London, Day #4

I didn't write yesterday because literally nothing happened. I decided to just stay in since the Wimbledon tube was closed.Today, however, I have a ton to write about, so I'm going to post about my day here, and then do a separate art post.

I woke up again this morning around 4:30 am. I don't know why that seems to be the magical time, but it is. Then I tried going back to sleep, my body wouldn't have it. I'd open my eyes thinking they'd been closed for two hours and only fifteen minutes had passed. Eventually I just got up, got ready, had a more leisurely breakfast than I think I would have had (with my friend Zoë over video chat) and then I got on the Tube.

Now since my tube stop is at the end of the line, getting on and off at my station is fabulous. It's everywhere else that sucks. I got off to transfer to another train, and I couldn't even get on the first train that came through because the people were packed like sardines. Eventually I got to my school and I was quite relieved. I waited a bit in the park across the street from my school as I was quite early, and then I proceeded to check in/register.

My teacher is from France, and even though he has a French accent, I seem to have no problem understanding him. His dissertation was on art of the 1960s, not my forte, and so I feel like I will learn a lot from him. My class is 99% female, as in there is only one male in my class. Not too far off from my usual educational environment, so I guess I'm not complaining, but that seems to be the issue in other courses as well.

Today was extremely different from what I presume other days will be like. We had three lectures, plus an informational lecture on resources, and I can assure you all that I will spend more time out of the classroom at least two days of the week (out of the four days we have class/week). The first lecture was given by the professor, and he had some very interesting things to say about modern and contemporary art. He brought up points that I hadn't thought of before when referring to modern and contemporary art, and also arguments that I could see myself posing to people who say "I don't get it, what does it mean?" After his lecture, we went our separate ways for lunch. I walked aimlessly through the streets of London, I was hungry but not sure what I wanted. I ended up turning on a shadier tree-lined street and wound up in The Building Center. I had a delicious toasted tuna sandwich, and then proceeded to explore this incredible building. I didn't want to be late getting back to class, however, so I really only looked at the London Olympics plans which were very interesting.

After lunch, we had a guest lecturer who talked about art from 1945-1960. Her ideas are sort of centered around the artists Hans Hoffman, who I am quite unfamiliar with, but the post-lunch happiness coma got the best of me, so I wasn't paying my best attention (I did, however, take notes). Then we had an informational session in which the librarian came and told us about our library resources, and then the IT guy told us about using the internet, printing and copying, etc. After that informational lecture, we had our third and final lecture about Pop art. I really enjoyed this lecture because I have always felt quite uninformed about Pop art, and I feel that now I have a greater understanding of the genre. I couldn't sit here and write an essay about it, I just no longer feel like an idiot.

Post-that I finally had a chance to talk to some people in my class. There is one girl who goes to CCA in Oakland, what are the chances? She seems pretty cool, and I think her focus is photography, so that should be nice. We had a glass of wine with our professor, and a few other students, and then my real adventure began.

One of my goals this week was to go see the Zodiac Heads by Ai WeiWei at the Somerset House. It was about a 20 minute walk from my school, but it turned into 50 minutes when I walked several steps in the wrong direction. I almost gave up and went home, but I pushed through and I am so glad I did because the sculptures are amazing. I feel that they are perfect where they are currently standing, and I don't see why they have to go down in a week, but I hope I can convince some of my classmates to walk back over there with me later this week and we can all discuss it. When I told my professor I was going to look at the Zodiac heads, he told me that my homework was to report back. He must think I'm some kind of Ai WeiWei scholar, but I certainly am not!

The reason why I did this trek, also, was because the tube stop closest to it is on my line to Wimbledon. So when I was done, and thoroughly soaked from the rain, I hopped on the tube and waited the 18 dull stops home.
Bought a steak, carrot and potato pasty upon exiting the tube, went home and enjoyed every last bite.

London, Day #2

Today was generally less artsy than yesterday, although the weather itself was an entirely new art form to me.

Woke up at 4:30 in the morning and was a bit furious about that, I haven't seen 4:30 in the morning in ages, but when you're this far north, it seems more like 6 in the morning. At 11 pm this evening there was still light in the sky.

So basically at that time I just lazed around for a bit and finally went down to have some breakfast.
Ate the four cheeses again and this time I think I can list them:

-English Cheddar (A bit different from American Cheddar, but still good)
-Double Gloucester with Spring Onions and Chives (So delicious)
-Red Leicester (I think it may be my favorite of the bunch, but I bought a whole second package so I can eat them as much as possible to find out)
and
-Wensleydale with Cranberries (Not my favorite, but good still, it was great with apples this morning)

After breakfasts, my hosts left to go to Sweden, so I've the whole house to myself. I decided to go into town and look around in some of the shops, pick up a couple of things. I first went to this little art store that we passed in my short introduction to Wimbledon yesterday and I bought some matryoshka tissue paper, it's very cute. Then I stopped into the book/magazine/stationary store and bought a folder for any paperwork I may need for school, and some cute notecards with a sort of watercolor poppy motif.

I then pressed on to Whittard and bought several teas, plus the "Time for Tea" tin set they sell (it is too adorable to pass up). After that I stopped at an electronics store and bought an alarm clock and some batteries. It was kind of a surreal experience. They basically have all of their stock stored away in the back, and what you do is you look through a paper catalogue or computer to find what you are looking for, and then you order it in the store, and then you wait for your order to be ready (mine took 3 minutes). Kind of odd, not something you would usually find in the states.

My first grocery trip went quite well. I went to Sainsbury's and bought some delicious looking things. It's really very nice that I will have a kitchen while I am here, because I hate the idea of being fed cafeteria-style food every day or eating out every day. For lunch I bought a sort of pasta salad that had a tomato and herb sauce, red onions and cheddar cheese (would have preferred mozzarella or parmesan to be completely honest) but it was still good. For dinner tonight I made myself some smashed potatoes, boiled peas and a chicken breast (which I bought pre-roasted at the store).

Everything is within walking distance which is nice, the tube stop is about 7-10 minutes away from my house, based on how quickly you walk, and the neighborhood seems pretty safe. The houses are very close together, so I've already met one neighbor on one side, and the other one I'm sure I will meet soon enough.

As far as art goes, Jack Smith died recently, so why not say something about him. Smith was one of the co-founders of what was called The Kitchen Sink School, a name that the press gave to them based on the styles and objects used in their works (as in everything but the...). His earlier work is sort of pseudo-realist, and very interesting indeed, and his later work is certainly more abstract.

In other art British art news, The Tate Modern has returned 10 tons of Ai Wei Wei's sunflower seeds to one of their gallery spaces.