February 5, 1999 Calvin College Chimes

Friends made discovering 19th century England By Eric Flores, Kristin Pederson and Beth Meyer Guest Writers Twenty days, fourteen people, eleven plays, three cities and one Korf. We all came with different agendas, one of which Aaron Johnson let the group know from the very beginning. "I'm not on this trip to make friends," he said. However, this wasn't the case. Three weeks of theater critiquing, intense sightseeing and tons of shopping would make any group of people friends. ìThe Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe,î ìMerchant of Veniceî and ìLes Misrablesî were just three of the shows we experienced that helped to make this trip complete. Never in our lives have we seen so many wonderful productions by such talented companies, including the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. From the sets to the costumes to the special effects we were completely enthralled by the magic of the productions. Our daily class consisted of a studentís presentation on that eveningís play and a class evaluation of the previous nightís production. Our theatrical experience proved to be educational as well as entertaining. We spent our first twelve days in London visiting such places as the Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paulís Cathedral, Harrodís department store and Windsor Castle. The tube (subway) was the easiest way to get around and took us wherever we wanted to go. Stratford-Upon-Avon was a drastic change from London, being a quaint town dedicated to the preservation of the works and life of William Shakespeare. In Stratford we visited where Shakespeare was born and raised, and the church where he is buried. We also visited Warwick, an ancient medieval castle. Upon arriving in Paris after taking the Eurostar train through the Channel, we had a huge culture shock because of the language barrier. This ended up not being a problem when we realized that most people spoke English. Although we only had four days, we saw many of the famous landmarks, including Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles. Thanks to our fearless leader, Professor James Korf, who introduced us to the ins and outs of London at hyperfast walking speed, we experienced more things in three weeks than most do in a lifetime. And as Joel Veenstra would say, it was definitely "Good times ... Good times!"