October 18th, Strolling the Streets of London

Today we walked around the Bloomsbury area and I thought this was amazing. I couldn't believe how many influential people lived in the area, even he people who weren't in the Bloomsbury Group. It was amazing seeing all of the blue plaques on the buildings all around there. There were so many more of these plaques in this area compared to the rest of London. Every single walk you went on you would walk in the footsteps of many great writers, painters, and thinkers. After the walk the British museum was also pretty cool. I enjoyed seeing everything there, but especially the pills telling the life story, and coffins from Ghana. I think there is something magical about being buried in your interest. When we saw War Horse that night it was also interesting. I thought the horse puppets were something amazing, it felt as i there was a real horse on stage. It was also interesting comparing it to the movie and seeing what they added in the film, which wasn't in the play.
I thought this walk in the morning was very important because it showed us the area, which inspired so many. I can definitely see how it inspired so many people as well. It isn't often where you can find a nice quaint and relaxed area in a major city, and this is exactly what Bloomsbury is. There is so much beauty cramped into it's squares that it is hard to not feel inspired.

October 17th, Houses

Today we went to the houses of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. Both of these houses were beautiful. I really enjoyed Charleston because every room in that house is a work of art. Every single wall is painted beautifully and there were many paintings by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, which I could look at all day. I really enjoyed seeing Monk's house as well. I enjoyed just walking through the garden here, and also I thought it was amazing seeing Virginia Woolf's writing room, and seeing the river where she committed suicide was extremely eerie. Then I really enjoyed getting to London and having our free time. Walking around these streets really reminded me of all the movies set in London. It is something I've always thought of doing and I enjoyed actually doing it. I also had the most delicious fish and chips of the trip at my first London pub

I found it interesting that the Bloomsbury group decided to have a place outside of London. In my opinion the group was set up in the hustle and bustle of London for a reason. And in my opinion this reason was to create a difference where a huge difference could be made. The vacation homes just seemed as an escape to me for the group.

October 16th, Cinema Day

Today was the day, which really concentrated on film. We started the day by going to a museum, which housed old toys and an exhibition on the early days of film. This had many old cameras and other items which came from the early days of cinema. There was also a room which should a few short films from really early on, and these films we amazing in their simplicity, and just the fact people made film because of the fact they wanted to. That afternoon I finished my quest in receiving tickets by playing deal or no deal on the pier again and enjoying the brisk afternoon. Then that night we went to the Duke of York Theatre and this did nothing but make me envious. There are no theaters like that in the States or at least they are very rare and it is just so beautiful. The architecture and the size it's all just too perfect. This place is where movies are meant to be seen. After that we enjoyed On The Road which was an interesting movie. I enjoyed it, but I can't say it was my favorite by any means. It was definitely a good movie to watch at this theatre however. On The Road was the type of movie, which I was happy I saw, but it is also the type of movie I don't need to watch multiple times. I appreciated it being very raw and I like the overall story arc and what it was trying to say, but like I said earlier it's not the type of movie I need to see.

October 15th, Arrival

Waiting in the rain in Lugano, felt sort of like a film. The rain pouring down as a group of students, excited about the travel ahead. The bus came and the students piled on the bus. This bus then took them to Malpensa to fly to London. These students then get to drive to Brighton through a land not many people on the trip knew very well. As we drove through Brighton we passed by many pubs and typical British sights. We then drove by the Duke of York Theatre, which looked much more like the theaters you see in films. It was a beautiful small theater unlike the typical multiplexes.

When we got to Brighton we were able to have free time and went to the pier. There we played a few games of epic Deal or no deal and won many tickets. After the victorious games of Deal or No Deal, we met back with the group to have delicious burgers at Bill's. After Bill's we enjoyed a pub and went to bed.

Brighton is the type of place I could see many movies taking place. It has that setting which would be perfect for any type of movie. I could see a romantic comedy taking place there on the pier during the summer, and a the same time a bitter drama taking place there during the offseason. This was a good introduction to the trip because it really gave the group a feel for the type of country England is outside of London.

First post

For my travel blog to Bloomsbury Britain, I'm going to concentrate on cinema. Cinema was a fairly new invention during this time, and it made great strides during this time. I find this topic very interesting, and I feel that I will learn a lot about this topic on the travel.