make sure you have A LOT of time to read this.. it's a long one.

So, it's been a while.. and in no particular order (though I think it is relatively close) this is what I've been up to.

So my art tours class has started.. I don't remember if I've mentioned this little factoid. But basically this class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, for about an hour and our teacher shows us slides from collections withing a certain museum. Then once class is out, we have an assignment t0 (usually) pick a piece in the museum, that she hasn't shown us and write a short thing about it. Basically, the BEST CLASS EVER. So far (as of the day I'm writing this) we've been to 4 museums.. The British Museum, the National Gallery, Victoria and Albert and Tate Britain. Tomorrow we're headed to the Tate Modern (which I jumped the gun and went this weekend and went with Luke)here are some pictures from the Victoria and Albert (V&A).. one of the only museums you can take pictures in.. that's why this is all you get. But I have seen so many awesome pieces of art.. Picasso, Monet, Michelangelo... and the list goes on and on.

This is a temporary exhibit in the V&A.. it's conceptual art. Totally took me by surprise. Before this I had always grouped modern art into a category I didn't like.. I always thought of the abstract modern art, you know.. the black canvas. The paint splatters.. well this stuff, still isn't my favorite, but it's for sure really cool. It's conceptual.. so the pieces are all crafty. They require some sort of talent, or skill with some sort of material. The table.. when you walked by looks just like a table with a drop cloth next to it (the modern art I usually think of) but when you stop to look at it.. you notice that the paint rings on the table are actually inlaid mother of pearl, and diamonds and pearls. And the drop cloth is actually embroidered.. with large spots for the splatters, but then a tinge of pink on the cloth is actually a series of single stitches over a large area. I don't think I am doing it justice.. just trust me, it was cool. And the red streamers are continuous pieces of paper. They come out from the books at the top, the are hand cut so that page falls all the way to the ground with the ends hand cut into these intricate little figures. Still not my favorite art, but still a lot more appreciated than my original stereotype of modern art.

then we had some fun with some glass sculptures.. which one is the real me?

this wasn't part of the exhibit, this is in the entrance.

We also spent a day in Oxford, mmm I want to go to Oxford. Anyone know anyone that can pull some strings for me?? Oxford is run in different colleges, kind of like the way UC Santa Cruz does I think... if I'm understanding this correctly. Anywhooo there are 39 of these colleges, they don't specialize in any subject they are just kind of their own entity under the title Oxford. Eh anyway,

This is the inside of of one of the courtyards in one of the colleges. This is Queen's College. The doors on the sides, you might be able to see, lead up to rooms like dorms. Pretty sweet dorm building eh?

This is where you take your final examinations. To which you have to wear your robes.. and no, not your bath robes.

Across the road from where you take your finals.. in the building in the middle of this picture, J.R.R Tolkien wrote Lord Of The Rings. Neat.

This is where you graduate, in latin. oi vey.

this was just pretty..

Then I went into the science museum there in Oxford. Woooo! Favorite museum thus far. Had a really cool temporary exhibit on microscopic organisms. Reminded me of a class I took last semester, and totally inspired me with ideas for art in my own home (when I get one)
A wall of pictures taken through a microscope.

A close up, this reminds me of my class last semester..

They've framed it!!.. these are my kind of people. ;)

These are all prepared slides.. with cool things to look at, of course. Hanging on the wall.

For our History of Disease and Medicine class we went on a field trip to an old operating theater.. at the top of a church where they preformed surgeries with no anesthesia, no sterile equipment, and wooden operating table. It doesn't look a lot different than the galleries of modern day doctors.. except for the wood, and lack of separation from the patient.

The table closest is an actual table from the 12th century.

Then Bethany and I were in a cafe and this huge chopper flew over.. so I took a picture.

On our walking tour after the operating theater we walked past where the globe was.. if you can read this

and wound up down by the windy river. oi. but the sky was pretty so i snapped a few.

Then I went to the science museum here in london.. not my kind of science. kind of disappointed, I was looking for my science fix and I got an engineering kind of science museum. (a boy museum)

Then Luke got here this weekend. He decided to be a jet setter and skip on over to london for the weekend and sleep on my living room floor (he's too tall for the couch)
He got to come with us on friday to Rochester castle and Canterbury Cathedral.
Luke and my girl flat mates

Views from the top of the castle

Canterbury Cathedral

Then some pictures from lots of different pubs this weekend with Luke and the mates.

Bethany Luke's crazy eyes and I in Robert Browning.

Darts - my new favorite pastime (when I'm in a pub)

Brian (my flat mate) baaarely beat me.

Luke and his friend Andrew in Robert Browning.

Bethany and I in Royal George.

The flat (plus josh and luke, minus brian and I)

And in other news, as you know Josh Brian Bethany and I have a weekend trip to Scotland. And Bethany and I booked a weekend in Rome! And I leave for Prague this next Saturday, from which I plan on hitting up Vienna, Munich, Amsterdam, maybe Brussels or maybe Paris.

<3