Week Six

Another week come and gone. I have been expecting my school work to ramp up and it certainly has. Classes are becoming harder and deadlines are approaching. Luckily for me, I was able to squeeze in a couple of fun activities and adventures. This last Wednesday, I went with one of my friends to see the movie La La Land. We had both been meaning to see it for awhile but kept struggling to find the right time. The movie theater we went to was the nicest, while still affordable, I have ever been to. The seating was less cushioned, plastic, stadium seating and more rows of individual, or dual, couch-like chairs. Every movie theater should adopt seating like this. Before going to the movie, I had very few preconceptions of what La La Land was about or what to expect from it. The only things I had heard about it was how much everyone either loved it or found it overrated. I wanted to decide for myself. Throughout the movie, I was captivated not only by the story and the characters but by the cinematography. It was beautiful and artistic; nostalgic of old Hollywood films without being old fashioned. I had also heard that some people were put off by the musical aspect of the film. As a lover of musical theater and movies alike, I wasn’t worried. The songs were fantastic and unique. I felt like there was something for everyone. They were not what I believe many people would expect when they hear the word musical. Every song added to the story and felt necessary to the overall theme. It’s no wonder it has already won so many awards and will likely win many more. La La Land was a piece of cinema art.

The other great piece of my week was yesterday. Me and three of my friends went on a day trip to Cambridge, England. We left London at 8:30 AM by train and returned at 6 that evening. When we arrived at the station, I assumed that we would pull up to the town right near the University. I was wrong. The station is a little under half an hour away by foot. I wouldn’t normally be bothered by the walk, but it happened to be extremely cold and windy. I had planned on it being cold, and had layered accordingly, but was not prepared for it to snow most of the day. I pushed through; motivated by the excitement of seeing a beautiful town and campus. When we arrived in the center of town, we were greeted by a quaint street market. We had twenty minutes before our tours started so we had the chance to walk through the stalls. The group was split into two groups and we began our tours. Our guide led us to the many famous sights around the town and gave us quirky facts about each of the places. These facts made the tour much more enjoyable considering we were standing out in the snow and wind for an hour and a half. I didn’t know that the town of Cambridge actually consists of many different colleges, not just the one. Every Christmas, a choir in one of the chapels is broadcast around the whole world. Our guide told us that in the first song, every year, a choir boy is given a solo, but he doesn’t find out that he was chosen for it until five minutes before the performance. Apparently this is to stop the nerves. After our tour was over and my friends and I had eaten lunch, we had free time to walk the streets and the grounds of some of the colleges. Cambridge has so much charm flowing through it; you can find it in the narrow cobblestone streets, the small shops, the beautifully kept grass fields, the many weeping willows, and every immaculately designed stone building. There is so much history in this one small town; both in education and religion alike. I decided that I have to come back another time, when it is warmer in the spring, to go punting down the river in one of the boats or to sit under the canopy of branches of a weeping willow.

I had an amazing time and feel inspired to go on more day trips soon.

Ta ta,

Kaitlin