Subject: Rule Britannia

Sunday, September 25, 2005 2:26 PM

Hi everyone!

Wow, I've had a big week. So, when I last left off I believe I was bound for Ireland. Last weekend 3 gals and I flew out to Shannon and took some buses down to Killarney where we were staying. Killarney is very beautiful, and is out in County Kerry in SW Ireland- the Ivernagh Peninsula. The first night we were there we wandered around the streets poking into shops and ended up in Danny Mann's pub to take in some traditional music. We ended up drinking and chatting with 6 Irish fellows and had a great time. On Saturday, it was my friend Erika's birthday. We toured St. Mary's Cathedral (I just can't get over the beautiful churches around here), and then we rented bikes and cycled through Kilarney National Park. Lots of lakes and mountains there, Ross Castle, and you can bet I took lots of pictures! Erika and I ended up on this ditchy horse trail at one point and she flew off her bike down the hill, but miraculously landed on her feet while the bike flipped over. That night we went to dinner and went to a couple of pubs afterwards.

On Sunday we went on a bus tour of The Ring of Kerry for most of the day. We went through a lot of towns and villages, and drove right up by the coastline of the Atlantic and the mountains. And when you hear that Ireland is green, they aren't exaggerating. It was absolutely beautiful. I also tried a lot of Irish beverages, such as Irish Coffee, Guinness, Murphy's, Bailey's and I loved them all! Sunday night I went to an Irish music and dance show called To Dance on the Moon. The music was fantastic, the lead male dancer was very good, but everything else was mediocre and kind of cheesy. But I enjoyed it otherwise. We bused back to Shannon and flew back to London on Monday. I think Ireland has been my total favorite so far. I want to go back for a week at some point.

On Tuesday our whole group took a trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was really amazing just to be there and ponder that mystery further- but the summary is that it's some really big rocks- but very interesting and mysterious rocks. :o) Bath was very cool as well. We went to the Museum of Costume and assembly halls. They had an exhibit on costumes used in Jane Austen movies- stuff worn by Kate Winslet, Colin Firth, Gwyneth Paltrow, just to name a few. I struck out on my own and saw Bath Abbey which was a beautiful church (again, the churches!), and wandered around the town looking for photogenic places. We went to the Roman Baths too which were very cool.

The week's highlights in London! I went to an opera master class at the Royal College of Music and took a lot of notes. It was a good experience just to watch and learn. The next day we went to a phd lecture about the authenticity of using period instruments in classical music. It was interesting, but I don't think any of us expected what it was really about. We saw a show called Bloody Sunday based on the Saville Hearings a few years ago pertaining the civil rights protests in Belfast that got out of hand in the 70's. Anyway, they had more electronic equipment on a single stage than I've ever seen, a giant projection screen, 5 plasma flat screens, I think I counted 12 monitors, a handful of laptops, and then a bunch of other stuff on shelves and desks. But the show was basically the dramatic reading of a government document- and I could hardly pay attention longer than 20 minutes. That night a bunch of us went out on the town- nothing terribly exciting.

Friday the professors and a few of us went up to Oxford for the day. We toured Christ Church college which was probably one of the coolest places among all the great stuff I saw there. They filmed parts of Harry Potter 1 & 2 there - particularly the scene in #1 where all the first years wait on the steps before entering the Great Hall for the sorting- when Neville finds his toad, Malfoy tells Harry to hang around with the "right wizards" and Professor McGonnagal addresses them all, THOSE stairs. Well I was there and I was a big nerd because I was so excited! There's also a lot of Alice in Wonderland business there too. Lewis Carroll (although that's his pen name) was a math professor there and developed a big obsession with the daughters of one of the deans, especially Alice. So much of his inspiration for the story can be found right on their grounds- like the Chestnut tree where Dinah (a real cat) used to climb became the Cheshire Cat, etc. It was cool. AND apparently the Queen of Hearts is based on King Henry VIII- hence why she's always yelling "off with their heads!"

The Christ Church cathedral had some amazing stained and painted glass windows, too. Elsewhere in Oxford, I went to the University Botanical Gardens and glasshouses which were very pretty. Some of the jungley plants in the green houses were HUGE! I went to the Bodleian Library and saw an exhibit on British Dance Hall music (like Ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay). I went to the Ashmolean museum too. They had a Stradivarian guitar and violin, some original Monets, Van Goghs, and great galleries on Egypt and the far east. Finally, I climbed up the Carfax tower. It's amazing how many colleges are in this one smallish town, and all of them had chapels and their bells would ring all together at the hours. I had a great time there.

The rest of this weekend was a good time. I went grocery shopping Saturday morning with Ella and my room mate Sarah at Sainsbury's. Then Ella and I and our friend Jastine went to a random French festival in Covent Garden, and went to see What The Butler Saw for matinee. It was pretty funny- they set it in the 60's and did a really nice job. That evening Ella and I saw Tom, Dick, and Harry and it was hilarious. It's just a ridiculous farce but it's so funny. The actors playing Tom, Dick, and Harry were actually brothers in life too.

Today I took my lunch to Bethnal Green to see what was on at the Green Spaces festival. Not much, but it was a park with some music and a beautiful day. Then I went to the British Library to see their galleries and an exhibit on Hans Christian Andersen that was really neat. Since then, Erika and I have just been wandering around. We thought there was an opera we could see tonight, but I had the date wrong, it was really yesterday. Whoops. But we'll try again in the next couple of weeks. Anyway, tomorrow is some more sightseeing for me plus a dance class in the morning! :o)

Bye everyone! Have a lovely week.

Sarah

Center for International Education