London

Stories in the Stained-Glass Windows

Whenever I hear that some famous person probably walked exactly where I am walking in museums, galleries, or restaurants, I have a hard time believing it. The linoleum floors look just as shiny as they did before and I feel no powerful presence left behind. As I walked up steps indented over time by hundreds of pilgrims wanting to see the Canterbury Cathedral for its miracles, I felt that presence. This was not the powerful presence of one, but many. People from all different backgrounds and all across Europe came to this one place, sometimes undergoing many trials. Some never arrived at all (I say that looking at Chaucer’s famous The Canterbury Tales—a text that I have read at least three times by now). I had achieved what Chaucer’s characters were unable to do and have left my mark on the stone that have already been eroded by so many before me. …And I’m just a wee English major.

While in England, we visited four amazing churches: the Manchester Cathedral, the York Minster, the Westminster Abbey, and, of course, the Canterbury Cathedral. Each one presented its unique charm and can easily be called marvels of medieval architecture. I held my breath entering each churches’ immense halls and was enamored by the history they held. Crypts and chapter houses presented something that was unlike anything I had seen before in churches. These churches are still in action today meaning people can come in for services, just like people hundreds of years ago would have.

As an art enthusiast and medieval fantasy writer, these churches were a feast for the eyes and imagination. Designed with Gothic aesthetics, they comprise of many small details. While waiting for friends or taking a break in an unsuspecting corner, I often found myself next to small carvings of dragons, flowers, and demons that would have been easily overlooked if I hadn’t stopped then and there. Since churches are built over the span of many years, the different aesthetics of the time shine through, making these structures the ultimate work of collaboration.

My favorite part when it comes to the designs of the churches however has to be the stained-glass windows. They are a dash of bright color, a symbol of light, and a story. No, really! This where the term “story” comes from when we refer to the height of buildings as stained-glass windows are meant to be read from the bottom to the top. It’s such a unique way of telling religious tales, regulating natural light, and honoring the creativity of artists at the time. I was particularly fascinated by the Great East Window depicting the Biblical story of creation at the York Minster which took ten years to renovate by 2018 (definitely worth it) and the Miracle Windows in the Canterbury Cathedral which depicts the many miracles of St. Thomas Becket. The latter windows display their stories in circles, which was unique from the other churches, and were in stunning condition. I am thankful to have been able to see these churches with such an amazing group for the creative inspiration they gave me and the history they held. Should you find yourself in England and wish to embrace your inner art/history enthusiast side, I highly recommend checking out a church. You never know what you’ll find!

Thank you for reading!

Teodora Buzea

Just Touched Down in London Town

Throughout our time in England, we visited multiple cities and saw many different places. We all know how much I love York… if you were unaware of this, please read my previous post! However, London came as a close second. I was really worried that I would feel like I was in New York City—just with slightly cleaner streets and big, red busses. While it still felt like New York City, London had its own quirks that made it just as charming.

My favorite part about London, however, was the infamous Globe Theatre. This was something that was high up on my bucket list of things to see before I die, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to not only visit this charming theatre, but to see a Shakespeare play there as well. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the lovely staff, and equally as lovely (and clever) hand sanitizer station.

We had a little bit of time to kill before our show, Much Ado About Nothing, started, so we decided to hit the gift shop beforehand. Roughly £230 later, I left the gift shop with two tote bags, a t-shirt, a mug, two posters, a collection of the entire works of Shakespeare, all rolled into one large book with golden edges, and of course, a pair of Macbeth socks.

With our bags full of purchases that we certainly did not need, we headed onto our tour of The Globe. Upon entering the theatre for the first time, my breath was taken away immediately. On a rare occurrence for London, the brightly shining sun casted a warm glow over the entire theatre. I looked at Grace with tears in my eyes, wanting to pinch myself at how beautiful and iconic the scenery was in front of me.

The stage was filled with actors, dressed in their normal clothes, doing warm-ups and preparing themselves for the show in which we were about to see. I half-listened to our tour guide (sorry, Norma), as I was simply so enthralled watching them and my surroundings.

After our tour, we grabbed our seat cushions and headed up to our seats. As we waited for the show to start, we took some pictures and geeked out (as English majors do) over the fact that we were actually here. Throughout the show, we laughed, we cried, and very clearly enjoyed ourselves.

Out of all of the things we did in London, The Globe was by far my favorite. As we have talked a lot about in this class, it is often easy to dismiss Shakespeare as someone whose work is too difficult to understand, and perhaps slightly pretentious. However, as someone who used to struggle with Shakespeare and now loves him, I can guarantee that anyone who sees any play of his as a live performance is guaranteed to be impressed. The memories I made at The Globe are ones that I will carry with me forever, especially into my future classroom.

Emma Stack

The Gothic vs. the Classical

As someone who has long been in love with the Classical, seeing Medieval art and learning about how much they wanted to distance themselves from the Classical was especially interesting for me. At first, I was like “why would anyone want to distance themselves from Classical art?!” It’s beautiful, realistic (though idealized, but that’s a different conversation), detailed, and magnificent. But this course allowed me to physically walk through Medieval architecture and see face-to-face Medieval artwork…I was just immersed in the Gothic, something that I had not previously been so invested in. And it is magnificent in its own light. The pointed peaks and angles of the cathedrals, specifically the one I attached here in Canterbury, and the colorful and intricate stained glass were so impressive. Similarly to seeing ancient works, I was just wondering how in the world did they build massive and detailed cathedrals? How long did it take to paint the stained glass windows? It was spectacular walking through the artwork that paved its own cultural road, that being away from the Classical.

And through that immersion and learning more about the individuality of Medieval art I was finally able to understand why Medieval England made it such a point to carve their own style: to create something new, something uniquely English. The British Empire had been, and still was at the time, a powerful global force. The British had taken control of many parts of the world, and through that colonization had taken bits and pieces of other cultures and thus integrated that into their own culture. And of course, in the Western world I would argue that the greatest influence was the art and architecture of Ancient Greece (and Rome, though I think Rome ripped Greece off and got all the credit). Greek art and architecture had become so ingrained in Western culture in general, that the West kind of became synonymous with the Greek influence. But Britain wanted something different from the Classical; they wanted to forge new styles of art and architecture (aka the Gothic, as represented beautifully in Canterbury) and assert their own influence not only as conquerors, but as the bearers of a new cultural style. And I will say, looking at the Gothic versus the Classical today, the British achieved their goal. The high pointed ceilings in the cathedrals look nothing like the column-filled, open and airy temples of the ancient world. And the angular faces surrounded by colorful scenery and robes painted on the stained glass do not resemble the mythical carvings of the ancient world either (specifically, I included photos of the Elgin Marbles and what remains of the Pediment, both from Ancient Greece and now housed in the British Museum). The one stark similarity between the artistic styles is the influence of religion. The Elgin Marbles tell mythical stories and depict gods and mortals in battle, but the stained glass in the Canterbury Cathedral also tells a religious story. The stained glass depict the hierarchy of important religious figures and display biblical stories brought to life through art.

I have wanted to see the Elgin Marbles and the Pediment since I was 12, and seeing them was an out-of-body experience for me. But after walking through the spectacular creations of the Medieval Gothic style, I was absolutely just as impressed as I have been with the Classical for all these years. I’ve gained a great appreciation for Gothic art as a result, and I love seeing the differences between the Classical side-by-side.

— Anna Bender

Our Time in London

One of the places I was most excited for during this trip was London. I was very curious to visit and compare what I saw to New York City. And while there is some things that are very similar because of modernization London has such an interesting blend of old versus new architecture while New York City is all modern. Also the transportation in London is a lot easier and convenient to navigate than New York as well.

These pictures were taken of and in the Tower of London. It was built in 1066 by William the Conqueror to show the superiority of Normans over the British though not all of it was built during this time, it has been expanded a time passed. And it certainly is impressive to look at and walk in. Also this is where the Crown Jewels are located, but you are not allowed to take pictures of them and they are as impressive as they sound. After this a few of us went to food and then a play that is centered around the presidential election of 2024 that put Kamala Harris and Donald Trump against each other, and the majority of it was great with the actor of Donald Trump doing a top tier impersonation of him.

The next day we started with going to Westminster Abbey, and while walking there we got to see Big Ben. Westminster Abbey is a beautiful example of Romanesque style architecture and was built in 1060. It is absolutely massive and a person could spend hours inside admiring it. Out of all the places we went to in England this is up in my favorites because of how amazing it was. After this awesome visit we went to the Tate art museum, but I have no pictures showing the amazing artwork that was inside.

After the Tate the students planned our own excursion to the London Eye. It was an amazing experience and provides the people on it with a 360 degree view of London. It is most definitely one of the most memorable moments of the trip.

After a day spent in Canterbury we had our day in The Globe Theatre for a tour and to see Much Ado About Nothing. It was a great experience to hear about the history of the Globe and Shakespeare. And the play was amazingly done and very humorous. They even took people from the crowd and had them go up on stage. All in All the play was enjoyed by all of us.

Sadly all good things must come to an end. Our final day started with a trip to The British Museum. It is one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen. They had artifacts from all over the world and from all different time periods. Some examples are the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, and the Discobolus. And this is only three of the thousands of items that they store in the museum. After a few hours in the museum we had a few hours before we all had our last hurrah at the Admiralty Restaurant. It was delicious, both my meal and my dessert. And then we went back to the hotel.

The trip overall is one I will never forget. And I would recommend it to anyone that is considering to go.

Much Ado at the Globe

Of course my first blog post is going to be about seeing Much Ado About Nothing at THE Globe theater. Seeing a play at the Globe is something that I’ve dreamed about since I was about seven or eight years old (thanks dad, for inducting me into the Shakespeare fandom at such a young age). This was my fifth time seeing Much Ado, and there was no other experience of seeing the play quite like this one. The ambiance, the rows of wooden benches (with the option to purchase a cushion if you were so fortunate), the sun beaming down through the open hatched roof, and the mob of people in the pit gathered in front of the stage as if it were a concert all felt like amazingly authentic details; I felt like, aside from the modern technology and such, I was seeing a play the way it would have been performed during Shakespeare’s time. It was a surreal experience and I couldn’t get enough of it. No matter where I looked in the theater, various characteristics popped out, from the replicated paintings around the box seats to the intricate golden-marble Romanesque columns framing the stage, every inch of the theater was planned out as to accurately represent how Shakespeare himself experienced it. All this being said, I can safely say that this version of Much Ado was one that I will forever remember; it was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am still stunned that I saw a play here.

And what I better play to have seen than Much Ado. Definitely one of Shakespeare’s funniest plays, with characters that I have always loved (Beatrice, of course…no one can beat her fiery spirit), joining the audience in laughing at any of Dogberry’s rants, or at Benedick and Beatrice’s tiffs was harmonious. And the actors were phenomenal, as expected at a Globe production. For example, the one who played Claudio was honestly a highlight for me; Claudio usually drifts into the background of this play because I usually find him bland and a bit ridiculous (he just instantly believes Don John and disses Hero in front of her family, come on). However, this actor really brought Claudio to life. His performance really stuck out to me, but of course Beatrice and Benedick (and Dogberry) still stole the show. Benedick was probably my favorite character this production. He was ridiculous in the best way, I mean, hiding under a tree (a tiny tree, I might add), and thinking he was being so slick about it was hilarious. Simply the tone that the actor used added so much more to Benedick’s charisma and humor. I will say, witnessing the actors warm up was a bit unexpected, and I’m sure that those exercises somehow helped them execute their roles so well. I’d never seen anything like that before; they were having full volleyball matches while singing or doing yoga and belting vocal warmups simultaneously. It was sensory overload in the best way, and I loved seeing the before and after as the actors brought Shakespeare’s pages enthusiastically to life.

From reading the kid’s picture-book version of Much Ado to watching the animated cartoon version with my dad (where Don John was blue for some reason) to seeing it at the Globe, this really brought my Shakespeare experience full circle.

— Anna Bender

England is in my ears…

Ever since I was ten years old, I’ve had a longing to explore everything that England had to offer. This is in large part due to my ever-growing obsession with British musicians, starting with the Beatles and carrying on to Bowie, the Smiths, Harry Styles, all the way back to the Beatles again. I’d be lying if I said that being closer to this scene wasn’t a main motivation of mine when learning about the possibility of this study abroad trip. I of course got so much more out of it, but I’d be doing a disservice to myself to not indulge you in all the stuff that sparked my passion for this country in the first place.

Beginning in the city of Manchester, which I believe became incredibly underrated due to jet lag and only getting one full day there, we had a lovely little stop in the John Rylands Library. Prior to our visit, Dr. Insley had us think about what came to our minds when we thought about Manchester, and I’m still upset about not bringing up the Smiths and earning those brownie points with him, but regardless I was able to get a taste of the Smiths and more at this library. The pop culture section was more than likely not where I was supposed to spend the entirety of this visit, but I just couldn’t

help myself. The library was chock full of artifacts and articles regarding some of my favorite musical acts, memorabilia across the board, but the two coolest pieces in there came from Manchester’s own. One being a scroll of sorts in which you can see the genius of the band New Order unraveling as your eyes glide down the piece of paper. And the other, which was my personal favorite, was being able to see Johnny Marr’s guitar in the flesh, a guitar on which he wrote some of my favorite early Smiths’ songs (‘Accept Yourself’ and ‘Handsome Devil’ are great cuts off of Hatful of Hollow.)

The surplus of record stores over there was immaculate, and I would recommend that any music fan indulge themselves at least once, although not any more than that. If you do, you leave the country with 20 records that you have to stuff in your carry on because you don’t trust the airlines to take care of them in your suitcase and your left with insufferable back pain and a hold on your bank account because, much like dollars, pounds do not grow on trees (it was all worth it.) Not only was I able to see how much the people here cared about their music through the number of shops, but in the way the shops operated as well. Most record stores had to put out only the sleeves, and they give you the actual records after purchase as a result of preventing theft. One shop store owner said without doing it that way, they would have to have security guards patrolling every store. I also don’t take my record store

trips for granted as this was one of the few times I was able to strike conversations with locals, and I received plenty of tips regarding whatever city I was in as well as plenty of music recommendations that I would’ve never heard otherwise.

Perhaps the most gargantuan moment of it all for me was getting to cross Abbey Road, which if anyone in the future cares to visit, do not, I repeat, do not take the tube to the station called Abbey Road, it is 10 miles away from the actual road and you will be sad. But once we eventually got there, I mean to be in the presence of where some of my heroes stood and recorded some of the greatest music of all time was nothing short of surreal. Not only that but to see the people that were there from all over the world to bask in that glory as well, it was quite breathtaking, and I don’t think words can aptly describe the amount of emotion that I felt in that very moment, heels and toes touching the surface that is immortalized on my own record shelf and millions of others.

Paul McCartney walking across Abbey Road (2022 Colorized)

No matter where I went there was always something for me to engage in musically. Whether it be the woman’s gorgeous rendition of ‘Don’t Think Twice, it’s Alright’ (American I know) outside of the York Minster or the man I saw going absolutely ham on the keys in the tube station. There was so much not only to see in England, but to hear, and the only thing I can say I regret is not hearing more of it.

P.S. Happy birthday Sir Paul McCartney!