"Dead week"

Everyone is getting serious about how little time we have left until the program is over-- less than two weeks! It's our "dead week," but it doesn't feel as much like one here (aside from the huge amount of work due next week) because I'm not on campus with a ton of other frantic students and they're not changing the schedule at all (we have two plays this week!). And they're making us have class during finals week. weird. I have the largest number of papers due at the same time that I have ever had in my life. And I have rarely been in a more anti-paper writing mood. :P Oh well. Here is how the week is going.

Sunday
The big event of this day was meeting Bethany and Evelina to go to Victoria Park for a picnic. It was a very nice day and really fun to be outside with friends. We all sat on a blanket (thoughtfully provided by Evelina) and ate and talked and slept and read in the sun. Our conversations ranged from harmless gossip to feminist analysis to philosophical musings. I had a really nice time.

Beth and Evelina at the park

Pretty clouds in front of the sun.

Beth and me--she was not cooperating, so she gets a picture with a silly face. :P

Monday
This day was unfortunately rainy. I had classes and the meeting as usual. In between, I kept myself busy by working on projects (such as letters and paper brainstorming), talking to Maggie about a refund form, etc. Then I went home with Anne. It was a typical Monday--rainy weather and all!

Tuesday
This day mostly consisted of class, working more on projects, and procrastinating. :P But! I went to an ATM and paid AHA back for the loans they gave me (so I wouldn't starve while I waited for my cards to get here). I don't owe them anymore! yay! :) Oh, and when I was at the store today, I ran into Ros, which was funny. She gave me a ride home. :)

I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.

~ Shakespeare, As You Like It

This pretty much describes my feelings about Shakespeare land. :)

Friday
We caught our train to Stratford-Upon-Avon in the late morning and got into the station after lunch. After dropping our bags off at our respective Bed & Breakfasts (we had to have four between all of us!), we all went to Trinity Church and saw the Bard's grave. (Some people thought is was a bit anticlimactic--and the atmosphere was a bit subdued--but I still thought it was surreal to be in the actual church that he attended and at the site of his last resting place. Crazy! Then we trekked over to the Shakespeare Center and his Birthplace. We saw an exhibition about him (which didn't say much new, but was still fairly interesting). And we saw the house he was born in and the garden around it (gardens are a big deal here). Before we went in and after we came out of the house we saw these three actors (two men, one women) performing Shakespeare scenes (one of them looked a lot like Eric from Much Ado!). They were good and very entertaining. I was proud that I could pick out what plays all the scenes were from. :) Then we got to do what we wanted until the show that night. A few of us headed over to see Nash's house and New Place. Thomas Nash married Shakespeare's granddaughter Elizabeth Hall. Nash's House can be toured, but it is also how you have access to the foundations of New Place (which was the house Shakespeare retired to). Unfortunately, due to several incidents (the last of which being a tax issue), the last owner of New Place had it leveled! AAAAAAHHHHH!!! Needless to say, Stratfordian's were outraged and ran the man out of town. But the deed was done and now we can only see the foundation of Shakespeare's last house and visit the garden around it. (Oh, and Nash's house had a couple cool extra things to see. One was this quiz game--that I totally dominated--and the other was this wall poster that had a picture of every prop you would need to perform the entire works of William Shakespeare. So cool!) After that we went to the Rose & Crown for some inexpensive pub food. Then we went down to the river Avon and walked around and took pictures. We found a cool monument with a large statue of Shakespeare in the center and four smaller ones of characters from his plays at the corners (they had Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Prince Hal, and Falstaff--I'm not sure why Henry IV got to double dip, but maybe they were thinking of the Merry Wives of Windsor). We took lots of pictures there, too.

The grave.

At the Birthplace.

I love Shakespeare! :)

Then we headed off to the theatre. We saw As You Like It performed by the RSC at The Courtyard Theatre. It was an interesting production. I liked it. It had three actors who had also been in the King Lear that our class liked so much. At first I was taken aback by their interpretation of the forest of Arden--they set it in winter and made it a lot harsher than I'm used to. But I got used to it. It was also interesting to see them perform in that space. It was a very long thrust stage, so they had people almost all around them. We were in the front row (on one of the sides). It was a fun time. After the show we headed over to this pub next to the theatre. Actually, I'm not sure if it was one pub or two, because it had two sides with two different names: The Black Swan and The Dirty Duck. It's where the actors go after the play. I got to talk to two of them, but I left pretty early to walk with Bethany back to the B&B area. My B&B was called Linhill. Our room (Jessica was my roomie for the weekend) was so cute--very Spring/Easter feeling in it's color theme. And I slept well, so I guess the bed was comfortable. :)

A picture of the theatre I had taken earlier that day.

Saturday
We had a nice homemade breakfast (I had cereal, eggs, bacon, and toast) in the morning. Then our group went to Anne Hathaway's cottage. It's about a mile out of the center of town. The place is very pretty. After we saw the house, some of us signed Shakespeare's birthday card and then "Shakespeare" spoke a couple of sonnets to me. That was fun. They had a large garden/orchard/forest area and a few different walks you could take in them. It was nice to get a little country into our trip. :) Then we headed into town and saw one of the parades (that were happening for the Bard's Birthday). It wasn't that impressive, but it was still fun. Then some of us got lunch at a Tea House and then we went to pick up our bags from one of the B&B's. After that, Beth and I went to Hall's Croft, which is the house that Shakespeare's son-in-law lived and practiced medicine in. Then we walked around a bit (and saw more Shakespeare performances along our way). We saw surprisingly few stores devoted just to Shakespeare stuff--bummer. Then we walked to the train station and caught the 3:40pm train to get back (around 6pm, I think). It was a very fun weekend in Shakespeare land!

Look! I'm in England! :)
(This was part of a sculpture collection in the garden at Anne Hathaway's cottage.)

Pretty flowers at Hall's Croft.

My head is dizzy and tizzy and crazy and hazy...

wow. lots has happened. I'm so tired, but I want to write this before the weekend. here I go...

Monday
This day was pretty routine. I went to classes and the weekly meeting. Worked out loan stuff with AHA, did homework, and used the computer while I waited in between. I went to the store for food supplies, went for a run, ate dinner, emailed, and blogged. the end.

Tuesday
On this morning, I worked on various things (like how to pick up our Spring Awakening tickets without my old credit card). Then I went to class and worked on refund stuff for my oyster card with AHA people. Then I went to Russell Square to read for a bit. It was nice to just lie in the grass and read with the sun falling on my skin. Then I went home and chatted with some people online and then went for a nice long run. Then (after dinner) I went into town. Now, you might be saying "Why, Sara, would you go into town when you would usually be either at home in bed or heading home for bed?" Well, I'll tell you. My roomie read in the paper that Harry Potter had been filming near Piccadilly Circus the night before and then saw online that they would be there again from 11pm to 5am. So we (along with three other girls in the program) went down there to see what we could see. It ended up being a pretty interesting night. At one point we ended up within a few feet of the main trio (a.k.a. Harry, Ron, and Hermione). We were at the end of the street they were walking along and when they got to the end (and the filming stopped, I guess) there was an awkward silence and then Daniel Radcliffe said "well, good evening" to us. That was pretty cool. We got to see them film some shots (with all the extras and "rolling!" and"background action!" and so on). We saw a lot of the stand-ins (actually, we saw them first and that was what alerted us to the exact location of the filming and then we saw all the lights). The stand-ins were pretty impressive, especially from behind (their height and hair was very convincing). There were a lot of people there to watch (although we got there first, I think) and lots of security, too. They did a shot of them going down a crowded street (presumably after they run away from the wedding and the Ministry) and of them in the street with a bus (I think it had to do with them apparating and almost getting hit). We stayed there a long time. By the end of the night the stand-ins and a security guard recognized us. The stand-in for Ron said that we were "mad" for still being there so late (which I agreed with--I was only still there because my roomie was and I didn't want to go home alone so late). We ended up leaving at about 4am. By the time we got back it was light and we got about two hours of sleep before we had to get up to go to class. :P But it was an interesting experience, so I was glad I went.

The street where the trio pushed their way through the extras (set up, but pretty empty, obviously).

A very fuzzy picture of Daniel Radcliffe's profile. (I have a little bit of video that is better.)

Wednesday
I was soooooooooo tired. But I stayed awake all through Theatre class! (I'm pretty proud of that.) After that I checked email and ate lunch before we all headed off for our Britain Today field trip. (Martin is in the States right now for business--promotion, I think--so Leah (who works in the office) and Carole (an art professor) took us.) We split into two groups and Leah took mine to the Lloyd building first. It is a neat place (kind of weird-looking on the outside). It's a "community" for insurance people to work. They don't sell insurance, but they provide the space for underwriters and brokers and the like to work and meet. It's a pretty bustling place. Then we went to the Bank of England Museum. It was cool to see some of their exhibits and information about England's monetary system and history. There were also some fun hands-on activities. After that I headed home. I talked to people online (I think I might have gone for a run, but I'm too tired to remember for sure) and tried to take a nap to get rid of my tired-headache. After dinner, I tried lying down for a moment with some music playing and a pillow over my head. I just wanted to soothe my head a bit so I could finish my paper that was due today. However, I didn't set my alarm and then, the next thing I knew, it was 3am and I realized I hadn't worked on my paper yet. I frantically turned on my computer and pulled up my paper. Luckily, I had already started it, so I just needed to elaborate and finish it. I got that finished by a little before 6am, so I got to lie down again for about an hour before I had to get up again. crazy.

Cool escalators at the Lloyd building.

Thursday
I was kinda tired again, but I had gotten over six hours of sleep (just at weird times), so I was okay. We got to our class to turn in our papers just in time (stupid being late and the tube being delayed). But we made it. After the class, I waited around to meet the guy who will be coming with us on our field trip this weekend (because our Shakespeare prof can't make it for some reason, so we get her "understudy"). Then I ate lunch and right before I left I got my new cards (thanks Mom!!!). Now I can get at my money! yay! In the afternoon, I decided to visit the Victoria & Albert museum, because I hadn't gone yet. I liked it. It is very pretty. There were some really cool locks & keys, some neat theatre rooms, and impressive casts of artifacts from far off places (from when it was fashionable to go to museums to see them instead of travel to the countries to see the originals). It also has a pretty courtyard with a shallow pond/pool thing, that kids can put their feet in. Then I came home and rested my feet (which were tired from all my walking around the museum, I guess). Then I went for a run. We had yummy chicken tonight for dinner. I am SO tired. I need to go to bed. Tomorrow we are all going to Stratford-Upon-Avon! Yay!

Casts. (Don't these belong in a different country?) heehee

Cool lock things. (I think you'd like this, Patrick. Am I right?) :)

P.S. I am sorry if this post has lots of errors and is a bit incoherent, but I am really tired.

And it's no nay never ---- no nay never no more...

...will I play the wild rover, no never no more...
~The Wild Rover

Friday
As our Ireland started, I was very tired (having spent the night before our flight at the airport curled up on a chair). Our flight was very short. Basically, a flight from London to Dublin consists of going up, waiting a few minutes, and then coming down. Once we got there, we took a bus to a town near where our hosts for the weekend (Andy--one of my dad's coworkers--and his wife, Siobhan, and daughter, Jessica) live. Andy and Siobhan were SO nice. And their daughter was quite cute. We got a second breakfast--our first being a muffin before our flight--of poached egg on toast. yum. While we waited for them to finish their morning activities, Anne and I took lovely naps. :) Then we went to Powerscourt Gardens for a delicious (and large) lunch. I had chicken and pasta with some yummy sides and then a piece of chocolate cake. I was very full and content. Afterwards, we walked around the grounds and to the Japanese Garden, but it was really cold so we didn't spend too long outside. The day was what the Irish call a "soft day" according to Andy, in other words wet and cold (but not too freezing). Then we went back to their house. They served us a yummy dinner (lamb, potatoes, and vegetables, I think). Then Andy took us into Dublin to the Temple Bar area. We walked around (learning the layout of the city in preparation of our activities the next day) and ended up at a pub that had some traditional Irish pub music. It was really fun. (They played a song that Nanci Griffith does, From Clare to Here I believe it's called...) Oh, and we saw Christ Church Cathedral (yes, there's another one) lit up. It was pretty.

The pub we went to Friday night. (I took a picture of it the next day.)

Saturday
On this day we spent the morning and afternoon exploring Dublin. We used a hop-on, hop-off tour bus for some of it. We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (plus an exhibition about how it would have been made). We went to St. Stephen's Green and Grafton Street, which I cannot hear or say without thinking of the Nanci Griffith song (On Grafton Street). (By the way, Butler's Chocolate--which is apparently an Irish chocolate company--is delicious. We each got a hot chocolate from their store of Grafton's Street. yum.) We went up Dames Street, where we found a restaurant that Anne's friend had recommended called The Queen of Tarts. :) It was SO tasty (plus I was really hungry by that time). I had a chicken sandwich with special, homemade stuffing on special homemade bread (and lettuce and carrots on the side). And then we shared an apple crumble afterwards. yum-yum! Then we walked around Temple Bar and then hopped back on the bus. We drove by Christ Church Cathedral again and got off at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was pretty cool. After that we found the bus to take us back to Andy and co.'s house.

On a lookout over a pond at St. Stephen's Green.

Cool flags and windows in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

That night they took us to a pub called Johnnie Fox's for dinner and a show. It was fantastic. The food was amazing--a three course dinner. I had mussels for the appetizer (I've never had them before, so I was being brave and adventurous!). And prime sirloin (so tender!) with potatoes and vegetables for the main course. And apple pie with cream for dessert. It was so delicious! I was SO full. Then the show started! The first half was music. The band was great and the lead singers were funny. Everyone was really into it. Lots of clapping happened. :) During the break before the dancers, they did a "hooley" where a screen came down and they played a song while showing everyone in the audience on the screen. It was fun. Then the dancers came. They raised the stage, so we could all see their feet easily. It was a really good performance. The dancers were good, but also looked like they were having lots of fun and being too serious. There was one dancer in particular that had all the girls drooling. He was pretty hot. And talented. After the dancers were done, the musicians came back to finish off the night with some songs. The played The Wild Rover! I was SO excited! XD The entire evening was awesome. We got back late, tired, and with aching hands, but very happy with the experience. :)

Sexy Irish Dancer dancing with a beer. :)

Sunday
On our last day, we slept in (after our crazy night at Johnnie Fox's) and had breakfast late. After that we went on a hike in Dalkey (which is where Andy and Siobhan used to live). It was a nice way to get some nature into our trip. :) And we had a good view of the coast when we got to the top. Near the top was this monument called Druid's Chair. For good luck (or health or fortune...) we walked around each level three times and then made a wish at the top. I got a bit dizzy, but made it! :) After that Andy dropped us off at the Guinness Factory, where we did the tour that apparently everyone has to see. I'm not into beer so I wasn't too into it, but it was interesting to learn about the process that goes into making a Guinness. They are very serious about it over there. It was a bit over-the-top. I did taste some in their "tasting laboratory", but it was disgusting. :P gross. After that, we made our way to the pick-up place for a bus to the airport. By this time, I had not eaten anything since breakfast (having been low on time and money), so I was a bit shaky. When we got to the airport, we found out that our flight time had been changed (without our knowledge) from 7:55 to 8:35, which wasn't a big deal (at least it wasn't earlier than we thought!). Once we got through security (which was the worst that I've had to deal with since coming here), we looked for food. I only had a couple of euros left so I ended up getting a little BLT. I felt better afterwards, but I was sad I couldn't get more protein. (Airport food is as expensive here as at home.) I did get a shake from Butler's Chocolate, which was delicious. Their chocolate is soooo good. We finally got home (before midnight, amazingly) and I went to bed fairly quickly. Exhausted.

Anne and me at the top of the Druid's Chair.

P.S. On O'Connell Street is the Spire of Dublin (or the Monument of Light), which is really tall and impressive (I think it was supposed to be constructed for the new century or something), but one of the bus tour guides had a funny nickname for it (Erection at the Intersection). heehee!

It's cool at night, because it's hollow and there are little holes for a light to come through around it at levels. And at the top there are large pieces cut away to let the light out. It's very tall.

sigh.

Never mind. My oyster card issues are NOT worked out yet. :P

But I am going to Ireland this weekend, so that's nice.

It's a very rainy, dreary day today. I'm soaked from walking home.

Exit, pursued by a bear.

~ Stage direction, The Winter's Tale, Act III Scene 3 (Shakespeare's most famous stage direction!) :)

Tuesday
On this day, I went in early to get some paperwork done (regarding some lost items in a certain stolen wallet). I ordered a new oyster card and took out a loan from my school to tide me over until I get my new ATM card. We had our weekly meeting (a day later than usual because of the holiday). Then I had a short class, which went well as usual. I love Novel class (even though it adds a bunch to my work load). Our prof is so nice and funny and I feel good afterwards (unlike with some of our other classes). After that, I did some homework, talked to people who were hanging out, and worked on my blog (that I posted earlier). Then I went with Jessica and Jenny (two girls in the program) to meet Jessica's parents (who are visiting) at a Greek restaurant near the Globe. It was tasty. mmm hmmm. Then we all walked along the river to the National Theatre to see Dido Queen of Carthage. It was an interesting play. A bit weird at times, but still a moving performance by the leads.

Wednesday
Today was another Wednesday. Theatre was as it always is. Britain Today was alright. For some reason I had a hard time staying awake during the first part of it, but I think I was just really tired. At the end we watched a clip from a Prime Minister's Questions (where, once a week, the British Prime Minister has to answer the rest of Parliament's question) that had been tapped (from when Blair was Prime Minister). It was pretty funny. And interesting. The Parliament here is cool, because they're all so into it. :) In the tape we saw, they were booing and cheering and all sorts of things. We all laughed a lot (including Martin). After that I went to dinner with some girls on our way to the theatre to see The Winter's Tale. The show was AMAZING. It was definitely Fringe theatre--it was staged in the basement of an office building. It's an intense play and the actors were all really good. And they did some interesting and surprising things--such as interactive stuff with the audience and new takes on characters. We all had SO much fun. It was great and totally worth being up too late.

P.S. I almost forgot... my oyster card came today! So quickly! yay!

Oh, bugger...

Sunday
So, this day was going to be a nice laid back day. I slept in a little bit, went for a run, and then met Anne at Camden Town to go to the market. This was my downfall. After only two small purchases, I got pick pocketed. So, yeah, now my wallet is gone. And everything in it, too. I am currently in the process of getting as much of it as I can replaced. :P

Monday
We had this day off for Easter Break, too. I basically spent it in mourning for my wallet. I did go for a run and I also did some homework. My host family was nice and let me watch a movie (Stardust!) on the TV (Dave or someone is usually watching TV... so it was nice of them to let me). I really like that movie... it's so original in a traditional sort of way. It makes me happy (which is why I wanted to watch it).

How can you go to both Hogwarts and The Prancing Pony in the same day...?

Well, I'll tell you later. :) First, let me catch you up...

Wednesday
This day was kind of interesting, because our classes were switched around. First, we had Britain Today (which was all discussion--no excursion). It was a pretty interesting class. We attempted to begin to understand British politics! This is a bit confusing, because some of the ideas are very similar to ours, but some of the basic principles are so different! We sometimes got a bit off topic, but overall it was a good class. Theatre was the same as always (:P), but our discussion of the play (Hedda Gabler) was alright, especially when we talked about symbolism.

Then I hurried home for... Passover! I was so happy to have a seder to go to. It was really fun to be there with all our host family's family. :) It was fun to see the similarities to our seder at home home (and there were quite of few), but it was also very different. For one thing, it was a bit crazier and more chaotic than ours. This was partly due to the fact that there were a lot of babies present (which was fun). They also went through the readings faster than we do and it wasn't imperative that everyone pay attention the whole time (which was good, because that would have hardly ever happened and it would have taken all night!). :) They had some of the same kinds of desserts: kosher cakes with cream (look at that alliteration!) and strawberries--but not covered in chocolate! It was a very fun night and made me feel better about not being at home--but I still missed everyone!

Thursday
We had a very fun Shakespeare class on this day. We did an exercise were our Prof gave out some scripts that hard the actor's lines and a few cue words--and that's it! We did a scene from Romeo & Juliet like that. It was a lot of fun (and hard sometimes). I got to be Romeo! :) Afterwards, Anne, Jamie, and I complained about our other Theatre class and read aloud from As You Like It (which we're going to see in Stratford-Upon-Avon!). Then I went home and went for an hour-long run, which made me feel nice. Then... I registered for classes! Thankfully, it seemed to go smoothly. I'm still waiting to hear back from Professors about two classes, but they aren't major ones, so I'm not stressing.

Friday
Anne and I went shopping on Oxford Street (the shopping street of London) on this day. It was a pretty fun day--especially considering my feelings about shopping. We both found some items (although I did not find a dress, which was sad). By the end of the day, I was very tired and my feet were sore, but I was happy with what we had accomplished. :P

Saturday
On this day... we went to OXFORD! It was SO much fun. I really liked going there. (I wish I could go again.) We covered most of the "must-see" parts, including Christ Church College, the covered market, the Bodleian Library, a castle, and The Eagle and Child. We also just walked around and saw the sights of the pretty little college town that is Oxford. :) It was great to see a place where so many literary masters came from. It was also very fun to see some of the places that the Harry Potter movies were filmed at. I got to stand on the main staircase, in the Great Hall, and in the dancing lesson room (from HP4). very cool. It was really cool to eat at The Eagle and Child, because that's where The Inklings hung out. This group included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In fact, this pub is said to be the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's inn, The Prancing Pony. :)

That's the Hogwart's staircase behind me!

I'm drinking a moo-moo! (I think it's my first milkshake since coming here...)

I'm in the dancing lesson room from HP4! :P

We had a good dinner here! :)

The bus rides there and back were pretty easy. I slept most of the way (like usual). It was a good day. (Now I can say I've been to Hogwarts!) ;)

Simply Tuesday

Nothing particularly exciting happened today that I can impart to you all. (sorry) Novel class was interesting (we talked about Modernism and Postmodernism), but I was really tired for some reason and my eyes kept wanting to close... Anyways, I worked more on getting my housing and class registration under control--sending and responding to all sorts of emails and looking at class schedules. When I finally got home, I got to take a nap until I was woken up for dinner. That was nice. And I read Hedda Gabler (CREEPY!) for theatre class. That's basically my day.

P.S. I'm worried that I've had some sort curse put on me because all of a sudden I keep losing or almost losing things... I hope I can break it soon...

All the world's a stage...

And all the men and women merely players. ~ William Shakespeare

On Monday morning our Shakespeare class went to see the... GLOBE! It was SO cool. I was excited beforehand, but I wasn't prepared for how awed I would be when I got in there. We met up with our tour guide at the box office and she gave us some background information about the Globe. Then she lead us into the theatre from the ground floor. Once in there, I just looked up at the stage, at the steep levels of seats, at the ceiling (which isn't there), at the dark, rich marble-looking decorations (I'm not sure if they were actual marble or not) and large pillars and spun around slowly to take it all in. It's beautiful. And perfect. It's also very intimate--quite small really. But it's so awe-inspiring. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but (because of how long I've been performing/reading Shakespeare and because of how often I've imagined this theatre) my breath was almost taken away by the experience. Anne (my roomie), Jamie (a girl on the program), and I couldn't stop smiling and exclaiming about how amazing it was that we were there. There was work being done to the stage in preparation for the next show, Romeo and Juliet, which we're going to see! XD

Seating at the Globe (notice the sunlight coming in, because there's no roof!).

Me and the stage of the GLOBE!

We sat on the second level of seats to talk about Shakespeare; we talked a lot about his use of words (sounds, imagery, etc). Then we went to a workshop room and did some acting stuff. It was really fun (I haven't done any of that in so long!). We did some games and exercises. (I picked up some fun ones to bring home.) First, we did some basic warm ups (involving "stop," "go," "jump," and "clap"). Then we did an exercise with the opening fight from Romeo & Juliet, which involved a duel to the death. My team (the Montagues) won. :) We also worked on one of Juliet's monologues (focusing on sounds). We did some really cool stuff with it (like a creepy tunnel and a cool round with all the lines).

The rest of my day was alright. I had an interesting Novel class (we finished up with Conrad's The Secret Agent), went to the store, had a nice dinner, and worked on things in my room. It was fairly warm out and it's getting very pretty outside. There are tons of flowers! It was a pretty nice Monday. :)

A flowerbed we passed after we left the Globe. (It looks like Easter/Spring.) So pretty.

So I won't hesitate no more, no more...

It cannot wait I'm sure.
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours...
~Jason Mraz

So yeah, Saturday was pretty cool. Anne and I went to Windsor in the morning. It was nice. We saw the castle and the changing of the guard. Then we walked along the Long Walk. It was long. :) At the end of it, we had lunch on a hill. (I had a chicken ceasar salad. It was yummy.) We also saw Eaton college and LOTS of swans on the river. It was cool.

Me partially down the Long Walk (that's the castle in the background).

Then we met up with a girl from our program to go see JASON MRAZ! We waited in line for a long time. While we were there, a small band (called Mates of Mine) played for us. They were cool. The drummer looked a bit like Topher Grace and one of the guitarists looked a little bit like George Ferrier. :) Then we got in and found our places--waaaay up in the back. It was a cool concert. There were a few disappointments (like the main artist only singing for an hour and a half and the stupid people in front of us standing up so we couldn't see anything during the two most fun songs), but oh well. It was still fun. I had a good time.

It's Jason Mraz--yay!

Today (Sunday), I was very lazy and basically recovered from the past two crazy days and from walking so much yesterday in boots. :P

I like the colors...

The brass players came into the audience! It was really cool! :)

I'm back! And BUSY!

Hey there everyone! (I never know how many people read this until I take to long to update it...) :)

Sooooo... spring break in Italy was AMAZING! I can't possibly write everything, but I'll try to give you all an idea of how it went. And I've been pretty busy since I got back, so I have lots to write about that to!

For our pre-trip night, Beth and I slept in the Heathrow Airport, because our flight was too early to use the tube. It was safe, but not very comfortable at all. :P But we didn't miss our flight! yay!

ROME
We started off our trip in Rome. Our tour guide (Borge--my dad's boss) was great! :) We saw SO much and we didn't take any type of public or private transportation! We walked all over. My favorite sight was definitely the Colosseum! It was SO cool. Immense. Incredible. But (annoyingly) I kept thinking about that stupid Jumper movie (they have a fight scene at the Colosseum). :P But I loved being there. It was very surreal. And impressive. We also saw plenty of beautiful churches. To sum them up: Marble. And lots of it. And lots of beautiful Renaissance colors and shapes. Another of my favorite parts was just seeing Italy. I mean, there were so many great terraces with flowers and clothes hanging out to dry--just the way you would picture it! It was so fun to see. We also went to this place called Piazza Navona with three water fountains and lots of people selling pretty pictures.

Me and the good ole Colosseum!

On the first day (and later on) I couldn't get over how much Italy reminded me of California! They are SO similar (except Italy was all these ancient ruins and impressive buildings). :) But seriously, the landscapes are pretty similar and California is definitely Italy-inspired in lots of its architecture. It was pretty weird/cool to see. I felt like was home...but not. I kept pointing things out to Beth, saying "look! that looks like California!" A reoccurring theme of our trip was gelato and pizza! SOOOOO tasty! We had gelato almost every day. And I had a lot of margherita pizza. yum. Another theme was dodging cars. The drivers in Rome are intense. And, except at a few crosswalks, the pedestrians just have to run for it! We became pros by the end. :)

Our second day in Rome was intense. We walked ALL day. We saw so many things, including the Trevi fountain. Then we walked to Vatican City. We saw the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral. St. Peter's Cathedral was so amazing. It's so BIG. And beautiful. We climbed to the top. It was a long climb. We saw a great view. Later we sat on the Spanish Steps, which was nice a relaxing. There were a lot of people there. In the evening we went to the Trevi Fountain again so that we could see it all lit up. It was very pretty. And romantic. There's a gate there that lovers hang locks (usually with their initials) on to symbolize the enduring quality of their love (I guess). There are a LOT of locks. It's pretty cool. It was a VERY full day.

At the Trevi fountain at night!

Our last (half) day in Rome was very nice, too. We walked to the Musei Capitolini (a very big and important museum). On our way we ran into a marathon! (In Rome!) It was pretty neat. We kept coming across it for the rest of the day. Afterwards, we caught a train to Arezzo and then Borge drove us to his and his wife's house in Caprese Michealangelo (the birth place of Michealangelo!). They have a very beautiful house. (Unfortunately, it's on a mountain, which means twisty roads. :P But I survived.) Contrary to my expectations (of a nice, sunny spring break) Caprese got some snow right before we came. It wasn't too bad. But it was kind of cold.

CAPRESE MICHEALANGELO
Our first whole day here they (Borge and Jytte) took us on a tour of some cool towns in Tuscany. First we went to a little (very cute!) town called Lucignano, where some of us got coffee. Then we went to Sienna (the home of a very famous horse race) and got lunch and climbed a tower (a common practice of ours in Italy). Then we went to San Gimignano (known as the City of Towers) and got some gelato. It was a lot of driving, but the towns were really cute, so it was worth it. We went to dinner at their local restaurant called Buca de Michealangelo (Buca, for short). We ate so much! It was tasty.

On top of a tower in Siena!

The next day we went to two closer towns. First we went to Sanse Polcro, where we walked around and found a neat little market. (I might have bought some gifts there... ;) heehee!) Then we went to Anghiari for (what Borge and Jytte call) the World's Best Piazza. It was very good. Then we went back to Sanse Polcro to get some groceries and then back home. Jytte was really nice and got us some Italian Apple Pie (which is more like apple cake). YUM!

The next day was more relaxing. We visited the castello at the top of the mountain/hill where they live. We also visited a working monastery, where we got to see an afternoon mass/procession. It was a nice day (but still kind of cold.)

Then we went onto the next stage of our Journey...

FLORENCE
Borge and Jytte dropped us of in Florence in the late morning, which was really nice of them (they were going to the Ikea there so they took us along). Unfortunately, because of GPS issues, we didn't get in until about an hour after we were supposed to, so that was sad. We had a train to catch in the afternoon, so we did a small walk and saw a lot of nice places, including the Medici Chapel. Unfortunately, we did not see The David. :( There was some confusion as to where he was housed. The museum was a hole in the wall. We walked past it at first. It had graffiti all over it and not a very large sign (nothing that said it had the David). So that was sad, but we it was still an alright trip. (The drivers in Florence are even crazier than the one in Rome. So scary!) After our partial day here, we headed off to...

In Florence (near the "gold" bridge).

VENICE
I. Love. Venice. It was INCREDIBLE! I've never seen anything like it. I loved being there (even though I had an annoying head cold). Our hostel was right between the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. (Basically the two places to be.) On our first evening we had dinner and walked around. (The city basically shuts down at 7pm, because all the day tourists leave. It's kind of funny.) The shops there are AMAZING. So many beautiful masks and glass pieces. I bought a LOT of souvenirs. a LOT.

The next day we got up early and had breakfast (there is a lot of nutella in Italy) and went for an early walk. We walked to the Rialto and then to San Marco and then along the water. We did a lot of the sights in San Marco. First, we went into the church (or Basilica), which was so pretty--so much gold! Then we found a Jon Post! :) (For those of you who don't know: he's our friend from PLU who was in Europe for his spring break.) Then we climbed the bell tower (or Campanile) and went into the Doge's Palace (or the Ducle Palazzo)--both of which were impressive. We also took the ferry across to see a church (San Giorgio Maggiore) on an island. That was fun. We also just walked around the streets. I really enjoyed that. Everything was so colorful and festive!

Me in Piazza San Marco (that's the Basilica behind me).

Our last day (which was pretty long considering we had to leave to catch a plane) was very nice. We mostly did more walking around. And picture taking. And souvenir buying. :) Our flight back was fine. The time change was funny, because we came back and our phones switched back to England time and then England time went into daylight savings time a few hours later. So for us it was kind of like no change! :) I was so tired! But it was an amazing trip. I <3 style="font-weight: bold;">

Back in London
Since then I've enjoyed not having too much crazy schoolwork (unlike our midterm time). I basically recovered from the trip (and my cold) on Sunday by not doing anything. It was nice. I mostly did school and homework Monday to Wednesday. On Wednesday we went to the British Parliament! It was very cool. We watched the House of Commons talk about the red cross symbol. On Thursday, I finished school early so I went to the British Museum (where I saw a neat Aphrodite statue) and Bloomsbury Square (where I just sat and ate and read for an hour) and then to the British Library (where I saw--among other things--the Magna Carter!). I thought I lost my camera (after I left the square before the library), but fortunately I retraced my steps and asked at the British Museum's lost and found and...they had it! I have no idea how I lost it, but I was SOOOOO happy to have it back! XD And then, in the evening, our whole program went to a concert (that our program director happened to be in) called The Apostles. It was very pretty. (But I was kind of tired, so I might have dosed off a bit...whoops. I did like it though!) Today (Friday) we went to the Kew Gardens. They are very beautiful. It was nice to walk around them AND to just sit in the sun (once it finally decided to grace us with its presence). Afterwards, Anne and Beth and I went to o'neills for dinner. It was a very nice day. And something that made it even nicer is our plan for tomorrow! Anne and I are going to go to Windsor in the morning and then to a JASON MRAZ concert in the evening!!!! I am SO excited! eek! I'll fill you in on it afterwards. :)

Me at the Kew Gardens.

It has taken me so long to write this! And it's pretty condensed. Now it's very late, so sorry if it is a bit sub par...I'm tired. :P