4th of July Weekend

THURSDAY

For Culture By Design class, we discussed branding. I never realized how much a label has to do with a product or a company's image or just how powerful it can be in purchasing decisions. My professor went into this epic description of how the Absolut vodka label is the most effective ad campaign in the world. I'll give you the condensed version:

Long ago, during the Cold War, when a good American wouldn't be caught dead drinking Russian vodka, Sweden decided they could crack the American market by selling us vodka that had "been made in Sweden for over a hundred years" or something. That was a lie. But it was the only way to get Americans to trust the Swedes with the very serious task of producing vodka. Anyway, the interesting part is the actual bottle. Back then, alcohol either came in a green or brown bottle. But the people behind Absolut decided on a clear medicine bottle because it was pure, just like the vodka that was inside.

After class, we made our way to the Museum of Brands-literally, a hallway with glass cases on both sides filled from floor to ceiling with different items from the decade. The museum was set up in different decades starting with the 1920s and ending with the 90s. It was so interesting to see how trends and themes changed throughout time yet some remained very much the same, like royalty or patriotism. The cases were filled with the most random stuff ever-from candy bars, to toys, to stamps and magazine covers to beverage containers and so much more. It was visual overload and I had such a headache when we left.

After that, I rushed home to eat the leftover pizza I had from the night before and an apple and then headed to Pop Culture & Diversity. I really liked this weeks class because we talked about celebrities!!! Basically, what it means to be one and why people tend to worship them as if they're more than human. I don't know... the best part was that we got to watch an episode of Extras, featuring Ricky Gervais (creator of The Office) and it was the funniest thing I've ever seen.

For the outing we went to this awesome exhibit called the British Music Experience. I thought I died and had gone to heaven. It was amazing. It was this huge, circular room with some interactive exhibits in the center and then smaller rooms coming off of it that represented the different eras in British music, starting with the mid 1940s-1962. They had glass cases filled with memorabilia from popular artists of the time including performance outfits, hand-written song lyrics and concert lineups, instruments and props. All the while they had some of the best music ever recorded blaring from the speakers. The best part though was the interactive room where they had guitars, basses, drums and keyboards hooked up to headphones that you could play plus a video to teach you how to play a few notes or melodies on the instrument. I played a Les Paul and messed around on one of the drum kits for a while until we had to go. I seriously considered going back another day but it's 12 GBP to get in so I doubt I will. But it was definitely a great experience.

FRIDAY

We (well the half of the group that didn't go to Amsterdam for the weekend) woke up bright and early to go on a day trip to Greenwich. The boat ride out was nice. It started out in Westminster and traveled along the Thames. We went under Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London and past all of the super expensive flats along the river that belong to stars such as Paul McCartney and Helen Mirren. It was pretty cool. Greenwich was kind of a bust though. It was quiet and small and boring. The only thing I wanted to see was the Prime Meridian (the east and west hemispheres) just to say I'd been on two different sides of the world at once. After we did that, Mary and I went to Borough Market to try to get some cheap, fresh produce. Unfortunately, their fruit and veggie selection was rather limited and it took all we had not to give into all the fudge and Turkish Delight stands crowded with people waiting to taste the handmade desserts. We did, however, buy some delicious homemade bread (garlic Focaccia) to take home and eat with some oil and spices.

Friday evening Dave and Vikki came in from Italy to celebrate their anniversary in England and of course to see me! ha ha ok ok, they didn't come in to see me exactly, but we did have dinner and it was so much fun. I miss them so much and I can't wait for them to be back in the States. We had such a blast catching up and talking in person! They are amazing people and I am so blessed to have them in my life :)

SATURDAY

Laura, Mary and I made our way through the bustling crowds of people in Covent Garden Saturday morning on our shopping trip. Actually, I'd call it more of a quest. We got gelato at Scoop (yummy) and then Mary and I tried Turkish Delight for the first time. It was a very strange taste. It's like a rose jelly covered in powdered sugar. Your mouth says" oh that's tasty" but your mind is saying "you're not supposed to be eating roses". Very strange. After picking up a few things, we made our way to Camden Market. Camden is, for lack of a better word, crazy. It's filled with all sorts of people selling all sorts of things. There are like 5 different markets within Camden including it's most well-known, The Stables. We walked around for a few hours buying things for people and maybe one or two things for ourselves. I don't want to give anything away for people so I'll just say that I bought myself a very pretty, floral dress for 12 GBP (some other guy was selling it for 15). I was proud of that. After having a sausage-spinach-feta cheese wrap at some Turkish food stand, we decided to head back home to get ready for Eclipse!!!!

We arrived at Leicester Square only to realize that a gay pride festival of some sort was going on and it was insane. So many people dressed in the craziest costumes ever were dancing and screaming in the middle of the square. It was nuts. The night got even crazier when something got messed up with the tickets and we ended up paying 14 GBP to see it at a different theater. It was so stressful!! And it just got worse when we were finally sitting down and then had to move 3 times because some poeple's tickets had assigned seats and other's didn't. I was relieved when the movie actually started so I wouldn't have to move again. The theater seemed smaller than the ones back home and I thought it was weird that they sold beer at the concessions.

The movie was pretty good (not 14 GBP good but whatever). I think I'll need to see it again before I can draw any real conclusions on it. I was so pooped afterward that I just came home and watched Bridget Jones' Diary and went to bed.

SUNDAY

Happy Fourth of July America!

I woke up early to get some homework done and then went back to bed. That's it.

No, I'm totally joking. But I did go back to bed for a while. Then I got up and went grocery shopping with Tessa and Mary. I bought some of the essentials: frozen pizza, nutella, cereal, cheese and ground beef to make tacos tomorrow night! So excited. Then a bunch of us got dressed and went to Abbey Road to take pictures of the most famous crosswalk on the planet. We had the brilliant idea to dress up sort of like The Beatles on their album cover, which, I must say, turned out alright. Macki was George, dressed in all denim. I was Paul, navy blue blazer and barefeet. No cigarette though. Sorry. Laura was a very tall Ringo dressed in all black. And Tessa was John, doing the best she could in a white tunic (it's very hard to find an all white suit these days).

When we turned the corner, we immediately knew we were in the right place because there were a ton of people all crowded around, dodging traffic to run out into the middle of the street and take the picture. It was insane!!! After like 4 attempts we finally managed to get a pretty good shot of the four of us then it was Mary, Michelle, and Marie's turn with Macki filling in as George again. We saw the studio too, with "give Peace a Chance" and "All You Need Is Love" graffiti all over the front wall as well as thousands of signatures from people who had come just to show their love for the greatest band there ever was. It was so cool just to be there. To know that's where one of the best records of all time was made, to know they walked across that road just like I did. It was amazing.

For the holiday, we made our way down to the Blues Kitchen in Camden for a delicious American feast. I got a very tasty Philly Cheese Steak complete with "fries". It was really expensive but fairly large portions compared to everything else in England. Keeping with the American spirit, I also tried an "Alabama Fizz" cocktail which was, essentially, a Gin & Tonic. It was good but overpriced. They had live music on the stage in the back and served up great jazz, blues and rock n' roll all night. Macki also entered a hot dog eating contest that proved to be more challenging than we anticipated. The "hot dogs" were giant sausages with onions on top in a sub roll. She had to try to eat an entire platter. She managed to eat three and then called it quits. She did better than I could, that's for sure.

Well, tomorrow starts another week's adventure in London. Thursday and Friday I'll be in Stratford and then I'll be spending the weekend here. Remember, if you ever want to see pictures of anything, they're all on facebook. Or you can email me and I can send you some.

Cheers everyone!
-APC