Planning day - 7/5

Tuesday was a preparation day. It was also an office day for me. While the students were off around London participating in their field trips for their morning classes, I took a quick trip to the Tate Britain Art Museum to plan out the first part of Thursday's field trip for my afternoon class. Basically, my plan was to make sure I knew the logistics for getting to the museum and to do a quick survey of the art available for my students to view. That worked very well.

In the afternoon, since I am the co-site director, I covered the office hours for our group. While in the office, I worked on the rest of the grading from last week's field trip responses, planned the weekend excursion I will be leading to Windsor Castle on Saturday, and assisted a couple of students who stopped by with questions.

In the evening, I read the material my class will be discussing on Wednesday, and began preparing discussion points and questions. A lot of the material that I am teaching this summer is new to me, in terms of teaching it, so it takes a little more preparation than other material that I have worked with many times. Over the last few days I have had some requests for the course reading list, so I will add it at the end of this posting.

Tuesday ended with some personal reading and a little music. All in all, a very content feeling after a productive day. I know I didn't spend much time "seeing" London (and thus this posting is a little subdued), but the occasional quiet day can make the somewhat more hectic sightseeing days much more enjoyable.

Here's the reading list for the London Study Abroad 2011 British Literature II class:

Week 1

Wordsworth: “The World is too much with us” and “Ode on Intimations of Immortality”

Byron: “Prometheus”

Shelley: “A Song to the Men of England”

Tennyson: Idylls of the King (Dedication, Coming of Arthur, Merlin and Vivien, Lancelot and Elaine, The Holy Grail, The Last Tournament, Guinevere, The Passing of Arthur)

 Week 2

Eliot: The Waste Land

Yeats: “When you are old” and “Into the Twilight” and “King and No King”

Thomas: “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and “And Death Shall have no Dominion”

Week 3

Arnold: “Dover Beach” and “A Farewell” and “The Buried Life”

Housman: “Reveille” and “The Lads in their hundreds” and “Soldier from the Wars Returning”

Brooke: “I. Peace” (1914) and “II. Safety” (1914) and “III. The Dead” (1914) and “IV. The Dead” (1914) and “V. The Soldier” (1914) and “Heaven”

Owen: “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and “Arms and the Boy” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Exposure” and “Futility” and “Spring Offensive” and “Strange Meeting”

Rosenberg: “Break of Day in the Trenches” and “In War”

Churchill speeches: 5/13/40 “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” and 6/4/40 “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” and 10/29/41 “Never Give In”

Week 4

Tolkien: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Section 1 (chapters 1-5 and 9-12) and Section 2 (chapters 1-2)

            The Two Towers – optional                      The Return of the King – optional

Hill: “Requiem for the Plantagenet Kings” and “From Mercian Hymns” and “Tenebrae”

Week 5

Rawlings: Harry Potter series

            HP & the Sorcerer’s Stone – Chapters 1-2, 5-7, 10, and 12-13

            HP & the Chamber of Secrets – optional

            HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban – optional

            HP & the Goblet of Fire – Chapters 12, 14, 16-18, 20, 26, 29, and 31-32

            HP & the Order of the Phoenix – optional

            HP & the Half-Blood Prince – optional

            HP & the Deathly Hallows – Chapters 16, 19, and 34-36

Start of week 2: Monday class - 7/4

Happy 4th of July!

In England, the 4th of July is not a holiday, so we did have classes.

The morning passed uneventfully, which is good thing. The second week is when, historically, students start to get sick from having pushed themselves too hard in the first week.

My class in the afternoon was a very enjoyable one. Our reading assignment for discussion today was T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."

Before we discussed the poem, though, we spent about an hour reviewing the highlights of our field trip to Winchester last week. This proved to be a very popular field trip, and the students had a lot of ideas and reactions to discuss. In addition, several questions led us into excellent discussions of some further background on the tales and nature of King Arthur and the ideals associated with them. Since this class meeting's reading centered on the Grail quest material, that's where a lot of our discussion ventured, too.

When at last we turned to the discussion of the poem, the general reaction was one of dislike and non-comprehension of what they had read. I have to admit, this is not one of my preferred poems, nor is it one of my favorite periods in literature. However, we don't have to like something to appreciate it. Further, we don't have to like it to make an effort to try and come to an understanding of it. Once this idea had been presented and explained, the students seemed much more ready to engage with the poem and the material they had read. What followed was a teacher's happiest kind of class - one in which he only needs to steer the discussion, not drive it. This was one of the most animated discussions this class has engaged in. The time flew, and before we were even ready, the end of the class snuck up on us.

After class, I had dinner (a sandwich from the local store) and started grading the written field trip responses I had collected in class.

For me, this was an excellent class day in the Study Abroad program here in London. 

Ahh, Sunday - 7/3

At last Sunday is here. I needed the down time. Though I had intended to rest my legs on Saturday, the walk to the museum, coupled with the walking associated with finding te Greek restaurant made most of what I had achieved in terms of recovery on Saturday morning completely undone. Thus, on Sunday, I planned a leisurely day.

I worked on some class preparation for Monday's class, I watched a little television (mostly Wimbledon) in spotty digital form, and actually rested my legs.

In the evening, I went to the Globe Theatre to Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. This is a play that I teach during my British Liturature I classes, and I enjoy seeing it when I can. To see it in the Globe Theatre in London, a modern reconstruction of what Shakespeare's theatre looked like, was a unique opportunity. Marlowe is a contemporary of Shakespeare, but their styles are distinctly different. It was interesting to see this interpretation of this Tudor era play.

Doctor Faustus is essentially a morality play based on the earlier tales that came out of Germany. It is a tale where Faustus sells his soul to the devil in order to achieve a longer life and god-like power. In the end, though he has many opportunities to repent, he does not and is taken off into hell. Faustus's pride and greed are his downfall.

This production was wonderful. There was a great emphasis on spectacle that I had not encountered before. This included some great prop pieces, such as large wings, articulated dragons ridden by Mephistopheles and Faustus, and some firework-brand special effects. There was very effective use of music as well. All in all, this staging of the play probably came much closer to a Tudor era morality "entertainment" than the rather heady, intellectualized interpretations that I have seen in the past. I mean, I can clearly see how this play can be performed to engage the "groundlings." In Shakespeare's day these were the poor people who paid a penny to stand in the yard, while the wealthier patrons sat on wooden benches around the yard. The message was clear even if the poetic words were too difficult to understand.

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and it has reshaped how I will present the play to my students in the future. Regrettably, there are no photographs allowed during a performance, so I don't have any to share.

Slow Saturday - 7/2

On Saturday, I needed to take things easy. My legs have been hurting from all of the walking. I'm not used to this much walking normally, because like many Americans, I'm addicted to my car and driving everywhere.

Anyway, as you may have noticed, I spent a little time on Saturday morning updating the Friday entry. After that, I walked down to the British Museum - which is a convenient 10 minute walk from where I am staying in London. The British Museum, like most major museums, can be dealt with in many ways. A quick "highlights only" tour in an hour or two is very touristy, but is often all that many people do. I prefer a more leisurely, multi-day approach. Therefore, on my first afternoon at the British Museum, I decided to touch on only a few exhibits - my favorites. I went into the early Mesopotamian rooms and then to the early European history rooms. Luckily, visitors can take pictures, so here are few of mine.

The main entrance to the British Museum

The main hall/central hall in the British Museum

Winged lion/sphinx that stood at the main gate of the ancient city of Nineveh in Mespotamia

Panel showing the goddess Ishtar, or possibly Ninurtu, from Nineveh

A fragment of clay ablet on which part of the Epic of Gilgamesh appears - this is the account of the Great Flood

a very large cauldron found in an Anglo-Saxon hoard

examples of Roman glass objects found in various places throughout England and Europe



Anglo-Saxon glass cups found in high status burials in England



this is an interpretation of what the Anglo-Saxon helmet fragments found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial may have looked like when they were first buried

 After my trip to the museum, once again several of my colleagues and I went out to dinner. This time, we went to a very nice Greek restaurant. Ethnic food is very prevalent here in London, and better yet, much of it is very good. Anyway, I didn't take pictures of the food, this time. Just let me say that everything was excellent, and I ate far too much.

Apologies

I have been lying low for a couple of days - okay, three - but I plan on getting caught up today.

A trip to Greenwich - 7/1

Here's another "morning after" posting for you. What I mean by that is the morning after a good night's sleep.

Anyway, Friday was an "off" day. There were no classes, no field trips, and no planned group outings (at least where I was involved). Consequently, I took it fairly easy after a fairly hectic and tiring Thursday. I went out for a morning coffee, spent some time updating the blog, and then went out and bought a fan and a desk lamp, both of which will be very useful while I am here.

After that rather mundane beginning, I decided to take a trip to Greenwich. Henry VIII had been born there as had both of his daughters. Basically, Greenwich was a quiet place outside of London for the royals in the Middle Ages (especially in the Tudor period). It is fairly close to London today, as you'll see, but then it was a country home. To get there, I took a river bus (a boat) down the river Thames. It is interesting that the Thames has been a route of travel for Londoners as far back as ancient times. So, by traveling on the river, I was keeping up a tradition carried on for nearly countless generations.

The first picture today is of the skyline of London from the pier where I caught the boat.

 Here is a close up of the skyline.

The boat really is a river bus, and it made several stops along the river en route to Greenwich. Its first stop was at the London Eye.

This 30 story ferris wheel was built for the millenium, and it takes passengers up over the city for a terrific view. Each of the cars can hold about 30-40 people.

Along the way, we passed under the Milleneum Bridge (for pedestrians only) - above - and the Tower Bridge - below.

We also passed by the Tower of London. It is a castle that was started just after the defeat in 1066 of the Anglo-Saxons by William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England. It was built within the ruined walls of the original Roman fortress of Londinium, and even incorporated some of those walls into its structure. One has to admit, the Romans built to last! Anyway, the Tower has served as royal residence, prison, treasure house, and today it's a museum.

When I got to Greenwich, one of the first things that I noticed was that the University of Greenwich buildings were built with a large space between them.

That's so the Queen's House (built for Queen Anne- wife of James I, the successor to Elizabeth I) still had a clear view all the way to the river.

Here's a closer picture of the Queen's House.

Walking up the path between the parts of the university, I came upon this marker.

Of course, Greenwich is known for much more than having been a royal retreat in the Tudor and Stewart periods. It is also the home of the Royal Observatory, seen below.

This is the place that is the reason that time zones around the world are figured in relation to Greenwich Mean Time. This observatory is where the Prime Meridien is calcuated, and consequently all other lines of longitude are based on this location. Here is an image of the marker showing where the prime meridien passes through the observatory.

Further, since the observatory sits on a hill, it provides an excellent view.

There is normally a wide green park in the area in the foreground of this picture. However, they are putting in an arena on the park lands that will be used as an Equestrian Park for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

After my trip to Greenwich, I returned to London to have some late lunch. Meeting up with several of my colleagues, we went to an outdoor venue called Underbelly at Southbank Centre near the London Eye. The entire location is dominated by a very large purple cow that is actually a concert and performance venue. However, around it, there is a garden area with what is essentially an outdoor pub. The following pictures (some with captions) can give you a sense of it all better than I can explain it.

This is one of the staff members in her staff T-shirt. At the top, it says "Cow Crew" with horns and udders on some of the letters. Clearly, purple is an important part of the design scheme here!

Even the direction to the rest rooms is marked with a purple cow. "Loo" is what a rest room is called in Britain.

Still, I had a very good lunch. Here is the wonderful "salt beef" sandwich that I had. Salt beef is what we call corned beef.

Well, after that, it was time to return to the dorm to do some laundry and to relax a bit. I don't yet know where tomorrow's adventure will lead, but we'll see, won't we.

Field Trip: Winchester - 6/30

Today was my class's first field trip day. We went to Winchester - and had a great time. Once we arrived, we had the opportunity to take a guided tour of Winchester College. Now, this school isn't a college in the sense that Americans think about colleges. It is actually a boys college prep school. Think of it as middle school and high school all rolled into one. The neatest thing about this school is that it has been in constant operation for about 600 years! That's almost four hundred years longer than the U.S. has existed. Founded by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (one of the richest men of his day) to educate 70 poor boys to replace the clergy lost to the plague, it has changed over the centuries into a school for 70 elite scholars (still all boys) and about 600 tuition paying students. It was originally called St. Mary's College, which is why there is this statue over the door to the main gate of the school.

Many of the buildings on the school campus date from the middle ages when it wa founded. However, as the school has grown, there have been many additions. These range all the way to the present with state of the art, modern architecture art and science buildings. It has come a long way from being a single classroom school. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the buildings, but here are a couple of the exterior shots of the college.

After we toured Winchester college, we had lunch. Most of the students accompanied me to the Royal Oak Pub. It is a pub in a building that has some structural elements that date back to 1092. There has been a pub on the site since the 12th or 13th century. That makes the claim that it is England's oldest pub fairly believable. Here is a picture of the oldest part, the basement, where the ceilings are only about 6' 6" high.

After lunch, we all went on a tour of the reknowned Winchester Cathedral. This is a wonderful place. However, I think I will let the pictures (with captions) tell the story of our visit.

The main front of Winchester Cathedral

The flying buttresses that support the massive walls of Winchester Cathedral

The medieval font in Winchester Cathedral - with a scene of St. Nicklaus

The Norman style arches in the north transcept of Winchester Cathedral. Most of the cathedral's Norman architecture has been converted over the centuries to Gothic, but this has been retained to display the original style.

Medieval frescoes in one of the chapels in Winchester Cathedral.

The modern shrine to St. Swithun, a former Bishop of Winchester who died in 862. The original shrine was demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII day and during the interregnum in 17th century.

This is just a sampling of the sites in the cathedral. Regrettably, my pictures of the wonderful Gothic arches and the ceilings did not turn out clear enough to post here.

We also had a chance to tour the library of the cathedral. This was particularly nice since we got to see the Winchester Bible - an impressive hand-scribed and illustrated (i.e. decorated with colored drawings and pictures drawn of many bible stories) version of the Latin Bible that was used in the cathedral in the middle ages. There was also an exhibit of several early editions of the King James Authorized bible, including one used by Charles I (James's son) when he was tried and executed by Parliament in the middle of the 17th century. This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Authorized Bible's first use. No pictures were allowed to be taken.

After our tour of the cathedral, we visited the statue of King Alfred the Great.

Alfred ruled during the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. He is the only English monarch to earn the moniker of "the Great." He essentially saved what became the unified England from being overrun and destroyed by Viking invaders. He was also the first king to promote the use of the common English language for books to teach the common Englishmen their heritage and develop a sense of "nationalism." In fact, he even translated a number of works from Latin into Old English himself.

As we made our way back through the town to the train station, we noted the medieval gate to the city, that still stands where it did hundreds of years ago, as do several sections of the medieval walls of the city.

We also stopped by the Great Hall, the only remaining portion of the medieval castle that isn't in ruins. There we had the opportunity to take a group picture.

These are the students in my British Literature II class. And yes, that is the Round Table on the wall behind them! It has been dated to the 14th century, and it was repainted by Henry VIII during his reign. The image at the top is of Henry VIII, and the emblem in the middle is the Tudor Rose, the symbol of Henry VIII's heritage. This room was the main throne room of the medieval castle. It would also have served as a very large, and drafty, banquetting hall.

Since I didn't make it into the group picture, here's one of me at the Great Hall in Winchester.

After a very busy day in Winchester, we were all very glad to make it back to Waterloo train station in London.

That's it for this first field trip day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are "free days." That is, there isn't any academic schedule to adhere to. Most of the students travel on their own. Sometimes they accompany the faculty on various excursions. I'm thinking of going to Greenwich on Friday. Until then...