Today we had class at Anglo American and since the tube strike was still going on this morning we had to figure out another way to get there. We waited outside for some of our classmates that looked like they knew what they were doing and followed them to a bus stop. We took the #38 bus and actually made it to class very close to on time. Traffic is absolutely absurd because of the strike and it took us about 15 minutes to go 1 block!
Nine of us presented today, and it was really good to hear stories about people’s weekends, to see their sketches, and to hear their thoughts on life while they’ve been here. I went last this morning and talked about Windsor and Hampton Court, but I mostly talked about progress in London. The city is constantly being renovated, restored, and rebuilt and there’s constant noise from trucks, bulldozers, and jackhammers. Cranes and scaffolding are everywhere and they block your view of so much. We’ve talked about progress in such a positive way while we’ve been here, and yet everyday we’ve gone to see and been enamored by something so very old. It’s such a strange juxtaposition that we really don’t get in the U.S.—not to the extent that it is here, anyway. I did that and then read a poem that I wrote and I think it went well. Here it is just in case you want to read it:
Grass struggles to remain falsely soft and plush
But it can only do so much
As a refuge for so many.
Trees all look the same,
New life that was sewn after calculated destruction.
Does the breeze that touches our faces
Come from a place we can only name?
Or is it the constant breath of buses, cars—
Monsters we’ve created?
The pigeons are accustomed to their lives.
They do not go where it is clean.
They have been tamed to eat what has been thrown away.
Nothing is really fresh.
It is all crowded, clouded, made for convenience.
Everything that is given is also taken.
Modernization or desecration?
What is your language London?
Is it the quiet echo in the Cathedral’s Crypt,
Or is jack hammering your native tongue?
Some big life questions that I’ve had while I’ve been here are about the fact that we’re so far out of harmony with nature today. Not just in London, but in cities everywhere. We’re changing God’s creation to adapt to what we think we need. But have our machines made life easier, or have we just created more work that we think has to be done? When we’re walking on concrete roads, who’s path are we taking? And when we speed by things and places so quickly, what are we missing? Is this what was intended for us? Questions with no answers.
So, yay! The biggest part of my grade here is done, and I do think that it went pretty well. I just have a few other small assignments that aren’t due until July 6th, but I’m going to try and finish them before I leave while everything is fresh.
After presentations we had a guest speaker—Andrew Waugh from a local architecture firm. I thought before he came in that we were going to be bored to tears by another stuffy architect, but he was actually really interesting and very entertaining. He talked to us about a new material that his company has discovered and used in a recent project. It’s this wood material from Austria that doesn’t use any chemicals so it’s very eco-friendly. He explained that it’s similar to plywood but it’s actually more wood than plastic and the plant in Austria that makes it is totally green. They’ve recently finished the most eco-friendly and tallest timber building in London out in Shoreditch about two months ago. He was such a funny and nice guy, and you could tell that this development was so crucial for his firm and so innovative because he was so excited to tell us about it. It was really cool to hear about all the ways that they’re being more environmentally friendly during the building process too.
When class was over we had our last tutorial group sessions—and this time I was with Fred. He took us out to lunch at his favorite little Korean restaurant, the Bibimbab Café. We all got their signature dish—bibimbab. It was pretty good and Fred footed the bill. We talked about poetry and how you can turn any observation into a line of poetry. I agree.
Once our groups were done we had a free afternoon and everyone scattered through
out the city. A few of us went to Trafalgar Square to just hang out and climb on the giant lion statues. Those gigantic lions were created by melting down weaponry and ammunition from WWII—very cool. It was a lot harder than I thought to climb up the monument, but luckily the boys helped us out. We took a bunch of silly pictures and then headed toward the Thames and the Globe Theatre. We didn’t go to the Globe, but stopped by to see what other shows were going to be on soon and then headed to this place called Vinopolis that the boys researched. We bought tickets to do a tour of the brewery and to do wine, beer, whiskey, rum, and absinthe tastings. We’re doing that on Sunday and I can’t wait!Then after tracking down a bus we headed back to Ability for the night, where Sara and I did a little research and made a to do list for our final week here. I just don’t want to leave wishing I’d done a certain thing—so I have a list!
Checking things off,
Whitney
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