Hey Everyone,
So I am reporting to all of you live from London, beginning to consider bed to finish the process of getting over my jetlag.
The journey over was a long one, but I managed to stay up the entire time. They had a bunch of movies for me to watch, which took up the whole 8 hours. When we touched down, I wanted to be able to go straight to bed (in typical fashion for me), but our living arrangements were not immediately ready. We ate in a nearby park when I had the unique combination of a large slice of ham with a sunny-side-up egg on top. I am not sure if that is British, but I am going to give it a consolation prize as first meal within the U.K.
I will say the flight over was a challenge. The difficulties I have recently had with my roommate ended up being most of what I thought about on the way over, which was definitely not fun. It is tough when all you have to do is sit and think, but the movies managed to distract me. Since landing in London, though, it has been really easy to stay in the moment and enjoy myself.
At the end of my travel day, we had dinner at an exclusive club called "The In & Out" where we were only allowed in due to the connections of my professor. We had drinks in a sub-section called "The Goat" where there were disembodied goat heads everywhere. I spoke with the assistance professor about education and how he got involved in higher ed. I found myself being really interested in the conversation between myself and my classmates and professors...maybe that was just the high-quality English beer!
When we ate that night, the conversation continued in the dining hall where Margaret Thatcher once told Winston Churchill "If I was married to you, I would poison your tea", to which he responded "If I was married to you, I would drink it!". It was a wonderful three course meal, and afterwards I reported straight back to bed fora good night's sleep...or so I thought!
At about 5 a.m. time around here I woke up with a splitting headache. We didn't have any water, so I drank out of the tap that only had lukewarm water which was disgusting. I had to dress up, go to the nearest Tesco, and try to drink something that tasted better to help hydrate myself. It wasn't until 7 when one of my classmates woke up with a supply of Advil that I felt better. I got a good 8 hours, but it was not as nice as I would have liked...and this is why I am so excited to go to bed tonight.
Today was extremely busy after my early morning adventures. We went to the Royal Society, where individuals like Alan Turning, Charles Darwin, Watson and Crick, John Locke, and Isaac Newton were members. It was amazing to see a first edition of the Principia Mathematica, the first math textbook that covered Calculus. There were illustrations of animals large and small everywhere, signatures of famous individuals, and a wonderful motto: "Nullius Verba", which means "Take no one's word for it". After we left, we wandered around a little bit. The day before we had a brief excursion to the British Museum (which I can touch on more when we go there as a class in a few days), but today we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was glorious. I took an escalator into a model of a molten planet earth, saw the process for cutting diamonds, original skeletons of T-Rex specimens, and generally had my mind blown. It was a very sciency day.
I had fish and chips for the first time tonight in a nice hole in the wall pub. Had a Guinness...which I guess is a necessity if I am going to be in the U.K. for any period of time. I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum for draining tour that was the last thing I needed after the night I had before it. We ended the day with a Baroque concert that was so soothing I think I fell asleep...
So I am now back home, with the rest of my classmates. I am excited for the rest of the trip. I will be doing my best to message all of you, the people I thought would appreciate hearing about this stuff, about once every other day. I might end up doing more that or less, but that is my goal.
I hope to hear from all of you soon!
Nullius Verba,
Logan Nagel
So I am reporting to all of you live from London, beginning to consider bed to finish the process of getting over my jetlag.
The journey over was a long one, but I managed to stay up the entire time. They had a bunch of movies for me to watch, which took up the whole 8 hours. When we touched down, I wanted to be able to go straight to bed (in typical fashion for me), but our living arrangements were not immediately ready. We ate in a nearby park when I had the unique combination of a large slice of ham with a sunny-side-up egg on top. I am not sure if that is British, but I am going to give it a consolation prize as first meal within the U.K.
I will say the flight over was a challenge. The difficulties I have recently had with my roommate ended up being most of what I thought about on the way over, which was definitely not fun. It is tough when all you have to do is sit and think, but the movies managed to distract me. Since landing in London, though, it has been really easy to stay in the moment and enjoy myself.
At the end of my travel day, we had dinner at an exclusive club called "The In & Out" where we were only allowed in due to the connections of my professor. We had drinks in a sub-section called "The Goat" where there were disembodied goat heads everywhere. I spoke with the assistance professor about education and how he got involved in higher ed. I found myself being really interested in the conversation between myself and my classmates and professors...maybe that was just the high-quality English beer!
When we ate that night, the conversation continued in the dining hall where Margaret Thatcher once told Winston Churchill "If I was married to you, I would poison your tea", to which he responded "If I was married to you, I would drink it!". It was a wonderful three course meal, and afterwards I reported straight back to bed fora good night's sleep...or so I thought!
At about 5 a.m. time around here I woke up with a splitting headache. We didn't have any water, so I drank out of the tap that only had lukewarm water which was disgusting. I had to dress up, go to the nearest Tesco, and try to drink something that tasted better to help hydrate myself. It wasn't until 7 when one of my classmates woke up with a supply of Advil that I felt better. I got a good 8 hours, but it was not as nice as I would have liked...and this is why I am so excited to go to bed tonight.
Today was extremely busy after my early morning adventures. We went to the Royal Society, where individuals like Alan Turning, Charles Darwin, Watson and Crick, John Locke, and Isaac Newton were members. It was amazing to see a first edition of the Principia Mathematica, the first math textbook that covered Calculus. There were illustrations of animals large and small everywhere, signatures of famous individuals, and a wonderful motto: "Nullius Verba", which means "Take no one's word for it". After we left, we wandered around a little bit. The day before we had a brief excursion to the British Museum (which I can touch on more when we go there as a class in a few days), but today we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was glorious. I took an escalator into a model of a molten planet earth, saw the process for cutting diamonds, original skeletons of T-Rex specimens, and generally had my mind blown. It was a very sciency day.
I had fish and chips for the first time tonight in a nice hole in the wall pub. Had a Guinness...which I guess is a necessity if I am going to be in the U.K. for any period of time. I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum for draining tour that was the last thing I needed after the night I had before it. We ended the day with a Baroque concert that was so soothing I think I fell asleep...
So I am now back home, with the rest of my classmates. I am excited for the rest of the trip. I will be doing my best to message all of you, the people I thought would appreciate hearing about this stuff, about once every other day. I might end up doing more that or less, but that is my goal.
I hope to hear from all of you soon!
Nullius Verba,
Logan Nagel