diverse society that the nation has become.
• This is especially noted in regards to religion. She is the head of the Church of England, while England has so many different religions being practiced.
• The monarchy represents a class structure and oppression of the working class.
• Having a monarchy hurts the goal of a democracy. It's a contradiction.
• The monarchy costs 41.5 million pounds a year to "run."
• The members of the family are simply celebrities

The Pros:

• The monarchy represents security and the nation's sense of security would be damaged with the end of the monarchy.
• The work that the monarchy does, opening schools and hospitals, does indeed make an impact and raise revenue for the nation.
• The monarchy brings in over 100 million pounds in revenue for the nation, which more than compensates for the cost of the monarchy.
• The Queen is above politics and therefore is neutral and able to reunite the nation in times of crisis.
• This is especially seen in her work in Ireland. Her presence in Ireland has made a huge difference in how the countries will conduct business in the future.

So, that's basically that. I'm still in favor of the monarchy and think Elizabeth is great. We also learned about the opening of Parliament. It sounds boring but it's actually quite interesting. So, I will tell you what happens. I think bullet points work nicely, so I will stick to those, but I'll use numbers since they go in order.

1. The crown arrives at Parliament. Just the crown, in its own carriage. It's then passed around and then taken to a back room.
2. The Queen and Prince Phillip come in their carriage, looking regal. (Everyone is dressed in formal costume, much like how it was done in the olden days.) She also goes into a back room.
3. When she's ready and wearing the crown, a fanfare is played, and she comes out and takes a seat on her throne. Then everyone else is allowed to sit.
4. Currently, the House of Lords (I think that's the proper name) is there, but not the House of Commons. (The House of Lords is all dressed up, because they are nobility, while the House of Commons are wearing suits, because they are commoners.)
5. The Queen signals to a man to tell "Black Rod" to go get the House of Commons. Note: Black Rod is the name of a position. That person carries a black rod and goes and gets the House of Commons, but more on that in a moment. Also, the Queen is not welcome in the House of Commons (to show separation of the two houses or something) and therefore must send Black Rod.
6. So there Black Rod goes, walking down the hall to get the commoners. (Who are actually political figures like the prime ministers, but not nobility.) As he goes to the door where they are, they slam it in his face. Seriously. That's what happens. They slam the door in his face.
7. He then beats on the door with his black rod until they open the door. Then he gets to go in and deliver the message. However, while the poor man is delivering the message people are talking about him behind his back and sometimes they shout rude things! How insane is that?
8. So they agree to come and they all go walking down the hallway. The House of Lords have their backs to the Commons and don't look at them when they come in. There isn't even enough room for them all, so a lot of them just go to bars to watch the ceremony.
9. And then the Queen reads a speech written by the prime minister about all the legislation that will be passed this year. (This shows that she truly has no political power.)

Now this happens every year and a lot of it is for show and tradition, but isn't that just crazy! And quite interesting. Google the video, it's interesting. That was our lecture! A great one to end on. So, now I will proceed to tell you about the rest of my day.

We had a quicky quick lunch, so we stopped in the university's cafe and got sandwiches to eat. Quite yummy. We then were scheduled to ride the London Eye. I have been on it before but was just as excited. It's awesome! There was a bit of a line, but so worth it. The ride in total is like 20 minutes and you get to basically see all of London. And there were enough of us, that we had a private pod. I will never get tired of taking pictures of the London Eye. Here's some of the wheel and the view from the top.

We then had the rest of the day to do as we pleased. We made off down south bank in search of Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Well, the weather said it was going to be 70 but raining, so we wore jeans. Well, when the weather forcast says one thing, it really means the opposite. It was super hot and no rain. None. We walked a good two miles in jeans and sandals. So much walking. I'm always wanting to take the underground to go places, and really should walk. It's healthier and you run across things you normally wouldn't see. But today was quite tiring. We did come across some interesting things though. We came across a circus like show. They were practicing for a performance so we sat at watched. It was artsy, and political, and cool. The tricks and stuff they were doing was cool but the general choreography and such was weird. We did make it to the theater but couldn't go inside or anything so we just looked on the outside. It's not the original but still pretty cool.

The Globe Theater

The bridge destroyed in Harry Potter

By this point we were exhausted and hot so we went back to our flats to relax. And the Italy/Germany came was coming on so we couldn't miss that. The final will be Italy and Spain.

Week Four: Day Four: BLC 15

New Relationships

Oh. Such a serious title, but it's true. After being with the same twenty students, both in my homeroom and in the GCSE course, I have built relationships with several students and know the majority of their names. This just makes the experience more enjoyable. They also know me after seeing me repeatedly, which just makes controlling the room a bit easier.

I had my homeroom by myself today and am no longer scared of being in control of them. They know how to behave, though I do have to raise my voice occasionally to initially get their attention. I feel more comfortable talking to them about things and calling them out on mischief. I had a list of names, so I simply called them out, but like yesterday, I added a question. Today I asked about their summer plans. The majority of them were going to France, the lucky ducks. It must be so nice to be so close to cool countries and go there for the summer. Italy and Greece were also destination spots for two or three. A few were actually going to America. Not Georgia of course, but New York, Los Angeles, and one kid was moving to Boston. These are some well travelled kids. I told them how our summer lasted three months, and they were quite outraged. The boys asked which restaurant I had tried last night, and were once again outraged when I informed them I did not eat out last night. It is clear they intend to check up on these things. I told them some restaurants to eat in America and told them that unfortunately they could not experience Chick-fil-A because they weren't going to the south. This was after the bell, so I had other students in there and a girl told me she had tried Chick-fil-A and she thought it was disgusting. Oh my goodness. No. I can't believe she said that! I'm still in shock.

Heading to geography, I was pretty sure about my agenda for today. Help with S.'s coursework right? Actually no. Today I was given a break and was able to work with all of the students and bounce around. Today the students worked on their data presentation and analysis. First off, I went to the other classroom of Year 10 students to see if they needed help. Most of them didn't so I proofread their work thus far. I was quite impressed. The classes were beginning to go on break so I had some free time.

 Note: The students usually go to Starbucks or the grocery store and load up on sugar during this time. The past two days, I have told myself I did not need Starbucks. Well, today, I decided to treat myself. The super nice teacher lady was also going, so we walked together. Update: I have finally found out her name! So happy! And she is just so sweet. I'm really thankful for her. The point of this digression is to tell you that the Mocha Cookie Crumble at Starbucks may be the best drink in the entire world. That is all.

After break I went back to my original classroom. Before the break I was talking to the teachers and my teacher discovered her students did not know how to make graphs in Excel and she didn't either. (I feel as though at age 15, I already knew these things.) So she turns to me and ask if I did, and of course I do, so it was decided that I would teach the class how. Another challenge. I had to teach. In front of students. I know how to make graphs and such, but I had not done so in forever, so I had to quickly collect my thoughts and remember how. Another note: I had noticed that the students do not type with all their fingers, as we are taught to in middle school. It's pretty much expected that you type on the computer properly, and even better if you don't look at the keys when you type. These students type with anywhere from two to five fingers. I asked about this, and was told they have taken computer classes, but it isn't stressed as much. So interesting.

Back to the challenge. If you must know, I was successful. I went over the steps with the computer screen projected onto the board and I for the most part they understood. After that moment I was known as the girl who knew how to work computers. So for the next two hours, I bounced from student to student answering questions about graphs and helping them set them up. I was really able to build relationships with several of them, which I love. They asked if I had been to Taco Bell and were under the impression it was a great place to eat. I quickly set them straight. Often times I did go to S. to make sure he was getting along fine and help him with a few points. This is what I love, building those relationships with this age student.

At lunch I met a teacher who was from Connecticut and had lived in the UK for thirty years. She was quite lovely and we talked about my study abroad program and why she was here. She also gave me advice on things to do and see.

Afterwards, I had continued helping with the graphs and was then left in charge for a bit while our teacher went to get lunch. I had them under control until a student from the other room came in with one slice of cake. You cannot come into a classroom with one slice of cake when there are twenty kids who want it. Then it all broke down. I tried to fight this kid and get him out, but that resulted in me being sprinkled with cake crumbs. Crumbs that went down the front of my dress, sending the boys into hysterics. Oh good gracious. After that fiasco, I did manage to bring back the calm. Fun fact: This school is 70% boys, which means 30% girls. That's so crazy! No wonder all my classes have boys.

After all this I went back to the other classroom to help out again. When I returned, one of my students said, "Miss, where did you go?" So I told him to the other classroom. His response: "No. You can't go in there! We need you in here!" I think it is safe to say they officially like me. So yeah! That was the important points of my day! I hope I can stick with group and get to know them better!

Tomorrow we ride the London Eye! So excited!

Week Four: Day Three: Internship 7

"And I CAN'T Stand 'Em"

My title has nothing to do with school. Just a heads up. I will explain that later.

I had my homeroom all to myself, but I was fully prepared. Except I didn't have a list of their names so I had to improvise. I simply took out a sheet of paper and had them tell me their names so I could write them down. Thankfully, I have been in the class so I could spot any fake names. I did get one. "Bob." Yeah..no. I am 100% sure there is no Bob. I really want to engage them and get to know them, so when they told me their names, they had to tell me a restaurant to eat at. I played the "I'm an American and don't know what to eat," but I just wanted them to talk to me. Pathetic. But it worked! I was told some places, and can't wait to check them out. I was told McDonalds, Subway, and KFC. Good try kids, I already have those. Our head boy tells me, "Miss, can you eat the Subway here and tell me if it's better or worse than the American one?" Uh. I feel as though it's pretty darn similar. They had plenty to say and we had some good laughs. Success.

Day two of geography coursework began and I was pretty much expecting the same thing as yesterday, but was a bit more deteremined to get some work done. I sat with my student, who I am naming S., because  I can't actually spell his real name. He did not seem too excited about continuing our work, though I'm sure that had nothing to do with me. We started out recapping the previous days work and catching up on items we have not completed. The students were meant to complete their work from the previous day as well as the introduction and the methodology table.

The methodology table was not as much writing, which seemed to be his weakest point, so we did well on that. Discussing with other students during low control was helpful. S. was able to tell me what their methodology was so he simply needed me to help him get his knowledge into sentences. There were sections where he did not know his methodology, so I had to essentially learn the correct methodology and get him to write it down. The nice teacher, who also works with the students who do not speak English well, came in and helped. At the break, I asked how I supposed to truly help him. Was I supposed to essentially give him the words to write? Or step back and only help him with instructions and grammar? The answer: Give him the words. With that knowledge, I took more initiative and we got a lot done on the methodology. The quality was not as high as other students, but he was doing fine.

Moving onto the introduction was a bit harder. One could not simply write what happened; concepts had to be linked and terms utilized. One of the main tasks was to annotate photographs of the outing with geographical terms and then describe each site they visited in great detail. S. did well annotating photographs, but needed a good amount of assitance. We were successful in taking a few mental breaks and laughing about little dumb things, such as his brain failing from all the work. I also helped out with the few of the students at my table and got to have conversations with them and get to know them better. I really like this class and age group so much. Working with S. has been a new experience but I'm enjoying it.

Although I was exhausted, we had plans to go to the theater. And what did we see? Bum. Bum. Bum. Singing in the Rain!  Ah! Love the movie, how could the theater version be bad?! We had the front seats on the second balcony, with limited foot room. Not fantastic, but I didn't care. I was at the theater, The Palace Theater to be exact, and I could see the stage. Happy camper. That's where my title of the blog comes from. It's a re-occurring line from the show/movie. So the show was awesome. It actually rained on stage. Not drizzled. It poured. There was enough water on this special stage that the lead actor could kick and splash water all over the first front rows. The whole production was so expertly done. The show relied heavily on dance, which that just made the dance numbers that much more wonderful. In the final number, it began to pour again, and the whole cast came out in in trench coats and silver umbrellas and sang "Singing in the Rain." And then, the inside of the umbrellas were all different colors which just made everything amazing! Ah! Blown away! I recommend it. I wouldn't make a very good theater critic. I would just tell people to see everything. Note: We decided to walk up the stationary escaltor stairs instead of the the moving one. Worst decision ever. There were SO many stairs.

I didn't take this picture last night, I took it earlier in the trip, but the theater looked amazing!

Week Four: Day Two: Internship 6

GCSE

Dear Savannah Christian students and perhaps all other US students,

We should be glad that we do not have the same requirements that the UK has to graduate, or get A Levels, as they call them. These A levels make me think of OWLS or NEWTS in Harry Potter. (PS they also have prefects here! Just like HP!) From what I gathered, one must pass their A levels to continue on to the university. Talk about pressure. Essentially they complete something called controlled coursework for Math and English and then they choose four other subjects of their choosing to complete. They complete these over the course of several years. So what are these controlled courseworks? Well I have the privilege to help with the geography one this week, so I will describe what I have learned. In a period of a week, the students spend all day writing roughly 2000 words on a subject. They have five days to work a total of twenty hours and complete the assignment. The instructor goes through the assignment, section by section, and gives them guidance and instructions in a time called "low control" and then they have time to work on the reviewed section during "high control." They are literally in the classroom all day with only a few breaks. They sit and brainstorm, take notes, and type the paper up. Can you imagine doing this for six classes? They also have practice ones that they take earlier in the year. Not to mention, one's higher education is dependent on this.

So I was in the geography controlled coursework, abbreviated GCSE. For this course, which some elected to take, the students went to a river to take measurements and such. They then write up a lab report. In this report, they must include their hypothesis, introduction, methodology, results, conclusion, etc. Today, we only worked on the hypothesis, a section of the introduction, and the methodology instructions. They are also highly encouraged to use photos and charts within their paper. A student I talked to was taking English, Math, Spanish, French, Geography, and Computer GCSEs. Good luck to you kid!

So today, I went to my same homeroom class, who were extremely rowdy as a result of Euro 2012. Good gracious. Thankfully the teacher was there, but I have them to myself tomorrow and Wednesday. I then went to help out with the GCSE exams. I was assigned to work with a Japanese student who barely spoke English and needed help getting his thoughts on paper. At first I was overwhelmed and daunted at this task. When I first attempted to help him, he did not seem to want my help. He was easily frustrated at not knowing the words he wanted to say and was not open to help. (I was also informed that he is not interested in schoolwork, so that was another issue.) I was stuck without a thought of what to do. Eventually I was able to start helping more with his paper. However, then arose other issues. As a result of not having a working knowledge of English, his sentences were not structured in a comprehensible manner. Even though the majority of his sentences made no sense, I felt bad constantly telling him to fix things. I didn't want him to feel stupid and add to his frustrations. He did, as many of the Asian students do, have an electronic Japanese dictionary. Looking at the other student's notes, I knew we were far behind and did not know how to catch up.

Things improved after lunch. He was much more open to my help and willing to work this go round. We managed to slowly work out a decent starting hypothesis paragraph, that made sense grammatically. We were behind, but making progress as a team. We were also able to bond in a sense. Although I was severely holding his hand (figuratively) throughout this process, I don't really know how else to get him to work. Although today was a challenge, I was glad for it. I really had to work to get him to open up, and my future career will bring students who do not want to open up. I was glad that I worked at it and managed to succeed to an extent. There were other students with language barriers but they managed to work quite well. Besides having a helper work with him, it makes be curious as to if the school has any other programs for students with language barriers. The work we managed was not top mark, so I feel as though there must be other measures taken that helps these students make their way through school.

I think I said this in a previous blog, but I now know that I have been placed her to work with the students who are behind or have learning problems. Although I did not expect this, it's amazing how well that fits into the counseling field. These four days have gotten me seriously thinking about special education. I feel as though knowledge in special education would be quite beneficial. Who knew this interest would be emerging?I am learning a lot about myself, which sound super cheesy, but hey, it's true. I will be working with the same student for the next two days, so we will see what comes of it. I am enjoying not having to switch classrooms and working with one student. I am able to get to know them better, rather than bouncing around all week. We will see what tomorrow brings!

Week Four: Day One: Internship 5

West End Live

The week is coming to a close and we work starts back up tomorrow. Of course, I am excited to go back to school, don't get me wrong. I am just a little under the weather, so I like to sleep. Reading the newspaper daily has turned about to be beneficial. I came across an article describing the London 2012 festival, which lasts over several weeks and has tons happening. The event that caught my eye was something called "West End Live." For those who don't know, the West End is the equivalent to Broadway. It's where all the shows happen. Basically, this two day event consisted of casts of the West End shows performing songs from their show. And it was free, so who wouldn't be interested int that? We were not able to go to the performances on Saturday, but there were still some great ones left for Sunday. We got there just as it started. There were massive crowds so we couldn't see the stage but thankfully they had giant television screens showing you the performance. Here's the line-up we saw:

• The Wizard of Oz
• Shrek the Musical
• Havana Rumba
• The Lion King
• Thriller Live
• Rock of Ages
• Billy Elliot
• Matilda

And they were great! I suppose I'll write a few notes on some of the favorites.

Dorothy only sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" so it wasn't spectacular. And I prefer the Wicked version of the story. Shrek was very cute, though Shrek himself did not make an appearance. Havana Rumba was kinda boring. They did five songs and it just kept going. So, I have no plans to see that. The Lion King. Thankfully, we are already seeing this show as apart of our class, so I'm excited about that. They guy playing big Simba today was wonderful, so that is something to look forward to. Thriller Live. Amy and mother pay attention. I don't know if it's the story of Michael Jackson's life or just a compilation of his songs, but the little bit we saw was great. The boy who played little Michael and sang "ABC" was too cute. That would be a great show to see. Rock of Ages! We are already highly considering going to see this one, and will most likely end up doing so. The performance today was great and they sang Journey and Bon Jovi, so we know all the songs. (Not to mention I've been listening to the soundtrack since April.) The boy who played Billy Elliot was adorable. This show interests me. I have listened to the soundtrack and wanted to see it in Atlanta but was never able to. I am intrigued by this show. Bu the actor, who is 13, was phenomenal. And he could dance! Maybe he went to the London equivalent of Abbey Lee Dance Studio. So, what are people's opinions of seeing this show? Send me a message!  Matilda. Personally, I don't like the story of Matilda and don't have an interest in seeing it, but the little actress was quite talented.

So that's my synopsis. This is a great event that the city puts on! Seriously. There were also people walking around getting you to sign up for contests to win tickets and such. I'll admit I entered one to win VIP tickets to see Les Miserable. (Don't worry mother, it was an official contest and not some random person.) I recently watched the trailer for the movie and the West End production and remembered how much I love that show! I keep remembering that I love all the shows. There were also people advertising upcoming shows, and they looked interesting, besides Hair. I have no interest in that. I support the theater so here's some free advertising.

• Little Women: We all know the story and have most likely read the book. But for tonight only, they have a performance of it, with big name people in it. Super tempting, but there is a football match on tonight. But maybe they are trying it out once and then maybe it will go big. Be on the lookout.
•  The In-Between: According to the flier, it's a new musical about a girl who goes into a door only to discover she is trapped between worlds. It's not playing currently, but you can listen to the album for free here. I'm sure I'll check it out soon.
• Love Never Dies: So, I already knew about this show, and I saw the filmed stage version. So this has nothing to do with London, kinda. Basically this is the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, and is also written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The film I saw was amazing. Apparently, it has been popular in England and the West End and is now moving to Broadway. So, if you will be in New York anytime soon, check it out. I recommend it.

We did not stay for the whole event, as it lasted six hours, but we saw the big name stuff. For lunch we went to Nando's, which I had wanted to go to since we arrived here. It's a Portuguese chicken restaurant, and it was so good. You basically pick a chicken dish, for example, a whole chicken, the breast, a wrap, etc. Then you pick how spicy you want it to be and then you get any additional spicy sauces you want. It was seriously delicious. I had the chicken burger with a mild lemon herb sauce on it and chips. I would definitely go back and they need these in America.

Our night ended with a trip to The Green Man pub to watch England play Italy. I tell you what, football is stressful. And football players are fine. I would gladly marry one. In a heartbeat. Jordan Henderson. He plays for England. Turned 22 on Sunday. Hi. How you doin? Back to the point of the blog. A few of us went to the pub for a drink and watched the game. Lindsay and I left at halftime (is that what it's called?) and finished the game at our flat. We have to get ready for work. A good number of students are Italy fans in my homeroom, so this will be interesting tomorrow.

So get this. In football, you gotta play for 90 minutes. That's a long time! And in the case of this game, you have 30 minutes overtime! I would literally pass out during the first thirty. And then you have to go to a penalty shootout! I don't even like sports, and I'm stressing out. Apparently, football (soccer) is the sport I like.

And after all that, England loses. I simply can't stand it.

Goodnight all.

Week Three: Day Seven: BLC 14

You're a Wizard Harry!

Today was the fateful day. Today had the same importance as the Trooping of the Colours. It was that important. Today, we went to the Harry Potter studio tour in Watford. It was great, and over 200 pictures were taken. And a lot of them will be posted on this blog for your viewing pleasure. I will start at the beginning. In order to get to the studio tour, which could not fit in the city of London, we had to take the rail, aka the train. This only seems fitting as we were basically going to Hogwarts. The train was lovely and more crowded than I thought. It was also short which was great. Only twenty minutes! From there we got on a doubledecker that was all decked (ha!) out in Harry Potter decor. What a way to start the tour.

We got there a bit early so had to wait around so of course we scoped out the gift shop and such. Then we joined a long queue to enter the tour. It took a while, but it was all worth it. And they had lots to look at during the wait. Including....duh duh duh...the cupboard under the stairs where poor Harry resides at the Dursleys. And in that cupboard was one of the earliest pair of Harry Potter glasses made for the movie.

We then were forced to wait in a room to watch a small video. Then we were corralled into a theater with comfy chairs to watch another video. Just let me into the studio tour, please! After all that, we finally entered into the Great Hall! Ah! So exciting. It was the actual great hall, which table settings and everything. We even got to look at some of the robes worn by different houses. (There are pictures below!) It was great. The cast of Harry Potter stepped on the same floor I did. Crazy. I know. Be jealous.

The Great Hall. 

Dumbledore!

Then we made our way into the actual studio, where they filmed actual scenes. It was loaded with props, costumes, and sets. Loaded. It took forever to get through the entire place, and that was only 1/3 of the tour. I suppose, I will show you in images. Words (besides captions) cannot describe in full the wonders of this place.

Daniel Radcliffe's Wardrobe

The boy's dormitory. That's Ron Weasley's bed.

The wands of the cast.

Gryffindor common room and Harry, Ron, and Hermione's clothing.

The invisibility cloak!

Entrance to Dumbledore's office.

So that's how you play Quiddich!

The Weasley's kitchen

Lord Voldemort and the Malfoys

There you have it. The highlights of the first portion of the studio. Check facebook, there will be a ton more pictures for you to enjoy. Next we move onto the outside portion where a few larger pieces were stored. And we also got to experience butterbeer. I don't really know what to think of it. Still undecided. Below are pictures from that portion. Enjoy!

The Knight Bus

And then we moved into the second studio. This one was not so overwhelming. It's focus was animatronics, creatures, and the creative team, while the first had no focus. Everything was so very cool. We got to walk down Diagon Alley, which was ah-mazing. Seriously. And we learned how different creatures came to life.

Fawkes

It was so sad when George died!!

Dobby!

Diagon Alley with all the shops!

The best part was at the end. And they were so smart to keep this until the end. There was in a gigantic room a scale model of Hogwarts. It was magnificent and huge. It was used to do flyover shots of the school and took a ton of people to make. It was beautiful. And of course they played sentimental music in there, so I almost teared up! Then right past that they had wand boxed with the names of everyone who was a part of these movies, as well as a touching quote from J.K. Rowling. Magnificent. Please, have a look at the pictures:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

A wand box for everyone who was a part of the HP team.

Okay! So that is the highlights of the Harry Potter studio tour! Wasn't it great?! I thought so. As a souvenir I bought a legit chocolate frog. The box is even a replica of the ones used in the movies. How cool! I haven't eaten it yet, but I'm sure it will be great! I hope you enjoyed your mini tour!

Week Three: Day Six: BLC 13