It is official—I have successfully lived in London for over one month! I’ve heard the first month is the toughest and knowing that I made it though that time is a great, reassuring feeling. The upcoming calendar is booked and I feel like now time will pass even more quickly. I’m not too sure how I feel about that one yet…

As an update on my classes, they are all going well. Everything is much different from American school seeing that I have attended four weeks worth of classes yet was just assigned my first coursework this week! School without constant tests and quizzes is something that will never seem real to me. Additionally, the attendance policy is much more lax. Students come in up to a half hour late for an hour lecture. I mean really, at that point, what is the use?! You are disruptive, late and rude! I’m used to on time, small class sizes, which at Westminster, just doesn’t happen. For Art and Society we have been to a couple more places since I last wrote. We walked down Bond Street area past the ritzy stores and art galleries to Sotheby’s Auction House. This part of the art world is always fascinating yet puzzling to me. Inside were paintings by the likes of Picasso, Mondrian, Rothko, Warhol, Dali, Magritte and the list goes on. I understand the importance to sell art to make a living and keep more art coming, but why are they auctioned off? I mean can’t they be displayed in the public rather and being bought by a private collector and hustled off to a mansion or put in locked storage because of their astounding worth. What is the point of that? Shouldn’t they be enjoyed or at least visible? And why so much money, what about art for art’s sake? Did the artist ever intend to sell at such a price or to even sell at all? Things like that just always make me think, and would probably enrage those employed at the auction houses! This past week we visited the Wallace Collection which highlights art of the 1600-1700s as well as King Arthur looking armor, furniture and other home furnishings of the time. During this visit, the three professors of the module divided among us and actually talked about pieces as we walked though. I liked this a lot and partly preferred it to walking around alone (not that I don’t enjoy that in its own time and place). I was able to learn new symbolisms and put my own art history knowledge to the test. No one else in the group knew the meaning of decaying fruit and flowers which just so happened to be a topic of one of my professor’s rants the previous semester. Memento mori, vanitas paintings, oh Calo. Anyways, the same thing and same topic happened to Chm at her art class at a different university and museum. As much as we disliked that professor I guess we both really did absorb something from her classes. You can probably tell that Art and Society is my favorite class, huh?

Tuesday, as the day before Lent, was Pancake Tuesday. Apparently, there are pancake races through the city and countryside and crepe-like pancakes can be found everywhere. Sadly, I was in class all day and didn’t get to experience it all. Of course Tuesdays are the one day a week when I have two classes!

Today I went on a free walking tour that the university offered – The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. It wasn’t quite what I had expected but at least it got me out and gave me the opportunity to see different parts of the city. I’m now expanding the map in my head and connecting different neighborhoods. Normally, I would jump on and off the tube but more recently I’ve been learning how the streets intersect and meet. The highlight of the afternoon was visiting the Abbey Road crossing, the site of the famous Beatles album cover. Let’s just say that the cars were getting annoyed stopping for so many tourists to take a picture. I sufficed with one of myself on the side of the road. No need to bother everyone for one little thing. Others seemed to think otherwise.

Last weekend was fun, we just hung around and were lazy for the majority of time. Every once and a while that is what everyone needs. Now, I actually have papers and presentations to start! This weekend there is a big celebration for the Chinese New Year so if we feel like fighting the crowds we might venture to see that.