Thats it you guys...Im living in Hampton Court. Day 7.

This morning was a tad embarassing, because my roomate and  I failed to hear the wake up call and seriously over slept. I quite literally threw on a sweatshirt and shorts, didnt even undo the braid I slept in and headed out to Hampton Court. Once again, Hampton palace blew my mind! It was constructed in the "Baroque" style, meaning overly ornate...and indeed it was. We succesfully completed the maze, because of a secret we learned from one of the teachers. Im directionally challenged, so this was an accomplishment for me. I had my picture taken with actresses playing Anne Boleyn and Mary Tudor, who were quite hilarious. Apparently, I did an amusing hand gesture when I asked to take a picture with them. Mary Tudor was all like "Is that some sort of new dance? A dance while feasting? It could sweep the nation!" ( I was also eating some chocolate purchased from the gift shop). They were very witty and humorous and gave an extremely accurate representation of what banter mustve entailed in those days. We also attended Flawless at the Wimbeldon theatre which was quite a high caliber performance. The description said "ballet meets streetdancing", so I thought it showed the evolution of dance from ballet to streetdancing. However it incorporated both, in the form of the two methods competing then working together. The moral of the story line was to be yourself, it was incredibly moving, interesting, and entertaining. Today was amazing and I cannot believe the trip is going to be over soon. :( Right now we're watching the futbol game between England and Italy which is extremely important, and amazing to be apart of. Im officially living here later in life. Tomorrow its off to Greenich museum!

Pickpockets. Day 6

Oy vey....I need to chill out on the coffee and get to bed earlier. Today was completely amazing, as usual. It started off with an up close and personal view of the Buckingham Palace....my mind is blown. It is an absolute genious and aesthetic work of archetecture, clearly. Then we headed on out to Parliament...no big deal. To be completely honest I was not THAT thrilled, because I associate it with politics obviously....and didnt pause to consider that this was the oldest medieval building in all of England. We visited The House of Lords, The House of Commons, the Robing Room, the Tudor Room, and the Processional hall. Im consistently amazed by the ever present and rich culture and history that there is to soak up! Seriously, one could spend years upon years over here and never completely see all there is to see in London alone! Goodness, I love it over here! Speaking of my vast love for the Motherland...this ties into my title of this blog. Ive seen tourists wearing these "I <3 London" sweatshirts and I was set on getting one, as were my friends. So, on the way to the National Portrait Gallery we saw a shop chock full of said sweatshirts. Naturally we stopped and with 19 teens in a store, you know its going to take awhile. While waiting outside one of the clerks came out and asked if ayone had lost a camera. Upon searching my bag I realized it was me. I had my name labeled on it, so they asked me my name, and sure enough...it was mine. Curiously enough, I had never opened the pocket that my camera was in, because my money was in another pocket. Mr. Worthington was almost certain I had been pickpocketed. Freaky right? I agree. Anywho, Trafalgar Square was amazing and we got to see West End Musicals in the form of a free concert. West End was doing a musical exhibition to promote this years musicals, and their marketig scheme certainly worked, because I wanted to see all of them! Then, we also passed a protest concerning "the USA and their apalling extradition policies". It was quite frightening as well. Once again , the National Portrait Gallery would take years to completely absorb its epicness. However, we did get to see a special "Jubilee" exhibit that presented a visual timeline of the Queen, which was quite lovely. I have come to realize that I enjoy Portraits of the Tudors, Stuarts, and the Victorian era more so than modern art because I can absorb more history and I feel as if I can take away more than say my interpretations of modern art. Not to say that I dont appreciate modern art, I just feel as if I dont enjoy it. Well, tomorrow were off to Hampton Court, and the National Ballet! Cheerio old chaps!
PS: I GOT A WHOLE BOOK ON COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG!

Dear Mummy and Daddy,
I know it costs a fortune to attend Westminster School...but I dont think you understand that I WILL find a way to get there. On my own if I have to, I dont care...you dont even understand how badly I need to go.
This is what there letter is going to say when they find it at home instead of me because...Im never leaving London. Visiting Westminster Abbey was absolutely the highlight of my life, the peak if you will. Its all down hill in life, save for The Globe. We visited the memorials of Shakespeare, Carroll, TS Elliott, Jane Austen, and Chaucer in the poets corner. We also visited the actual tombs of Queen Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I, along with other medieval Kings. We sat where the choir sat in the Royal Wedding and walked Kate's wedding path, and lit a candle on the altar...no words can describe the epicness this day entailed. School was still in session so we had the priveledge of seeing a class change classes. The Tate musuem of modern art was also a pleasure to tour, the highlight being Turner's works. I am not really an "art critic" so everything was incredible and bursting with vibrance, and talent to me.  Westminster Cathedral was also quite magnificent, but nothing grabbed me as much as the Abbey. Before dinner, we had a quiz on what wed learned so far...and to be honest I was a little worried. Howeverr, my team "The Force" won! Mrs. Knight presented us with key chains and the fact that this was her last evening with us :(. Speaking of Mrs. Knight, today before entering the Abbey, I really had to use the loo and she accompanied me. We had to find a public loo which involved crossing a crazy street. Did you know that you have to pay to use the public loo? 50 pence! And they also have chewable toothbrushes. "No wonder the Brits have bad teeth!" good one Mrs. Knight :) She totally got the cockney flashcards for us today as well! I will miss her dearly, she was a joy to be around and I totally got a hug ad a picture with her! Score! Now, off to Parliament in the morning! 

Ravens are bloody frightening mate! Day 4

This whole trip, my pal Spencer was soooo anxious to get to the Tower of London. He and I both enjoy learning about the Tudors most of all considering English history as a whole. Quite honestly, Ive been so tired throughout this trip that I hadnt had the energy to get quite as pumped as this kid. The Tower of London is the most haunting, breath-taking, most gorgeous, and elegant place I have ever visited. I will admit that I thought there was only one tower...sort of isolated on a hill that was supposed to be scary...because prisoners were held there. In my defense, we never covered British history. In fact, there are at least ten towers within the South Wall. We were lucky enough to view the magnificent crown jewels (which are a tad obscene to be frank, but utterly beautiful none the less). To be honest, there were a TON of facts that I had absolutely no clue about. For instance, King Henry VIII kept an extravagant menagerie with the Towers' walls; including but not limited to, lions, white bears, leopards, baboons, and ravens. Speaking of ravens, did you know that if ravens were to leave the Tower, superstition would have Londoners believe that the monarchy would come to its imminent fall. Ravens can still be found at the Tower today, and theyre pretty darn scary. Spencer, Brendon, and I visited the chapel where one Anne Boleyn was buried and the site of her execution. Fun fact that I did not know: only seven royals were executed privately, or within the Tower...it was considered a priveledge. Lucky them. Oh, fun fact: in the torture chamber, there is one such method called the Scavenger's Daughter in which prisoners are compressed opposed to stretched which is arguably worse than the rack. Gruesome...but interesting. Theres so much more to say on this matter as well as the Tower in general, but I must move on before lights out. We also visited a British shopping mall which had access to firsthand Olympics merchandise which also provided a view of some of the actual Olympic sites. Its going to be "wicked" as they say over here. By the way...Mrs. Knight is totally making us cockney flashcards because Spencer and I constantly ask her what a cockney term is for one American term or the other, which Im quite excited about. Tomorrow is the Tate Museum and Westminster Abbey! Goodnight all!

Tres Cool. Day 3.

Today...is the day my life got 150000000000086857697874635142 times better, because I went into London for the first time ever. One could say that this grand city could be described as New York except 20 bijillion times cleaner, more historical, and awesomer. Our day started off with a pleasant stroll through the Museum of London. We covered every period of history London had to offer which consists of the Prehistoric era, Roman Britain era, Early British Kingdoms, Anglo-Saxon England, Medieval Britain, the Reformation and Restoration, and finally the age of the Empire. Upon further exploration of London, I found the sudden urge to burst out into a rendition of "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins as the pigeons were quite literally flying in our faces. Let me pose a question...does 311 steps sound like a terribly difficult climb? Well friends...it is. However, I'm proud to say that I'm now a certified climber of The Great Fire monument, which by the way has a fantastic view of the River Thames. My camera started to flake out on me during the walk around St. Paul's Cathedral....so I didnt capture every single moment necessarily. Ah well. I did manage to get some shopping done for folks back home that I'm quite excited to share. I will admit that I dont care much for the financial aspect in regards to England's history...however the Bank of England's museum was actually quite interesting and Im immensely impressed with their massive evolution of currency. American currency is lame. Thats all I have to say. We concluded our outting with a walk across the Millenium Bridge which made an appearance in one of the Harry Potter movies. A note about upper class Business Brits...they're not exactly the friendliest people. On a dare to get a pedestrian to return my wave...I lost...many a time. In fact they avert your eyes all together. Ah well. We did manage to learn cockney slang rhymes in a quest to determine whether there was in fact a British rapper. One such slur goes something like this: STICK THAT IN YOUR YARD OF TRIPE AND SMOKE IT! Another such humorous moment of the day was hearing a native Brit, Mrs. Knight (our historian of the day) attempt an American accent....it was ...interesting. Even amongst the students, culture shock is apparent. For instance, some of these guys from California, and New York had never tasted Bojangles and had no clue what Deer Park water is, or Five Guys. This has just been one ginormous learning adventure and I'm in no hurry for it to end! Tomorrow were traipsing about London until we get to The Tower of London! Thats all Folks!

Thats it guys...I want a Stately Home. Day 2

Word on the street is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, a fact that I simply ignored in the States. I cannot explain to you why the appeal is so much stronger when in another country, nevertheless I ate sooo much this morning to get me started for the busy day ahead. Today, we're scheduled to cover The United Kigdoms' natural history, by way of a workshop held at the school. Mr. Rea (pronounced Ree...opposed to Read Road...a common mistake I made throughout the day) is the most recently hired geography teacher here at A       CS, and he elected to host the workshop. Let me tell you guys something...I have never met a teacher so captivating and motivating as this guy. Hes what....26? Maybe it was the accent or the relaxed academic atmosphere that factored into the surprising length of my attention span...either way, I found the natural history of the UK to be fascinating. We began the workshop by first illustrating what came to mind when we thought of home, then Britain in general. There were no rules, this was completely up to interpretation. An excercise such as this is meant to help break stereotypes and encourage folks to broaden their horizons and adapt a new perspective. We were then given a map and watched a humorous youtube clip that clarified and corrected assumptions people make about England, or rather The United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland.  After filling in our maps and learning about the various distictions of The British Isles, we were then asked to make a mind map in which we compile previous knowledge pertaining to the UK that we had previously attained through media, literature, music etc. We were then invited to connect this knowledge to possible naturalistic foundations that we had just covered. Its truly amazing to see how didactic the Harry Potter series is. After those connections, we were each challenged to target one naturalistic aspect that is the "typical representation" of the UK. My group decided on Ivy, because its typically found on ruins, and quaint cottages that are commonly seen in the UK. Next on the agenda was a gallery walk, during which paintings of ladscapes were taped to the walls around the room. Our task was to identify a singular painting that spoke to us ad develop a peice of descriptive writing inspired by said painting. I chose Tratt's painting entitled "Wildflowers in Cuckmere Haven". This past school year, I was mistakenly placed in an Art 1 class and was forced to listen to a bunch of pretentious analyses on paintings, and I was determined to replicate such an analysis. I should have considered the possibility of being asked to present my work to the class....which I had to...and read with a mock pretentious attitude to the class having first explained my Art 1 story. Finally, we were given three historical figures to tie back to nature; Charles Darwin, JRR Tolkein, and Robin Hood. My group agreed that Darwin would be the easiest to tie back to nature alas we were assigned to Tolkein. However, Tolkein was a vivacious enviromentalist and even portrays industrialization as evil in his works and emphasizes the peace, and importance of the preservation of nature throughout his writings. Hmm...ya learn something new everyday. We actually left the ACS campus today to travel to the Petsworth Park to walk along the British countryside and reinforce the importance of naturalistic history. Good lord, this marvelous expanse of greenery was absolutely breath taking!!!! Spencer, Brendon, and I stuck together as the group split up and resolved to find the Stately Home that was "just over the hill". It was not over the hill...or the next hill...why were those things called "hills"? These were MOUNTAINS I TELL YOU! Honestly...we kindve got side tracked and stalked several herds of deer that were chillaxin on the side of the "hill". Eventually we found the Stately Home and deemed it necessary to make the trek over there. We quite literally got to the front of this incredible mansion that could have very well passed for a palace...when Spencer got a call from our teacher, Mr. Rea who told us that we had missed our curfew. Darn deer! Darn Stately Home! We had no choice but to book it over three hills, running like maniacs the whole way. Ahh well it was an experience and a work out. Tomorrow, its the London Square Mile! I apologize for any bizzare grammatical errors...Im too tired to care.

Day 1 :)

I can usually fall asleep anywhere. However, I stumbled off a seven hour flight to England this morning with absolutely no sleep. Let me start off by explaining why I'm here. My school offered the chance to enter an essay contest through the British-American Business Council for which a winner from each school has the opprotunity to travel to England on a full scholarship. Two prompts were presented to contestants; write about a British custom that interests you, or a famous British person that you would most like to meet. My essay was devoted to Dame Julie Andrews, and the profound influence she had on my childhood. The first batch of finalists were rounded up at Myers Park to do a phone interview with members of the Council. Those who passed would then be required to do a face-to-face interview, from this point a winner would be chosen. I was chosen to represent Myers Park, Brendon Toma represents Independence, and Spencer Green represents South Meck.
The British-American Business Council feels the continuation of British Culture is vital to further understand and relate with America. They then decided to offer young Americans, exclusively Juniors, a chance to explore the Mother Country's vast history. I'm so blessed to have this opprotunity and share it with such wonderful people. So, I look forward to reporting back daily with my adventures in London!