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The Finale

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:11:34 GMT

I'm not gone yet! This will be my final post in this blog though. I hope everyone enjoyed readin' all about my life some percentage as much as I enjoyed living it. I've been back on this continent for just over two weeks now and I'm not much happier to be back than I was when I got off the plane, bawling my eyes out the whole three hour ride back to my hometown. I was warned about reverse culture shock and it's hit me quite hard. It's like when you get a new boyfriend who's basically perfect and you already knew the things you didn't like about your ex but now you realize the huge extent of their flaws. I've never really loved America all that much and after living in the place I've wanted to live my entire life, I'm really not happy to be here and most of my thinking just goes into when I'll next be in the UK. Whatever. I'm depressed, but still excited about a lot going on in my life here, so all's well that ends well. If only I could shut up about those last three months.

In the meantime, I made up this whole fun thing for you to look at! All my London/England favourites! Fun fun stuff!

Top 12 Moments
No particular order…
1. Galloping, no, tearing up a mountain on Danny’s back, being yards from wild Exmoor ponies, seeing Wales in the distance, feeling absolutely blissful.
2. Walking out to Saint Michael’s Mount, climbing up to the castle, looking out over the sea, seeing a rainbow arch from the sky to the water, looking westward over the ocean towards the States and knowing I belong here in the UK.
3. Seeing “…some trace of her” and realising the kind of art I’ve always wanted to create is possible, feeling truly inspired, and being mere yards from one of my favourite actors, Mr. Ben Whishaw.
4. Strolling off through Kingston at night, leaving the group behind me, falling absolutely in love with the area, and I don’t remember what I was listening to but it was important because I’ll never forget that feeling I had that night.
5. The Holloways at ULU, Meeting Richard and Scott in the queue in the pouring rain, singing and dancing to The Holloways, running to Sainsburys in the freezing rain without coats on, the whole night.
6. Sitting at the Turks Head Pub in Penzance, feeling the roaring fire, eating the best meal I’ve ever had, reading a great book, hearing the sounds of the local men chatting over a pint, sipping my Strongbow, and feeling more and more independent and content with myself every moment.
7. Stratford-upon-Avon in itself, laughing with people like I really hadn’t in a while, realising who my true friends are, just having fun in a beautiful town while seeing incredible theatre…and David Tennant.
8. Salzburg, every wonderful moment I shared with the Alps – A sight I have never seen anything like before and I have always wanted to see. The Austria trip was one big breathtaking moment after the next.
9. Changeover at the National Theatre, talking to the PM about LAMDA, seeing all these people doing what I love but to such a larger extreme, seeing how all this stuff works and just being blown away. It is amazing what people will do for Theatre, and wonderful.
10. All the times Charles made me feel wonderful about myself, my life, my dreams, and my profession!
11. Every time I showered anywhere that wasn’t Pickwick! Especially in Stratford, Bath, and Penzance.
12. The first night I spent in London, crashed out in my homestay bed, beyond exhausted, smiling bigger than ever because everything had gone out of my head except “This is where I have always felt I belonged. This is where I belong. And from this moment on, I will never want to leave.”

Best Experience
BritRail – Nothing had ever compared to that in my entire life. Best experience ever.
Changeover at the NT gets honorable mention

Spot
The South Bank – From Waterloo Bridge to the Globe Theatre

Tube line
Bakerloo
Piccadilly

Tube station
Leicester Square

Pub
World’s End, Camden
Tally Ho, Finchley

Museum
London Transport Museum
Imperial War Museum

Dish
Braised lamb shank with mash and veg
Or just a burger and chips

Shop (Clothes)
Urban Outfitters UK
TopShop

Busker
The bagpiper at Leicester Square
The Mexican-style Santa hat-wearin’ fellas under Blackfriars Bridge

Football Club [any British]
Liverpool (Go Reds!)

Rugby Club[any British]
Premiership: London Wasps
National: Cornish Pirates

Circus
Piccadilly

Square
Leicester

British TV series
Doctor Who
Alan Partridge
Red Dwarf
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Spaced

Theatre
The National Theatre

Article of clothing you bought there
my plims

London fashion trend
Plimsolls or Docs with tights

Chain restaurant
Pizza Express?

Coffee shop
Costa [simply for the hot chocolate orange!]

Bus
168 via Waterloo

3 Towns/Cities Outside of London
Southampton
Penzance
Oxford

Getaway with class
Stratford-upon-Avon

Norman Conquests of the three
Round & Round the Garden

Director we saw
Katie Mitchell

British Castle/Court/Place important people live
Hampton Court
Warwick Castle

Cathedral/Abbey
St. Paul’s
Riveaulx Abbey…Does that one count?

London Street
Charing Cross Road

Borough
Kingston-upon-Thames
Barnet
Camden
Islington

Class
Shakespeare

Musical we saw
Billy Elliott

Actor we saw
David Tennant
Ben Whishaw

Playwright we saw
Enda Walsh

Your London soundtrack
…It’s a long list, but I basically was listening to music the whole time I was in England so if you were there and always curious what the heck I could be listening to, chances are it was one of these:
Shooting Star – Air Traffic
Emily Kane – Art Brut
Long Lean Queen – Bear Hands
Subterranean Homesick Blues – Bob Dylan
Other Man – Captain Dangerous
Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
White Man in Hammersmith Palais – The Clash
Rubidoux – Cold War Kids
Viva La Vida – Coldplay
O Valencia – The Decemberists
Billy Liar – The Decemberists
Away From Here – The Enemy
Stinking of Whiskey Blues – The Ergs
Born & Raised – Fake Problems
Do You Want To – Franz Ferdinand
Walk Away – Franz Ferdinand
A Heady Tale – The Fratellis
Decent Days and Nights – The Futureheads
I Shall Overcome – Hard-Fi
Tonight – Hard-Fi
Sinners & Winners – The Holloways
Generator – The Holloways
Two Left Feet – The Holloways
PSB – The Holloways
Aveda – Hot Hot Heat
Head On – The Jesus & Mary Chain
Across the Universe – The Beatles/Across the Universe soundtrack
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Isolation – Joy Division
Atmosphere – Joy Division
Me Plus One – Kasabian
Mr. Brightside – The Killers
Come Dancing – The Kinks
I Already Miss You – The Kooks
Shine On – The Kooks
Bruce Emms – The Kooks
Happy As Annie – Larrikin Love
London Skies London Eyes – Little Man Tate
Back of the Pub Quiz – Little Man Tate
Money Wheel – Little Man Tate
You! Me! Dancing! – Los Campesinos
Time to Pretend – MGMT
Pieces of What – MGMT
Thanks, Bastards! – Mischief Brew
The Lowly Carpenter – Mischief Brew
No Children – The Mountain Goats
Invincible – Muse
Diamonds in the Dark – The Mystery Jets
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
Twin Cinema – The New Pornographers
I Love You – The Ordinary Boys
What’s the Point in Anything New – The Paddingtons
A Boy Like Me – Patrick Wolf
Girls and Boys in Love – The Rumble Strips
Phantom Limb – The Shins
Piccadilly Circus – Stiff Little Fingers
Rock & Roll Queen – The Subways
Little Dawn – Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Skinny Twins – The Underground Heroes
I Was Born a Unicorn – The Unicorns
Same Jeans – The View
Dance Into the Night – The View
Comin Down – The View
The Don – The View
After Hours – We Are Scientists
My Favourite Chords – The Weakerthans
Slips & Tangles – The Weakerthans
Kill the Director – The Wombats
Go Go Go – The 88

Finally…
The Shows We Saw.
In order, from BEST to WORST.
1. Some Trace of Her
2. The Walworth Farce
3. Hedda
4. RSC’s Love’s Labours Lost
5. RSC’s Hamlet
6. War Horse
7. The 39 Steps
8. Fragments
9. The Disappearing Number
10. Billy Elliott
11. Filter’s Twelfth Night
12. August: Osage County
13. Norman Conquests: Round & Round the Garden
14. Norman Conquests: Table Manners
15. Norman Conquests: Living Together
16. White Devil
17. A Slight Ache
18. The Globe’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
19. RSC’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
20. Creditors
21. Ivanov
22. Six Characters in Search of an Author
23. Oedipus
24. Come Dancing
25. A Little Night Music
26. Edward Scissorhands
27. Royal Albert Hall’s Classical Spectacular
28. Les Miserables
29. Chicago
30. Turandot
31. Barber of Seville
32. Gethsemane
33. Mozart by Candlelight
34. No Man’s Land
35. Swan Lake
36. In-i
37. De Profundis
38. The Merry Wives of Windsor
39. Christmas Pantomime: Mother Goose
40. Year of Magical Thinking
41. Landscape
42. State of Emergency
43. To Be Straight With You
44. Rose Theatre’s Love’s Labours Lost
45. Kicking a Dead Horse
46. The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes
47. Mark Morris Romeo & Juliet
48. In a Dark Dark House
49. Waste
50. Sankai Juku
51. Her Naked Skin

So this is my big send-off. So long, readers. I may be starting a regular, boring ol' blog like I had before this one. But, you know, more interesting than my old one, because, uhh, I'm more interesting these days. I swear!

So, uhh.

BYE!

It's Official.

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:39:24 GMT

I leave England today. In about thirteen and a half hours, I will be on my way back to the States. I don't want to talk about it. I know, it's kind of Blog Sin to refuse to talk about something, but there's way too much to say at this point and I've been pushing it all til now and now...Sigh. I will have hours upon hours upon hours of schoolwork to do when I get back. That will keep me busy.

My last day? I slept in, took my last Pickwick shower [yess!], went to Piccadilly Circus with my video camera and walked to the National Portrait Gallery, did that bit, continued to walk, DVC in hand to Leicester Square. Then hopped the Tube to Holloway Road to go eat at the trendy pub the Holloways met at [Nambucca] but it was most certainly all closed up so I continued to walk, aching legs and fainty self, to Archway station which then took me back to Camden Town. Here, I went to this pub I've been wanting to go to since the start - The World's End Pub right outside CT tube station - Real trendy, big, punk rockers, all sorts of characters, but nuttin' dodgy. And I had the BEST, cheesiest ham and cheese toasties ever with some really amazing chips. And there was no Strongbow on tap so I tried a new cider! - Blackthorne - More bitter, kind of tasted like a mix of wine and cider. Not bad. Great meal. Headed back, got down to business with the packing. We had our closing banquet right down the street and it was pretty good - I mean I had roast lamb and potatoes, I am not complaining! The last couple things I wanted before I left were pub chips and lamb, and I got it. I was adventurous and tried the Christmas pudding for dessert and...not my taste, as I figured would happen, but glad I tried it. We popped our Christmas crackers, put on our paper crowns, and passed around the plate of mince pies. The crust on those things were one of the best things I've ever tasted - Yum! But I didn't like the inside, meh. After that, Caitlin and I had our final hurrah at my favourite spot in London - The South Bank. Took the bus to Waterloo Bridge, visited the NT again, looked out over the Thames...

I'm basically all packed and, as long as the scale I've borrowed isn't lying, I should be good underweight. I just have to slip the remainder in my backpack and I'm good to go. The room looks weird all cleaned out - Nothing on the shelf, no posters, nothing on my desk, no LFC fleece on my bed...Just the view from the balcony remains.

There will be at least another follow-up entry after this but...Wow, this is awkward. I don't know how to say this. My last entry in the UK. It's been a great three months chilling in this room, listening to drunkies on the street and buses whistling by, typing away here instead of essays.

Farewell, my beloved, absolutely beloved, England.

Drink with me
To days gone by
Sing with me
The songs we knew...
Here's to them-
And here's to you.

But.
"Tonight, this city's mine."

The End Is Near.

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:12:07 GMT

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].

Something Worth Mentioning.

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:47:10 GMT

I completely forgot to put the funniest story of all from when I went to see The View at the Astoria! So we were waiting for the second opening band to come on and I was just kind of mingling in the crowd towards the front of the stage and my eyes set on this [pretty dern attractive] Brit who was peering over the crowd, towards the bar. Suddenly, he starts calling "DAN!...DAN!......DAN!" YESYESYES. He was totally serious. Completely serious. He was British, though, he had to have realized what he was doing! It made my night...more than my night because it was a week ago and I'm still guffawing as we speak! And if you don't know what I'm talking about, which is more than likely, I'm referring to one of my top five favourite TV shows: Alan Partridge. And so that you find this entry worth mentioning as well, here's the clip, and you better watch it:

Thanksgiving?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:12:32 GMT

We gave thanks in England too.

Had a game of american football in Russell Square, as tradition has it, this morning. My team lost [I guess...some people were being unreasonably competitive and unreasonably keeping score]. But it was Red vs Blue [ha!] which cracks me up. Most importantly, I was Blue. Suck it, Red. I tackled, never having any idea what I was doing since I hate/don't understand the sport, but I tackled. I just looked at it like a mosh pit and the ball is the front of the stage and you push everyone out of the way to get there. I got very dirty, very muddy, very bloody and bruised, and it was good.

We all went for a pint after the game. Pint at 2pm with no food in stomach = Pissed at 2pm with mild midday hangover. I'm a lightweight and I'm fine with that. It passed.

After a ton of showers, we eventually all got ready to be taken out for Thanksgiving dinner. We went to this cute restaurant in Covent Garden, all dressed up shnazzy. Aprile is here visiting and came to dinner and it made me smile. We had bread with frozen butter. I had no starter because all of it was crazy, but I played with Aprile's crayfish and named him Ralpert. I had turkey with roasted potatoes and green beans and cornbread stuffing. The turkey was good but not thick and juicy and fresh like I'm used to. They had roasted potatoes instead of mashed which is weird because the English are crazy about their mash! The green beans were delightful and the cornbread stuffing was very different and sweet and delicious. For dessert: CHOCOLATE POT. Literally, a pot of chocolate. Really thick mousse, basically, with crumbly almond buscuits. YUM. And I basically went through a jug of water.

Amanda and I had a fun walk home, saw a guy sweeping a street with fire, and Christmas trees, and we talked incessantly about Dream Street and listed their album in order of tracks and it was marvelous to talk about them for the first time in years. Ah, youth!

I picked up a copy of Time Out magazine because there was a huge photo of David Tennant on the cover and it said something about his performance in "Hamlet" [which we saw]. Turns out the article is a page in length and barely even has any photos! Boo.

I also realized why the relationship between the Doctor and Rose touches me so much and it made coming back to the States a little bit more okay. Maybe.

Get me a LaCie XHD for Christmas. Srsly. 900MB's free on my Hard Drive right now and that's post-deleting hundreds of photos. Iz Badd.

Tomorrow: Hopefully sleeping in. Hopefully seeing a museum. Hopefully Modern Drama doesn't last long or at least is fun. Hopefully some time before the play. Going to see a play.

Saturday: Liverpool's not happening. Kristin doesn't have the time for that.

Sunday: My pals I met at the Holloways show are planning to come into the city to see me! Happy 'bout that.

Um, I'll leave it there.

I am thankful...
To be here. For this program giving me the opportunity to come to England for three months at such a great cost and to be engaged so much. For my family for not just making it possible but for supporting me the whole way through. For the few friends who did take the time to keep in touch with me, reminding me what I have back home - If you're reading this, chances are that's you. But most of all, I am thankful for England and all it has given me. I have known my entire life that I belong here and it's real, it's true. I realized that you could compare sending me off to England to setting a kid loose in a candy store...But put a kid in a candy store for three months, and they'll quickly get sick of it, bored, start to really hate candy. Never. Never will I bore of this country and what it has to offer. I am so, so, so incredibly thankful to have been given the opportunity to realize that. I can't express it enough.

Today at the pub, I gave everybody in the group their own personalized "cheers" and here's some for you, devoted blog readers:
Cheers! To Love and Understanding and Respect and Energy and Passion and Art and Creativity and Intelligence and Beauty and Words and Trust and Friendship and Family and Laughs and Growing more every moment of every day.

I Should Have Posted Yesterday.

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:47:01 GMT

I'm not as enthusiastic as I was twenty-four hours ago.

Yesterday was the best day in a while - Exciting things happening-speakin and good mood-speakin. Day started clutching a freezing cold Red Bull [first legitimate energy drink since summer set construction days], bouncing around outside the stage door of the National Theatre, talking incessantly to Christie and Chris while we waited, hoping that would keep me from crumbling at the feet of the Autumn-on-Thames induced chill. Then the Production Manager [yes!] of the National Theatre [YESS] took us through these winding hallways to the stage of the Olivier theatre where we would continue to discuss and watch the changeover from "War Horse" to "Oedipus." I shall just say that this was one of the most amazing, rewarding experiences of the entire program. The woman we spoke to went to LAMDA, started out as a stage manager, and she encouraged me to do the summer course. It was inspiring. When she talked about hiring, she said they look for people who are enthusiastic about technical theatre because a lot of the time they'll get people who have some skills but their enthusiasm lies in other areas. PERFECT. The NT is my favourite theatre in the world. Being taken around this place, talking to these people, watching them do what I love so much [just with a hell of a lot more to work with] made me so indescribably happy. One realisation I had is that in a theatre like this, the simpler a set seems, the more complicated it is because if it seemed complicated, it wouldn't be seemless and something would be wrong. They have thought everything out - It's mindblowing. And she gave me photos of the model for the "Oedipus" set design! So cool. I could go on and on but I promise I'll stop here.

Danya and her big sis are here so after the changeover, I went to Covent Garden with the girls and we wandered about the markets and the Disney Store, of course. So much fun!

And Directing class was pretty fun or maybe I was just in a jolly mood.

And after that, two of the actors from Filter [one of whom is one the creators], the company that did the creative version of "Twelfth Night" we saw in Stratford-upon-Avon, came to talk with us. They were a blast! We could have talked to them for hours. They had so many interesting things to say, funny stories, and we just got on with them well. We're going to see the show again net week [they're in London now] and we're going to try to get them to come to RWU! We switched things up and gave them pizza this time. Awesome.

And we saw "Billy Elliott," which was astounding. I couldn't believe the skill these young kids have. At twelve. And I really really liked the music. My favourite dance number was the one right before intermission where Billy goes into an angry rage TAP STYLE. Tap is my favourite style of dance, by far, and the kid was amazing. The rhythm and the sound effects were great. The cast was fantastic and acting-wise, I thought the boy who played Billy's friend Michael outshined most of the adults. What a ham - He's got charisma and he doesn't hold back a bit and that's what makes a great actor - Just to be that natural on the stage - It's irreplaceable.

So that was my Happy Tuesday. I smiled a lot.

My Thanksgiving Observations: Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! No, that is not my observation - Please do give me a wee bit o' credit. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and honestly speaking, we are not excited! "We" being the Queen Victoria phrasing of the word by way of "we are not amused." To shorten this incredulously long speech:

I'm not excited about Thanksgiving in the least, aside from a day off from classes and a free meal. My realisation is that Thanksgiving is really quite pointless without family. [This group, unless you take the cynical look at the fact we can never, ever, ever get along as a whole, is far from familial]. So unless I am going to be sitting at my kitchen table in the middle of wooded Connecticut with my cat stealing my seat and my mum stressing about the food which will never cease to be amazing and my cousins fighting over who gets to sit next to whomever they want to sit next to and pouring real gravy over a real turkey...Well, then, I really just don't want it at all. To be honest, I'd rather be enjoying England while I've got it than trying to bring America to this wonderful place, and, well, doing homework. But if I'd refused to take part in the festivities, I'd once again have been socially reprimanded and scorned by my fella pupes.

Tomorrow, we shall be playing a game of my least favourite sport in existence [American football, if y'didn't catch that] at noon. I am not setting an alarm!

I'm being stubborn. Not as good of a mood as yesterday, obviously. I'd give anything to be back in Penzance right now, falling asleep in my quiet little room, hearing nothing but the waves crashing at the bottom of the hill. Or Southampton! I would love to go back to Southampton. I just want to be alone. And to get work done.

Today, I went to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, which turned out to be one of the coolest places! I spent over two hours in there - Yes, by my lonesome. Every single thing seemed fascinating! Or fun! Because I've come to realise that learning has to be fun. I learned about London's public transportation systems from the beginning to the future. I got to drive the Tube! They had this Tube train driving simulator where they have a cab set up just like the driving cab of a Tube train and you have to accelerate the train and stop it at just the right moment at stations. That was the coolest, but everything was fascinating, and the museum itself just had a really creative environment - I was impressed and engaged.

After doing a bit of wandering about Bloomsbury, dinner was had and we [we, as in the group this time] went to see a Sondheim musical, "A Little Night Music" at the Menier Chocolate Factory where we saw "White Devil." It was absolutely enjoyable - The entire cast had demanding presence and talent, and I liked the music and the story. The technical issues bugged me - Blackouts happening in the middle of the intermission, stuff falling over quit loud at least three times backstage, a flimsy wall being bumped from backstage causing the set to wiggle, actors bumping into things on stage [I said talented, not graceful]. If that stuff was worked out, it would be an impeccable production, and so impressive in the space, which is a lot like the Barn.

I'm probably going to go to bed now. Or draw. Happy Thanksgiving.

Stumbling Almost Always Produces, Not Adverse Effects, But The Most Positive Ones, Really.

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:14:06 GMT

No one likes to stumble, but think about it and most of the time, it makes your day either better or at least more interesting. Walking unwavering lines at a perfect 2/4 time is for Cybermen - We aren't Cybermen. Stumble a little more, people, seriously.

Today, I stumbled upon Dirty Dick's which equals my last of the four pubs I have to see/write about for my Cultures in Contacts site list! I totally did not even mean to get anything done today whatsoever - The plan was to go to the very famous London record shop, Rough Trade, and screw around for a while, embracing the English music culture I'm going to miss so much so soon, and as I'm walking down Bishopsgate, I see the words "Dirty Dick's" glowing bright orange! [initial thought: how could this be it when it looks nothing like a traditional pub from the exterior]. Anyway, I went to Rough Trade [which was on the strangest street that looked a little sketchy walking in but turned out to be completely neo-trendy, just as I like it], I did my thing there, and stopped in at Dirty Dick's on the way back. Way more traditional on the inside - Little booths made of stone like my fireplace, absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to miss Charles and my Shakespeare class. I really do love it. You know I really genuinely love a class when I'm happy to do the work for it. It's a rare thing. But I'm always happy to be there and enjoy doing our speeches even when I muddle up a line or feel a little self-conscious. It's an absolute blast.

My girls brought me to the special "student discount really amazing" little café by our classroom today. Wish I'd known about it earlier. The guys who run it are so nice [have amazing bods] and I had a delicious jacket potato. Oh, goodness.

We saw a new play by David Hare tonight called "Gethsemane." It was in the Cottesloe in the NT where we saw my two favourite plays of the semester ["Some Trace of Her" and "Walworth Farce"] and it definitely didn't live up to those two productions in the least, but it was very well done. Nothing extremely earth-shattering, I found the acting mundane and sometimes cliché [although the woman who played Meredith was Yvonne's mirror image of Shaun's mum in "Shaun of the Dead"] but it was fluid, it didn't attempt anything unnecessary - It was technically pretty simple, which was nice to see for once - And the staging worked. And, um, I liked the ending. My sight lines sucked. Anyway.

I won't miss the Pickwick kitchen, but I'll miss cooking with my girls, sharing beans and baked apples and HobNobs with peanut butter and my fabulously environmentally friendly paper plates. Luckily, three out of four of us have officially put in the request to live together the coming semester so that's a load off my mind - Farewell, Bachelorette Pad!

Despite all the motivation I've been given to want to go back to the States, I really don't. I'm literally terrified at how little time I have left here. You can tell me all you want that it's okay because I'll be coming back, but that's not the point - Point is I'm leaving in less than two weeks. Point being, I physically have to pack those bags, step out the doors of 7 Bedford Place the final time and physically force my body to leave England. Friends and family are important - But going back to a lifestyle I don't connect with, a society I don't feel I fit in is never fun for anybody. Gosh this is a depressing entry. I had a really good day, I swear.

You Will Never Age For Me. Nor Fade. Nor Die.

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:58:03 GMT

I just finally saw "Shakespeare In Love" for the first time ever. We've been saying all semester that we would and then tonight, me and my favourite buncha roomies plopped down with a cuppa hot chocolate, laughed our way through "Elf," and moved on to the sexier SIL. Beautiful movie, though I kept complaining when they drifted from Shakespeare's factual life now that, thanks to Charles, I'm a Billy Shakes Pro.

Anywho, it's not that I don't want to write here. If I had the time, I'd spend hours writing here. I love it. I want to savour and remember every second I spend here. I want to capture every single emotion I feel, thought I have, sense that I sense, but unfortunately, life doesn't work the way my brain does so sadly, a lot of London must be lost.

The View show was phenomenal, though it didn't quite match up to The Holloways show, which was way more intimate, friendly, laid back, new friends. I could not even see The View. I can't explain how packed this place was. I haven't been so packed in with a crowd to see a show like this since high school. The entire crowd was a mosh pit, which was a lot of fun because I haven't gone wild like that since my youth, as I put it. I was more covered in sweat than I ever will be even if I spent the rest of my life on a treadmill and I've never been more covered in beer, not even as much as that time I replaced the water tank with a keg and took a beer shower. Point being, it was beyond crazy. One person heard my American accent and a chain reaction occurred where the rest of the night, I was popular. Mission accomplished: My friends, I've kissed a London boy.

The next day [following a horrendous night of inexplainable stomachaches, most likely not-fully-reheated-Leicester-Square-pizza] we went to Canterbury, followed by Dover. Canterbury was a cute town and I think the cathedral was actually my favourite so far if you don't include Riveaulx which is ruins. It's a World Heritage site along with the pyramids, which is kind of neat. The stories about Thomas Beckett's murder came up every other minute and it's fascinating, but I mean, they go on and on about how he was a martyr for the faith and I get it that he was a religious figure and that he was killed in the church which is a safe zone for everybody, but seriously, the king's problems with him were about power, lets face it. Still, moving and devastating in the way he died, and fascinating. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful, inside and out, and I didn't mind the absolutely intense cold that much.

Next stop was Dover. We had a blast at Dover Castle, running around, playing, seeing the gorgeous sites. By the time we were done, the sun was setting and we saw a breathtaking view of everything go completely orange over the famous white cliffs of Dover. And we could see France across the ocean! Very cool. I accidentally got my foot in the water. Not so bad. The tunnels throughout the castle were really cool...There were so many!

the white cliffs of dover and a very orange english sunset.

Today, Amanda, Caitlin, and I did cool stuff! We went to the London Movieum where they have all this stuff from films and stuff about films and we spent hours in there...SO much fun!! They had the original Tardis from Doctor Who and Mr. Bean's suit and this fun quiz video game and animatronic dinosaurs you could move and the stuff from The Borrowers and instruments to play and the list goes on and on! We had a field day. It'd be a great place to take kids to learn about film. I mean I pretty much knew everything they were teaching about, but it's so cool.

We then popped over to the Tate Britain and had our minds blown by sketches with so much thought put into them, I hated myself for my artistic inaction as of late. Such clever minds in there. Favourites of the day included Oskar Kokoschka [colourful satire paintings, WWII], Tacita Dean [female filmmaker, giant sketches in chalk inspired by filmmaking], David Shrigley [doodley monochromes with the philosophy 'my drawings are for people who like to laugh at moral crises. It's a matter of making fun of the things you could get depressed about. You've got to laugh.'], and of course, good old JMW Turner, though my favourite of his style wasn't really demonstrated enough to my liking. It lacked his really passionate work. Anywho, that was the Tate of the day.

After that, we had a Bob Dylan pilgrimage. Now, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is debatedly my favourite Bob Dylan song, and undebatedly in my top five favourite music videos of all time. Well, the music video for it just happened to be shot in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel on The Strand in London, right by Waterloo Bridge. Well, my friends, we found it, and I brought one of the cue cards to reenact it and Amanda was silly Allen Ginsberg in the background, and I was thrilled:

amanda as allen ginsberg, kristin as bob dylan.

and the original.

And that brought us to our comfy evening tonight! Tomorrow, it's back to classes.

I can't handle this less than two weeks left thing. I can't handle it.
I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back.

Fine.

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:36:16 GMT

Oh my god I'm so excited about tonight!

Tonight, I am going to see one of my favourite bands, The View, at the London Astoria. Pumped. Hopefully lives up to The Holloways show. Maybe it'll rain and I'll make friends in the queue.

Here's my update.

My family was here last weekend and left Tuesday. I feel like I barely saw them except when we were in Austria because I had five billion classes. Austria was unbelievable and breathtaking and I need to go back some day and see more. Glad I chose Salzburg. Even more determined to learn German than I was before. Being at the places that were in one of my all-time favourite films [The Sound of Music] and flying just above the Alps, seeing the mountains peek above the clouds, was all incredible. The food was good [PRETZELS, pancakes filled with ice cream, wiener schnitzel, best spaghetti ever]. The people were nice and most could speak decent enough English. I could go on and on about how beautiful it was, how many laughs were had.

This week was weird. Mostly because we are realizing that we have two weeks left here after this one's over. Gross. Also because we saw all weird shows. Monday I saw "Phantom of the Opera" with my family which wasn't weird at all - just incredible. Tuesday night was this Sankai Juku dancing [some form of Japanese dance where they are all painted white-ish completely, they push buttons with nudity and all sorts of stuff and basically, they just move really really really slowly to weird music and a peacock comes on stage at one point]. That was weird, I fell asleep a lot, and I kind of hated it. Okay. Wednesday night was a new play called "The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes," which had little to do with Thomas Hobbes, more with the discovery of science at the time, Robert Boyle and the people in his life, and all kinds of wackiness that had no cohesion at all. Bad play. Uncomfortable theatre. Hm. Thursday night was AWESOME. We saw the Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall where they plaed popular classical music with a laser light show, fireworks, cannons, opera singers, a choir, some random dancers, and a really animated conductor. Tears welled up in my eyes and I got chills all through "Rule, Britannia!" and the whole audience waved the Union Flag. Amazing, I had so much fun.

I think that brings us to now. I'm realizing how far behind I am on schoolwork. Ew. But I got stuff done today. Cool.

Tomorrow: Canterbury [as in the Tales], Dover Castle, Cliffs of Dover.

:awesome:

Angst.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:10:18 GMT

How is it possible to take up a Pickwick shower for forty-five minutes??

Thanks. Whoever you are, enjoy my disgusting presence from lack of shower on your behalf in class today.

Rant done. Real blog soon to come, I promise-ish.

I'm In London Going On Austria.

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:41:23 GMT

I leave for Austria in what is really a matter of hours.

I feel like no good right now and trying my damndest to ignore it. Headache mostly, but what's new about that?

All I care about is that my family is here. They have been all day. I've barely seen them what with the six hours of classes I had today [which included an hour of chatting with David Bradley who we saw in "No Man's Land" but most people know as Filch from "Harry Potter" but I personally cherish as the mumbling old English farmer guy in "Hot Fuzz"] but I took them to my favourite pub for dinner, they all loved it, and it made me happy. I want them to love England! I know it's barely possible to love it as much as I do, but still.

We also saw a new play tonight at The Gate where we saw "Hedda" at the beginning of the program. It was called "State of Emergency" and it was eighty minutes and it all took place behind a glass pane like they were on display, but they lived in a somewhat futuristic gated community that was driving them all insane in their own ways and it was fascinating - Reminded me of 1984. Okay!

Meanwhile, I have to go pack. For Salzburg.

OMGSALZBURRRRRG!

Also, happy birthday Ryan.

Listage. Bigtime.

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:44:06 GMT

I know it's been a matter of hours since I last posted. Be happy! I'm on a posting binge as opposed to starving myself from the bloggage like I've done in the past. Ew.

Anyway, as if I haven't mentioned it a billion times, my mum, dad, and sister will be here tomorrow morning and as I will be stolen away from everything for a matter of five days, practically another BritRail week for me, I have a lot to do and probably shouldn't have slept in til 10am.

I've decided to make a list of the crazy rad amounts of things I need to get done today what with no classes and such. You know, just to show the impossibility of it all:
-Shower
-Shave m'legs [remembered this is England, woman! Not France!]
-Go back to TopShop to get those gloves I meant to buy in the hustle and bustle of Monday
-Go to a Museum. A freaking museum!!
-Write the British Theatre play critiques for both last week and this one [last week has just a wee bit more to go]
-Get a few Cultures in Contact journals done
-Laundry! Biggo time.
-Eat at some point.
-Clean the room? I've basically already done this. It looks bitchin. My mum will still find it a catastrophe. But I still need to reorganize my desk drawers and closet
-Decide what things to send away to the States with the fam. Avoiding overweight charges is my fave.
-Go find the bus stop we need at 5am Friday morning. You know, make sure it exists.

I think that's hopefully it.

Also, remember that band in Stratford Captain Dangerous who was really great and I left them my number? Well, I bought their EP. It isn't as good as they were when we saw them. They've probably improved since 2007. Groovy.

That's all for now. I'm estimating one more post before my fam gets here and then you may not here from me for a bit. Kay bye bye bye.

You're Pouring Hot Water On Your Puffa Puffa Rice.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:44:48 GMT

Today was a windy day in London Town.

I was not nearly as successful as I meant to be. Homework was worked on, but not completed. Could be worse though. Staying positive. I cleaned my hard drive out pretty good, bought some antibacterial wipes and gave my sink a scrub down. My room smelled fresh when I walked in tonight.

I got lost twice today, both times in areas that I know very well. What did we learn? I have little to no sense of direction. I, for one, shall scratch pilot or boat captain off of my career possibilities.

I shopped, for the first time, bringing my own bag and I, for one, am quite proud of my environmental friendliness! Besides, it's much easier on both me and the cashier, so.

Tonight, we saw the final installment of "The Norman Conquests" and it was a bittersweet evening. It was hilarious, per usual, but so sad to say goodbye to these characters we've grown so attached to as they've let us into their muddled lives, made us laugh again and again. It's like a beloved television series coming to its close.

Speaking of TV, I've been getting television off iTunes and it makes me gleeful. Collection now includes: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Doctor Who, Family Guy, Harvey Birdman, Invader Zim, Monk, The Office, and Psych. I do get the new episode of The Office each week. It's kind of one of my few connections to the States. People, keep in touch with me more for god sakes. Make me smile. Leave me comments. Something.

Random thought: I really, really hate when people can't spell. When it's obviously not a typo - They're really just that ignorant of how simple words are spelled. It's amazing how dull spelling one word wrong can make you look. Then again, I could stand in a queue for ages trying to do math and wonder how many people think I'm a moron so who am I to talk, yeah?

Realisation: This experience hasn't made me all that more independent. I guess I've realised I was extremely independent before - Freakishly so. I don't need to be this alone to be independent, I suppose. I guess I'm kinda lonely. Awwww.

Most importantly, twenty-four hours from now, my family will be on a plane heading towards the UK and I think I am more excited than them. Bahh, I can't think about classes when I have this excitement going down! No classes tomorrow...

EXCITEMENT.

Comin Outta TopShop - Girl With A MopTop.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:55:39 GMT

Today was a rainy, rainy day in London Town. Cities are a puddly, puddly mess.

Classes were boring. This shall be my first Shakespeare quiz I won't have gotten 100% on. Disheartening. Honestly, though, I don't know how I was supposed to remember the names of the fairies that tend to Titania without being prompted to do so. Unrealistic. Oh well.

After class, I looked at my money stash, with today's allowance, and realised I had quite a bit of money saved up! I'm quite proud of how well I've been doing with my self-improvement Learn To Save trial. I think I shall stick with it.

Anyway, upon realising this, I decided to blow off sitting around, despite the weather, and hit up one of my favourite places in the world, TopShop. TopShop gives me mixed emotions - I often get jealous of these young women who have always lived in England and have built up this amazing wardrobe I've always, always wanted, and I get sad when things are expensive [obviously] but I just love all the clothes so much! It is the fashion I have always wanted in my closet, on my body, and it's right here. Makes me not want to go back to the States. Back to pretty mundane, awful fashion. Bahh. Anyway, I got three tops for under forty quid total. Success!

Most importantly, tonight, I had a couple revelations. We went to see "War Horse" at the National Theatre and I think it's safe to say we were all blown away. It is the story of a boy, Albert, and his horse, Joey. Joey gets enlisted into the British Army during World War I and Albert enlists to find him. It's this whole happy/tragic story that will make you cry tears of all sorts. For me it was nostalgia. The horses were puppets controlled by humans and eerily realistic - They got the mannerisms of horses spot-on. I came into it not thinking it would be good - As someone who has spent literally entire days at a time just watching and interacting with horses, I thought they would use horse stereotypes and clichés - Only thing that bugged me was that they made them rear a few too many times, which they really don't tend to do much. But Joey and Albert were me and Cowboy [my first horse who I knew my whole life]. They played the same games and interacted the same ways, had a very similar relationship. Revelation was this: It made me feel, ultimately, extremely guilty for ever letting such a good friend like Cowboy go. I'm very angry with myself and just want to get him back now. I suppose any play that can, with puppets, make an audience so emotional must be a success. One of the best shows I've ever seen. I mean, it took two of my all-time favourite topics - Horses and World War I - And made it a beautiful, tragic, happy, thrilling play. And based on a children's book nonetheless! Wonderful.

Earlier today, I went online to find out about that person who was under a train in the underground last week. Nothing on it, specifically. What I did find out is that it's actually pretty common and "there is a person under a train" is a generic recording they have to use sometimes. Eery. What I found in the process of this research, though, was funny stuff about the Tube.
A lesson in 'Look before you sit':

A young woman, very visibly pregnant, got on the bus and sat down. As soon as she did, she noticed a young man smiling widely at her, which made her really uncomfortable and self-conscious so she moved to a different seat. When she did this, he only smiled wider. Getting annoyed, she moved to a whole different seat. She looked at the man and he was definitely flat out about to laugh. When she moved a final time, he burst out laughing so she called the police to arrest him for harassment.

When he was brought into court, he defended himself with the true story: "When the lady boarded the bus I couldn't help noticing that she was pregnant. She sat under an advertisement which read 'Coming soon: The Gold Dust Twins', then she moved under one which read 'Sloans' Liniments Remove Swellings.' I was even more amused when she sat under a shaving ad which read: 'William Stick Did The Trick'. I'm sorry, but I couldn't control myself any longer when, on the fourth move, she sat under an advertisement which read: 'Dunlop Rubber Would Have Prevented this Accident'". Understandably, he was found not guilty.

Just a funny story to brighten this grey, gloomy day.

Anywho, my eyes are ready to shut and stay shut.

My family will be here in almost two days, and I'm addicted to Doctor Who. That is all for now.

If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On!: My Weekend in Stratford

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:34:07 GMT

Going to Sainsbury's this morning was depressing. A group of people, including myself, were bunched up outside the doors, waiting like cattle for noon. The workers stood inside waiting for the minute hand to hit the twelve so they could unlock the sliding doors. Things like that just make me realize time and time again that I don't think I can live in the heart of a major city like this. I talked with Charles, our Shakespeare tutor, about that this weekend and he agreed with me on the subject...Living in the city is miserable. Ideal for me would be to either live in a port city [like Southampton or Liverpool here, or New London, CT or New Bedford, MA back home] or on the really pretty outskirts of the city like Kingston, any area south of the Thames. Seriously.

The long weekend at Stratford-upon-Avon was by far the best long weekend trip we've done! I had so much fun.

Thursday
I got to be in a quint with Casey, Caitlin, Amanda, and Christie, all of whom I love and have a blast with. We stayed at quite the adorable B&B [the owners had a rescue dog, therefore they won points before I even set my bag down]. We had this neat little suite - Amanda, Caitlin, and Christie had one room and then Casey and I had this tiny room sectioned off and the bathroom was adjoined between the two. Best part: It had the start/stop shower like in Penzance! I wish I could take that shower back to London with me. Anyway, we started having so much overtired fun right away. Fantastic.

After a quick lunch at Costa [orange hot chocolate is so delicious!] we went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Love's Labors Lost," which I was a little concerned about after the vastly boring, flat production we saw at The Rose. But it happened to be one of the best shows we've seen yet and here's one of the #1 reasons: David Tennant. Known to the world as Doctor Who, superbly attractive, incredibly talented and charasmatic, very inspiring - truly a Scottish wonder. In love with the show and our aforementioned actor, I got the poster.

RSC is neat because not only are their shows impeccable, but they use the same actors so it's really interesting to get to see them in two very different roles all in the same day. It's inspiring to see the lengths of how much the actors can vary like that.

That same night, we went to see "Hamlet." Once again, concerned, and pleasantly surprised! When you hear a play will be almost four hours long [yay, unabridged Shakespeare!], it can be a little daunting. It really wasn't bad to sit through at all, even running on nine hours of sleep totaling over two nights...There were times I would have easily fallen asleep if the play had let me, but it wouldn't let me at all! David Tennant played Hamlet and Patrick Stewart [yeah, that one] was Claudius. The rest of the actors were mostly ones we'd just seen, or would see the next couple of days, and they were all quite amazing as well. There was one scene where David Tennant looked unmistakabley like my homestay brother, Dom, and it was the "To be or not to be" scene. Distractions! There was another scene where Hamlet throws a recorder to Horatio, who proceeded to drop it [evidently, not part of the show]. David Tennant covers, without a fumble, with a "Clumsy..." and as the laughter continued a "...'Twas a bad throw." Hilarious! Although, Hamlet killed Laertes from behind just like Laertes did to him. Unheroic! The show was done in modern garb. Not distracting! This was the last time we saw David Tennant. Woe!

Oh, between those two shows, a hilarious dinner ensued. My roomies and I went to this pub for yet another beer & a burger deal [always under 5 quid]. I got a lamb 'n mint burger with my beloved Strongbow. The best part was when Casey and I went a little crazy with the Pub Quiz, playing about six games of Pub Quiz Connect 4 [like Connect 4 but with questions each time you try to drop a chip in], which was really turning out well for us at first, winning 50p, but then it was just yelling and laughter and guessing and not paying much attention to where we were putting the chips, and we had an audience. Classic. Even the ingesting of a mint bomb [mint ice cream in a chocolate shell] became a competition for us.

After "Hamlet," the whole group went to the famous Dirty Duck. The Dirty Duck is right next to the RSC's theatre so this is known to be where the actors come for their post-show pint. It is from the 15th century and really called The Black Swan, but it's known as The Dirty Duck, so. We went, a bunch of actors were there as well [Laertes/Demetrius, Moth/Page/Fairy, and another girl who was in Midsummer], they made us a bunch of delicious sandwiches [the people at the Dirty Duck not the actors] including ham and butter which is a favourite, and brought us wine. I still am not crazy about wine...white is okay, rose is okayer, red is nasty. Oh well. We had a really fun night, but I was exhausted and was one of the first to drift back to the B&B. I've started reading this book by Katie Mitchell [the one who co-wrote/directed "Some Trace of Her"] called The Director's Craft. Very helpful and insightful.

Friday
I showered on Thursday. Wanted to sleep in a little. My roommates are loud. I love them anyway.
Breakfast was highly disappointing. There was nothing full about this English breakfast. I filled up on cereal doused in sugar. People find it weird when they ask me "Coffee or tea?" and I answer "Water." Sigh.

We had a while after breakfast before the coach came to pick us up. We watched a Quiz show where one of the questions happened to be "Who is the current Doctor Who?" WHAAT?! The guy answered it wrong. We were shocked. Ah, David, haunting sir.

The coach came to get us at 9:45 to take us, hurriedly lead all day by Charles, to Mary Arden's farm. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mum. Her farm was fun - There were far too many animals for a group of country-deprived university students to hold back.

hahaha priceless. that's love.

We hugged donkeys, petted sheep, booped piglets on the nose, milked a fake cow, held an owl while it ate, and Casey and I saved a goat! It got its head stuck in the fence while we were feeding them and it started choking trying to get itself free so I turned its body and held it still while Casey pulled its head up and out. We felt pretty awesome. Falconry was really popular in Shakespeare's time so we went out to this muddy field with this lady and an owl and she gave us a lesson in falconry while we took turns putting on the leather glove, holding a piece of chick [some people got a head, I got a foot] and having it fly over to us, eat, chill for pictures, and fly away again.

me holding the owl! if only it would have looked at the camera. his name was angus. all the birds are named after characters from shakespeare's plays.

We took a quick tour of the house, which wasn't half as exciting as the animals. I mean, come on, I saved a goat and fed an owl. I picked up a bottle of organic lemonade at the gift shop and Charles hurried us out. Next stop was Anne Hathaway's house. No, we didn't go visit the actress from The Princess Diaries. Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare's wife. So Billy Shakes lived here! It was a cute house. I learned stuff. But I couldn't touch stuff. There was a gift shop - I got gifts - And there were free, freshly picked apples from their orchard. We ate them!

anne hathaway's house! the little old lady in the door was our tour guide.

The coach drove us next a little further away to Warwick Castle! AMAZING. One of my favourite places - There were no boring lectures or cathedrals!

We split off into little groups, got a yummy lunch [fresh carved roast beef, potatoes, and veggies under gravy], and got to do whatever we wanted there! We started with Kingmaker, not sure what it was. There was a video of a young boy dreaming about life as a soldier in the 1400s? We were rambunctious? Turns out, the Kingmaker isn't a part of Warwick Castle where university students get turned into kings - The Kingmaker is the nickname for Richard Neville, sixteenth Earl of Warwick, who was a major protagonist in the War of the Roses [theme in Shakespeare's history plays] and instrumental in the deposition of Edward IV and Richard III. Look, I learned something after all. After Kingmaker, and trying on hats, Charles advised us to go to the Royal Weekend Party, which wasn't a party at all [as Ashley pointed out right away]. It was just some fancy rooms inside that have been updated to make us feel like we were at some fancy party Daisy, Countess of Warwick, hosted there in 1898. So it didn't look like the rest of the castle. There were creepy, lifelike wax figures everywhere, lots more hats for us to try on, and a lot of children getting in our way. Okay. We then found the dungeon. It was small, there were torture devices, and it wasn't all too exciting. Creepy enough, though. Next, we climbed up high and walked along the walls of the castle, then climbed the tallest tower. It's the one in the photo. Incredible view. After climbing another tower, we went back down and made our way out.

We wanted desperately to go on the playground but there were a lot more children there than when we first arrived, so it was no go. But the gift shop was fun to play in. Swords and whatnot. We all took a walk into Warwicktown to see the Beauchamp CHAPEL. Yeah, yeah, another one. Pretty sure none of us retained any info [except, the guy mentioned Kingmaker, and we chuckled], but the tour guide was at least...really nice. I saw a pub with a sign for "Pasty & a Pint"...Dream meal. After a walk back to the coach, we went back to our B&B at Stratford and the roomies collectively decided what we should do with our bit of free time. The five of us went into town to get snacks since our dinner wasn't until 8 and we were hungry. We got distracted on the way, got Love Lettuce face masks at Lush, some of us got shmancy liqueur at Vom Fass [I was tempted by the Piña Colada but am poor], and finally we got to Sainsbury's and picked up some eclairs and cheese 'n crackers and hot chocolate. It was all quite yummy, cozied up in our room nibbling and watching "Love Actually" as we're all in a Christmas mood and love Love Actually! We saw the prime minister's right hand woman in Love's Labors Lost the day before, and the cheating brother in Love's Labors Lost at the Rose, so, cool.

By the time dinner rolled around, I was stuffed and angry because my meal was delicious and I couldn't eat it! I had a yummy caesar salad with an incredible steak and ale pie with chips and chocolate fudge cake and white wine that was actually kind of good for once! And I could barely eat. Frustration!

After that, we had a little time. Charles took me and 3/4 of my other roomies for a very dark nighttime stroll by the Avon. We had chats and it was wonderful. We then went to see an 11pm, hour and a half long production of "Twelfth Night" by the RSC, again. Um. Well. It was definitely exciting and entertaining! It was basically like being at a show...a rock show or whatever, what I typically refer to as a "show." There was a lot of music. Not much "Twelfth Night." But they turned some "Twelfth Night" into really, really awesome songs. During the best song which was the "What is love? 'tis not hereafter..." part, balls were tossed into the audience to be thrown, stuck by velcro, to one of the actor's heads, fab pizza was handed out and stuffed in our faces while we sang along, people went on stage to dance, including me and Emily. The song ended, people boo'd, Malvolio came to yell at everyone, an actor held just me and Emily on stage to receive Malvolio's anger for hilarity's sake, and it was exciting. I can officially say I've been on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Later, they broke out in "Tequila!" and two audience members were brought on stage to take shots of tequila. The show was exciting, risky, new, messy, and an absolute blast. I think I got out of it what the company wanted the audience to get out of it, so, Success!

We did the face masks together that night and were all very tired.

Saturday
We had to pack, store our bags at the B&B, and were free until 1 to do certain things they wanted us to do. I went with the roomies and a couple lovely extra first to Shakespeare's birthplace. Pretty cool. I saw the bed Billy Shakes was born in. Apparently some people cry when they see it. Guys. This guy's a big deal.

shakespeare was born in there...far left upstairs window.

We then ventured out onto the street where a band was playing. I fancied the bassist quite a bit [upright bass!]. Turns out they were also really good. Their name is Captain Dangerous. They sound a bit like The Rumble Strips mixed with, well, a bunch of British indie bands, and turns out, they've toured with them. Neat. They're a pretty big deal and we saw them playing on the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon. I told Casey I should leave my number in their guitar case. Right after, they had a song where they asked for a girl's name and number. Okay. So, I wrote my name and number on a slip of paper and put it in their guitar case with change. I've been in the music scene since I was fourteen, hell, I know musicians thrive off stuff like that. Anywho.

We strolled through a little market, which was cute, and went to see where Shakespeare is buried [and was baptised]. It was pretty cool realising how close we were to the man himself, even if it is just bones in there.

William Shakespeare. Is in. There. The words in front on that white sign say "Good friend for Jesus sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones."

We went to lunch at The Dirty Duck since it was close to the theatre and we knew it was good. I got the most amazing lunch - Steak and ale pie with mash and veggies. So amazing, so filling.

i love the dirty duck!

We saw a matinée performance of the RSC's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which was, once again, amazing. Better than the last time we saw it! It was really cool to see what they do with the big mirror backwall through all three of the plays. They did something extremely different with it each time! And there was a whole bunch of flying people around, people coming in on moon swings, awesome. Even though I tend to be more impressed by shows that do a whole lot with a whole little, this was neat. The ears on the donkey head moved. Awesome.

After that we went to catch the train and head home. I was in an absolutely horrible, miserable mood because of some bad news. There are certain things about this program that are messy and don't work and need to be figured out. Oh well, like an amazing play, there's always something that could use work. Nothing is perfect. Work around it, Kristin.

It always feels much later than it actually is. I hate how early it gets dark. I was thinking it was too late to make dinner. It's five. So, False.

Most importantly, my family will be here in less than four days, and I'm unbelievably excited, even though someone has made it so that I have barely any time in London to spend with them. EXCITEMENT!! And Salzburg with the fam and Caitlin in five days!!

EXCITEMENT!

signed,

kristin-upon-avon.

Mysteries! And Shakespeare.

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:08:14 GMT

Mystery #1: How does someone just, y'know, get under a train in the Underground? I mean, I get on the Circle line to Monument today, heading back from the Tower of London, and right away, there's an announcement that the Central Line isn't running. There's somebody under. A. Train. Is it sick or human of me to desperately need to get a copy of the London paper tomorrow and read all about it.

Mystery #2: Why did the company we saw at the Barbican tonight destroy one of the best plays ever written. "Romeo & Juliet" is in my top 3 favourite Shakespeares, and just all around beautiful. First of all, they changed the ending [blasphemy!] so that they don't die...I think? Though I'm not sure because it did look like they were dancin' around in the sky at the end...sort of like the Swan Boat dealio. But, seriously people, I understand what they were trying to accomplish by turning R&J into a dance piece, I appreciate the concept, but no. No, no. A hand gesture doesn't really accomplish what an absolutely beautiful monologue constructed with some of the best poetry to ever be written does. Mercutio doing a jig doesn't cover his brilliant wit. The only things I liked about this performance were: Tybalt [a girl played him, which took me a while to realize because she had the man-dancer thing down pat and she was positively magnetic to watch], the green socks on the Capulets' servant, and most of all, this one dance move that they did a few times, which Casey and I have adopted. Enough about that misery.

Mystery #3: Why do ravens have such a ridiculous call? We ventured to the Tower of London today for our Cultures in Contact class. Very, very cool. There were ravens all over the place [evidently, good luck as long as they stay at the Tower so wings = clipped]. Anyway, I thought at first that it was the ghostly voice of some woman. Weird. We saw the royal jewels [the annointing spoon that dates back to the first crowning] and saw a video of the queen's coronation [she looked absolutely stunning!] and I got shivers. We went through the White Tower, played some games, but I feel like there was so much more to see there. It's a really big place and luckily, I'll be going back with my family next week! Yes, my fam will be on their way to the UK in a exactly a week. So pumped.

Mystery #4: When do I sleep? Whennnn do I sleep?? Got four hours last night. Getting about 6 or 7 tonight. Not happy about that. We leave for Stratford-upon-Avon at 8 in the morning. We are going to be ingesting everything Shakespeare ever for the next three days. Back Saturday evening. Okay.

Mystery #5: How did we luck out so brilliantly back in the States?! Seriously, eight years of darkness [yeah, calling 'em the dark years] and I see a glint of hope. Go Obama!! So excited, you probably don't even know.

Mystery #6: Where are all the Guy Fawkes Day celebrations?? Today was Guy Fawkes Day here in Britain, everybody. A little history for you's: Guy Fawkes was the guy who was to execute the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords on the opening of Parliament [which happens next week, by the way]. Yeah, I know of this whole thing from "V For Vendetta" - What of it? I heard a ton of fireworks. I had to go see a crappy dance piece instead of taking part in the bonfire festivities. By the way, I think a lot of people misunderstand the purpose behind Guy Fawkes Day, probably because of "V For Vendetta." It's not about commemorating Guy Fawkes and the Gunpower Plotters' ideals for religious freedom - It's about celebrating the foiling of the plot - Note the rhyme goes as such:
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

God save the King! British Nationalism, guys, nothing V was diggin. Anywho.

Unrelated: Last night, a few of us went to the Black Cap Pub in Camden Town as a post-Halloween Halloween celebration [for me, pre-Obama Victory celebration]. It's a gay pub. With karaoke. We rocked it. Everyone there loves us, took videos of us and photos of us - We were stars. Fantastic.

Okay, serious packing to do. Leave me alone, blog!

True Life: I Eat HobNobs While Listening to Muse & Pushing Past Idiots Who Can't Figure Out the Tube

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:20:08 GMT

I believe I am accustomed, yet still completely and utterly American. I'm a mashup. Quite the mashup. I've always been Brit at heart, but apparently without being snobbish [my new pals' description of British gals, not my own] and I still rampantly use my American slang and pull out the strange mash of NYC/Fall River accent enough.

I will forever be completely and utterly annoyed with people who block up the gates to get on the Tube! Some of us just swipe Oyster cards and take two seconds. There should be an underground fast lane like E-Z Pass lane for toll booths. It will never cease to aggravate me and give everyone in my way a serious evil eye.

I am learning to eat cheap! I've become absolutely determined to save my food money for more important things like British fashion while it's still easily available to me and seeing bands. Lots more bands. I basically live off pasta, water, apples, HobNobs and Tracker bars. It's good. I might blow some cash on the occasional sandwich. It's a good thing though - Losing a bit of weight and learning to save. Noice.

Today was back to classes. It was a good transition - British Theatre didn't start til 11 and Shakespeare was pretty laid back as well. We're getting ready for our trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. So that was good.

Outside of the classroom, there was this dead daddy long legs spider that like...slipped down this pillar and looks like he hit his head and perished like that. I'm drawing it and giving myself the heeba-jeebs in the process. I guess that's what that silly badge we got for free in our goody bags Saturday night meant by "suffer for your art." Heeba-jeebs.

I got three journal entries for Cultures in Contact done. Kids...I'm awesome.

We saw "Creditors" by Strindberg. It was directed Alan Rickman. YES, Love Actually, Dogma, Perfume, Sweeney Todd, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Harry Potter - THAT Alan Rickman directed it. He did quite a fantastic job too! It was great finally seeing a Strindberg, and it was haunting, it was engaging. I was amazed it was over already. I was little obsessed with the lighting and all the acting, particularly from the guy who played Adolf. And the audience included Ralph Fiennes [who we just saw as Oedipus] and Cara Horgan [who we saw as Hedda and I also saw in the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas]. Awesome.

Most importantly, I am ill again. I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and it has yet to leave. I just feel overall like aches and badness. I know. It's not okay. I just want to curl up in a bed I feel clean and wonderful and comfortable and at home in. I've yet to feel at home at Pickwick, which is kind of disheartening but not everywhere can be home.

Do you like me updating regularly again? Well, comment, guys! Seriously. And if you want a subject to comment on, I'm buying a pair of Doc Martens next week - It needs to happen while I'm here and I see neo-trendster Brit gals wearing them all the time [super awesome with tights] and I'm jealous. Quandary: Not sure which ones to get - The glossy white ones or the dark red leather ones. White gets dirty, dark red might not look as feminine. Help!

This Night Is Young As We Are!

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:58:24 GMT

And this is a giant vat of stirring chocolate at Harrod's:

I thought it might draw you in.

But I'm sitting here writing. Whatever, it's Sunday. Last night was the best.

I went to see The Holloways and the Underground Heroes [and some other bands that don't really matter] play at Uni London Union with the No Half Measures Tour. It was a wee bit rainy, a wee bit windy and, if you stand in that for a while, it tends to be a wee bit chilly, especially in a sleeveless dress, tights, and a not-so-heavy jumper. Okay.

I mean, I figured out how to get there [just a few streets away, past Russell Square], so at least I was able to do that. They were supposed to open the doors at 5. I got there at about 5:15ish. The doors didn't open until almost 6. Two men stood just inside laughing at us getting sopping wet [don't worry, it was, in fact, worth it later]. Luckily, my new pals Scott and Richard were shivering in the queue in front of me, kept me entertained despite the wet, and I ended up hangin with them the rest of the night. I taught them a whole bunch of American words like pants, sneakers, plaid, sass, and the word of the night: Badass.

They gave us goodie bags full of free stuff promoting some energy drink. Free! Stuff! I wasn't complainin.

I warmed up with a Strongbow [that's a lie. I didn't know warmth again until I got back that night]. We shivered and talked until the first band...

The first band was Bear Hands! They are from Brooklyn! NYC! Home! The lead singer looked like Jesus and he made out with his [male] guitarist on stage. I promised my new pals that's not necessarily a valid image of Americans from the NYC region. All the same, about half their songs were really pretty good. I have their EP. Whatever. I recommend the songs "Golden" and "Long Lean Queen." I think seeing them live with the typical sort of depressing American band thing [British bands have so much more fun on stage!] ruined them a tad, but just a tad.

bear hands!

I'm pretty sure it was right after Bear Hands that Richard and I perused the t-shirts, I decided I couldn't decide between the Holloways one and the Underground Heroes one, and somehow, the three of us ended up taking a lovely jog through the rain all the way to Sainsbury's [coatless] to use an ATM that doesn't only take Visa. It was a fun time, actually, and while my arms went numb at first, it warmed me up overall. Whatever, I hadn't eaten all day. We got HobNobs and Smartees, which basically completed the night.

We missed Regards, which is kind of funny because they were the only band I knew nothing about coming into the show, so Regards will always be the mystery band to me. We caught the last minute of their set and they didn't seem like anything super. Oh well. I got a couple fantastic t-shirts [my t-shirt collection has been decreasing and that saddens me...I live in tees] from a couple fantastic bands.

Haunts went on next. They were entertaining. Nothing extra-special, but I like 'em. Their guitarist and bassist climbed up on the tall stuff next to the stage. It wasn't as cool and rebellious as they probably thought it was. Whatever. Good time.

More chilling. More sitting. More talking. Okay.

The Underground Heroes were next! I was extremely excited. They were fantastic - So much energy, and I'm in love with their lead singer's voice. I've been stuck on the song "Skinny Twins" so much the past few days. Their tunes are catchy and they're crazy good-lookin to boot! Crazy talented for young'ns too - Only 17, 19, 19, and 22.

best photo i got of the underground heroes. pretty bad.

More sitting, talking, laughing, getting pumped for The Holloways. YESS.

The Holloways were freaking AWESOME. Everybody danced [even Scott when I forced him to] and everyone was happy and the band had more energy than the bloody sun! "So This Is Great Britain" was probably the most exciting, "Generator" was the perfect time for almost everyone to jump in the mosh pit, "Re-Invent Myself?" was the great sing-along, the new "Sinners & Winners" was the one I absolutely fell in love with, but "Two Left Feet" was my favourite - It's a song about not being able to dance but doing it anyway because no matter how ridiculous you look, everyone can dance! It's so happy, they even whip out the fiddle. So they said for everyone to dance and everybody did! From the people who look hot doing it to the fools like me who maybe shouldn't to the sassypants like Scott who don't want to. It just made me feel really good! There was the perfect number of people in the audience and the perfect sized space - I loved it. Oh, Holloways, I love you.

the holloways!

So that was basically the show! Fun, amazing, new pals, new tunes - Yeah!

Today was Sunday and Caitlin and I had a classy afternoon in the Marble Arch area. We had Wall's ice cream in Hyde Park, took a lovely stroll, and watched people yell a lot to the point a fight just about broke out at Speaker's Corner [every Sunday, people are allowed to come, stand on ladders or whatever they choose, and say whatever the hell they want, basically. Sometimes new religions are started]. I preferred the fight of the pigeons to the fight of the speakers.

whoa. whoa, man, just take it easy. guys, it's not worth it.

It was a really pretty day despite my throat being sore and a woman wiping out pretty bad on her bicycle.

pretty day in hyde park!

There was some sort of rollerblade parade. A guy pedaled around blasting a remix of "Wild Thing." It made us laugh. We went to Harrod's. It was classier than we will ever be. There was a whole floor of gourmet foods, a "chocolate bar" with that giant vat of melted chocolate, almost an entire floor with children's toys and children's clothes by names such as Burberry and Ralph Lauren and Diesel et cetera, there was more diamond-encrusted lighting fixtures than I ever thought I'd see, there were pretty fantastic TV's [that showed wonderful things like Ben Whishaw and my beloved Reds], and my favourite part was the whole section of the Sports floor with horse and horseback riding equipment. I need to someday buy my horse a Harrod's saddle pad! Okay!

We were tired. We came back. We made pasta again. And watched "The Office" again. And here I am! And music owns my life. I need to go see more and more and more British bands. While I already knew this because the great majority of my music library is composed of British bands, it has been confirmed for me that they put on a better show than most American bands. My goodness, they actually have fun while they play! Imagine.

To prove it, I'll close up with my favourite video from the night. It's us kids rockin out along with The Holloways doing "So This Is Great Britain."

http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m256/kdurinick/?action=view¤t=MVI_1818.flv

No Clever Title: BRIT RAIL WEEK TRAVELS. Summed up.

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:10:50 GMT

I obviously have a lot of ground to cover here, because I have covered a lot of ground.

I'm putting all my travel logs and exciting stories of my three days of constant moving behind an el-jay cut because, well, I had a lot to say. There won't be pictures, so if you're one of those cheapos who don't actually read my blog, but think you can sum up the story in my exiguous number of photos, you might as well quit your browser now. But the photos are on Facebook and honestly, I don't have the time to sift through, upload a bunch to Photobucket, and fiddle about for hours. I'm tired from one of the best shows ever last night and am going to Harrod's and Speaker's Corner with Miss Caitlin in a wee bit so lets get goin with this!

Monday
7:10am
Well, I left Pickwick at almost 6:30am. London first thing in the morning is one of the most beautiful things ever, but then again, everything is beautiful before/at sunrise...Dawn is my favourite time of day.

The Tube at 6am is bonkers. There are so many people, or at least there were on the Central Line - It looked like rush hour, almost! I got a seat once I was on the Hammersmith & City Line and picked up a newspaper, seeing the awesome headline: Liverpool ended Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home league record!! Yessss, go Reds!!

Got to Paddington station about ten minutes ago - Got a ham and cheese bagel from Bagel Factory and now I'm just chillin in front of the timetable with pigeons, waiting for my train to get a platform number for me to hobble off to. Right now, I'm just really proud of myself for even making it this far. I am so excited, but I'm not getting my hopes up that it won't end tragically. 10 after 7 and my train is on time.

10am
The train manager was funny. He overpronunciated his "m's" and said things like "ChippenhaMUH."
Currently at Taunton Rail Station, waiting in the heated waiting room [noice] for the bus to Minehead. Again, very excited that I've made it this far! It started to rai the second we pulled into Taunton station, but it looks like it's clearing up already. I'm glad I wore my wool pea coat - I had been regretting it this morning on the Tube. Pending getting lost or not, I should be very early to the stable. Pumped nonetheless, nervous for the bus. I hate buses!

10:32am
I love England so much I could cry! An old man just got off the bus but he didn't just get off - He and our bus driver [an Irishman wearing a scally cap adorned with clover may I add] exchanged some friendly words before departing. This isn't impatient America anymore, folks.

And we passed under a rainbow! I swear! I didn't know it was possible! There was a rainbow arched across the sky like a bridge and we drove underneath it.

Negatives: The ham and cheese bagel wore off. Hungry.

12:42pm
I have made it to Burrowhayes Farm! And getting here was as interesting as it could get. I didn't see the Rail station in Minehead, missed the stop [luckily it was the second to last on the route so he turned right back around]. I made the 300 bus but when I asked the driver if he stops at Horner Turn [like the interwebs said he would] he said he doesn't know where that is. He said he stops at Tesco and the Post Office so I get on the bus, call the stable, the guy who picked up said to get off at the Tesco and gave me directions to the stable from there. Okay. Well, then the bus driver says, "This is the first stop in Porlock." I ask if it is the Tesco and he says he doesn't know where that is!

????

I get off. I use the 20p toilet. I as inside a little sweets shop how to get to Burrowhayes, figuring they're locals. Success! Keith, the fine gentleman who owns the place, tells his daughter in the back that he's "taking this girl to Burrowhayes" [he knows the woman who owns the farm]. So we get in his car, have a chat about America [his son in law is American] and he lets me off. Cheers, Keith, you're the best!

I get here, pay, everyone is friendly, it is beautiful. Final summation: Porlock = small town, and I miss my small town. Pumped to ride!!

Tuesday
11:32am
Currently sitting, waiting for the bus to Marizaon Square, not sure where to begin! Yesterday was pretty much the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. I tore up Exmoor country on horseback. I galloped up a mountain, was a matter of feet from wild Exmoor ponies grazing and galavanting through the woods, I let my horse [Danny] drink from a running stream, my calf muscles builged in pain from Holly's taight boots and I didn't care. I could go on and on, but the bus is here. I'm going to St. Michael's Mount. I'll finish this later.

3:00pm
Lying under the covers, warming up and resting in my hotel room at the Union in Penzance, and I'll continue my story now.

So Danny, a pinto and about 15.2 hands, was a bit of a slow poke but so sweet, such "a good lad." He got the group past the scary roll of wire! We climbed this mountain at a gallop, me beaming the whole time, almost in tears - It was the moment I'd been waiting for my whole life! From the top of the mountain, we could see as far as Wales [and to think I used to think it was cool I could see Long Island from Hammonasset Beach]. I was in so much pain by the time we got back from a mix of having to keep on Danny the whole time, boots nearly cutting off my circulation, an uncomfortable saddle, and a two-hour ride after not having ridden for a while. Our guide, Jenny, was awesome - She's in her A-levels in school now and I am so jealous of her summer job! We talked through most of the ride; it was fun. She told me a story about a girl she had on a ride once who was cantering down the trail, tried to push a branch out of her way, accidentally grabbed it and the next thing you know, the horse is still running and she's hanging from a tree limb.

Anyway, Danny and I both came back two hours muddier and after I put him in his stall, have him a big kiss and hug goodbye, I went straight to finding out how to get back - perhaps simpler than how I got there. I got times for buses from the lady who ran the place [having this bad feeling her directions were off, but having faith I'd figure it out]. I had started to walk down the driveway when the gentleman who I'd talked to on the phone earlier passed me in his truck and asked how my ride was - next thing I know, he's telling me that he's got to go into Porlock in a minute anyway, and we're in his truck and he's taking me to the bus stop! I love how helpful everybody has been on this trip - I am so lucky. Of course, it's the wrong bus - It's not a First Bus so it doesn't take BritRail passes, but the guy let me on anyway - for free - and makes it his duty to get me and another group of people back to Minehead in time for the 28 bus. Yet another ridiculously helpful person. I made it back to Minehead in time to grab a Subway sandwich and I made it to Taunton about two hours before my reserved train so I was able to hop on a much earlier one at about 8:30.

The pain from the ride and the exhaustion from the day [don't think I can explain just how exhausting it was] hit hard on the train. I worked past it by watching an episode of The Office and flirting with the guy working the on-train buffet, and lots and lots of music. I was annoyed I couldn't see outside except the occasional shining of water outside [ocean?]. It was a little after 10pm when I made it in to Penzance station - Beyond exhausted but so excited inside, I walked as fast as I could to my [thankfully easy to find] hotel. Annoyed by my clogged toilet and unable to appreciate the ideal location of my room yet, I crashed.

I woke up refreshed and pumped to see Penzance. I showered with my strange, very strange shower and at 9:30 I was off. I started my morning with a walk by the docks, went back up to the shopping area - Market Jew Street - and had a REAL CORNISH PASTY in the REAL WEST CORNWALL. This was no chain - It was a real pasty shop and I don't know if I can ever have a pasty from a chain shop again - It was incredible.

After that, I made my way to the bus station and was actually successful this time - I made it to Mariazon and booked it straight to the beach! I've missed that smell so much! The tide was low which means that until 12:30, crowds were walking on the cobblestone causeway out to St. Michael's Mount. It was so cool...like walking on water! Before I could even notice, I had made it to the little village of tea shops and houses at the bottom of the mount. After a little walk-around, trying to take it all in, I decided it was time to visit the castle!

The climb was intense, mostly because the rocks were so oddly thrown together. rough walk. Again, before I could realize it, I was at the top of the mountain, looking out for miles over Penzance and the Atlantic. There were cannons! And another rainbow! I went into the castle...I don't even know what to say about it, it was just so cool. You could tell there was a strange mix of from when it was used for armies and when it was used for domestic life. The long corridor creeped me out because on Samantha Brown, her guide talked about how it was haunted. The cathedral [ironically] was my favourite part inside - The incredible colours came splashing in through the window and it felt so peaceful. When I reached the top of the castle on the outside, I waved to America from the southwest side, blew kisses over to Mass and Rhody and Connecticut. My descent back down the mountain was a slippery one - It keeps raining while it's sunny! I love it. I took a look at a couple shops at the bottom of the mountain before getting on the ferry [a motorboat for about ten people, or goats [back to land.

I wacked my knee hard getting off the boat. I'm a mess - So injury prone.

I explored the beach a bit more before heading back. While I waited for ths bus, I went into a Cornish bakery and got the most incredibly cream donut made with Cornish cream! The lightest cream ever, so good. I grabbed the bus back and here I am! And amid writing this, a lovely nap ensued.

9:05pm
I love British tele so much better! They may not have Regis, but even their Who Wants to be a Millionaire is better...they're hilarious. And every competitor so far has been from some kind of Shire.

And pub chats are even better than listening to the tele. More profound than a philosophy class. Tonight, I had dinner at the Turks Head. The Turks Head dates back to 1233 when, during the crusades, the Turks invaded Penzance, from Jerusalem. At that time the Turks were excommunicated by Pope Calixtus. Alterations were made during the 16th Century when part of the building was burnt down during the Spanish Invasion. During the 17th Century, the old cellar, which is now the dining room, was used by navel ratings. There was a smugglers tunnel leading directly to the harbour. The tunnel is still under the property and can be found to the right of the building, the whole of which used to be part of the Turks Head. The tunnel came in to the diner then up a shaft, arriving to the right of what is now the main bar, and then on to the first floor, where priests were hidden in the 'Priest Holes'. These are still in existence. The second floor was a fisherman's loft, with two large net doors leading onto the original courtyard. At the rear of the building there used to be both a Band Hall and a Cell for locking up drunks and undesirables. It's a place brimming with fascinating history - The oldest pub in Penzance and the first pub in England to be named "The Turks Head." But most importantly, it's wicked cozy and had the BEST food. I settled myself at little booth in front of the fire, read my book, sipped at a pint of Strongbow, and had one of the best meals ever - braised lamb shank and mash in pork and berry jus with a side of steamed veg. I could have just stayed there forever, listening, reading, eating, and drinking. It felt so nice! The men at the bar, obviously regulars, had conversations about their wives, their daughters, and the idleness of society [i.e. the advert where the boy gets hit by a truck and the first thing out of his mouth is something about sueing for money].

Anyway, after that experience, I took a nice long walk down the West Promenade. Penzance is beautiful but eerily quiet at night. The town looks like it should have a hoppin night life! I saw the famous Jubilee Pool. All of a sudden, I started to think...I believe the English take for granted the history under their feet. They are all so amazed that I am here and wonder why, but I wonder why they would want to come to America when what they have here is so fascinating, so breathtaking. Anyway, I ended up going to the "Co-operative" for muffins and Haribo Football gummies! Then I came back and watched this guy pull a Tabatha's Salon Takeover on some shops in Macclesfield, where I'll be in three days! In the morning, first thing, I'm getting up and hopping on a train to Southampton. Sad to leave Cornwall, pumped for Southampton!

Wednesday
I stopped logging at this point, so I'll just try to sum up my time in Southampton. I got there around 2:30, starving, but on a schedule! The first stop was to be the Maritime Museum and honestly, it wasn't that bad finding it. There were a lot of maps and signs at first so I followed the signs to the quays and then all I had to do was follow the street by the docks until I saw the really old cool lookin' building labeled "Maritime Museum." Okay! It as free today! Great! I booked it straight up to the Titanic exhibit which takes up the whole upstairs. One of the first things I saw was a quote about how you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody in the whole of Southampton who didn't know somebody on the Titanic, whether they were a passenger, a fireman, waitstaff, a musician, an engineer, or who knows what else! The exhibit as a whole has a big impact, I think. Everyone was quiet. They had the "Honour and Glory Crowning Time" sculpture from the Olympic, Titanic's sister ship - titanic had the same one, except it had an actual clock, and you'd recognize it from the movie. There was a whole wall photos of the crew who went down with the ship - Seriously, huge lump in my throat - But the most intense part, even though I used to know all the statistics by heart, seeing the big wall that had the stats, like how 100% of the first class children were saved, and about 30% of the third class children were saved, how approx 200 of approx 900 crew members survived. It was all fascinating, basically. On my way out, I picked up the DVD with the lost footage of the Titanic - Yeah, actual video footage of the Titanic! The only video footage of it in existence - film was only 15 years old at the time so people weren't really going around video taping it - But there's even footage of the lifeboats being lowered...It's crazy!

Okay, so, after the museum, I booked it to find food. I had planned on eating at The Grapes pub, which is important because in 1912, the firemen and engine room workers on the liners used to drink just before departure. Six Titanic crewmen left it late and dashed through Dock Gate 4 just before midday - three men crossed the railway line just in front of a train but the three Slade brothers let the train pass. In the meantime, the gangplank was pulled up and fortunately for them, they missed the Titanic. INTENSE. I found it but unfortunately, they don't serve food anymore so, no thanks, man, I hadn't had a meal in about twenty-four hours. I went across the street to the place that never fails me: Good ol Pizza Express.

Next, I just had to find a whole bunch of memorials. First, I had to see where the Titanic departed from while it was still light out. I found it! At Dock Gate 4, I paused at the Titanic Memorial, and looked out to Berth 43 where in April 1912, you would have seen the Titanic awaiting her passengers for her maiden voyage.

Next, I walked past the city walls, which you can walk on like in York, up to Holyrood Church, which is fourteenth century, but was mostly destroyed in World War II. It now houses the Titanic memorial for the firemen, stewards and crew from Southampton who died when Titanic sank. It was really pretty in the setting sun.

I continued to walk up that street, walked under the gate of the city walls, which appear in my lost footage of the Titanic video, and was somehow able to walk past all my favourite stores. I strolled through East Park where, at the northwest corner is the Titanic Engineer Officers Memorial. The names include that of Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic, who was an engineer. It was absolutely beautiful - Featuring images of the engineers at work and an angel perched like you would see on the bow of a ship. They have these beautiful blue and yellow lights on it.

The next and last memorial was the most important to me - The Titanic Musicians Memorial - which is on the wall of the Municipal Mutual Insurance building. I think it's vitally important that they get their own plaque because they really did not have to keep playing while the boat sank - They knew it was all over. But instead of giving in to panic, they were brave men and died doing what they love, something as beautiful as making music. It is one of the most tragic stories ever so it was a good place to end my Southampton tour.

On my way back to the train station, I passed Southampton's theatre - The Mayflower! And while I know I mostly just mentioned titanic stuff, I realized I really could live in Southampton. I desperately love port cities, I have come to realize. I want to live in one. Okay.

Friday
On Friday, I went to Macclesfield to pay my respects to Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division and poet. I've become fascinated with his life and I wanted to see his town. Besides, we've been seeing all these pretty historical English towns and I wanted to see a more typical one, no frills. When I first got there, I was amazed Ian didn't like Macclesfield - It was so pretty, all old stone houses and gardens and stone walls lining cute little round-abouts. My walk to the crematorium [which there are signs for all around town] was a lovely stroll. It was just slightly chilly and the crematorium was beautiful - Filled with gardens and trees and ponds. I was lucky to have Ian's grave catch my eye. I saw the word "love," doubled back to see "Love will tear us apart" and I had found it. Left flowers and a note and made my way out.

I decided to go see the town centre and get some foods. It gradually got less lovely as I walked down the opposite end of Prestbury. Suddenly it wall all boarded up, dilapidated pubs, buildings covered in graffiti, car parks next to old filler station and the sad attempts at commercialisation crumbling apart. It's unfortunate because Macclesfield must have been really pretty at one point. The town centre is located at the top of this ridiculously long hill. There's a cute little mall with bread shops, chain stores, cafés. There weren't many pubs - I went into this café and had the most delicious ham and cheese panini and quite a yummalicious big chocolate chip cookie. By that time, I was wiped [lots of walking] and made my way back to the train station, penniless and ready for Halloween fun back at Pickwick.

For Halloween, Caitlin and I were the only two at Pickwick, but we made out own fun. She made apple crisp while I videotaped great moments on my lappy, per usual. And we watched Ghostbusters! 80s movie fun with a side of exhaustion, and it was straight to bed after that.

And that's basically my BritRail week! Saturday and Sunday will be covered in the next entry. Okay. Wow.

Horses! Trains! Pirates! Castles! Titanic! More Trains and Again, More Trains!

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:55:26 GMT

I'm wicked tired right now and therefore, am not going to give you the full witty rundown I usually do.
The most exciting thing that happened today was going back to Woodside Park [forever my London home...our homestay neighborhood] to borrow some riding boots from Holly! Because she's the coolest girl in all of England, particularly by saving me from riding barefoot tomorrow. Basically, I felt like I was going home and did, I will add, go to reach into my pocket for my keys, automatically thinking I was turning left to go back to my homestay house. Weird.

oodside par? love! and rain!

I leave at 6:15 in the morning to make sure I catch my 7:30 train from Paddington to Taunton. From Taunton, I shall head out to Exmoor National Park via bus. I'll be riding through the park at an all-out canter for two hours with Burrowhayes Farm.

After that, heading back to Taunton to catch a train all the way down to the lil tip of England's toe - Penzance. I'll be staying at one of the most historic buildings in England, which has as a part of it the second oldest theatre in the country and bar Dickens himself frequented. I'll be staying there two nights. While in Penzance, I fully intend to have a real Cornish Pasty in the real West Cornwall and doing this. And, yeah, while there is a fabulous musical entitled "Pirates of Penzance," I researched and there's really nothing pirate-related in Penzance. Alas.

Wednesday morning, I take off back up the south coast to Southampton. Why? Titanic. Yes yes, I am a bit of a nerd and have been absolutely fascinated, if not near-obsessed, since before they even made the movie. I taught classes about it in elementary school. Mmhmm. Well, anyway, Southampton is where the Titanic set off for her miaden voyage from. It is where the White Star Line dock was for quite a long time, and where you can find anything Titanic-related, including just about every memorial and a pretty darn cool museum.

After that, Wednesday night, it is back to London Town! So wish me luck. I won't lie - I am a bit nervous about this trip despite the tons of maps and detailed lists of when to be places and how to get there I've preapred for myself. I'm just convinced something must go wrong! First real trip completely alone and I'm doing it in a foreign country. I shall prevail!

And so, I must finish packing as I planned to go to bed in about ten minutes. Seriously, nothin else exciting happened today besides my most recent trip to the bathroom where I found my neighbours having a romping good shower together, joyously conversating in their foreign tongue [impressing me as I imagined it must be hard to talk so vibrantly while under a stream of water]. Oh, and my epic shaving wound today, the day after I pondered buying bandages at Sainsbury's for a good long minute. So when the shaving got a little much for my dainty ladylegs, the fresh roll of toilet paper was there, ready to give me the look of a wounded soldier:

you would totally never guess that was toilet paper!

Enough of this! See you in three days, blog [I hope].

Run Kristin Run: Today's Course in How to Get 50ft in Under 3 seconds.

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:25:18 GMT

Friday and Saturday were both good days, I must admit!

Friday was no classes. That in itself was "great day material." Friday night, we went and listened to Mozart by candlelight at a church named St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It was pretty and it was relaxing and it was everything you'd expect from Mozart, but most importantly, it allowed me to space out enough for my train of thought to venture off enough onto some far-off track that I somehow managed to get great inspiration for, and ultimately decide on, my senior directing project. Noice. The night sort of went sour when, for the first time ever, I submitted writing material that, after I actually put a good amount of effort into it, didn't get a really good grade and really good comments. Weird, not okay, smack-in-the-face material. We'll get over this eventually, maybe.

Saturday was an early-ish day where, after the Tube decided to not stop at Waterloo station [not cool], and after a frantic run to the bus stop, I made it to Waterloo station wicked early and ended up standing like a fool, sucking at a Lucozade Sport bottle, making it last twenty-five minutes.

Eventually, we got on the train for Hampton Court. Okay, Hampton Court is the palace/vilage in itself sort of thing that Henry VIII resided at. IT WAS AWESOME. We basically spent the whole morning wandering around, sometimes finding ourselves at places we haven't seen yet, sometimes finding we'd somehow made a loop. I liked it - It was like a maze.

It was Kids Go Free week, which meant there were a ton of free activities for children and university students alike. We made buttons with the provided pieces of paper with blank art on them [we coloured them in, some nice girl made them into buttons for us]. Casey made a spider and one that says "Henry Rules OK!", Caitlin made one of Ann Boleyn [she was Team Ann], and I made a pink phoenix. I got numerous compliments throughout the day on it.

give me a phoenix button, i will give it life.

We continued to wander about, never having any idea where we were really going. At one point, there was a guy in British soldier garb [white wig and all] who let us hold his musket [please nobody be inappropriate about that sentence as there was no better way to word it]. At another point, we went through this little stone arch doorway and were about to go up this staircase when, from behind the wooden door to our right, we heard the faint sound of a child whispering. It was at this point that I booked it down a whole hallway in a matter of seconds - Probably a personal best. I don't even believe in ghosts, but seriously, people, after all the terrifying ghosts stories you hear about that place, when in the moment, that would give anyone the jitters. It just took us another moment to realize it was a recording that kept repeating every twenty seconds or so and it was saying "Divorced Beheaded Died Divorced Beheaded Survived," which if you know anything about Henry VIII, you know that's what happened to each of his six wives. Anyway, we made a video of it and some guy came out and told us that was the end of the section about Henry's life, so basically, we're fools. Anyway.

More wandering, more wandering. Eventually, we found where the face painting was happening and Casey was ecstatic. Casey and Caitlin both got theirs done, I refused, but was incredibly excited to find out one of the two ladies doing the face painting was on America's Next Top Model! Yes, I will admit, it is my guilty pleasure. She was a few cycles back when they went to South Africa and went on a safari and had to pose as South African animals - She did their body paint! So freaking cool. Casey and I got our photo taken with her.

I was hungry. Really hungry. We went to the privy kitchen [yeah, the kitchen in the castle] and had delicious lunchage. Fresh lemonade! [They call it Sicilian Lemonade when it's still, I call it American.] We also had giant cookies, which were delicious.

Then, it was off to find the maze. Walking around the outside of this place is like a wonderland. Personally, Tudor architecture is my favourite, so, enjoyable. And it was a beautiful day.

wishing i could capture all of it in one picture!!

We passed a woman and a man with a tractor and they asked us if we wanted to plant daffodil bulbs! I mean, I figured they meant in the garden there or something, so naturally, country girl I am, obviously agreed. No, it was for us to take with us. Oh well. We now have daffodil children to put in our windows take care of, and hope they grow in six weeks.

Finally, after Casey and I made a friend and named him Edwardo [some random kid collecting leaves who seemed to like us and want to hang out with us], we found the famous maze, which is actually quite small and if Casey's finger hadn't led us in the wrong direction twenty times, we probably would have made it through much quicker.

me and casey with our daffodil children in the maze.

Still, it was quite hilarious and we eventually found the center. Great.

me and caitlin lost in the maze...she definitely looks like a native american and it makes me laugh.

After the maze, I found a fig and a foreign lady who was quite anxious about the bathroom door that didn't lock, we found more ghost stories, more corridors in the palace, and finally, the train.

My day Post-Hampton Court...
...Interesting, relaxing. So much so, I will list it.
-Video chatted with my fam for a matter of hours.
-Went back to London Graphic Centre [favourittte] to pick up some velcro for my sweatshirt pocket so I can carry my camera with me while I ride on Monday.
-Went out to dinner with Caitlin, got freaked out big time by the shape of a body taped out on the sidewalk, got rejected from multiple pubs who either weren't serving food or were completely full, and finally decided on Pizza Express. So typical: Whatever, lets get pizza. Pff, it was delicious and I have leftovers.
-Watched a new episode of Psych
-Set my clocks back! Yeah, it's that time here in England.

Tomorrow: Spend the whole day getting ready for BritRail week! Awesome.

I'll close off the entry with this:

me and kirstie being geese at hampton court. ah, monsieur goose, je t'adore!

When I Drank Your Tea - And Shallow Water Still - At The Belgian Gates - I Waited For My Meal.

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:26:15 GMT

Significance: I'm currently waiting for my water to boil so I can cook my pasta. I'm hungry. Also, I've been listening to MGMT non-stop.

I've been dying to update this thing! No joke! Give me a minute, Life, I've got mega-bloggin' t'do.

And in my unfortunate absence from el-jay, I'll wrap it up in a neat package as well as I can.

Tuesday
Only one class and it wasn't until 2. Does that mean I got a lot done? No. Does it mean I used my time wisely? Probably not. Do I even remember what I did Tuesday morning? Maybe a little bit. Did I sleep til 11? Probably almost.

What I did do was a crapload more planning for Britrail, which is in a matter of days. Weird-factor: 9ish out of 12. It came way too fast. I've come to realize I'm terrified of buses. I'm fine with underground systems that run every two seconds, I'm pretty great at driving, and I'm okay with trains, but honestly, I don't remember the last time [if ever] I have taken a bus before I came to London. So it's probably just the fact I have no idea what I'm messing with that freaks me out, but I will get it. I am excited to say that I found a pretty simple way to get, via bus, from Taunton Rail Station to the stable I'll be riding at in West Luccombe at Exmoor National Park, and be dropped off just a matter of a two minute or less walk from the stable. Success!

Tuesday night we went to see "Love's Labour's Lost" in Kingston [another section of London, pretty far out there, we had to take the train from Waterloo]. [clash-lovers note. see: kingston advice?] Okay, so the show was pretty boring [so boring, our Shakespeare professor had to leave after the interval] although I did like a couple of the characters a lot, and Dan Fredenburgh [who plays Jamie's brother in Love Actually] played King Navarre. And I liked the theatre a lot but most of all...

I AM IN LOVE WITH KINGSTON. It is such a beautiful section of London - Idyllic in my eyes. It still looks like a city, but it's pretty quiet at night. It's all wide cobblestone streets that people use more than cars. I can't explain it, but the nights are prettier there. I felt like I had space. I now dream of living there, working at the Rose, and being happy. Okay.

Wednesday
Our Cultures in Contact class took place all around Wesminster [the section, not the abbey]. It was a gorgeos sunny day, I didn't rush to get there, and was ultimately, in a good mood [after a night of, once again, losing power in all the outlets on the whole first floor]. The purpose of the day was to see the changing of the guard - which we did - and it was inspiring. The horse guards are officially one of my favourite things ever.

he looked at me, as if beckoning to join!

I don't know why the majority of the men in the entire British army are absolutely stunning - maybe it's the fact that most British men in general are stunning, maybe it's the uniform, maybe it's a prerequisite, I don't know - but I thirst to be among them. There's something so romantic about the British army - It's something no other country will ever have. They carry themselves in a way that has not changed over hundreds of years.

I've always been fascinated with the British Army and its legacy. Seeing the royal horse guards and the changing of the guard today was just that final huge burst of inspiration that made me blurt out "How do I join the British Army?" It officially has become a dream of mine to be one of the horse guards, or one of the mounted gunners in the Royal Horse Artillery. I am 99% sure it can't happen since I'm not a British citizen, but I dream of it nonetheless. It would have been an experience like none other! Either way, I went on the British Army website and did some research for quite a while and I got to receive a detailed profile about myself and how I fit in the army and it's mindblowing how spot on it was! It pretty much got me to a T. If you want to see how well the British Army knows me by a couple minutes of me clicking images in vague answer to numerous questions,
Blues are composed and observant. Others trust them to see the whole picture, and respect their judgement as a result. They are reflective, and proud of the difference their mind can make. Thriving on the challenge of new experiences, they push themselves to learn new skills and take pride in what they do.

In the Army, these kind of people are relied upon as calm and purposeful thinkers in vital behind the scenes roles as much as in action. And in a world of increasing complexity they are needed more than ever.

Satisfaction comes from using technology creatively, and being proud of your contribution to the final product. Employers would appreciate your dynamic and inspired input. Being free, on the open road, and not knowing your destination satisfies your sense of adventure. You're someone who will shun routine and, although you may value security, it does not stop you looking for new experiences, travelling without limits. Drawn to discussion and debate, your opinions and principles are something you stick by. In the next few years you'd like to feel settled and secure. You're a romantic with old-fashioned values. It's good to know you can rely on a helping hand when it's needed most - you know you'd do the same when called for.

Everyone sees you as a thoughtful and reflective, you like to sit back and observe rather than be the centre of attention. You see yourself as a pioneer; you've got courage, which will take you far.

You like to surround yourself with like-minded people, creating a strong team.The physical demands of your day-to-day job [kristin's note. see: SCHOOLWORK.] leave you feeling like you've worked up a sweat before it's even time for lunch.

Given your choices you seem to appreciate creativity. You have a distinctive and discerning view of the world that you want to capture. You and your friends tend to hang out wherever. You're an active bunch enjoying the outdoors, with ambitions to get out and about, seeing new places together.

Being honoured for your hard work is on your agenda. You are ambitious and want to do well in a role that makes the most of your qualities and qualifications. You learn best one on one: coached by a mentor. Being quite hands on, you like to learn practically. You like to focus on achieving your academic goals, you listen well and know how to apply yourself.

So, yeah. Also, the army band played "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt while a small child behind us vomited, hopefully not on account of the music, which was beautiful. Then they played marching music [which immediately made me miss snare drumming with the marching band] and on we marched to Buckingham Palace! with the band and the horses. It was wonderful.

Wednesday night, we went to see "A Disappearing Number" at the Barbican. AMAZING. Another mixed media piece. About math and much, much more. I don't feel like ranting about it anymore because I already have enough so if you want a little bit of my words on the show [more interesting than that sounds, I promise],

A Disappearing Number: Some Notes on Poetry & Mathematics

The style of “A Disappearing Number” is surely a new one – another example of how “mixed media theatre” is on the rise – trendy, even. This production definitely is a good example of why this is so. The design is so efficient – There are no extravagant structures or blatantly obvious settings that are difficult to change easily. I actually lost count how many different locations were represented on stage. Sometimes these same locations would be presented just for a couple of seconds. With use of simple props such as chairs set up to look like seats on a boat, the actors were easily able to set the scene and change it in a matter of seconds – It opens up a very significant amount of options for movement, to make what is happening on stage more interesting and more effective. Then, of course, the one piece of stationary scenery – the frame with the shiftable, rotatable screens – helped set a place – such as the ocean, which put the audience in the situation a bit more than a sea-green wash may have accomplished – or the screens and video projections helped to stylize a scene that wasn’t set in a physical place. The theme of the play, obviously, is numbers – mathematics – and this is very visually communicated in the set design. The actors move fluidly like a well-executed equation. There is an obviously romantic tone throughout the play as people and numbers and places alike are all romanticized and therefore, the movement, the colours, the sounds, et cetera must all be the same –romantic, emotional. The different kinds of design follow the different kinds of text – when the text is literal, as is the set, such as when it is set in the lecture hall, but when the text is full of confusion, when numbers run through the main character’s head, this must be reflected in the lights and set, which is done in moments like when 0’s and 1’s literally flood the stage, which as the text turns to a literal memory, the 0’s and 1’s become snow simply by a change in set and lighting and, therefore, a change in the tone. We did not even need the main character saying “Look at the snow” to know these weren’t just flying digits anymore. The technical aspects of this show are as seemingly overwhelming and impressive as a complex mathematical mystery.
There were notable moments in the play when a mathematician was related to a poet in an interesting comparison. From here on out, every small part of the play begins to function honestly and truthfully to anyone with the broadest understanding of life. Any image or persona, once it has begun to be stripped away, grows more and more, infinitely, to an unceasing spectrum of more people, more stories, finally encompassing all of humanity, all of history, et cetera. This is so for just about any form of art that illuminates the human condition, whether it is poetry, literature, theatre, or anything. We start with something small – such as a person, a situation, or an image. For example, I’ll just take W.H. Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939”:
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
This one opening verse gives us an image of a man huddling inside some filthy bar in Manhattan, thinking to himself as the air starts to get a chill outside with the coming of fall. The verses later broaden out to other people – Luther, Thucydides, Nijinsky – and many other thoughts and many other images, but does it stop there? No, surely the message continues to branch out, but in that case, it is impossible to say where exactly his poem ends.
Just as with mathematics, when we are presented with the number one, we are not only getting “1” but with it, 1.1, 1.01, 1.001, 1.0001 and so on and so forth – and endless list of numbers and combinations of numbers which, the more it is broken down, becomes greater in the process. And yet, when we take any old bunch of numbers from the minds of the simplest of theatregoers, they can be multiplied, divided, cloned, removed, added or subtracted, and in the end, we all end up at seven. And it is this connection from the personal to the universal and back again that makes people cry in their seats at the play. All of this is startling, but it is beautiful.

So that's that.

Today is Thursday and I had two classes. In Shakespeare, we performed our sonnets for a small audience and, for the final time. Later, speeches. I'm deciding between Henry V and Macbeth, which are my two favourite Billy plays, if you didn't know. Okay!

I booked my ride! I will be horseback riding through Exmoor National Park on Monday at half past 1. Brilliant.

Tonight was Thursday night! We went to see "Oedipus" at the National Theatre [in the humongo Olivier Theatre, which actually worked with this show brilliantly, and it was just about a full house]. It was really an amazing production. I mean, I've beaten poor old Oedipus into the ground over the years - seeing it, reading it, studying it - and it didn't bore me in the least! It was fresh, exquisite set design with amazing structure and ease, and I must say, magnificently acted by the whole company, but especially by Mr. Ralph Fiennes who you all may know as Voldemort [yes, another Harry Potter actor] but I will forever know as one of the sexiest men alive! He didn't even have to be attractive [which he kind of is] but just exuded sex appeal. Okay...

I started writing this before dinner, stopped to go to the play, and it's currently 12:30 at night. I've just spent the last two hours planning my course schedule for the next year and a half and feel completely exasperated, slightly relieved because I've figured it out for the most part, but still, stress eating me...

Maybe tomorrow, I'll share with you my final plans for BritRail week. They're pretty fuh-reaking exciting, folks.

That said.

I forgot to show you the fancy cup I got at Stonehenge. I love it. Here it is.

Final note: I wish I had my guitar.

Culture Vultures, Forward!

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:10:10 GMT

This weekend we had a new bus driver. His name was Paul, but I call him Witty Paul, which doesn't do his clever wit justice, really. He called us Culture Vultures. In an Irish accent, which just makes everything cooler.

But as much as I know you all want to hear everything about my glorious weekend in Bath, I'm going to switch things up and start with Monday instead.

Monday was a Mess.

First of all, I'd like to say Rest In Peace, Timmy.
Timmy was a horse I used to ride with the RWU Equestrian Team. He was very, very loved by the whole team and everyone who rides at that Barn, or who has ever ridden him! He passed away from colic on Sunday during one of our home shows, which couldn't have been easy for the team, and my heart goes out to them.

kate & timmy at a lesson almost exactly two years ago, my freshman year. rip, love.

Sorry that had little to do with London, but it always affects me when a horse I've known passes away. It's hard for people to understand how close you get to them. Anyway, back to London...

Monday
Little happened on Monday aside from frustration because of how little time we are given to do anything. To give you an idea, I literally had no time to eat, never mind get the sheep poo off my shoes, until almost 5pm because of classes, back to back, running overtime. But I managed to get laundry done, finally. A relief.

Monday night, we went to the ballet! I don't think I've ever really seen ballet, apart from my sister's dance recitals when we were little so I was pretty pumped since I've just started to really appreciate dance this past year. And we were seeing "Swan Lake," which is the ballet. I don't have that much to say about it since I know very little about ballet or other productions, but I did really enjoy it! There were four acts and two twenty minute intervals, which was kind of overkill. The show itself was about two hours exactly, but then you add on the two twenty minute intervals, the ten minute pause between the first and second act, and then the curtain call: I have never seen anything like this curtain call! It lasted at least ten minutes! Maybe it's an exaggeration, maybe not. But every time someone would go back behind the curtain, other people would come out, always in a different configuration. It was actually quite hilarious, especially with Jeffrey's commentary. London Theatre makes my world.

That said.

Bath Weekend!
Friday
Left at 8am. Choppy bus ride, meaning I felt like as soon as I got my iPod in my ears and was real relaxed, we'd be at another stop. First stop: STONEHENGE.

it was a bright, sunny day. this photo was edited.

Stonehenge was probably my favourite place we visited all weekend. I honestly could not tell you why big rocks stacked on another is really that cool, but it is! We galavanted and finally seemed to wake up. By the way, "henge" means to hang, which means the stones are hanging. Give that one a little think-over. Basically, this was my first insight into the really weird things the prehistoric people were doing in England back in the BCEtimez.

we iz in englund, lurnin bout your romunz, bein your henge.

After Stonehenge, we took a quick ride into Salisbury to see Salisbury Cathedral [yes, another cathedral] and grab some lunchage. Salisbury Cathedral was neat what with its really tall, leaning steeple, but I didn't go in. My stomach led us to Pizza Express for a delicious meal. That's not that exciting, but the town was beautiful. It had a little bit of a York thing going on.

check out the leaning steeple!

We then went to see another Henge. Avebury Henge. Basically, we played with sheep. Casey and I herded them into a corner. It entertained us for a good while. The rocks were practically invisible unless a sheep was rubbing its butt against one.

After that, we drove down the street to stop at a giant mound. That's not a joke. This was my second insight into the weird things the prehistoric people were doing in England in the BCEtimez. No one knows why they made this thing. But it's there. And it's big.

Back on the bus. More iPod. Next stop: Bath!

Now I've always heard these amazing things about Bath. It seems like it's always been everyones' favourite trip, and I did love the trip as a whole a lot, but I just wasn't getting this great vibe from Bath, which is funny because there was a point in my life when I was applying to Bath Spa University.

Anyway, after dropping our stuff off at our hotel...
I HAD MY OWN ROOM AND OWN BATHROOM. I don't think I can explain my excitement about that. I relished every moment there. I haven't had my own bathroom since my apartment last year. I loved it so much [and was so exhausted], I stayed in all night after our amazing dinner...

For our fancy dinner, I had a really disgusting tomato soup for a starter [I don't like tomato soup, or tomatoes in general], but made up for it with an incredible guinea fowl in this delectable gravy as my main course, and the rich goodness of neopolitan ice cream for dessert! With a glass of white wine. My fraction of the, um, eighteen bottles that were had. We won't get into that.

Yeah, a night spent in a warm, comfy bed, watching British television, reading a book...Not Bad.

Saturday
I got up well-rested for an 8am Full English Breakfast along with a Total-esque cereal I loaded down with sugar like when I was little.

And it was on to the Roman Baths! This was tied with Stonehenge for my favourite parts of the trip. The temple has been there since about 60CE, but the baths have been there much longer.

Wikipedia explains it better than me:
The water which bubbles up from the ground at Bath, fell as rain on the Mendip Hills. It percolates down through limestone aquifers to a depth of between 2,700 metres (8,858 ft) and 4,300 metres (14,108 ft) metres where geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 64 °C (147.2 °F) and 96 °C (204.8 °F). Under pressure, the heated water rises to the surface along fissures and faults in the limestone. In 1983 a new spa water bore-hole was sunk, providing a clean and safe supply of spa water for drinking in the Pump Room

The baths are very dangerous now in that they have more kinds of amoebas and bacterias than people...in...the world, or something. If you drink the water in those baths, basically, you're a goner. The guy who let us in gave us a shpiel about how you can't drink or touch or go in the water, but if you must touch it, wash your hands afterwards. Well, after much contemplation, Casey and I found a really awesome way around it...

nothing quite makes your day like sticking your toe in really really warm, thousands of years old water

The main bath was outside and pretty. The Sacred Bath was steamy and stinky. The East Bath was dark and empty. Another Bath was inside and full of coins, and let off swirling colours on the wall where there were also video projections of naked Romans. I made a wish in it.

After the baths, we went [first to the gift shop, then] to the Pump Room where they pump you safe and ridiculously healthy drinking water from deep in the earth. It is full of just about every mineral you could ever want or need and because it's from so deep in the earth, it's really hot. We drank it. It smelled like sulfur and didn't taste much better, but it was so worth it to say I did it. Most people had their stomachs turning afterwards - I felt as healthy as a naked Roman!

Following that was a ridiculously long tour all around Bath, which began with fudge and sunny skies and the oldest house in Bath where a baby waved at us through a window. It continued with ominous clouds and tired legs and lots of buildings that used to be theatres, but aren't now. It finished with a downpour and the Royal Crescent, next to which is another crescent where Nicholas Cage lives. And we were sent off to the Fashion Museum, stomachs rumbling at this point.

But this did not distract me from being very excited about the Fashion Museum, as someone who is desperately in love with fashion. And as someone who took a few steps into the exhibit and the first thing right in front of me was The Clash - or their backs at least - The famous photo with Strummer, Jones, and Simonon with their hands against the wall and the titles of their first A and B-sides on their backs. I squealed and jumped up and down repeatedly. And then there was The Buzzcocks, and the Jam, and the Ramones, and just a whole ton of my favourite bands. It was exciting.

Then we tried on corsets and big hoop skirts, or what is supposed to feel like them. The skirts were far more heavy and cumbersome than I expected, and the corset was far less uncomfortable than I expected. It was kind of hilarious, though...

After that, we were starving and Caitlin and I went on a strenuous trek for an ATM and cheap pub. Eventually, we found both [well, not so much a pub, but we got jacket potatoes so, pub food dontchaknow]. Then it was back to the hotel for R.E.L.A.X.A.T.I.O.N. Even dinner was relaxing - We ordered delivery again! Quite delicious.

After that, I was not stubborn and anti-social and I went out with the group to see my beloved London boys. We all went to Mike's flat and just hung out for a few hours. Mike drew me a picture [it's on my bulletin board but he's yet to get me the other half of my present], we watched clips of old football matches [I learned a lot, Bear did diagrams for me using empty bottles of deodorant and Carlsberg, Liverpool kicked serious arse], Dom and I agreed on something for once, we all danced a bit, laughed a bit, and it was a pretty good time, but I'm always kind of lost in big groups. Anyway.

Sunday
Another 8am Full English Breakfast. I'm not complaining.

First stop: Bradford-on-Avon, which is this absolutely adorable little town with 14th century Tithe barns and churches. So many of the places we went on this trip seem like I've been thrown back to the 1800s or something. They're completely what you'd imagine an "Olde English Towne" being like. It was just cool to stand in a building somebody built in 1300something.

We took a brisk morning walk across an adorable little bridge, across some seemingly endless train tracks [if you know me, you know my love of train tracks], and we got to this absolutely tiny little church that, if I can remember, is from around the same time as the Tithe Barn. It seats about fifteen people, which is probably how many people live in this town, including the really friendly gentleman in a sweater, walking a really adorable boxer, and he told us how boxers in America get their ears clipped, and I told him how the only one I've ever known doesn't have his ears clipped - So I bonded with a sweater-wearin quintessential Britishman! Success.

Second stop: Lacock
You may know Lacock Abbey from Harry Potter. But I will forever know Lacock Abbey for APPLE DAY. Yes, this was the perfect day to go because it was Apple Day in Lacock, and ultimately, made us all feel really nostalgic and start missing autumn in New England really really badly. But we had fun - Casey and I made an apple person and named her Titania and the women running the booth actually seemed to genuinely enjoy seeing twenty-year-old University students at their crafts table.

We also watched this old man and a couple little kids make fresh apple juice, drank some fresh apple juice, saw every kind of apple ever, drooled over the candy apples I couldn't afford, and played some games of Hoopla!

making apple juice! the old-fashioned way! delicious!

We then went to explore the vilage of Lacock for a while. I loved it and would have loved it more if there was an ATM. But the whole town in itself reminded me of the Haddam Neck Fair back home - People selling crafts and baked goods everywhere! Caitlin and I split a pack of delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes. And we found a place to eat - a pub called The George Inn [not the same one Shakespeare frequented in London] where there was a stockade amongst the tables outside where we ate. I had a real English ham sandwhich with nice thick ham and butter and brown bread, with a pint of Strongbow. An amazing lunch.

Lacock Abbey was really pretty. Best parts:
-There was the window which the first photo ever taken with a negative was of. Very cool.
-Harry Potter scenes were shot all over the place here. Like I've said before, not a fan of the books, but I see the movies when they're on the tele, love the actors in them, et cetera, so it was just cool because I did recognize most of the places used. My friends who are bigger fans than I were quite excited though, needless to say.

being harry, ron, and hermione late for class. my friends are adorable.

Next and last stop: Oxford
I LOVE OXFORD. I was just getting a really good vibe from Oxford and I really wish I had the academic prowess, the money, or the connections to get in there. I like the way they do their schooling - You meet one on one with your tutor and just hand in a term paper, basically, at the end of the semester.

Oxford University has so many stories. I won't go through every one of them because there were too many, but while it's most known these days for being another Harry Potter location [the dining hall is the Hogwarts dining hall, some staircases, et cetera], Lewis Carroll lived there and got all of his inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland" from people and places at Oxford University. Alice was the dean's daughter, the Chesire Cat was her cat, the mad hatter was an apholsterer in town, and the rabbit was the dean who always came running in late for dinner going "I'm late I'm late I'm late" and the rabbit hole was the door he came in through.

far left windows are where lewis carroll's study was, where he saw alice playing, wanting to go through that door, which became the magic door, and that tree is where alice's cat used to always get stuck, which became the cheshire cat.

It was just really cool because the whole campus is a living story. I loved it. It was a great way to wrap up an awesome week-end.

the famous dining hall.

Also, we were standing on the sidewalk in Oxford, and this blonde lady walks by. It took us a quick second to realize Kate Bosworth had just brushed past us. I got a picture of her back. Funny.

Okay, no, seriously, I'm legitimately tired of typing right now. I have to make a light dinner and get a train at Waterloo. We're going to see "Love's Labour's Lost" in Kingston, and I'm definitely not in the state of mind for it. Alas! Culture Vultures, forward!

When it comes, the Landscape listens - Shadows hold their breath.

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:06:14 GMT

Today:
I was ten feet away from Ben Wishaw. One of my favourite actors of all time. One of the most beautiful men and gifted actors of all time.
I went backstage at one of the most impressive theatres in the world - The National Theatre - and saw all their shops, rehearsal spaces, and cried a little.
I got the possibility of working at the National Theatre in the future.
And most importantly, I got inspired and moved like I haven't in a very, very long time.

Seriously:
Only two things inspire me like this. Being truly, deeply in love. Romantic true love. And truly great Art that moves me, that enlightens the Human Condition, that follows my philosophy of art. Art I dream of creating, that I strive to create.

Tonight:
We saw "...some trace of her." It is in the top three best shows I have ever seen. I had just been asked my Directing style...and this show happened to epitomize it. Katie Mitchell, the director, uses this technique of cutting-and-editing a film of what is happening on stage into a beautifully crafted film as theatre happens. She also tends to adapt novels into these mixed media theatre productions. Unfortunately for me, I had come up with the exact same idea in my head a while ago before I came to London, rejected it as one of my overambitious notions, and then saw it in front of my face, working, not overly ambitious, and the most moving, incredible thing ever. It's up there with the first time I saw "Les Mis." She combined the inspiration from Dostoevsky's The Idiot [one of my favourite novelists] with poetry of Emily Dickinson [one of my favourite poets] with filmmaking [one of my favourite crafts] that resembled Hitckcock [one of my favourite directors] and style similar to the film I'm Not There [one of my favourite films] which shares the actor she also used, Ben Whishaw [one of my favourite actors]. I could go on and on about how much I loved it. I won't.

I bought the script, which is also loaded with stills from the production.

Before that:
We had a tour of the backstage of the National Theatre [which by the way, has three theatres inside it - a huge one called the Olivier, a pretty typical sized one called the Lyttleton, and a flexible one called The Cottlesloe, which is my favourite of the three, possibly because I'm used to working with smaller, flexible spaces]. It was absolutely incredible, just what I'd been needing. I had tears filling my eyes most of the tour, no lie, because it's what I dream of. The amount of space they had back there for storage and for construction is out of a dream. There are hydraulic lifts to carry the sets to the theatres, there is organization like you wouldn't believe, there are separate rehearsal spaces for each the theatre that are the exact size of each of the stages, there is room backstage to have two shows going on at once, rotating by the week [room for two sets back there], and to top it off, they have 1200 dimmers. To give you an idea of the significant number that is, we have 72 at The Barn. Working there would be absolutely...incredible, to put it simply. I asked our tour guide what kind of jobs they offer, who to get in touch with, and she gave me the contact info for the head of the stage management department, so I'm pretty excited to get in touch with them! Such a brilliant theatre.

Between those two things:
I had forgotten my ticket and had 40 minutes or so to get back to the Pickwick, get my ticket, make some sort of dinner since I hadn't eaten all day, and get back to the theatre for 7:30. I sprinted to the bus stop, caught the bus, sprinted from Holborn, grabbed my ticket, made a sandwich in about twenty seconds, and ate it as me and the girls who didn't come to the tour trotted to the bus stop. The X68 bus came, we asked the bus driver if he was stopping at Waterloo Bridge. He said yes and we got on. Well, what we should have asked was "Are you opening the doors at Waterloo Bridge?" because, yes, he sure stopped, but he refused to open the doors. So we therefore had to sprint about a block back to the National Theatre, and made it in time, thank goodness.

During the day:
My computer spazzed out and scared the living bo-jeez-sus out of me. I'm still a little leary and I don't think I'm bringing it to Bath with me this weekend, but I'm not sure. Maybe it will be angry if I don't. I have so much homework to do and literally no time to do it! I honestly don't see when they expect us to get work done when they have us busy most of the hours of the day. Class - Homework - Or experiential learning - PICK ONE, RWU. If we're going to be spending most of our time taking part in experiential learning, you can't give us the same amount of class time and homework I'd be getting back on campus. That said.

In other news, iTunes finally put "The Office" and "Psych" available for purchase, and I instantly bought the episode of "Psych" I missed when I left the States, and the "Ben Franklin" episode of The Office [yeah, the US one, deal].

More other news: LEANNE WON PR!! Yes, I was able to quickly catch the finale of Project Runway on YouTube today and was not disappointed in the outcome. Good pick, guys.

Last night: More famous people. We saw another Pinter play called "No Man's Land" which would have been a lot more enjoyable had I not been suffering from yet another migraine and therefore having to have my hand over my eyes the majority of the time. Anyway, the leading rolers were played by Michael Gambon [known to most of you readers as the famous, the loveable Dumbledore] and David Bradley [known to most of you readers as that guy with the cat, Filch]. Yeah, apparently a lot of big British actors are in Harry Potter films. I'm not particularly a Harry Potter fan at all myself, but I'm beginning to understand why they get such big names, such incredible actors - It's got to bring in more of an audience. So yeah, so far we've seen I believe four actors who've been in Harry Potter. Neat, I guess.

I like Pinter. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Yesterday: I BOOKED MY BRITRAIL TRAINS! Intense. Especially with a migraine. I reserved a seat for all the trains who wuld let you reserve a seat. I went to Euston station and I waited in line for a long time and it was sort of like the DMV. The gentleman who booked my rides was very helpful and very patient though. I mean, I had a long list of trains to book and it was good I had come with the times and trains I wanted already, otherwise I'd probably still be there. I'll share my Britrail plans more in depth later, but I'll just say I have endless connections to this country and there was a long list of things I wanted to see and do, so I chose the most convenien and the most important and I'm doing a lot! Horseback riding! Titanic! Countryside! Ocean! Castle on an island! Hotel room overlooking the sea! Ian Curtis! Arctic Monkeys! Liverpool Football Club! Beatles!

look at all dem tickets!

And Saturday the 1st, I'm seeing The Holloways live at Uni London!! Another favourite of mine, more British indie/alt.

Tomorrow: Is Friday. And we're getting on a bus at 8AM to go to Bath! There, we will see old Roman Baths, Stonehenge, beautiful landscapes, a mound of some sort, but most importantly, just about all our beloved London boys! I miss them loads upon loads. That mound we're going to see? It's representative of the loads of missing I've been doing over them. So hooray for reuniting! Now, I'm going to go pack, be angry about all the power going out in my room except my light [meaning everything in my fridge is going to go bad], read a bit more, and go to sleep for a few hours!

Cheers, loves.

This Week-End, And Other Little Things.

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:48:50 GMT

But stress, mostly.

I'm currently amid planning my trips for BritRail week, which are, to put it lightly, ridiculous and all over the place. I'm feeling good about it because I'm doing it all by myself and I'm going to places I've always wanted to go to, things only I would probably really enjoy, and most of all, it's not what everyone else is doing! Our program director commended me [where I thought he would tell me I'm nuts] because I'm in the small handful who aren't going to the typical cities [Dublin, Edinburgh, and so forth, as cool as those places are, not to rank on those people who did choose to go to those places].

But I digress...Point being, I've never really booked anything on my own and it is complicated, especially in another country. To top it all off, I've made it complicated by going all over the country, doing day-trips in different places, some of which aren't very well travelled. So I'm crazy-stressed, haven't been feeling well - Tired, headaches almost every day, occasional stomachache, but mostly the shin splints and the recovering injuries [sprained finger from when we went to Greenwich weeks ago and twisted ankle from last week].

And I've been homesick. I'll admit it! Sunday was an all-time low for me and I'm, okay, a little ashamed to say it, but the blog is a truth magnet. It suddenly hit me how I'm missing autumn in New England for the first time in my life [there's nothing like Connecticut in fall]. I miss my mum, of course, my cat, all that typical stuff everyone's missing. A handful of close friends in RI/MA. My guitar. My George Foreman grill. Private bathrooms. My pastel set [too expensive to buy a new one here]. My television. My DVD's. The Barn. But more than anything else, my car. I'm a bit of a driving addict - It's a known fact - and, as predicted, I am going out of my mind not being able to drive around. It's an expensive addiction, but relaxes me like nothing else. As sad as this sounds, lately, all I've wanted is to go back to July, back to summer. More than anything. But I digress! Again! In fact, the ultimate digression! Back to the subject: Lets watch.

Saturday
More cathedrals!
We got on a train [a non-tubular one!] to St. Albans, which is not just a cathedral. It is, in fact, a town. It's in county Hertfordshire, about a half hour north of London, in case you're one of those "well, where the hell is it" kind of people. I'll say it right from the start - It wasn't a good day or a good weekend. For many reasons, I was in an awful mood. But St. Albans was absolutely beautiful.

very long street in st albans we walked down.

It was quite the pristine old English town, much like York in many aspects. It was delightfully foggy and I reveled in it. There were pubs named after crests. Fancy door knockers that reminded me of "A Christmas Carol." Milk in bottles from the milkman. Sidewalks higher than the street. Roman walls made of flintstone. And an unceasing number and variety of ducks.

caution: ducks.

We saw a Roman theatre, used for all sorts of entertainment, most likely including bear baiting, and it was pretty neat, mostly because it had been buried for thousands of years. That's when I learned something I had never thought about before - Basically anywhere in England, including London, you can dig anywhere for a little while and you will come to a Roman city. They are all underneath us. It makes me pretty sad thinking how all their histories, their stories, their memories are just buried under all of our trendy modern lives.

bad photo of the roman theatre. there used to be plays and stuff here. use your imagination. oh, but check out that awesome british fog!

After the old Roman theatre, we went to a museum on Roman life. In St Albans. It was a modest little place, but provided a little bit more entertainment as you might expect. I played Caitlin in a few games of "Three Men's Morris," which is, essentially, tic-tac-toe with an acceptably vintage hunk of wood with nine dents in it for little black or white pebbles to go. I won twice before Caitlin began to focus and the redundant draws began and we moved on to explore more. Casey and I probed questions from the woman dressed in period garb. Apparently the Romans were all about bathing, but they didn't believe in soap. They used some neat-o scrubbing method. So don't you go thinkin' them Romans was a dirty bunch!

They weren't.

Okay, so after a meander through a gift shop, aka a wonder world full of incredible £3 trinkets for the little ones, we walked up a grassy hill to see...!

More mosaics. A really really big one this time.

Then we walked down the hill, were told to rotate slightly to our rights to see...!

Another Roman wall. A piece of one this time. Randomly. In a field.

It's cool and all. But getting slightly redundant. Speaking of redundancy!

We then walked up and even steeper hill with even more dogs and children to a cathedral. Saint Alban's Cathedral to be precise. But they released us to lunch. The 'Ca' girls and I found the perfect pub, which found its perfection in its "Beer and a Burger" deal, which was £5 for a burger and a selection of drinks.

We then meandered through yet another English market, looked at stuff, and ended up getting the fudgiest chocolate cake I have ever chomped upon. It was basically equivalent to eating clay. Delicious clay. And then it was back to the cathedral.

And one pint of Strongbow later...

...i found this angle of this steeple obviously entrancing and couldn't stop snapping away at it. weird.

Caitlin and I raced Casey and Noah in the scavenger hunt of the decade. Using the children's quiz guide pamphlet thing with questions like "How many circles can you see in the rose window?" we learned while racing about a holy place. A good way to spend an afternoon.

We attempted to make our way back to the train station at that point, but got held up. Quite held up. For a while. And frustrated. And I had lost my jacket at some point along the way. So one of my favourite articles of clothing ever [a very old, hand-me-down grey zip-up my sister probably got when she was thirteen] is somewhere in the heart of St Alban's. Some day, thousands of years from now, when modern day England is buried under feet upon feet of earth, Futurians will dig deep down, find St Albans, admire the Norman architecture of St Alban's Cathedral, get bored quickly, and then revel in my old, ratty, broken zipper sweatshirt. So there.

Eventually, we made it home. I was angry with life in all aspects. My stomach was in a civil war. I stayed in all night and drew. Okay.

Sunday
I got up in the morning, still feeling pretty down, and made my way with the others to the Barbican to see the London Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal, which was, to me, even more exciting than seeing an actual performance. First of all, you can come and go as you please. Second of all, it was cool to see the musicians all in their street clothes - A gentleman in the horn section was in his sweats. I got to chuckle at the percussionists - the timpani and bass drum players - who would play a couple notes and go back to leaning back with their arms folded. It brought back fun memories for me. And the conductor was a blast to watch! He was the typical "wacky" conductor, but you could tell he knew what he was doing - He had sound effects and hand gestures for every single direction he gave.

THE london symphone orchestra, in their street clothes, rehearsing up a storm.

After that, I walked around the Barbican a little bit, watched pidgeons take their morning baths in the yellow light, listened to London be quiet for once, and continued to walk...for a while. I walked to Old Street station where I was eerily alone. From there, I had a lovely tube ride home.

bathing pidgeons. aw, morning in london.

And I don't know when it happened, but that's when my blubbering began. We won't relive it. All I know is, the thing that made me crack is that I left one of my shower flip flops in York, and I was stressing about where the hell in London I'll find cheap flip flops. Oh, boy.

I had more headaches that night. Ah, torment!

Monday
Class. I got a 100% and a "You're a star!" on my second Shakespeare exam. I also aced my performance of my sonnet. Sonnet 29.
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
[Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth,] sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Damn right, that was all from memory.

After class, I went straight to spending hours upon hours planning my BritRail week. Ugh. Enough on that topic.

We went to see a modernized version of Pirondello's "Six Characters In Search of an Author." I loved it, despite the cheesey but hilarious video of the character carrying the boy right across the stage during a performance of "Les Mis" at the theatre next door, and despite the overambitious addition to the ending that sort of resembled a caricature of a Shyamalan film with the endless twists. But the mixed media idea was great - They really explored the illusion of both film and theatre, and the illusion of existence. A lot of questions were raised, even morality ones such as whether or not assisted suicide is right. Most importantly, Ian McDiarmid - otherwise known as Emperor Palpatine in all the Star Wars films. He was amazing and I kept picturing him in his Star Wars costume.

Today
Woke up, remembered I was stressed, did some more planning [plotted out my activities in Macclesfield and Sheffield], and then went to check renewing my Oyster card and going grocery shopping off my list. In good news, I am getting better at grocery shopping!

Found a slightly more expensive, but much more convenient, clean, delightfully historical place to stay in Penzance [with a view of the sea]. Then had Directing class, which was pretty fun, and two and a half hours long.

Tonight
We saw a one-woman show at the National Theatre. It was interesting and compelling, but nothing that blew anything else out of the water. It wouldn't have been nearly as good if that one woman hadn't been none other than Vanessa Redgrave - Yes the Vanessa Redgrave of A Man For All Seasons, Mary Queen of Scots, Mrs. Dalloway, Girl Interrupted, Atonement, and so forth. Seeing really famous people a few yards in front of you has become the norm. That's kind of weird.

After that, I took my time getting home, walked across the Thames, looked around and saw a man holding his obviously significant other in his arms, quite literally, and saw a really young woman deeply kissing a very old man, and saw a girl with crazy hair swapping spit with a guy with even crazier hair, and their crazy hair blew in the crazy river breeze, and I realized that I do not exist in London. Neither do any of them. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that. But I looked out over the water and felt suddenly close to home, even though I faced France, even though the Thames is a river and not an ocean, air over water just seems to carry so much better than over land and I feel like, as long as I was on that bridge, if I sent emotions back home to the States, it would get there in a moment. So the rest of the way - from the bridge to Embankment station, to the Northern line, to Tottanham Court Road station, to the Central Line, to Holborn, and all the way home - as I watched people of all sorts embracing in all his or her own way, I thought so much about closeness, and about distance. People make too big a deal about distance. I know I do.

And in other news:
I have started reading Touching From a Distance which is the novel Deborah Curtis wrote about her late husband Ian, the lead singer of Joy Division and poetic genius. It's the novel that inspired one of my favourite movies, Control. And it is making me very excited to visit Macclesfield, where Deborah and Ian grew up.

The election in America is quickly approaching. The British are more supportive of Obama than the entire Democratic party. There are posters for him in the Tube stations and, even better, they have written a musical about him. It's being performed at West End London.

Tonight, I made a snowman out of hair mousse. You say a waste of mousse. I say a new fun friend.

Also, watch me talk about gum.
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m256/kdurinick/?action=view¤t=london05.flv

To conclude: Remember that car alarm I freaked out about a few weeks back? It has returned. In its same pulsing, aggravating, anxiety-creating fortitude. Alas.