Chilly Day In East London

Yesterday was my first field trip for my History of London.  We have field trips every Wednesday, which is nice for me because they are my only class that day.  This trip took us to east london which used to be a very poor area.  It's undergoing a sort of rejuvenation right now, mostly because they are trying to make the city look pretty for the 2012 Olympics, but no matter the reason it's nice that they are improving it because it's got a lot of historical importance.  Charles Dickens wrote about East London in a lot of his novels, the Mayflower set sail from the banks of the Thames in East London, and I learned that East London was the site of the first ever tunnel to go under a river.  They actually built a tunnel under the Thames back in the Victorian period and the same general technique is still used today to build all underground subway systems.  Of course they have gotten a lot more efficient because it took them 18 years to get under the Thames.  My guide Robert said that when people would walk through this tunnel, the would get so nervous that about half way through they would break out into a run.  So they put some shops down there to get people to slow down, and I guess they saying went "The braver you are, the more you shop".  Well there goes your history lesson for the week.

Not much to report really on what I've been up to.  Just classes and meeting more people.  I've found that British teachers tend to be insane but that again is in the best way possible.  My acting teacher is awesome and I think that class is going to be really good.  However I was highly embarrassed when everyone in the class was asked a question and my question was which of the two boys in the class I would rather date.  There was clearly an obvious answer as one was cute and british and the other was not as cute and not british, so I just smiled and said that I had to go with the accent.  I got a very cute wink in return and my face turned 10 shades of red.  Did I mention that the whole thing was getting filmed?  Yes this is a screen acting class after all so I will enjoy re-watching that lovely moment next class.

Ok that's all for now.  Here are some pictures from my East London adventure.

Downtown London

All that is left of the summer home of King Something the Somethingth

This is apparently the longest street in London.

Really pretty clock tower of a church.

Creepy chamber that used to lead to the underground tunnel.  Now you can hear the tube running underneath it.  The door to get in was also about 4 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  Bit of a squeeze.