(2-7)– I went back to Hyde Park by myself this morning and had a nice little run. I tried to go in a different direction than I have before. It didn’t work out as well as I hoped. I also started feeling a tiny bit sick today, so I was extra winded, but I pushed out a couple of miles and got to see the sun come up and some other cool stuff, such as this bronze Artemis Fountain (1861-1922) by Lady Feodora Gleichen and the beautiful but heart-wrenching stainless steel sculpture, 7 July Memorial (2009), commemorating the 52 lives lost during the 7 July 2005 bombings. It’s so sad and strange to me that you hear about acts of terror in America so often– yet so many other countries have been impacted in similar ways or even by the United States, and we don’t hear anything.
I got home from my run thinking through a lot and took some much-needed recovery time. It has only been two weeks and I’ve already felt a little worn thin at times. I woke up with the offer to go to the movies with a couple of my roommates, and we set out to see The Lighthouse, a horror/mystery/thriller flick starring William DaFoe and Robert Pattinson. The theatre we ended up at, Curzon, was weird by my American gaze– rather than a big Regal Theatres, this one opened into a bar/café full of strong pink neon and modern style decor.
The downstairs turned out to be the movie theatre, and when we went down it was basically a well-designed basement with nice chairs (although, sadly, not reclining) and a huge screen. I really liked the ambiance; it almost felt like I was in an arthouse theatre or a festival. Besides the physical room, the organization quietly played music before the previews, which, strangely, were really high-quality corporate advertisements followed by movie trailers coming to the theatre within the year.
The Lighthouse turned out to be a pretty interesting film. It’s definitely weird, but I think the story (and the many layers besides of plot, allusion, and reference) is engaging throughout and makes you think. You can’t really help but wonder what the director, Robert Eggers, was thinking when he put together this insane black-and-white masterpiece. Its images are Lovecraftian, Promethean, and yet somehow still modern. If you’re into movies that will basically leave you wondering what the hell you just watched, then this is one you’ll like for sure.
And then I “ended” the day with someone I was really looking forward to for most of the week! It was a drag show called the Klub Kids Comedy Queens, and it featured Katya, Manila Luzon, Nina West, Baga Chipz (all of Drag Race fame) as well as Lady Bunny and Sherry Vine. No one else on the trip really had as much of a vested interest in drag, so I ended up going alone. Using the tube alone wasn’t that scary since I’m used to it, and London’s public transit actually seems pretty safe to me, but when I got off outside of central London, I was a bit more afraid. The buildings were all ominous-looking highrise apartments, there wasn’t a ton of outdoor lighting, and there were a lot of people. It was actually kind of like Downtown Binghamton if you were trying to go to the bars.
But when I made it to the actual club, Troxy, it wasn’t that bad at all. As a venue, it reminded me of a theatre more than a bar. However, since the drinking age is 16 here, I grabbed a drink and waited for the show. By the time it started, I had talked to a guy next to me about his tattoos for a bit and felt a lot more comfortable.
The show itself was so full of Drag Race references and sex jokes that I don’t want to offend anyone with the videos I took, BUT suffice to say that the show went really well. I’m pretty sure I laughed continuously for longer than I thought I could. My seats weren’t the best, but they were still worth every penny!
Afterward, I went home to quickly charge my phone and ran into the boys I room with. The girls, I found out, had gone out together, so the four of us decided to go on our own as well. We ended up stopping at Craft Beer Co., which is only about a five-minute walk from the flat. I ended up getting this sort of gross, sort of nice fruity beer and chatting with the other three guys until the place closed. It was really nice and I’m glad I ended up going out with them, especially since I hadn’t been that close to them before. I hope that we can do something like that again later on in the semester.
(2-8)– I woke up early today with the girls and we went out to Notting Hill to grab Afternoon Tea. I’ve never really been a tea person (I’m more of a coffee ride n’ die), but for some reason, the English life has really sparked in me a flicker of love for the beverage. I never thought I could be so mesmerized my cream being poured into a teacup.
The neighborhood we ended up in was full of antiques and some really pretty looking architecture. I felt a bit like we were intruding on the upper-class territory, actually, until we stumbled on a HUGE crowd of what looked like college-age kids dressed in costumes and drinking. They were respectful and left the area pretty clean, but definitely changed my mind about where we were. It turns out they were Kiwis celebrating a New Zealand holiday called Waitangi Day, the celebration of the signing of the Waitangi Treaty, the entrance of the nation as a colony to the British Crown.
We chose a cute little tea place called the Candella Room, and we got the family-sized tea set, which came with two kinds of tea (fruity rosebud and vanilla rose), four sandwiches (cucumber and feta, tuna, salmon, and ham), sultana and plain scones, and three kinds of cake (chocolate, strawberry and Victoria Sponge). The sandwiches were cut into triangles and delicious flavour-wise; the scones melted in your mouth, especially with clotted cream and jam; and the cake was filling and sweet. It was such a good introduction– and relatively cheap– that we went to the store the next day and bought the ingredients to make our own scones.To walk off some of the calories, we walked over to Kensington Gardens. With the palace and the developed fields, it was all really pretty and idyllic, and even though it was a bit chilly, the sun was out, so we were pretty comfortable. The Palace looks interesting, but admission costs, so we opted out for today; most of the flowers, like the other parks, are also still not in bloom. I can only imagine what it’s like in the spring and summer, and I can’t wait to go back in a month or so and see what it’s really like.
The Queen Victoria statue (which was interestingly crafted by her daughter Princess Louise to celebrate the 50th year of her ruling), the Albert Memorial (commissioned by Victoria), and the Round Pond (full of the most beautiful-looking swans I’ve ever seen) are all beautiful in any weather. In fact, Nicole teared up a bit while we were at the Albert Memorial, because of how cerulean the sky looked, and how well it acted as a backdrop to the gold of the sculpture. I’m definitely going to catch a tube and go on a run out this way, and I’m sure I’ll find out more about the park then.(2-9)– I think whatever bug I caught is finally catching up to me today. After a couple days of feeling rough, I woke up with a headache and a sore throat. It seemed like I wasn’t alone, and most of us actually stayed in for most of the day and caught up on schoolwork. I managed to work up the energy to do my laundry and even talked to my mom over video chat for a while. Hopefully, I’ll wake up tomorrow feeling a little better!
Ethan Knox 
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