One Week . . .

A Candy Shop for Bookworms

Right by the Church of St. Edward the Martyr, there are two lovely bookstores that sell old books: the Haunted Bookshop and G. David.

They are wonderful places to visit, especially if it's raining outside . . . like it was today. The smell of memory and antiquity fills the air, and knowing that some of the books you handle are older than the American Revolution makes you realize that you're holding history in your hands.

Like in G. David, for example. I was handling a volume of Shakespeare's plays that was printed in 1734!

Anyway, being in antique bookshops makes me act like a Primary girl walking to Sunday School--I'm very reverent. I speak in hushed tones. I run my hand gently across the spines of the books and carefully take them off of the shelves. I turn the pages slowly.

There are treasures in these bookshops. In the Haunted Bookshop, I found a first edition of C.S. Lewis's A Horse and His Boy. Price: About 200 pounds. (Just a little out of my budget.) But it was special just to handle it in my hands.

G. David had a well-preserved copy of The House at Pooh Corner. That was a beauty to see.

G. David also had first-edition copies of The Lord of the Rings. Those were behind a glass case, so I couldn't handle them (sigh). I felt kind of like a child going Christmas window-shopping and stopping outside the toy store, nose pressed to the glass.

Such beautiful, beautiful books.

London Calling

Sorry it’s been awhile. My computer was sick. But now, through a myriad of tender mercies and an amazing friend who has an amazing, incredibly smart younger brother who can fix my computer while I'm in England they're in Utah (that experience deserves a blog post too . . . but no time right now), I am back online. Which has its pros and cons. But mostly pros.

Anyhoo. As promised, my trips to London:

I was in London the past two weekends, and I had a marvelous time. My first trip was with PKP, and this past weekend I was with my Nana. Both times reinforced my decision that I’m going to come back here someday.

Highlights of my London trips:

7/31-

Houses of Parliament Tour=AWESOME! We got to see both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords was very ornate, grandiose, and everything was maroon. The House of Commons was a lot simpler, and everything was green. It was neat to hear the history behind some of the pomp and circumstance of a few of the ceremonies, particularly when the Queen opens Parliament. I also thought it was so cool to be in the same chambers where women finally got the right to vote in Britain, and where the Stamp Act and Sugar Act were passed. The history in the Houses of Parliament was almost tangible in some places. No pictures of the tour itself (they're not allowed), but here's one of us waiting to start the tour:

We're all really excited because Jeff was able to score a ticket.

Seeing Big Ben. I’ve always wanted to see it, and now I finally got my chance! I don’t know how many photos I snapped of it. There were a lot. I know it's very much a cliche, but that doesn't matter to me. It's beautiful, and so quintessentially London. I love it.

Peek-a-boo!

n Eating lunch at Trafalgar Square. I love Trafalgar Square. I think it’s my favorite place in London that I’ve been to so far. I loved being able to sit up on Nelson’s Column and watch the city go by. I also was forced to climb on one of the lions for a group photo. I don’t do very well with heights/balancing, and when you put those two fears together, you’ve got a frightened Megan. But Jen forced me to get on, and the boys pushed me up there, so I had no choice. And I was glad that I was forced to forget about my fear. It was definitely worth it. (So thanks, Jen. :))

Trafalgar Square

Seeing the Peter Pan statue. I’ve always loved the story of Peter Pan. In fact, he was my first crush. I know that he’s a ladies’ man (or a ladies’ boy, I guess . . . as much as you can be for a twelve-year-old—but now that I think of it, I’ve known a few in my time). Wendy, the mermaids, and faeries all love him—as evidenced by this statue—but I couldn’t help myself. I always wished that he’d fly me away to Neverland. Anyway, enough reminiscing. I really enjoyed seeing the statue. And singing “You Can Fly” to myself . . . and out loud. Ahhhh, nostalgia.
Peter's Admirers

n Seeing Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre! I had a “nerd moment” at the Globe. Being an English major, it’s expected to happen. I mean, Shakespeare’s plays were performed at the Globe! I was basking in the light of great literature. I didn’t necessarily like being a groundling and standing for three hours (next time I go, I’m paying the extra money for a seat), and the play itself was okay—the performance was great, play was just okay, in my opinion—but I was in the Globe, people! That, I believe, qualifies for a nerd moment.

Sarah Shumway and I having a nerd moment.

8/06—8/08

Last weekend, I got to explore London with my Nana. I had a really great time with her. It was really special getting to spend that time with Nana in a city that I’m beginning to love more and more.

Highlights:

British Museum and National Gallery: I got my culture fix. I know this is cliché, but I really did enjoy seeing the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. So, so cool. I also liked seeing the mummies. The National Gallery was incredible, too. So many beautiful paintings.

Imperial War Museum: This museum is very cool. Nana and I were very impressed by the the quality of the exhibitions. There was a "Secret World" exhibition that I really enjoyed, especially because I'm taking a "Spooks and Spies" class at Cambridge.

War Horse: This is a fairly new play on the West End. And it was incredible. Very moving, extremely professional, really good soundtrack. Go see it if you get the chance.

Sleeping in a nice bed: This one doesn't need any explanation.

Spending time with Nana: I am so grateful that I was able to spend this time with Nana. I had a great time seeing the sights with her and talking with her. I'm so grateful for her generosity.

Pictures of Nana and I:

(They're out-of-order because Blogger is dumb. End of story.)

The "Parting of the Ways"-- right before I went back up to Cambridge

In front of the National Gallery

Matching in blue at the British Museum

Coming Soon . . .

. . . will be my blog post about my Saturday trip to London.

Too many papers to write, too many essays to read at the moment.

But for the moment, let me just say that I absolutely loved it. I love London.











Also, do you want to hear a dirty little secret? I bought a jar of Nutella yesterday--for stressful days, you know? And I ate the entire jar. Yesterday. All by myself.

Aragog

Warning: This post is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Seriously. If you don't like bug stories and/or have arachnophobia, you should not read this post. You have now been warned.

I don't think that I've mentioned the bugs here. But they're everywhere. I'm always finding them crawling on my skin, in my hair . . . it's really gross, actually. But you just can't get rid of them.

The worst are the spiders. I've seen some of the biggest spiders in my life here. They like to hide out in the bathroom. I get goosebumps just thinking about them. *Shiver*

Well, this afternoon, a daughter of Shelob decided to camp out on my bedroom ceiling. It scared me to see it up there, but I couldn't do anything about it, because I had to run to class.

When I got back to my apartment this evening, it was still there. Except it had moved to a different part of the ceiling. I was actually a bit relieved that it was still there. I know that sounds weird, but I was glad that I could see it, instead of being scared half-to-death that it was hiding out in my sheets.

So I decided to be brave and kill it. Except my version of bravery means throwing an old, empty contact solution case (which I had meant to throw out yesterday) at the spider on the wall, in hopes that it would move down just a bit so I could stand on a chair and then smash it with a cardboard cereal box.

Brilliant plan, I know.

But my aim's not very good. And when the case did hit close to the spider, the spider didn't even move. Or at least, so slightly that it didn't look as though it had moved at all. I threw the contact case at the spider at least a dozen times. And then, the spider fell down the wall and onto the floor.

I did what you'd expect me to do--I freaked out and tried smashing it with the heel of one of my pumps. Except the spider liked to hide in the corners of the baseboards, and I couldn't reach it. So I kept trying to scare it with my shoe so that it would move out into the open, and then smash it with something flat and heavy.

But the spider would have none of it and dashed off into a corner. I was too chicken to try and get it out, so I went over to Sarah and asked if she had any spider-killing tools. She grabbed two pieces of paper and then went over to the spider's "lair." She was going to get it to move out into the open (brave girl) and I was going to smash it with my flat and heavy object (a converter box).

We freaked out everytime the spider moved, but it was still running along the baseboards. Finally, Sarah prodded it just enough that it moved out onto the carpet. We were freaking out and moving away from it. I still had my pump and was hitting the floor frantically, trying to smash the spider.

And I did. A flood of relief washed over me.

And then Sarah started screaming. I thought it was because I had killed the spider and it looked really ugly on the carpet (it really, truly did. Yuck.). But then she cried, "Open up your sink! Turn on your sink! I need to wash my face!" She started splashing hot water onto her face, and then I realized: When I had smashed the spider, spider guts had splashed onto her!

Now it was my turn to scream. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!! So gross!!!!!!!! I felt so, so, SO bad. Sarah kept saying it was all right, but it's not! It's disgusting! Eww, eww, eww!!!!!

Anyway, there's the story. We killed Aragog. And it was probably the grossest thing that I've ever done in my life.

I'm still shivering all over. I hate spiders. "Why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies'?"

Food, Glorious Food

I know that I already have a post about food (kind of). But this post will be ALL about the food I eat here, because my Aunt Stephanie asked about it. And I think it's worthy of a blog post.

I usually eat in the King's College Cafeteria. There's been some discussion about the food here. And we've decided that the food that we eat on a regular basis in the cafeteria is different from American food in three main ways:

1. The meat is fattier . . . and usually overcooked.

2. The food is greasier.

3. The food is blander. They just don't use very much seasoning.

That doesn't mean that the food here is bad. However, the Brits really aren't the greatest chefs. I'm not usually impressed with the lunch and dinner selection at King's. And I'll be glad to eat some homecooked American food when I get home.

Don't get me wrong, I have had incredible things to eat whilst here. But those things are usually not in the King's College Cafeteria.

English Foods that I Love to Eat:

- Yogurt (spelled yoghurt here): I love British yogurt. It's not as sweet as American yogurt, but it's creamier and I just like it more than American yogurt. I've also discovered that I like rice pudding. Yum.

- Chocolate: Galaxy, Cadbury, Thornton's . . . mmm. A lot better than American chocolate. It's creamier and richer. Hershey's doesn't even compare. Dove is probably the closest thing to European chocolate in the states.

- Pizza: We went to Pizza Express one night and got individual pizzas. They were about the size of a medium pizza in the States (about 10 pieces), and I ate almost all of it in one sitting. But I didn't feel sick or even too full afterwards. The pizza here is not nearly as thick, greasy, or as cheesy as in the States.

- Sainsbury's Yogurt and Raspberry Crisp Cereal: Heaven in a box. It's incredibly delicious and addicting.

Very "British" foods that I've eaten:

-Meat Pies: Remember when I went to Oxford and we went to that "Pieminister's" place? Those were really good. They had this mashed pea stuff on top of the pie. I was skeptical of it at first, but it actually ended up tasting pretty good. Not as good as the pie, but pretty good!

Silly picture of me eating the meat pie

- Fish-n-Chips: I just posted about eating fish-n-chips earlier this week. They were yummy. But make sure to ask the locals about which fish-n-chips shop is good, as not all fish-n-chips shops are created equal.


Another silly picture of me. But I'm eating fish-n-chips this time.
One more thing: Some budding entrepreneur should open a Sno-Cone shack in Cambridge. I have a feeling it would do well. Just sayin'.

On Top of the World

I've been on top of the King's College Chapel Roof.

How cool is that?! Not very many people can say that . . . not even if they go to Cambridge as an undergraduate!

The Programme Assistants for PKP are given permission to take students on roof tours. Usually only fellows can go up to the roof, but the PAs were given permission by a fellow. So we are able to take place in a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity while we're participating in a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity. Pretty awesome.

View from the roof

Me on the roof

It was scary being on top of the roof. I'm not a fan of heights, and my shoes were slippery. (They're good walking shoes, especially for two pounds, but not good for walking on lead roofs.) So I didn't do a ton of actual walking on the roof. I did a bit of standing, but every time I tried to take a step, I started slipping. So I preferred just sitting, or shakily standing.

Sitting on the roof

Almost sliding down the roof. (I didn't do it . . . I mean, I would have been fine, but the roof was very hot and I almost had a heart attack from feeling the roof slip away from my feet, even if it was just for a moment.)
It was really neat to be up there, though. The view was incredible, and it was so neat to be on top of the city and the colleges of Cambridge. It made me think about how often, it is by facing our fears and climbing to the top of our mountain (or rooftop) that we can really gain the perspective we need. Being on top of King's College Chapel made me view the world of Cambridge that I've been living in for the past four weeks in a different way. I could see out: I was able to see the panoramic view of my world--of Cambridge. And seeing the whole picture gave me a better sense of the remarkable place where I'm living and the experiences that I'm having.
These last few weeks at Cambridge have been incredible for me. They've been exhilarating, terrifying, fun, humbling, and exciting. I've definitely felt growing pains. But through these experiences, I'm learning more about myself. I'm learning about how to handle situations better. I'm learning how to listen. I'm gaining courage.
These experiences might just be bits and pieces at the moment; snatches of memories, remembered quotations, thoughts forming into ideas. But at the end of my adventure, I'll metaphorically climb the roof of King's once more, and I'll be able to see the whole picture. I have a feeling that the panorama of my experiences here will be a beautiful sight to see.