So, the last couple of days I've been pretty busy with school and off-campus class activities. This week with my History of London Class we got to see St Bartholomew's Church, this is one of the oldest churches in London dating back to 1123. A fun fact, Benjamin Franklin served as a journeyman printer in this church for a year. To find out more about this church check out this website: http://www.greatstbarts.com/

I also got to see where John Bunyan, the author who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress while imprisoned for preaching is buried, at Bunhill Fields. Parliament at the time was trying to stop Puritans from preaching in public in about 1660, so Bunyan was arrested. William Blake the famous poet, painter, printer and illustrator of his own books, is also buried in the same cemetery. The cemetery of Bunhill Fields, was where all the nonconformists were buried during the reformation. There were restrictions on non-conformists during the reformation and after the Civil War. Another trip around London was in the artsy community of Old Street and Shoreditch. This is the place to be during the nightlife because there is a lot of student living in the area. In the daylight, we walked around though and got to go inside a real circus school that used to be a power station. So, it already had high ceilings, perfect for long cables and the rings!  These students major in circus performing and then try and find jobs in the business, like cirque des sole! There also is an area called Finsbury Square and this is an important place due to the fact that it stopped the westward movement, so it would move back East, as far as the development of the area goes. We got to see where Shakespeare's original theater was, though the location was fenced off so we couldn't see. Yesterday, I got to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum and see the Jewelry Collection. The V&A Museum has one of the widest and largest collections of jewelry dating back to the 17th Century!!! I had Fish and Chips today and thought I'd show you all how massive it was!!