See You Soon in London

Hello folks!

Consider this my first official entry. It’s my first non lets-make-sure-all-the-technology-works entry. I am counting the days now. I leave on Monday! I won’t arrive until Tuesday morning though, 11:30 A.M. London time (that’s 5:30 A.M. U.S. Central Time). I will have a few days of free time before classes begin and I plan to use them wisely.

There are a number of places I am looking forward to visiting, including class scheduled field trip locations and some that I plan to visit on my own time. Just to give you a taste of what to expect in the coming weeks, I’m going to list a few of my favorites. First and foremost though, my top free-time priority is to watch Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. I am a proud Whedon fan and the film has yet to come to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, so I am not going to miss this chance to see it on the big screen. Besides, who wouldn’t go watch a modern adaptation of a Shakespeare play while in London?

Aside from being a Whedon fan, I am also a Tolkien fan and a life-long fan of J. M. Berrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy (the play and the novel). Thus, Oxford and Kensington Gardens are two of my favorite locations on our class agenda. I have actually visited both locations before, during a previous study abroad trip, when I was still an Undergraduate Student in English at Southeast Missouri State University. However, I didn’t get very good pictures of the Peter Pan statue, and my camera died half-way through the Oxford trip, so I am making a promise to myself to get lots of better pictures this time.

 

The British Library is another location I am looking forward to. I was dumb and didn’t visit during my first time in London. I took a course in Library buildings last fall, and the British Library was covered in that course. It is an exceedingly interesting structure and I can’t wait to see it in person.

And then there’s all my personal interest trips. I am a Whovian (Doctor Who fan), as are several of my classmates, so we’re planning a trip to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff, Wales. I also want to stop by the Ianto Jones memorial if possible (if you are a Torchwood fan, you will understand).

I am also a Dominic Monaghan fan, and because I like to travel outside of London (trains in Britain are amazing!), I want to try and visit Manchester. Although, I’m wondering if visiting during festival season is a wise idea. If I do though, you can bet I will go out of my way to buy something Manchester United (Dom’s favorite football team).

I am also a book lover, and poetry lover, and comics lover. I was hoping Paul Cornell would make a public appearance at some point while I’m in London, but apparently, he’s attending US cons while I am in the UK. Ironic really. Although, he informed me that he might attend Mike Carey’s signing at Forbidden Planet, so maybe I shouldn’t count him out just yet. I am also keeping a lookout to see whether my favorite YA (Young Adult) author, David Almond, might be doing any signings or readings anywhere, but haven’t seen anything. Even if I don’t manage to track down favorite authors, I plan to seek out bookstores and really want to find comics stores. One of my professors, Carol Tilley, has comics from a number of foreign countries she’s visited and I would love to have a similar collection someday.

And, most importantly (after Much Ado, of course), is my planned return to The Poetry Café. I discovered this little out of the way place during my first visit, ate lunch there a couple of times (love the soups!), and visited their open mic (Poetry Unplugged) every week. I loved it there, made some friends, and can’t wait to go back. I will arrive on Tuesday, which means I will arrive just in time for Poetry Unplugged!

So, stay tuned. I will be back shortly to post pictures and videos. See you in London!