As usual it was down pouring in London, except this time it was right in the morning. I still haven’t had breakfast, which I really should attempt to get besides stuffing six croissants in my mouth. We trekked through the rain, maneuvering through the endless parade of umbrellas that kept hitting me in the face. After our train ride we made it to the wax museum (awful way-finding), which ended up being a lot of fun besides getting incredibly lost along the way. After, we trekked to the British Museum where I went on my mission to find the Parthenon relief sculptures. This was super amazing because I wrote an essay talking about Greece requesting the return of their sculpture last semester. It ultimately helped me develop a more intense relationship, because we all know pictures isn’t the same as seeing it in person.
To my surprise I was blown away by the “The American Dream: Pop to the Present” exhibit. My prior knowledge of American art in print isn’t very high besides Andy Warhol of course. To my surprise not only did I learn about various other artists, but a piece by Kara Walker  gave me the chills. Her work consistently challenges ideas concerning race in American society which really hits home for me. Even though its only been a few days in London I’ve already expanded my horizon and I can’t wait to only learn more.

For our first round of museums, we visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and The British Museum. The weather was not on our side this morning. It was pouring and the wind made it even worse, but what do you expect? It is England after all. Today we also learned the hard way that the British walk on the left side like they drive on the left. Take the left stairwell whenever you visit London, it is a must especially when it gets really busy. The wax museum was definitely more for fun. It was scary seeing how real some of the sculptures actually looked. I even mistook real people for sculptures. Whoops!

The British Museum was my favorite of the day because I was able to see what I’ve  learned about from my college art courses but also what I’ve grew up learning about my whole life. Here is an example:

These are the Human headed winged lions from ancient Assyria. I remember learning about this first semester of sophomore year in Art History I. Seeing it in person was better than seeing it on a projected screen. The detail and the scale of it added to the effect of being extraordinary. Every person when they were kids was fascinated by mummies, so seeing the mummy of Cleopatra felt unreal.

We walked a bunch today and I cannot feel my feet at the moment. But that’s okay, they will adjust one way or another! There will be more walking tomorrow for we will go to THE DESIGN MUSEUM! Can you tell how excited I am??

I find myself taking pictures of orange brick buildings with creme accents. I have a problem.

-Sheila

Today we visited Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and the British Museum.  Though the wax museum was cool, my favorite was the British Museum.  They had exhibits from all over the world.  It was amazing to see so much history in one place.  On top of that, many of the stuff there were things we learned about in our art history classes.  There were ancient Egyptian statues, mummies and Egyptian literature like the “books of the dead”.  They also had beautiful pottery and statues from ancient Greece as well as the famous Rosetta Stone.  There were so many exhibits it was impossible to see them all.  One of the big exhibits they had on display was the American Pop Art exhibit.  This was one of my favorites.  It was so cool to see the different Pop artists’ work and the process they took to get to the final outcomes of their work.  It was also neat to see the variety of subjects and mediums pop artists used as well as the meanings behind their works.  The British Museum was so amazing I definitely need to go back some day.

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The thing that I noticed the most today, besides all the tourist attractions, foods, and terrible weather, was that all our tour guides today were all funny and entertaining. They were all different in their approach with humor. Our first tour guide used banter and interaction with the audience to make us laugh. The tour guide on the boat was very flat and dry on the delivery, but the timing on the punchline was spot on. By this point, the group has split and I got into the bus with a group of people and this one was very relatable because it was mundane and referential.

Humor and design are similar in a few ways: they both carry a message and work because they take the context into account; they both make or break the experience for the audience if they cannot understand what’s being presented to them; and, they can bring a new perspective and angle in a given situation. I don’t know — just my two cents.

Well here is the second blog of this wonderful London trip. When the day started, the group went down in the lobby of the hotel to grab the complimentary breakfast that the hotel provided. After breakfast, we walked to the London Underground where we all got our Oyster Cards that allow us to enter the underground (it’s basically the same as a Charlie Card). After hoping on and off of the subway, it was time to go on our adventure for the day; which was to enjoy a nice Double-Decker bus tour.

This was not any normal Double-Decker bus tour, but it was a tour that allowed for you to hop off of the bus at any bus stop location on the buss’ trip and go look at the sights. Once you decided you were done looking around the area, you could go back to any of the bus stops provided and hop right back on! The ticket that was purchased at the beginning of the tour was also good for 24 hours! Once all of us got onto the bus, we went on a fabulous tour around London, where we were able to see historical locations such as Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, and Big Ben. This was a great experience for myself because i have only been able to see these landmarks in photos. Being able to see them in real life and in front of me really allowed me to take them in and realize how awesome each of them really are. After a while, the whole group got off at the bus stop near the London Eye. Once we were off the bus we were all headed to a boat tour. Once on the boat we were given a showing of all of the buildings that were hugging each side of the river. At the end of the tour, we were able to see Tower Bridge, which is one of the most famous bridges in London. I thought this was awesome because I have only seen this bridge on TV (Such as the Olympics) and in pictures. After we got off the boat we decided to go back to the hotel to grab our coats since it was going to rain later in the day.

Once we grabbed our stuff, we headed back to one of the closest bus stops and got back on one of the busses. After getting on the bus, it was decided that we could now use the hopping on and off feature of this trip. Once we got to Leicester Square, it was decided that myself and a couple of others was to get off at this stop. Once getting off, we decided to grab a bite to eat. We went into the Shake Shack where we went to have a bite to eat. After eating, we starting to walking around Piccadilly Circus were we visited many stores such as the M&M’s World, Lego World, and The Nickelodeon store. Being able to visit all of the stores that we did allowed myself to see the different culture that was available in this city. Being able to see many of the beautiful things that London has to offer first hand has allowed myself to better appreciate the city. Instead of just researching about the city and what the city has to offer, being able to walk around and see what is available with your own eyes is quiet the experience and I cannot wait for what tomorrow will bring me. I would also say that this day was a 10/10 and would say that this trip has received a 20/20 so far.

As most people know my favorite past time includes eating, drinking, and of course sleeping… emphasis on the sleep. I woke up today with a knock and a text “Are you up”. Of course this isn’t the hottest way to start ones morning especially on the first day getting ready to explore London. Waking up realizing I only have 15 minutes to get ready (Shout out to Sarah for waking me up) I got up,hopped in the shower, and hurried downstairs as fast as I could. Luckily I wasn’t super late and we were able to go on the “Hop Off- Hop On” bus tour.

This tour was honestly a lot of fun, because not only was I able to get an incredible view of monumental sights, but great commentary on historical facts and sights. This tour was fantastic overall, which showed with my killer picture of Big Ben.  After a while, we hopped off the bus and started exploring Piccadilly Square, where there were tons of little shops and pubs. My favorite spot however was the book store which is my biggest weakness with reason being that  my “to read” list is far bigger than my “read” list (oops). I picked up one interesting book called “The Gift How The Creative Spirit Transforms the World” which talks about the “importance of creativity in our increasingly money-driven society.”

I instantly gravitated to this book, because as a creative in a field that is of course very business and client heavy it seems to be hard to keep YOUR creative integrity. Don’t get me wrong, I love design and typography but from talking to other professionals it seems that this is a common issue. I’m not necessarily nervous of this happening to me, but to neglect that this could happen isn’t wise. I guess my goal with this novel is to read more, and understand bigger picture ideas so that I’m better prepped for the future.

Today, the sky was overcast with more than just clouds and scattered showers. Half-way through the day, while perched atop a double-decker bus whizzing through the richest districts of London, Hayley read off the news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on London Bridge and the subsequent shooting nearby. While it wasn’t entirely surprising to anyone on board the bus, it still put a sour twinge in my mouth, at least. Before the trip began, the gloom cast by the attack on The Venue in Manchester made me anxious about my upcoming trip – a feeling that was hastily followed by guilt. What right did I have worrying about how this might impact my upcoming studies, when there were young children and teens who would never return home?

Given the wildly divisive – and honestly terrifying – state of the US at the moment, what the actual streets of London might look like frightened me. At home, I see so many Trump and Pence stickers still, am reminded, so often, of who is a threat to my existence and the existence and safety of my friends and loved ones, that I was afraid to see similar sentiments here. But in our first moments in the Underground, while we were struggling to buy our Oyster Cards for the rest of the week, I saw a tube worker writing on a whiteboard. It was a fairly simple notice, about the diverted routes and closed stations, but the end of the  message was more striking than the actual content.

#LondonisOpen – it was the first time I saw the message, but not the last.

I’m not naive enough to believe the message is one that the entire country is standing behind, especially with the upcoming election, and the recent Brexit snafu. From keeping an eye on the international political landscape I realize there are plenty of politicians who spit as much vitriol as The Grand Orange, but seeing the city itself so hastily, and readily, painted in proclamations of unity and strength in the face of horrors – without casting blame, without shouting down someone and making a devil or a mockery of someone – was refreshing.

First full day in London. Wow!

We woke up really early and had many croissants for breakfast. After, we made our way to the Underground Station to pick up our Oster cards. Before getting on the tube, our professors made sure we all knew where to go if we got lost or separated.

“What stop are we?” – “Tower Hill”

“What stop are we?”  –  “Tower Hill”

They asked this question over and over to every person on the trip. By the end of the conversation, it was practically engraved in our heads. If we didn’t know anything about London, we did know our stop was at the Tower Hill.

We then made our way over to Piccadilly to hop on the double decker bus. So much history of London was shared and so many places were seen today. I swear I learned more about London today alone than in any history class I have ever taken before. We hopped on and off the bus for the rest of the day, taking detours for shopping and food as we went along.

Sometime around noon, 5 of my friends and I stopped for lunch at Nicholson’s. A nice small pub were I had a cheese burger and sweet potato fries, everyone else got fish and chips.

We made our way back to the bus while stopping at bookstores, art galleries,  and many more alone the way. I found an amazing bookstore full of Alice in Wonderland books and collectible stuff. There was this book that had been cut up and made into an art piece, I wanted it so bad. But the store was closed.

So much happened in today alone, this morning feels like it was SO long ago! At least I know how to get somewhat back to the hotel for the rest of my time here.

“What stop are we?”