Bird's Eye View

Today we took a "flight" on the London Eye. The fairly recent tourist attraction gave us the opportunity to view and photograph the city from a different perspective, which was perfect for our first photo focus: buildings. The photo submissions of the class and can be viewed online via our course Facebook page.

After our flight, Hugh led us on a tour of West minster Abbey. Quick, what's the name of Westminster Abbey? If you went with the obvious and answered "Westminster Abbey," you are incorrect. During a tour of the historic church and burial site that was led by Hugh, we learned that the formal name is actually The Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster. Contributors to the arts, medicine, and humanitarian efforts as well as political leaders are among those who human society are buried or memorialized there.

Later, we saw a performance of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Although I missed some of the political undertones (the story uses the coal miners strike in County Durham in 1984 as a backdrop) at the beginning of the play, Billy's story about being himself, overcoming obstacles, and following his dreams was universal. The story hit home for me because like Billy, I had to leave behind the comforts of home and all things familiar in order to take advantage of this opportunity.