A Cocktail Party and a Chinese Buffet

So tonight Spencer House hosted a cocktail party for the hierarchy of Regents so that they could see the house and such. Basically there was wine (which we had a "family" dinner and wine tasting for on Sunday to pick the wines out) and appetizers and such. I was able to meet some of the "higher-ups" of the college, all of whom were quite great. Afterwards we all pitched in to clean up then Jack and Hazel (they are both retired Americans that take care of Spencer House, which Columbia State University owns) took us all out for Chinese food. The Chinese place ended up being a buffet, which is a bit different here. For one, the food was actually decent and fresh. Second, they at least attempt to cut back on food waste (there were signs that said intentional, excessive waste of food will be charged £5 extra per person). Buffets are rather rare here so it was interesting to see. All in all it was quite a good night.

Now I sit here posting this while I should be writing my essay (it's nearly midnight now) as it's due in exactly 14 hours - I probably won't sleep much, if at all, tonight. The prompt is the following: Discuss the formation of the Spanish royal painting collection in relation to Philip IV's demands as a patron. So first off I'm very happy that this week deals with Spanish art. Second, I'm finding it hard to narrow down the topic. Thus far I think I'm going to first talk about the overall artist/patron relationship of this time frame. Then I'll define Philip IV as a patron. Next I'll discuss Rubens and Velázquez along with some of their works made for Philip IV's court. Lastly I'll talk about how their paintings were commissioned and used to decorate both the Buen Retiro and the Alcazar. I still don't have images so you'll just have to imagine some for now.

Other upcoming plans include going to the Globe Theatre to see a play as a rather large group and a family dinner with all of the new students for this term and their college parents.