Wednesday, August 26, 2009

well i think its safe to say that ive had a really amazing and jammed pack couple of days, considering that it just woke up at about 10pm from a spontaneous nap that started at 730pm and seemed to have a mind of its own.  i got out of my bed to see what was going on only to find megan, my roommate was asleep as well, so i think its a good time as i sit in the dark, to update on london life :).

tuesday.
 we went to the british museum which was full of tons of awesome artifacts like parts of the roman parthenon! but i think the coolest thing i saw was a contemporary piece that i stumbled upon in one of the rooms, it was a huge table like 20 ft long that had a black netting that stretched over and off each side.  inside the netting, each sewn to have its out little pocket where thousands of pills. the story behind the piece was that the artists wanted to exhibit the amount of pills of  all different medicines the average person consumes over their life time.  along side of the netting were pictures that portrayed circumstances in which called for the person to take certain medicine.  i think the message was that as humans we consume more medicine in order to maintain our well being rather then allow our bodies to naturally deal with life and take the meds when it becomes an unbearable problem.  think about all the people in history, many living longer than us, that were fine without the medicine we have today. something about it just fascinated me and i totally thought it was something my mom would just nod her head in agreement with haha. anyways after the museum some of us got some lunch in a park for a while before we went back to lee abbey..and we all hung around after tea and coffee and played cards and just hungout for the night.

wednesday. 
we went to a contemporary art museum which had an unbelievable amount of incredible art, the galleries were huge with beautiful wooden floors and each room had such interactive and intriguing pieces, literally every room has something that fascinated me. i took a ton of pictures of the artwork there so check facebook for those :)
later that night just about all of the sixteen of us, we roll deep, went out to piccadilly circus and experienced the night life! it was a blast and definitely a bonding experience for all of us as we danced like idiots for about two hours.

thursday.
we went to the tate gallery, which had so many beautiful pieces of artwork. in one room I stared at a piece for so long, it was called the The Wood Nymph's Hymn to the Rising Sun by Francis Danby. it was so captivating and just simply beautiful, it was the first time that ive ever looked at a painting in a museum and started to cry.  i felt such a longing to be in the painting, to be the figure dancing and praising God as the sun was rising and creating a  golden glow around her. it was amazing. later that night we all went to the queen theater and saw les miserables! it was so good, so full of emotion and outstanding singers.  it was cool to experience the story in an entirely different way after reading the book for our lit class.

friday.
we saw the wallace collection, a museum inside an old mansion.  it was beautiful and had some pieces that totally blew me away. then we met up again to take our london group picture so we went to this farmers market that was close by and it was amazing, i definitely felt immersed in the culture, it was really fun. right next to the market was another beautiful cathedral, i went inside and was moved once again by the history of the place, i prayed and lit a candle to represent the prayer which was yet another emotion and cultural experience.
then we went to the tate modern museum and saw some more contemporary art.  the day was jam packed so i figured id stay around lee abbey for the night.  instead we all went out again to this awesome place, it was an old concert hall with a beautiful inside dance floor that faced the stage where they had live music which was like tech-no/rap/beat-boxing it was so fun and we danced in our own little circle for like 3 hours straight it was amazing, i could have danced literally all night it was contagious, i felt like i was in another world haha.

saturday.
we all eventually surfaced this morning after minimal sleep and me and some of the girls went to the maritime museum. it was beautiful, we walked up this huge hill that looked over london. and we stood at the prime meridian and were in two time zones as once :)
and now im here..probably going to just head back to bed for the night! tomorrows our last day in london before we head to france for the day on monday and then through to italy for the next couple of weeks!!

..ill try to do these more consistently so youre not at your computer reading a novel, but for those who made it through i love and miss you! and will update more soon :) 

3 comments:

  1. ANNE! i'm so glad you are having a great time and are learning so much. the trip sounds like a blast so far and i'm sure you are making so many new friends. i can't even imagine what you must be experiencing. you are sooo lucky lol
    but congratulations, i'm really happy for you, i miss you, and i want to hear ALL about italy! haha

    <3 Theresa :)

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  2. I LOVE it that a paintiing made you cry...that's my baby!! ...and the pill pocket quilt - well you got me right there Anne. I'm fascinated by the way our culture has learned to take medicine in CASE of pain--before you wrote it, i was already thinking it in my head as I read what you were writing. :0)
    Miss you!

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  3. Keep soaking it in Anne. I know that in some kind of labrynth all that you're experiencing now will some day be part of your own art. Cool how art keeps influencing and moving us throught the ages, kinda like it is alive!
    Keep journaling in your own pages, you will want to refer back to these days for inspiration and connection to what moves you and sparks your passion for art. Love you. Dad

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