FrOm PrE-HiStOry tO MaKiN HiStOrY

Today I decided to sleep in because Diane’s IS class didn’t meet until 1:00. I slept till 10:30, I was so tired! I felt so guilty and was rather surprised really, as I usually cant sleep past 8:30 or 9:00 if I try.

Anyway, I caught up with bloging for the weekend and got some other work done before heading out to class- this week we went to the Natural History Museum. I was really excited that we were going here because it is different than the other museums that I’ve been to, and I hadn’t visited it yet. We went straight to the dinosaur bones exhibit, and also got to see a lot on the make up of the earth, natural elements of the environment, and participated in an earthquake simulation in a ‘Japanese grocery store.’ We saw all kinds of birds, fossils, and many prehistoric animals, in addition to giant skeletons of whales and other maritime creatures.

Just for you Nickolas:
Nick walks into a magical forest and sits on a rock. The rock tells him that it is a magical rock and it will turn him into any animal he wants, as long as it fits the certain requirements. He would turn Nick into a kangaroo, an iguana, or a cat. What other animal could Nick be? …a NARWHAL!

Yes, that’s right, this museum had bones of a Narwhal. I thought that these were fictional creatures in Nick’s riddles up until this point. Guess not… Apparently they are small whales of the Arctic Ocean, and the tusk develops when a tooth grows through the upper lip, becoming a long spiral of ivory. People of the past believed that the Narwhal had a horn of a unicorn, and that it held magical or medicinal powers. Very rarely, they have twin tusks.

We wandered the museum a bit longer, saw tons of gems and stone creations, and Superman’s ultimate enemy, kryptonite. It wasn’t real, but it was a green stone, with the same makeup, apparently, that is said to be in the rock from the planet Krypton. We saw this and some other cool exhibits on the effects of the wearing earth, and then cruised through the gift shop.

Cody and I left the museum and decided to head over to ISH to watch some of the election coverage since we had a little while before dinner was open. However, we got distracted as we walked past the Royal Academy of Music, which is literally on the other side of our flats- as in, that is the building I look at and hear music coming from, every time I leave my room! I knew it was a music school of some sort, but up until now, I had no idea that that was what it actually was! We went into the academy shop and looked around for a while. It would have been cool if we could go into the academy itself, but I don’t think that is allowed. I bought a mug that said ‘too hot to Handel.’ Get it? Te he he. (Handel is an English composer for you non music geeks…) I really miss playing, can you tell?

We made our way over to dinner and then to the National Theatre, right along the Thames, for the production of Oedipus- I love going to a class that consists of going to plays, part of our theatre course. I love this class, you literally go to plays and then discuss them- and that is the course. Really, I think that is how you learn the most- simply by experience.

The play itself was a modern twist on a Greek tragedy. It was very artistically done and I really enjoyed the interpretation of the symposium, or at least what I believe was supposed to symbolize a symposium. The singing and syncopated rhythms and harmonies, I thought, were very cool.

I understood the play, but overall, it was just very odd- interesting, but odd. The brief storyline is that Oedipus is born to a prophecy where he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, who bears several of his children. Because of this, his parents give him, as a baby, to a servant to destroy. However, the servant does not kill him. Oedipus grows up with another family, and through time, fulfills the prophecy, killing his original family. At the end, upon discovering the events of the oracle, he gouges his eyes out with his wife/mother’s broach.

On that bright note, we walked back over the Hungerford footbridge to a beautiful view of the nighttime Thames, back to our tube station. On the way over, I had a terrible craving for ice cream since I haven’t had any since leaving the states. Cody, Rachael definitely agreed.

In such a crisis, I knew there was only one person to call to find the nearest McDonalds- Billy. He has made it his goal to get a Big Mac in every country so far. He gave me a few suggestions in our most trying hour, and we were on our way.

However, just after swiping our tube passes, Rachael spotted a sign that said ‘McDonalds- 2 Minutes that way.’ We bargained with the security monitors to let us back through the gate and then ran down the street (they said we had 10 minutes till they changes personnel). Apparently, they only have one size and one flavor of McFlurries in England, so we all got KitKat. Definitely not to the caliber of M&M or Snickers, but it still satisfied our needs.

We ran back to the tube, where the guards had changed. We simply asked ‘did the other’s tell you about us?’ and they let us through with a not and a chuckle of amusement.

We got back and went straight to ISH for the election coverage. It was really interesting because we got into a lot of discussions with a lot of different people, and it is really interesting to see how some people conduct themselves compared to others. You talk to some people and immediately it turns into “well I think this and this and this, and I have little substance to support my argument, but I just want my opinion heard.” But others are fun to talk to. I really enjoyed the group I was sitting with and our discussion with Mike. He has a lot of very different ideals than me in some areas, but the way he approaches it, and the knowledge for both parties, and respect for the opposition to which he is speaking made me really appreciate talking with him. He is also a political philosophy major… so I would hope he knows a little something about politics. Ha.

We watched coverage of the election the entire evening, and I felt rather out of place as a Republican and the chanting and cheering for Obama throughout the entire bar, but it was still a really fun atmosphere. The whole bar was decorated with American flags and candles with confetti. There were several tvs going, and a huge projection screen with the live news on the American election. It was fun at the bar with everyone, but Colin and I were getting tired and didn’t want to stay up, so we both walked back to our rooms around 2am. With the time difference and everything there was no way I was staying up to see the results.

Raptors, just for you Andy and Adam...