When I grow up, I want to work in the House of Lords!

Yesterday was a fantastic day from start to finish. Very packed and busy, but tons of fun. In the morning I had my British Life and Culture class – We talked about how the British Parliament works, the different political parties, and the individual roles that each MP (Member of Parliament) fills. Our professor, Lyndon, taught it in a really fascinating way, and I absolutely loved learning about it. It’s really interesting because as different as their government is from ours (they don’t have any sort of constitution, unless you consider the Magna Carta one), it still has several similarities. For instance, they have a House of Lords and a House of Commons, which are kind of like our Senate and House of Representatives.

Then in the afternoon, instead of watching a British movie, we actually went on a tour of Parliament! Yes, that means I got to go into that beautifully designed building right beside the Clock Tower. It was so interesting and amazing to see the inside. The House of Lords (which has red seat cushions) contains the huge golden throne that the Queen sits on at the opening of Parliament each year. She’s not allowed to go in the House of Commons (which has green seat cushions) EVER, so everyone in there has to come to her when she opens the new term of Parliament. And really, there’s over 650 members in the House of Commons, so there is no way all of them are fitting in the room for the House of Lords. Also, as you enter the House of Commons, there’s a stature of Winston Churchill (a former prime minister and member of the Conservative party) and a statue of a man who was also a former prime minister and a member of the Liberal Democrats. Every time a member of the Conservative Party becomes prime minister, they rub the foot of Winston Churchill. The Liberal Democrats do the same thing with their statue, but the shoe of Winston Churchill is MUCH more worn than the other statue’s shoe. (There is also the Labour Party, which is in power right now, but they don’t have a statue by the doors leading into the House of Commons).

After the tour of Parliament was over, we came back to the flat and I tried to get some homework done. It’s not that I don’t want to do my homework, it’s just that there’s so much stuff I’d rather do instead! Then we had to get ready for the theatre performance we were going to see that night. We saw “Blood Brothers” at the Phoenix Theatre. I had never even heard of this musical before last night, but it was DEFINITELY one of the best performances I had ever seen! I completely recommend it for anyone because both girls and guys would enjoy it – well, as much as a guy can enjoy a musical. You know it’s a good performance when the audience personally gets involved with the characters in the musical. And that’s definitely what happened here.

Then at night, I got to chat with my FANTASTIC friends, Tessie and Dan, online! I hadn’t really talked to them in real time since I’ve been here, so that was definitely needed for everyone. :)

Oh, and I forgot to mention what we did on Sunday. We went “palace jumping” as I like to call it. First we went to Buckingham Palace (the main palace of the Queen) and toured the State Rooms! Very, very cool and absolutely beautiful. They were only open to the public for two months this summer, so we were very lucky to be here during that time. I was hoping I would see the Queen or Prince William, but no such luck.

After that we were all famished, so we had bought lunch at a café and ate it in Green Park. It’s so weird because you actually have to pay extra at certain places if you want to eat their food in their restaurant because I guess they don’t want to have a lot of people taking up their seats? I’m not sure, but I will gladly pay less if that’s an option. And eating in the park was beautiful, so it wasn’t a big deal at all. Then we went to Kensington Palace (the palace Princess Diana used to live in) and walked around the beautiful gardens. The sunken gardens were absolutely amazing – and it was also a lovely day, so it just added to the incredible beauty of it all.

I think the big cities in America could learn a lot from London. I mean, I’ve never spent an extended period of time in any of them, but it always seems like they’re just big, dirty, and trashy. I’m sure some people initially think that same thing about London, but there are so many beautiful places here. I just think it would be nice if our cities in America made a little more effort to beautify everything we already have.

Until next time,
Rachel