Sara in London

DONE!

2009-08-27T19:37:00.007+01:00

There! I'm finally done putting all of Patrick's and my Europe adventures on here. (Sorry, again, if the proofreading isn't superb--it got kind of tiring.) I hope all of you who were waiting for this enjoy the last installment. :) It was an amazing trip and sometimes I think it might have been a dream or that it happened to someone else... but then I look at pictures or read this blog and I remember how amazing it was. And how thrilling it was to experience all that I saw and did...

I traveled to five different countries. I have a huge stack of programs from the dozens of plays I saw, as well as memories of seeing some of the greatest actors and actresses ever perform. I got to walk right in the midst of history and see and touch things that previously I had only been able to imagine. I discovered that I can survive (even without a wallet) in another country--and enjoy it so much that I cannot wait to go back. I tasted delicious food, such as pizza and nutella in Italy, croissants and french bread in Paris, and--of course--pub food. I got to not only learn about, but engage in another culture and perspective. And learn from a few of the many intelligent minds who have come from it. I got to feel what it is like to be an outsider; the odd one out in a crowd. I also got to feel the warmth of being invited to learn about and share with another culture. I found out that I could cope with being so far away from everything familiar to me and take pleasure in the new, different adventures offered to me.

I've done a lot. I've walked through gusting wind in Edinburgh, squeezed my way into sweltering tubes in London, shivered in the snow in Italy, and squelched through pouring rain in Paris. I've slept in the sun in Cambridge, seen London at a standstill in the snow, sung along to folk songs in Ireland, smelled the flowers of Stratford, and walked the very streets of Dickens' characters. I've fought the crowds walking along Oxford Circus, consumed copious amounts of chocolate, stood before Shakespeare's bones, felt the magic of Salisbury, kissed the love of my life in front of the Eiffel Tower, and much, much more. For a little over three months, I absorbed a portion of Europe. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And I'm so glad to have had it.

Going home.

2009-08-27T19:33:00.002+01:00

After packing up all our stuff, Patrick and I took the tube out to my host family's house to get the rest of my belongings (which they had so generously agreed to hold for me!). I re-packed some things, then we checked email and waited for our airport car to come pick us up--there was no way we could have taken the tube with all my luggage!

We got to the airport VERY early, so we were able to have some lunch and weigh our bags (good thing, too, because one was too heavy and I had to shuffle things around a bit) before we checked in. Unfortunately, I had just started to get sick, so an eleven hour flight was not so nice (even more so than usual). We had seats right in the middle of a row, but one of the aisle seats ended up being empty, so I got to sit there instead--which was good because I made a lot of bathroom trips and used up a lot of Kleenex (a.k.a. toilet paper) on my runny nose. Sorry if that's TMI! :P

Anyway, after a looooong time, we landed and then had to get our luggage and make our way through customs. That took a while--the bags took forever and the custom's line was a mile long! Finally, we made it through and got outside and saw Hanna and James waiting for us! Eventually, we got to the car (with a tired Dad and Emma and Noah inside) and started home. After a quick bathroom stop (it was necessary), we finally got home. And (for some reason) instead of going straight to bed, I dealt out (with Patrick's help) most of the souvenirs I had brought home for our families. Then we went to bed. WHEW! (and because it had been so long since I'd actually slept, my body got back on track pretty easily!)

At the airport. Our last picture!

On this day (May 18th) we went to beautiful, mystical Salisbury...

2009-08-27T19:26:00.004+01:00

Our day began, by checking out of our room only to be told that we could check into it again (for whatever reason--we didn't ask). Strange. Anyway, then went to the Waterloo station and caught the 8:20am train to get into Salisbury at about 9:40am. Once there, we hoped on the tour bus and went to... STONEHENGE! woohoo! It was pretty cool (although I can see why some people are taken aback by it being a bit smaller than expected in person). Still, we thought it was awesome--very surreal.

It was very cold and windy!

Listening to the audio guide.

Sheep on a burial mound.

Then on, our way back to Salisbury, we stopped at Old Sarum, which was sooo cool. Old Sarum is the remains of a Norman castle, but the area had been used as a sheltered village from pre-Roman Britain until the cathedral was moved to Salisbury (around the 1200s). On top of being really neat to see the grounds/blueprints, Old Sarum was gorgeous and the view was great. It was also VERY windy. I almost got blown over into the grassy moat while we walked along the "ramparts." Scary! As we left, we looked back to see a group of young school girls receiving a lecture by one of the Old Sarum caretakers. Patrick was highly amused when she handed out a bunch of shields and spears to some of the girls and began to organize them to attack the castle!

We LOVED Salisbury. We only wish we could have taken more pictures! (Our camera's storage space was running low by that time.) Aren't the colors lovely?

A view of Old Sarum.

Up there is where I was almost blown over by the wind!

Patrick in the kitchen!

Little girls with swords and shields!

After this we went back into town and went over to see the Salisbury Cathedral (officially: the Cathedral of Saint Mary). I believe it has the tallest Medieval spire in the UK.

The Cathedral of Salisbury.

After this we headed back to London, where we rushed over to AHA headquarters to say goodbye to Leah and Martin. Then we headed back to the hostel and called parents to fill them in on our activities. Then we went to o'neills one last time and hopped over to Kings Cross so Patrick could see Platform 9 3/4! (which funnily enough had been "relocated" because of construction--but it was still there!) :P Then we went back to pack and get some rest.

Hogwarts, here we come!

Saying goodbye to our room "keys." :P

Our last days of London...

2009-08-27T19:02:00.008+01:00

Friday
After sleeping in (yay!), we started off our day by walking over to St. Paul's Cathedral, where we admired the beautiful architecture and decorations. We walked all the way up, past the Whispering Gallery, to the Stone Gallery (the Golden Gallery was closed). It was quite impressive. Big.

A view of St. Paul's. (We went up to the dome!)

Then we bought some lunch and walked over to Trafalgar Square to eat it. It was fun to sit on the steps and watch the crowd and the water fountains. (I really like the water fountains.) While we were there, we took some lion pictures.

Patrick posing epicly.

I was going to pass on a lion picture, but gave in a the last moment. :)

Then we headed over to view Big Ben (my favorite!) and Parliament. After that we went into Westminster Abbey (after standing in line for awhile). That was an amazing experience. There are so many famous people buried there or commemorated with a plaque... it was so neat to be able to find a familiar name everywhere we looked. Plus we found the oldest door in England--almost 1,ooo years old!!! wow.

In front of Westminster Abbey.

Then (for Patrick's benefit) we went up in the London Eye. It was a pretty cool view.

On our way to the London Eye.

One of the views from the Eye.

Then we went through St. James's Park to check out Buckingham Palace. (Patrick would like to comment that it was very well guarded.)

In front of Buckingham Palace.

We left through the Mall and headed over to the Lyceum Theatre, where we found a pub across the street for a quick dinner. Then we went into the theatre to see.. The Lion King! It was a fun show--especially because The Lion King is one of our favorite Disney classics! :)

Yay for The Lion King!

Saturday
In the morning, we went back to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the gaurd. We sat around for a while (and it started raining! aaahhh!), but we ended up with a pretty good view.

Part of the ceremony.

After that we went to Hyde Park, where we ate lunch, saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain (it's a pretty neat design), and (my favorite) saw the Peter Pan Statue!

Patrick checking out part of the fountain.

The Peter Pan statue was really cool to find!

Then I took Patrick to the Victoria & Albert. I especially wanted to show him the casts and all the intricate lock and key contraptions they have there. (He did really like them. I was pleased that I was right.) :) Then we walked past Harrods (a quite fancy--and busy!--shopping area) to Picadilly Circus, where I showed him the place where I had gone to see the Harry Potter filming, and then to Leicester Square (to see the famous hand prints). Then we came across an o'neills (yay!), so we ate there again. After dinner we headed over to Covent Garden and saw some street performers. We saw a Jack Sparrow look-a-like and a Charlie Chaplin one, too. We also saw some pretty cool "statues"--a few were very impressive.

It's Jack Sparrow! or is it...?

Then we rushed over to Tower Hill to catch a Jack the Ripper tour. The tour we chose is run by Tower of London Beefeaters (in their spare time). Our guide was Kevin--he's very funny. It was a creepy, yet intriguing tour. (He also showed us an alley that was Diagon Alley in one of the HP films. cool!)

It's Diagon Alley!

After the tour, we went to the o'neills near our hostel for some desert--yummy chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream! (This is where Patrick discovered that, unfortunately, red wine does not go well with chocolate cake. :( Strange, seeing as they look so nice together...)

(Little side note: this was also the day of Pain for our eyes. Let me explain. The wind had been up a lot recently, but all of a sudden it blew everything into our eyes. Seriously, all the debris and bits of plants and trees found it's way into our eyes. Our sunglasses barely helped--even with them on we had to stop frequently to get painful pieces of whatever out of our eyes. :P)

Sunday
My last full day in London! :( This morning we walked--through the wind and rain--all the way from our hostel to arrive--soaking wet--at the Imperial War Museum. We went through a lot of military equipment exhibits and finished by spending a long time in the Holocaust exhibit. (The first time I went there I had to skip through the last part of the exhibit to make sure I got to that night's play on time.) This time we went through everything. It was intense, of course, and I definitely didn't make it through dry-eyed.

A U.S. built P-51 Mustang.

Then we went to Big Ben for one last look. For lunch, we found a crazy-busy Italian restaurant. Then we looked down Downing Street to glimpse #10 (I'm not sure if we actually glimpsed it or not...).

We went back to St. James's Park and barely made it through, before they closed parts off for some parade (we never found out what for). Then we went back to the hostel, had dinner at o'neills, and then went back to pack (because we were going on a day trip the next day and they had told us we needed to switch rooms for the last night). And that's how our last full day in London went.

Some birds we found in the park--kinda funky looking, but so cute!

In Stratford you either turn into an alcoholic or you better write.

2009-08-26T03:41:00.009+01:00

~ Christopher Plummer. This quote makes me laugh! :D

On this day (May 14th) we got up sooooo early. After taking the tube from Kings Cross to the Marylebone station, we caught a 7:23am train to Stratford! We got in at about 9:40am and went straight to Shakespeare's Birthplace. They have a little exhibition there and then we got to go into the building where the Bard was actually born!

The Birthplace.

I like this picture. :)

Then we went to Nash's House and New Place. Nash's House is where Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law lived and New Place is the property that Shakespeare, himself, owned. Sadly, the house isn't standing there anymore, but the base structure is. And there are gardens, of course. There are gardens EVERYWHERE! Stratford is a town of gardens. They're beautiful and all over the place.

Patrick inspecting the structure of Shakespeare's house.

Then we went to Hall's Croft, which was the home of Shakespeare's granddaughter and her husband (who was a doctor). We went over to Trinity Church, which was under construction, but luckily we were still able to see Shakespeare's grave (also where a lot of his family is buried). I still think it's amazing to be able to stand in front of the site where one of the world's greatest authors rests. Incredible. Then we walked the mile out to Anne Hathaway's Cottage (really, it was her family's house, but her name is more widely recognized). :) We toured the house and the grounds (listened to some sonnets) and then walked back into town to the river, where we ate some ice cream, saw some boats and swans and statues, and in general satisfied our sightseeing needs.

Patrick seems to be disgusted by Yorick's skull.

We heart Shakespeare.

Then we went back to the station and waited a long time for our train back to London. We got back in time to have dinner at o'neills, which is my favorite London pub (even though it's a chain). It was a great day--full of Shakespeare!

This building is pretty darn cool. And, apparently, is inhabited by the police.

P.S. This is also the day where Patrick tried out a Guinness (he said it was okay) and where I bought a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the original, un-Americanized title). :)

Back in London! Home sweet home. :)

2009-08-25T04:26:00.010+01:00

We got back on May 12th. Now, I started showing Patrick all the things I'd seen and thought he'd enjoy, plus some things I hadn't seen yet either.

Tuesday
First, we headed all the way over to Greenwich to check out the Maritime Museum and Observatory. I'd been there before, but I thought Patrick would really like it. He says he did.

On the time line!

We checked out Abby Road and then went to the AHA offices (to drop stuff off and pick something up) and used the Internet while we were there. Then we walked over to the British Museum and saw--among other things--the Rosetta Stone. Patrick really liked the Assyrian/Mesopotamian hall and we both liked the Central American turquoise masks/faces/snake thing.

The Rosetta Stone with my reflection. :)

It's turquoise!

After that we went to a park to hang out, but the pollen got the better of Patrick so we moved on. :) We found a pub nearby and got an early dinner. Then we headed over to Oxford Circus to see The Winter's Tale. I had really liked the performance I saw with my Shakespeare class and I was excited for Patrick to be able to see it, too. It was such a unique experience and we both could appreciate the Improv and teamwork that went into it.

Wednesday
Early (sort of) in the morning we went to the Novello theatre to try to get our tickets, but they weren't in yet (we got up early for nothing!). :P We did enjoy a moment of quiet at a cafe though. Then we walked to the Millennium Bridge and crossed it to get to... The Globe! yay! While we were there, we took a tour and looked over the exhibition.

At the Globe!!!

We stepped next door to Tate Modern for a moment, so I could show Patrick the exhibit I was so excited about (Thirty Pieces of Silver)--we also found a Monet! Then we walked a looooooong way along the river to the Tower of London. Along the way, we saw the full sized replica of the Golden Hinde (famous for being captained by Sir Francis Drake) and went into Southwark Cathedral (which was Shakespeare's church when he was in London!). When we (finally!) got to the Tower, we enjoyed a short tour by one of the Beefeaters (he was funny) and then spent the rest of our time trying to see EVERYTHING before it closed or our feet fell off. All the towers and passages were fun to explore and all the history we discovered there was pretty amazing.

At Tower of London with Tower Bridge in the background.

Eeeewwww... (it says "Bloody Tower")

Then we went back to the Novello (by this time our feet were practically dead), got our tickets (there was a scary moment when we discovered the tickets were down for the wrong day, but we eventually got it sorted out and actually got better seats! yay!), ate some dinner, and then went in to see Spring Awakening!!! It was so good! We were really close up and the whole thing was quite exhilarating.

Yay! :D

Paris is always a good idea.

2009-08-24T22:10:00.014+01:00

- The movie "Sabrina". Well, I don't know if it was my absolute favorite place to visit, but it is certainly a beautiful city. :)

Patrick arrived in London on the 8th of May. I went to meet him at Heathrow and brought him back to my host family's for dinner. (We had yummy soup and other stuff--we did not eat Patrick.) That evening Patrick stayed in a hostel near Kings Cross and the next morning we met there (Kings Cross) bright and early to take the Eurostar to Paris!

Saturday
The ride was fairly uneventful--mostly dark. Once there, we met up with Alex Bonbon (our friend who stayed with my family for a while last fall). Alex was really nice and helped us get our footing, especially with directions and the Metro. He also gave us suggestions for what we should spend our time on. First, we found our hostel (which was located in the Old City part of Paris) and went to lunch nearby (where I figured out why we call it french bread--because they make it so WONDERFULLY!) Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe (a huge arch that stands as a monument in honor of those who fought for France--particularly in the Napoleonic Wars) which stands at the western end of Champs-Elysees and in the middle of the Charles de Gaulle plaza.

Patrick in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

Then we took a bus to the Eiffel Tower!!! We viewed it (and took pictures!) from afar and then went down (across the river) to see it up close. Seeing the under workings and all the intricacies while standing right underneath the tower was so cool! There was also lots of fun going on in the park there--there were lots of carousels!

Under the Eiffel Tower.

Then Alex took us to his neck of the woods: La Defense (which is a newer area in Paris). There we got to see some cool new architecture, a great view of the Arc de Triomphe, not to mention the mall-area near where Alex lives. :)

La Defense

During all this time, my Metro ticket (that we had bought to the train station) developed some issues. :P At this point, Patrick and I said goodbye to Alex and went back to the station to try to work it out. Unfortunately, they were not very helpful and basically said that they couldn't figure out what was wrong and, thus, I was on my own. GRRRR! So, for the rest of the trip, we had to carefully use some extra tickets we had or cheat the system by going through on the same ticket (Patrick's). I didn't like doing it, but we didn't really have a choice and I had already paid for my ticket! sigh.

After that, we went back to the hostel to finally rest our feet and then to have some dinner. We had some good food (salads in Paris are taaaasty), but the waiter as kinda rude (apparently, the fact that we were American and didn't speak French warranted snotty remarks and glances--even though Patrick is actually very good at French phonics and pronunciation!). It was a full day, but the next day was even fuller!

Sunday
This was a very full day of museums and sightseeing! First, we went to the Palace de la Concorde and walked to the LOURVE (!!!) where we were delighted to find out that we fit into the age group that gets in for Freeeee! yay! :) We saw a lot of classic pieces, including (of course) the Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa was much smaller in person than I had expected. :)

Then we walked to the Musse Orangerie, where I got to soak up a lot of Monet. They had to oval rooms with four large Monet's each curved around the walls. We were surrounded by beautiful Impressionism. I was in heaven.

Me--happily surrounded by Monet!

Then we strolled over to the Isle de Saint Louis and Pont Nuef (and saw lots of neat vendors along the way). Then we went down the island to the Saint Chappelle, which is full of beautiful stained glass--it was like being in a jewel box.

The "jewel box"!

After that, we went to Notre Dame. It was big. Patrick (who's dad is a Notre Dame--college--alumnus) especially liked it.

Patrick in front of Notre Dame.

Then we went back to Pont Nuef, where we sat for a while under the bridge along the water and then rested in the little park for a while. We were so wiped out from all the walking we'd done at that point that we both fell asleep on the bench for a short moment! It was very restful and romantic though--greenery and flowers in the trees all around us, benches to sit on, the river floating by, and birds singing... it was pretty sweet. :)

Us on our bench in the park. :)

After that we walked more along the river, got some dinner (that was unfortunately not very tasty), and then went to see the Eiffel Tower at dark. Once there we had to wait around for the Tower to start twinkling--luckily we were entertained for a bit by some street dancers with good music. Finally, we saw the tower light up. It was beautiful.

Look at it sparkle! How romantic! :)

After that we went back to the hostel to collapse! whew!

Monday
This day was very rainy! In the morning, we explored the area around our hostel. We (eventually) found the Sacre Cuer Basilica.

(Can you see the gargoyles?)

It sits on the highest point in the city and has a great view (that we unfortunately could not see very well because of the rain). :P We went in and were surprised to discover that they were letting sightseers in during a service (Patrick claimed that he knew exactly where they were in the service even though it was in French, which I was impressed by).

Wet, with a view behind me.

Then we walked around this very cute area (called Monmarte) looking at shops and picked one of the many inviting restaurants to have lunch at.

Not where we ate, but cute nonetheless.

Then we briefly visited the Red Light District (oh my!) and saw the Moulin Rouge.

Oo la la!

Then we went back to the museum area to do some last minute sight seeing. We re-visited the Lourve to find one of the Rose Line markers (it was neat to actually find it--kind of like a treasure hunt!). :)

A Rose Line medallion. I love this picture.

Then went to the Rodin, which was unfortunately closed (apparently Monday is the day for many museums in Paris to recover from the weekend). On the up side, the Les Invalides was nearby and we walked around it's outside (also the sight of the Musee D'Armie). I mostly followed Patrick around and listened to him say interesting things about the all artifacts we discovered (he's much more interested--and knowledgeable--about that stuff). When we were walking around this area, we came across a really cute bug car. It looked especially minuscule when Patrick stood next to it! We also tired to visit the Musee Orsay, but it was closed, too.

Patrick examining the inner-workings of a clock (plus Napoleon's reflection).

It's so tiny!

We finished our time there walking along the river, retrieving our belongings from the hostel, and buying some food supplies to eat during our return trip. After waiting at the station for a while, we finally returned to London on the Eurostar and found our way to our hostel (The Generator) where we could recover from our Parisian adventure!

Extra Stuff

In addition to the tasty french bread, we really enjoyed the pain au chocolat (a.k.a. a chocolate croissant). mmmmm.
One adventure we faced when arriving at and departing from Paris was how to get Patrick's Leatherman through the Eurostar security. Luckily, (since we approached them beforehand about it) they let him take it through.
As we walked around Paris, we realized that (apparently) some American presidents are very popular there. There were lots of streets and such name after them, like Avenue du President Wilson and a stop on the Metro simply titled Franklin D. Roosevelt.
While walking around the streets lined with trees, I kept thinking about the movie Gigi. The look was very similar--so I guess that means the movie got it right! :)

Me on a "Gigi" street! :)

P.S. This took a long time to create, so I'm sorry if I haven't proofread it thoroughly!

okay, it's going to happen!

2009-08-24T22:06:00.003+01:00

Patrick and I are going to put down the jist of what happened during our adventures when he came to visit me in Europe. I have a list of what we did with our days, but my memory is not so great so Pat is going to help me relate it accurately! :)

Lazy Sara...

2009-05-29T17:26:00.002+01:00

Hey, all you out there who read this. I know I need to finish this little blog off with a description of my last adventures. I have it all written down (which is good, because I have a terrible memory) and ready to be inputted, but I've been enjoying a lazy break at my home sweet home and haven't even started yet. :P

But never fear! I'm starting to get back into productive mode and I'll be at it shortly! :)

Off on an adventure...

2009-05-08T23:26:00.000+01:00

with Patrick! XD

Patrick got here safe and sound. He's at his hostel right now and we'll meet tomorrow at the station to go to Paris for a couple days before heading back to London. I'm so excited! (And nervous-- I hope all my plans work out!) We won't have a computer with us, so I thought I would type a little note before I begin the last leg of my journey. This has been the most amazing experience. I feel so lucky to have been able to live here for three months. It's like nothing I could have imagined. I can't wait to get back and share some it with everyone. I'm excited and nervous to see if/how I've changed. I'm already noticing some subtle differences, but I wonder if anyone else will... Either way, I am packed and ready for the rest of the fun to begin! I'll see you all on the other side! :)

Done with Finals!

2009-05-04T22:21:00.012+01:00

Monday

AAARRRGGGHHH! PAPERS!!! I had two due on Monday, that I thankfully finished them in time.

We got to school early, Anne and I stocked up on some sweets to bring home for people to taste. We had our last Shakespeare class, which basically consisted of talking about our final and watching the end of Shakespeare in Love. It was fun for those of us who went to the plays this last weekend, because Judi Dench and Simon Callow are in it and we just saw them! Then I edited my papers while I waited for my last Novel class, where we again talked about our final and watched something (this time part of The Buddha of Suburbia). Then I went home.

It was so weird commuting today. It's a Bank Holiday so hardly anyone was going anywhere. It was like London was asleep or a ghost town or something. Kings Cross station wasn't busy at all--which is insane. It made the journey very quick and easy though. It was kind of nice, but weird.

Tuesday
I went for a run this morning (even though I had a lot to do). I was so happy I did, because I had been feeling really bleh. But I think it was because of stress and lack of exercise. It felt good to let off some steam through physical exertion. Then I got back and continued studying for my Novel final.

I went and took the final in the afternoon. Then I thought I'd look for some souvenirs, but I didn't find any. :( Then I went home and packed and finished my theatre journal and my theatre paper and other stoof.

Wednesday
On this day we had our last Theatre class, which was stupid because we just had to turn in stuff and then listen to a lecture that didn't mean anything really. It was nice to talk about the plays we had just seen and read, but it was really rather pointless. :P Then I had a long break before our Britain Today final. I spent it filling out a survey for AHA and studying and maybe a little napping. I had fun right before our final, because a bunch of started talking and quizzing each other on topics that were going to be on it. After the final (which I felt fairly good about), we signed some cards for all the professors and staff. And then I went hooooommmmeee!

Thursday
I had my last final in the morning. It was for Shakespeare and we could bring in a draft to copy for the in class essay, which I did (thankfully, because my brain was so tired and fried by then). Then I did some running around for errands, but didn't really get anything done sadly. Oh well. In the afternoon, I went to the post office and then to our end of term party. There were lots of sweets and lots of picture taking. It was a punch party (but I don't think anyone got tipsy). :) There was lots of hugging and goodbye-ing.

After that, Beth and I went to check out Abbey Road! I didn't really get a picture of it the way it looks on the album, but we did take pictures-- so they're like behind the scenes shots. yeah, that's right. ;)

I know it's not the right angle, but it is the right crosswalk!

Then I came home and collapsed! I'm soooooo tired! I need to finish packing. But Patrick is going to be here so soon, so I'm really excited!!! XD

Papers and plays... papers and plays...

2009-05-02T21:32:00.013+01:00

Saturday
I saw Dame Judi Dench in a play on this day!!! It was SO cool. And I saw Rosamund Pike and Deborah Findlay. It was a very interesting show, called Madam de Sade. Not like anything I've ever seen before. I'm not sure how I feel about it. There were some very... explicit descriptions...at points... It had an interesting cadence to it. At times I felt like I was at a very elaborate reading for a very intense novel. But the costumes were amazing and the actresses (it was an all female cast) were very talented. I'm very glad I went.

They're doing work on the tube this weekend, because it's a long weekend. The Monday closest to May Day is a Bank holiday here. Consequently, it took us a long time to get to where the tube was working and we were very close to being late to the play. But we made it! yay!

Other than that, I mostly worked on papers. yay. not.

Sunday
We saw Waiting for Godot today!!! SO AMAZING! Ian McKellen is such a talented actor. And Patrick Stewart and Simon Callow were great, too. And Ronald Pickup (but I've never heard of him before). It was such a great show. And afterwards we got to have the cast sign our programs! SO cool! Plus, while we were waiting for the cast, Morgan Freeman came out the stage door. ?!?! Apparently, he was there to see the play. Random! It was so surreal (I use that word a lot, don't I?) to be in the presence of such incredible talent! There's a reason these people are famous. :)

Before the show, Anne and I walked around Leicester Square and looked at all the famous people's hand prints that are there. They had two of my favorite actresses (Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet!) and some great actors (such as Sean Connery, Billy Crystal, Micheal Caine, and... Ian McKellen!). :) We took some pictures. It was fun.

One of my very favorite actresses! (or her hand prints, anyway)

Morgan Freeman! Surprise guest. heehee. [photo by Jamie Kluth]

Simon Callow! (seeing him really made me want to watch Four Weddings and a Funeral again...) [photo by Jamie Kluth]

Patrick Stewart! (the guy in the glasses was escorting them all. does anyone recognize him? I think I do, but I don't know why...) [photo by Jamie Kluth]

Ian McKellen! Signing my program! awesome.

Yay! We got our programs signed! :)

Overall it was a great day. Now back to paper writing. :P I have two due tomorrow. Then two more later in the week and two finals. It's so crazy! I have to pack, too!

Weekend before finals = Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow, and Morgan Freeman. wow. awesome plays, awesome actors. London, I'm going to miss you.

Wow, this week has gone fast...

2009-05-02T01:27:00.006+01:00

Wednesday
This day was actually not quite a normal Wednesday, because we didn't have a normal theatre class. (yay!) Instead, we paired up and had 15 minute sessions with him to discuss the topic for our final paper. This was much less painful than a full class and we liked my idea, so that improved the day immensely. Our Britain Today class was different as well. Since Martin is still in the States, we had an expert in EU affairs come in and teach us about the history and nature of the EU, as well as Britain's connection (or lack thereof) to it. He was really funny and had interesting stuff to say, so it was a nice class. Then we all headed down to the Globe where we were going to see Romeo & Juliet that night. The group I was with ended up eating at Nando's beforehand. It was a nice place--lots of tasty chicken. mm mmm. Then we went to the play! Everyone had predicted rain (which, in an open ceiling theatre, is not fun), but the sky was clear and it was even a nice temperature. And it was SO cool to get a glimpse at what shows must have been like back then--totally different than your average theatre experience today. The play was better than I had anticipated (R&J isn't my favorite), but it was very tiring to stand for three hours in the groundling area. :P The play itself was alright. The rhythm of the production was good (it flowed smoothly and quickly). The leads were so young looking! And unfortunately they had absolutely no chemistry, which--when you're watching a play where the leads kill themselves for love--is kind of important. Oh well, there were other parts that were admirable. Like Benvolio. He as super cute and talented and funny. And it was the actor's professional stage debut! Interestingly, the production was able to bring out a lot of the humor in the play, which is there in the lines but is often skipped over in favor of keeping the tone completely serious. At the end of the night, I was glad I was able to experience a play in the Globe (eeekk!), but sad that my feet and back had to suffer for it. :P

Me and Beth at the Globe!

Thursday
After a normal Shakespeare class in the morning, I was very proud of myself, because I went to work on one of my many papers (Britain Today, to be exact) that are due next week. (yuck.) I basically spent all afternoon on it. It was nice to have a solid rough draft under my belt. After that I went with a few people to o'neills for dinner. We hung out and talked, which was nice, but unfortunately we were almost late for our play. Anne and I ran. It was not nice being hot and sweaty in the auditorium. :P But at least we got there in time (barely)! The play was Time and the Conways. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I get it. Not yet anyways. I've been contemplating it... It was to do with this family and time and lives... it's very strange... I'm looking forward to discussing it more (especially the ending and the final message...).

Friday
Today we went to Cambridge! It was a nice day (mostly sunny, with occasional cloudy moments). We saw lots of buildings and churches. It was mostly just nice to walk around the streets. It's a very pretty college town. I was excited to discover (or rediscover, maybe?), when we were in the Wren Library at Trinity College, that that's where A. A. Milne went to college! So cool! :)

At the top of the tower of Great St. Mary's (church) over looking Cambridge.

Me and Jessica in the Great Court at Trinity College.

The Round Church. cute, eh? :)

So now I'm writing papers and doing last minute things (like seeing plays!). But mostly papers. :P

"Dead week"

2009-04-27T21:54:00.005+01:00

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.

2009-04-25T22:19:00.009+01:00

~ 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...

2009-04-24T01:05:00.008+01:00

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...

2009-04-20T21:50:00.010+01:00

...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.

2009-04-16T14:14:00.002+01:00

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.

2009-04-15T00:32:00.006+01:00

~ 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...

2009-04-14T16:37:00.007+01:00

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...?

2009-04-11T07:53:00.011+01:00

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

2009-04-07T21:45:00.005+01:00

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...

2009-04-07T09:23:00.005+01:00

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...

2009-04-06T00:11:00.003+01:00

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!

2009-04-03T22:22:00.007+01:00

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

I'm going to Italy!

2009-03-15T12:42:00.009Z

I've been SO busy with mid-terms that I haven't had any time to update this, but I want to catchup before I head off to...Italy!

Saturday
I got up early so that I could eat breakfast and get started on one of my papers. Then I went for a run and went to the store and then worked feverishly on my paper again. After talking with Patrick briefly, I got ready to go to the Mendelssohn concert I had tickets for. It was a really nice concert. (Our program director Martin was in it.) I really enjoyed just sitting and listening and thinking about stuff...choir music is really nice "thinking" music. :) It got out pretty late and so I got home really late. oh well.

Sunday
This day was basically a "writing paper" day. But I did go on another run.

Monday
We had a surprise mid-term in Shakespeare class (it was supposed to be on Thursday). Then I worked on my papers until my Novel class. And that was basically what happened. (Except for more paper writing.)

Tuesday
I had my Novel mid-term and turned in my paper and worked on my other paper and started packing. That was pretty much is it.

Wednesday
This day was sooooo loooong. We had a three hour theatre class (which was a lot of lecture again) in the morning. Then, after only a half hour break, we had a longer than three hour Britain Today class. We did get to go the the Churchill Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms, which was pretty cool. And then (after dinner--I had Thai!) we went to see King Lear. A three hour and forty minute version. I was so tired. But the play was really good. It was the first time we've seen a Shakespeare play at a fringe theatre and (thankfully!) it was much better and more engrossing than the last time I saw it (which was a couple summers ago at Cal Lu). It was amazing. And weird. And gross. There was SO much blood. :P But I still really liked it. And Pete Postlethwaite (King Lear) and John Shrapnel (Earl of Gloucester) were in it, which was cool.

Me in front of an important looking room at the Cabinet War Rooms.

Thursday
Today I had my last class and turned in my last paper and my theatre journal! YAY! Then I went on some errands. I got a card and gift for my Dad's boss (Borge) and his wife (Jytte) who we'll be seeing in Italy. Then I treated myself (for finishing mid-terms) by going to Hyde Park. I didn't stay for long, but it was nice to walk around for a bit. Then I got some euros and headed home, where I showered (yay!) and took a nap (double yay!). And now I'm going to finish this so I can get ready to go to the airport. eek! Bethany and I are going to get there tonight, because our flight leaves early in the morning. I'm so excited that I'm going to Italy!!!! First we are going to Rome, then to Caprese, Michelangelo (where Borge and Jytte have a house), then to Florence for a day, and then to Venice! It's going to be some Spring Break! :)

There are daffodils everywhere! I found some lying on the ground on my way home one day. Aren't they pretty? It's beginning to look a lot like Spring time!

Great Expectations is blowing my mind!

2009-03-13T23:53:00.004Z

Today I just did homework (reading Great Expectations) and correspondence (talking to people on facebook and gmail). Not exciting. Don't judge me.

Great Expectations is CRAZY! (I've never read it before.) I'm almost done. It's just one thing after another in Pip's world. Seriously. I mean I've had Dickens-phobia for a while, so I'm proud of myself for pushing past it and getting through this thing, but now I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. All this stuff is happening! And it has these weird horror-like moments. And all these connections between everyone! Crazy! There are a lot of sick, twisted characters in there and all these cliff-hanger endings (which makes sense since it was written as a serial story in a magazine). I've called so many crazy twists before they're completely revealed and I've had so many squealing, trying-not-to-laugh/scream moments (Mom and Hanna, you know what I'm talking about). I'm exhausted. ;)

Oh, and I have an interesting fact for y'all today. Dave (our home-stay dad) is related to the woman who wrote The Indian in the Cupboard. (She's his aunt!) And his cousin (one of her sons) is named Omri. cool, huh? (And I just realized, after googling her and seeing her name, that she's written a lot of other books we loved reading, like The Fairy Rebel and The Farthest-Away Mountain. wow. Now I'm even more impressed than when when they first told me.)

This is Great Expectations blowing my mind. heehee. :)

I like plays...

2009-03-10T23:26:00.004Z

Tuesday
I did homework in the morning and then went in for class. We talked about Great Expectations for the first part and then went over to the Dickens Museum/House place. It was pretty neat. I started to get goosebumps when I realized I was looking at the same desk ornaments that Dickens looked at when he sat there writing his works and letters... I don't know why, but it gave me the shivers. Oh, and we also got to go in the room where his sister-in-law died. That was a bit creepy if we thought about it too much. (btw, there are some interesting facts about his family life--including his sister-in-law--that I had not been aware of...) ;) After that, Bethany and I went to an electronics store and I got new headphones. yay! Then I went to the store and then headed home.

This is the only picture I got of the museum. There was a lot of rain. And French students. Maybe I'll go back and get a better one sometime.

P.S. Anne got tickets for us to see Waiting for Godot (with Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian Mckellen)!!!! PLUS, she got tickets for Madam de Sade (which I've never heard of before) starring... Dame Judy Dench!!!!!! SO excited! XD

Wednesday
Another busy Wednesday. Theatre class was alright. Lunch was bleh. For our Britain Today class (after figuring out which bus to take) we went to the Imperial War Museum. It is a really cool place. We were definitely not able to see all of it in one go, but we did go over the whole lower ground floor (which had the WW I & II exhibits), glanced at the Large Exhibits Gallery (it had lots of large equipment, such as submarines, canon/gun things, etc), and saw most of the Holocaust exhibit (which covers two floors). I'd like to go back (maybe with Patrick) to at least finish looking at the last part of the Holocaust exhibit, because it was really powerful and tragically fascinating--very educational.

Afterwards, Bethany and I went to a pub near school called The Swan (cool, huh?) and then headed over to the theatre to see Duet for One. I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that one of the two stars was...Juliet Stevenson!!!!! She is such a good actress! And she is just as amazing on stage (if not more) than she is onscreen. It was such a good performance--powerful, disquieting, thought provoking...amazing. It is definitely one of my favorite shows so far. (On top of that, the theatre was right on our line to go home so we got home...around or before 11pm, I think. Yay for not having an hour-plus tube ride home!) :)

Thursday
Shakespeare class was okay. We got our papers back and talked more about King Lear (which we'll see next week). After that I did a bit of homework reading and email checking. Then I went on some errands. I got tickets for The Lion King for when Patrick's here (I already got some Spring Awakening tickets for then, too). I finally got some boots (I haven't tried them out for long distance yet, so hopefully they'll be good. They weren't super expensive, so I'm not expecting perfection.) :) Then I got some sandwich making material and went home. I spent a lot of the evening booking train tickets for after the program. I just need to go to Kings Cross to pick them up.

Now, I'm going to read some more of Great Expectations (I'm in the last third!) and hopefully motivated myself to work on the papers I need to write...eventually. :P

Oh, and I took this to make Dad happy. (See? Picture!) :P (That play was SO good!) :)

I have stood in a room where Shakespeare stood.

2009-03-09T20:01:00.003Z

We had a great discussion about King Lear in Shakespeare class. It's a crazy play (I mean it does have a real madman, professional madman, and a pretend madman). At our weekly meeting, we talked about trying to get a group together to see Waiting for Godot (which opens April 30 with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart!) for cheap, but it looks like we'll just have to get our own tickets (we're going to try for May 3). But it will be worth it. oh yes it will. :) After that I talked with Martin about my paper for his class (he is so nice). Then I checked my email and went to mail my postcards. The craziest thing happened on my way back. I was just walking along and then I ran into someone I know from PLU! (She was in my year, but moved to London at the beginning of last semester.) It was so random and crazy! And definitely one of the weirdest things to happen to me yet. For our novel class we went on a "Dickens walk." We walked around and saw places where Dickens would have gone and places that he wrote about (especially those connected to Great Expectations). She also pointed out other places to us. We went into Middle Temple Hall where Shakespeare's company performed Twelfth Night--I got to stand on the platform where they performed his play!!! SO exciting! By this time I was really hungry so I stopped by a Cafe Nero for a muffin (blueberry--very tasty). Then some of us went back to AHA to have our small class thing-a-ma-bob for Britain Today. After that, Anne and I came home and had a very filling dinner (provided by Ros!). And then I wrote this--yay for me!

I love Spring Awakening!

2009-03-03T00:17:00.007Z

This post will probably be really boring, but I'm just going to briefly say what I've been doing and focus on the few cool parts. You can skip over stuff. I won't mind. :)

Last Weekend
I mostly slept and did homework. But I did go for two runs and get to the store for groceries! yay for me.

Monday
Nothing super exciting happened on this day. We had good discussions about The Taming of the Shrew in Shakespeare class and about Great Expectations in my novel class. I worked on my Shakespeare paper in between classes (which I was very proud of myself for). After class it was basically home and dinner.

Tuesday
This day I got up, did homework, got ready for school, etc. Then, after a short Dickens discussion (which was very interesting), Bethany and I went to visit Evelina!!! (Evelina, for those of you who don't know, was Beth's roommate last semester. She's from Sweden and is really, really nice.) After that I met up with people and we ate at this cute little restaurant called Small & Beautiful by that night's theatre (which was called the Tricycle). The play we saw was called Damascus. It was...interesting, but a lot of us didn't particularly like it. It was a bit choppy and too long. And we got home really late. :P

Me, Bethany, and Evelina!

Wednesday
And then we had another looong Wednesday. Our theatre class was alright. It's still a lot of lecture and hardly any discussion, but oh well. But to break things up a bit, we all got to go to Greenwich for our Britain Today class! It was so cool. We went to the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, and the Royal Observatory. I loved it, but we weren't there for long, so I definitely want to go back. I got to straddle the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. woohoo! That night we went back to the Novello (where we went to our first play) and saw The Taming of the Shrew. It was very...um...interesting...peculiar? The play isn't my favorite Shakespeare to begin with (to say the least), so it already had a handicap, but it... yeah. Just imagine a first act consisting of over-the-top humor (with actor's not trusting the script and instead going for the easy, lewd jokes) and a second act that quickly becomes a tragedy (but still with manages to fit in the lewdness). If you need more details, let me know. It had a very powerful ending and was a really unique take on the play, but overall it wasn't a good show. But, hey, we got home late again! oh wait, that's not fun. :P

Me standing over the Prime Meridian!

Thursday
This was the day our papers where due. (So, of course everyone was a bit sleep deprived. hehe.) But we all had lots of things to say about the play from the night before (we kinda tore it apart...). Afterwards, Anne, Jamie, Danika, and I started reading King Lear (our next play) outloud. It was quite fun and we got through a lot, which was really nice since we have to have it read by Monday. Then I went on an errand for Tom D., which was not successful. :( And I walked around and saw Piccadilly Circus. Then I got to come home, take a shower, and finally relax. aaahhhh.

Friday
This day I slept in (I really needed to) and did some homework (finished King Lear!). I went to this really nice place nearby called Kenwood House. It's this beautiful park and museum, but I didn't go inside the house that day. I'll have to go back so I can see the artwork and the rest of the grounds.

Saturday
Yesterday Anne and I (and Nicole) went to see...Spring Awakening!!! It was AMAZING! It's just...I can't describe it. It's this great mix of musical and rock and alternative/simplistic theatre. It's great! Now I really want to listen to the music all the time (and I just got it from Anne, so I'm very happy). Then Anne and I took a walk and saw Buckingham Palace (so pretty!) and then we went over to Big Ben and all the surrounding (amazing!) buildings. (So pretty in the evening!) I don't think there are many things more beautiful than Big Ben all lit up at night. (I started having images of a boy in green flying through the sky.) :) Then we went to o'neills for dinner. And then came home. It was a very successful day. XD

Yay for Spring Awakening!

That's Buckingham Palace behind me! :)

Today is Sunday and I'm just doing homework, writing postcards, talking to people on gmail, and thinking about Spring Awakening! :)

P.S. We saw this when we were walking around on Saturday--I thought of you Patrick! :)

An umbrella wouldn't work in Edinburgh...

2009-03-01T23:31:00.009Z

Wednesday
To start off our trip to Scotland we met at Kings Cross to catch a 9am train. I sat with Bethany and saw lots of pretty scenery. I so want to visit the country. (I really don't belong in a city.) We got into Edinburgh at 1:38pm and went to our hostel to drop off our bags. (By the way, Edinburgh is COLD!!!!! And windy!!! and cold!!! and sometimes wet, too. hence the title.) Then we went to the Edinburgh Castle! It was so cool--made of stone and old and so...Scottish. It was kind of funny, but because of these mannequin things it kind of reminded me of a theme park. Then we went back to the hostel and had dinner at 6pm. I had bread and soup, then curry chicken with rice, and then ice cream with chocolate sauce--it was yummy! After this I wanted to rest, but my room (I was bunking with seven other girls) wanted to go out. So we went to a pub (called The Black Rose). I didn't get anything (actually only one girl ordered drinks) and we didn't stay long. But when we got back to the hostel I did get some apple pie--it was tasty! Then it was off to bed. Yay for sleep!

Me in front of the Edinburgh Castle!

Thursday
We started off this day with a big hot breakfast (I ate so much!). Our first trip was up a very steep hill to the National Monument (which was left unfinished by the way). It was SO windy. While we were there, we got to climb up the Nelson monument--it was very, very high (I felt very brave, considering my fear of heights). But there was a great view. It was beautiful. It's the closest to the country I've been able to get to. Then we went to a museum, which was pretty cool. It was really tall and basically had the Scottish historical timeline going from the basement to the top floor. The not-so-cool thing is that right after got there the fire alarm went off and we had to wait in the cold until they let us back in. :( After Bethany and I got all the way to the seventh floor, we went off the have our lunch that the hostel packed for us. :P Whoever came up with cheese and onion sandwich does not deserve a prize.

Then we went to the Scotland National Gallery. It's a really nice museum--not too big, not too small. My favorite exhibit was the Three Graces statue. It is SO pretty. and marble. and reminds me of Lucy, Hanna, and me. Afterwards Bethany, Aubrey, and I visited the Writer's Museum. It's cute and in an old house on a hill. It had exhibits on Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott and a few more. Then we went to some shops, the post office, and back to the hostel to rest before dinner, which wasn't so tasty. Then Martin took some of us went to an acapella choir sing Renaissance church music. And then some of that group went with Martin to a pub and bought us drinks (I got a big cup of hot chocolate! yum!). Then we headed back to the hostel (by the way of an ice cream shop) and then to bed!

Me and a view from the top of the hill we climbed (in the middle of the city!).

Beth and me in front of the (unfinished) National Monument.

Now we're on top of Nelson's Monument looking down on the National Monument. (soooo high up!)

Friday
For our last day of Scotland, we visited the Scottish Parliament. The building is really new and beautiful and nature themed. After that we rushed to St. Giles Cathedral, which is very old and beautiful with vaulted ceilings. Then we hurried to get our bags from the hostel and then to catch our train. (On our way to catch the train we saw a man in a kilt playing the bagpipes! So cool!) Our train ride home was loud, but otherwise uneventful.

Overall, the trip was amazing. It's a beautiful place and the people there are really friendly (plus there's always the cool accents). I would love to go back some day. And take people. Lucy, Han, Patrick--you guys would love it! Scotland rocks!

P.S. I forgot to say that I saw this cool giraffe statue, which made me think of you, Grams! :)

Pancake Day!

2009-02-24T08:08:00.008Z

Monday
This day started off with an in depth discussion of a passage from Othello in Shakespeare class. It was really interesting to just pick apart a monologue and throw different ideas around about our interpretation. (yes, I'm a nerd.) After that I had a break before my next class, so I printed off my notes for my seminar (thank goodness the school computer let me open a document created on a mac!), went to STA to pay for Paris (Pat--you owe me mulla) ;), and waited in line forever at the post office to mail off some letters. (Oh, and at STA I almost had a problem, because the wrong return tickets had been booked--not because of me!--and instead it was two sets of "to" tickets, but thankfully we got it sorted out and Patrick and I will be able to get back to London!) My seminar in my Novel class went well. I got a bit nervous and thought I sounded a kind of long winded and boring, but I think that it went well over all. Afterward, we had a Britain Today class (which we normally have on Wednesday). This class was to give us some background and prepare us for our trip to Scotland (which we leave for tomorrow!). We learned about Scotland identity and their currently evolving state of self government.

That night one of the professors took some of us out for Turkish food. (We got to sign up for different nights and different kinds of food and I chose this one.) I had grilled kofte and couscous. It was tasty enough (although not quite my cup of tea). And we all shared little bites of baklava, rice pudding, cinnamon ice cream, and chocolate cake for dessert. I was proud of myself for trying it all (except I didn't have any of the rice pudding) and being adventurous! yay for me! Then we came home and I got to see Hanna's and Bridget's awesome music video! So cute! I love it! It was a great ending to my day. :)

Tuesday
Today I got up early to talk to Patrick (and show him Hanna's awesome music video). I went in for my one (one-hour) class. It was short and sweet. :) Afterwards I was soooo tired. When I was on the tube, I could hardly stay awake. So I kind of fell on my bed and took a nap as soon as I got home. But then I went on a run when I woke up! That was nice. It's always difficult for me to work in exercising when I'm traveling (I'm better when I have a regular routine), so it was quite an accomplishment. The biggest event of the day, however, was that after dinner we celebrated... Pancake Day! They were tasty. Usually they have them with sugar and lemon here, but that's not really an option for me, so I spread Nutella on mine and wrapped it up into a delicious roll of goodness. yummm.

Ros creating a yummy pancake!

My Nutella pancake in mid roll. mmmmm.

markets are fun

2009-02-21T19:56:00.004Z

Saturday
We went to Camden Town. It was intense. And extensive. There was so much stuff there and we walked around so much, but we didn't even see all of it! I want to go back. And buy stuff... :) I stayed up way to late working on my Seminar notes for my Novel class (so I could email them to my professor for her to look at). It was worth it though, 'cause she said she liked them. yay! :)

Sunday
I slept in after being up late working on those Seminar notes. And then I wrote some postcards home. I was pretty lazy. But I did walk to the store and I got these two chocolate bars with really funny labels. I like them.

Anyway, the cool upcoming news is that we're going to Scotland with our program on Wednesday! I'm so excited! XD

Bar #1: This is always good to have on hand. :) (The first line says: For immediate relief of: Chocolate Cravings, Lovesickness, Exam Pressure, Mild Anxiety and Extreme Hunger.)

Bar #2: I like this one. (It says: "Chocolate makes it all bearable") Very appropriate.

sometimes an apple pie is necessary...

2009-02-20T21:46:00.005Z

and, if that's not around, an apple and cinnamon tart (with vanilla ice cream) will do! :)

Today was a very full day (especially considering I slept in past 9am and didn't leave the house until a little before 12pm). I visited STA travel (again). I now have my Italy, Ireland, and Paris trips all planned out. YAY! I just need to go pay for the Paris trip this weekend and then I'm done! After that I went to the Carphone Warehouse at Tottenham Court Road to top off my cell phone. Then I walked to Trafalgar Square via Leicester Square. (I stopped in at some used book stores along the way.) On my way, I saw this cool pub (actually I had seen it before, but this time I had my camera out). Guess what its name was... The Bear & Staff. yes. I now have a pub. and staff. :) I thought it was funny. Anyway, the sun was out today (hooray!) and Trafalgar Square was full of people. It was lovely. If it had been a bit warmer, I would have just sat on the steps and people watched. I went into the National Gallery for a bit and browsed a few rooms. I especially liked a room that had three paintings by Joseph Mallord William Turner and two by Claude. They were pretty landscapes and my favorites were the ones filled with mist and ruins and rippling seas.

Later, I met up with Anne and we window shopped (although we did actually get some scarfs that were on sale and some cute cards). For dinner we met Bethany and her roommate, Aubrey, in Harrow (which is the area were everyone but us lives). We went to O'neills. Finally, I've been there! It is a really neat chain. An Irish pub with pretty cheap prices--how much cooler can you get? I got fish and chips, which were good, but for some reason didn't really agree with my stomach (so I think I'll stay away from fish for a while). For dessert, Anne and I shared an apple and cinnamon tart with vanilla ice cream (hence my blog title). It was very tasty. We also had a bite of Bethany and Aubrey's chocolate cake, which was delicious, too.

And now I'm eating some grapes. I love grapes.

This is my pub. ;)

A fountain in Trafalgar Square. (I'm a bit obsessed with sunlight right now.)

Dancing is like dreaming with your feet!

2009-02-19T21:40:00.004Z

~ Constanze (This quote would also have been appropriate considering the play we saw: "Dancing is the perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire." ~ Author Unknown)

I only had one class today. It was Shakespeare and we discussed last night's play. It was a good discussion. Most people were more favorable to it than I was. Afterward, I basically hung out in the student lounge. I read Jane Eyre. And talk a lot with people. I talked with this girl who goes to Patrick's school about their theatre (and the Much Ado production that I had seen). There were lots of people going in and out and it was fun to just listen and talk about...stuff...

Eventually, I left with a small group to run an errand and then we made our way to the theatre for the production we saw tonight. There was this nice pub underneath the theatre so we had dinner there. I had a sir loin and mushroom sandwich on brown bread with chips. mmmmm. Then we got some snacks and headed upstairs to the theatre.

It was an interesting play (titled: Unbroken). The theatre was really small (a black box theatre!). And the stage was very shallow (with a screen between it and the audience). There were two actors who played three characters each. It was a play of brief sexual encounters, which were danced out (interpretively) for us to see. It was very intriguing and I was a bit mesmerized. It was also really short--only 50 minutes long! This means we were able to come home early! I am very tired, so I was happy about that development. :)

M.O.A.I. doth sway my life...

2009-02-18T23:06:00.006Z

thus says Malvolio, who was surprisingly fun and innovative in the play we saw tonight. But I'm skipping ahead. ;)

Tuesday
This day was not very exciting. Just classes and reading. I had a headache all day though, which made it special. :P

Wednesday
Today (our looongest day of the week) went well. Our first class, Theatre, was more engaging than last week. We talked about some theatre history (the pageant plays!), did a read through of the script we had read for homework, and discussed the play we saw last week (Private Lives). Then we had our Britain Today course. We mostly talked about the Stuart line of monarchs, focusing on James I and Charles I. Then, to give more life to the description, we visited the Banquet House, where Charles I was in fact executed. You can do that in London. "Oh! You're studying that in history? Well, lets just go visit the site were it actually happened hundreds of years ago and then it will be so much more exciting and real!" ;) It's pretty cool.

Then a few of us wandered around the West End to find a place to eat. We found a little Italian restaurant, which was tasty (but a bit too expensive in my opinion). I had Bruschetta and Spaghetti. They took a long time to serve us, but it was okay because we made it to the theatre in plenty of time to see... Twelfth Night! It was a good show. Unfortunately, I'm ashamed to admit that I started to fall asleep. It wasn't because I was bored! (although I have seen and been involved with Twelfth Night a lot.) I was just really tired. And our seats were kind of uncomfortable. We had no leg room. And we were up really high with a rail in front of us that we had to peer around. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't very comfortable. I felt that overall it was a good show, but that some of the actors didn't take a lot of risks. Malvolio (played by Derek Jacobi, who has been in many things including Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet as Claudius) was the most interesting portrayal to me. He was pretty hammy and looked like he was enjoying being goofy. It was hilarious to see Sir Andrew and Sir Toby together, because Sir Andrew was a giant (very tall!) and Sir Toby was rather small. It was pretty funny. Oh, and Viola was played by Victoria Hamilton (who--for you BBC Pride & Prejudice fans--was Mrs. Forster in said production). :)

A nice bonus to the night was that we got out of the play at 10pm, which meant getting home around 11pm (which is around when Othello got out last week!). Yay for getting home before midnight!

This is a picture I took of the ceiling of the Banquet House.

This is a picture I took (on a different day) outside the theater we went to tonight.

weekdays go by fast!

2009-02-16T19:33:00.004Z

Nothing really new today. Classes went by quickly and satisfactorily. I went to the store again on the way home.

The only real thing of notice is that I'm still having problems with my Internet. It's causing me real grief. If I cussed, I would be doing it right now. So just use your imaginations. :P

I HATE technology!

2009-02-15T00:25:00.004Z

whew. Glad to get that off my chest. As you can probably guess I've had some trouble. But I'll start my narrative further back at the beginning of the weekend.

Saturday
On this morning, I got up rather early for a weekend. I opened my mom's Valentine's Day card/present to me and Patrick's letter. It was so nice to have mail that morning! And I got a surprise when I went downstairs for breakfast, because Patrick's present had come in the mail. yay! :) It was a nice start to the day.

I had gotten up early (not because I couldn't wait any longer to open my mail, but) because I had an appointment with STA travel to finish planning my Italy trip. I did that (it's done and paid for!) and Bethany (who is accompanying me) was there as well to show her passport and pay her half. Afterward, I went with her to Camden Town where we had lunch and looked in on a few shops. But it wasn't really striking me as a good place to look for boots (which I still haven't found. grr.), so I headed off to Covent Garden. Once I got there, I quickly aborted my plan and decided to go home, because...everyone in London seemed to be shopping! On Valentine's Day! sheesh! You would think that (if you had your partner with you) you would want to do something romantic. But no. People just want to shop. :P So I decided to leave the fray and go back to outer London--where it is sane--to wait out Valentine's Day.

I rested, did homework, and then Anne and I went out for dinner and a movie. Ros was heading out at the same time so she gave us a ride into town. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the restaurant we wanted (O'Niells), so we headed down to the theatre to see if there would be a good place to eat there. We ended up in this "cafe" by a bowling alley in the same building as the theatre. (We thought it was pretty cool that there is a bowling alley so close.) It was fine, except our hamburgers (or cheeseburger in Anne's case) were the toughest things I have had in a long time. bleh. It was so bad that it was funny. oh well. Then we went to the theatre to see He's Just Not That Into You. We were pretty early so we got some ice cream. (They had 31 Flavors in the Theater! although it didn't have 31 flavors...) I got two scoops of my favorite (Gold Medal Ribbon) as a Valentine's Day treat to myself. The movie was pretty good. It was very funny and cute and not completely cliche (but it was a romantic comedy, so, ya know). It was a bit like Love Actually, in that it had all sorts of different plots with characters that were somewhat connected. I really liked Gennifer Goodwin's and Justin Long's plot. And Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck (although not my favorite actors) were pretty sweet. The audience was really fun. We were very vocal. Everyone laughed and booed and gasped and it was quite rowdy sometimes. I really enjoyed it. We got the bus back (although we had some trouble finding our second station), which was nice--less walking in the cold! Oh! And I got to talk to Patrick on iChat, which was a nice Valentine's present, too. :)

Sunday
I finally got to sleep in! YAY! I slept in until 10am. woohoo! I spent the morning eating breakfast and finishing "volume the first" of Jane Eyre. I'm really enjoying re-reading it. To break up the day a bit, I decided to walk to the grocery store. I got a bit lost (I've never been to the one close to home before), but I didn't mind. It was nice to be out, just walking, not really caring about the time. I did finally get there (and on my way I found that restaurant that we had wanted to go to the night before! argh!). It was very big and I stocked up on a few things. Then I walked home (via a road that goes by our tube station, which will be handy to know about). I did homework and then got to iChat with mom and my sibs. :) That was fun, but dad wasn't home from basketball yet. :( I had some soup for dinner and Ros let me have some challah bread with it (yum! yum!). Then it was off to do more homework and chatting with people. I read my article for my novel seminar. It was pretty interesting, but I'll have to re-read it and take more notes, before I can completely absorb it.

Then. it. happened. My stupid computer wouldn't let me get on the Internet. I had service (full bars), but it kept saying I had no IP address or, eventually, that I had a self-assigned one and that it couldn't connect to the Internet. I have still not figured out WHY it happened and I am really freaked out that it might happen again. I sort of have it fixed for now, I guess. It's really annoying, because it's my only way to contact people back home. I was pretty upset. I stayed up until almost 2am dealing with it. Luckily, Anne let me get on her computer and Tom Dickson gave me some tech support while I tried to puzzle it out. grrr. I'm just glad that night is over with.

Life is a bath. All paddle about in its great pool.

2009-02-13T22:48:00.009Z

~Seneca, 1st century AD. I could have also done : "I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath..." which is from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. She would have been very fitting to quote after a trip to Bath. :)

Today was a long day. Again. I got up at 6:30am--actually I woke up at 6am and did not really get back to sleep before the alarm went off. (ugh.) Nicole and I (Anne didn't come 'cause she's sick) :( got to Paddington Station in time and our group caught the 9am train to Bath Spa. It was a pretty quick train ride--only an hour and a half. Once we got there we started seeing things right away. (We also started shivering right away because it was COLD.) Bath Abbey is very impressive and interesting to look at. Its inner design draws from nature, which is really cool. After that, and before we continued our tour, we all scattered to have lunch. I had packed a lunch, but I went with some other girls and sat for a bit. (Beth and I shared a hot chocolate with very tasty whipped cream. mmmmm.) Then we met with everyone to get back to touring. Our big group split into two smaller groups and I went with the one that visited the Roman Baths first. We had an audio tour. The place was SO interesting. There's so much history and clues left to what it would have been like to be there back then. I could see how it was thought to be a mystical place of healing--it looked magical. Oh! And one of the best parts was that... the SUN came out! Yay! It exists and it's warm! :) After we finished with that, Martin took us on a tour and explained the Georgian part of the town of Bath. We saw lots of very cool (and impressive) architectural accomplishments from the time period and Martin explained their significance as we went.

After that, the official part of the day was over (it was about 4pm by then) and we spent about an hour just walking around and viewing Bath's shops. At one point we heard an accordion player play (and sing) a Beatles' song--and this time I remember what it was! (Michelle) I was happy. :) Then Beth, Jessica, and I had a very nice (and relatively cheap!) dinner at The Huntsmen. (I had a hamburger with chips.) Then we got some ice cream and made our way back to the train station. It's a good thing Bath is so small, because it was dark and cold again by then and it would not have been nice to wander about for too long. I fell asleep for some of the ride back and I was very thankful that our tube ride home wasn't too long. (Although some guys speaking another language--maybe Russian?--took Nicole and my pictures on the tube. :P Nicole thought they might have been drunk.) Anyway, now I'm home and tired, so good night!

(P.S. Collapsible bicycles are very cool. And useful looking, too.)

This is a view of one of the Roman Baths (with the Abbey in the background).

This is me in awe of the Baths. (Can you see the steam rising from this one?)

This is the night that either makes me or fordoes me quite...

2009-02-10T23:32:00.009Z

not really. I just like that quote from Othello. :)

So here's what's been going on the past few days...

Tuesday
In the morning, I went to STA Travel and spent a lot of time working out plans for traveling. I got all these possible times and dates, but I couldn't set anything in stone because I needed to check with people first (travel buddies, hosts, etc). Then I went to school to eat my lunch and I found people making Valentine's Day cards (in the lounge) for everyone in our program, which was cute, so I helped them for a bit. Then I went to my only class of the day (my Novel class). Our prof is SO funny. And nice. She has a very silly sense of humor. As a part of the course, we all have to do seminars (where we research an article or subject about one of our books and then present to the class and lead discussion). Bethany and I are doing the first two (on Jane Eyre). I haven't read my article yet, but I'll let you know how it goes. Afterward, while I was waiting for Anne to get out of class, I shared an English Milky Way with another student. It was a very weird experience. :) They're called Milky Ways, but they're more like caramel-ish tasting Three Musketeer bars. Very strange.

Once everyone was done with class, a small group of us headed over to the area of the theater (we always do this to make sure we can find it), where we were to see a performance of Private Lives. We heard a soprano saxophone when we were taking the tube--not quite as good as the real thing, but close enough. I was happy. We ended up getting dinner at a Chinese restaurant close to the theater. I had sweet & sour pork with white rice. It was very tasty, but it cost extra to have the white rice (which I thought was stupid) so it ended up costing a bit more than I would have liked. :P The real catastrophe was once we got to the theater...I realized I had lost/forgot my ticket! I was SO mad at myself. It was so unlike me and I was going to be so upset if I couldn't see the play--especially because it was for a class. And the professor who was coming to the show (who could possibly help me out) was late (I later found out it was tube trouble--a common problem here). Fortunately, she arrived just in time and was able to produce a list that enabled the ticket people to print me another one. YAY! The play was really good. It was very dated, but not in a bad way. There were lots cocktails, silk evening gowns, cigarettes (:P), dawlings, misogynistic comments, etc. It was a little window into the lives of four people for a brief period of time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As always on play nights, the ride home was long and I was very tired. My eyes hurt from having to stay open. On our walk home, Anne noted that the sky was very blue (not a normal black or grey). It was and really pretty and clear. We could actually see the moon and stars. It was a nice ending to the day.

Wednesday
This day was (and will always be) a looooong class day. We have two three-hour classes right in a row. It started off having to stand in front of the AHA building in the cold for a while (the person who had to unlock it had bus trouble). Our first class was theatre. Our prof is really nice--he's older and he has a lovely voice, is very big and tall, and wears a pink scarf. Unfortunately, this class period was rather boring. It was mostly introductory/history stuff and he read a lot (from notes and quotes, not from a play), which--despite his nice voice--was not very engaging. I hope that class gets better. It probably will. After that we had a one hour lunch break, so I wolfed down some food and rushed over to STA to tell them to go ahead on booking things for the trip to Italy (before prices went up). Then I rushed back to AHA just in time for our Britain Today class. It was an alright class. We visited two churches. First, a Protestant one and then a Catholic one (the only "old" catholic church in England). (By "old," I mean old in English standards, which means, like, the 13th century.) We did some cool contrast and compare. And talked about the similar situations that both groups faced during the Reformation period. The last part we spent back in the class room, which was fine except that it was rather hot so some people got drowsy.

After that, we took a loooong bus ride to Hackney to see Othello. It was a longer ride than we anticipated and at one point people started worrying that we were going the wrong direction, but a nice man informed us were weren't (so our minds were appeased). I had a Subway sandwich for dinner once we finally got there. We were there pretty early, but in this case it wasn't very nice because we had to wait in the cold outside the theatre (just like at the beginning of the day). We waited a really long time. The play was very good. I've never seen Othello before and I really enjoyed it. Again (like AMND), you'll have to talk to me in person to get all the details and my opinions. We learned at intermission that we were seeing 3 understudies, including...Iago! (that's right, someone had to step into one of Shakespeare's greatest characters--with more lines than Hamlet!--at the last minute. pretty intimidating.) He was very good for an understudy (originally he would have played Cassio), although he did stutter a few lines (not noticeable to the average theatre goer), but he really was too young and handsome and likable to play a proper Iago. I liked him though. The other very interesting thing to learn at intermission was that Desdemona (who I really liked) was being played by the actress who plays Tonks in the Harry Potter movies! Crazy, eh? She was so good. Her death scene brought tears to my eyes and made the entire audience unsettled. It was a great show, but so loooong. And it started late (we learned today that it was because they had to finish the run of the play with the understudies, which means they had, like, a five minute turn around! amazing!), so we didn't get out until after 11pm. Our trip home wasn't super long, but it seemed long because it was so late. We had to take an overground train (which took forever to come!) to the underground, and then finally make the walk home. Needless to say, we were all very tired and sad that Thursday is our earliest class day...

Thursday
Today we got up early to go to Shakespeare class (that's right. the reason we were up so late is also the reason we had to get up so early. :P). Our class was fine. We just talked about the performance. Afterward, I went to the stationery store to get a folder and then went home (it was sunny!) to get a shower and do some homework reading. I read all afternoon. I'm well into Jane Eyre now (which I've read before, but it's been a long time) and I also read the next play for our Theatre class (The Second Shepherd's Pageant). I read downstairs by the fire, which was nice a toasty. I started to fall asleep at one point... Ros fed us well and we figured out our route to Paddington (yes, like the bear!) Station tomorrow (we're going to Bath!). Anne isn't feeling well so she went to bed early and I just finished making us some sandwiches for tomorrow. And now I need to finish this ridiculously long blog, so that I can go to bed. I'm not even going to do much editing. We need to get up at 6:30am tomorrow. bleh. But it's going to be a cool trip to a really cool place! So I'm excited.

This is the outside of the Protestant Church.

The Schedule (dun, dun, dun, dun...)

2009-02-09T18:06:00.004Z

Well, I know you have all been anxiously awaiting this moment and here it is... my finalized class schedule! w00t! :P

Britain Today (Wednesday 2-5pm)
Shakespeare the Dramatist (Monday 10-11:30am, Thursday 9:30-11am)
Theatre: Audience and Society (Wednesday 10-1pm)
19th and 20th Century British Novel (Monday 3-5pm, Tuesday 1-2pm)

Woohoo! Britain Today is the required class that everyone takes, the theatre classes I have always planned on taking (how could one not study Shakespeare while in London?!), and the Novel class is the one I was iffy on. Even though I really enjoy reading, I don't want to spend all my time doing that while I'm here. However, I really liked the professor and her first class, so I was convinced to take it. I hope I don't regret it... I like all the subjects--I just hope I don't get bogged down by a ton of school work like I do when I'm at PLU. I will have a lot of reading to do, but I can get some of it done on the tube or in nice little cafes (like I did yesterday).

What a rainy, rainy day it was today! My feet are wet! :P I am SO sad that (after I put the forethought into actually bringing them!) my rain boots have a crack in them. Today I wore my brown Lands' End shoes that dad helped me find last year, which are nice but not waterproof at all. My socks were SOAKED by the end of the day. I hope I find (affordable) boots soon. Really soon.

Three thoughts for today: (sometimes I have many thoughts) :)

The milk here tastes sweeter than ours. I don't know why. Maybe that's why I'm eating more cereal here... it's probably also because I've been eating smaller lunches, so I need sustenance until then! But, since I've never put sugar on my cereal, it is funny to have my cereal taste a little sweet.
I don't know why, but I find it quite amusing that the sinks here have one tap for cold water and one for warm. In some places this means that you can only have ice cold water and (after it warms up) scalding hot water. But some sinks (like in our bathroom) have more medium temperatures. :)
Oh, and it is okay here to jump the curb when you park. At least, I've seen a lot of cars parked that way. I guess it's because the streets are so narrow. It would be mad to try to fit four whole car widths into one street--sometimes it's hard enough to fit one or two!

So, I have now had my first day of classes. And we have two plays this week. Tomorrow we see a play called Private Lives and the next day we see Othello. I'm so excited! Now we're really off! ;)

P.S. I almost forgot to mention my Triumph for the day. I finally got to a post office! Yay!

Platform 9 and 3/4

2009-02-08T21:35:00.005Z

Today was a late start again, but that's fine. I went to a Carphone Warehouse and got a Talk Mobile sim card. Yay! I have a phone and can contact people! Then I went to an Italian cafe to sit and read. I ordered Italian hot chocolate, which is more like warm pudding. Really! It was SO thick. It was definitely an experience. I don't think I'll order one again unless I can share it or at least have some milk along with it. I was pretty caffeinated after I finished it. Anyways, it was nice to just sit there and read for a while.

Then I met up with Bethany and her roommate (Aubrey) at the Leicester Square station and then Anne and Nicole at the National Gallery, but then we ended up going different ways. Bethany, Aubrey, and I went to Kings Cross and found... Platform 9 and 3/4! It was pretty exciting. We took pictures. Then we went to a pub for dinner (I can't remember the name! grrr). It was very nice. I had a chicken and bacon sandwich with chips. The man at the counter, who took our orders, was nice and joked with me when I went back up to order some apple pie to share for dessert. Afterwards I basically just came home, although I added a bit of excitement by almost forgetting my umbrella on the train. I remembered just in time to go back for it, but had to go up one station too far and then come back again. oh well.

Thought for the day: It is very confusing to have cars parked both ways on the sides of the street all over the place. As if it isn't hard enough to figure out which way the traffic is coming from! sheesh!

This is me and Bethany going through the barrier!

shopping :P

2009-02-07T21:08:00.002Z

We went shopping along Oxford Street today. I don't really like shopping, unless I find what I want. I didn't find any boots or get to a post office. argh! But I did get groceries and I managed to get my phone unlocked (I think!). I just need to get a sim card for it tomorrow.

It wasn't a very exciting day, but that's fine. We're staying in tonight (watching a movie called Once) and I'm going to start figuring out any plans I want to make outside of our program.

More little things to mention

2009-02-07T11:03:00.005Z

When we went to the cafe last night, Anne got some hot chocolate. They brought her the HUGEST "cup" I have ever seen--by my standards it was a bowl with a handle--but it was nice for me 'cause she shared with me. :)
I am having lots of difficulty getting my cell phone to work, because we should have had it "unlocked" in the States, but neither Dad or I knew anything about that. It's annoying, because I know I asked people in this program about the process and none of them told me about that part. grrrrr! I'm mad.
Oh, and on a similarly sad note, my rain boots have a hole in them. :( Or a crack, really. So now I have to go buy boots. I hope I can find some cool ones for cheap.
Also, on top of hearing music from Dave, we can hear someone (I think Ros said it was a younger boy) playing piano from next door. There's lots of music going on... :)

And we're off!

2009-02-06T00:28:00.008Z

Thursday:
Thursday's dreadfully exciting morning started off wonderfully, with us getting to our tube station in time to hear that the line was canceled until a ways South of us. (Oh, and it was raining.) So, we had to trek up a hill to a bus stop, wait a long time for the 125 (which someone told us to take), only to get on that bus to find out that it would only take us up one more stop! Then we got on an 82 bus, which--thankfully--could get us near the tube station that was working, but--unfortunately--stopped at every street along the way! Argh! We arrived at the Centre very late to our Shakespeare class. We didn't miss all of it though, which was good. Our Shakespeare teacher, Jean, is hilarious. She is very theatrical with a straightforward, earthy sense of humor. I'm excited to have discussions in her class. On Monday we'll discuss our experience of A Midsummer Night's Dream (which I'll get to later!) and then start discussing the text of Othello (which I'm in the middle of reading right now).

After class, I went with a few girls to the Tate Modern, which is a museum with modern art that was built in an old power station. There were pieces from a lot of random, as well as famous, artists (for instance, we saw two Picasso's and a Dali). However, my absolute favorite exhibit was called Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker. oh. my. gosh. It is amazing. It isn't a painting. It's a little more like a sculpture…but it isn't. I can't really describe it here, but here is how she made it. First, she collected thousands of silver objects (cups, plates, candlesticks, a tuba, etc) from second-hand stores. Then she laid them all out in the street and arranged for a steamroller to run over them all. And what she did with all of them is hang them with some kind of wire from these grids (that are hung in the museum). But even though there are thousands of separate pieces they are arranged into thirty circles. So each of those circles is on it's own grid and is made up of smaller silver objects. They look like they're floating or on water or something. I was mesmerized by it and looking at the shadows they cast on the ground was fascinating, too. As I said, I can't really do it justice--nothing can except seeing it in person--but anyone who wants to get a better idea of it can just Google the title and artist. It's pretty amazing.

After that, we went back to the Centre. While I waited for the last class to finish, I just hung out, read, got online, and bought a notebook for class. Once everyone was done for the day, Anne and I went to the Art Store we had gone to on Tuesday (where I bought a different notebook for another class). I was very upset to find out that some stores (particularly small independents) will not accept American credit cards, because they don't have a chip in them with a pin or something (that Europe cards have). So, I'm going to have to pay with cash more than I thought, but oh well. :P Then we headed off to the West End and dinner. The most amazing thing happened on our journey. Okay, so in the tube stations there will often times be random musicians playing for money. So, on our travels that evening we came across one who was playing the saxophone. I love the saxophone. And not only was he playing the saxophone, but he was playing a Beatles song, too! It was the best thing ever! And then--as if that wasn't enough--when we got to the West End, there was another man playing guitar (I love listening to guitar, too!) and he was also playing a Beatles song! I was SO happy. It was wonderful. For dinner, Anne and I found this nice little rotisserie cafe. They had really good potatoes and served pretty big portions. (I'm not sure why everyone says we Americans are such a super-size culture, because--when it comes to food--it seems to be the same if not more so here...) After dinner we made our way to the Theatre!

We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Novello performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Our first play!!! It was great. I really enjoyed it. It was an interesting, artsy interpretation, with some aspects that I appreciated more than others. I can't even begin to go into detail here, but I wrote down some interesting bits so I'll remember if anyone wants to talk about it with me later. I did really like Demetrius, Flute (Thisby), Hippolyta, Theseus, Titania... Suffice it to say I was very pleased with my first London theatre experience and I can't wait for the next one! We got out really late from the theatre and had to go all the way home on the tube (it's at least an hour trip I believe). I was SO tired. It was a very full day.

Friday:
This morning we were very sad to see it was snowing. But it didn't snow for long and we got to school without too much difficulty. (Although we were crammed on a tube at one point. I mean crammed. It was filled to capacity--or past capacity--and at some stops people wanted to get on, but couldn't.) Class was nice (we won't usually have it on Friday, but because of the cancellations earlier this week, we had to make up). I LOVE Martin (our Britain Today professor). He is a lovely, older (father-ish) English man (he looks very intellectual). And he has such a nice soft-spoken voice and he talks about history, architecture, politics, etc in such an interesting and conversational way. I love to listen to him. He lectured for about an hour or so and then we headed off to the British Museum! The British Museum is HUGE (of course) and we only glimpsed a small section of it (Rooms 50, 49, 41). But that's fine because it's really close to our school, so we can just stop by whenever we want (yay for London's free museums!!!) and take it a little bit at a time. I'm really excited for that.

After that (and lunch, which I packed), we were off to the Thames! (We walked and took a bus for a short ways.) We all took a boat along the Thames. There is such an amazing collection of architecture here. I saw the Globe! Yay! We got off at the Tower of London and spent the rest of our time there. However, by the time we got there, we only had about an hour to spend looking around, so we did not get to see even close to everything. (I did see a lot of crown jewels!) I definitely want to go back. It was AMAZING! So beautiful, impressive, and scary all at the same time! Basically, I went in the White Tower, the Waterloo Barracks (plus Jewel House, I think), and then we walked the wall from the Salt Tower to the Martin Tower (I believe). However, we didn't get to go in the Bloody Tower or the Wakefield Tower (i.e. the torture tower), which we really wanted to see. :( So, obviously, I really want to go back. I need more time to see the other towers and to just look around. The whole thing is amazing. It's surreal to be in it--it's like you are transported to another time. (London's like that in general, but especially there.)

After that, we were free to go off on our own. I went with Anne, Alice, and Bethany to meet a PLU friend of Anne's and Alice's (who I know, too), Stevie. She's already been in London for a semester and she took us to Sirena Cafe, where we ate Italian food. (I had a huge, tasty chicken caesar salad.) Then we went to a cafe for a while (Cafe 88, I think it was called). After that Bethany and I headed home, but--since we live in totally different areas--we split up at the tube station. I was very proud that I made it back all by myself and didn't get lost or confused at all. yay! It was fine--I read Othello on the tube. And when I got back Ros gave me some "cake," but it looked and tasted more like apple pie. It was quite yummy. I talked with her and Sarah a bit (about clothes, shopping, credit card theft, etc), before coming up here to write this loooong report. whew!

late night musings...

2009-02-04T23:09:00.003Z

Some small things I haven't mentioned yet...

On our first night, Ros gave us hot water bottles which stayed warm all through the night! It was pretty neat. and cozy.
Our homestay dad (Dave) is really funny. He's a musician, so we hear lots of music when we're around (especially when we were snowed in). He makes lots of silly jokes or comments and he and Ros banter together all the time (it's really funny). Oh, and he loves their cats. :)
I got in trouble for asking where the trash can was--apparently it's only a rubbish bin (nothing else!).
Their daughter Sarah (who lives at home and is 21) works at an agency for actors. One of their clients is Robert Pattinson (Edward from Twilight and Cedric Diggory from HP 4), which is kinda cool.
Our homestay location is different from most of the others. We're pretty much straight North from the Center and most of the others are Northwest.

Well, I need to go to bed, so that's it for now!

Orientation

2009-02-04T21:06:00.002Z

We had orientation today. Finally! It went pretty well, I think. We're a pretty big group of 34 students. There weren't any problems today (everyone was really chatty) and I'm hoping that it will be a nice, friendly group throughout the entire program. We did a lot of talking about technicalities of the program, schedules & field trips, ways to stay safe, etc. It got a little boring, but I guess it's necessary. A lot of people were late because the Metropolitan line was not working properly. Ours was fine (so far we've taken the Northern line from Woodside Park and then transferred at Tottenham Court Road to the Central line, which we take to Holborn). Oh! And we got our Oyster cards! That means we don't have to pay for the tube tickets anymore--we just swipe these cards and we're in! YAY!

After talking for a while and handing out stuff (we got to hear from the theatre teacher--yay!), Martin gave us a tour of the streets surrounding our school. It was very helpful. I had no idea how many useful stores and cafes were nearby. But we did stand out like sore thumbs as a bunch of tourists (we were a big group of college-age studens clustering around one man who was pointing stuff out to us). :P

After we were done, a communication professor from PLU (Ed Inch), who has been in London and will be leaving soon, took us PLU students out to a pub. And it was there that I...got my first Fish & Chips!!! Woohoo! After that Anne, my friend Bethany, and Beth's roommate Aubrey did some shopping. I got a highlighter (I still need to get a notebook or something--I wish I had brought one from home! grr.) and we got some groceries to make lunches and some snacks. It was cool walking around Central London in the evening, just looking for shops or the station (although there was a bit more smoke than I would have liked).

That's basically all that happened today. It went by pretty fast. I'll be happy when our schedule's are more settled. I'm still deciding on whether I should take a fourth class or not...I keep thinking up pros and cons for each side...it's a dilemma... We have to decide by Monday evening, so I'll make up my mind by then!

Exploring London for the first time...

2009-02-03T19:26:00.009Z

So, because of the snow and ice, school was canceled again. However, we did not let that deter us! Anne, Nicole, and I took the tube into London, which was super easy--yay! We learned how to get to school and when we got there Martin (our program director) gave us a tour of the building. He is so nice and the building is so cool. There are lots of staircases and little rooms and it's much bigger inside than it looks from the outside. We are all really excited to go there tomorrow and get started and meet everyone.

After that we were off to explore London! We took the tube farther down and when we got off we were in the West End (i.e. London's Broadway). EEK! Anne and I can't wait to go to plays there! Then we walked to The National Gallery, which is right across from...Trafalgar Square. (Don't worry Patrick, Anne got your picture.) Oh my gosh! Everything about London is so impressive! The buildings are so huge and ornate. I took lots of pictures, but they can't do any of what we saw justice. (Speaking of pictures, I am having huge difficulties getting my pictures onto facebook, so sorry about the delay in photographic evidence!) Anyways, we wandered down--passing important-looking-building after important-looking-building and around St. James's Park--until we reached...Big Ben! Of course, that means we also saw the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey! There were all HUGE! We didn't go into any of them, but we did go into a "little" church next to Westminster Abbey called St. Margret's Church (I think). There are so many old/historic buildings--I couldn't take it all in and I definitely can't remember all their names. There were people with memorial plaques, in the church we went into, who died before the United States even existed! We kept wandering and we eventually made it to the edge of the Thames. After that, we started making our way back to the tube station to go home. On our way Anne and I stopped to get post cards; we also stopped in an art store and visited the National Portrait Gallery.

Eventually, we made it back--tired and a bit wet. So, that was our adventure for the day. I am quite satisfied. Now that we know more about our schedules (hopefully we will find out about the rest tomorrow), we can make plans and a list of everything we want to do. Oh! And this Thursday we are going to see our first play. Ready? It's...A Midsummer Night's Dream! Seriously. Isn't that hilarious? I'm really excited, though. We will have seen a play within our first week!

So far it's been pretty amazing. I'll let you know how our first day at school goes. :)

First Day!

2009-02-02T11:22:00.007Z

Hello everyone,
I've never really blogged before, but I thought now would be a good time to try! So, here it goes! I, Sara, am in...London! (hence the title) I'll be here until May studying for the semester with a program called ILACA London (through AHA International). I suppose I had better start with my journey over here.

My plane was supposed to leave Sea-Tac at 9pm on Saturday and arrive in Heathrow at 2:15pm on Sunday. However, apparently our plane was struck by lightning as it landed in Heathrow earlier on Saturday, so it had to be checked over before it could fly back to Washington. Consequently, we did not board the plane until about 12am and we didn't actually leave until 1am (because they had to de-ice the plane's wings). fun. The plane ride itself wasn't bad. I got to watch Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was nice. Because I had a whole row to myself, I was able to stretch out and sleep for a bit. yay! We did not land until 6:30pm (or somewhere near that time). Going through customs was no big deal and, after searching around, my roommate (Anne, who was on the same flight) and I found our shuttle driver. (He had my name on a sign!) I was quite a bit weirded out by the whole driving on the "wrong" side of the road thing. I was sitting on the left side of the car and I kept thinking that the car was driving itself because no one was sitting in front of me! Finally, (at about 8pm) we got to our homestay family's house. Everyone is very nice. We were surprised to discover that another PLU student (Nicole), who we know, is also staying here. Crazy coincidence! We ate dinner, gave our presents to our homestay mom, showered (you have to be really quick so you don't take all the hot water), and did most of our unpacking. Because our bodies are still on Pacific Coast time, it was kind of a rough night. We went to bed at about 11pm, but I woke up at about 2am. We (Anne and I) gave up trying to sleep at 4am and turned on the lights for half an hour to putter around our room a bit. I think I slept a bit for the last couple of hours before our alarm woke us at 7:20am today.

Our first day has been interesting. We got snowed in! It is very pretty outside--quite picturesque! Orientation had to be postponed, because almost all of the public transportation is down. So, today (instead of going into school and getting our schedules and what not) we are hanging out around the house, finishing unpacking, and checking out the Internet! Our room is nice. The stairs are so steep and the upstairs is just a little landing with doors leading off to the rooms and bathroom and toilet (which is in a room all by itself). I hope the transitions of living in an English household aren't too hard. There are differences, but our homestay mom seems really nice and full of lots of information and advice. I foresee small eating issues (knowing my picky-ness), but I'll try to just eat whatever there is to eat.

I hope I can keep up this blog thing. I don't know who will want to read it, but hopefully it will be interesting to some people and I'll have it to look back on later! :)