Grinnell-in-London

The same day we did Piccadilly Circus, we had an orientation meeting with the whole group of Grinnell students (about 25 or so) at the Grinnell-in-London site. That afternoon, we decided to head over to the area early and look around a bit. Just down the street is The British Museum. Isn't it pretty?

Like many of the museums in London, The British Museum is free to everyone. I really appreciate this because it makes me feel like I don't have to see everything in one day. I mostly just got a good feel for the layout, and then spent a lot of time in only a few exhibit areas. The British Museum is HUGE, so there will definitely be some return visits!

This particularly day, I spent most of my time in the Greek and Roman Sculpture/Architecture sections. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from these exhibits:

This is a sculpture of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Because she's one of the more famous Greek god/desses, there are a ton of depictions of her in a variety of mediums. However, I think this one is my favorite. In many other art pieces, Aphrodite is depicted as this untouchable, unbreakable, larger than life symbol of womanhood (which is also incredibly beautiful). Here, she is shown bathing (a common task that normal women complete each day) and is clearly surprised by something to the side or behind her, which shows a bit of vulnerability in her spirit. It brings Aphrodite down to a level of human connection that fits her well, I think.

This is the bottom chunk of a column that was recovered at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It's a little difficult to get a sense of the scale of this photograph, but I can tell you that the doors in the background are much closer than you probably think. These columns were HUGE. It's amazing to think of how much work and resources were put into these pieces. The Greeks were certainly dedicated to their form of worship!

This is from a decorative monument found at one of the temples to Athene. It is not easy to make out, but the very right part of this piece originally continued on to be a lion's head. If you look closely you can see the beginnings of the lion.

This carved inscription served as a monument outside the tomb of a rich Greek man (whose name I can't remember; It must not have been that important!). Just an idea for when I eventually die... :)














Even though I spent most of my time in the Greek and Roman sections, there were a few pieces from various other exhibits that caught my attention:

This is an intensely detailed and accurate Aztec sculpture of a snake.

The Aztecs were so detailed that they even sculpted the UNDERSIDE of the snake! This is a shot from below.

There were many beautiful wall mosaics lining the stairways out of one of the exhibits. I didn't catch which region or time period these were from, but I will definitely be making a return trip to find out!

Please show this picture to Circe. I love her so much that (like the Egyptians) I, too, will mummify her body when she dies!









It was raining when we went into the museum, but when we came out the rain had ceased and left some interesting clouds behind.

This picture was taken from a street nearby both the museum and the school site.

We headed to our orientation, met up with some cool people, and are now getting ready to start our studies. Classes start this coming Tuesday, and we already have a bunch of plays and field trips scheduled for the coming weeks!