Saturday, 1-27-96
9:50 AM London
3:50 AM E-Town
Well, it’s been a few days since I have written in here… I believe Thurs. & Fri. have gone unaccounted for, and since I must keep up w/ my records, for myself, of this adventure… I will recap! Thurs. morning was a field trip to the “Banqueting House” w/ my architecture class. Afterwards Rachel (from Cleveland Square/U of I) and I decided to go to the “National Gallery.” We piddled about Trafalgar Square taking touristy pictures first. I got this great one of this woman in Trafalgar Square swarmed by birds!
The museum was awesome! We decided to look at the art from oldest to most recent… It is divided into 4 sections and we looked at the first one, then broke for lunch at the museum café, “Pret a Manger.” At lunch we talked non-stop & continued throughout our viewing of the entire second section, at which point we chose to leave. We were both tired and were going out later… The art we saw dated back to the 15th century and some even further back! Most of the subjects were religious in nature. They were accompanied by great descriptions of those portrayed in the paintings & I learned & appreciated a great deal…
Thurs. night I went over to Cleveland Square. Lauren & Rachel had invited me to come over and go out w/ them & their neighbors — one of whom’s (Ben) 21st b-day it was! We went to “Belushi’s” pub at Covent Garden! It was a great pub w/ a fun atmosphere, “The Blues Brothers” played over & over on 3 t.v.s in the bar! The walls were covered in posters, candles burned on the tables in “Jack Daniels” bottles, & the music was great! I really enjoyed hanging out w/ a different crowd for a change… It was mostly “Birkbeckers” from Cleveland Square & Grays Inn Road flats. And most of them go to U of I in the States. I especially enjoyed the company of Lauren, Rachel, the b-day boy (Ben), Leslie — who I’d met once before, at the ISA “Spaghetti House” dinner, and Dave Herron! I really liked chatting w/ Dave & wouldn’t shut up about it when we got back to Cleveland Square — I had also drunk 3 pints of “Fosters!” Dave the cute Catholic boy — who one might not expect to be of that denomination at first glance — is a big charmer… and charmed by him I am! ☺︎ I think I’ll leave it at that for now, except to mention he loves the Beastie Boys & his birthday is also in March! ☺︎
Friday I met Joanne Lambert, from camp, at Waterloo tube station! We went to the London “Museum of Moving Image!” It was awesome & so was catching up & spending time w/ Joanne! After spending a long while exploring the history of photography, motion pictures , & TV… We went to the pub where she works! It is actually at the Waterloo station & we chatted more, had Cokes, & I shared w/ her some pictures I had brought along from this summer! It was so great to be with her — someone so sweet — someone who knows what it is like to be so far away from home — someone who takes me back to one of the more special/memorable experiences in my life (my 1st summer as a counselor at Camp Algonquin)… When we left each other for the day, we promised to keep in touch & get together again soon! ☺︎
The other great event on Fri., was my super cool funky fresh roomie’s, Lori, b-day! 23rd b-day to be exact! I got home just in time to make up a brownie mix for her (my impromptu version of a birthday cake for her! ☺︎), before pizza arrived for the Pembridge Gardens “Ding, Dong, the Bugs are Gone” Party! ☺︎ After we all scarfed down the Dominos Pizzas… I ran down to get the brownies out of the oven & stick some candles in! I wanted everyone to sing to her in the TV lounge, but when I emerged from the kitchen w/ Erica, the cake/brownies, & the scary burning candles… Lori was standing right there in the dining room!
Oh, well… She appreciated it, just the same & it was fun! After the chowing on the yummy brownies — we went to celebrate more at a pub on Portobello Rd. called “The Market Bar.” It had a bit of a more funky soul atmosphere & music scene… There were these groovy candles w/ mongo pedestals of burnt/dripped wax! Paul, Adam, Ruth, & Nick accompanied Lori & I for her celebration! It was mellow, but fun & there were a ton of Kodak moments all the way to & from the pub! The sweetest thing though was that Lori wrote me a great thank you note for the card & book I gave her, but mostly for helping to make her b-day so special… She also gave me some lip gloss that I had been wanting! (She gave me a present on her birthday! ☺︎)
Well, I am now on a coach bus w/ bunch of ISA students going to Stratford – Upon – Avon! Our first excursion – day trip… It is suppose to be amazing & is the homeland of Shakespeare! ☺︎ It snowed a lot here this morning, which adds an extra nifty element to the bus ride scenery on the way now…
CHEERS! ☺︎
Saturday, 1-27-96
4:40 PM On the Way Home from Stratford Upon Avon & Warwick Castle
10:40 AM E-Town
What a lovely day… This morning we arrived at Stratford – Upon – Avon about 11:45 AM. We were given till 1:30 PM to explore Stratford & get some lunch. Lori and I went to a 25 min. presentation of Elizabethan culture & Shakespeare’s times from London to Stratford called “The World of Shakespeare.” It had wax people & sets of villages & maps & special effects & great narration… It was a very appropriate introduction to our day! Then we stopped for “fish-n-chips!” Only I got a ham-n-cheese sandwich, chips, & a Coke! Lori went traditional w/ the “fish-n-chips.” Then we moved on to the “Holy Trinity” church where William Shakespeare was buried! It was cool, but a bit overrated… We had to pay 30p just to get into the point of the church w/ his grave! There were many signs not to take pictures, but being the rebels that we are, Lori & I both snuck pictures of his grave & memorial! (Bad girls…)
After the church we had planned to go to Shakespeare’s birthplace (house), but we did not make it due to lack of time.
Then we boarded the coach once again and were off to “Warwick Castle!” It is said to be the “First Medieval Castle in England.” It was very beautiful and I took loads of pictures… Lori and I toured about for a while and then split up till we were all to meet back at the coach. Lori & I toured much of the inside of the castle, including the dungeon, torture chamber, armory, state rooms, & “a wax mannequin & decorated room exhibit from a weekend in June 1868 party” while Queen Victoria was still in rule. It was amazingly decorated & the wax figures were very real looking! I believe they may have been made by the same people who did the figures for “Madame Tussauds” Wax Museum.
We climbed to the top of one hill & overlooked an awesome vista… When we went our separate ways I explored the vista, tracked through the snow, spent some quality time by myself… Alone w/ nature’s beauty of God! ☺︎ Then I checked out an old Victorian boat house & even carved my name, the date, & PHIL 4:6! I will always remember the peace I was over come w/ there… The warmth I experienced, despite the cold weather…
On my way back to the central area of the Castle, I came across a peacock!
Well, before meeting the buses to return to London, I stopped off at the gift shop. I picked up more postcards & some special family name heritage cards w/ coats of arms for Gramma Dee and Grampa Jack! ☺︎ I found Barnes (Grampa’s mother’s maiden name)! I also found Morrison (Gramma’s mother’s maiden name) & Hunt (Gramma’s maiden name)! ☺︎
That’s all for now… I want to enjoy the ride home! I am ready for a good dinner & a warm & relaxing evening at Pembridge after the busy week I have had… Rumor has it, “Star Wars” is on tonight! I haven’t seen it in years…
CHEERS! ☺︎
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Note from Present Day Kathy: It’s entries like these that make me so grateful I took the time to record so many of my experiences and special memories during my semester abroad. I love being able to step back into this period of my life and recall so many cool things I was doing and places that I was seeing, with my new friends/housemates/classmates and tutors/tour guides.
Revisiting these entries are exactly why I made the effort to chronicle my London Semester Abroad, but, interestingly, I don’t remember looking at them much since then, and wonder, if not for learning of the death of my old friend (who was a big part of my experience back then), when or what other reason might have moved me to reopen them.
My parents are currently going through many of the things they’ve saved over the years, which bring back special memories, in preparation for downsizing/moving in the next year or so. I volunteered/agreed to be our family’s archivist/historian and thus has been receiving much of what they are offloading, including old photos, home movies and slides. Between my London Semester Journals and what my parents have been bringing me, I find myself in a steady state of nostalgia lately.
Getting back to these specific entries… I love that I took advantage of so many opportunities to explore London with friends, especially the museums there, and also went on day trips led by ISA, the study abroad program we were affiliated with. It was also awesome that many of our tutors, for my Birkbeck College classes, would take us around the city to see historical sites, as they taught us.
I appreciate in these entries remembering how I ventured out, at times, from just hanging with my housemates at Pembridge Gardens, to spend time with other American students, also studying at Birkbeck, that I’d met there. I am amused to read about the ongoing crush I had on one particular classmate, who peaked my interest that semester. That was typical for me, much of my life, to pick guys I thought were cute and nice and fantasize about them, but never directly let them know I was interested.
I used to joke with friends that if I found out someone liked me, I wrote it off as a character flaw in them, which is clearly problematic when it comes to developing romantic relationships with people. Maybe I thought it was safer/easier to day dream about those I thought were “out of my league,” than actually try to get to know those better who were interested in me? I regret not giving some guys, who did express interest, a chance.
I am glad that I listed the names of some of the pubs/bars we went to that semester and what was unique about them. I’ve started looking them up, to see if they still exist and intend to start a list of those my family and I may want to go to during our (tentatively planned) Summer of 2020 vacay to London. Likewise, I want to note some of the historical sites and museums that I was most impressed with back then, to make sure we get there in 2020.
Lastly, I find it somewhat amusing that I shared about doing more rebellious (for me) things in these entries, from taking pictures at Shakespeare’s grave (when we weren’t supposed to) to carving my name, the date and my fav bible verse in the boat house at Warwick Castle! I was always a fairly “good girl,” during my childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. That said, I did do a few things during my time abroad that I wouldn’t have typically otherwise done, such as these things, smoking (as I shared in an earlier entry/post), and, I don’t recall if I write about later in my journals, I also stole 3 half pint glasses from various pubs, that I brought home and still have to this day. Each of the half pint glasses had a different shape and I thought that was cool. Also, since I had such a low tolerance for alcohol when we arrived in London, my new friends nick-named me “Half Pint” or “HP,” because back then you could order a half pint of beer and I often did, to pace myself.
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Reminder: Unless I’ve been given permission to use people’s actual names, in most cases I’ve removed or replaced the names of the real people who were part of my journey/experience there, in effort to protect and respect their identities/privacy in my London Semester Journal entries. I will also not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me.
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Here’s the back story of My London Semester Journals from 1996, including what prompted me to revisit and decide to share them here in 2018. And here’s a list a list of the entries, which I will update as I share them.
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