Days 9-10: Royal Societies, Palaces, and Mazes

Day 9: Thursday, March 22

On Thursday, Carmen and I had a meeting with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.  Yes, it sounds super duper fancy.  Alas, it is in no way tied to the Royal Family, and so we did not get to meet Her Majesty, William, Kate, or Harry.  Sigh…  Anyway, it has a fancy name, but is actually just like APhA in the States, which is the American Pharmacists Association.  But back to the beginning.  Our meeting was in the afternoon, so we got to sleep in for a bit (yes!!) and then make our way to central London.  We weren’t quite sure how to enter the building, as it had a locked revolving door.  A very nice man (who worked there, keep this in mind) used his card to let us in, but apparently only one person is allowed in through the door at a time.  He and Carmen squeezed through, but the very rude receptionist lady locked me in the revolving door!!  And then forced the door backwards and me back outside, then pushed the button herself to let me in.  Slightly unnecessary if you ask me.  The lady who we met with, however, was quite lovely.  Her name was Alice, and though she is not a pharmacist herself, she works with pharmacists all day and has picked up on all the proper lingo.  We learned all about the organization and how they work in the community and are even separated by particular boroughs, as each borough in London has different needs.  For example, in southeast London (where Carmen and I are staying), we learned there is a very large malaria outbreak going on!  Eek!  Immigrants who have immunity are taking their children back to the native countries to visit, and the children, who don’t have immunity, catch it and bring it back to London with them.  Pharmacists are working hard in the community to educate the population about preventative medications.  While at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, we also got to see their museum of old artifacts, including medicines from the 1800’s!  

View of Parliament and Big Ben from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.  The RPS building was not that pretty, so I figured y'all would enjoy this picture more :)

The meeting did not last all afternoon, so we had a chance to take the tube all over London and do a bit of souvenir shopping.  One thing I’ve learned is that the Brits LOVE their stationary, and so do I!  I have been (unsuccessfully, might I add) trying to bring back the art of the handwritten letter, but that would require others *cough, cough, Bryce, cough, cough* to reciprocate.  One day, people, one day.  There's a fantastic paper company here called Paperchase that sells fantastic cards!

That night, Carmen and I met my parents for last night out before they headed home.  And this time, we actually ate at a REAL restaurant, not just a pub.  Black and Blue was the name of the steakhouse where we ate, and it was quite good, even though I got the chicken.  They just don’t make steaks and burgers like they do back home!  After dinner, I was able to send home all my heavy souvenirs and luggage I’ve decided I won’t be needing with mom and dad, so hopefully I won’t go over the 50 lb. weight limit on the flight back home. Ha ha.  Here’s to wishful thinking!

Day 10: Friday, March 23

Friday started out much, much earlier than Thursday, as we had to be at Kingston University (remember…we’re in zone 2, and it’s on the opposite side of London in zone 6) before 9 am.  We would have been fine except….Carmen and I had an unfortunate train incident that morning.  I would like to point out ahead of time that we 1)did not get lost 2) did not take the wrong train 3)did not forget to mind the gap (side note: Have I mentioned all this “Mind the Gap” nonsense yet?  If not, let me take a moment.  Mind the Gap is another, more proper, way of saying “Watch Out!”  So every time you get off a train, bus, or tube, you will hear the announcer remind everyone, “Please mind the gap” in lovely British accent.  On another side note: my parents witnessed an incident where a passenger did not mind the gap and fell straight down in the tracks.  No worries, all was well, with the exception of said person’s ego).  Anyway, I have segued way off topic, so back to our train incident.  The train had already arrived and was about to leave as we got to the bottom of the stairs and it was PACKED.  I’m talking, no room anywhere.  However, I was determined, so we took off running down the platform, and right as I jumped into the train, the doors closed, almost in slow motion it seemed, right in front of Carmen’s face.  I hit the emergency open button multiple times to no avail!  It was terrible.  Another train was not leaving for 10 minutes.  Luckily, we both know the rail lines pretty well, so we shouted (through the doors) of where we would meet up once she got the next train.  We were able to meet up with no problems, but were both obviously (and I think appropriately) flustered, and after that, it seemed like every train or bus on our route was running late or being delayed somewhere.  I also somehow lost my gloves on the ride as well.  Go figure.  We have Professor Cairns number, so we were able to get in touch with him, and after assuring him we were ok, he promised not to yell at us in front of the class for coming in late :)  We got to hear most of his law lecture, as well as another very interesting lecture from a man (whose name eludes me, I’m sorry) who is very high up in the British pharmacy world.  He has actually taken many different classes and gotten certified to be able to prescribe medications as well as fill them.  Since he knows Professor Cairns so well, we were able to talk with him after the lecture about all he can do and explain some of the American pharmacy world to him as well.  This is one area of British healthcare that I would like to see come to America!

After the lectures, Professor Cairns let us out early to sight see, as Hampton Court Palace is just 2 train stops down from the University!  Before parting ways, he was very kind and bought us another lunch, even though we weren’t able to eat together this time.  For those who aren’t aware of what Hampton Court Palace is, it is one of the manyhomes/castles of various kings, most notably King Henry VIII, William III, and George II.  *hint, hint to Haley on her present*

The entrance to Hampton Court Palace.  Pretty impressive!

After each of King Henry VII’s wives met their unfortunate fates, he had the palace completely cleansed of all remembrances of them.  However, in the Great Hall, there is still one set of H&A (for Henry and Anne Boleyn) initials intertwined in the woodwork that was missed during the cleansing.  I was quite amazed by that.  I love the British monarchy history, so I was quite happy at Hampton Court.  There is so much history there.  We visited King Henry VII’s kitchens, apartments, William III’s apartments, and the Georgian Private Apartments.  Almost too much to take in!  The Palace is actually half Tudor style and half Baroque style, where one of the kings was trying to rid of all Tudor style decorations and had the castle re-built halfway, then ran out of money!  So, it gives quite an interesting look. 

Tudor Style on the front of the palace.

Tudor Style also in the main courtyard of the palace, also known as Base Court.

Baroque Style on the back of the palace.

The Great Hall of King Henry VIII.

Close-up of the stained glass from the 1500's in the Great Hall.  Gorgeous.

 The gardens on the sides and back of the palace are amazing, and it is barely even springtime here, so I can only imagine what they will look like in full bloom in the summer.  Carmen and I just stood in awe for awhile. 

In the daffodil field, where thousands of them are in bloom.  I don't doubt the numbers either after seeing all of them!

While at Hampton Court, we also went through the world’s oldest maze!  How fun!  We got a little lost (I mean, it’s over 400 years old, how hard could it be to navigate? was our thought), but eventually found the center.  And we may have seen a worker walking (actually scratch that, power walking) about and tried to be as discreet as possible as we followed her out! Ha ha.  It was a lot of fun! 

A little history of the maze.

Picture proof that we made it to the center of the maze at Hampton Court!

After a rather uneventful train ride home (thank goodness!), we found a fun pub after our long day and celebrated our finishing our first week of rotations with some fabulous cider.  Carmen had her regular Aspall (like my favorite, not available in the US, to her dismay), and I had both the mixed berry and the strawberry/lime.  Yum!  A great end to a great week!