How Cool is This?

Since I have been here, every few days I come across a moment of extremely introspective bliss when I think to myself “How cool is this!” Often I get the feeling when I realize that in the course of three weeks I was in three different countries and none of them were America. Today that moment came as I abandoned a group setting to forge my own path to the museum for class. Flying down the tube with Snow Patrol softly tickling my earbuds through the greatness that is my first generation brick of an iPod, I was asked by an obviously confused American girl what stop she needed to get off at. She was shocked, and relieved, to hear an American accent when I opened my mouth, and thankful for my help, something that the Brits aren’t good at. Getting off the tube I stopped by Starbucks to get a triple, grande, gingerbread, blended, no whip, latté before heading out into the cold drizzle for the 15 min walk to the National Gallery. The good thing about Starbucks here is that even though I know that my discount from the states doesn’t work, I ask every time if they’ll just try for me, and then talk them into giving me their own discount instead. Tonight it resulted in a free drink (which, in turn, results in a better tip for them.) Strolling through Trafalgar Square to the museum I had to put my hood up as the rain started coming down better. As I watched the tourists taking pictures, I kept looking at my breath, as it got thicker with the added warmth from my coffee it hit me that I am living a dream. How cool is this! It is with this attitude that I went into the National Gallery for class to see paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I know that at least a few of you have read “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. One of the paintings he references, which resides in the Louvre, is “Madonna on the Rocks.” I saw the sister painting to that today, “The Virgin on the Rocks.” It’s an incredible painting, showing Da Vinci’s mastery over anatomy and the contrast of light and dark. What really stood out though was Da Vinci’s use of the shape of a pyramid for the focus in his images. My teacher even referenced this in class as a staple of his work. The feeling is a welcome advent, but also always short lived, as I walked back into an overly hot room as one of my roommates had shut my window and the radiator had turned on. As I sit here writing this I am trying to use The Postal Service in my headphones to drown out his blasting the new Eminem CD, and trying to put myself back in the mind frame of earlier that came as such a welcome relief. You win some, you lose some.

(This picture is from the National Gallery homepage. The lighting they used to take it belittles the incredible use of light and dark Da Vinci employs but it is the best I could find.)