Pros and Cons, Parks and Churches

So. Readers. Today is the end of my fourth day here in London, and things have been going, for the most part, quite well. As I do with most things, my method of evaluation for my time here thus far is using a list. Here it is:

Things that I LOVE About This Country:
Hummus (incredible)
Tea (English breakfast with a spot of milk- simply to die for)
Fish and Chips
The people (much kinder, with better manners)
Public Transport (much cleaner)
Accents (much more fun to imitate)
Alcohol (it is everywhere)
Conversion Rate (if I thought I was poor before...)

Things that I DETEST About This Country:
Noise (this is night THREE of major roadwork outside my flat that begins at 9PM and goes until approximately 2AM)
Air Conditioning (there is none)
Appliances (teeny tiny)
Accents (sometimes it is absolutely impossible to tell that you are speaking the same language)

So, clearly the pros outweigh the cons, and I am not returning home early (just kidding Mom and Dad)! In all seriousness, I am having a wonderful time here so far, excluding the fact that I have had about 4 hours of sleep total in the past 4 days, but you know- you win some you lose some (just for you, CEO). Anyway, bad jokes about sleeplessness aside, I really am growing to love the UK more and more everyday. It is the perfect combination of things that I am used to from home in the US, and things totally unique to this culture. For example, it is fun listening to people speak English in accents and use quirky words, not wandering around scratching your head all the time trying to figure out a foreign language.

Speaking of wandering around, today I had my very first "field experience" for one of my classes here. Every Wednesday morning from 10AM to approximately 1PM, we have a FE for our British Culture class. I am insanely excited about this class and the accompanying FE's, because our professor is amazing. I will refer to him as R from here on out, and he was born and raised in London. A stocky man in his late thirties who wears camouflage shorts and worn punk t-shirts with skateboarding sneakers and a shaved head, the last thing you would think to call him is "dr." That is, however, what he is, and he is brilliant. His areas of expertise are autobiography, poetry, and sex and gender (woohoo!). Since he was born and raised in London, he is able to show us this city from a Londoner's perspective, not a fellow tourist. We are bypassing all the typical tourist locations (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, etc, etc) and getting acquainted with the less well-known but equally amazing and beautiful parts of this spectacular city.

Today, we went on a sort of "catch-all" walking tour around London, and there were two things in particular that I was absolutely crazy about. The first was Postman's Park, a park in London that has a memorial to Londoners who lost their lives saving others, and the second was Saint Bride's church, a church specially dedicated to journalists, reporters, and publishers. Although both sites were completely and totally different, and appealed to me for different reasons, they were both extraordinary.
 Postman's Park is not unusual in the fact that it is a green space located in the middle of the busy, day-to-day activities of London. Londoners definitely do love their green space, and on the occasional beautiful day, the parks around the city are filled with Brits enjoying the rare sunshine. Postman's Park is, however, different from some of the larger and more well-known parks around London such as Hyde Park and Saint James' Park. PP houses one of the most unusual, unique, and beautiful memorials I have ever seen in any city. The memorial in Postman's Park is dedicated to Londoners that made the ultimate sacrifice: their lives.


After visiting Postman's Park, we went to Saint Bride's church, which is located just off of Fleet Street (Sweeney Todd- ring any bells?). Fleet Street used to be the central location for journalism and publishing in London, until Prime Min Margaret Thatcher spearheaded a campaign to move most of the newspaper offices and publishing houses to another district in London. It was a brutal fight, but they eventually did move. One of the only remaining pieces of evidence that Fleet Street housed this industry for many years is Saint Bride's Church, a church that specially prays for and commemorates journalists, reporters, and publishers. There is evidence all around the church of their special affiliation, and as an English major, it was a really moving experience to walk around the church and see all the plaques dedicated to people who dedicated their lives trying to uncover truth. It was amazing!