Monday, my Reporting the Arts class went to the British Library to see the exhibit showing Harold Pinter's correspondence letters with friends and colleagues, including Arthur Miller and David Mamet. Since the exhibit wasn't too big, our teacher allowed us to look around the other exhibits, such as the Beatles glass case and works of great English literature from Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf and others. We were let out early because we finished early.
Monday night, my roommate and I went to a club where, on Monday nights, there is a party called Durrr. (That is the worst name for a surprisingly good party.)
Kristen and me at Durrr with a new friend.
Tuesday, instead of heading to the classroom, I joined my Contemporary Art in Britain class at the Tate Britain, where we wandered, observed, discussed and admired works of art by such artists as Francis Bacon, David Hockney and more. Our professor is also very interesting and not just an anal-retentive art freak (which I actually expected, at least on a minor scale). She relates anecdotes to subject matter and really takes student opinion into account when discussing an artwork, which I admire. Again, we were let out early.
And while Americans across the pond were "celebrating" Super Tuesday, I spent my evening celebrating Pancake Day. My roommate Kristen brought me along to her friend Frank's place, where we made an array of delicious pancake creations.
We had pancakes with lemon and sugar, maple syrup, brandy flambéd bananas, brandy flambéd yellow plums, blueberries and cream, kiwis and blueberries, etc. We also made good old fashioned banana pancakes, which we then combined with other flavoured toppings.
We created a friend, Sir James Thomas Wellington III.
After that night, I was too full to function.
In my Wednesday Writing London class, we just discussed Charles Dickens and his transformation of London as a mere city into London as a character. It was quite stimulating, despite the fact that I'm already behind in the reading. (It is a 989-page book, so give me some slack.)
Wednesday night, I went out with a new friend that I made at a Duke Spirit concert I had gone to the week before. (This wasn't the Duke Spirit show that I was planning to attend, but they played the next week and I actually got the chance to see the band live.) His nickname is Jaba (which comes from his four initials), but his name is actually James. (Very British.)
I had no classes on Thursday. I spent the morning walking around in the nice weather (sunny day) but came home because of the cold wind. I then read Bleak House and took a decent nap before heading out to the theatre for my Reporting the Arts class. Last night, we went to see Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, which was very well done. It had Jane Horrocks (who played Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous) as one of the main stars, and she did a fabulous job. I went out for a few drinks with friends after the show.
On my way to the theatre, I ran into Justin, the DJ from New York who came to London for some gigs. This was very strange to me because London is very spread out, and it was such a random encounter. He had only arrived in London that morning and I would not have been in the West End of London were it not for this theatre class. He performs in Manchester tonight and in London tomorrow night, so I get the chance to go see him DJ while here.
And today, I'm waiting for Jaba to get out of work because he and I are going to explore free things to do in London. (We're both very cheap, which works out nicely.) I'm thinking we might go to Hyde Park and visit the Serpentine gallery. Or something of the sort.
Tomorrow, I will head to the Tate Modern with Kristen to do research for my Contemporary Art in Britain essay. And then I will go to Tbar to see Justin perform.
It has been a good week, I think I can say. And it's only Friday!
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