Dickinson College Humanities Program in Norwich

After purchasing mobiles, we ventured to Goodge Street tube station at 14:55. After swiping our new oyster cards, we became intimidated by two massive elevators that seemed to lead nowhere. We were confused, so we asked an elderly British bloke which route we should take. Under the heavy accent we were able to discern the word “one”. After going down the elevator, and fiercely searching for our stop, we realized “one” actually meant “Warren”. We got off of the Northern line at Warren (which we later learned, was only a few blocks away from the Arran House). We wandered aimlessly through Warren Station, only to arrive at the southbound Victoria line just as train was pulling away. We studied our A-Z map, as we waited for the next train, to familiarize ourselves with the Victoria area.  After two stops on the Victoria Line, we followed the “way out” signs toward what looked like a central area. The entire trip on the tube took a mere twenty minutes. We soon realized our destination would include a stop at Buckingham Palace. We used our A-Z map to navigate ourselves towards the Palace, only to realize after about fifteen minutes that we had been walking in the opposite direction. By turning the map we suddenly oriented ourselves and made our way back up past the tube station and continued on to the Palace.

Naturally, we chose to use Buckingham Palace as our monument. The building was constructed in 1703 as a local home. After many additions and renovations, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to reside within its walls. We also came to the conclusion that this is why the Tube stop is named Victoria. We were excited at the possibility of viewing “the changing of the guards” however, we were angry to have found a sign that said the next change would occur the next morning at 11:30. after crying for about a minute we pulled it together and took a few pictures……

We sat on the steps of Victoria Memorial and gathered our thoughts and studied our map. We took a walk over to St. James Park and found a bus route back to Tottenham Court. Our trip back was approximately thirty minutes and we arrived back at the Arran House at 17:00.

Observations: The city of Westminster, where the Palace is located, seemed like a high end area. There were many business men and women walking swiftly through the streets. We also realized the differences in architecture between the old shop buildings, and the new modern high rise hotels. Upon arriving at Buckingham Palace we noticed a stark difference in the type of people surrounding the monument. The monument attracted tourists of all nationalities and classes. After observing St. James Park and Green Park, which was nearby, we came to the conclusion that there was a lot more green space than we were used to for major cities. It was also much cleaner than many of the most popular attractions in the U.S.

It was an easy and fun adventure and a great way to learn the ins and outs of London.

Starting our first of what’s bound to be many exhausting days, Team Grace Kelley journeyed to the far-away land of Piccadilly Circus via the Tube.  We found the Tube to be easy, efficient, and foolproof.  Our trek began at Goodge Street Station and took us to our transfer point at Leicester Square and on to Piccadilly.  When we got off the train, we followed the clearly marked “Way Out” signs, right into the tourist heart of London.  In front of us was a fountain and statue of Eros, commemorating Antony Ashley Cooper, Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, for his philanthropic work.  The monument was surrounded by tourists of every shape and size!  As we wandered around the statue and the area, we heard at least six or seven different languages.  People were taking pictures on the stairs of the statue and the Ripley’s Believe It or Not employees were “performing” for the tourists. 

One of the more noticeable features of the Circus, or circle, was the juxtaposition between the Regency style architecture and the neon/plasma screen advertisements on the sides of the buildings.  The Regency style uses a lot of white stone facades and vertical lines.  This style was first implemented by John Nash and inspired  interior decoration, as well as fashion trends (ex. pier waistline for women).  It includes an abundance of rod-iron balconies and windows and uses symmetrical shapes, having similar elements to the Georgian style of architecture. 

Piccadilly Circus, established in 1819, was named for Pickadilly Hall, the residence of a famous tailor who was known for selling the piccadills-style collar.  Its central location in the City of Westminster makes it an ideal meeting spot and one of the most well-known places in London.  Here tour buses, the Underground, and city buses converge at a fast pace onto the crowded streets.   However, we encourage walking and found it a very easy journey back to the Arran House. 

Piccadilly Circus is a tourist trap, but it one worth seeing… watch out for pickpockets!

So for our first independent day in London, Maddie and Andrew tubed  (that’s a word now) to the oh so amazing Camden Town. Before we left, our only perception of Camden was from New Jersey, which is a shithole. Needless to say, we were both more than pleasantly surprised. Three stops down from Goodge St. we disembarked the train and feasted our eyes on the eclectic streets of Camden Town. To quote a friend of Andrew’s, it is “The Venice Beach of London.” He wasn’t kidding. It is a counter-cultural Mecca abundant with youthful vibes and great music. The town seemed to be divided into sections by musical genre. We initially entered into a world of punk rock, black leather corsets, and tattoo parlors. We traveled through a world of hippies, metalheads, new agers, and everything in between. It was a maze of marketplaces, reminiscent of the Middle Eastern shouk where merchants peddle their wares, expecting haggling.

Neither of us think we saw a single person over forty. It is a major hangout for youth, especially those musically oriented. Amongst the record shops and live music cafes, we encountered a diverse mix of people, sounds, and smells ranging from France to Bangladesh to Thailand and back. People from all walks of life are not only welcome, but encouraged to spend time in Camden Town. The people we spoke to were very friendly and eager to discuss their unique perspective as either a resident or frequenter of the area. Both of us agreed that our time in Camden will be never forgotten. Our mutual love of music and interesting people will guarantee that. We highly recommend that EVERYONE IN THE WORLD visits Camden Town.

Visit Camden or this guy will pierce you in your sleep!

We took the tube in London for the first time. After getting our new phones we caught the Central Line from Tottenham Court Station  to St Paul. We wandered around the church and than found the City of London where we walked around the financial and business district before catching the bus back to Tottenham Court Road. We picked the St Paul Cathedral as our monument which was under construction and found that most people in the area were wearing suits and walking very quickly and with purpose. 

The stores in the area were very expensive and the banks were in incredible old building with amazing architecture. The people in the walking in the area were not very friendly but the people that worked in the storefronts were happy to talk. The area was not too busy when we visited since the majority of people in the area were working in the buildings we passed. One thing that was interesting was the number of historical plaques on the buildings. Thomas Beckett was born in one of the buildings in the City of London, and many other buildings had plaques along a similar theme. As we were walking along the street we came across a bus that was headed to Tottenham Court Road so we hopped on and ended our first excursion in the city of London!

On Aug. 20, 2009 we got on the Tube at the Goodge St. station. We took the Northern line to Embankment where we switched lines and headed toward District. We got off at Tower Hill. In total this trip took about 30 minutes.
The moment we exited the station we saw the Tower of London across the street. Before heading over to the Tower of London we explored a Memorial to the sailors who died in WWI and WWII. Then we wandered across the street to the Tower. The fist thing we noticed was that it was a very touristy area that drew in people from all over the world. After walking around a bit we saw the Tower bridge and decided to cross it. As we did this we noticed the juxtaposition between the very old bridge and the surrounding modern structure. We also noticed that both the Tower of London and the Tower bridge were covered in scaffolding.
After that we spent an hour trying negotiate a way back to the hotel by bus. Three hours later we arrived back at the Arran House, after being very lost and separated.

London

Well…let us know what you thought. You have already travelled broadly across the city from your tube exercise yesterday to Greenwich today. What were your impressions of London before you arrived and have they changed or been challenged in the last 30 hours? I want to see you blogging at least every other day. Keep a notebook with you at all times to jot down ideas that you can make into a thoughtful post when you get back to your computer.

Watching Woodstock on BBC 4 (40th anniversary…Ritchie Havens, The Who, Hendrix…yeah baby!) and felt that I should tell you what I’ve been up to. I got to London yesterday and did a lot of grunt work like getting railcard applications for you and filling out applications for your Oyster cards (subway and bus passes). Today was fun though. I practiced my tour on the ruins of Londinium (Roman London) that we will end at the Museum of London. From there I walked through Canary Wharf, an area that used to be docks and shipyards. Twenty years ago it began development as a financial hub with skyscrapers for Citi, HSBC, and Barclays (which we will visit with a Trustee), among others. I walked under the Thames (yes…you read it right) to Greenwich and practiced that walking tour. I’m glad I did. I had never been to Greenwich before and found that the route I had devised was akin to climbing Everest. I decided to take it easy on you. I’m replanning the route with nearly all the same locations. While there I had to stop into a pub (The Spanish Galleon), get some bangers and mash (just the right amount of rosemary in the bangers, and the sweet onions in gravy were excellent. Washed it down with a pint of S. Africa’s finest (Bishop’s Finger) and watched Chelsea win in extra time. Have I told you how much I love my job! Walking from 08:30 to 18:00 leaves the calves a bit tight. I hope you are walking and bringing good, broken in shoes! I decided not to post photos today because I don’t want to spoil the novelty for you. I can only hope that the weather is as glorious next Friday when we go to Greenwich as a group and stand on the meridian line, from where all time is measured.

If you haven’t already, get an RSS feed for posts and comments. This will be particularly helpful once you all start blogging, which you will have to do at least every other day in London. Make sure to create a category with your name and add tags as appropriate.

Since it was only optional and I’m guessing we won’t discuss it as a group in London, I thought I’d start a thread on Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. I just finished it yesterday, and I thought it was incredible. I’d say that Salaam Brick Lane probably gave me a much better idea of the diversity of immigrant experiences in London, but White Teeth addresses themes integral to all immigration with such well developed characters and a clever tone and format. Among the themes I thought most relevant to our London course are the malleability of identity (in a place as full of possibility and diversity as London), the differing eastern and western attitudes toward history (especially as it relates to Samad and his relationship with Archie), as well as the primacy of history (trying to run away from it or trying to hold onto it) in the lives of recent immigrants.

Did anyone else like White Teeth as much as I did? What else did you think was interesting or relevant? For those who read one of the other optional novels: have other writers drawn on these same themes when writing about immigrants in London?

I got together with my best friend from high school yesterday, and she’s about to start her third and final year at Cambridge University. She gave me three pieces of advice which I think we’d all benefit from, so I thought I’d post them here:

1. The website http://www.studentbeans.com/ apparently is a discount site geared towards UK students. She says she hasn’t paid full price for meals from chain restaurants (like Pizza Express etc) for ages, since you can print useful coupons and vouchers from this site. I have yet to really explore it, but it looks useful!

2. I’m not sure if this is part of what we receive from Dickinson as part of tuition, but she mentioned getting a “Young Persons Rail Card,” which will get us discounted train tickets throughout England as students. This site seems to have all the information about it: http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/.

3. On an earlier post about cell/mobile phones, I added my (long) two cents and said I thought I was going to go with a plan from O2 which would occasionally provide me with free international call minutes. My friend told me to look into TalkMobile, since you can apparently call America with your regular cell phone for only 4p a minute! I found out from my other British friends that http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ is the best place to compare deals, and they (the Carphone Warehouse) have stores where you can buy your phone in person and talk over deals with a real person. She also told me that every carrier will have cheap/free phones in the actual stores that they’re not advertising online, so they might not be as expensive as they appear.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share my new intel…I have quite a few British/expat friends, so if people find this stuff useful I can probably post more as I find it out :).

Did anyone else just get an email from UEA with a list of the modules they made it into for the fall? I just got an email listing SIX modules I’m apparently registered for in the fall, but I think it’s a bit fishy for several reasons. First of all, we’re only supposed to be taking two UEA modules in the fall, right? Secondly, I didn’t sign up for ANY of the modules on the list at any priority level, and thirdly, none of the modules make sense to take for my major.

I was just wondering if anyone else had gotten a similar, confusing email. I responded to the email as I was told to do if I had any questions, but I’d feel a bit better if anyone else had a similar email or if Professor Qualls had any suggestions as to what this could mean.

Thanks!