London; the Conclusion

This blog has helped me really reflect and think deeper into the trips and experiences I had everyday here in London; something I would probably not have done otherwise. Looking back on my blogs, I realized that some really small things are what I wanted to talk about and had the most to say.  I liked finding the things I found strange, and contemplating whether I felt they were weird because my frame of reference i as an American, or people from the UK shared my opinion.  For one example, at my internship I asked the girls if the "Happy Eggs" I always see in the store are real eggs or not because they are just on the shelf, unrefrigerated.  At first they laughed and said yes, of course they are real eggs, they just never refrigerate eggs (or mayo).  Then they thought about it for a bit and found a strange dichotomy; they didn't see anything wrong with eggs sitting on room temperature shelves at the market, but once they would buy them they realized they put them in the fridge after purchase. So without even knowing it or being aware, there was a kind of opposition or contradiction to their initial thinking. I also always got a kick out of conversations while we were out.  When us girls would go out and be goofy, and talk like we usually do, people from England would usually get the biggest kick out of the way we spoke to each other.   Also, they definitely had Americans stereotyped and would often be entertained by asking us to say things like "what-ever" and "OMG", etc.  This would actually begin to annoy me after a while because a lot of them have a negative, sort of dumb stereotype of Americans; silver lining is it was fun proving them the thick ones for categorizing one group of people.  On that note, however, it is true and quite evident how much more globally aware people in London are.  It is probably because Europe is comprised of multiple countries, which could be compared to Americans knowing about different states, at a distant level. What I also noticed about London, and evident in the recurring theme of "cultural fusion" in my blogs, is that London's identity is comprised from everywhere else.  I think the whole time I stayed here, I only ate "traditional English food" twice, and one was forced upon me at our going away dinner.  This is because of how much fantastically delicious food exists from other cultures, but thrives in London. I think I've had more sushi than any other food during my time here....I know...whattt??? I also made a new habit of evening red wine and fine cheese, but were going to treat that as a totally off topic addition, unless you count it as me having afternoon tea like a good English citizen.  But herein lies my love for this country, I love how big of a melting pot London is.  I love that I think I have met more people from other countries (predominantly Australia) than people actually from London.  I thought I was from a melting pot, coming from America, but to me London is comparable to a concentrated USA.  Japanese, Indian, Thai, American, Spanish, and Italian influence; and that is only in the one mile radius of our student housing.
      Upon returning to London, which I WILL do soon and with my family, I would definitely make a point to venture to Manchester and Brighton beach.  I also want to travel to nearby Dublin and take my dad to the Guinness Factory, then a trip back to Amsterdam and visit the Heineken experience once again.  The Harry Potter experience, where they show you the places Harry Potter was filmed and a tour, etc., is a place I would try to take my sister too, because I know she would really love that experience.  I didn't do that this trip because it wasn't really something I felt I HAD to do before I left.  One the risk of sounding superficial,  I would take my family to Topshop/Topman, because my brother and sister would especially love that place and all of its uniqueness.  Other than that, I am pretty satisfied with what I got to see and do while here in this wonderful city, and the amazing places I got to see when I ventured outside of London.  I have grown and changed a lot because of this trip, and I genuinely love it.  This experience makes me want to continue to travel more and more because I love the feeling of opening your horizons and learning the ways and thinkings of different cultures.  I truly believe that learning about other cultures and meeting the peoples of those places makes you wiser than you will ever be just simply trying to study it through books and other devised learning tools that fall short of the real think.  

Cheers, London, I'll see you soon enough ;) 

XOXO,
     Abby M.

London Bus Tour-Sightseeing

 On the bus tour, we got to see an overview of the top sightseeing locations in London.  Some of these include St Paul's Cathedral (pictured to the right), Big Ben, Tower Bridge (pictured below), the Shakespeare "Seven Ages of Man" statue (pictured below, and very cool), and more!
  Some of you may not know this, but the Tower Bridge is actually the bridge portrayed in most famous London images, not the London Bridge which is actually one of the more boring bridges. This tour had the element of identity of tradition because so many of the sites we saw were symbols of England, if not London in particular. 

 Artistic expression is another relevant theme because statues such as the man on the horse, and especially the stacked head statue commemorating Shakespeare and where the old theatre used to stand, are strong artistic statements.

      The stacked heads are so interesting to me because the base begins with words, then a baby face that brilliantly fades into a slightly older face, into a yet older one, all the way to an old man and finally a skeleton face at the very top.  You can see this in the images I have added below.  This sculpture also hints at cultural borrowing because of the totem pole fashion it is erected in.  The base of the sculpture quotes lines from Shakespeare's comedy "As You Like It" and I think it is one of the creepiest-coolest things I have seen in a bit...ONE of them. :)

<< I also included some pictures of the more recent building being erected in Central London.  Since the Olympics occurred in London a few years ago, it seems many efforts are being made around the city, as far as construction--both erecting new and maintaining the old.

I'm tired now, off to bed.

Cheers,
Abby XOXO

Westminster Abbey

 Westminster Abbey is a crazy place to check out, in my opinion.  There is a religious aspect of course, in fact every hour on the hour a prayer is said over the loudspeaker.  The day we were there was a few days after the deadly tornado in Oklahoma, so they were included in the prayer. What I am referring to when I mention that it is "crazy", however" is the massive amount of people that are buried inside! Some are nicely buried in the floor under a demure tile, such as in Poet's corner--which I will come back to-- but a very large lot of them are giant stone coffins with a life-size stone replica of the body right on top...even babies.  Not what I call awesome, just saying. Of course, if you were lucky enough to get a life size stone dummy of yourself over your coffin and also got to have your eternal rest inside Westminster Abbey, then you must have had a lot of power in the day; quite the Lord or Lady.  Some of the people lucky enough to acquire an aforementioned tomb were Henry III, Edward I, Eleanor of Castile, Edward III, Philippa of Hainault, Richard II with his queen Anne of Bohemia, and Henry V.  Edward the Confessor got a whole shrine, so he must have been something special, eh? To answer that question, yes, he was special, he has an entire chapel in the Abbey because he was King at a point.

    My favorite part of the Abbey was definitely Poet's Corner (told you I'd come back to it, don't you trust me?).  It was not originally meant to be a burial place of writers and poets, but now it is one of the most famous parts of the Abbey. Some of the poets who have plaques are buried there and others are just commemorated with a memorial. Some that are buried are Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy.  Charles Dickens' grave, more than 110 years later, a wreath is still laid on his tomb every year on the anniversary of his death.

Memorials (and buried elsewhere) include William Wordsworth, John Keats, Robert Burns, William Blake, T.S. Elliot, Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, and Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte (the Bronte sisters...if you couldn't crack. that. code).  Also, about a billion more commemorate for their excellency in language, but this is not a role call, so you can GOogle that your-DAMN-self :)

<<GRAVES! ooOOooohhhHHhhh.


...anddddd we're done here.

Walala walala bing bang,
                Abby M.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

At the Victoria and Albert Museum, I noticed the most evident elements of identity as Tradition, Power and Class.
      Tradition because of London's influence on fashion throughout time, evident in the several rooms of fabric patterns and clothing displays.
One thing I learned was that Mary Quant created the mini dress! Well, "famed for popularizing, if not inventing, the mini skirt", around the 1950's.  (www.vam.ac.uk)
<<

   Power and class mostly seen in earlier fashions, because being able to have multiple yards of fabric in your dress meant you were quite wealthy.  Also, the more affluent people are the ones that kept with the fashion and trends of the time, as well as started new ones.  The fashions of the time required being wealthy enough to purchase the items and/or have them created for you.  As you can see with the dresses on the right, usually the fashions for women required rather a lot of material and therefore required the wearer to be wealthy enough to afford this material.  Power is evident because people such as the queen usually dictated how the rest of the people could dress; you couldn't look better than the queen or be more embellished than her.

This is "The Great Bed of Ware"!! Woo hoo!! Just seeing this enormous bed made me really miss by bed at home.  I think one of the top things I miss that isn't a living, breathing thing is a real bed!!! waah.  Anyway, we learned that back in the times--this bed dates back to 1596 (atleast)-- what you had in your home to show off your wealth was your bed!  An inn supposedly made it to attract customers and became famous. So famous, in fact, that Shakespeare actually refers to the bed in his play Twelfth Night in 1601.  A direct quote from the plaque next to the bed will be able to explain better: "Beds were usually the most valuable items recorded in domestic inventories, with elaborate textile hangings in wealthier households..."

      Connecting the fashion to Class and Power even further, a great examples is swords as fashionable accessories.  The ornament and how elaborately decorated the sword was showed the wealth and class of the wearer. 

    What was really cool was the blown glass chandelier that happened to be hanging at the entrance of the museum, a Dave Chihuly!  This was so random and cool to me because Dave Chihuly is an American glass sculptor and I have been to one of his shows at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix! Small world, OR the importance of the guy was grossly underestimated by muah.

     Below are some more photos to show the extent of how London has influence fashion , which is likely to a further extent than you have realized. I know that was the case for me.  I thought this museum was very cool because of all the fashions displayed throughout the past several decades and centuries. 

Saucy...




Adios!

-Abby

The Royal Ascot

 THE ROYAL ASCOT*

     My friend Brianda and I were lucky enough to have a chance to attend The Royal Ascot Races, horse races attended by the royal family!  Minus our failings to attain a big fancy hat, we tried our best to look posh and classy ;) which was quickly equalized by the excessive consumption of alcohol.  I kept it classy by sipping whiskey in a coffee cup, because I hear that's how the Queen does it.
     A friend of a friend had some extra tickets through work, so we got to go with their group.  Starting at 9:30am, we drove out to Ascot in a large bus, and when we got there were treated to a wonderful buffet lunch with endless champagne.  We then headed in to the races and waited at the fence for the Queen to drive by in a carriage!

   Sadly it was a bit cold and rainy, but it went on and off enough that it wasn't so bad, plus i enjoyed watching everyone try to keep their hats and clothing together ;) .

   What I accomplished for "firsts" is I bet on a horse race with a bookie for the first time! I didn't win and I didn't bet much, but I still did it counts! :D

     It was so fun picking random horses without knowing what the HELL you are doing, let me tell you.

 

 

      The first element of identity I realized was "Class", obviously.  Everyone was dressed very classy and certain areas of the race had a very strict dress code.  There were men in suits and top hats, and some very beautiful and expensive dresses and hats.  You could definitely tell that being or appearing to be high class was the theme of the day. 

   The second element of identity I found was "traditions; sports" because betting at the horse races are a long standing sport in England.  You could either bet at the national betting office (I'm probably mangling the name), or on the field with an individual bookie at one of their little wheel up stands.  I can say I left the races knowing the general guidelines to horse racing, but I definitely didn't leave richer than I started!

     They also had a huge tent with live music and a big area with a bar and tables to sit at away from the race.  One thing that amazed me was how quickly the ladies restroom line went! This is because someone finally realized there needs to be more women's stalls then men's and there were three different halls for women. Well done, Ascot, that made me quite happy! 
     I did donate my black sweater to the day, but that is a small price to pay for such amazing memories!

I had such a fun day, and hopefully I can go to a horse race again in the near future!

xoxo
-Abby Mettler

The Heineken Brewery

 The Heineken Experience!

             Amsterdam

One of the greatest highlights from the Amsterdam weekend excursion.  Through the self -guided tour, the place was full of interactive games you could play, including a DJ game similar to dance dance revolution setup, and one that tested how perfectly you could pour a digital pint!  You could also pay to "bottle your own Heineken"! It let you create a personalized label for the freshly bottled beer and pick it up in the gift shop! That's not even the best part, though!  We were supposed to have a 4-D interactive experience where we get to see what it would be like to be a bottle of beer being bottled (I was expecting Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Kids only with alcohol), but because it wasn't working we got FREE BEERS!
     Our ticket included a bracelet with three buttons on it, two for two glasses of the freshest Heineken you'll ever get, straight from the brewery, and one for a free gift (which was just a bottle opener ;/), but because the 4-D video wasnt working, our group ended up getting about 6 free beers each!!!  Don't worry, the glasses were only half pint size, so I didn't get TOO crazy.

 

^^a panorama of the bar :D

Here in the first tasting bar, we learned how to PROPERLY drink a Heineken. You can't "sip it like a girly girl, you have to sip it like a MAN" (words of the bartendress).  This is because of the head of foam, if you take small sips you slowly sip away the foam head and the beer is then exposed to the air, which kills the beer.  DO YOU WANT TO DRINK DEAD BEER?! I didn't think so. When you sip it in large gulps, you just take in the beer and the foam head remains. You're welcome.



  Also, cheers in Dutch is "Proost!" ...and "thank you" is "dank you", never going to get over that one. ;)

   During the tour we came into a room with four giant glass tubes with 4 ingredients that are used to make Heineken.  The first is water, and Heineken puts its through a purifying process to keep it consistent at all of their factories around the world.   The second is wheat, and the third is hops.  Hops, for those of you who have heard of them but don't quite know what they are exactly, are the cone shaped flower of the hop plant, and it is the little petals of the flower are used in beer to give it the bitter, tangy flavor.
Overall, we spent double the amount of time we expected in the Heineken experience because it was absolutely an amazing place.  Every room was so interesting and they kept the beer flowing! We also got to see the Heineken horses that used to be the method of transportation for Heineken beers back in the day!

All-in-all, wonderful experience and definitely make your way to the Heineken Brewery if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam!

xoxo-
Abby