Monday I had the morning free and then Media Studies in the afternoon. For my homework I watched Skins (this British teen TV show, kind of like Degrassi if that helps, that has also become pretty popular in the U.S.) It was fun to watch. In class we talked about how U.S. and British TV shows differ.
Tuesday I had work and did some more volunteer database things. For lunch I went to a local cafe type place and ate the pasta I had brought from home and read a magazine that they were giving out. After that I went to Tate: Modern which is a block or two from my work. It's amazing that so many museums here are free so I wandered around, mostly in the gift shop. It's nice that I can go in an out of the museum and not worry about rushing through the whole museum in a few hours.
On Wednesday I went to a primary school to help with the Creative Leadership Programme which is one of Kids Company's many initiatives. The programme trains the grade 6 students to run lunch time groups for the grade 2 students of whatever subject they choose. The grade 6 students who run the groups go through a several week long leadership training before leading the groups. Two other groups of the year 6 students take part in a journalism or film making group to document the mentoring program. All of the year 6ers are together at the start of the group and do an opening exercise and then break into three groups. I'm working with the Journalism group. The woman who I was supposed to shadow couldn't come at the last minute so I ended up stepping in! It was a little scary to take over with no idea what to do but I think I made it up pretty well. It was really nice spending time with the young people and being in a school.
On Thursday I had my art history and sociology class. For Modern Art history we went to The National Gallery, one of the many free museums in London. We went to look at impressionist paintings as a basis for the modern art we'll study later in the semester. There were some beautiful paintings by Manet, Monet, Degas Matisse and others. It was great to go to a gallery and see some beautiful art, there were also some really cute school groups there in their school uniforms looking at the art, VERY adorable. There was also a DaVinci painting there, a LEONARDO DAVINCI!! Our art teacher talked a lot about the paintings and how the art pre-impressionism set-up the impressionists to paint the way they do, very interesting. After class me and Sam took pictures on the Lion's in Trafalgar Square right outside of the museum :)
National Gallery
Me with the lion in Trafalgar Square (which was NOT easy to climb up to!!)
Trafalgar Square: location of the National Gallery
Friday was a bit of a bummer day. I tried to go to the are show of the "hoods that hug" and the Royal Academy. I got there and found out that it didn't open till 12 and i had a meeting at a school at 12. So I walked around a little waiting to go to my meeting. At eleven I headed to my meeting taking the train. The train is very confusing in comparison to the tube! Two stops before the one I was supposed to get off at they stopped the train because the steering wasn't working. You think that this would cause more upset but people seem to think malfunctions on the trains around here are completely normal. We waited about 15 minutes for the next train by which point I was running late for my appointment. I got off at the right stop and tried to follow the walking directions to the school. I got very lost and eventually asked a nice British couple for help, they very nicely pointed me in the right direction. I got to the school half an hour late but the woman I was meeting with was very understanding. We talked about the anti-bullying program that Kid's Company is going to start in the school. She wants me to help her create it with her and lead the training. We would train 6th graders to be able to give support/mentoring to the younger students at the school. With my feet hurting because I made the silly decision to wear uncomfortable flats, I headed home ready for the weekend!
Saturday we went to Covent Garden, which I can best describe as a combination between Harvard Sq. and Fanueil Hall but about ten times bigger. A very cute shopping area with a lot of stores as well as craft fair with stalls under a big tent. It was fun to see something new and walk around outside for the day. Also, Covent Garden is only about a 15 minute walk from our house so I'll definitely be venturing back.
Saturday we went to the nightclub called Fabric. It's pretty infamous here. We went specifically because it was Rick's, one of the guys on the program, 21st birthday. The club was ridiculous to say the least. It had at least three or four floors, each one with several rooms that lead into one another, a huge maze that was very easy to get lost in. Some of the rooms where just big dance floors, others had couchs and beds (yes, beds, basically big rectangles with leather covered cloth that people were just kind of lounging on..) The club also only played house music, which in my opinion isn't so much of music as it is the same beat play for ten minutes at a time, and then switching to a slightly varied beat for another ten minutes, of course, this makes me feel old and like someones parent saying what is and isn't "real music" but let's just say I didn't find the music all that enthralling. Overall it was quite the experience, very interesting, and overall fun, and probably something I won't be repeating for a while.
On Sunday I took it easy and got ready for another full week!
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