Its been a while...

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind and it has been a while since I've had time to blog.  But, this relaxing, rainy London Saturday is the perfect time to get back on the ball!

Last weekend I took day trips to Warick Castle and Stratford-on-Avon, as well as Stonehenge and Salisbury.  Stratford was a great little town that was, of course, the home of William Shakespeare.  It was really neat to see where he was born and buried and see the surroundings that he might have seen.  Sunday was a wonderfully relaxing day trip, as Salisbury was a sleepy town where we had plenty of time to explore and enjoy a long cup of tea after seeing the iconic Stonehenge. 

The internship is still going well.  I am enjoying it more now that I am in the swing of things.  The highlight of this week was a domestic violence awareness training I went to with my supervisor.  She was running this training for interpreters who might encounter this issue in their work.  It was really interesting and fun to hang out with people from all over the world.  Many of them shared aspects of domestic violence that are different in their countries, and how certain behaviours are interpreted there.  It put a unique spin on the training and spurred great discussion.

Another highlight from this week was seeing Sir Ian McKellen live on stage! I got cheap tickets to see "Waiting for Godot" in which he is one of the stars.  It was a fabulous production, and he was mesmerizing! We had good seats, but were toward the back, but his facial expressions and emotion carried all the way back to us! His character, Gogo was also really funny.  The show was also very thought provoking.  In all honsety I hadn't known anything about it before booking the tickets (except that Gandalf was in it) but was really drawn in.  It is basically a play with no plot, just two men literally waiting for someone named Godot.  But in this simple story are wrapped fears about lonliness, death, pain and the strength of love and friendship.  It was all together fantastic!

And that brings me to today! My roommates and I spent the morning exploring the exciting, hip and funky Camden market, and then went down to Platform 9 3/4.  Sadly, the Hogwarts Express wasn't running, but we got some cute pictures anyway! Then my roommate Marissa and I went to the British Library which, we both agreed, was the most fantastic activity we have done in London (and it was free too!).  They have on display documents like the original Beowulf manuscript, works handwritten by Jane Austen, handwritten compositions by Handel and Mozart (including Handel's "Messiah") and Aesop's Fables.  We also saw the Gutenberg Bible, a copy of the Magna Carta, the original "Alice and Wonderland" and DaVinci's theories about the moon.  My personal favorite (of course) were handwritten lyrics by Paul McCartney and John Lennon for "Help!" and "Yesterday."  It was incredible!!

This time next week my parents will be here! I can't wait to show them around this wonderful city!

The Internship Begins...

It has been a while since I last blogged, since I am getting used to this new stage of my program and adapting once again to working life! The internship phase is now in full swing and I'm liking my placement more and more everyday.  Two days a week I am with the legal team of the organization and the other two days I am at one of the organization's refuges (they don't use the term "shelter" here).  The refuge in particular has been interesting for me, since it is organized very differently than the ones I have worked in before.  The women have their own apartments, where they can stay for around 1 year, so they have a lot more freedom and privacy than at a shelter where they are surrounded by other people all the time.  It is like the transitional housing programs in the US, except that these are women who just left their batterers.  I feel like this longer time frame may make it easier for women to move on, and make it less likely for them to go back to their abusers. It also could make it difficult though, if what a woman really needs is a strong support system of other women around all the time.  I am really interested to see how it works in more detail.

I am also still loving my British Youth Culture class! We took a field trip to Abbey Road Studios on Monday, which was incredibly exciting!! We were just walking down the road, and all of a sudden we were crossing the zebra stripes! It was awesome. To be in a place that I knew for certain all four of the Beatles were, spent a lot of creative time, and loved, was so moving.  The studio is still in use for recording and so we weren't able to go inside, but just being there was enough.  It was interesting to be there at this time, when the studios were just saved by the British government.  The announcement that Abbey Road was going to be sold caused quite an uproar over here, as it is such an important landmark and part of British culture.  Watching the public reaction in the news was really interesting and just illustrated how important the Beatles really were and still are to the British people. 


This past weekend I took day trips from London to Leeds Castle and Canterbury on Saturday, and Bath and Avebury on Sunday.  Both were really interesting and we drove through some really beautiful English countryside on the way to our destinations.  There is so much to see in London and England that I am excited to be staying in the UK for the next few weeks exploring!