The Time I Finished My Study Abroad and Saw Westminster Abbey

After two solid days of studying biological profiling, trauma analysis, and bone cell histology, we took our final on Thursday morning. It was a relief to be done with our test, but I was sad to think it could be a long, long time before I ever return to the classroom in the Botany Building of Regent's College where we held lectures. 
Though I'd spent five weeks in London, I still hadn't seen Westminster Abbey. What better way to spend my last day in London then to see the famous, historic landmark? Between instinctively knowing which Tube line and stop to get off for the Abbey and not feeling the urge to take pictures of Big Ben when I passed it, I felt like a real Londoner. Entering Westminster Abbey, however, that feeling passed. Entering the Abbey completely takes your breath away. Grand, imposing, and lavishly decorated, these walls have seen a thousand years of English history: it has seen monarchs be crowned and wed (some more than once), and many, many, important people be interred in its floors and walls upon their deaths. Similar to St. George's Chapel in Windsor but on a greater scale, Westminster Abbey feels in many ways like a giant mausoleum. We saw the final resting places of Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary I, Mary, Queen of Scots, many Edwardian kings, and James VI of Scotland and I of England. We saw the graves and memorials of poets from Chaucer to Keats to Shakespeare; of composers such as Handel; of actors the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier; and of the famous scientists Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Everywhere you look in Westminster Abbey, there are inscriptions, tombs, and monuments to the dead. Some are plain and simple stone, others are gilded and brightly painted. Many of the coffins and tombs bear death masks of the people inside them. In every corner and on almost every inch of ground you can step on, there are plaques in memory of the individuals buried there.
It wasn't only famous dead people; we also saw the grand, mosaic-tiled stage where monarchs of England have been crowned for hundreds of years. It was a sobering moment thinking about how many centuries of history this building had seen and wondering how many more it would see in the future.
In the afternoon, all of us on the program met up for the last time in London at the Larrik, the pub around the corner from our flats where Mallory, Holly, and I had eaten dinner our first night in London so many weeks ago. We all got our grades from the final (all my studying paid off, I 4.0'd the class!), bought the professor a pint, and reminisced about our summer abroad in London. I couldn't believe it had gone so fast and that it was time to say goodbye to all my new friends until the fall.
On our last outing in London, some of us went to Hyde Park to wander around the scenic Serpentine and listen to the concert that was being thrown in honor of the Olympic Torch finally making it to London. The sun was just beginning to set as we waded through the Princess Diana memorial fountain, snapped pictures of the swans floating serenely down the Serpentine, and sang along to the concert in the distance. It was a perfect last night of an amazing summer in London. I hope to be back soon, but at least for the next two weeks I'll be able to live vicariously in London through watching the Olympics!

The Time I Sailed Down the Thames and Followed in the Footsteps of Jack the Ripper

Our last week in London turned out to be a week of excellent weather. It was finally warm and sunny, and we were thrilled when we got out of our Monday lecture early to take a river cruise down the Thames. We got on near Big Ben and the Parliament building, and enjoyed the sunshine on the top deck of the ship as it sailed to the Tower of London. On our way down river, we saw the London Eye, London Bridge, the original location of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the glass monstrosity that is the new Shard building, and, according to the tour guide, "Christopher Wren's last erection": a comically tall and shiny monument commemorating the Great Fire.
For dinner, some of us had the brilliant idea of going back to the Westfield Mall at Olympic Park for sushi. Little did we know, not only was it the rehearsal for Olympic Opening Ceremonies, one of the two Tube lines going to Olympic Park was shut down. The Tube, the Mall and the Park were beyond crowded, and we were seriously concerned about getting crushed in the throngs of people. The only plus was that it was impossible to get lost on the way. At every Tube station near Olympic Park, as well as at every corner above ground, there were police men and volunteers with megaphones and neon jackets pointing everyone toward the Park. That was in addition to the hundreds of bright pink signs that with arrows pointing "OLYMPIC PARK THIS WAY." Our efforts were rewarded with a Monday sushi special - every plate only 2.40! Score.
After dinner, we made our way to the East End of London for a Jack the Ripper Tour. Although it wasn't quite dark yet, it was still a little creepy as we followed our tour guide through back alleys and narrow streets to the locations where the bodies of four of the five Victorian-era prostitutes viciously murdered by the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, were found. Our tour guide projected the gory police photos of each of the women's bodies onto the sides of buildings, and we became aware that there are people in this world creepier than budding forensic anthropologists: some of the lovely people who were also on our tour snapped a worrisome amount of pictures of the disturbing crime scene photos.
After that tour, it was dark in the East End, and we were happy to travel home by Tube in a large group with our classmates.

The Time I Finally Went to Stonehenge

I've been waiting all summer to go to Stonehenge, and on the last Sunday of the program, my wish finally came true. After two long days of train stations, queues, and sightseeing, I was overjoyed to be taking a lovely air conditioned, tour guide-ed, bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath. Our tour guide, Lucy, pointed out significant buildings our entire way out of the city and gave us some historical background on Stonehenge, Bath, and random factoids about London, the British monarchy, and English expressions. Having her point out buildings of interest - Harrod's and the hotel where Kate Middleton spent the night before her wedding, for example - and explaining the significance of various statues and landmarks was so much nicer than our usual method of sightseeing: take pictures first, figure out what the heck it was we just saw later. We arrived at Stonehenge at about 10:30 in the morning.  For once in our entire English experience, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the fields were green, and the sheep were grazing. It was almost even warm out; I commend the sun on making a valiant effort. What struck me about the site as I looked around was the vast emptiness around it. The stones look small and almost out of place in the center of a landscape of highways and hilly, brown and green fields that go on as far as the eye can see. It was a bit surreal to see the crowds of tourists with cameras and headphones snapping pictures as they wandered slowly around the still, stone circle.  
After about an hour of admiring Stonehenge and pondering about the ancients who built it, we were back on the bus and off to Bath. The lovely Lucy informed us we had three hours in Bath - plenty of time, we thought, until we got there. There is so much to do and see in Bath: the ruins of an ancient Roman Bath, an imposing, medieval church in the center of town, a Georgian circus at the top of the hilly city, several small museums, and a sizable shopping district. We went first to the Roman Baths, where we got to see the ruins of what was once an impressive spa, heated by the natural hot springs that run beneath the city of Bath. The main bath was the largest, a huge, rectangular pool still running with hot water. Surrounding the pool were columns and archways made from the same yellowish-tan Bath stone the entire city is built from. We even stuck our toes in the water just to check the temperature - perfect for a bath, even if the water's slightly murky, greenish appearance made it a bit unappetizing. After the baths, we ran to the other side of town to visit the Jane Austen Center. The author lived in Bath for several years, and even used the city as the setting for two of her novels. We had a great time walking through the museum and looking at mannequins dressed in the fashions of Jane's time, sitting rooms set up according to scenes in the novels, and reading about the life of the famous author. We even got to have our pictures taken as we tried on bonnets and parasols, and had some almond cookies that would have been served with tea in Austen's time.
Between the Roman Baths, the Jane Austen Center, and wandering through the beautiful stone city of Bath, we had used up our three hours of sightseeing time and it was time to go back to the bus. Although it was easier and more relaxed to take a scheduled bus tour where we didn't have to worry about transportation or directions, if I came back to England, I would definitely go back to Bath and spend an entire day there. I wish I could have explored and seen more of what the city has to offer - especially the Georgian circus and the wide and varied shopping areas.  
When I got back to London, my busy weekend didn't end. I met up with my good friend Craig at the Shakespeare pub near Victoria train station. Over some delicious chicken and mushroom pie, I got to have a great conversation about school, life, and England with Craig, who was visiting London on a day off from his summer classes at Cambridge.
After such a long day, I was glad I knew the Tube system well enough not to have to think about how to get home. Maybe I'm almost a Londoner after all.

The Time I Couldn't Take Pictures at Windsor Castle

After taking a train out of London to see a palace on Friday, I took another train out of London to see a castle. Windsor Castle, to be precise; I think you may have heard of it. This train ride, however, was neither as fast nor as empty as the one to Hampton Court. We were lucky to get seats at all as we journeyed from Paddington Station to Slough to Windsor/Eton Central. The theme of crowds continued as we arrived in Windsor, a cute, cobblestoned town full of shops and pubs, standing ever in the shadow of the enormous Windsor Castle. Maybe it's because the Olympics are next week. Maybe it's because it was a Saturday in the summer. No matter what the reason, I have never seen such a quaint little town juxtaposed by so many massive crowds of people. I'm not sure if cars aren't allowed to drive through town, or if they are too afraid to try, because the streets and all the sidewalks for a good two blocks were filled with people waiting to get in to see the castle. One of the police officers, whose sole job was to direct visitors into the correct queue, exasperatedly informed me that on that particular day, 586 language students were taking a field trip to see Windsor Castle. After almost an hour in the queue, we finally made it into the castle, where I made my next mistake: after seeing the daunting line for the free audio guides, I decided to be my own tour guide throughout the Castle. I really regret this, as there are few plaques or signs to tell you exactly what you are looking at once inside. Not much of Windsor Castle is open to the public, as it is still used as a place of residence for Her Majesty, the Queen. In fact, it is her favorite residence. According to the flag bearing Queen Elizabeth's coat of arms, the Queen was actually in residence while we were there, no doubt enjoying the relative solitude of her private apartments. What we were able to see inside Windsor Castle were: the beautiful flowered and waterfall-ed garden built where a moat once stood, the grenadier standing guard in the Lower Ward, St. George's Chapel, the State Apartments, and Queen Mary's Dollhouse. The State Apartments were, as with all the castles and palaces we have seen in the past few weeks, quite lavish and stunning. My favorite areas: the Waterloo room, a giant dining room featuring a massive wooden dining table watched by the portraits of famous men involved in the Battle of Waterloo; Queen Victoria's "nick room," full of exotic treasures, crowns and swords that were "presented to" (read: taken by) Her Majesty; and, my favorite, St. George's Hall. The ceiling of St. George's Hall features the coat of arms of every Knight of the Garter in English history. Since the shields are numbered and associated with names, we had fun picking out Sir Charles Brandon's (a friend of Henry VIII and a main character on the Tudors), Sir Thomas Boleyn's, and - of course - Prince William's coats of arms. Queen Mary's dollhouse was also a fun exhibit; the mansion of a dollhouse featured working electricity and plumbing, exquisite to-scale furniture, and more rooms than I have in my real house. The most exciting place we visited at Windsor, however, was St. George's Chapel. More a royal mausoleum/mini cathedral than a chapel, St. George's is the resting place of many Georgian Kings, as well as the Queen Mother and King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II's father. Probably the best part of the day was when I discovered I was inadvertently standing on King Henry VIII - and his beloved third wife, Queen Jane's - grave. Unfortunately for my camera-addicted self, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside any building in Windsor. Before we could even think about testing the seriousness of this rule, we watched a matronly tour guide roughly snatch the camera out of a rule-breaker's hands and scold him severely for trying to snap a picture of the statue of Queen Victoria inside the State Apartments. Guess I will be Googling pictures for my scrapbook. After a very, very long day of pushing and being pushed through crowds, we stopped for a bite to eat a local pub, the Carpenter's Arms. Apart from having delicious food (try the chicken and mushroom pie), the Nicholson is a historical building; from 1509 until the 19th century when it was bricked up, the tunnel in the basement of the pub led straight into the Castle. Links of the Day: Windsor Castle: http://www.windsor.gov.uk/things-to-do/windsor-castle-p43983 St. George's Chapel: http://www.windsor.gov.uk/things-to-do/st-georges-chapel-p45153 Mary's Dollhouse: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/berkshire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9101000/9101131.stm The Carpenter's Arms: http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thecarpentersarmswindsor/

The Time I Went to Hampton Court Palace

On Friday, I made the trek from Waterloo station all the way to Hampton Court Palace. The train remained nearly empty throughout the entire half-hour trip, a pleasant change from the overcrowded Olympic Tube routes inside London. My experience at Hampton Court Palace was about as perfect as anyone could ask - besides my friend and I, there seemed to be no one else there, save for one tour group. We felt like we were on a private tour as we visited the historic palace where monarchs of England from Henry VIII to Charles I and II to William and Mary have resided. There was an extensive exhibit about Henry VIII's early life; we got to see where the Princess Mary once stayed, the great dining hall where the Tudors and their courtiers once feasted, even Henry's wine cellar and kitchens. We were literally the only ones walking through King William III's apartments, and the Lower Orangery, which now houses Mantegna's Triumphs of Caesar. An interesting new attraction set up in Queen Mary II's apartments was an art exhibit called "The Wild, the Beautiful, and the Damned." The exhibit featured paintings of dozens of royal mistresses throughout history (particularly those of Charles II, the Merry King) and took two major approaches to the subject: the various manners in which artists portrayed the women (anywhere from explicitly promoting their sexual availability to painting them as Saints and Madonnas), and the social advantages and stigmas the kings' mistresses would have experienced. More impressive than anything we saw inside, however, were the vast and numerous gardens. We saw the formal gardens, with gray gravel walkways and pruned trees shaped cartoonishly like triangles dotting the green lawns. We saw the Tudor rose gardens, full of roses in every imaginable color, still mostly in bloom and cocooned from the outside world behind red brick walls. We saw the privy gardens, full of neatly arranged and manicured hedges and colorful flowers that geometrically complimented the fountain full of coy in the center. We also got to see the Great Vine, a gigantic grape vine that has been producing fruit since it was planted in 1769. The trip to Hampton Court Palace is worth going just to see the breathtaking gardens. Though we spent hours at the Palace, we didn't even see everything there was to see. Hunger soon got the best of us, and we ended up taking the train and the Tube all the way to Stratford, where Olympic Park and the new Westfield Mall are located. Now, I've been to various malls in various big cities in my life, but I have never seen anything quite like the mall in front of Olympic Park. There are touch screen maps located throughout the three-story shopping mall, which houses restaurants serving every kind of food you can think of, a grocery store, and every clothing and shoe store you can possibly imagine. That's not even including "The Street," the outdoor avenue of shops, restaurants and bars that separate the monstrous mall from the gateway to Olympic Park. There was even a movie theater on the very top floor with touch screen kiosks where you could buy tickets and pick out your own seats within the theater. Being the opening day of The Dark Knight Rises (and being curious about how the self-serve kiosks worked) we couldn't resist buying tickets to see it. Highly recommend the film, by the way. After the movie, we went in search for the best store from which to view Olympic Park. Because of security issues, you can't get very close to the actual park without special IDs or tickets, but from some of the department store windows you can get a pretty good view of some of the buildings. As it turns out, the best view is from the Olympic Merchandise store on the top floor. I guess we could have figured that one out... Finally, we finished off our long day with something sweet and familiar - Pinkberry frozen yogurt. Who says you can't have dessert for dinner? Links of the Day: Hampton Court Palace: http://www.hrp.org.uk/hamptoncourtpalace/stories The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned: http://www.hrp.org.uk/NewsAndMedia/hcpresources/TheWildtheBeautifulandtheDamned Westfield Mall at Olympic Park: http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shopping/Westfield-Stratford-City/41b5a/

The Time I Had an Insane Sightseeing Weekend

As you may have noticed, I've avoided posting about this past weekend; not because it wasn't fun or exciting, but simply because I don't even know where to begin. In three days, I went to Hampton Court Palace, Olympic Park, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath, watched The Dark Knight Rises, AND I managed to have dinner with my lovely friend Craig, who is currently taking classes at Cambridge. How did I accomplish so much sightseeing in one weekend? My friends said I was crazy. I think they're right. With under a week left until our program ends and I leave London for the summer, I wanted to see and do as much as I could during my last weekend. I wish I had the time to write in detail about everywhere I went, but unfortunately time isn't something I have on my side. I'm actually writing this post while on a break from studying for our final exam (if you ever need to know the difference between perikymata and striae of Retzius, I'm your girl). I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for my faithful readers - here's looking at you, Mom and Dad - but for now, I'll just be sharing the highlights of the weekend in the following three posts.

The Time I Touched a 350,000 Year Old Hand Axe and (almost) Sang Along to Sweeney Todd

People always say that one day in the British Museum isn't enough, and they're right. On Wednesday afternoon, our class returned to the British Museum to spend more time exploring its many exhibits. Since I, along with several of my classmates, work in the Nubian Bioarchaeology Lab at MSU, I decided to start with the Sudan and Nubia exhibit. At MSU, the remains we analyze are from the fourth cataract of the Nile, and date to the Medieval Christian Period of Nubia. Although we know and have been given some historical background pertinent to the society in our collection, the our focus in the lab is not primarily historical. Because of this, it was very interesting to find information that was familiar as well as new, as the exhibit spanned from prehistorical to Islamic Nubia. Some familiar things: when discussing burials in the Christian era, the exhibit displayed some of the shrouds that individuals were buried in. In cleaning the remains in the MSU lab, we have seen evidence of some of those shrouds. As for new information, it was interesting to learn about the history of Nubia (a region in southern Egypt and northern Sudan along the Nile River) before and after the period our collection comes from. Something I found particularly interesting was the Egyptian depiction of Nubian people. On display were several Egyptian paintings in which the Nubians were stereotypically identified by their dark skin, feathered headdresses, and kilts made of leopard skin. Apart from the Nubian exhibit, I explored several other areas of the British Museum. In the Mesopotamian exhibit I saw artifacts recovered from the Great Death Pit at Ur, where seventy servants had been killed, preserved, and dressed in finery to accompany their dead queen to the afterlife. In the Britain exhibit, which spanned from Roman to Medieval times, I saw Lindow Man, a first-century mummy pulled out of a peat bog in Northwest England. I also saw the world's most famous chess set, the Lewis chess set, carved out of whale teeth and walrus tusks and dating from the 1100's. Models of these pieces were even used in the Harry Potter movie when Ron and Harry play wizard's chess. At different points in the museum, British Museum employees had set up "touch stations" where patrons were invited to hold and touch some of the artifacts. I got to touch: a 350,000 year old hand axe, a necklace from the Solomon Islands containing the teeth of over five dolphins, and an ancient Egyptian cosmetic container. Not bad for one afternoon at the British Museum. Later that night, our group went to the Adelphi Theatre to see Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was my second West End show in two nights, lucky me! For those of you who know the (rather gory) plot, the special effects employed in the stage production were amazing and completely did it justice. I'm not sure I want to know how many fake blood packets they go through in one show, but I imagine it's a lot. A special treat was that Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney's accomplice and landlady, was played by Imelda Staunton. Some of you may have seen her as Professor Umbridge in the Harry Potter film series? The whole production was great, and I had to actively try not to sing along to the songs I knew. Well, not loudly, at least. Links of the Day: Lindow Man: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/l/lindow_man.aspx Lewis Chess Set: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/young_explorers/discover/a_closer_look/lewis_chessmen.aspx Imelda Staunton: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001767/ Sweeney Todd: http://sweeneytoddwestend.com/

The Time I Saw a West End Show and Became a Tube Expert

Today we returned to class in the Botany building of Regent's College. After lunch, guest lecturer Dr. Rebecca Redfern, curator of human osteology at the Museum of London, came to talk to us about the museum's Centre for Human Bioarchaeology. The Centre houses the largest collection of human remains from a single city in the world. Dating from prehistory until the 1850's, the Museum of London's collection has thousands upon thousands of skeletons belonging exclusively to Londoners. This collection, which spans over a thousand years, has allowed for detailed analyses to be made about changes in health and demography over the course of London's history. From Romans to plague victims to Victorians and refugees from the Great Famine of Ireland, the skeletal analyses done on each individual in the collection is available in database form for researchers around the world to access. Because our scheduled Jack the Ripper tour got unexpectedly canceled, after class we decided on a whim to see if we could get tickets for the musical Wicked tonight instead. We embarked on a quest to our old friend Stargreen Box Office in Oxford Circus, to see if anyone there could help us book some seats. In case you ever go looking for it, Stargreen is a tiny shop hidden along the cobblestone path right around the corner from the Oxford Circus Tube stop (on the corner of Oxford and Regent Street). For some reason, we had had a very difficult time finding it when we got tickets for the Wireless Festival earlier in the trip, but luckily we knew right where it was this time around. The friendly staff helped us find amazing, last-minute seats to see the show at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The Apollo Victoria, as you may know, is a West End Theatre, sort of like the London equivalent to Broadway. Fun fact about the West End: it's the most expensive place in the world to rent office space. We ended up getting fourth-row floor seats where we got to see all of the action up close. The actors all had incredible voices, the costuming was outstanding, and there were lots of impressive and complicated special effects. It was a great show and so worth it! On the way to and from the show, Mallory and I didn't even need to look at the Tube map or read any signs to know where we needed to go. We also got asked for directions on the Tube at least five separate times. There are only two possible explanations for this: 1) We look like we know exactly what we're doing because we're Tube Experts or 2) There are so many hopelessly lost foreigners in town that they can't recognize real Londoners and we look friendly. Since we gave everyone the correct directions to their desired Tube destinations every time, I personally am going to go with the first explanation. Does this mean I'm practically a Londoner? Links of the Day: Dr. Rebecca Redfern: http://museumoflondon.academia.edu/RebeccaRedfern Museum of London Centre for Human Bioarchaeology: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Collections-Research/LAARC/Centre-for-Human-Bioarchaeology/ Stargreen Box Office: http://www.stargreen.com/about/contact Wicked!: http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/

The Time I Got Lost in the Gordon Museum

I'll start off with a little cheer because I am finally caught up with my blog! Today was our first day of class in London after returning from Bournemouth. We were back in the Botany building of Regent's College, and today Dr. Fenton lectured about the Michigan State Forensic Anthropology Lab, blunt force trauma, and his own research on fracture initiation sites in infants and children. In the afternoon, we made the journey toward London Bridge and the King's College campus for our tour of the Gordon Museum. Similar to the Wellcome museum, the Gordon Museum houses a large collection of human tissue and organs. Unlike the Wellcome Museum, however, the Gordon Museum contains almost exclusively pathological specimens. While the Wellcome caters mostly to surgical students, the Gordon exists primarily to provide examples of various pathological conditions to physicians and medical students. One of its early functions was to introduce army doctors to the symptoms and signs of various tropical diseases. Another difference between the two museums is that the Gordon is considerably more massive than the Wellcome. The museum is set up in a kind of clover shape. Four circular balconied passageways loop in circles that meet in a middle spiraling staircase. These loops extend downwards three floors. Like the Wellcome, the specimens, suspended in their glass jars, are organized mainly anatomically. There is a section for central nervous system pathology, bone pathology, breast, endocrine, teeth, heart, etc. There were also special sections of forensic interest - poisonings, trauma, means of identification, and more. The most remarkable part of the Gordon Museum, apart from its sheer size, is the literature available on each of the specimens. Each glass jar is labeled only with a letter, signifying its category, and a number. These codes can then be looked up in large binders or on computers, and all the information available that is related to the particular case comes up. In addition to the clinical diagnoses and descriptions of pathologies, there is often a description of the patient's original complaint, the doctors' notes, and whether the patient lived or died. The specimens range from very old (1608 at the earliest) to very recent (about a month ago). While the older specimens don't exactly have the concern of patient confidentiality and thus may have a lot of personal information about the patients available, some of the newer specimens that were taken from live donors (for example, tumors or amputated limbs) are more cautious with their information. Some of the most interesting cases I saw today included bezoars - messes of non-food objects pulled from the stomachs of patients with the compulsion to eat hair, twigs, leaves, and even metal springs. I saw an encephalitic skull, several times normal size. I saw countless misaligned fractures, tumors, and infections. The effects of different kinds of poison was morbidly interesting, and made me want to avoid ever making any mortal enemies. Probably the most fascinating element within the museum, however, was the modern mummy. A few years ago, a man volunteered to be mummified after his death using techniques dating from ancient Egypt. His cloth-wrapped body lies within a glass box almost casually placed among the bookshelves. As the title of this post suggests, I did get lost in the Gordon Museum today. After several hours of contemplating the specimens, I had quite forgotten that we had entered through the curator's office on the second floor. I spent a good amount of time, then, at the end of my visit, wandering around the ground floor looking for the way out. It was actually quite disconcerting walking in circles as the historical portraits of pre-operative tumor patients leered down at me from the walls. Finally, though, I made it out and back onto the cold and rainy streets of London. Whew! Again, photos were not allowed in this museum, but I think it will be quite difficult to get some of the images of today out of my head. Links of the Day: The Gordon Museum of Pathology: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/gordon/index.aspx The Modern Mummy: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/gordon/news/mummy.aspx

The Time I Saw the Crown Jewels and Sea Turtles and Rode the London Eye

While recuperating from our morning of travel from Bournemouth back to our flat in London on Saturday, my exhausted flatmates and I sat on the couch for quite some time watching our new favorite show, The Tudors. Naturally, we all agreed we absolutely had to go see the Tower of London on Sunday. We got to the Tower well before it opened at 10, but there was already a massive crowd. With the athletes arriving on Monday, it's clear the Olympic madness has begun. The first thing we did was take a guided tour through some of the highlights of the Tower. The tour guide, in full character and dressed as a Yeoman, used his powers of projection as he led the 100+ person crowd through the fortress. Fun Fact: the people who work as tour guides or in certain roles pertaining to the Tower actually live full time within the Tower walls, right along the street that once housed the National Mint. Although the Tower of London is now mostly infamous for its gruesome history as a prison, it was actually once the home of Kings and Queens of England. From the time of William I until the ascension of the Tudors, it was used as a royal residence. The Tower is actually a large, square fortress made up of several towers, each with its own name and history. Some of the structures date back to William the Conqueror in the 1080's, and even the oldest of the buildings were built on the ruins of ancient Roman walls. Here's a quick review of the various places within the Tower of London: We saw the Bloody Tower, where several important prisoners stayed prior to their executions. We saw Traitor's Gate, where criminals entered the fortress carried on boats via the Thames. (Ironically, Traitor's Gate was once known as the Water Gate. It was used to transport goods into the Tower's walls.) We saw the White Tower, the oldest building in the Tower complex, now home to an extensive collection of royal armor and weapons. Some particularly interesting armor: several pieces belonging to Henry VIII, the largest suit of armor in the world (built for a man who was 6'8"), and the jousting lance of Charles Brandon. This last one is really awesome and interesting if you watch The Tudors. We also saw the Salt Tower, where several religious prisoners were kept. Many of them inscribed Catholic symbols and Latin phrases in the walls during their stays; these inscriptions are still visible in the stone. Of course, we had to see the more gruesome areas of the Tower: the "torture chamber" and the site of the execution block. Both these things were slightly misleading, however. There was never a permanent torture chamber in the Tower of London. In fact, surprisingly few people were actually tortured at the Tower of London, and most torture occurred there between the 16th and 17th centuries at the peak of the Tower's use as a prison. What we saw was merely an exhibit of various medieval torture devices, all of which looked particularly nasty. As for the execution site, only six people in history were executed within the Tower walls; among these, Queens Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and the Lady Jane Grey. The rest of the executions took place on Tower Hill, outside the Tower walls and just a short ways from the Tube stop. Another interesting area of the Tower of London was the exhibit on the animals of the Tower. Over the centuries, exotic animals given to monarchs as gifts or kept as curiosities have been kept within the Tower walls. These include monkeys, peacocks, lions, an elephant, and a polar bear, which was kept on a leash so it could go fishing in the Thames. Last, but not least, we had to see the Crown Jewels. I was expecting to see fine jewels, crowns, the famous orb and scepter, and various implements of the coronation ceremony. These were all quite spectacular, especially the Sovereign's Sceptre with the First Star of Africa, the largest cut flawless diamond in the world, and the Imperial State Crown, which incorporates such famous gemstones as the Second Star of Africa (cut from the Cullinian Diamond), the Black Prince's Ruby, the Stuart's Sapphire, and Queen Elizabeth I's pearls. I also saw some rather unexpected items in the collection: a gigantic gold punch bowl, a massive gold candlestick, gold fountains, and gold spoons and ladles. It kind of looked like King Midas' wedding registry in there. The oldest object in the exhibit was the gold anointing spoon used to anoint the sovereign during coronation ceremonies. It dates to the 12th century, and apart from the ceremonial swords of Temporal Justice, Spiritual Justice, and Mercy, is the only part of the Regalia that survived the Civil War of the 17th century in which Oliver Cromwell ordered the destruction of royal artifacts. The only thing I wish I had gotten to see was the inside of the chapel. Being Sunday, it was closed for a service, but my fellow Tudors fans and English history nerds were disappointed that we didn't get to see the final resting place of the infamous Ann Boleyn inside. After the Tower, we took the Tube back to Westminster where we were greeted by our old friend Big Ben. We walked across Westminster Bridge, which we learned is painted green like the seats in the House of Commons, and came to our next destination: the London Aquarium. In retrospect, the Aquarium was really a poor choice of places to try to avoid crowds, and it was pretty difficult to move inside. The huge shark tank, the two giant sea turtles, and an adorable penguin exhibit made it worth the loss of personal space. After the Aquarium, we headed over to the London Eye. It had been a goal of mine to make it there for three weeks, and I wasn't disappointed. Although the line was long (shocker) it moved pretty quickly. Passengers enter giant glass bubbles and are slowly rotated upwards over the Thames. Even though it was a bit cloudy, we could see for miles. The egg-shaped Gherkin, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall Palace, the National Treasury, and many other buildings were visible in the skyline from the London Eye. Inside the bubbles, there were even touch screens allowing you to point to a specific building and see what it was. One conspicuous structure missing from the Eye's touch screen skyline: a massive Olympic stadium behind Whitehall. You could even see the park below, full of street performers painted head to toe in metal or dressed up as comic book characters. Riding the London Eye definitely gave an incredible perspective on just how massive London really is. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for having managed to do three different sightseeing things on Sunday when almost everything is closed, we headed back home to crash before our first day of class with Dr. Fenton on Monday. The Tower of London: http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/ The Crown Jewels: http://www.royal.gov.uk/the%20royal%20collection%20and%20other%20collections/thecrownjewels/overview.aspx The Royal Armories: http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/tower-of-london The London Aquarium: http://www.visitsealife.com/london/ The London Eye: www.londoneye.com/

The Time I Saw the Olympic Torch...Two Days in a Row

Although our classes in Bournemouth were over on Thursday, we stayed an extra two nights because the Olympic Torch relay was running through Bournemouth on Friday and Saturday. After a late start on Friday morning and an adventure at the laundromat - the latter of which solidified my belief that a working European drying machine is a mythical creature - I decided to brave the wind and cold to explore Bournemouth as it prepared for the Olympic festivities. There was an atmosphere in excitement in the seaside city as vendors sold mini British flags and a large crowd gathered around a stage on Bournemouth Beach to listen to live music and entertainment as they awaited the arrival of the torch. While the city had seemed like a ghost town during the week, there were literally thousands and thousands of people gathered on the beach, the pier, and the boardwalk in the hours before the torch came by. A row of elderly ladies and gentlemen stood on the balcony of a retirement home, waving as they watched the mobs below. There were really people of all ages and, as the various voices in the crowd suggest, languages and nationalities present. Coca Cola, one of the sponsors of the torch relay, had set up a stage on the boardwalk behind the pier, and were blasting music and handing out free Cokes emblazoned with Olympic logos. Nearby, Lloyds of London had a tent set up where you could take pictures with an (unlit) Olympic torch. Since both of these things were free, we obviously had to do them both. This was actually quite a feat considering the number of people we had to dodge and maneuver around in order to get where we wanted to go. When it came time for the relay to make its way down Bath Road in front of the pier, we (politely) pushed our way to a decent viewing point right up against the curb. First came the policemen on neon yellow motorcycles, honking and blaring their sirens and waving at the crowds as the little British flags on their handlebars blew in the wind. Next came the busses. There were double decker yellow busses whose LED displays read OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY 2012. There were green busses full of people waving green streamers and proclaiming London's commitment to "Going Green" for the 2012 Olympics; there were red Coca Cola busses with spirited girls in ponytails handing out Olympic-themed tambourines for the crowd to hit as the relay continued its procession. Finally, the torch made its way over the hill in the hands of the white-clad torchbearer, flanked by a dozen runners in gray. Within minutes, the torch made its way down to the beach, where the flame lit a giant silver cauldron on the stage. By this time, the general public was allowed into the party on the beach (you needed a special ticket to get in earlier), so we got as close as we could as we watched a performance by the Bournemouth children's dance company as well as the transfer of the flame to safe keeping. The Olympic festivities - and our last night in Bournemouth - ended with a spectacular fireworks display over the English Channel, which we watched from the beach. At least we got to see some fireworks in July! If that wasn't enough Olympic excitement, the next morning the relay ran right in front of our hotel as the Torch made its way out of Bournemouth and on to the next city. Compared to the crowds the night before it was a fairly subdued event, but I suppose you can't fault the people of Bournemouth for not coming out to watch at 8 AM after partying all night. It was fun to watch in the morning because I got a much better view and I got to watch the flame being passed from one runner's torch to the next. Although I came outside and watched from the street, several of the hotel's guests watched from their windows and balconies...including Dr. Fenton! After the relay and our last free breakfast at the Days Hotel, it was time for the two and a half hour bus ride back into London. I think we were all a little sad to leave the relative serenity and uncrowded streets of Bournemouth (not to mention the amazing University lab facilities), but it will be nice to get back to London and, more importantly, consistent wifi. Links of the Day: Olympic Torch Relay: http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/ Relay Route: http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/ The Torch Relay in Bournemouth: http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/LeisureCultureLibraries/2012Olympics/OlympicTorchcomingtoBournemouth.aspx

The Time I Used the Correct Fork For All Four Courses

After our osteology exam - and our last day at Bournemouth University - on Thursday, it was time for some much needed food and fun. Naturally, we headed straight to our favorite pub...for the third time since arriving in Bournemouth. Now as I've mentioned before, our week on the beach was especially chilly, rainy, and windy. Having packed for summer weather I ended up buying a particularly warm and fuzzy BU sweatshirt at the school bookstore, which I proceeded to wear every single day for the rest of the week. For those of you keeping score at home, yes: this meant that it was the third time in one week that I went to O'Neill's, sat at the same table, ordered the same thing (wild boar and chorizo burger, yum) and wore the exact same sweatshirt. YOLO. After that slightly embarrassing experience and so many days of looking grungy, I was happy to have an excuse to dress up for our program banquet that night. If I do say so myself, I think I pulled out all the stops: curled my hair, put on real makeup, and wore a dress. Everyone looked amazing (some, including myself, almost unrecognizable out of sweatshirts and jeans) as we gathered in one of the hotel's dining rooms for our very formal four-course meal. We could tell it was a formal event because of the amount of silverware present... three forks, three spoons, two knives, and two glasses. We even had to ask our resident etiquette expert (Holly, who went to finishing school) which utensils to use first. Over four courses (including melons and raspberries, plum tomato soup, potatoes and roast, and chocolate mousse) I managed to avoid spilling anything on myself or my neighbors, and all together pretended to be a lady quite effectively. The banquet was kind of a bittersweet affair, as we said goodbye to Dr. Sauer and Amy, our TA of the first three weeks. Dr. Sauer staged his own impromptu "passing of the torch" by handing one of the lighted candles on the table to Dr. Fenton, who will take over classes once we get back to London. When we finally went to sleep after staying up very, very late talking and saying goodbye to Dr. Sauer, none of us awoke again until close to noon. Overall I'd say the banquet was a success, and we're all looking forward to our next few weeks in London. Links of the Day: Which Fork to Use: http://tiffanynielsen.com/which-fork-do-i-use/

The Time I Got Wifi Back

I admit it. I am addicted to the internet. I am happy to be back in London for so many reasons, but one of them is to be reunited with my one true love: wifi. This means that once again, you are about to be inundated with all my unpublished posts that didn't get sent out due to the zero connectivity situation in Bournemouth. Here it goes:

The Time I Jumped in the English Channel

Today's post will be a short one... After a long day yesterday learning about ancestry and reviewing various bone features and sex and age markers in the lab, everyone in the class just wanted to get back to the hotel to nap and study. I swear that was absolutely my plan too, until I got back to the room and saw that it was finally sunny and (relatively) warmish on Bournemouth beach. Naturally, I had to postpone my study plans. Fifteen minutes later, Mallory and I were running across the beach and plunging into the frigid waters of the English Channel. The waves were a little bit stronger than we expected, and let's just say I got to experience the water with all five senses. Mmm, salty. I have some great pictures that I will hopefully soon be uploading! Right now, though I'm about to go take my bone quiz. Wish me luck!

The Time I Went to Uni at Bournemouth

Today was our first day of class at Bournemouth University. After a lovely continental English Breakfast (I love me some fried eggs), we were off to BU. Since the University is actually relatively far from our hotel (about an hour walk) we took the bus to class. As it turns out, the bus is free for Bournemouth students, so we didn't even have to pay fare! This whole week we're using an osteology lab at BU. We were divided into groups of two, each group at long tables set up parallel to each other throughout the room. Each group got to handle a real human skeleton, all from various archaeological sites. Because the skeletons are used so often for teaching, we all had to wear lab coats and gloves to protect them from degradation. Our TAs Amy and Carolyn ran the lab, and spent all morning and afternoon going over each of the bones and their features. There's a lot to know, and I'm really glad I have at least some osteological experience. Amy and Carolyn's explanations were really helpful, and I learned a lot of tricks for siding certain bones. One example is the patella (the knee cap). There is a point on the distal end of the patella called the apex. If you point the apex away from you, the lopsided patella falls toward the side it comes from; if it falls to the right, it's a right patella. After a long day of class and an early morning, I tried to convince myself to study or work out or do something productive...instead I wrote these past few blog entries and took a long walk on the beach with some friends. The beach really is beautiful; at low tide the damp sand reflects the light and looks like glass. It's a little strange to see such a pristine sight in opposition to the gaudy amusement park on the pier, the shabby beach shops and shacks, and the brightly lit and ornamented bars and restaurants along the waters edge. I can't put my finger on exactly what Bournemouth feels like... a little bit Atlantic city, a little bit Florida retirement community? We met a lovely older man at the hotel bar who told us he tells his son-in-law he should become a funeral home director in Bournemouth if he wanted a steady job, because so many people retire here. "Come to die here," as he put it. Must be British humor. As I was eating ice cream at the bar (not embarrassing at all), Dr. Fenton, Dr. Sauer, and their wives walked in after coming back from dinner. Dr. Sauer told us he just bought tickets for us to go see Sweeney Todd when we get back to London... maybe I am excited to go back after all! The big news of the day is that there is no internet connection here... No one is pleased, to say the least. I guess by the time you read this, though, the problem will have been fixed! *note: this post was written on Monday, the Internet at the hotel has not been and will not be fixed, but I'm posting from Bournemouth University on my lunch break. Desperate times. Link of the Day: Bournemouth University's forensic program: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/caah/forensicarchaeologyandanthropology/forensic_archaeology_and_anthropology.html

The Time My London Blog Became My Bournemouth Blog

After spending all of Friday afternoon and most of the night watching Deadmau5 (and other artists) at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, we were pretty beat. The only things I really accomplished on Saturday were packing up my suitcase, doing laundry, and buying bus tickets for our week in Bournemouth. To be fair, none of these things were easy feats. The washing/drying machine located in the kitchen is decidedly European, which basically means it doesn't work as fast or as efficiently as anything I'm used to, and is unnecessarily complicated to use. I could probably write an entire blog entry just on how to use the various appliances in the UK. The bus tickets were a separate adventure. After a lengthy tube ride and a short walk to the Victoria Coach Station with the intent of buying our tickets, we discovered it's actually a lot less expensive to buy them online after all. Oh well. In the end we ended up paying only about 21 pounds each for a return trip, totally worth the hassle. On Sunday morning, we woke up early and checked out of the Landward. Getting all four of us and our luggage down the tiny lift (that's an elevator to you Americans) took two trips. The actual bus ride was actually rather pleasant. The seats were more comfortable than the train we took to Scotland, and we actually had reserved seats. It was also nice to look out at the countryside as we drove; for the most part this consisted of grassy hills and forests. Since we had chosen to depart early (read: we chose the cheapest tickets) we arrived in Bournemouth a little too early to check in. Leaving our suitcases with the front desk, we decided to explore. After getting just a little lost (Bournemouth is comprised of dozens of roundabouts, and when you ask directions to anywhere it's always "around the corner") we came across a restaurant district. We decided on an Irish pub/restaurant called O'Neill's, where we ordered the best (and biggest) fish and chips I've had yet. The staff were very friendly, and even invited us to come back later to watch "Gaelic Sport," which apparently involves Gaelic football and hurling. Daniel, the bartender, even gave us several pamphlets to look at that explained both sports in detail. The prices weren't too bad considering the price of food, so I think we'll be back soon. I'm a little embarrassed to say that after lunch, we checked into the hotel and promptly passed out for four hours. Our room at the Days Hotel is beautiful. We even have a view of the English Channel from our window! Major plusses are the huge bathrooms with hot water and the fact that the mattresses feel positively cloud-like after two weeks at the Landward. I don't think I ever want to leave Bournemouth...or at least this room. At night, we went out again and walked along the beach. It was chilly, but pretty, and the sand was powder-soft. Seeing the water and the beach really made me miss the Great Lakes. The weather forecast for this week isn't promising - mostly cold and rainy - but I think I'll have to suck it up and jump in before we leave. I mean, how many times can you say you've swam in the English Channel? Links of the day: Wireless Festival: http://www.wirelessfestival.co.uk/ To buy bus tickets: http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx O'Neill's: http://www.oneills.co.uk/oneillsbournemouth/ The Days Hotel: http://www.dayshotelbournemouth.com/

The Time I Saw a 400-year-old Tumor

Instead of having class at Regent's on Friday morning, our group took a field trip to the Royal College of Surgeons. Our visit was actually a three-part adventure. Not only did we get to tour the Royal College of Surgeons, we also visited its two associated museums. It was a special privilege for us to see the first, the Wellcome Museum. This museum features thousands of human bodies and body parts, all of which have been donated for scientific study. The purpose of the Wellcome Museum is to provide those in the medical profession - primarily surgeons but also physicians and medical artists - with real visual examples of both normal and abnormal (pathological) human anatomy. It is not open to the public. Although the Wellcome Museum has quite an extensive collection it is fairly small, confined to one large room divided into several sections. These sections represent different regions of the body: the head, the thorax, the arms, the legs, the pelvis, etc. In each section are rows upon rows of dissected or partially dissected body parts suspended in preservatives in glass jars. In terms of normal anatomy, it was interesting to see how muscles attach, how soft tissue fits with bone, and how the circulatory system winds through the body. Much more interesting were the pathological specimens. There were cross sections of tumors in every body part imaginable, gangrene and infections, evidence of trauma, and examples of the effects of countless diseases and afflictions: syphilis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, gout, and hepatitis, to name a few. There was even a section on fetal abnormalities that included an example of conjoined twins. This collection was particularly fascinating to me because it dealt so much in fleshed bodies. I'm used to working only with bones, and seeing only the limited effects of disease on the skeleton. The skeleton can react to disease only by resorbing - eating away at bone - or deposition - adding bone on, whereas there are many different reactions of soft tissue that are much more diagnostic. We also had a tour of the Wellcome Museum by Martyn Cooke, head of conservation at the Royal College of Surgeons, who gave a lecture about a particular human specimen: the skeleton of a woman with FOP (Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva). This disease causes all the bones of the body to fuse with each other, severely limiting movement. The other museum we visited was the Hunterian Museum, a public museum named after John Hunter. In life, Hunter collected and preserved thousands of animal and human specimens. Like the Wellcome Musuem, these specimens are suspended in glass jars full of preservatives. Although most of the specimens have been transferred to new containers, all of them are John Hunter's original collection. There are skeletons and cross sections of many different kinds of animals, an entire collection of human fetuses, and even pathological human examples. In one jar, there is a 52 kg tumor that John Hunter himself successfully removed from a patient nearly 400 years ago. Also on display is the skeleton of the "Irish Giant," a 7'7" man with acromegaly. Examination of his skull shows a clear indentation of where a large tumor pressed on his pituitary gland, causing him to grow. The Hunterian Museum also houses a large collection of medical instruments throughout history, from the primitive to the horrifying to the very modern. The last part of our visit was a tour through the Royal College of Surgeons, lead by none other than Vishy Mahadevan. We got to see its state of the art teaching rooms, where surgeons attend workshops to learn the latest in surgical techniques. In the biggest room, there are eight fully equipped surgical tables, and one in the middle for the instructor. The video camera system allows anything at the instruction table to be broadcast onto flat screens above all the rest of the tables. We also got to see the "situation room" where surgical teams learn skills in teamwork, judged by a committee who watches through a two-way mirror. Although we were not allowed to take pictures inside either museum or the College, I don't think I'll soon forget the images of the massive operating room, the the thousands of dissected animals, or all of all those rows of body parts floating in glass jars. Links of the day Royal College of Surgeons: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/ Wellcome museum: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums/wellcome Hunterian museum: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums/ FOP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva Vishy Mahadevan: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/about/eagle-project-launch/phase-one/speaker-profiles/

The Time My Blog Went on Hiatus

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted any new blog entries lately. Between a very long day on Friday, a weekend of traveling to Bournemouth, and zero internet connection at our hotel in Bournemouth, I fell very behind with my posts. The good (or maybe bad) news is that I'm now posting all of my entries from the weekend at once! Here it goes...

The Time I Got a Henna Tattoo at Camden Market

So I was a little late updating the blog with my July 4th adventures, but I'm trying to get back on track for today. I know, I know, you all missed me bunches. Today we spent most of the day in class - imagine that - listening to Dr. Sauer's very last lecture of the program. We learned a lot about sex estimation: how different cranial features and pelvic features, as well as sexual dimorphism in bone size and shape, can help determine whether an individual is male or female. After class, we decided to explore Camden Town. Just a 25 minute walk from Regent's College, Camden Town is an indoor and open air shopping district full of shops and stalls. Camden Town is actually comprised of several different markets: Camden Lock Market by the canal, where the original craft markets were; the Camden Stables Market, a giant converted horse stable that is now home to many alt-fashion stores, Inverness Market, Buck street Market, and the main streets of Camden. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been with three friends I would have never found my way out of the Stables, let alone Camden. My advice: bring a map. It's really just a completely overwhelming area full of places to shop, eat, shop, drink, and shop. You can find everything from clothes to souvenirs to jewelry to handicrafts to antique shops and furniture stores. With the unique fashion, the crowd, and (surprise) the heat of the day, it almost reminded me of walking through the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo. As we were wandering aimlessly through the stables at the end of the day, we came across what else but a henna tattoo stall! Mallory and Holly and I each got intricate flower designs drawn onto our skin, then spent the next four hours staring at the dried dye and using up all our willpower not to scratch it off before the ink set in. I can't post pictures from the device I'm writing on, but I'll Tweet a pic so you can all see the cool designs! Whew. Sorry for the short post, but I promise I'll save all my creative juices for tomorrow after I visit the Royal College of Surgeons and the Wireless Music Festival! Link of the Day: Camden Market: http://www.camden-market.org/

The Time I Went to the Oldest Botanical Garden in London

The past two days have been busy lecture days. Yesterday, while my friends and family were celebrating the 4th of July in the States, we were learning about different techniques in age estimation. For children, we learned how tooth eruption and formation, along with epiphyseal union (when the bones of the skeleton fuse together) and long bone length can contribute to age estimates. For adults, we learned to look at the closure of cranial sutures (the disappearance of fusion lines between different bones of the skull), different aspects of the pelvis, deformation of rib ends, as well as microscopic changes of bones with age. In the afternoon, Durham University professor Dr. Charlotte Roberts came to speak with us about bioarchaeology; a familiar topic for those of us who work in the Nubian lab! One interesting aspect of her discussion was the differences between bioarchaeology in the United States and the United Kingdom. Although Britain is filled with archaeological sites, its foray into bioarchaeology - the study of ancient and historical human remains - is still in its infancy. For example: while the US has had standards for recording data on archaeological remains since 1994, the UK didn't adopt a standard system until 2004. Although I was exhausted from a very long day in class, I hated to waste the 4th of July doing nothing. As it turns out, July 4 was a pretty special day in London after all. Well, sort of. It was the first Wednesday of the summer that the Chelsea Physic Garden, the oldest botanical garden in London, was open late to visitors. And so, one of my classmates and I made the trek to Chelsea, apparently a very posh area of London. Surprisingly quiet for a big city, the streets were lined with old trees and brownstone-esque row houses. The only thing disrupting the serene neighborhood was a single pile of garbage left out on the street after collection day that had been covered with stickers proclaiming "ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME SCENE." Clearly, we weren't on Edgware Road anymore. The entrance to the Physic Garden is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it: a gap in a high stone wall almost obscured by hanging vines and an old plaque signaling its presence. It was a bit pricy to enter the gardens (6 pounds) but worth it. Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, it maintains a special microclimate that allows plants such as palm trees, gingko trees, and olive trees to grow and fruit outdoors, even in London. The atmosphere inside the garden is pretty unique. If it weren't for people walking around with guided tour headsets, you might think you were walking through an actual Victorian-era garden. There are old glass greenhouses full of plants from all corners of the globe, a butterfly room, a garden devoted completely to medicinal plants from around the world, and even a fern house, a remnant from Victorian times when ferns were apparently extremely fashionable. Right up against the high walls of the garden you can see residential buildings, and out of one gate, the Thames. According to the ticket taker at the front gate, the Chelsea Physic Garden ranks in the top 30 places to eat in London. I'm inclined to believe him based on the food we saw the dinner guests eating at white-tableclothed tables on the lawn. Guess we'll have to come back another time with money! Links of the Day: Chelsea Physic Garden: http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/ Dr. Charlotte Roberts: http://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/?id=163

The Time I Went Behind the Scenes at the British Museum

This morning it was back to the classroom at Regent's College. Whoops, I almost forgot we're here for school. During today's lecture, Dr. Sauer talked about dentition and acquainted us with four - yes, four - of the different naming systems for notating teeth. This didn't seem so bad when we found out that according to one survey, there are over 100 different systems in use by dental and anthropological professionals for identifying the 32 teeth that make up a human adult mouth. Dr. Sauer also talked about subadult age estimation - a pretty familiar topic for those of us who just finished our year-long experience with subadults in the Nubian lab at MSU. After lunch, it was off to the British Museum where we got a behind the scenes tour of the Egyptian and Sudanese department! Dr. Daniel Antoine, curator of physical anthropology at the British Museum and the man in charge of all the museum's human remains, gave us a rare, up-close look at dynastic and pre-dynastic Egyptian mummies, as well as animal mummies, unwrapped mummy heads, and mummified Sudanese human remains. In the British Museum Egyptian collection store rooms, sarcophagi, mummies, and other artifacts line the gray, wall-to-wall, hand-operated sliding shelves. Although many things are wrapped, the whole set up looks almost casual; not exactly the airtight, plexiglass boxes we were expecting. The whole place smells musty and vaguely chemical-y, hallmarks, we were told, from the substances the ancient Egyptians used to preserve their dead. There was an entire shelf full of mummified animal remains, including falcons, cats, and snakes. In another store room, we saw the mummified remains of a woman whose inner-thigh tattoo was still visible thousands of years later. We also saw the physical anthropology lab where scientists were collecting the same types of skeletal data we've been taking in the Nubian lab! Dr. Antoine also showed us the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, a document explaining different pyramid constructions and containing the first known reference to pi. Something interesting that Dr. Antoine shared with us is that anyone, even the general public, can have access to the British Museum's libraries as well as physical access to any of the artifacts in the British Museum's store rooms, so long as they submit a legitimate proposal of study and that proposal gets approved. Maybe some day I'll need to look into that! After the tour of the museum store room, we briefly explored some of the Museums other exhibits. Some exciting ones: the Rosetta stone, the Elgin Marbles, and many, many Greek sculptures. Oh, and several Spartan helmets. Go State! We didn't get much of a chance to look around, but I'm not too worried since we'll be back at the British Museum after we get back from Bournemouth. At 5, we all met up at the Museum Tavern across the street from the British Museum for dinner and drinks. Some twist of fate made our table the "grown up" table... Dr. Sauer and his wife, Dr. Fujita from MSU, Dr. Antoine, two PhD students who were working in the museum, and our TAs Amy and Carolyn (we just so happened to run into her doing research in the British Museum's library) joined us to eat. We learned a lot from all of them about various projects and cases they've been involved in, and we got tips from Dr. Antoine about where to get the best French wine in London. You know, typical day. Links of the day: Dr. Antoine: http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/departments/staff/ancient_egypt_and_sudan/daniel_antoine.aspx The Museum Tavern: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/r/rhind_mathematical_papyrus.aspx The Elgin Marbles: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/what_are_the_elgin_marbles.aspx The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/r/rhind_mathematical_papyrus.aspx

The Time I (Basically. Technically. Sort of.) Saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace

As you know, I spent most of the past weekend in Scotland with my friends Mallory and Dan. Today (Monday) we had a bonus day off from class, so Mallory and I decided to do some exploring around London. What better way to start off our whirlwind walking day tour of London than going to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace? We hopped on the Tube to Victoria station, then walked through Green Park, approaching the Palace via the ornate gold Canada Gate. (Cue 'O Canada'). For once, we didn't get lost and actually overestimated how long it would take to get where we were going. Score one for team Mari and Mallory! It was only 10:30, but the changing of the guard doesn't actually start until 11:30. We decided not to push our luck leaving and coming back, so we grabbed a great viewing spot at the front gates of the palace. This is how the next hour went: 10:30: we proceed to take thousands of pictures from different angles of the statue-still guard and Buckingham Palace 10:45: typical London summer weather (read: cold and rainy) sets in. We were ecstatic to have actually remembered the umbrella this time. (Score two, go team!) 10:50: we have major deja vu to 8th grade Washington, DC trips. With the secret-service-looking men peeking out of various windows, black metal bars keeping the public out, and scores of tour groups, Buckingham Palace looked a lot like the White House. 11:00: The guard shifts his gun from his right side to his left. Cue photo frenzy. 11:05: We notice that the front of Buckingham Palace is crowded. Really crowded. Tokyo subway at rush hour crowded. Although we were a little bored and tired of standing and waiting, we were glad we got there so ridiculously early since we ended up with an awesome view. 11:15: The guards begin to pace. Children and small women atop parents' and boyfriends' shoulders try to see over the crowds. I begin wondering if I'm going to have use my lifeguard training to treat a spinal injury. 11:20: Everyone is at rapt attention as a dozen guards in gray cloaks march through the gates and around the palace. 11:28: One of the police officers ceremoniously places a sign between the two guard boxes in front of the palace: THERE WILL BE NO CHANGING OF THE GUARD CEREMONY TODAY. 11:29: Chaos ensues as this news spreads across thousands of unhappy tourists. Even though we didn't get to see the official changing of the guard ceremony, we did get to see the guards change posts. We even got right up close as the gray-cloaked guards marched back out of the palace. We were so close that we could even see the color of the plumes in the guards' hats: red, representing Coldstream. After our misadventure at Buckingham Palace, we decided to walk in the direction of Big Ben. Because of sidewalk closures due to construction and Olympic preparations, we got diverted a bit and ended up going the "scenic route." On our way to Big Ben (or should I say the Elizabeth Tower, in honor of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee?) we passed Whitehall Palace, whose name we instantly recognized from our obsession with The Tudors. Nearby, we saw a space being prepared for Olympic Beach Volleyball (woohoo!). Our circuitous journey brought us to Trafalgar Square, where we took pictures with a mini Big Ben and the Olympic Countdown Clock. We also visited the National Gallery, where we saw Titian's first masterpiece, the Flight into Egypt. If you're keeping up with me, we strolled past Downing Street and a couple of protest, on to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Whew. After taking a myriad of pictures and harassing a poor old couple into taking one of the two of us in front of the famous clock tower, we were starving. Essentially by accident, we stumbled into St Stephen's Tavern, where we had our first fish and chips of the trip. Delicious. Can't wait for classes to start up again tomorrow! Lecture in the morning and then mummies at the British Museum in the afternoon. Links of the Day: The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace: http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/ChangingtheGuard/Overview.aspx The National Gallery and the Titian exhibit: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/titians-first-masterpiece-the-flight-into-egypt St. Stephen's Tavern: http://ststephenstavern.co.uk/

The Time I Backpacked Through Scotland

Hello again, did you miss me? I know I've been radio silent for the past few days, but I had an excellent reason: I took a weekend trip to Scotland! Since the wifi was a bit sketchy throughout the duration of our trip, I didn't get to add to my blog. Although I wasn't in Scotland for all that long, I did so much in those few days that I'm really not all that sure where to start. I really can't do this trip justice in one blog post, so I'll have to summarize and pare it down to highlights and my personal tips for travel. Bear with me, this might be a long post. Overall: Scotland is indescribably beautiful. I want to live there. In three days, we stayed in Edinburgh and Stirling; both gorgeous cities with an incredible amount of history. Both cities we went to were full of structures and buildings dating as far back as medieval times. Every single Scot we met was so friendly and helpful; we felt welcome everywhere we went. As a bonus, it was really nice to get out of the packed and busy streets of London for a weekend. Edinburgh is a fairly large city, but without as much of a crowd and without the loud city noises of London. We ended up taking the train from London to Edinburgh. It should have been about a 4-5 hour ride, but our train was delayed due to massive flooding and landslides resulting from the rains that had pummeled the east coast of Scotland two days before. Apparently, in 48 hours, Edinburgh received 4 months worth of precipitation. Oh and guess who forgot to bring an umbrella to Scotland? This chick. So I promised you some train tips: 1) If you buy tickets the day of your trip or if you buy return tickets for any time, you won't get a reserved seat. 2) This technically means you could be standing room only the entire duration of your trip. 3) However, if you ask one of the train guards before the train arrives, they might be able to point you to an "unreserved car" with less reserved seats. 4) If no one claims a reserved seat, you can take the empty seat even if you don't have a reservation. 5) Bring snacks. Sometimes the food car closes and the food they do have is pretty expensive. 6) We took the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverly by way of Whitecastle. This takes you up the east coast of Britain and on your way you will see a breathtaking view of the North Sea as well as more sheep and cows than any one individual needs to see in their lifetime. If you want to see the sea, sit on the right side of the train as you go north. 7)Based on the time of day and direction of the train, try to sit on the side of the train not directly in the sun. There is no air conditioning and it gets miserably hot. If you take East Coast train line, you can get 15 minutes of free wifi. Just saying, every minute counts. Edinburgh tips: 1) I would definitely recommend the hotel where we stayed, Masson House. It is affiliated with Edinburgh University and in the morning you can get free continental breakfast at the Uni's cafeteria. Steal some fruit for snacks. 2) Climb Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano. Masson House was actually just a few minutes' walk from Arthur's Seat. It's a steep, slippery climb so it might not be for everyone, especially if you're out of shape. The view is spectacular and absolutely worth it though. From the top you can see all of Edinburgh as well as the North Sea. 3) Go to pubs. We went to the Green Mantle and The Last Drop, where the last execution in Edinburgh took place in the 1700s. The pubs in Edinburgh are pretty small but very friendly and several have live music. 4) Talk to random Irish dudes you meet at the pub. We ended up meeting some reporters from Dublin who were in Edinburgh to cover the Scottish premiere of the Pixar movie Brave. 5) Go to Edinburgh castle. We didn't personally go in, since it was really crowded and relatively expensive (about 15 pounds). If you have time, though, that's where they keep the Scottish crown jewels. My only real regret in Edinburgh is that we couldn't stay longer or do more. Stirling Tips: 1) If you're going to Edinburgh, it's worth it to take the half hour train ride up to Stirling. It's full of history and a really cute little town. 2) If you don't have time to see both Stirling and Edinburgh Castle, see Stirling Castle. It was the home of King James IV, V and VI of Scotland, Queen Anne, and others. It sits at an extremely strategic spot between highlands and lowlands and was once the center of an ancient trade route. It has been called the "key to Scotland" and was thus fought over many times. 3) Do the free guided tour at the castle. Basically, do anything that is free. That's a life lesson for ya. We had a phenomenal tour guide dressed in period clothes who took us through all the buildings and explained the history and purpose of each. 4) Go to the Wallace monument. Remember Braveheart? Remember the Battle of Stirling Bridge in which the outnumbered Scottish defeated the English army under the leadership of Scottish hero William Wallace? Well, Stirling is where it all went down. The monument is atop a high hill, but it's worth the hike. The view from the top is breathtaking; you can see for miles on a clear day. 5) Get the audio tour for 1 pound. It does a great job of explaining the history of the battle, William Wallace, and tensions between the Scots and the English before the two kingdoms united. 6) Do the ghost tour. It starts at the Old Jail, and weaves through the kirkyard cemetery at the Church of Scotland. The tour guide gets really into the presentation and the script and stories told change every tour. It's a fun way to learn some of Stirling's "grim history." 7) Stay at the Golden Lion Hotel. It's a beautiful old hotel that is somewhat of a town landmark because of the time poet Robert Burns stayed there and scratched a piece of poetry into the glass window of his room. We were able to get a room for very cheap by quoting the price offered by bookings.com. General Scotland tips: 1) Don't be shy if you have to ask for directions. Everyone is really nice and happy to help. 2) Bring an umbrella and warm clothes. It gets wet and cold. 3) Bring some good shoes. I swear the entire country is uphill both ways. 4) Bring a camera! I promise you will want to take pictures of literally everything. 5) If you go see more than one attraction in a city, bring your ticket stubs. Sometimes you can get discounts for seeing more than one thing (i.e. William Wallace monument + Stirling Castle). 6) If you're just going for a few days, if possible just bring a backpack. The concierge desks in Edinburgh and Stirling were very nice and kept an eye on my travel companion Dan's suitcase, but it's really a lot safer, easier, and more efficient to bring as little as possible. I really wish I could write about every detail of our time in Scotland; unfortunately I don't have the time, space, or capability to convey how amazing the experience was. Sigh. Good thing I took over 400 pictures while we were there...yikes! Links of the Day: Things to do in Edinburgh: http://www.edinburgh.org/see-do/ The Last Drop Pub: http://www.grassmarket.net/last_drop.asp Masson House: http://Masson-House-Edinburgh.Hotel-rn.com/?lbl=ggl Arthur's Seat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur's_Seat,_Edinburgh Stirling Castle: http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/ Wallace Monument: http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/ Stirling Ghost Tour: www.stirlingghostwalk.com Golden Lion Hotel: http://www.thegoldenlionstirling.com/

The Time I met Dr. Ubelaker and ate Thai Food at a Pub

Hi everyone! Today's post will be short and sweet, because it's late and tomorrow is about to be a BIG day. More on that tomorrow. Here's the nerdy part of my post: Dr. Ubelaker lectured at Regents today!!!!!!!! <--- (This many exclamation points are necessary to convey how exciting this was to me.) Dr. Ubelaker, a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian and a consultant to the FBI, spent a good three hours talking to us about past (adjudicated) cases. The lecture was fascinating, and each case demonstrated various key element of forensic anthropology. We learned how x-rays and dental records can be used toidentify unknown remains, how to differentiate between blunt force, sharp force, gunsot and other trauma, about the characteristics of antemortem vs. postmortem vs. perimortem trauma, how forensic anthropology can be applied to living subjects, and much more. I've never seen an entire class so alert or so many pages and pages of notes scribbled in one sitting. After lunch, Dr. Sauer continued his lecture on the properties of bone and talked about differentiating human from animal bone, and modern remains vs. historical. Here's the fun touristy part of my post: After a long day of lectures, we decided to explore Oxford Circus one more time. It's way too fun to people watch and window shop; we just can't help ourselves. Oxford Street is really really really crowded, so unlike our previous accidental trip, we came armed with only small purses instead of giant backpacks. I was glad to have my camera when I stumbled upon some of Selfridge department store's Jubilee-themed window displays. The mannequins were dressed in crazy clothes and positioned into funny scenes satirizing various elements of British culture. For dinner, we decided to try a pub close to home: Windsor Castle. It's a very cute, medium sized pub covered in pictures of famous British celebrities, various teapots and knick knacks, and that serves - wait for it - Thai food. Delicious. I even tricked my not-so-adventurous roommate Holly into trying some of my red curry. She loved it! Tomorrow, we'll be doing big things, starting with the London Zoo. Stay tuned for more updates! Links of the day Selfridge's Jubilee window displays: http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/street-chic/2012/jubilee-windows/gallery Windsor Castle Pub http://fancyapint.com/Pub/london/windsor-castle/3176

The Time I Made Eton Mess

So after several days of attempting to eat as inexpensively as possible (read: rice cakes, salami and cheese sandwiches, soup, and on sale raspberries) my flatmates and I were craving something sweet. We could have gone to the Ben and Jerry's a block away, but one of the flatmates, Kailey, told us about an awesome dessert her British aunt made for her once. Then it was another field trip to Waitrose, where we bought the ingredients for Eton Mess. What you need: strawberries, whipping cream, meringue "nests" What you do: First, crumble up the meringue nests and place at the bottom of a nice, big bowl. (If you do not have such a bowl, use a giant spaghetti pot.) Next, slice strawberries into thirds and place on top of crushed meringue nests. Third, pour whipping cream into a second big bowl and whisk until fluffy. (If you do not have a second big bowl, do it in two smaller bowls. If you do not have a whisk, poor the whipping cream into an empty bottle and shake for five minutes until fluffy. Proceed to spend the next 10 minutes banging the bottle on the palm of your hand until (almost) all the whipped cream comes out.) Spread the whipped cream on top of the strawberries, chill in refrigerator for an hour, and serve on cute little plates with tiny spoons! (If you don't have cute little plates and tiny spoons, give everyone a spoon and eat directly out of the spaghetti pot.) It was pretty delicious, and the ingredients altogether cost only about 4 pounds. I'm talking monetary, not caloric. Also, it was a nice visual imagining gorgeous Eton boys eating this dessert in their coat tails....

The Time I Went to the Natural History Museum and had a Nerdgasm

So I lied. After (almost) getting lost on the Tube (again, on the way home from the Natural History Museum), spending about 10 minutes just trying to figure out how to flush a toilet, and consistently forgetting that we live in a "flat" and not an "apartment," I've come to the conclusion that I am not yet qualified to offer legitimate advice about living in London. Also, I'm just way too excited about our day at the Natural History Museum to write about groceries and riding the underground. We started off the day with a lecture by forensic entomologist Dr. Martin Hall on the usefulness of blowflies in estimating time and location of death, toxicology, and even in collecting human DNA samples from crime scenes. Because British law prevents scientists from doing post mortem decomposition studies on human subjects, Dr. Hall does most of his work on pig carcasses. However, he has played a role in forensic entomological studies on human remains at - wait for it - the Anthropological Research Facility at UT Knoxville! I was pretty excited about this, since I was there less than a month ago myself. Our next lecture, given by Dr. Louise Humphrey, talked about the famous Christ Church Spitalfields collection. This collection of human remains is important to forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology because it is the first "known" collection of modern individuals. Out of the thousand or so individuals, the age and sex of 386 of them are known by the names, ages, and dates of death inscribed on their lead coffins. This has made it possible for scientists to test out new methods of aging and sexing on this collection. Our third lecture, by taphonomy expert Dr. Silvia Bello, discussed the study of tool marks and its relationship with cannibalism. We learned how different patterns of tool and teeth marks can suggest hunting vs. scavenging (tool marks over teeth marks from carnivorous animals suggest scavenging, while teeth marks over marks made from hunting and killing with tools suggest hunting). We also learned about different cultural examples of cannibalism, early evidence of cannibalism in modern humans, and the use of skull cups (made from human crania) in various cultures. Even after all of that, our last lecture on hominid fossils, given by Natural History Museum curator Robert Kruszynski, might have been the most exciting... because we got to see two extremely famous hominid fossils up close and personal! I don't know if I can stress this enough, but these were the real live actual original fossils, not casts or pictures, although I've seen copies of both in the textbook I used for ANP 440 (Hominid Fossils with Dr. Fenton at MSU). We saw a female Homo neanderthalensis from the Tubun cave near Mt. Carmel, and Broken Hill 1, aka the Kabwe skull, an amazingly complete Homo heidelbergensis cranium from a site in Zambia. If that wasn't enough excitement for the day, we got to see several exhibits in the Natural History Museum, my favorite being the Animals Inside Out exhibit. For those of you who may have seen the body works exhibit that features various layers of the human body, it's similar, but with various animals, including sharks, goats, gorillas, horses, and even an elephant and a giraffe. Whew! Nerdgasm. Here are the links for today... Dr. Hall http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/entomology/m-hall/index.html Dr. Humphrey http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/palaeontology/l-humphrey/index.html Dr. Bello http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/palaeontology/s-bello/index.html Dr. Kruszynski http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/palaeontology/cv-5512.html Tubun Neanderthal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabun_Cave Kabwe skull http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_rhodesiensis Animals Inside Out Exhibit http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/animal-inside-out/index.html Christ Church Spitalfields Collection http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/collections/blurbs/345.cfm

The Time I Moved into a London Flat

Hey there blogosphere! It's the end of day three in London and once again, we're doing big things. Yesterday morning, my favorite travel companions and I successfully squished ourselves and (more surprisingly) our ridiculous amounts of luggage into a classic London black cab and journeyed all the way to Regent's College, where we will be taking classes for the next five weeks. There, we were reunited with our eighteen fellow classmates and our professor, Dr. Sauer, for the first time since April when we last saw each other in East Lansing. Although we were pretty jet lagged, we looked practically chipper compared to some of our classmates who had just arrived that morning. After a brief tour of Regent's College and a peek at our classroom in the Acland building, it was time for us to move into our apartment - excuse me, our flat - in London. Holly, Mal and I got the "penthouse suite" on the 12th floor of the building! We were pretty excited about the fantastic views (our living room has windows on two sides!) but when it came to figuring out how to work basic appliances in our flat, it turned into a comedy of errors. Also fairly frightening was the itty bitty elevator. According to the health code sign, it fits four people, but the three of us were worried we were going to break it when the elevator started to make ominous rickety noises and sudden stops. Since our flat has a pretty well equipped kitchen, our next adventure of the day was grocery shopping. We went to a cute little grocery store called Waitrose about a block from our flat, and spent a good half hour trying to decide the most cost effective food to buy. Fried eggs and sandwiches for dinner, anyone? Today was the first day of class at Regents. The college is about a 20 minute walk from our flat, including a brief walk down two major streets: Baker street (and the statue of Sherlock Holmes!) and Marylebone. The lecture today focused mainly on the properties of bone, its composition, and the biology of its growth and repair. After class, our super trio went on another adventure to Oxford street in search of a ticket office where we could buy tickets to see the Wireless music festival in Hyde Park in July. Even though we looked up walking directions before leaving, the confusing streets meant we probably asked about twenty different people for directions at various points on our journey. As it turns out, Oxford (and the neighboring Market street) comprise a major shopping district. We got distracted by the four-story TopShop clothing store and all its amazing clothes (it's essentially an upscale Forever 21 on steroids). I wanted to own at least 70% of the clothes in that store...guess I'll have to go grab some money off my money tree later. Ha. After another twenty minutes of aimless wandering and some sheer dumb luck (it wouldn't be a day out with us without getting lost), we happened upon our ticket office. We successfully bought tickets to day 1 of the Wireless festival on July 6th. Yay! You can purchase everything from concert tickets to musicals and plays, and now that we know where it is (near the corner of Regent Street and Oxford) we will certainly be going back. Tickets to see Wicked for 15 pounds? Yes please. Our final adventure of the day was using the Tube to get back to our flat from Oxford Circus. In retrospect, 5 pm was probably not a good time to try out the Tube for the first time, because it was packed. Like Tokyo subway packed. Luckily, we had our oyster cards and it wasn't too much of a hassle, although it took a few minutes to figure out exactly where to go and how to swipe our cards. Clearly we ain't from here. Stay tuned for tomorrow when I'll post some advice on how to function in London, with thrilling tips on working English appliances, using the Tube, buying groceries, and much more. Links of the day: Stargreen box office (where we got concert tickets): http://www.stargreen.com/about/contact London Tube map: http://www.tubemaplondon.org/ Regents College: http://www.regents.ac.uk/

The Time I Started My London Blog

Today's the day! By some miracle, I made it all the way from from Detroit, Michigan to London, England safe and sound with all my luggage and without getting (terribly) lost. From now until the end of July, I will be living here in London as I participate in a study abroad program through Michigan State University. I couldn't be more excited about being here this summer, and I can't wait for classes to start on Tuesday. Although I've been in London less than eight hours, I've already talked to my parents on the phone, been tweeted at by my mother, and received Facebook messages from both my mom and dad (yeah, I friended my parents on the 'book) as well as many of my friends. I am completely overwhelmed by all the love, concern, and well wishes my friends and family have sent me. Everyone wants to know, how are you? what have you been doing? are you having fun? have you seen this or that landmark yet? Sidenote: in case you're wondering, I'm wonderful but exhausted. Currently, I am laying in bed at the hotel watching 27 Dresses with my two friends and travel mates Holly and Mallory. We're pretty worn out after an international flight, navigating London's public transportation, dragging our luggage around (we have an embarrassing amount of stuff), and exploring London. It doesn't help that we're all in food comas after eating massive amounts of comfort food at a cute little pub called The Larrik. I'm having a great time that I'm sure will only get better. And to answer that last question, the only landmark I am interested in seeing at this moment is my hotel bed. Anyway, since I'll be away from home for almost six weeks (and more frightening, away from text messaging for almost six weeks), I've decided to start a blog to share with everyone the story of my London adventure 2012. While I'm fairly certain my avid reader base will consist primarily of my mother (hi, Mom), allow me to introduce myself for those of you who might not know me or what exactly I'm doing here in London: I am currently a junior at Michigan State majoring in human biology and anthropology. I am particularly interested in forensic anthropology. Earlier this summer I got the chance to participate in a short course on Field Methods in Forensic Anthropology at the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville. I learned a lot about recovery and mapping techniques in a very hands-on setting. Starting Tuesday, however, I will be stepping out of my Tyvek suit and back into the classroom as classes begin at Regent's College for MSU's Human Identification and Osteology study abroad program. This summer, I'm hoping to learn a lot, have fun, and experience as much of London as I can! Just bear with me for these first few posts; I'm sure I will be all kinds of jet lagged for a few more days to come. Love from London, Mari Links of the Day: Follow me on Twitter @maridoeslondon Want to know more about forensic anthropology? http://archaeology.about.com/od/fterms/qt/forensic_anthro.htm This is the program I attended at UT Knoxville: http://fac.utk.edu/courses.html Here's a link to my study abroad program: https://osa.isp.msu.edu/Programs/program/index/104967 Here's where we ate dinner today. Highly recommend!: http://www.thelarrik.com/