Meant to Be in London

I have some bad news. My ebook returned intself to the library last night. This makes me sad because I couldn't continue to read it or use quotes for my blog. And somebody already checked it out. However, I still really want to post about what I read, specifically the setting of the book. As many of you know, Meant to Be is set on a class trip to London, where Julia is forced to spend free time with her enemy, Jason. So far the have seen many of the main attractions in London, against Jason's wishes. Some of these sights include Big Ben, the Tower of London, the Tate Museum and the Globe Theater. Both of which Julia could practically write a book about. Julia has wanted to visit London since she was in sixth grade, and now being in high school, she has practically researched and read everything about London. This is a major connection to my life because I went to London with my family when I was 7 years old, and I remember experiencing events very similar to the events that Julia is experiencing.


For example, when Julia visits the Globe Theater, she asks one of the employees working there if he could tell her about the plays and if somebody she was looking for had been there. Felix, the employee, replied no, it would be impossible to find out if somebody had been there. According to Felix, it was always a full house and there were always school kids visiting on local class trips. When my family and I visited the Globe Theater to see Shakespeare's Macbeth, which is one of Shakespeare's darkest tragedies, there were so many people in the theater that there was barely space to walk- or breathe for that matter. The theater is old, but was rebuilt 3 times with the newest one on the opposite side of the Thames River. Plays preformed at this theater are done without lights, special effects, or crazy stage backdrops. Instead, they are preformed so that you can focus on the power of the words that the characters say, and it is always completely silent in the theater because the actors never have any type of microphone (it is all projecting their voice).

Not only has Julia visited the Globe Theater, but she has also seen Big Ben. Big Ben is the large clock tower that stands in London. When Big Ben was first being built, there were many difficulties including lighting and accuracy for time. However, the clocktower was fixed and is known as one of the most accurate clocks. The name Big Ben comes from the name of the hour bell, which was cast by the Warners. Soon, the name applied to not just the bell, but the clock and the clocktower as well. Julia and her class were only able to drive past it and so far were not able to stop and visit. But from the looks of the group, most of them were more interested in shopping or watching sports. My family and I were able to stand right next to the side of Big Ben and it was gigantic. I felt so small standing next to such amazing architecture.

So as you can see, the experiences that Julia is having are very similar to my past experiences. The class will also be able to relate a lot to these experiences because we are reading Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare's tragedies. We also had to learn a lot of background information on the time period, language, and the Globe Theater. Hopefully, I will be able to get this book back from the online library so I can read it some more.