I decided to combine these two weeks, since this past week has been pretty uneventful. Classes have been going well, though the different format has been a bit of an adjustment. I don’t have any written homework assignments, just weekly readings for each class. Most of my classes only have a midterm and a final paper since I am taking liberal arts classes this semester as opposed to mathematics classes.
I have spent the last couple weeks exploring London some more. For my Art in London class, we visited The National Gallery and The Wallace Collection. The National Gallery was enormous, it would take days to look at every painting there. The Wallace Collection was an interesting museum since it is an old house that was converted into a museum. The Wallace Collection had an Armory Exhibit that had lots of different guns, knives, and suits of armour from different cultures. Many of the knives and guns had intricate engravings of artwork on them. I couldn’t get any good pictures because of the reflections off of the glass cases. I will put photos of a few of my favorite pieces of artwork from each museum below.
I traveled to Cork, Ireland from the 13th of February to the 16th of February. Luckily, storm Dennis held off until Saturday night so I had pretty good weather for the majority of the trip. On Thursday I explored downtown Cork. It was such a beautiful city and it was fun to walk around, especially since it was sunny the first day. On Friday, I traveled to the town of Blarney to visit Blarney Castle. It was such a beautiful castle, as was the estate it was located on. I climbed to the top of the castle and kissed the Blarney Stone, though it was a little daunting. I also visited the town of Kinsale which is on the coast of Ireland. Though it was chilly, I visited the beach and I even found a few shells! On Saturday I visited The English Market in downtown Cork. It was mostly grocery and meat/fish stalls, but it was fun to walk around. On Sunday I explored the University College Cork (UCC) campus. It had lots of old buildings that kind of reminded me of Oxford. I had so much fun on this trip and I really enjoyed visiting Cork; it was a nice break from the busy London life.
This past week has been rather uneventful since I have been sick. I visited Camden Market on Saturday. Within Camden Market is one of the more well known Dr. Martens shops in London. When I was in middle school, I asked for my first pair of Dr. Martens boots for Christmas. The pair I happened to ask for were the standard lace-up boot with a Union Jack on the toe. Eight years later, my U.K. Docs have finally made it to the U.K.! I have loved Dr. Martens boots for years so visiting the Camden Market shop was definitely on my London bucket list. While in Camden, we ended up going to see a movie. The movie theatres here are pretty similar to the ones in the U.S., they’re just as expensive but the popcorn is significantly less buttery. On Sunday I visited Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace with a few of my friends. While I enjoyed traveling last weekend, I was thankful to have this weekend to spend exploring London.
Courtney’s Semester in London 