Tea in a Crypt

I have had a busy week but will try to fit in everything I did this week! On Monday, we discussed tea gardens in history. I learned that I am of the social elite because I put my tea into my cup before the milk. If you put the milk in first you are a commoner because you have to dilute the hot water with milk so your glassware will not crack. In Ethno-national conflicts we discussed the secession of the united States of America (intentionally lowercase u). From the British perspective, George Washington was a terrorist and had they captured him he would have been tried as a traitor and hung. I had never thought of Washington as a traitor as we are always taught about "Freedom Fighters". In neuroscience we talked about autism and the links with hormones. It was a wonderful coincidence with the play we saw, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. It was amazing and I absolutely loved it! I will post a full review with my reviews of the three Shakespeare plays.

I promise I am more dressed up than I look but it was quite chilly out!

The stage- quite cool!

On Tuesday, we discussed early 15th century art in Florence and Flanders. After art class, Eleanor and I went to the train station. In order to get my student discount card I had to get a passport picture taken. The person using the picture booth before me was quite incompetent so we had to wait for a while but I eventually got my picture taken. I was able to get my student train pass (it saves me 30% on train travel) and we booked our tickets to Scotland!

Wednesday morning we went to the Chiswick gardens. It was made for the wealthy and is a very fancy elite garden. It has a canal going through it, a waterfall, a mini hunting building, a greenhouse, etc.  I enjoyed walking around and seeing all of the imported statues (which some snooty rich teenagers brought over from Italy).  We also saw lots of dogs (mostly poodles, labs, and retrievers) which everyone was happy to see. On our walk, it seemed that every child we saw was in a uniform (even preschoolers!) and riding a three-wheeled scooter. Apparently parents have their children scooter or bike as it is much faster than having them walk. I was quite impressed as there were many very young kids riding bikes without training wheels. My second class, ethno-national conflicts was wonderful and I feel like I am finally understanding the subject. Our professor is very intimidating, but wonderful, incredibly knowledgeable and an amazing lecturer. For some reason, my lunch did not fill me up today so at lunch time I went to Sainsburys and bought a ciabatta roll for really cheap. It was incredibly crowded and there was a long line, but they make it a very efficient process. There are only 6 people that do check out, but there are 30 self-check out machines. I was able to check out without too much difficulty, but unfortunately when I got to the doors I saw a large crowd and realized it was hailing outside. I waited inside for a few minutes, because as they say "If you do not like the weather, wait 5 minutes". Sure enough I walked back to the teaching site without any rain. 

In the evening, we had a potluck with 10 Grinnellians. I brought an apple pie that I had bought at Sainsburys. While it was not super exciting, at least I did not set off the smoke detectors twice, like one of the other students did making her dish. Our potluck went swimmingly and we had wonderful pasta, garlic bread, apple pie, trifle, and ginger beer. We all see each other so much it already feels like we have known each other forever. My flat is going to host the next potluck because we have a lot of space and have not hosted anything yet. I am already planning what I will make! 

Today was a wonderful day. In the morning I skyped my parents which is always a fabulous way to begin a day! On my way to class, I overheard tourists talking about how they should have bought an umbrella yesterday when it was raining and that it was not supposed to rain. I thought it was comical as it rains all of the time and weather predictions are never accurate. Unless it predicts rain, then it is always accurate. We had a wonderful art class in the National Gallery. We looked at a lot of early 15th century art including these pieces:

The Magdalen Reading- Rogier van der Weyden
Part of the deconstructed altarpiece

Portrait of a Man (Man in a Red Turban) - Jan van Eyck
Possibly a self portrait?

Arnolfini Portrait- Jan van Eyck
Possibly a wedding portrait?

I feel like I am beginning to appreciate art much more. Our professor is so invested in the subject it is easy to be engaged in what she is talking about. Afterwards, we went to St. Martins in the Fields for afternoon tea. We got to eat our tea in a crypt! I got a pot of tea, scone and cottled cream and jam, lemon cake and chocolate cake. It was really yummy and cool to eat in a crypt (although morbid when you notice the gravestones beneath you!).

The Crypt!

After we came home, I skyped Nana Judy. It was wonderful to catch up. If anyone else wants to skype me, send me an email. Afterwards, I tried to go to an ATM that had Euros. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to use the one I wanted to because the security guard said it was for employees only. It was labeled as for public use so I was quite annoyed, but hopefully I can find an ATM in Bruges. Otherwise, I may starve, but worse things have happened. I have started to pack but am going to finish tomorrow morning! We leave at 8am so we are leaving our flat at 6:20 am. I am really excited to see the art, eat chocolate and waffles and visit Belgium.

*Sorry for how sporadic I am posting and how this post was poorly written, but at least I am posting today!*