Thursday through Monday! Sorry guys!

This is going to be a super long post. I have to do last Thursday through yesterday (Sunday).

Thursday was really a fascinating day. The morning was relatively boring as I just did some research into Hizb ut-Tahrir… the Islamist organization I am doing my London research on. After that we met up and ate, and then it was off to the Mosque for me… which was an awesome experience.

I was surprised, honestly. As much as I have studied everything about the religion, as I stepped on the holy grounds, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with a feeling of apprehension. I was honestly shocked. I didn’t expect to feel that way. And I’ve been to a mosque before, but in Johnson City, Tennessee. Here was one of the largest mosques in one of the most internationally influenced cities in the world. I couldn’t help but have all the images of 7/7, 9/11 run through my head. It showed me a lot… it showed me that I can understand everything about something, that I can read all about something, but not truly understand it until I experience it. I think that it was a metaphor, really, for how I experience a lot of things in life. I know I’m smart. But I’m book smart. There are a lot of things I’ve read about, a lot of things I’ve studied… a lot of things I believe I just “know.” But this “experience” showed me that however much I know about something, there is still something very real and enlightening about experiencing the thing itself.

Inside the mosque itself, we sat in the prayer room. We had to take off our shoes, but due to the intimacy of the Islamic prayer ritual, I completely understood it. It simply keeps the place clean. It was neat to watch the prayer. There were a lot of people just laying down… other’s reading the Qur’an… other’s with family. It’s truly a community gathering place. We sat down and talked for almost 45 minutes. I learned a couple things here and there. We then went up to the library. I’ve criticized the hugeness of the pre-Renaissance European chapels/churches/abbeys due to the size and gawkiness and how it represents power. While the Islamic Mosque (at least this one in London) is just as large, it serves an entirely different purpose. It serves as an Islamic library, with collections of books in over 50 languages. There was also a place for lectures (mosques tend to bring in a lot of imams and scholars to come in and talk and give lessons… much like a Sunday school).

After that a bunch of us met up and went to a Jamaican bar… but after I went back to my place and showered and stuff. It was a hot day in the mosque. Kristin and Melissa ended up coming by and hanging out for a bit.

The Jamaican bar was a lot of fun. I ended up playing the bongo’s with one of the guys. He wouldn’t let me do it by myself because he didn’t know I played. I think he figured it out quickly and we started playing some more complicated stuff… so that was fun. Then he decided that he thought it would be a good idea to talk about life with me. All he kept saying (at least what I could understand… he had a very thick accent) was “one love! One Love!” I just laughed. But Johnny really appreciated it because he is an African studies major. So he was totally into it.

On to Friday… Friday I woke up and met everyone for breakfast. Another English breakfast. I’ve found a particular little place that I’ve fallen in love with that serves great breakfast at a relatively cheap price. (Everything is somewhat expensive here… I stopped trying to convert the money to American dollars. J) We then went to an aquarium. I wasn’t able to take very good pictures but I was able to take a lot of fairly good video. They should come out really well. At least I hope so! I took a bunch for Ethan. It was a great aquarium. I saw some actual sharks… which I was surprised about. We then went to a store called Lilly Whites… a SIX story sports store. It was freaking awesome! I couldn’t believe it. That was honestly about it… came back and hung out with June, Beatrice, and our other Romanian friend Ana for a bit… then went to bet getting ready for the FOURTH OF JULY!

Saturday: July 4^th. Wow. What an awkward day. We started out in a park, until we figured out we couldn’t grill out. We then went to Wigram, where we also discovered that we couldn’t grill out. So we ended up each buying separate food and chilling in the park and watching Wimbolden. There were a couple of drunk Americans that were screaming anti-British stuff on the tube station and pro American. It was funny. But it was honestly just like any other day. A couple of firecrackers here and there, but nothing like the celebration in the states. Which, I mean… you can’t really blame them. In all of British military history, that’s probably one of the most embarrassing defeats. And rightfully so… there is no way we should have won. We were a bunch of ragtag mililtia men fighting a bunch of well trained European battled tested fighters. So I mean, that was almost entirely it. Hahaha.

Sunday: What a great day! Woke up early because it was our STONEHENGE and BATH day. I absolutely loved Stonehenge. To think that while scholars have theories as to why and how the stones got there, no one honestly really knows… and that’s fascinating. It’s one of those moments that made this trip that much more amazing. I would have loved to touch one of the stones, but only on the Summer Solstice are people allowed to actually get in the stones. Which is cool. Would love to come back. Because that’s one of the major theories. That it was used on the solstice as a ritual based ceremony with the stones representing the fact that there is something more than this life… something eternal like the stones. So it was totally an awesome experience to be there. I took a lot of pictures. It totally took a ton of time to go around. It is really large and the stones are just overwhelming. It’s awesome. Then it was on to Bath. We started with another Abbey that I was able to take pictures in so you can see some of things I’ve been talking about in regards to these abbeys and chapels and churches. Then it was onto the Jane Austen center. Now Amanda and Mom are both big Jane Austen fans, so I wanted to go up there, and I was honestly a little disappointed. There was nothing really neat in the gift shop except some really old editions of some of her books, but otherwise nothing worth looking. Didn’t go in the museum simply because of the time. Finally, we went to the Roman Baths. I was really impressed. It was a central facet of society for a lot of places in Europe around the time that they were created. Plus these are supposed to have magical healing powers. So it was interesting to see some of the history that has been there and be a part of it. But Stonehenge was definitely my most favorite part of the trip. It was simply amazing. Then we came back, I ate two helpings of Sweat and Sour Chicken, and then that was it!

Monday: Class was boring… we’ve kinda stalled in class which I’m disappointed about. I think Sadiki is a great scholar but not necessarily the best teacher… but then again this is summer school and probably far different than what he is used to… as well as us. After class I worked in the library on the presentation, then went over to Wigram… ate with my friends and worked some more and then came back here. Today was more of a “I gotta get some stuff done otherwise I’m never going to get it done” day… which was good.

Anyway, it’s almost midnight over here so I’ve going to bed!

Ryan

Tuesday and Wednesday

Yesterday was a blast.

Started out with class again, which is turning relatively boring although I'm learning a lot. After class we went to a travelling exhibit that is in London right now called The Body Museum. Essentially what happens is these scientists use people's bodies that they have donated towards science to learn from them. Some of them they use for this exhibit to teach people about the human body. There were a lot of interesting exhibits, but the overwhelming sense that I got of how short life is, how quickly it passes, and the absolute need for the body to be in great shape to give someone the best chance possible at living a long, healthy, disease free life. It was one of those type of deals that struck me rather hard. It was totally an awesome exhibit and something that was definitely worth seeing. Weird, but worth seeing.

After that we went to another park and just relaxed until we went to the London Eye, which was sweet. It's a 435 foot Ferris wheel that goes around oen time and you can see tons of things from all over Westminster. We got a pretty cool group photo, and I got one with Big Ben in the background that I absolutely love. It gave London a whole new perspective.

After that we went on a SANCTIONED BY THE UNIVERSITY SOCIAL PROGRAMME COMPLETE WITH UNIVERSITY TOUR GUIDE pub walk. I sat there and got to watch all of my friends get drunk. We went to four different pubs (many stopped going after they got a little drunk and kept at the same pub). We made it to all pubs and I learned some history on the way. Got to go back tomorrow probably and get some other pictures that I've been wanting. I got to help carry a drunk Mexican guy up the hill this time.

Yesterday I also realized that I was halfway done. I don't want it to be over. There is still so much in this city that I've haven't seen yet! But it's life.

Wednesday:

So class today was boring. We tried for an hour to get the projector to work. But in the meantime we talked about our topics. My topic is going to be somewhat difficult... especially to pull off in a week. Even though it's a rudimentary presentation, I feel like I really want to do well. Tomorrow he told us we are going to a mosque so that should be very interesting.

He's obsessed with the United States and our viewpoints. He keeps asking us about various things. While he was talking today, he said that he had a job offer at Georgetown University, but had been banned from entering the United States. He didn't give us many details, but I would imagine it has to do with some of his political viewpoints, although I'm struggling to understand what those are becuase he specializes in Arab Democraticization. So I'm going to look into that.

After class my group went to Windsor castle. Which is where the King lives. The first thing that we did was go into the Church. While almost everyone was marvelling at the various beauties such as the gold plated chairs, the jewels, the stained glass windows, I was disgusted and felt that it represented everything that was wrong with organized religion. Those types of cathedrals miss the entire point of the religion they profess. The realm could have used 3/4 of the money used, made a moderately less amazing chapel, and then used the rest of the money to give to the poor or something... do something Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Ghandi, the Buddha, etc. would have done. Rather, chapels like these, and other places of worship all over the world represent the bastardization of religion and the struggle for wealth and power all over the world manifested through religion. It's sad.

The rest of the castle was much the same. There were entire rooms in the castle that could have fit my entire house. One room could have fit 3 or 4 of my houses. While it was amazing, awesome to see since it represents "England" for a lot of people, it was nonetheless astonishingly materialistic. And I know she's the Queen of England and Great Britain was once the most powerful nation/empire/figurehead in the entire world, but honestly... does a Queen need a closet that's the size of my house? I honestly don't think so. And the other thing was it took us about 45 minutes to walk through less than 5% of her entire castle... we just went through what was open to the public.

After the castle, I just came back and have been doing some research for my presentation/research assignment. Since I came in with a knowledgeable background in the topic, I don't I've learned as much as the other students in the class... but I know exactly what I need to study next in order to really get a full grasp on this topic. I think I can do it. I also think I know exactly what I want my honor's thesis to be on. We'll see how the rest of the class shapes up in that regards.

I've also found a new favorite food. English Breakfast. Because it's amazing. And because they serve baked beans with breakfast. Who would've thought? But it's amazing.

Now to some research and uploading photos!

I'm out!

Ryan