mounting culture.

I am quite sure that I have done more in the past week than I normally do in a month while I am at home. While the work load is still light, I am trying to really take advantage of the free time that I have. Living in one of the cultural capitals of the world, I have been like a fly to light to see museums, performances and historic sights.

Firstly, there is the theatre. Yes it is -re not -er, I am part British now, remember? On Wednesday, my flatmates and I treated ourselves to our first big time show. "We Will Rock You," a musical centering around the greatest hits of rock gods, Queen, was at the top of our list of things to see -- partly because we love Queen, but also because it was rumored the tickets were cheap. What can I say, we're college students! In the end, good decision. The show was part musical and part rock concert that left us singing Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of our lungs (and quite out of key.) "Thunderbolt of lightning -- very, very frightening!"

Thursday, Bethany and I decided to infiltrate high society by attending a performance of Agrippina at the English National Opera. Wearing our most lovely outfits, we sat amidst a flock of AARP-qualified opera lovers. The theatre was absolutely lovely, adorned with gold embellishments, marble accents and intricate carvings. In stark contrast the show was actually quite crude, featuring unexpected partial nudity and a select array of words that I will allow you to guess. I fully enjoyed the show, partly for its well contrived plot but also for its surprising humor.

As a final note, it snowed in London yesterday. Probably just a couple of inches, but practically the whole city was shut down. It was rumored to be the worst snow in 10 years, which is hard to believe considering most of it was melted by 3. A lot of the underground trains were closed down or severely delayed, so our class was cancelled. Alas, there truly is a place in this world that is worse at coping with snow than North Carolina. Who would have thought.