nouveau nouveau

It's an incredibly interesting idea to be in a new place seeing new things like art, monuments, and churches, many of which are world famous. I think I expected each event to be life-changing in some sort of way, but I have found that although intriguing, the collective events in retrospect are
what make the experience. Either way, I know I will never forget this trip.

On friday, my friend from San Diego, Lauren and I went around London looking for artwork by this anonymous artist named Banksy. He does graffiti stencils which are usually either painted over or cut out of the wall to be sold by the town for as much as 400,000 pounds. That's almost 800,000 dollars. I've heard that Brad and Angelina bought one. Anyway, most of his work is mocking the police, or the government, or artists driven by money. He is anonymous, so he doesn't make anything on what he does. Some of his spray-paintings are illusions, like a seeming hole in a brick wall with a blue sky and a field. So, we found three of them that were still up, which was very exciting!

We also visited St. Paul's Cathedral and got a glimpse of the inside, but decided to wait for when Max visits to pay and get a tour, since it looks amazing. I'm including a photo of the revolving door which wrote, "This is none other than the House of God-This is the gate of Heaven."

Later, we went to see a band called the Rocket Summer for free because lauren is family friends with the lead singer, Bryce Avary, so we were on the guest list. We talked to him for a long time and he was a pretty nice guy. We also got to meet the guy who started the organization, To Write Love on Her Arms, Jamie Tworkowski. To write love on her arms is a, organization that helps people who are battling depression, self mutilation, and addiction (twloha.com). There is a story about it printed on the inside of all the shirts. I have a shirt and a sweatshirt, so I was ecstatic that I got to meet the guy who wrote the story! Lauren and I met and made friends with with Jamie and we talked for probably a half hour-45 minutes. After that, he gave us his number and email.

Saturday, the study abroad group went to Oxford. We got to see Oxford University and Christ's College, where Harry Potter was filmed. We also went to "The Eagle and The Child," the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein used to meet and talk.