Ok wooow, I have been going none stop since I have arrived in London! A week ago was the last time I updated, which feels like soooo long ago! Our first weekend in London, we went to Hampton Court friday, and Canterbury on Saturday. Hampton Court was absolutely magnificent! We were there for 5 hours, and I still feel like I did not see everything. This was home of Henry VIII as well as William and Mary. Basically this was the palace until Queen Elizabeth had Buckingham Palace built. The gardens were 60 acres surrounding the palace and absolutely gorgeous. On Saturday we went to Canterbury, a quaint 14th century-old (or possibly older) town with a cathedral at it's center. We enjoyed some fish and chips and a bit of shopping before we toured the montestary. In the church were the tombs of archbishops and other significant medieval figures. The coolest thing, in my opinion, was the Black Prince's tomb and his armor. This was a war hero from the 100 years war, that took place in the 14th century, so the armor that was on display was about 700 years old! Unbelievable.
For my art and religion class, we go somewhere everyday. As I mentioned last time we went to a Hindu temple last thursday and actually watched a service, which was very interesting. This is the largest Hindu temple in Europe (the largest one in the world is in the US, go figure) and was completely covered in stone carvings. The gods in the temple were so ornate and detailed, however it was strange seeing people worship them. In the Hindu faith, they believe that god is actually in the statues, looking back at them.
Yesterday, we went to the Victoria&Albert museum to have class. We learned about the Buddhist religion and afterwards walked around to look at statues of Buddha. This religion struck me as the most interesting so far because it is an atheist religion, however it is open to all other religions. What this means is, as long as you reach Nirvana (reaching complete enlightenment and overcoming the ego), you have reached the goal of the Buddha. So if you reach peace and enlightenment through praying to the Hindu god or the Christian god, it's ok. So the Buddhist statues had other religiouns incorporated in them, which is quite interesting. Also, many people think Buddha is an idol, but the statue is only there to help remind you what temptations Buddha overcame in order to reach Nirvana.
Anyways, now that I am all cultured, I can tell you about my first football experience in England. Last night was England vs. Mexico, an exhibition game for the world cup. The whole group watched the game in the college's sportbar (yes they serve alcohol on campus--weird) and it was so much fun! At first we were going to walk down to a pub nearby, however that plan was quickly abondoned given how loud and rowdy and crouded the pubs already were at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday. Haha I love England!
The pictures up top are of Canterbury Cathedral and Regent's College Reid Hall...my room is on the third floor (second floor here because they have ground floor and then first floor) and it's the window next to the balcony. The courtyard is absolutely fabulous to have picnics, do homework, or just hang out. The weather has been WONDERFUL! It has been clear skies, sunny and high 70s. On Sunday we went to the park all day, along with every other European in the city, and we laid around playing cards and reading and napping. The English, do not know how to act in this type of weather because one out of every five people I see walking down the street is burnt from laying out in the parks. Ok, I have written enough for now. Cheerios!
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