Blogsville, · UK

Yeah. Exactly two days from now, I'll be on my way to Heathrow, ready to hop on a plane back to the States. Well, not ready. I'll never be ready. I ache at the thought. I'm really not okay with this whole leaving England thing. Everyone keeps saying, "Yeah, I know, it's bittersweet," but if they think that, for me, it is "bittersweet" then they obviously don't know, because there is nothing sweet at all about leaving the place I love, where I belong. Sigh.

Well, since it's my second to last entry in the UK, what will I do? Sum up the last week of course! I've been pretty busy and pretty apathetic about everything since the "last week" thing hit me pretty hard.

Friday last: We saw "August: Osage County" at my beloved National Theatre. It was a hit. It's an American ensemble and they've been touring for about a year, I believe. They've won a whole bunch of Tonys for it and I could see why. It was really an exciting piece, written, directed, and acted by the company. I'd say the woman playing the mother was the most incredible - It's hard to find acting that great. Lately, I feel like we've seen a lot of shows where I saw actors acting and not a piece of life. Really exciting? The man playing the "bad guy," Steve, was Mike Brady from "The Brady Bunch Movie" and bad guy Dexter Larson in an episode of "Monk" and the voice of Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law and Cameron Lutz this season on "Psych" and of course BILL LUMBERGH in "Office Space"!! Yes, um, yes, I did in fact see Gary Cole in a play. Okay. Also, 3 hours and 20 minutes didn't seem like 3 hours and twenty minutes, which is always exciting.

Saturday: I went to the Museum of London and the Tate Modern. Museum of London was small because it's under renovations. The medieval section and the section about the great fire were interesting but I honestly wipped right through the Roman parts because I have been filled to the brim with the Romans over the past three months. I guess that's why they tell you to go at the beginning of the program. The Tate Modern was neat - I love modern art - But I wasn't in the mood. Luckily, we're going back there for Modern Drama today. My favourite part by far was the Roy Lichtenstein section - He's one of my favourite artists.

Sunday: I went to the Imperial War Museum and got in a fight with a bottle of lemonade. Seriously though, one of my all-time favourite museums. WWI is one of my very favourite subjects in history - Or to put it in a less weird way, I am really really interested in WWI. So I spent a good almost two hours just in the WWI section. They had this section where you go through a door and it's made to be as accurately like one of the trenches as they could - It smelled like a barn [which I liked] and it was cold and dark and TERRIFYING. My heart was racing. I mean, I was in there by myself. So scary, but so cool. I spent some time in the Holocaust section too, but one thing I kept noticing, which was a little disheartening since I tend to be an idealist and like to imagine Britain loves us, was that they mention the US in a positive light as few times as they could manage. I mean, when you hear about WWI in the States, it's all about how we were called "the doughboys" and how we came in and saved the day. I saw them mention a couple times how the US came into the war late and soon after, it ended, which made it sound more like "Well, the US didn't want to help until a U-Boat killed a bunch of their citizens and then they finally stopped being toolbags and came to help, but by then we were almost done anyway." You know, England? I love you more than I love my own country. But give us some credit, guys.

Oh yeah, that night was Aprile and Amy's last nights visiting so a handful of us went to the Ultimate Burger. It was, in fact, ultimate. Great burger, best chili fries ever.

Monday: Scott and Richard came to visit! The guys I met at the Holloways show back in November were finally able to make it into the city and it made me so very very happy to see them. We were supposed to go to this free Holloways gig in Farringdon, but it was postponed. Yeah. But we had a blast. Whatever. I had to leave them at like freaking 6:45 to go see yet another really bad play at the Almeida. "In a Dark Dark House." Boring. Bad acting. Really bad American accents. 'Nuff said.

Tuesday: We went to the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Tate Britain. It was really cool. I like Bacon - He had a really interesting outlook on everything and used some of my favourite artists including van Gogh and T.S. Eliot as inspiration. His art is definitely effective. Directing class was at the National Gallery and it was a lot of fun. We studied paintings as stage pictures and it was one of the very best classes yet. I learned stuff! And we sat and had hot beverages and chatted for quite a while afterwards. That night, we saw "Edward Scissorhands: THE BALLET" at Sadlers Wells. Fantastic! I mean, I'm never a big ballet and especially with a story I know and like, I usually will be like "Okay, now, where are the words??" but I was engaged and the guy playing Edward was not only gorgeous but had the character down SO well. Absolutely adorable.

Wednesday: We went to Windsor! It was a cute lil town and Windsor Castle was GORGEOUS! I wasn't impressed by the giant doll house [I'm terrified of dolls, it's a known fact, and someone had just kicked me, with shin splints, in my shins, and I was officially pwned]. But I was impressed by just the extent of the exterior and the beauty of it. The State Apartments were beautiful, especially the views from all the windows. Funny moment: There was a suit of Henry VIII's armor, from later in life once he'd put on weight, and I was glad Casey was with me because we heard a Spanish woman say something to her daughter and Casey started laughing and translated for me what she'd said which was something along the lines of "That armor is really big because a really fat man has to fit in it." Noice, lady, noice. We went and had a pretty durn good lunch at this Irish Pub in town. Burger, chips, and a Strongbow - I'll never tire of it. I walked to the train lightheaded as a drunk and I konked out the whole ride back. Smooth.

Most people went to see "Wicked" that night. It was a free night. I said "No No No" as that is the one show I refuse to ever see. Instead, Casey and I had a fun night in, invented a new word, and konked out early.

Thursday: That was yesterday. What did I do? Ah, we had our last British Theatre class and our last Shakespeare class [awww]. Shakespeare was one of my favourite classes I've ever had. We performed our monologues for a wee audience and the final time I did it, I almost rocked it so, awesome. Then, we all went to a matinée at the Hackney Empire: a PANTO. Yes. Mother Goose, to be exact. There were about 500 screaming children among fourteen screaming university students. We blew a lot of bubbles, made a lot of small children happy, and the show was a good three hours and defo made for kids, but somehow entertaining nonetheless. We sang a song about a goose and we boo'd an evil witch and we told Billy he could do it many many times. Awesome. That night, five of us went to the Tricycle Theatre to see Filter's "Twelfth Night" again! It was even more fun the second time. It was open seating so we happily perched ourselves right in this side seating basically on the stage. The whole cast knew we were the ones who saw them in Stratford and had talked with Ferdy and Poppy last week so they came chatted it up with us a few times, invited us on stage during our favourite song ever, invited ME on stage for a tequila shot [oh jeez], and made us bawl with laughter nonstop. But we didn't get pizza this time, alas. Afterwards, we had some beers in the theatre café and talked with most of the cast who then invited us to head to the pub across the street [there was an open fire!]. Had a couple pints, had a lot of laughs, y'know. Good night. Sang the song from the show more times than anyone could count. And begged them to take the show to the States, to RWU specifically. Hopefully, they will. It looks positive. Ah, such a fun night. And I eventually got my chips, which is why the inside of my mouth is in searing pain today: Freshly made chips, don't eat em! HOT. Burned.

Today: I went out and bought a ton of HobNobs, Mars Bars, Cadbury bars, and Bounty bars to take back with me. This afternoon is my final class of the semester [Modern Drama at the Tate Modern]. Tonight, we are going to see "Chicago" which I am very excited about. A great mix of Theatre and Dance to send us off with. Now, I will return to watching the entirety of Doctor Who Series 1 [the David Eccleston series] and starting to organize the packing situation which will torment me throughout the day tomorrow.

Observation to leave you off with: American accents sound RIDICULOUS to me. If I hear anyone in the group or in my family talk, it's fine, because I'm used to hearing them, but, for example, I was in the Imperial War Museum last weekend and this obviously American man was talking loudly [obnoxiously] and it sounded completely foreign to me! And I understood why the British find our accents weird, or even annoying. Because they totally are. And to think I used to claim that I had no accent.

To come: My final London entry [there will most likely be a depressing follow-up entry upon my return].