les lions

I've been quite the tourist lately. Sunday, Jenny and I set out bright and early (around ten thirty) to go grocery shopping and run errands. Unfortunately for us, most stores are closed on Sundays, or else open very late. We finally made it to the grocery store, Sainsbury's, around noon and there was a great selection of food, a lot of which was on sale, presumably to move the stock out for Monday's shipments. I'm very excited to cook myself! Last night I made use of my sautee skills and threw together some chicken with rice, bell peppers and spinach.

After Sainsbury's, we had a group meeting about with the hostel manager, Patrick. He told us the history of the Bedford area in a very adorable, very soft British accent. My dream is to organize a study break during finals where Patrick reads us children's stories. Then, Jenny, Rebecca and I set out on foot for an adventure to Trafalgar Square and Big Ben. I am very much enjoying people watching, which is good, as my final project will be heavily based on observation. You can see the effect of this new interest on my photos of the square:

Big Ben and The Eye were so crowded with tourists, all speaking different languages as well as English, which we are all beginning to realize is sort of like a different language here (just for kicks, they spell hummus like "hoummous"). Monday, after our first class with Shuffles, pretty exciting, we all ate lunch in the park, people watched and giggled about Medieval words ("bonerly!"). Dan, Will and my new bud Matt all planned to head over to the British Museum, about five minutes from where we are. Jenny and Lina also tagged along. If Trafalgar Square was uncomfortably crowded with tourist, the museum, if you can imagine was worse because  the museum is free to the public, so locals also hang out around and in the building for social meetings. I even saw a group of students (tourists maybe from Italy), playing cards in an area featuring Greek statues and artifacts. I've never seen so many people, or such an expansive building! We were only able to cover a few exhibits: Greek and Roman art and Egyptian art, and a neat exhibit on the Enlightment, when the British Museum was established and attained many of its first artifacts. But this is only a slice of the place had to offer and I'm sure I'll be back again, next time with a camera.

Monday night was also our first show. We saw "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," an expensive show with an amazing billing: James Earl Jones, Phyllicia Ryshad, two other really famous actors whose names I can't remember... The show itself was rather epic, and I very much enjoyed the acting as well as the technical performances. It was also directed by Debbie Allen (of "Fame" noteriety) and is the first all-black performance of the play, which also was very interesting to me. The audience, however, was worse than any show I've ever seen, even in 4th or 5th grade when I went to the Children's theater to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That room full of elementary school kids trumped this audience in courtesy and respect. Within the first five minutes someones phone went off. But what's worse is that they continued to go off throughout the show, all over the theater! The audience was also rather noisy, laughing at moments either too raucously, or at innappropriate times, as when Brick is chasing Maggie around the room with a crutch threatning to kill her. The audience intrigued me. I hope the next show will prove to be just as interesting, both performances and people.

le tube et la fontaine

Today has seemed to me the longest day of my life. Even though it has really taken two days to get here, spending the night in the air was hardly a night well spent. I arrived at the airport at 5:15, after calling friends and family to say goodbye. The woman at the check-in desk treated me like an old friend. She was so excited to hear it was my first time abroad, complimented my bright yellow boots and told me a story about her first trip to Venice ("I looked out of the window and everyone was wearing these long rubber boots, longer than yours. I went to the door to see what was going on. Did you know, the sidewalks were completely flooded over. I asked the bellhop what was going on and he said, "Madam, it's a natural phenomenon!")

After a nice goodbye with the fam, I flew to Dallas where I met up with Jenny. I proceeded to board the largest plane I've ever seen in my life! I was very intimidated. When I found my seat, a hunky guy was sitting in it. Even so, I forced him to move, because I prefer the aisle. We had good conversation about California and how tired he was. Eight hours and two crappy meals later, we landed, fought through customs, and began our tube adventure, which primarily consisted of me tripping of my luggage, other people, my boots, etc. and drawing attention to my touristy-ness by taking silly photos (note my haircut, not quite how I want it, but it's okay):

After I fell on another person trying to get off the tube, and got stuck in the exit doors at the station, Jenny's map and brilliance led us to our hostel, a fine establishment that will become even better once we get some posters over the cracks in the walls. We threw our stuff down and immediately headed for the city. It's beautiful and the people are great. We grabbed sandwiches and people-watched in Russell Square Park, where all the children seemed to be fascinated by this floundering fountain:

We also were quite enamored by a junk sculpture called "The Eco Thunder Kid," and met a old man equally enamored ("It's made for our enjoyment. See how the shorts are made with bottlecaps? I think it's fabulous!") He also shared a story about an old friend of his who sculpted two elephants from recycled materials ("For the baby elephant, for the end of his long nose, his trunk, he stuck a little blue baby shoe. Isn't that marvellous? I guess you could say junk art is my thing"). I love the stories I am collecting. The people here are fascinating.

le musee Blanton

Morgan/Mommy-time has increased over the past two days, in preparation for the epicness. Yesterday, we took a day-trip out to Austin to visit the Blanton museum, grab sandwiches and catch a few sales at my favorite, quirky vintage and dress shops: Wish, Cream, Manjuu, and Buffalo Exchange. YUM.

The Blanton was definitely my favorite part. We started in the Greek statue section, where mom checked out this guy's plaster reproductive organs:

They also had a great Picasso prints exhibit ("This guy is weird," says mom), a really fantastic collection of Modern and Post-Modern art (see this neat walk-in installation by a Latin American woman- the floor is lined with money and the ceiling with bones, while the tether in the middle made of communion wafers - a very political statement about Catholicism), and a new exhibit called "Desire," which was the strangest, most provocative thing I've ever seen in a museum. It was a multimedia exhibit, that also included a site-based project called "Mapping Desire" (you can listen to the audio part of that project here). Some of my favorite pieces were bronze statues of clothing (i.e. "His Tie. Her Underwear.") littered around the studio space, a slow motion film of a shoe being untied by an erection (I don't even know if that description makes sense), photographs of sexual encounters in a men's bathroom reprinted on pinhead's, and a really cool collection of to-do lists and sketches that normalize desire by scheduling it with other daily tasks. A chilling, yet less overtly explicit piece is this amazing enamel on metal work by Marilyn Minter called "Crystal Swallow" from the Blanton upcoming exhibit website:

I wish I had photos of my own, but they weren't allowed! This kind of experiential, sexual art exhibit was right up my alley, while my mom could only shake her head in disapproval ("Why do people believe in nakedness?" she wondered). The exhibit is up until the 25th; czech it if you're in the area.

Today, I went to the dentist (who's still cavity-free? what, what!), went to the mall (okay, honestly, no more shopping), grabbed tasty gumbo from this great seafood place called Pappadeux, and picked up London necessities. Two more days! 

londres--tout droit!

It's about 39 degrees F and rainy in London tonight, but the thought of la cite fills me with warm, fuzzy-wuzzy feelings! I set up my new skype webcam and experimented with self-portraits (notice my luxe pink pajamas and bedhead):

Also, I spoke with Mollie today about arrival plans/our mutual disgust with packing. I've limited my wardrobe choices to black, white, pinks and reds and it's still not fitting in one suitcase! It's all becoming very real, very fast.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Austin with my mother to check out some Picasso at the Blanton and walk the Drag. I'm in seach of a pair of comfortable black boots, a chocolate brown belt, possibly a new backpack and any other vintage/euro-cool accessories to amp up my wardrobe (long gloves? fur? Parisian boy toy?).

Also, Thursday is haircut day. I pray for short bob/fringe fabulousity. Will post picture if it's not a disaster. Bonsoir!