Saturday May 20th

     We started our day very early in the morning as we had some sightseeing to do before the soccer match in the afternoon. On our itinerary for today was going to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, two of London’s most iconic landmarks. We started with the Tower of London, which was amazing to see. We began our Tower of London tour by looking at the Crown Jewels. They were so exquisite the staff wouldn’t even let us get photos of them. After looking at the Crown Jewels, a couple of my peers and I went to the White Tower to see the armory. I thought it was really interesting to see all of the different armory sets for each king or prince. The White Tower was probably my favorite part of the Tower of London because of the little games it had. These games included building a fort, archery, and gun shooting, all of which were important skills for soldiers during medieval times. I was a little bummed that we couldn’t go to the top of the tower though. After walking through the White Tower we went to explore some of the other towers on the outer walls of the site. These towers included several different items. One tower showed the torturing devices used to torture the prisoners, which I found to be a little bit creepy. Another tower showed other medieval items, such as their bedrooms and other things. Our last stop on this tour was looking at the Tower Bridge, which I found to be so amazing. I’m a little sad we didn’t get to go closer to it but I was able to take some great photos of it which was amazing.

    After looking around the Tower of London, it was time for the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most, which was the Tottenham Hotspur match. Given that I have been following soccer a lot more since the World Cup that just happened recently, I was so excited to continue developing my passion for soccer by going to a game. Once we got to the stadium, I was completely starstruck. Not only was the venue massive, but it was also super new and cool to look at. It was stressful getting around though because there were fans everywhere and I was scared I would lose the group. Once we got in the stadium I felt a lot better, and the excitement continued to build up as the minutes until kickoff were winding down. After grabbing some lunch, we went to find our seats, which were close to the goal. Seeing the entire view of the pitch and the stadium was amazing, I was completely starstruck the entire time. When we got to our seats I was able to take in the view and get some pictures in before kickoff. Once the match started, I could tell the fans were very into it as many of them were starting chants. I had a great angle of Harry Kane’s goal as well and even got it on video which I’m sure I will constantly rewatch. Outside of that goal, there wasn’t much that went Tottenham’s way as they lost 3-1. Despite the loss, I still had an amazing time and I’m hoping I can get back to another Premier League match soon. 

    After the match, my peers and I took the train to do some exploring and eventually grab dinner. We went to Camden Market, which was nice but it was also very chaotic. While I’m sad our time in London is almost over, I had an amazing couple of days here and I’m very excited for what’s to come when we visit the other countries on this trip.

Friday- May 19th

 London- Day 4

We consolidated lots of sightseeing and activities into our busy day today! We began our day by walking around the London Eye area and crossing a bridge to see Big Ben and Parliament. We also saw Westminster Abbey and went into the little shop near there where a few of us purchased postcards. From Westminster Abbey, we walked through a park to reach Buckingham Palace. On the way, we saw many birds and even little ducklings! The changing of the guards took place at the palace. The guards or “Beefeaters” wore tall black fur hats and walked within the same rhythm as one another. It took us a long time as we were trying to leave Buckingham Palace. Most areas were closed off by gates and the policemen were strict about what times people could cross the street. At one point, once the policeman turned his back, both sides of the street made a mad dash to get to the other side. From there, we took the tube to Borough Market. 

We were able to spend some time walking around and getting lunch at Borough Market. There was a variety of cuisines and new types of foods to try ranging from seafood, to persian food, to different kinds of deli meats. Everyone was very excited to try the pulled pork truffle sandwich and chocolate covered strawberries that a few people in the group had seen from viral TikToks. The food was delicious but super filling which was needed to give us energy for our next excursion- a tour of Wembley Stadium.

We took the tube to Wembley Stadium which has hosted numerous events including the 1948 Olympics, the Live Aid concert, and home to England football games. While it has many claims to fame it was noted that there are over 2,000 toilets in the stadium. First, we walked through a museum section that explained the important history of Wembley Stadium. We were then able to walk into the stadium section. The seats were bright red in honor of England’s World Cup win at Wembley. After touring the stadium seats we went down into the press room and locker rooms. There were various signed jerseys and cleats, or “boots” as they say. Following our locker room tour, we were able to run onto the side of the field in representation of team USA. The tour guide engaged in our banter and we were able to test out our best British accents. Our last stop at the Wembley tour was the royals box. This is only for the royals or guests who they invite. The rules are very specific for this box, for example, they cannot embrace in cheer they must simply clap for both teams when a goal is scored. Also, they cannot wear any football jersey, guests of the box such as Borris Johnson have been kicked out due to this. Overall, this day was super informative and enabled us to engage further in London culture.

Thursday, May 18

In the morning, we had lectures from Professor Ryan about the ancient Olympics. We learned about the importance the ancient Olympics had on Ancient Greek society. The fact that they listed the names of their years based on the winner of the previous Olympic Games shows how much the Greeks valued sport. The ancient Olympics started in 776 BCE and ran until 393 CE after the Roman emperor Theodosius banned it because of its religious context. The Olympics are rooted in the Greek gods, and since the Roman Empire was Roman Catholic, they wanted to enforce their monotheistic religion on them. During this span of over 1,100 years, there was only one pause. Compared to the modern Olympics, which Professor Kim gave a lecture on in the afternoon, which started in 1896 and has already had 2 cancellations and 1 postponement. I found this fascinating that the Greeks found a way to hold the Olympics every 4 years for over a millennium with such great success. What was also impressive was the different games that were played compared to the sports today. Seeing that sometimes sports could get so brutal to the point where people died is crazy. 

In between the two lectures, we went to the British Museum. I was taken aback when we walked in; there was security, but only to check bags. There were no metal detectors to walk through. At the museum, one of my favorite artifacts to see was the Rosetta Stone which is responsible for learning Egyptian hieroglyphics. We also went to see all the Ancient Greek rooms which was also extremely fascinating. To get to see all the history behind the place where the Olympics was founded was amazing. What was quite surprising was the fact that some of the most impressive pieces of history are so small. Also interesting was the fact that many of these ancient artifacts are still being dug up to this day. My biggest takeaway, however, was the fact that the British stole everything. All of these artifacts were excavated in other locations, yet the British got their hands on them and put them on display. For example, the sign of a Moai from Rapa Nui literally said that Chile and the Polynesian Island has asked for the Moai back, but the British have not given them back. 

After the British Museum we had Professor Kim’s lecture on the modern Olympics. We learned about the different eras of the modern Olympics and how that impacted the Games in the future. One of the most important games were the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin which were surrounded by controversy but is also responsible for the spectacle that we know the Olympics to be today. Opening ceremonies and the lighting of the torch were introduced during these games, likely to focus attention on the “greatness” of Germany in 1936 rather than all of the anti-Semitism and other atrocities the country was committing at the time. 

In addition to all the learning throughout the day, all of us went to grab lunch together to get sandwiches. We then split up for dinner in the Piccadilly Circus area, where a few of us went to The White Horse which had traditional English cuisine. We ordered a bunch of pub-styled snacks to share, which was exciting. Then, all of us met back up again and spent the night watching soccer (Newcastle vs. Brighton and Sevilla vs. Juventus) as well as just hung out together and got to know each other even better. This was the most valuable part of the day in my opinion, because they better we as a group get to know each other, the more fun it will be to spend the rest of the trip with them. 

Thursday May 18

Today was a very informative day. We started at SU London where Professor Ryan gave us a long lecture on the history of the ancient olympics. By ancient olympics, I mean anything and everything related to how the olympics began with the initial games first starting in 776 B.C. We learned about how the fall of the Titans (Greek Empire) affected the formation of the games. The leader of the Olympians, which was the group who overthrew the Titans was Zeus. With Zeus and his family in the power position, they made the decisions which eventually formed the first Olympic games. Zeus’ son, Hercules, came to power over the Roman Empire and he implemented the Olympic games in honor of his father.

We transitioned into another part of the lecture, which focused more about the Greek culture, the different societies within Greece, the first type of Olympic games which were known as the Panhellenic games, and also the ancient olympic facilities that hosted these first games.

Following the first lecture, we all headed to the London Museum. The museum was amazing! We spent the first hour or so focusing specifically on the exhibits dedicated to Ancient Greece. From the very detailed statues and carved stone heads of rulers and gods, to the intricate pottery and clay pieces, everything was so cool to learn about. One of the most popular exhibits was the Roseta Stone (which is the picture attached to this post), and while it is unrelated to Ancient Greece, it is obviously significant to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics. After finishing our informational tour with Professor Ryan, we were given some free time to both get lunch and explore the rest of the ginormous museum on our own. We were all starving so we went to a nice restaurant for a quick bite, then headed back to the museum to look at other interesting and historically significant pieces. I think I can speak for most of the students on the trip in that the coolest room in the museum was the Ancient Egyptian mummy room. We saw both mummy caskets as well as some open caskets and even some real human bones that are still kept intact in the shape of a human.

Time travels fast when you’re having fun, so before we knew it, we needed to head back to SU London for a final lecture on the modern olympics. On the way back we got some ice cream as we were enjoying the nice weather. Back in the classroom, Professor Kim was talking to us about the modern Olympic games, starting with the games in Athens in 1896, up until the upcoming Olympics in 2024 in Paris. She was teaching us about significant events in each of the olympics, such as in the early 1900s how the olympics was not that popular and there was only 1 ticket sold at the 1900 Olympics in Paris. Not only that, but we learned about many of the controversial things that took place that are still referenced today as moments that help define what the Olympics is about. For example, the creation of an Olympic Village, which is now a prominent part of the games, was first introduced in the 1924 games in Paris. Not only that, but I thought it was interesting to learn how the different International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidents make different decisions on controversial events, such as the events surrounding the Munich Massacre.

Once we concluded the lecture, we went back to the hotel and then went to dinner. Overall, it was a very long day filled with a lot of very interesting information and many fun activities in between.

London - Wednesday

We started off early this morning after trying to catch up on jet lag. After a big English breakfast we headed to SU London. Professor Kim gave us a very interesting lecture. I have always loved the Olympics but never truly knew the structure of how it was run. We then moved on to a quick workshop to learn about our research paper. At this point we were all hungry so it was time for lunch. Me and a few others wanted to try the pret a manger chain which was way better than I expected. After that, it was time to head to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. London did one of the best jobs in reusing the infrastructure they built for the games. The park was beautiful. We walked by all of the different venues. I found the track turned soccer stadium to be the most interesting. Professor Kim told us when the built the track stadium they had enough seats for 80,000. Knowing they would never draw such a track crowd again they were able to take some stands down and turn it into a soccer stadium. This stadium is now home to West Ham United. As we were wrapping up our tour we passed by a wall of cubes. It has been an Olympic Odyssey tradition to make something Cuse related. After a lot of discussion we created I <3 Otto. All of the walking and exploring built us up an appetite. We ended the day at a pretty decent Mexican Restaurant before heading back to the hotel. 

Wednesday 5/17

Today we started with an early morning lecture at the SU campus in London. We learned about the general overview of the organizations involved in the process of making the Olympics happen and improve from year to year. We also started to discuss the topics for our research papers and relating them to our personal interests and studies. It was really interesting to hear about other students topics as there is such a broad spectrum of interests amongst us. After discussing our topics and doing research on the subject we left for lunch and had a small break prior to our tour of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where we saw the cycling, aquatics, soccer, and track venues. The West Ham Stadium also (the soccer and track venue) was also the location of the opening ceremony in London, where the youth of the city lit the torch to represent the upcoming generation’s interest in the Olympics. One of the main goals of the London Olympics was to promote the new generation’s interest in the events. The Olympic committees took actions such as this to make the games appeal to younger audiences. Other games have also incorporated events, such as breakdancing or “breaking” as it appeals to you younger audiences. We ended the day by heading to dinner and taking the subway or “tube” back to the hotel. 

START of BLOG

First Post