Arthur's Seat

            On Sunday, we decided to climb Arthur’s Seat, which is a hill/mountain thing that looks over Edinburgh. It is immense, and we only ended up climbing the lower hill; we decided not to attempt the larger peak since it looked too foreboding for us. The lower hill still offered incredible views of Edinburgh, and it was awe-inspiring. It reminded me of all the hikes and camping trips I had taken with my family over the years, and I couldn’t help but think that if my family was here, my dad would drag us up there and be overly enthusiastic about it, and my sisters and I would be less enthusiastic until we reached the top. In fact, that was almost how it worked. There was a group of us who took one look at the hill and we thought that there was no way we could make it up to the top of that. We even played with the idea of stopping halfway up and just turning around if we thought it would be too difficult to get to the top of it. Instead, we pushed on, and we made it to the top.

            We had read that the hill was called Arthur’s Seat because there was a legend that King Arthur built a castle on the hill. It is not hard to imagine, since the hill is in prime fortress territory, and it has a great view of the city. It also felt rather magical standing on top of the hill and looking out over all of Edinburgh. It was easy to see how people could assign mystical properties to such a place. I even found myself assigning mystical elements to Arthur’s Seat, merely because of the merging of the cliff, the view, and the gale force winds that threatened to topple us. There is so much history that this hill has witnessed over millions of years, and we were only a small sliver of that history, which was incredibly humbling to think about. Arthur’s Seat has definitely captured many people’s imaginations, including my own.

Witches

            Going to see the Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibit at the Scottish Modern Art Gallery was absolutely fascinating. I had obviously heard the stories about witches that come from fantasy novels and fairy tales, but I had never studied them in a historic or artisitic way. Witches have certainly been a part of American culture, with the Salem Witch Trials and their repercussions, but seeing them from a British perspective was very interesting. The fact that Albrecht Durer made drawings of witches in the 15^th and 16^th centuries definitely put things in perspective. Witches have been around since way before the Salem Witch Trials and the Weird Sisters of Macbeth. And the fact that they were drawn as old crones and young seductresses back then was interesting, especially since witches continue to be characterized in that way.

            It was also interesting to hear that witch-hunting had completely taken over parts of Britain over different periods of history. Witches stopped being a part of fantasy and fairy tales and had become very real things. The fantasy modality had really taken ahold of people, so much so that they began drowning and burning women who they thought were witches. Different periods of history saw the ebb and flow in this belief in witches, but when people believed they were real, they believed in them so fully so that they saw witches where there weren’t any.

The British Museum

We went to the British Museum on Sunday, our last free day in London. The museum is absolutely massive, and we definitely did not get through to see everything that we wanted to see. However, I really wanted to see the Parthenon exhibit, and we were able to go there! I had been to Greece before, and I had seen the Parthenon on the Acropolis, so I was really excited to see the marble reliefs and metopes which had been removed from the original building.

            I was very aware before I went there that the marbles on display were rather controversial. They had been removed from Greece by the British, who were more intent on gaining these great treasures rather than simply preserving them. I had been upset when I was in Greece because none of these amazing works of marble had been in their proper location or even in a museum in Greece. It was weird having to come to a completely different country in order to see a part of something that I had already seen. The displays around the marbles were very careful in their language about the marbles, saying things like “Lord Elgin removed the marbles in order to preserve them” or “There are parts of the Parthenon displayed in many different countries”. There were other signs like this around for other exhibits, like a room full of Assyrian reliefs with a caption reading something like “These pieces were bought at auction by both the British and French a long time ago, so that is why Britain has the highest number of Assyrian reliefs outside of Iran”. The British Museum was very careful about their wording in order to not come off as too colonialist. These colonialist ideas have pervaded in British society because that has always been the norm for them—expanding the empire. They believe that they were preserving the marbles, and while they might be, it is probably time that they return them. Greece is obviously capable of housing these exhibits, and shouldn’t the marbles of the Parthenon be actually at the Parthenon?

            These are complicated questions that have complicated answers depending on who you ask. The story changes with whoever you ask. My opinion is probably shaped from my American ideals of freedom and independence—that Greece should do with the marbles what they want as well as my prior experiences in Greece. An average citizen of Britain may or may not agree with me, but their reasoning will most definitely be shaped by years of British ways of thinking.

Doctor Who

Last Saturday, a bunch of us went to Cardiff, Wales, in order to go to the Doctor Who Experience. I started watching Doctor Who during my freshman year at U of O. All of my friends watched it, so I thought I’d give this show a try. I have absolutely fallen in love with the show over the last few years. It is both dramatic and funny as well as scary and sentimental. It’s a family show, but its really enjoyed by people of all ages. Doctor Who is really a cult classic show, since it has been around for so long, its enjoyed by so many people, and there are so many inside jokes and strange vocabulary words that fans enjoy using and newcomers get easily confused. My friends all watched it when I was in high school, but I did not, so I always confused when they wondered who was going to be the 11^th Doctor. I kept thinking, “Are they all watching a medical show with more than 10 doctors? Is this about Grey’s Anatomy?” (I didn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy at the time either, so I just assumed that’s what they were talking about). So when I finally watched the show, I understood when they brought up the TARDIS, the sonic screwdriver, the Daleks, “Don’t Blink”, “It’s bigger on the inside”, or “wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff”.  I felt like I was in on the inside joke, and it was awesome. I started to tell everyone I knew about this awesome show, and some people were interested, but others, like my family, were not. But now that I’ve started watching it, I’ve started noticing references to the show in all sorts of places. Its another feeling of inclusiveness that I feel with the other Whovians (aka fans of Doctor Who). Its can feel like a very ideological way to look at things, with the whole “us vs. them” idea, but its true. Its hard to completely explain Doctor Who and all of its facets to someone who hasn’t seen the show, so all you can really do is recommend it and hope they join you in your love for the show.

            All in all, being able to go to the Doctor Who experience where we basically “experienced” Doctor Who by being set in an episode was pretty awesome. All of my fan dreams came true because we went in a replica TARDIS and we fought the Daleks. The coolest thing was that we saw a bunch of little kids—some as young as 5 or 6—who were huge Whovians and absolutely loved the “experience”. Even though the fandom can feel ideological, if children can gain enjoyment from this amazing show, then anyone can.

Tube Etiquette

Living in London for three weeks means getting very acquainted with the public transportation systems. It's so easy to get around in London. Between walking, the bus, and the Tube, you can really get anywhere you need to go easily and fairly quickly. However, the Tube can be sometimes frustrating. During rush hour, the Tube is incredibly busy, and you end up packed like sardines on the trains. Sometimes people will take one step onto a train and then stop, which effectively blocks everyone else from getting on the train. This also happens while getting off the trains as well. It's annoying, but you learn how to work your way around it by moving fast and making sure that you're not the one causing the problem.
In London there are always just as many tourists riding the trains as Londoners. This means that you can hear a variety of languages and accents while riding the Tube, but I've often found that most people don't talk on the train. Everyone usually just keeps to themselves and people don't really talk even if they're with other people. Even though most people don't talk, I feel strange not making conversation with the people I'm traveling with, especially since many of our trips are fairly long.
Last week, a woman stopped me and asked me for directions on the Tube, and I was able to give her some advice, and I felt super accomplished. The London Underground may be super large and confusing, but you gain some working knowledge from taking the Tube almost every day. It's definitely become easier as the days have gone on, and I feel super comfortable taking the Tube. Now all I need is a permanent address and an accent and then I can really feel like a native.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tonight we went to go see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Globe Theatre. I had never seen the show before tonight nor had I read the play, so it was an amazing first-time experience with such a fun show.
I've read a lot of Shakespeare previously, and he definitely uses fantasy elements in many of his plays. Macbeth has the three witches along with other haunting elements and The Tempest has intense magic and sprites, as well as many others. A Midsummer Night's Dream includes fairies and magical love flowers. There is a really interesting mix of the classic mythical with these fantasy elements. The play takes place in Athens and in the "green world" of the Wood. Shakespeare uses archaic fantasy elements in this play, although when he wrote it, they probably wouldn't refer to it as "archaic" at that time.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a good show and its obvious why this show is a classic. It's hilarious and entertaining. It also reminded me of our discussions of fantasy in modern times. Fantasy is often seen as children's entertainment or of lower quality than other texts. But A Midsummer Night's Dream shows that it's the works of fantasy, not the fantasy elements themselves that determine the quality of the work. Shakespeare's plays are incredibly important and respected in the world of academics. No one gets through high school without being exposed to Shakespeare in one way or another. The fantasy elements that Shakespeare employs are very important to his work, but it doesn't lower the quality of Shakespeare's plays. It was cool to be reminded that fantasy elements are still enjoyed by people who might not declare themselves as ardent fantasy fans.

On Location in London

One thing that I really wanted to do while in London was find some of the filming locations for some of my favorite TV shows and movies. As soon as I got here, we were looking up all the spots where the BBC show "Sherlock" is filmed, and we found that their location for 221B Baker Street was only a ten-minute walk from International Hall and really just right across the street from the Wellcome Center. We wandered around and we finally found it!

The door isn't very distinctive because its not actually at the address of 221B Baker Street, but the red awning is definitely iconic. 

It was very strange to see something up close that I had watched many times on TV. The crew isn't filming right now, and there are no actors there, but it was still really cool. It reminded me of how much of this city has been depicted on TV and in movies. Being in London and seeing all of these filming locations is both odd and familiar at the same time. Streets that I've seen on TV feel very familiar to me even though I've never stepped foot on them, and now I have the opportunity to walk around where these iconic scenes have happened. It must be interesting to live in a city where there are film crews around all the time, but it must be a pretty positive experience too. London becomes its own pop culture since its pop culture is filmed right in the city. It's strange to randomly come across places made famous by TV and movies, but it definitely is not something that happens every day back in the States.

Electronic/Dance Music

Before coming to the UK last week, I was on Spotify, the free music platform, and I decided to take a look at the "top charts" for the UK. Many of the top songs were similar to the top songs of the US (many of the artists were also American), but I noticed something. Many of the top songs were Electronic or Dance songs that either weren't popular in the US or maybe hadn't even been released in the US.
I've been listening to BBC Radio 1 in the mornings before class, and I've definitely noticed the amount of times the DJ has played an electronic song at 8:30 in the morning. Whereas in the US, popular radio mainly plays hip-hop, rap, pop, and only some electronic songs. While these dance songs might just be the preference of the DJ, it definitely stands out in contrast to American radio stations.
Three of the Top 100 Singles on the UK Official Charts are Electronic/Dance songs: "Love Me Again" by John Newman (2); "Reload" by S Ingrosso, T Trash, and J Martin (3); and "I Love It" by Icona Pop ft. Charli XCX (4). (Only John Newman and Charli XCX are British). In contrast, the US Top Billboard Charts lists R&B ("Blurred Lines"), Disco/Funk/House ("Get Lucky"), Pop ("We Can't Stop"), Rock ("Radioactive"), and Country ("Cruise").
The UK seems to be in the middle of a rich time when it comes to electronic and dance music. This could be fueled by the popular clubbing/dance scene or just a general preference, but I am absolutely loving this chance to discover new artists and amazing music.