Now it is a week later and so much has gone on this past week. To make it easier on everyone (myself included, it has been such a busy week!) why don't I just do this post in sections.
The BBC
On Tuesday I went on a tour of the BBC with my Media in Britain class. It was so cool. I got to peer into the news hub and there were computers and televisions everywhere. After the news hub we went to see the television studio. We didn't actually get to go into the studio we saw the studio from what can be described as an operating theatre (the place where doctors can watch surgeries taking place) and saw how the studio is set up and checked before they tape the program.
From there we went to one of the BBC's green rooms for the celebrities that come through. It was a huge room, but the tour guide Roz said that it was one of the smaller ones. She then proceeded to tell us the story of "Jenny from the block" a.k.a. Jennifer Lopez and how she was a diva when she went came to the BBC. Apparently the green room she was given was not big enough and so they gave her a conference room and then proceeded to redecorate the entire room. Not at the BBC's expense though, that was a point that Roz wanted us to be clear on.
After sitting in the enormous green room, which was apparently not that big, we were taken into a "mock" studio where a few from our group were asked to participate. The concept was we were doing a newscast and then heading into a game show after the news. Well my friend Leah was chosen to do the behind the scenes work such as the narrating and picking the television program. Then Steve was the newscaster and introduced the game show program coming up.
And guess what the show was.
The Weakest Link.
And guess who was on that show.
Yep, yours truly.
And guess who won!
Not me.
Technically I tied for second place.
Out of three.
So am I the weakest link?
Please say no.
Anyway it was a mock up anyway so....no biggie. Right?
Anyway that was the BBC. It was fun and great to do. My roommates and I are going to a taping of a radio show at the BBC. It should be fun.
After that Rocio and I went to Harrods for their once a year sale. It was great and not crowded at all. I bought some souvenirs for people, but nothing for myself sadly. But still the sweets section, AWSOME. Candy galore and ready to fall off the shelves. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. No kidding, wanted to swim around in all that candy.
Parliament
On Friday morning my I took a tour of Parliament. We had this fantastic tour guide who was just this old adorable British man. He just seemed to love doing these tours.
Parliament is incredible. The building is very old and beautiful. Prince Albert had all this artwork brought in and he also ordered wooden engravings of King Arthur and the Round Table. History just surrounds you when you go into Parliament. Sadly I do not have many pictures because you can't take photos when you go in. You can only take photos of Westminster Hall. Which I did and I will post them here.
Day Trip to Stonehenge and Bath
So F.I.E. (Foundation for International Education the place where I am studying) sponsored a free day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. So we got up and got on the bus at eight o'clock in the morning which would have been fine except that our tour guide would not stop talking. I was interested for the first five minutes, but then all I wanted to do was sleep and she wouldn't let me. She kept promising us that we would be able to, but out of the hour and a half bus ride, I do believe we were only able to sleep for about twenty minutes/half an hour. The only time she stopped talking was the bus ride home. If she was more of an entertaining speaker then maybe I would not feel this way or maybe if her facts were more substantial I would tend to be more interested. But random facts that did not pertain to what we were seeing had no place at eight o'clock in the morning. Where the Coca Cola company is has nothing to do with Stonehenge. Please keep it short and sweet. I do not like being talked at especially in the morning.
Anyway besides that it was a nice day trip. Stonehenge was neat just in the fact that its Stonehenge and well yeah. That pretty much sums it up. Rocks. Would you like to see pictures of these rocks? I knew you would!
So I figured by this point you might want to see something else besides rocks. So pretty grass? Nice countryside good for all of you?
So yeah back to rocks. But they're cool rocks. And that is the end of Stonehenge. Onward we go.
After we left Stonehenge we went to Bath. Bath is a very pretty little city. If people want to tape a historical film, they go to Bath. Ever seen Vanity Fair? Yeah some scenes were filmed there. The reason why directors like to film there is because it has kept its historical integrity. Bath hasn't changed at all. All the crew needs to do is get the cars and people out of the street and that's it.
But that is not what Bath is known for. The city is known for the Roman baths that people used to flock to for the alleged "healing" qualities. The baths are still there, you just can't use them anymore. The waters are about one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit and just standing by the steam warms you up. I got a face-full of steam and it felt quite pleasant. I did however, feel sorry for a little boy who got dragged through the water by his grandmother (there was some water just flowing through like a steam and the woman just didn't look).
After we toured the baths Rocio, Esther, and I headed over the Jane Austin museum (she lived in Bath at one point) and we went to the gift shop. We wanted to do the tour, but we did not have enough time.
It was a good day trip and I am glad that I did it. I am posting even more photos to end this entry with. Have a good week everyone and keep a look out for future posts!
What most housing looks like in Bath. The houses are all in rows.
The white spots are the steam. This was taken from the inside looking out from the Baths.
This is the "Great Bath" There were two other smaller baths besides this big one.
This is the remains of Minerva's temple. The Roman's dedicated the baths to her and they set up a special temple for her.
The water is green because it is sulfurous. The sulfur is what makes the water healing.
The white part is steam. I just bent over the water to get a picture and so the steam was taken as well.
Bench people used to sit on if they wanted to just look and gaze at the bath or if they were waiting their turn.
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