On Monday, we started our Irish Literature course this Monday. In four days, we have read half a textbook on Irish history, Castle Rackrent, Cathleen Ni Houlihan (play), The Potato in the Materialist Imagination (essay), and The Playboy of the Western World (play). I did not know much about Irish history and so I have learned so much in a few days! The course is really interesting and I like the subject material. After class, Sara and I went grocery shopping. On the way, we stopped at Hummingbird Cupcakes and I got a delicious chocolate cupcake with cookie cheesecake filling and cream cheese frosting. I made chili for dinner which was delicious and great for leftovers all week.
Tuesday was Guy Fawkes Night so we went to Lacey's (program associate) flat. It was really fun to hang out with Grinnellians and hear about their fall breaks and their internships. People went to so many awesome places including Scotland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, and Norway. We ate lots of yummy food, drank mulled wine and watched fireworks from the roof!
Today, we packed lunch and went to Tate Modern after class. The building is atrocious from the outside. We began on the fourth floor. It had the really weird art like a piece of air duct, a glass box with an inch of water in it, a gray canvas, a mirror, a white cloth on the ground, a few lights next to each other, and two pieces of metal welded together. Maybe I do not appreciate it but Sara, Meredith and I were not impressed. We continued on through the museum and found lots of other strange art. Mixed in, we found some really cool art including many Picasos. I really liked the Kandinsky, shown below, because it looks really colorful and exciting in person! We also saw Monet's waterlilies, although I preferred the Monet's that I saw in Wales (also of waterlilies). One of the Salvador Dali paintings that we saw was featured in the play that we saw, Hysteria. It was a cool comparison to see it in person as the final scene acted out the painting. If you want to browse the collection online, here is the website:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks?wp=1&vid=2.
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| Modern Art |
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| Monet |
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| Kandinsky |
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| This mirror was "art" |
On the way home, I said that I was going to make french toast for dinner and Sara and Meredith said they wanted some and would pay for groceries so they helped buy some of the groceries and I made french toast casserole. It was not perfect but it was still nice to have a taste of home.
It's really sad to think how quickly this semester is going by. In the coming weeks, I will be super duper busy! Tomorrow I think I may go to South Kensington to go to the Science Museum and the V&A. This weekend (November 9th) we have an 11 mile hike. It is going to be raining but hopefully it will be fun! Next weekend (November 15-17) I am going to Paris with the International Student House. If you want to see what we are doing, here is the schedule:
http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/white/ishonline/paris-by-coach.html On November 20, we leave for Ireland! Today we learned a bit about the trip. We leave after class Wednesday and are flying to Dublin (on a nice airline with a checked bag each!). We are staying in a hotel (!!!) for the five nights we are there. We will be going on day trips to Newgrange and Glendalough, on a musical pub crawl, out to dinner, a play at abbey theatre, several museums and on two walking tours. Lastly, December 9th we are going to the play Scotsboro Boys. I am also trying to get cheap tickets to some plays by lining up in the morning to get 5 or 10 pound tickets to some shows!
