Same breakfast as always. Funny story though- a few days ago one of the girls came down to eat in her pajamas, to which the hostess said, "Do you really find it appropriate to come to a restaurant in your pajamas?" She had no choice but to go back upstairs and change. The hostess wasn't being mean or anything, it's just completely inappropriate and along the lines of offensive to those who live here in Europe. Over my time here, that's one thing I've really enjoyed about being here- people care about their appearance. Though they may not have a blinding white smile with perfect teeth, they really take time to be presentable any time they leave their home. I love it. Europe is so high class compared to America- even when it comes to the food. Though, America wins when it comes to luxury, namely bathrooms and hotels.
My new roommate and I headed out before the rest of the group to hit up Caffe Nero before heading out. For the sake of time, we took the subway west one stop to put us right on the street that the coffee shop is on. I needed a good coffee in the morning.. I knew it was going to be a long day. After meeting the rest of the group we headed out to our first gallery stop- the Saatchii Gallery. There were a few interesting things here, there was an installment in a room that looked like a pool of water when you looked down over a balcony, but I later found out that it was oil. that was kind of odd. There was a room full of hundreds of speakers all connected to a self-playing programmed piano- sound art. That was interesting to watch. Then there was an installment of a bunch of fake people gathered in a corner. That was really funny, because at first I thought 'what are they looking at' and 'why are they all crowded around that's stupid because no one else can see'. Then I found out that they weren't real. Ha. I took a photo of it. I'll get that up sometime if I remember. We went to some other museum that I can't remember so clearly I saw nothing interesting. We went to a famous museum called the White Cube, which was literally a white cube building in the midst of the city scape. There were a few boring sculptures in there and then downstairs there was a huge dark room with an enormous wooden cubism installment. The entire thing was painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. Pretty trippy actually. You could walk through the sculpture. It was fun. Randomly they turned on these like spotlights and it blinded everyone in the room. They had to recharge the paint though. Funny. After that we were only given half an hour for lunch at picadilly circus (picadilly circus = times square in NYC)... I just had a quick sandwich and tea at a little corner store. We went to a couple other tiny random galleries that I didn't really care much for, and eventually we stopped at anther White Cube location. There were sculptures here and some wall pieces. Unfortunately I hated everything they had at this location. I don't understand why some people get involved in art only for the sake of making people gasp or question whether what they've done is art or not. (The sculptures on display were entirely inappropriate and no where near art, unless you consider the process of sculpting them the art aspect of the work). Anytime there is a sign that warns that there is explicit sexual content and viewers must be at least eighteen years to see the work, my interest is absolutely lost and replaced with despise. I despise anyone who finds it necessary and even the slightest bit honorable and worthy to create anything pertaining to porn-like subjects and tag them with the title of 'art'. It does nothing but remind me how disgusting the human race really can be every now and then. And what's even worse is some people agree with the artist and consider whatever they've done art, and even enjoy looking at it. How repulsive.
Enough ranting. We got back to the hotel and I just hung out alone for awhile. I actually completely emptied out my suitcase and reorganized and repacked everything while watching the Brazil vs. N. Korea game. I just waited to hear back from everyone about dinner. A few people wanted to get like.. turkish food. Turkish, indian, greek food... Not really my thing at all, so a few other and myself just got subway. We all headed back to eat at the hotel. Just hung out and watched tv, and eventually I left to shower and get to bed because i was bored and wanted some alone time. Hah.
At this point I am seriously desperate for quality conversation. I mean sure every now and then I'll participate in the infamous 'that's what she said' jokes and what not, but honestly the dirty raunchy humour and conversations are really starting to get on my nerves. Also I'm tired of hearing 'fail' used in every single context imaginable. Whoever started the trend of using that word as an adjective to describe a situation or event that has occurred should be shot. I hated hearing that all the time before this trip, and I know I have had a status or two on facebook about how tired I've gotten of hearing 'epic fail' all the time. I've also heard an occasional 'I know, right!?' which bothers me just as much unfortunately. Some insecure idiot started that phrase. When people say 'I know, right?' in response to something someone has said, they are first agreeing with whatever was just said, then questioning their agreeably and looking for the acceptance of the other person; therefore, they are insecure in their own opinion and need to have someone else be on the same page as them and need that confirmation that their opinion is acceptable. Pathetic.
More ranting, sorry. It's gets hard being surrounded by one's pet peeves for so long, not to mention also being surrounded by strangers overseas in an unfamiliar country. It's nice to know that in four days I'll be home, surrounded by people I know and trust, will have unlimited internet access on my own computer, will have ice and air conditioning at my leisure, and will get a room to myself and will not be woken up throughout the night.
I look forward to going home, but I am still having an enjoyable time here as well. It's bittersweet, really.
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