Hello Mates!
On Monday, our group had a guided tour of parliament with House of Commons member Dennis Skinner. Mr. Skinner is a socialist and a member of the Labour Party. As one of 10 children from a small town, he worked 20 years as a miner. He gave us a very opinionated tour of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It was also very obvious that he does not support the current prime minister, David Cameron. In a parliament sitting later that day, Cameron told Skinner that he could take his pension at any time. Here is a video from Skinner’s and Cameron’s dispute last week.
On Wednesday, we had a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. In preparation for the Summer Olympics, London is hosting the Globe Shakespeare Festival; all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays will be performed in various languages. We saw back-to-back performances of “Cymbeline” in Juba Arabic and “Julius Caesar” in Italian. “Julius Caesar” was a very modern adaptation of the original play, with Caesar played by a collection of inanimate objects. Although our Italian is rusty, it was still fun to see how much we remembered. We also had the chance to meet with a well-known actor, Jonathon Cullen. He played the character of “Doctor Brighton” in the film “Finding Neverland.” He led us in a Shakespeare workshop that we all enjoyed!
[Photo: Katie (left) & Carmen]
Unfortunately, this is our last post. We have greatly enjoyed updating all of you on all of our adventures abroad. This has been a wonderful opportunity and learning experience for both of us. We have made many lasting friendships (including our new friendship!), learned a new language, and made unforgettable memories.
The theme of our trip in the last few weeks has become “YOLO” which stands for “you only live once.” Our word of advice for future study abroad students is to take advantage of any and every opportunity!
Cheers!
Carmen and Katie
*Katie Caffrey is a junior psychology major with a linguistics concentration from Oak Park, IL. She is currently splitting her semester abroad between Florence and London where she is studying both art history and theatre.
*Carmen Stubblefield is studying abroad in Italy and England on the ACM Arts in Context Program. She is a junior psychology major from Oregon, her favorite foods are pizza and ice-cream.