A little bit of pomp and circumstance

One of the great things about our program here is that there are no classes on Friday, meaning we can make the most of our weekends.

Friday a group of us decided to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We had been told of a really good place to see it, at a lamp post across the street from the gates to the palace, and so we all gathered around our lamp and waited. It was a beautiful day to be standing outside, a little cold, but the sun was shining on us for the first time in several days and we had a good time. While we were waiting we noticed that the Queen’s flag was flying on top of the palace, meaning she was there, which made me a little giddy. The actual ceremony was pretty cool, we saw a band and the guard and the horse guard and there were some people in carriages that went in the palace gates, and then back out again. We listened to the two bands playing for a while and then after the guard processed out we ran over to the gates to take some close up pictures of the palace and the guards. I’m really glad that we went, but I consider this more of our ‘dry run’ so we can come back in the spring when the guards are in their red coats (in the winter they put a grey one over the red ones).

Yesterday we spent our Valentine’s Day at the Tower of London, listening to stories of blood and gore; it was awesome. I didn’t expect the whole complex to be as big as it was, but it was a lot of fun exploring the different towers and seeing the place where Henry VII executed his wives, learning about weaponry from medieval times and oh yeah, seeing the crown jewels. As Natalie and I were walking through the Disney World like line, watching video clips of different coronations and processions of royalty I got really excited for what we were going to see. It was not a disappointment. It’s hard to imagine just how much meaning and significance these beautiful and ornate pieces mean to the British Monarchy. I tried to compare them to something we have in the U.S. and came up with nothing, making it that much more exciting I guess.

Over the past few days I’ve been looking a lot more at the British culture (probably because my classes have started and that’s what we do) and have found it to be so interesting and fun and exciting; but the part that I think I love the most is how deep the traditions are. The changing of the guard has been happening for years and years in the same way that we saw it, and it will be happening like that for years to come. That, to me, is a really cool part of being in London and makes me so excited to be here for the next few months.