The (Royal) Family Jewels

My English Lit class reconvened yesterday morning to finish up our examination of Beowulf; I really enjoyed the tale, and it was fun to read something that I might not normally pick for myself, though I would be lost without the translation into Modern English! After our discussion and lecture, we debated whether or not the tongue of Shakespeare’s era is considered ‘Early Modern English’, early ‘Modern English’, or just ‘Modern English’, an exchange made more energetic because my two professors (who are team-teaching in a very unorthodox yet effective way, with both of them actively teaching simultaneously, as opposed to the  more traditional method of switching off on various days) are experts in different time periods: Medieval Literature and Early Modern Literature. The two sort of blend together during Shakespeare’s time, which led to the debate.

After class, we walked to and through the Tower of London. It felt odd following in centuries of footsteps from prisoners to princesses alike…or both, in the case of Elizabeth I! Much of the grounds haven’t changed in hundreds of years; it was as though we traveled through time. I saw things like Traitor’s Gate, where Queen Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth I and second of King Henry VIII’s six wives, arrived by barge for her execution, the famous ravens that, according to legend, can’t leave the Tower or else England will fall, and the Crown Jewels, which have been used by the royal family since the 17th century! I had read about these things since elementary school in books like Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor in the Royal Diaries series, Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter and The Other Boleyn Girl by

Philippa Gregory. I also really enjoyed an exhibit about the recent 100 year anniversary of WWI in 2014, in which all 16 acres of Tower lawn were filled with hand-made ceramic poppies, each one commemorating an English soldier who died on the front lines. It was all so spectacular!

Last night, I went grocery shopping to re-stock my little kitchenette, and, after nightfall, when the glow of the city lights lit up the sky, I explored new areas around Scape with friends. We even got to walk in warm, refreshing rain! It’s been pretty warm here, so that was a welcome change. A Level 3 heatwave alert was put out by Public Health England for the London area a few days ago, which essentially means that it’s a lot like typical Corvallis summer weather, with daily highs in the mid to upper 80s. People here aren’t used to that kind of heat, though, so in addition to our various excursion sites being far less crowded (yay!) they’ve been doing things like passing out free bottled water in the tube stations during rush hour! When it started sprinkling tonight, throngs of people emerged from their air-conditioned flats to cool off, and it was fun to be a part of that celebration. For dinner, we found a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that played Sing! China in Chinese on a TV, with subtitles (interestingly) also in Chinese.

There’s no class for me this morning-there is for the other HC 407 class, Natural Hazards Engineering, which I’m not taking-so instead, I finished reading the General Prologue and Retraction of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in preparation for tomorrow’s English Lit class/Monday’s day trip to Canterbury. This afternoon, we’ll be visiting the British Library!