A Passage To India

A Passage To India

            A Passage To India, written by E. M. Forster, is a novel about the troubles of the British control in India. The novel focuses on Adela Quested, an Englishwomen who wants to see 'the real India,' and Dr. Aziz, and Indian doctor. When Adela accuses Dr. Aziz of attempted rape, it turns both of their lives upside down and inadvertently changes it. The film adaptation of A Passage To India, directed by David Lean, also follows this plot fairly closely; however, there were quite a few major differences in the movie version. Although the movie followed the book very closely, and I know that there can be artistic changes made for book to screen, but the parts that were either changed or left out were important parts of the book.

            David Lean did stick to the original plot of A Passage To India and kept a lot of the movie the same as the book. Lean stayed true to the characters that Forster had created.  Judy Davis portrayed Adela Quested, in my mind, perfectly. She was able to keep Adela's repressed nature while also being open- minded to the new world surrounding her. She was dressed very plainly and wore no make- up, or at least looked like she was not wearing make- up. Victor Banerjee played the role of Dr. Aziz, and to my amazement he stole my heart in this movie. Banerjee was able to take the character of Dr. Aziz and made it his own. In the book, Dr. Aziz went head- over- heels to do what he could to make the Englishwomen, Adela and Mrs. Moore, comfortable on their trip to the Marabar caves, but it seemed like he was doing everything because he had to. In the movie however, he actually looked like he was glad to do whatever he could for the Englishwomen. Banerjee made Dr. Aziz a loveable character that I wanted to root for the entire movie. Peggy Ashcroft played the role of Mrs. Moore, and she seemed to be the most typical high- class Englishwomen. She looked and acted like the type of woman I would see going to see a show at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Cyril Fielding was played by James Fox. In the movie, Field dawned a mustache that was styled slightly like a handle bar mustache. He looked like the ideal traveling British man. His look actually reminded me of the character Nigel Thornberry from the cartoon The Wild Thornberrys. Nigel Havers played Ronny Heaslop, the magistrate of Chandrapore, Mrs. Moore's son, and Adela's soon- to- be fiancé. Clive Swift and Ann Furbank played the roles of Major and Mrs. Callendar respectively. All of the characters in the movie look and act how they were described in the novel, so it seems like we are off to a nice start.

            Another similarity between the book and the movie are the stereotype of Indian culture. In the first chapter of the novel Forster describes the make believe city of Chandrapore. He starts the novel out with, "Except for the Marabar Caves- and they are twenty miles off- the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary" (Forster, pg. 3). With the first line of the novel Forster has already given readers the thought that the city is nothing special. In the whole first chapter Forster never actually calls the city beautiful until he mentions the sky. At the end of the first chapter, Forster describes the beauty of the sky and how it can change one's view of their surroundings. "The sky settles everything- not only climates and seasons but when the earth shall be beautiful. By herself she can do little- only feeble outbursts of flowers. But when the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars or a benediction pass from horizon to horizon" (Forster, pg. 5). I will agree that the sky is a beautiful phenomenon, but it only enhances the beauty of its surroundings. The sky and the earth can stand on their own when it comes to beauty. Everything is beautiful in its own way. Forster puts the image in the reader's head that the image of the city that they are about to explore is mean, dirty, and will make people not want to come unless they are invited (Forster, Pg. 3).

            The Indians themselves are also heavily stereotyped throughout the entirety of the novel and movie.  In the move, there is a scene where Mrs. Moore and Adela are getting off of their boat into India and are walking to their train into town, and when they are walking through that part of the city there are so many stereotypes that are show in that little span of  thirty seconds you see women wearing hijabs, you see Mrs. Moore holding her nose from the presumable stench, you see a typical snake charmer, and you see extremely overcrowded place with people pushing past at every step (Lean, A Passage To India).  Hijabs are commonly worn by Indian women, but this is the only time during the movie where you see an Indian woman wearing a hijab. Therefore, it is my belief that this was used to show a stereotype of the Indian women.

            The part of the scene where Mrs. Moore holds her nose to keep the stench of India and the Indian people away is also considered a stereotype. According to Mohammad Jajja's , an English professor at the University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, article "A Passage To India: The Colonial Discourse and the Representation of India and Indians As Stereotypes" he claims that, "The Indians are represented as dirty, ugly people, who are associated with smell, tobacco and the sound of spitting" (Jajja, pg. 44). What Jajja is saying is that whenever people think of Indians they automatically associate them with a terrible odor because they are considered unclean. This is how they are stereotyped in not only A Passage To India, both the novel and the movie, but also in life now.

            There is a small time where you see a snake charmer, there is never mention of one in the book, but there is no doubt that Lean decided to put a snake charmer in the movie so people would believe it was India. And finally the scene ends with an extremely large group of Indians walking the passengers to their train. And by 'extremely large' I mean that there were so many people that they could barely get outside of the gate from the dock to the streets. There are quite a bit of Indian children pushing people out of the way to get closer to the Englishwomen. You see others pushing the men who were carrying the luggage so they could help the Englishwomen. It seemed like that if someone would have tripped, then they would have gotten trampled. The horde of Indians were like a mob of people at a Walmart Black Friday event. There were that many people crowded around the women. This stereotypes the Indian city and population being overcrowded. It shows that there are too many people in one city.

             There is no doubt that both the novel and the movie contains racism from both parties. The English people are extremely racist towards the Indians, it is shown throughout the whole of the story, and There are moments throughout where the Indians make racist comments about the English people. The English are so quick to judge the Indians because they see themselves as the superior race. There is a part of the book where Major Callendar sends for Dr. Aziz to come to his bungalow at once. Dr. Aziz receives the note while he is in the middle of his dinner. He doesn't want to leave but knows that he must. After hiring a tonga, a light, two- wheeled, horse- drawn vehicle used in India (Tonga), he goes to Major Callendar's bungalow to see what the civil surgeon needs. However, when he arrives, he finds out that Major Callendar has left with no message for Dr. Aziz. This is one of the first sightings of Major Callendar's insulting behavior towards the Indians. Gulzar Jalal Yousafzai and Qabil Khan, the authors of the article "Rudeness, Race, Racism, and Racialism in E. M. Forster's A Passage To India," respond to Major Callendar's action of not leaving a message, "Major Callendar, due to negative attitude towards the Indians, does not like to take pains and leave a clear message. This shows his insulting behavior" (Yousafzai and Khan, pg. 80). Major Callendar knew Dr. Aziz would be on his way as soon as he received the letter, but he didn't even stay to tell Dr. Aziz what he needed. The fact that he didn't leave a note with one of his servants shows how much he just does not care for the Indian people. He made Dr. Aziz come all the way out to his bungalow for no reason, and Dr. Aziz is not even able to take his tonga back to his house. Later in this scene, two Englishwomen come out of the bungalow and literally take it away from Dr. Aziz. "This is the first example of racial superiority or racially biased attitude in the novel. Both the ladies are English and take the tonga without any thanks, without any obliged behavior" (Yousafzai and Khan, pg. 80). I'm sure they have an inkling that this tonga did not just appear out of thin air for them, they knew that it had to be somebody's. The only people around at this time are Indians and so they have no problem with taking the tonga because they feel like they are superior.

            Another instance where the English people are very racist, and very prejudice as well, is when all of the English people gathered in the club to discuss what happened to Adela are the Marabar Caves. They assume that the Indian people are all working together to attack their own. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, the author of the article "An Aristotelian Reading of the Feminine Voice- as- Revolution in E. M. Forster's A Passage To India" which is about the use of the character Adele Quested, talks about this scene. She says, "These prejudices become apparent when the Major, addressing the Club members, claims that Adela's chaperone Mohammed Latif had been bribed by the 'prisoner' to shirk his duty, and the dawdling Godbole had staged his own tardiness to facilitate Aziz's planned attack" (Walls, pg. 64). They are assuming that Dr. Aziz, because he is an Indian man and can't be trusted around Englishwomen, planned the trip to the Marabar caves so that he could attempt to sexually assault Adela. The English people are saying that Dr. Aziz spent countless amounts of rupees and told his friends that he brought with him to make Mrs. Moore feel claustrophobic so that he could be alone with Adela. This sounds a bit farfetched to me. The English people also insist that all of the Indian people were in on it, including Godbole who is one of the most respectable Indians in the book/ movie. They assume that Godbole planned to delay Fielding from catching his train so he could not possibly stop Dr. Aziz from making his attack. They believe this all to be true simply because they do not like the Indian people so they all agree that they cannot be trusted.

            The Indians are also quite racist towards the English people as well, although, they do not openly show it like the English people do. In the beginning the of second chapter of the book, Mahmoud Ali and Hamidullah are having a conversation about the English and about how they all end up the same. Hamidullah talks about Dr. Turton and how he used to be very nice to him and they would share carriage rides. But that was Dr. Turton first arrived to India, he has since changed and have become like the other Englishmen, rude and the sense of being superior. Hamidullah says, " They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give and Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike" (Forster, pg. 7). They do not think that there can be any 'different' Englishmen and women. They are all alike no matter what. They may start out very nice, but they end up showing their true colors and changing. Hamidullah, Mahmoud Ali, and Dr. Aziz show their slight racism towards the English is this scene.

            While there were many similarities between the novel and the movie, there were many differences as well. There were many scene's from the book that were left out of the movie for timing reasons and of course there were scenes that were scenes that were changed for artistic purposes. One difference from the book to the movie was the absence of Miss Derek. She is not in the movie at all. All of her parts are used with Mrs. Callendar. In the movie, Adela does not hitch a ride with Miss Derek, instead Mrs. Callendar drops Mr. Fielding off at the Caves and inadvertenly catches Adela as she is running down the steep hill from the Marabar Caves. She then drive Adela straight to her house so she can be treated for her injuries (Lean, A Passage To India). Although Mrs. Callendar was used for Miss Derek's role with finding Adela, she does not take Ronny and Adela back to Ronny's from the polo game. Actually, Ronny and Adela don't ride back together at all. Adela tells Ronny that she does not want to marry him at the polo game and then the scene cuts to Dr. Aziz, Hamidullah, and Mahmoud Ali talking about how much it will cost for the trip the Marabar Caves. There is not a scene where Adela and Ronny fall back in love. Instead, there is a scene where Adela decides to go on a bike ride to sightsee by herself. She travels to outside of the city of Chadrapore and comes across a bunch of statues, most covered in moss and ivy, of people showing signs of affection by hugging and/ or kissing. Adela gets off her bike to look around at the statues. Out of nowhere, about a dozen or so monkeys appear and start to chase Adela and attack her for coming into their habitat. She immediately hops back on her bike and rides back to Chandrapore while the monkeys chase her to the edge of their home. Once Adela reaches Ronny's she throws down the bike and runs into Ronny's arms saying that she wants to marry him after all (Lean, A Passage To India). It was strange.

            While I was confused about what seemed to be a random monkey attack, I now understand why that scene was put into the movie. Most English people, a quite a few other people today, refer to the Indian people as 'monkeys.' This scene shows the audience how the English people think of the Indian people. They are seen as monkeys who will attack when a foreigner enters their habitat because they are wild. This scene foreshadows the accusation of Dr. Aziz by Adela and the English people. They don't actually know for sure if he did it or not, but they are willing to assume that Dr. Aziz would attack an Englishwoman because he is an Indian man.

            In an interview by Mark Tully David Lean, director, discusses the difference between the book and the movie.

"MARK TULLY: How much difference is there between Lean's 'Passage To India' and Forster's 'Passage To India'?

DAVID LEAN: He's a writer, I'm a film maker. I like movies, and I've tried to make a movie that I would like to see. The end is different, certainly, but I think I wouldn't be ashamed for Forster to read the script. I think I stuck with his characters, and on the whole, given the limitations of time, I mean what's one doing? One's doing something in 2 hours, a book that thick, it's a sort of sketch of it, and I'm extracting a movie from it. Those who want to read Forster, read the book. Those who want to go to a movie, and don't read, come and see our film" (Lean).

Lean is open about there being differences in his movie. He was right about the end being different. One of the biggest differences between the novel and the movie is one of the major themes in the book is entirely left out. The question of whether or not the English people and the Indian people can be friends. In the book, this question is brought up twice, once in the beginning and once in the end. It really wraps up what the book is discussing. It is brought up in the beginning by Hamidullah and Mahmoud Ali when they are talking about how all Englishmen and women are the same. They determined that they cannot be friends in India but possibly in England (Forster, pg. 7). The question is then brought up again at the end between Fielding and Dr. Aziz. Fielding asks, more personally, why Dr. Aziz and he can't be friends now. India's response to Fielding's question is "No, not yet. No, not there" (Forster, pg. 362). This is one of the most important themes of the book and without this scene, it completely changes the story in my perspective. Throughout the whole novel, I wondered if Fielding and Dr. Aziz was going to break the tension between the two conflicting nations and become friends, and in time would change how each nation saw each other. Without it you really have nothing to hope for. Dr. Aziz's innocence happens much earlier in the book that you are left with so much falling action and the film doesn't really tie it together.

            As I finished reading the novel and watching the movie, I took away two different experiences. Although there were many similarities and pretty much stuck to the book with the exception of a few scenes, I do believe that the differences outweigh the similarities. When you leave out a major theme of a book, you are changing what the author wants you to get out of it, therefore changing your perception of the story.

Work's Cited

A Passage To India. Dir. David Lean. Perf. Judy Davis and Victor Banerjee. EMI Films, 1985. A Passage To India. YouTube, 9 July 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Forster, E. M. A Passage to India. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1924. Print.

Jajja, Mohammad Ayub. "A Passage To India: The Colonial Discourse And The Representation Of India And Indians As Stereotypes." Gomal University Journal Of Research 29.1 (2013): 38-48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Lean, David. "Newsnight Gold: Lean's Passage To India- 1." Interview by Mark Tully. Mapability.com. Tim Mankins, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"Tonga." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Walls, Elizabeth Macleod. "An Aristotelian Reading Of The Feminine Voice-As-Revolution In E. M. Forster's A Passage To India." Papers On Language & Literature 35.1 (1999): 56. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Yousafzai, Gulzar Jalal, and Qabil Khan. "Rudeness, Race, Racism And Racialism In E.M. Forster's "A Passage To India." Dialogue (1819-6462) 6.1 (2011): 75-92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Wide Sargasso Sea FULL Review

For the first reading selection for our Post Colonialism class, we were assigned to read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It was by far the most confusing book I have ever read. This book was sort of written in the perspective of a child of a white plantation owner. However, this owner's husband died and they were really poor. The whole book was a stream of thoughts by the girl. It was really interesting, but I wasn't sure if I could trust her or not, since it was all in her point of view.

                This was the thing that really threw me for a loop. How could I trust this girl's judgment if she was once part of a family that owned slaves. Although, she did not own slaves anymore because she was dirt poor, she still had a mentality of one who owned slaves. But I could not go through the whole book questioning everything, so I decided to just accept what she said as truth.

                Although she was a white girl, I did feel bad for her at times. She was more or less the bottom rung of the white society. She was a white girl who was born in Jamaica. Other white people saw her as one of the black people who lived there. They did not see her as one of their own. This was sad to me. However, she did see now how black people felt to an extent.

                She did not have many friends either. She had Christophine, her one motherly figure. I mean, she had her mother as well, but her mother did not seem to care for her too much. So Christophine was that figure for her. She also had Tia. Had being the key word. Tia was kind of a jerk. Tia was a black girl who had befriended the girl, Antoinette. Antoinette and Tia would meet every morning and go to the swimming hole to swim. One day Tia bet Antoinette her three pennies that she could not do a somersault in the water. Antoinette knew that she could so she did. However, she did the somersault but was coughing up water as well. Tia said that she did not do it and took her pennies. Antoinette was upset and called her a 'cheating nigger.' This is one of the first times when we hear Antoinette use language like that. When Antoinette came out of the water to put her dress back on to go home, only Tia's dress was there. Tia stole Antoinette's dress along with her pennies. Antoinette had to wear Tia's dress home. It was dirty. This was very interesting because I was like a role switch. Antoinette was now wearing the dress of the slave, and Tia was now wearing the dress of the white girl. Antoinette now hated Tia for stealing her pennies and her dress, so now she really had no one but Christophine.

                Another thing that I found interesting was the passage where Tia was talking about how Antoinette was very poor. After Tia took Antoinette's pennies, Antoinette said that it was ok she could just get more. And Tia said (remember that this is all Antoinette's stream of consciousness),

"That's not what she hear, she said. She heard all we poor like beggar. We ate salt fish-  no money for fresh fish. That old house so leaky, you run with calabash to catch water when it rain. Plenty white people in Jamaica. Real white people, they got gold money. They didn't look at us, nobody see them come near us, and black nigger better than white nigger."

               This passage really hit me the most out of this book. I felt like there was a lot of truth about this passage. I am going to try to decipher what Tia said to have a better understanding of it. So before Tia says this, Antoinette has told her that she can get more pennies anytime. This is when Tia says that this is not what she hears. So where is Tia hearing about Antoinette's family being poor? Apparently the slaves are talking about the family's wealth, or lack of. Tia mentions that they eat salt fish instead of fresh fish. Salt fish costs less than fresh fish. In the notes at the bottom of the page, it says that salt fish was for slave and apprentice wages. Even the term 'salt fish' has connotations for low-class status. So most people know that they are poor enough to eat salt fish. Tia mentions that their house is so leaky that they try to catch the water that drops in a calabash whenever it rains. Tia also mentions that she does not think that they are real white people. She says that real white people have gold money. Tia calls Antoinette a white nigger. And she says that a black nigger is better than a white nigger.

                The term white nigger really struck me. Because white people would call black people niggers. It was something they called them to tear them down. But now that tables were turned and Antoinette was now being called a nigger because her family was as low as the slaves. And this was worse because no matter what, Antoinette and her family would always have the upper hand because they were white, but people didn't see that because they were maybe even poorer than some of the slaves. People would think that Antoinette and her family were worse off than the slaves, and all of the slaves thought this.

                This book was more interesting than I thought it would be and it really made me see the side of a failing slave owning family. It really made me feel for the daughter and how she grew up. She never really had a chance for a bright future with the mother she had. But then again, I do not really want to feel sorry for her because she was a part of a once slave owning family. So I'm still torn about how I should feel about this book. And maybe this is what they author wanted the audience to feel. Unsure.

12 Years A Slave Review

                On Wednesday we watched the movie 12 Years A Slave. This was a movie based on Solomon Northrup's slave narrative. He was a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The story follows Solomon who is now a slave in the south, and is desperately trying to make his masters believe that he actually is a freeman. After 12 years as a slave, he is finally freed. This movie made me feel things I have never felt before. The following will be my reactions to certain scenes from the movie.

                The one thing that seems to surprise me the most, even though it probably shouldn't, is the kidnapping of Solomon. Solomon is originally a free man living with his family, and he plays the fiddle really well. He gets tricked by two men who get him drunk and sell him down south. This is when we see him become a slave. I was so surprised by this. I mean, I know that it was probably, and unfortunately, very common. I couldn't imagine being kidnapped and sold into slavery. I can't even fathom someone doing that to another human being. But I guess that back then African American weren't considered 'human beings.'

                The next major part of the movie that took me aback was the obvious jealousy of Patsey by Mrs. Epps. I knew that Patsey was the favored slave of Mr. Epps because she always picked the most cotton out of all of the slaves. He was also sexually attracted to her and would rape her. Mrs. Epps was very jealous of Patsey. There was one point when all of the slaves were dancing in the house and Mrs. Epps threw a decanter at Patsey and it hit her in the face. She automatically dropped to the floor and started crying in pain. The only thing I could think of at this point was about how often this happened.

                Another part of the movie that stood out to me is when Solomon was forced to whip Patsy. Patsey went to another plantation where Mrs. Shaw lived. Mrs. Epps wouldn't let her have soap, so she went to get soap and was heavily whipped for it. The only reason Patsey was even whipped in the first place is because Mrs. Epps made Mr. Epps do it. He didn't want to do it so he made Solomon do it. This is the part of the movie where it actually made me start to feel nauseous. You could see the blood flying off of Patey's body with every whip. Solomon tried not to hit her very hart but Mr. Epps threaten to beat him. I couldn't even imagine being forced to harm someone. It's just terrible.

                The last scene of the movie will always be in the back of my head and in my heart. It was after Solomon was rescued and reunited with his family. There is a moment where there is nothing but silence between Solomon and his family. It felt like a moment of disbelief. He couldn't believe that he was back with his family. He was so sure that he would die a slave. I actually started crying at this point. The reunion was absolutely beautiful. 

Mary Prince Reflection:

            Mary Prince's narrative is by far my favorite so far. I know I have not read Harriet Jacobs yet, so I can't really say for sure, but right now it is my favorite. One reason I really liked this narrative is because I was able to connect to her more. I am not sure if it was because she is a woman or if her story was more captivating. I do think her being a woman is a big reason I liked it more. She is a woman and I am a woman so we already have that in common. I can relate to her on that level. I know more about woman's place during slavery than what the men's place was. I also think I understood her story a lot better than Equiano's story. He talked a lot about ships and about what he had to do on the ships. He focused quite a bit on the names of parts of the ship when he talked about his time on the ships. I do not know or really want to know about ships, or what different parts of the ship is called or do. That really turned me off with the ship talk, it made it more difficult to read. Mary Prince's story is so much more captivating. To me at least. She also focused more on the terrible things that happened. Yes, Equiano talked about the bad things as well, but Mary Prince was not afraid to call out her masters for being terrible masters. Equiano was afraid to talk badly about his masters. He was afraid that he would not be able to get his book published if he talk poorly of his masters. I also think that their audiences were very different as well. Equiano mainly focuses on English people in general while Mary Prince focuses her narratives on the English women.

            This narrative also made me think of season three of American Horror Story. When Prince was talking about when a slave did something that the white masters did not like, they would be taken and hung up on a tree outside and beaten until the masters were tired. Season three of American Story dealt with witches, and there was a rivalry going on between the white witches and the black witches. We are shown why there is rivalry and they flash us back to the early 1800's where we see Madame Delphine, a rich white woman who has many slaves. She accuses one of her slaves of raping her daughter and takes him up to her slave torture chamber in her attic. When we see this room, there are many slaves who are kept in little cages, some with their mouth and eyes sewn shut. When one of her slaves would do something she did not approve of she would torture them. With the slave she was currently about to torture for apparently 'raping' her daughter, she had him chained to the wall and stabbed him in the side, all while she placed a boar's head on his head. She said that if he was going to act like a beast, then he should look like a beast. I found it so very interesting that I could make a connection from what we had been reading to one of my favorite television shows. 

Equiano Reflection 2:

         The most important thing I learned from our class discussion this morning was how some slaves were put in a  position of power. Equiano was put in the position of an overseer, or in this case a driver. An driver means the same as an overseer except an overseer was a white man in charge of the slaves, and the driver was an enslaved black man who was in charge of the slaves. An overseer and a driver had to make sure that the slaves were doing their jobs to their fullest capacity. If they were doing everything to the overseer or the drivers liking then they would be beat by the overseer and/ or driver respectively. The drivers were given this position of power over their fellow slaves so try and increase productivity. The white men thought that if the slaves were being watched over by one of their fellow slaves then they would be more willing to work harder. It was a form of encouragement and incentive. The white men put in their heads that if they continued to work really hard then they could maybe become a driver one day. It was a sense of false hope. And to raise the stakes of the driver, they were also given a gun. The ultimate form of power.

            This really interested me. Why would the white men give certain slaves a gun. Were they not afraid that the slave would turn on them and kill them? One would think that when a slave would be handed a gun, he would want to get revenge on the people who were beating and torturing them. The slave would want to get out of there as soon as possible. But they don't. They follow the orders of the white people to watch over the slaves for them, and they do it without hesitation. Why would they do this? It was brought up in class that it could possibly be a form Stockholm Syndrome. Stockholm Syndrome is when a person starts feeling sympathy and/ or empathy for their kidnappers. In this case it would be sympathy and/ or empathy for their masters. They feel as though their masters are their family now. They don't want to harm them or leave. This is all that they know at this point. They would not know how to cope with life if they were out on their own.

            There was a question that was asked, or more like a question someone still had, that is still in my head. We had been talking about how we may not have slavery any more, but there is still racism everywhere. The question is how do we change and how do we start to change? This immediately sparked an answer. One student said that people would simply need to get their shit together and work towards equality. A start, I think, would be to correctly teach history in high school. I was told that Texas school system wants to only teach about the happy things that happened in history. That means they wouldn't teach about slavery, the Holocaust, or any other terrible events that happened. It is important to learn about these events so we can more easily understand certain people so we can see where they are coming from. If you delete someone's history, then there can never be an equality.

Equiano Reflection 1:

            Something I found very interesting about the discussion we had dealing with the first section of Equiano was learning about some items we take for granted now was the product of the slave trades. I always knew that cotton was a material that was big during slavery, but I did not know that chocolate, coffee, sugar, and more was also big during slavery and the slave trade. It really makes me think about what items I take for granted and not even think about what people went through at one point to have these said items. It is absolutely terrible. I also didn't know that some slaves were turned into fighters. Equiano many times had to man the cannons on the ship to fight off other ships to help out his ship mates. It definitely makes sense that he would have to do this, but it just never occurred to me. I guess it never occurred to me that being a slave, he would be allowed on the deck of the ship. I thought he would have to always stay below the decks. Whenever I was taught about slaves and ships I always heard that they were never allowed on deck unless they were leaving. And by leaving I mean being escorted off the ship and sold. It is really interesting to me that some of these slaves were trusted to kind of become about of the ships team. I didn't actually think this was ever a thing. I guess I learn something new every day.

            Another thing I noticed was that the way Equiano narratives this story reminds me of another book I have read, Night. The way he talks about the time before he was captured and sold and traded is really similar. Well, obviously Equiano wrote this narrative before the Holocaust ever happened, but I read Wiesel's book first. One big similarity was the death of both Equiano and Wiesel's friend. Equiano is really good friends with a boy named Dick. They play a lot on board the ships that they are on. It's not until Equiano and his master change ships that him and Dick are separated. A similar thing happens in Night. Wiesel becomes a friend a boy named Juliek who plays the violin. They met in a concentration camp and quickly became friends. They were about the same age and size so they were always put together when they would be sent to do certain jobs. Both Equiano and Wiesel are separated from their friend and later find out that they are both dead. Dick died while they were separated at sea, and Juliek died when he passed out due to exhaustion and was trampled. Both are terrible narratives. I find it very interesting about so many similarities between the two.

Week 9: International Slavery Museum

Hey everyone! Here is my latest blog post! I hope you all enjoy!

            On October 31, our class traveled to Liverpool to view the International Slavery Museum. At first I was skeptical about this museum because I thought that I had seen all of this material before. We learned a lot about slavery in high school and I even learned about slavery in some of the classes I took at Millikin this past year. I was curious to see how this was going to be different from what I had already learned. After visiting the museum, my eyes have been opened. It was not at all like I had imagined. I actually loved the museum, and that's saying a lot because I don't really like museum to begin with. There was so much to see at this museum, and somehow I saw all of it.

            We were told that the third floor was where the actual slave museum was, and everything else was not necessarily strictly about slavery but other things as well. On the first floor, it was all about child immigrants. We were able to read about some of the children's stories and how they were taken to, mostly, Australia and Canada so they could try to have a better life. It was so sad to see how young these kids were. The youngest I saw was about four years old all the way up to around fifteen years old. Their families sent them to homes in Australia and Canada where they were taught various things such as typical school work, and if you were a girl you were taught domestic work and if you were a boy you were taught outside labor. This floor tied in to the basement floors theme, which was also child immigration. However, the basement had a section which was a semi-replica of the streets you would walk down to get to the ships entrance. When you entered, everything was immediately darker. Lanterns were the only light source. You walked down this cobblestone road to where you found a bar on the ship. There were figures representing the people in the bars and they also had what bed would have looked like there as well. When you kept on walking, you entered another part of the ship where it looked like where the storage would go. This was the last part of the venture. It was so interesting to see what it would be like entering a ship that you would be on for potentially months.

            The second floor was all about ships. It talked about different parts of ships and what they did. It talked about Liverpool's harbor and how lots and lots of ships use this harbor constantly. We got to see different painting of ships that dated back to the 1600's all the way to the Titanic. The Titanic exhibit was closed, which was a big bummer. But it was cool to see these ships, because without ships there would not be any trading of slaves. Personally, the coolest part of the ship section was seeing all of the advertisements that were made for the ships. It was interesting to see what tactics people used to get others to get of the ships for cruises and travel. This isn't really something you see every day.

            The third floor was where the actual slavery museum was. As I walked up, I saw that there was tribal painting along the wall leading to a part of the museum. I followed this to find a video of different tribes dancing and celebrating. It showed how they celebrate and was really cool. Next I came across this interactive video on this computer of sorts. I put on the headphones that were connected and the narrator told me about an Ibago camp. I was about to learn about the different huts and who lives where. The man has the center hut where he lives by himself. This is the biggest hut directly across from the entrance into the camp. He is the center being in the camp. He will usually have multiple wives who each have their own smaller hut where they will raise their children. There will usually be three other huts sectioned off with a rock wall. Each wife will have a small farm with chickens and pigs to tend to as well. It was great to learn about this tribe of people, and to see how they lived their lives compared to mine. It was so completely different, and I loved it. As I followed the wall it led me into a room with drawers and different television screens showing different material. Some talked about different countries and what they were known for. One talked about of coffee was made and how the beans were grown. It was very interesting. While I was looking around I decided to look in the different drawers. In one I came across the Equiano's original book. I was skeptical at first, I thought it was a really good replica, you can never be too sure these days. But low and behold it was the actual original. It was so cool to see the book that we are currently reading in its original form. I spent some time just looking at it. It was very tattered, but was in great condition. As I moved on, I came across an enclosed video. I wasn't quite sure what it was, so I took a look. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. The video was what you would see if you rode with the slaves on the slave ship. I saw hundreds and hundreds of people chained together, vomiting, groaning, and the video went on and on. I was on repeat so you could watch the gruesome footage and really take it all in. I was horrified. I kept thinking,, ' How could people treat others like this. It is horrendous.' As I made my final sweep, I discovered another couple rooms all on the Congo. I learned a little bit about the Congo in the African American Drama class when we were discussing the play Ruined. All I can remember from this section was the lecture. The lecture talked about how if a family couldn't get what they needed to get by a certain time, then their version of law enforcement would cut a body part off of one of the children. That's how they would teach them to make sure they had everything they needed for next time. This made me sick. That's all I'm going to say about this section. Just terrible.

            This museum was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed learning more about the culture and of the slavery era. It really got me to think about how lucky I am. About how lucky I am to not live in that era, and to not live in the Congo. It made me realize that we take need to be grateful for the time we live in now. Yes, there is still racism, but there is no more slavery. And that is something to be grateful for.

Week 8: Work. So Much Work.

Hello my wonderful followers!! Thank you for sticking with me! As you can see, I am somewhat early with my blog post this week! Horray for me! I thought for this week, instead of talking about me writing tons of papers, I would show you what I have been working on and have finished. So here is my final paper for our class at The Globe Theatre. I hope you enjoy it!

The Comedy of Errors

            In many of Shakespeare's works there is a common theme that I have noticed, is the theme of  love conquers all. This theme is not only about love, it is about what people overcome to have their love, mainly religion. Love and religion is actually a big part of some of Shakespeare's works. Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew just to name a few. The one play that I see this theme in the most is one of Shakespeare's earliest pieces, The Comedy of Errors.

            In Act One, Scene One the show starts with Egeon, who is a citizen of Syracuse, in jail and sentenced to death. Egeon had traveled to Ephesus looking for his son and had been arrested for being from town of Syracuse. The Duke tells Egeon that he can't change the rules of the law and explains why he must be put to death,

"DUKE: Merchant of Syracuse, plead no more. I am not partial to infringe our laws; the enmity and discord which of late sprung from the rancorous outrage of your Duke to merchants, our well-dealing countrymen, who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives, have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods, excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks" (The Comedy of Errors, 3-4).

He is saying that merchants of Ephesus were also arrested in Syracuse and put to death for not having the money to post their bail. The Duke finally understands that Egeon doesn't care what happens to him because all that matters to him right now is love. The Duke is touched by this and wants to help, but because he is the Duke he doesn't want his people to think that he is just picking and choosing who he feels is guilty or not. His hands are tied.

            During the time period that The Comedy of Errors takes place, there was a war going on between Ephesus and Syracuse. While it is not clearly mentioned why the two countries are fighting, we can tell that it is over religious disputes. Islamic people and Christians have been at odds since around 632 A.D. after the death of the Islam's beloved Mohammed (1,400 Years of Christian/Islamic Struggle). Throughout the play, Shakespeare hints at that the people of Ephesus are Islamic. Fasting is mentioned quite a bit in the first act. Dromio of Ephesus mentions that he thinks Antipholus of Syracuse, who he thinks is Syracuse of Ephesus, has broken his fast and that is why he is late for dinner. Dromio of Ephesus says,

 

"The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit; the clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell; my mistress made it one upon my cheek; she is so hot because the meat is cold; the meat is cold because you come not home; you come not home because you have no stomach; you have no stomach having broke your fast; but we that know what 'tis to fast and pray, are penitent for your default to-day," (The Comedy of Errors, 15).

Dromio of Ephesus is explaining why he has come to get Antipholus and why he should come to dinner quickly. Islamic people are known to fast during the day to be closer to their god. It is also common knowledge that the people of Syracuse believe in Christianity. Islam and Christianity are so close to each other that people want to say that their religious is right and that the other is wrong. When believing this, wars start to break out.

            Islam was founded by Mohammed who couldn't stand Christians because he didn't like that they put Jesus on such a high pedestal. Daniel Pipes, an author of a Middle Eastern forum explains why he thinks Muslims hate Christians. "Mohammed knew his biggest threat were the followers of Jesus- Christians. Mohammed couldn't just disregard Jesus, however, for he was too important. So he cleverly managed to make only the followers of Jesus evil while elevating Jesus to the rank of a prophet" (Why Islam Hates Christianity and Christians). This is one of the major reasons that Islamic people hate Christians, it is because Mohammed told them that Christians were bad people because they worshiped Jesus, and vise versa. This reads over into The Comedy of Errors and is why the two countries are at war at the beginning of the play.

            The Duke asks Egeon why he came to Ephesus in the first place if he knew that he would get arrested and possibly killed. Egeon then explains how he had two twin sons and was sold another pair of twin boys. He explained how he and his wife and sons were on a ship and how a violent storm came and tore the ship in half taking his wife and two of his sons away to Ephesus. He was stuck in Syracuse with his other two sons. He tells the Duke that he came in search of his family.

            Egeon didn't care what happened to himself, he only cared about finding his family. In the book Shakespeare, Love and Service, David Schalkwyk, the author, talks about Egeon's motives for going to Ephesus and how he wasn't just an angry merchant going to Ephesus. Schalkwyk says, "Egeon's motive for landing on shores that are bound to his own through ties of enmity and hatred is not profit, as one would expect from a merchant, but love. He is seeking , like so many of the characters in Shakespeare's late plays, to re-establish familial bonds with his son" (David Schalkwyk, 83). What Schalkwyk is saying is that unlike other merchants from Syracuse, Egeon is not there because of hatred of Ephesus, but he is there for love.

            The Duke is touched my Egeon's story and said that he wishes that could do something but can't. Egeon must get a thousand marks before he is put to death. We as audience members must wait to see if Egeon will be released or if he will be put to death, even though most of the audience already knows that Egeon will be released because the play is about families finding each other.

            In the end of the play, we see that Egeon was reunited with his wife, Amelia, and his four sons: both Antipholus of Ephesus and Syracuse and both Dromio of Ephesus and Syracuse. Again, here is another Shakespeare play that shows that no matter what, love will always conquer. Shakespeare eloquently shows that Egeon came to Ephesus to find his family knowing that he could possibly die, but he didn't care because he loved his family more than his fear of dying. Therefore showing that no matter what, love will always conquer.

Work's Cited

Csaplar, Richard C., Jr. "The Christian Broadcasting Network." 1,400 Years of Islamic Aggression: An Analysis. The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Pipes, David. "Why Islam Hates Christianity and Christians." Middle East Forum. David Pipes, 29 July 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Schalkwyk, David. "Estranged Familiars." Shakespeare, Love and Service. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 2008. 83. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and R. A. Foakes. "Act One." The Comedy of Errors. London: Methuen, 1962. 3-15. Print.

Stay tuned for next week's blog!! Week 9: The International Slavery Museum!

Week 6 and 7: Brick Lane and Fall Break

Hello followers! I know, I forgot to post last week... I'm sorry, I wish I had a better excuse than I simply forgot. But I don't. I simply forgot to do my blog post. And I almost forgot about this week's post as well. At least I've figured out that I would be a terrible journalist! Or people who write blog posts for a living. I absolutely hate doing this, but I figured you guys should go on my London journey with me. So, if it wasn't for all of you guys (and my grade) I wouldn't be doing this. So consider yourself lucky!

                Last week, on Sunday, I went to Brick Lane with my friend Keila (Yes, the Hell's Kitchen girl). We had never gone and we had heard nothing but great things! So we took the District line from the Earl's Court station to the Aldgate station. From there, it is about a 10 minute walk. Brick Lane is this street that has so many restaurants on it, but that's not even the best part. On Saturdays and Sundays, there is a huge warehouse filled with SO MANY food stands and there are also a bunch of stands with people selling a variety of items for pretty affordable prices. The first time I went, I ended up buying a scarf for only 2 GBP (Great British Pounds) which is equivalent to about $3.22. That is pretty much a steal! It's a super cute scarf too! It is a crème color scarf with red bows on it. I didn't have one like it so I had to get it. It makes sense to me. I also bought two dresses for 22 GBP. This was the raised price because I waited too long to actually buy them, but the dresses are beautiful. One is a maroon colored, sleeveless dress with crème lace in the front. The second dress was the same style as the maroon one, but it was a sky blue that had birds all over it. The dress really reminded me of my Meemee and I knew she was smiling down at me for buying it. So that was the clothing items that I bought. There were so many food options to choose from I didn't know where go to. I ended up getting a chicken arepa from the outside arepa stand. It was the bread roll thing filled with chicken, black beans, Pico de Gallo, and cheese. It was so extremely good. After we ate, we walked around to find a coffee shop to sit and chill and get a coffee. We ended up finding one nearby and got a couple cappuccinos. They were closing soon so we ended moving to another one and literally just sat around and talked for hours! It was great. We left this coffee shop around 8:30pm and decided to go back around home and grab some dinner. We ended up eating at Nando's (this freakishly amazing chicken place) since Keila had never eaten there ever. It never fails to be amazing! This day turned out to be pretty amazing! I also went back to Brick Lane the following Sunday to purchase a shirt for my little cousin to be! While in London, I found out that my cousin and his girlfriend were going to have a baby and I wasn't able to make the baby shower. So, I decided to get them my own little gift! The shirt is a creme color and it has a cheetah bow on the front and I had them put her name, Aubrey, on the back in gold. It is literally THE cutest little baby shirt ever! The cool thing about the shirt is that it's 100% Organic African Cotton and it's the only shirt with the name Aubrey on the back. So this is a one of a kind shirt. So it is super special! That's really the only reason I went back.

                This week was Fall Break and it seemed as though everyone left! It was quite quiet and peaceful in the flat. It was nice, but also boring. I found myself sleeping and watching Netflix for most of the break. So, since I was staying is London for Fall Break, I decided to make myself go out during the day and I could come back in the late afternoon and watch Netflix. Seems like a pretty good plan right? I sure think so. I had received Ladies Man in the mail from my parents and I knew that I needed to read it, so I went to Starbucks and read it. First I found this super cheap Chinese Take Away place and ordered some egg fried rice for about 2 GBP. THAT IS SUPER CHEAP! I then went to Starbucks and ordered a mango and passion fruit frozen tea. It was pretty tasty. I was there for most of the day just reading and relaxing.

                Speaking of relaxing, Netflix is super relaxing if you didn't already know that. But do you know what is kind of stressful? Having to keep up with so many shows! I am currently using two different websites to watch shows. I use mobilevids.org to keep up with The Walking Dead and American Horror Story and I use Netflix to watch movies and what not. Keeping up with The Walking Dead and American Horror Story isn't all that bad because it's once a week. But I have gotten addicted to two other shows as well. I'm completely hooked on the show Greek! I am absolutely in love! I am also kind of into this USA show called Satisfaction. So many shows to keep up with!! But it's pretty ok I suppose. It keeps me occupied whenever I procrastinate. So that's a thing.

                Well, that's basically all that has happened the past couple weeks. The work load for school is starting to add up now so next week will most likely be about school stuff. But I'm sure I'll add some humor in that somewhere. Haha! So stay tuned for my next blog, which should be on time this time: Week 8: Work. So Much Work.

Week 5: What is Wifi?

               Hey there followers! I am a little late with this post, but who actually reads this anyway? Haha! I joke, I joke! But really though... London has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions so far. I love it, but I can't wait to come home. I can't wait to come home and hug my family, hug my puppies, sleep in my own bed, shower in my own shower, and use my own dependable wifi!

                Yes, I said wifi. The wifi here, or lack of, absolutely sucks! Every once in a while I'll have a connection and everything will be peachy, and then out of nowhere it completely cuts out and will never comes back. THIS MAKES ME SO MAD AND I JUST WANT TO SCREAM! I will literally be in the middle of publishing a blog post or will be watching a movie on Netflix, and it will cut out and I won't be able to finish it. It is so terrible. The only place I can get consistent wifi is out in the classroom when there is nobody there. And sometimes then it will cut out for a half second, but it always kicks back on. It's very temperamental.  Also, whenever it rains, which happens quite a lot now, the wifi gets even crappier. You would think that rain wouldn't matter, but you would be surprised.

                The worst part about having spotty wifi is whenever I'm writing a paper. I have to have some sort of music or noise playing while I write. It keeps me calm so I don't stress out, because I tend to do that a lot whenever I write a paper. However, it can be argued that having no wifi while you write a paper is actually because there are less distractions. But I will just tell you... I LOVE THOSE DISTRACTIONS! THEY ARE WHAT KEEP ME GOING!!! That's just how I'm programmed I think. I don't really know.

                One big distraction for me lately has been this Pokemon game I have found on the internet called Pokemon Tower Defense. I am literally obsessed! I'm not going to lie, I will play it for hours on the weekend if I don't have anything planned to do... It is that addicting! It's just like the other Tower Defenses games, but it is a fan made storyline that is similar to the original storylines. I am currently stuck on a level. I know, I'm super cool guys! I have an account and everything! (A free account though. I'm not that obsessed). There is actually two Tower Defense games, Pokemon Tower Defense One and Two. They deal with the first two generations. One positive thing I have noticed is once I am connected to the online game, it won't cut out on me even if the wifi cuts out. The game still plays just fine, I am just not able to save. So I just wait until the wifi comes back on, if it doesn't then I just go out to the classroom to get two seconds of wifi to save my game.

                The wifi has been ok lately. However, when we as a class all meet up for our blogging class in our little bitty classroom, only like four people can get okay wifi. It's ridiculous. What is funny is seeing people get to the classroom early to grab the only ethernet cable in the classroom. There used to be three, but two have magically disappeared. It doesn't really affect me too much because ethernet cables don't work for my computer. Apparently it's not compatible or something. I don't really know. I just kind of go with the flow. I make sure I bring something to do during class if I am not able to get online and do my blog. I'll also just throw this out there since I'm talking about blogging, it is really annoying whenever I go to publish my blog and then I suddenly lose internet connection and I can't publish it at that time. I mean, I just want to get it over with. You get what I'm saying? I get what I'm saying.

                And last night my friend Keila and I were having a mini Hell's Kitchen date, which means we were just laying on the floor watching Hell's Kitchen on her computer on Hulu. Well we were attempting to watch the show. We got through one episode okay. So we decided to watch one more episode, not thinking that it would start to mess up. Well we were wrong. We got through about the first twenty-two minutes or so and then the wifi cut out. No big deal, we were expecting something like this to happen. So we just waited and nothing happened. So we restarted the wifi and still nothing. And when it would start to play again, it would only play for about ten seconds before it would stop. All in all it took us about an hour and a half to watch the this last episode which was only forty-two minutes to begin with. It was absolutely crazy! WIFI SHOULDN'T BE THAT SUCKY! I mean this wifi is worse than Millikin's wifi, and that's saying something. Millikin's wifi is absolutely terrible. But London's wifi makes Millikin's look perfect. Talk about crappy wifi.

                So to wrap this blog post up, I know this was a super long one, I will simply say that if you are planning to travel to London be prepared to not have wifi at like all. You can get it randomly at some restaurants and pubs, but usually not. Well anyways stay tuned for next week's blog, which will most likely not be super late like this one's! (Hopefully I don't forget like this time. Oops...) Next week's blog is entitled, Week 6: Brick Lane. Stay tuned!

Week 4: He's Julius Caesar, Bitch!

     Hello weekly followers! Sadly, this blog post is going to be my review on Julius Caesar. Not what I did this week. Yea, I know. You want to here about what I'm doing! But let me just tell you that this week I did nothing really. I went to Oxford, but that was it. Yup. So here's my review. Enjoy!

JULIUS CAESAR

           Julius Caesar, we all read it in high school. It's about the tragic murder of Julius Caesar, go figure, and how Antony and Octavius fight Brutus and Cassius. People die and there you have the Shakespearian tragedy, Julius Caesar. Or at least that's how I read into the show. Usually if a ton of people die at all in the show then it is a tragedy. However, when I saw Julius Caesar at The Globe Theatre, I was laughing more than I was crying. I actually think I laughed during the whole entire show. Of course there were points where there was no laughing: i.e. Caesar's death, Brutus' death, or Cassius' death. But the show felt a lot more like a comedy than a tragedy.

            Now the show didn't have any slapstick or over-exaggerations to be funny, the actors themselves were the ones who made the show funny.  I'm all for throwing some funny bits into a sad show to not be too much sadness all at once because you do need something funny to brighten up the mood every once in a while. However, there was just this constant comedy that never went away, more so in the first act than the second. The actor who played Casca, Christopher Logan, brought this sassiness to the character that just made him absolutely hilarious. There is nothing wrong with having a funny character in a tragedy, but sometimes I thought it was too much and it drew me out of the moment. One moment in particular was the scene where Brutus and Cassius pull on Casca's cloak to get his attention to ask about what the crowd was yelling about. Thinking that Casca was going to be this cool, calm, and collected character, I was genuinely surprised that he turned out to be this overly sarcastic gossiper. He reminded me a bit of a mix between Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory and Randall from Recess. His whole demeanor and just the way he carried himself reminded me of a sassy nark.

            Another thing I thought was funny was how ridiculously older Caesar was from everyone else. It looked like he could've been everyone's grandfather. It really through me for a loop because I always thought that Caesar was a little bit older , but by only a couple years not twenty. It just made me think that why would you want Caesar to be king when he's already really old and looks like he's going to kick the bucket at any moment. You think the town would have thought through that a little bit more. But alas, it's just a story I guess.

            I'm not saying that Julius Caesar was a terrible performance and no one should go and see it. I actually loved it and thought it was a fabulous production. There were just a couple confusing points of the show. I will never be a big fan of Shakespeare, but this production of Julius Caesar at The Globe Theatre really gave me a reason to consider becoming a fan. 

     I hope you enjoyed my review! Stay tuned for next week when I actually start talking about my week again! Yay! Get ready for next week, Week 5: What is Wifi?

Week 3: Death by Cocktail

     Hello to all of you that have managed to continue reading my blog. And for that, I thank you. I hope to keep the rest of the interesting! Also, I forgot to mention last blog that we are actually taking classes here even though it doesn't seem like it. We have classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. (I know, that doesn't seem like anything, but trust me it is!) We have Theatre History I on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am- 12pm in this hot ass room. For someone who gets hot very easily, let me tell you, I feel like I'm waiting in line for Hell. It's terrible. Anyways, we have the Globe workshops on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:45pm to about 6:15pm or 7:30pm depending on the day and what we are doing that day. We have Global Drama on Thursdays from 10am - 12pm. That's all for now because we have 2 other classes that don't start until later in the semester. 

     Okay, enough with classes and on to a more interesting topic: Poop. I know for all of you who think you are too good or proper to talk about poop are probably thinking, "OMG, EW! THIS IS DISGUSTING! GIRLS AREN'T SUPPOSE TO POOP. AND YOUR NOT SUPPOSE TO TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE JUST EW." Well you know what? I DON'T GIVE A FUCK! (Sorry Grandma.)This whole week I have done nothing but poop and puke. And it wasn't just regular poop, because I actually like doing that. It relaxes me. It was diarrhea. And not just diarrhea, the fiery kind. If I'm going to talk about my week, I'm going to be brutally honest.

     It all started when we all decided to go out to our first pub. We decided to go to O'Neil's (which is a fabulous place) and I shared a pitcher called Pimm's no. 1 with Tess. I had more than that, but not much more. Anyways, the next day, I had THE worst headache and not to mention I couldn't stop pooping. I thought I was just hungover, it's happened before. However, it lasted the whole entire week. It was the worst thing ever! I literally felt like Melissa McCarthy in Bridemaids. It was that bad. Try having that for a whole entire week where you also have to watch what you eat because you don't know it you're going to throw up or not. 

     The second day of fiery diarrhea, Tess gave me Imodium, or what I call anti-poop medicine. If you aren't familiar with it, it is suppose to help to prevent you from having diarrhea. It basically clogs you up for a couple days so when you finally do poop, it makes sure your poop hardens up a bit before it comes out. But what I didn't know is that I wouldn't be able to fart or anything. That was bad. Not only did my stomach hurt from being sick, but it also hurt from having built up gas. I couldn't catch a break to save my life. My life was pretty pathetic at this point, and it only got worse.

     The worst day though was Saturday when we went to Bath and Stonehenge. I threw up the entire time we were at Stonehenge. I passed out when we were at the stones, and I don't actually remember the trip at all. It's really sad because I was so out of it that I didn't get any pictures. So I can't technically prove that I was there. I felt slightly better when I was in Bath, but I still don't remember very much about it. The sad part about it is that I probably won't be able to ever visit it again. 

     So all in all my week has sucked to say the least. Hopefully this week will be better. I feel almost 100% again, so that's a plus. So, stay tuned friends for next weeks blog, Week 4: He's Julius Caesar, Bitch!

London Weeks 1 and 2: The Honeymoon Phase

     Well, I've arrived in London and I cannot tell you how overly excited I am to be here! Of course I couldn't sleep on the plane. I felt like a kid on the night of Christmas Eve. Everything was going so smoothly so far. I had made it to my flight and my connection on time, so I figured the rest would be smooth sailing... I couldn't be more wrong!
     When our flight landed, our pilot announce that the luggage belt at O'Hare broke and that most of the luggage didn't make it on this flight. RED FLAG! All I kept thinking was, 'Oh please don't let it be my luggage! PLEASE!' I'm starting to stress about my luggage as I come up to the UK Border. I am so nervous that, for some reason, they won't let me into the country. I don't know why, but that is all that is running through my head at the moment. Luckily I had a pretty nice guy that joked around with me AND let me into the country. Things were starting to look up!
     It was now the moment of truth. It was time to reclaim my luggage. I go and wait at baggage claim number 5 to reclaim my luggage. I sit there for a good while and finally see one of my suitcases! Hooray! One down and one to go. So I'm sitting there and I see golf clubs go around the belt not once, not twice, but three times. This is when I know I am in trouble. I'm now starting to sweat. I now have to go fill out a lost/missing baggage form. I'm thinking that this is going to be some super long process, but it only took like 2 minutes to fill out. No biggie.
     After running around the Heathrow Airport like a mad woman, I finally found my friends and we made it safely to the flat after taking up about half of one of the cars on the tube. Oopsies. From now on it is pretty stress free minus the not having my other suitcase. (I did finally receive it about 2 days later. That is a story I don't want to remember.)
     As I was already stressed with living without one of my suitcases, I also had to watch how I spent my money. It was really a hit or miss with the food here, because I wasn't sure whether or not I would like the food. I quickly learned I couldn't buy a lot of fruit at once because it quickly goes bad. I had to try to buy food that not only tastes good, but is inexpensive and doesn't go bad in like 2 days. Also, I have to try to not eat out all of the time. It is a struggle because I want to try food from everywhere, but I also have to be aware of my budget. And let me tell you, this is hard, and I don't know how grown ups do this.
     We went to Stratford Upon Avon. That was fun for the first 2 hours. Then it was a bunch of just sitting around and waiting for our show to start around 7:30pm.... Did I mention that we arrived around 11:30am? WE HAD 8 HOURS TO WAIT! By the time the show started, all I wanted to do was sleep. I somehow remembered the show, so apparently I didn't fall asleep. Go figure.
     That's about all the fun that was had the first 2 weeks. Next will be London week 3: Death by Cocktail. Stay tuned for another post that will happen later than sooner....