What a full day, but luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view it is now over (actually I’m referring to yesterday at this point). Anyway, to begin the day with the beginning of the day, I woke up quite early (7:30 or so) and got dressed and headed out to school to be there by 9:00. My first class was Advertising, and let me tell you, it was a very bemusing class. My professor was really odd (again) and British and he was always saying the classic English tag ‘isn’t it’ or just at times ‘i’n’ it’ and also he would say things like ‘...yeh?’ and such like that. It was funny, because he would ask questions that he definitely had a set answer in mind for, and when you strayed from it, he got somewhat indignant, for example he posed the question “Who are some of England’s most famous directors?” Now the reason he asked this was to prove a point that many British directors got their start by doing tv adds. I raised my hand, and when he called on me, I said “Guy Ritchie” and he looked obviously troubled by my reply, and he said “Well, I mean good directors, Guy Ritchie is really only famous for marrying Madonna anyway, all he did was Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Something or other”, then I said okay “How about Alfred Hitchcock” and he was again baffled and said “Well, he was born in Britain, but is really just an American director anyways”. Apparently the correct answer was, Ridley Scott, who I was not certain even was British, but now I know.
After class, I went out and took a walk and sat down in Russell Square park after purchasing a rather good sandwich, I sat next to a law student from Zimbabwe, who actually lived in Leeds (in Yorkshire), and was studying down in London for a while with an amazing 60 hours a week schedule, cor! Anyway, we talked about how hard it is to understand the northern English and also things in Africa and America and so forth. He then had to leave after a little while, and I then proceeded for the first of what I know will be many visits to the Lootseum (British Museum for those not caught up with the journal) and man. It was immense they had so much shit there, I didn’t even try to go through all of it, but I did go and see a lot of the American Indian stuff, a tad of the Enlightenment, some of Asia, a lot of Roman stuff, and Greek, and Mesopotamia. Of course, the main thing I tried to get my excited eyes to see, was the Elgin Marbles, and the loot from the Parthenon, and wow, it was cool to be there, they had a neat video about what it would have looked like back in the day, and I was just really happy to be there. But, I then left and finally set out on foot (for about ten minutes) to the Savoy. That was a neat walk, and the roads seemed to be pretty elegant just to get there. I saw the statue of Sullivan with the woman draping over him, I missed D’Oyly Cartes and Gilbert, but I walked around, saw the Savoy Hotel, and then after walking a little further found the Theatre, for which they were not playing a Gilbert and Sullivan play, but rather they were playing The Rat Pack, which looked neat, but out of place in my mind. Oh well! I then decided to go back to school to catch my next class, and stopped at a haberdashery, where I found a good hat that I kind of wanted to buy, but not right then for £25.00, not great, but not bad either.
After getting back to school, I still had some time left over so I went to the computer lab and messed about there. I guess I messed about too long because, I showed up to my next class about 15 minutes late, but it was bloody cool, and definitely my smallest class. I was happy to see Rich in it, and it was very fascinating, London Classical Music Scene. We already had tickets to a concert for the same evening as our first class, and I was stoked, because they were at the Royal Albert Hall, for 19:00. We got to hear different music in the class, and it was extremely touching to hear, I think partly because the speakers were very good. Anyway, after class ended, I took the tube to Knightsbridge since I had some time to kill between the end of class and the concert. I walked down Knightsbridge (road) and walked right up to Harrods, and let me tell, you that store is immense, or at least it is quite the sight to behold if you’re not expecting it. Anyway, I thought I would walk around it, and I’m glad I did. As soon as, I walked in the door the security guard asked me to take my bag off and carry it in one hand, which I did, and boy was I glad I did not bring my computer with me that day. Anyway, as I walked around the store, I just could not help but admire how nice it was. I found my way to the food area, and that was really exciting, because right in the centre, they had a Britannia made entirely from chocolate, and fairly big too, I would guess about two feet or more. I found myself walking by the tea section, and decided to purchase a tin of looseleaf Earl Grey, which did not seem to be too terrible of a deal (£4.25) and I got my one Harrods purchase done already, because you have to buy something there, and better a tin than a stick of gum. I then left, getting sick of carrying my bag, because it was still heavy. After Leaving Harrods I continued down Kightsbridge I hit South Kensington station, so I knew I was headed in the right area, but somehow after that I headed south for some reason and got reasonably lost, although luckily I was still going west, and was on Queen’s Gate which led up to Albert Hall, but I was also on near Brompton Road, which is much further south than I thought it would be.
So, I headed up to the hall, got there about an hour early, and just enjoyed the Hall. The Hall itself, was breathtaking from the inside, they had a pool in the centre and standing room only on that floor, which I thought a bit strange. Our seats were on the third tier up, but it was so elegant and beautiful inside, and it was very spacious as well, it had columns on the top tier (the one above us also with standing room only) and it was a pretty colour as well as having neat upholstery and curtains and the likes of that. Then my other class mates as well as the rest of the audience began to show up, and Rich sat next to me, and we chatted a bit, about how we were doing respectively with our new places. The concert began with a Haydn piece “the drum-roll symphony” it was quite lovely, but then I am a sucker for the Romantic Era. After that, two more of our classmates, actually one and her friend showed up and sat down for the rest of the concert (they were absent for the first section). I talked to the girl who was not in our class, whose name is Adrian, and we hit it off fairly well, as she is also a big classical music lover. The next piece came on by Alban Berg, and I had not heard it before, it was written around World War I, but I was not completely keen on it, though there were good parts. My neighbours, saving Adrian, were all taking notes throughout the concert, although I could not understand why. Following the Berg piece, there was an intermission, and we all left the theatre, I hung out with Rich and walked around the hall together. They then began their final (scheduled) piece, The Rite of Spring, by Stravinsky, and it was actually more touching than I remembered it, and I was happy to be there, when parts of it were so moving. Following the concert, we had the encore of some Waltz by Strauss, and another encore of I think it is called the Thunderer, (though I may have this confused with a Sousa march) also by Strauss.
Following the concert, I collected my bag (from the coat check) and walked back home, with Rich coming with me, we got a little lost, since we could not cut across Kensington Park, but were apparently always walking in the right direction, and finally we reached Notting Hill Gate, where I bade him adieu, and continued back via Portobello Road. On the way, I saw the same guy who sold me the ticket and he called to me, saying ‘yo’ several times as when I walked past him I tried to avoid him and was actually significantly far away by the time he called. I finally turned around and not recognising me at first, he again offered to sell me weed, and I just replied ‘no’ in a somewhat annoyed voice and seeing me more clearly he said “Oh, its you, did that ticket work” I replied that it hadn’t (which I forgot to mention earlier in this entry that I tested it and it really didn’t work). He then asked me if I tried it on the bus, I said no I had not, and he told me to. I just thought it was funny that he was continuing with his little charade after conning me, but I don’t know maybe I just need to get the oyster system down better, and it really does work. After I returned home, I talked to Alyssa on the internet, set up the rest of the pictures I took, and after some time of staying up far too late, finally went to bed. My only regret was not bringing my camera, because it was such a cool and beautiful day.