Week 3: More exploration and school starting!

Well, it's week 3 of my stay in London. I've only been caught in torrential rain twice, one of those instances being today. I'm content to stay dry with my cup of tea while I'm writing this, as the rain pitters outside my window. Thankfully it's calmed down a bit since earlier. Though I can't promise it'll be the last time I have to change clothes and hang my wet ones up to dry. Hopefully, next time will be better at least!
Last Wednesday, to catch you all up on what I've been doing, I had plans to see Henry V, at the Globe. I decided to make it more of an adventure by going to the Sea Aquarium first. Once I arrived at the bridge to reach the aquarium, via tube, I didn't realize that the aquarium was directly across from both Big Ben and the London Eye Ferris wheel. Thankfully the skies threatened rain but nothing actually occurred. I walked inside the Sea Life London Aquarium and showed the officer my ticket that I had already purchased online. By now I had thought ahead to buy my tickets online to avoid any unnecessary waiting.

An anemone enjoying his glass wall

For the next hour, I wandered through exhibits of black-lighted tanks, and neon looking corals. I followed turtle swimming trajectories and jellyfish sinking and floating as if in a samba designed by nature. While I did enjoy my time at the aquarium, I was constantly dodging the tours of school children. This made me miss out on some of the exhibits, which I really didn't mind because at least I didn't have to elbow my way to a tank full of piranhas.

amazing coral

The London aquarium seems to be designed for children, as the whole theme of diving and getting up close to the fish is prevalent in the design of the exhibits. There was also an exhibit on Amazon rainforests in the middle of the tour, where you could see tarantulas, tree snakes, and leaf cutter ants. I felt nausea as I heard the hissing of a snake being piped through a speaker inside the head of a fake anaconda on the wall, and could only think of my dad tricked me into thinking there was a snake behind me at the zoo. This wasn't the last time I would be frightened today, as I would soon find out.

Pipe-fish and sea horses 

Amazonian turtles

Penguins!!

Beautiful but deadly

As I finished in the aquarium, there was one animal that I had hoped to see, but didn't. The octopus. I love octopuses (and yes that is the correct version of that word. If you don't believe me, please refer to Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus). They are majestic and complex and extremely fascinating to watch. I asked the cashier in the gift shop why there wasn't an octopus on display, and he mentioned that if there were any octopuses in the aquarium, they were probably being held behind the scenes. That made sense to me. I quickly looked down at my watch and realized that I had another 3 hours before my play at the Globe. I began walking in the direction of the Globe, looking for something to eat, when I was distracted by a sign in my peripheral.
It was an advertisement all in black with bloody red lettering, advertising for the London Dungeon. I had seen ads for this museum before and even had a friend tell me that she did it and enjoyed it. I knew that the museum focused on the horrific and scary parts of London's history, mainly Jack the Ripper. Because I knew the Ripper would be featured somewhere in the museum, I figured I should give it a go. I had the time of course.

Boy was I wrong!!!

I was told the museum was more like a show, where actors would tell us certain pieces of London history. I asked the lady behind the counter if it was scary and she said I would be fine. With shaky confidence, I made my way into a dimly lit cobble-stone corridor to wait behind a line of couples and teens to begin what would be the scariest hour of my life. We were all herded in one large group, which I did enjoy. But as I came by myself, I didn't have any other person to grab onto or hide behind if I got really scared. This made the tour all the more panicking for me, as my anxiety kicked in multiple times. The tour began with a brief showing of Guy Fawkes's head on a spike, which talks to the audience. The floor shakes and things explode to mimic the explosion of Parliament.
We then moved into a medieval torture chamber where a fake guard showed us some of the torture devices and how to use them. From there we moved to the plague, with water sprayed on us to mimic spit or saliva. People jumped out behind corners, and walls thumped to mimic those left for dead after they had been robbed. It only got worse when we were taken into a surgical theater and water was sprayed on us to mimic blood, after we watched an actress take the slimy guts out of a mannequin. Onto the Great Fire of London, and we quickly moved onto Sweeny Todd. The chairs leaned back in one swift motion, in absolute darkness, to mimic the beheading that this diabolical doctor was so famous for. By now I was pretty shaken up, but we still had to get to Jack and Ripper. And we did, which mainly consisted of a mirror maze looking like the streets of Whitechapel, all while screams blared from loudspeakers. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I just tried to follow the friendliest looking tourists I could and hoped to not be grabbed at by some maniac pretending to be Jack the Ripper. The museum tour ended with hanging for piracy. There was a ride at the end you could take that had a 40-foot drop mimicking a hanging. While most people walked inside the hanging room, I bolted for the exit. I was more than relieved to be on my way to the Globe theater.

The play of Henry V was absolutely fabulous and very nationalistic.

The guy playing Henry V did a spectacular performance, and actually, many of the audience members were crying. As I walked back to the tube station, I caught a nice picture of the Thames.

The Thames 

The next day I decided to visit the British Library. I really didn't have anything to do, and it was on my list of things to visit. After traveling in the tube, I wandered into the Library by a side-door. It was smaller than I would've thought, but that was because most of the library was inaccessible without a card. I wandered into the rare book room and was startled to see such a large collection of volumes from all over the world, from Virginia Woolf to different editions of the Bible. After spending several minutes drooling over each ancient volume, I made my way to a table and began to read. I had my two books assigned for school that I needed to refresh myself with, as I had read them earlier in the summer. After spending about 3 hours at the British Library, I headed home.

I think this was a King Arthur story 

Versions of "The Book of Hours"

The printed "Book of Hours" 

An old Herball 

On Friday I visited the National Gallery, which housed a couple Michelangelo's, one Leonardo, many Van Gogh's, as well as Monet, Turner, etc. I wandered around for hours just studying the art in front of me and avoiding the many tourists that had had the same idea as I did. It was a great way to spend a Friday.

Van Gogh's crabs 

Monet's pond 

Lady Jane Grey being led to her execution

The Leonardo of the Madonna and child

The weekend found me relaxing and preparing for my first day of classes. I really didn't do much except watch Netflix and avoid the rain. I'm finding that behavioral pattern common here.
The first day of school was fun and easy. I got to know most of my 35 classmates after the classes by chatting with them in our school bar. Dr. Stephen Webster, the director of our course, introduced everyone and discussed what good science was, and how science was found in different aspects of our lives. The day was mostly spent in discussion, and by the time the class ended, I was excited to talk more about it with my new friends. I spent the next several hours drinking with my classmates as all of us tried to fit on one large table bench. Everyone seemed very friendly and I'm looking forward to working with them all in the upcoming year.

All of us lovelies! 

Today we heard from documentary director Chris Riley, who has worked on several award-winning documentaries such as In the Shadow of the Moon. His speech gave us a glamorous image of documentaries and all sorts of topics to create documentaries on. I was excited to lookup more of his stuff later. We broke for lunch and wandered over to the Kensington Farmer's market. After lunch, we returned to discuss more the interview process for a journalist or a radio interviewer. All in all, a full day but a fun day to say the least!