Tyler London Summer

Odds and Sods

Well I have had an eventful few days and a lot to discuss, first off I should start with the "most important" reason I am here my classes. For those of you who didn't here me the first eight hundred million times I was asked, I am taking three courses. The first course is a theater course taught by Benjamin Nightingale (Head Theater Critic for the Times of London). I think that this course will be very interesting. He is a very fascinating guy who really knows the ins and outs of London theatre. I think people will be a little reticent to discuss the plays, as he may be arguably the most astute theater critic in Britain. Imagine the pressure of a discussion section with the actual professor multiplied by ten. The course work should be light as we merely have to write journal entries about the plays that we see.

On a side note, he gave a very impassioned harang, which i felt was very justified, on the importance of state funding for the arts. Rather than the American perception, that state funding somehow equates with control, Britain's National Endowment for the Arts has been run virtually independently and has provided opportunities to artists that would otherwise be non available. This has been particularly important in theater. State subsidy of the national theater in London and other non-commercial theatres throughout Britain has two beneficial effects. One, Since it is not entirely dependent on commercial revenue, the theatres can be more risky and choose innovate and interesting plays that would never have been placed at box-office dependent theatres as well as many Shakespeare productions (which are not usually appealing to a mass theater audience). Two, it makes theatre and culture more available to the masses. The tickets for the performance we went to last night was only 10 pounds (20 dollars) where as the commercial tickets can run more than 50 pounds (100 d0llars).

The second course I am taking is a History Course on British Culture in the later 20th century, taught by professor Anna Davin. She is very interesting in that she had three kids before even attending college, it took her 22 years to finish her PhD, and she has never had an official and permanent position at any university. This, however, has not stopped her from being a well respected historian. I think this class should prove particularly easy. Given the format all that I am being graded upon is a presentation that I have to give and an 8 page paper about the presentation. I technically don't need to listen or to learn anything else. Also, my topic is the End of the British Empire, which is where I want to focus my future research, and I can basically write the entire thing out of my head right now.

The third course that I am taking is a British Documentary Film Class taught by Professor Stashu Kybartas who is also our program leader. This class should be a wild card, as I know virtually nothing about film, but educational as I am eager to learn. The journal entries and quizzes should not be too strenuous.

PLACES I HAVE VISITED

I have been trying to settle in the last few days and have been exhausted even sans the whirlwind tours of other students trying to see everything in London in a week. However, I did sight see today as Wednesdays are excursion days. Today, we visited The British Museum and the Soanes museum. Both museums are free and within walking distance of University College so, as you can see, U of M really broke out the checkbook for this excursion. The British museum was as fascinating as always. I had been there before so I had already hit most of the highlights of the museum. One part that I found interesting that I did not go into before was the reading room. Though moving the original library to right across the street from where I am staying, they kept the original reading room intact for historical purposes. Writers such as Orwell, Woolf, and George Eliot all spent significant time working in that room. There were also a proponderance of Chinese tourists because Marx wrote Das Capital in that room, and Britain has just been added as an approved destination for Chinese tourists.

The Soanes museum was really unlike anything I have ever seen before. He was a prominent architect in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was basically a town house, which he wished to be left as it was and dedicated as a museum. Being a brilliant architect, nearly each of the rooms has stunning and original architectural work. He did very experimental work with mirrors and lighting to create a different feel for every room. He also has an incredible collection of antiquities for a private person. There are tons of statues and busts and all sorts of artifacts from Greece, Egypt, and other areas. Entire walls are covered floor to ceiling with different panels and pieces of statues. It is as if he personally went to these areas like some marauder and took anything of architectual value that he saw. He also had plaster casts of particularly famous statues, such as a bust of William Shakespeare in his specially built Shakespeare Shrine. It was incredibly interesting to say the least.

I also attended a play at the National Theatre on Tuesday Night. We got off at the Embankment tube stop and walked across the foot bridge along the footbridge to the South Bank of the Thames, which was really beautiful. The breeze was also nice, since it has been rather sweltering the last few days. Not quite as warm as when I left Detroit, but then again I nor anyone else in this city has AC. The play was an adaption of Gogol called the UN Inspector. I wasn't very impressed with it and found it long, boring, and highly didactic. There was also a lot of contemporary London humor, which I was unable to decipher. It will be interesting to hear what my professor has to say about it.

COMPLAINTS

The Computer Service people here make the ones at U of M look efficient and helpful. I have been playing e-mail tag with these people the entire week trying to get my ethernet in my room hooked up. They gladly accepted my 40 pounds and gave me a reciept acknowledging that the payment went through, but they never sent me the special codes that I needed to hook up the service. They sent me an e-mail telling me to check on line but when I went online to check it just had blank spaces where the numbers should have been. They still haven't responded about that, but I will most assuredly be speaking to them on the phone and in person if necessary to get it running. As for right now, my entire group and I have been scamming off some poor sap's wireless connection.

I also really don't understand some fashion trends that are going on in this city. There are a preponderance of punks with pants so tight that they look like plum smugglers. I am also not feeling the whole male capris pants thing. The flip flops/female buisness suit is an odd one as well, considering most British women would probably want to hide their feet.

I understand that there are a lot more fat Americans than fat Britons. That said, there are also a lot more in shape Americans than in shape Britons. I was the most ripped guy in the health club I joined today. There are a ton of skinny people here who look awful and close to death due to chain smoking. I am normally very critical of America, but I think we have taken the lead and have the right idea in regard to smoking in general and, particularly, in public.

WEEKEND PLANS

I have class thursday but I am going to try to hit either the London Eye or Abbey Road tomorrow night. I am aiming to go to the National Gallery on Friday, and to take a day trip to Oxford on Saturday. I may explore one of the markets on Sunday.

Hope all is well in Dee-troit. Leave me some comments.

posted by tyler @ 10:25 PM