Recap

Ok, so I lied about updating every couple of days ;)

Monday, Sept 24th: Make-up Creative Writing class, kind of fun. GRETCHEN'S BIRTHDAY!!! Gretchen, me, Val, Ian and Brandon met up with her dad at a pub and he took us to Di Mario's, this great pizza place that has a shrine to Princess Diana, because she used to eat there all the time. Great night, I hope she had a good birthday

Rest of the week flew by with random classes and misadventures.

Thursday Sept 27th: Went to go see The Country Wife for Intro to Theatre class. A restoration comedy, pretty funny but light on moral fiber. Afterwards (me katie mary and brandon) went to this awesome pub called chandros (?) where we met up with richard, stacy and her date. The group splintered and me mary richard and ian ended up heading to Oxygen (yes, the club with the army guys) which was slightly on the lame side. Came back and chatted for a while.

Friday Sept 28th: Didnt do much of anything... some hefty food shopping, some homework. Made an amazing stirfry that everyone complimented me on (see, i CAN cook) and just kind of chilled with everyone. Watched LoveActually with the girls (and griffin) then watched Double Jeopary with Sonja and Ian. A fun and lazy night.

Saturday Sept 29th: Went to the Dutch pancake house with Gretchen and Ian. They have these AMAZING crepe-like pancakes, but they are HUGE. larger than a pizza. and about as expensive, but delicious all the same. Had an interesting discussion about gender stereotypes. Is it just courtesy or perpetuating a stereotype if a guy hold open a door, or a woman cooks a meal, even if the roles are shared (she hold door/he cooks meal another time)? Reheated stirfry, chatted, bailed on Gretchen to go to a club (sorry!!!) and just watched Sabrina with Son. i LOVE audrey hepburn. I want to be her, but I'd settle for dating humphrey bogart or cary grant. or marlon brando ;)

Sorry for the lack of entertaining stories this week. But even londoners need to rest sometimes

Brighton shiny day!

Ok, I think one post ever couple of days should tide everyone over pretty nicely... and if, as i suspect, I am the only one who reads this, it doesnt matter anyway!

Friday -- Basically lazed about all day (folded that damn laundry) BUT went with Rachel to go see Saint Joan at the Olivier in the National Theatre! Very cool. We paid 5 pounds for standing room tickets, but found seats after intermission, so a steal! Costume and props were pretty sparse, but that kind of added to the atmosphere. Music was fantastic! Live orchestra with singers in the "pit" (a converted box), powerful, haunted singing. I loved the stage! The Olivier is one of only two stages in the world that has a drum revolve (three if you include the temporary one that is host to Lord of the Rings at the moment). The drum revolve is this huge elevator-like thing that can come up or down from the center of the stage, bringing actors, props, rooms and whole sets with it. Anyway, back to Saint Joan, the fight scene was fantastic, as it was in the preview. Very experimental. The ending was pretty good too, not too overdone. Then we met Ian and Gretchen at a club called the Vibe on Brick Lane. Pretty cool, low key, great music, closes far too early. Gretchen and Rachel left a bit early to make it back to the dorms. Ian and I were supposed to meet up with Devin, Crawford, Val, Sonja, Mike, Mary and a few other people, but only Crawford and Devin made it. After about 4 minutes of wandering, we found the bus that would take us to Bar Italia, a 24 hour bar that we'd heard was cool. But then
I get a call from Rachel and Gretchen saying that they are lost and stressed (not to mention creeped out by a weird Australian guy) and they met up with us again. THEN Val calls me, drunk and talking in the third person, begging me to come back. So off go Rachel, Gretchen, Devin and I to try and get back. After an additional hour of wandering and just missing the bus we need, we manage to find the stop and have a bus pull up, only to have that bus driver TAKE HIS BREAK! damn it. Got back around 4, only about 20 minutes before the the guys came back from going to the 24 hour place.

Then Yesterday Val, Sonja, Griffin, Ian and I went to the National Portrait Gallery. They had a very extensive collection, the majority of which were of Jesus and Mary and/or random holy people (some very disturbing ones too). I think my favorite was Venus and Mars by Botticelli. Then we wandered around Trafalgar (did I mention that Trafalgar was one of my favorite places in London???) took some random pictures involving pidgeons and stone lions, then got some food at the Bear and Staff, a proper English pub. THEN me and Sonja got gellato (yummy) and we made our way back for a (boring) early night of homework.

TODAY: We took a day trip to Brighton!! it was so cool! It reminded me a LOT of Coney Island -- a huge beach with a couple of restaurant/food stands and a carousel, and then a big old pier with tons of rides and more food. BEAUTIFUL! We walked around the town for a while, then went down to the beach, then to the pier to watch other people go on rides, then some food, then down to the beach for a relaxing time observing a hippie orgy, (trust me, tons of pictures were taken and will be posted either here or on facebook) then some shopping. Got a very cheap pair of "London boots" which i am in love with. Had so much fun. Love these people!!!

Alrighty, now i have to get some real work done....

London, week two

Ok, so continuing from yesterday's post (i promise this one wont be as long) ...

Thursday Sept 13: 11 am -- Tour of the Senate House Library with several people. Incredible old building, being completely renovated. The books just killed me! I think they said 19 floors of books, only 5 of which are open to the public! anyone who knows me must understand how i was ITCHING to get my hands on some of those "secret books". God, they had journals that were over 100 years old, that you could just handle! God. Had my Introduction to Theatre in London class, was pretty cool. MY MOM CAME TO VISIT!!! I went to go see her hotel, which is about 4 blocks from the Res Hall and we got some food and chatted. Then I had to go to see the first dramatic production of the semester for Theatre class: Elling! So funny. Great acting (John Simm, Adrian Bower). Afterwards, a bunch of us -- me, Brandon, Katie, Mary, Michelle, Molly -- decided we didn't want to go back to the dorm, so we called some people to come meet up with us at Leicester Square, and then wandered around until they got there. We met a very offensive bouncer and some really cute guys outside a club called Oxygen, who basically begged us to come in (hand kissing and everything). Then we found out that they were 18 years old, and were shipping out in the army in 2 days. As someone put it; all they want is ass. SOOO we left and met up with Ian and Devin, and we all went looking for a club that was NOT Oxygen. Whats kind of cool/annoying about London is that club promoters approach you in the streets and beg you to come to their place, its a great deal BUT you can always talk them into a better deal, which is cool. So we went to a club called Sound, where everyone proceeded to get wasted and dance. I enjoyed the FREAKING EXPENSIVE long island iced teas as much as i enjoyed the bonding experience.

Friday Sept 14: Got up early, met up with mom for some breakfast. Then we went to do the most touristy thing we could think of -- Bus tour around London!!! Yep, we braved the shiny red double-decker bus to get driven around all the landmarks and tourists traps in the city. Got some pretty nice pictures, learned a good deal of history, but basically just got ferried around for a few hours. Then we got off, and went to visit Buckingham Palace! It was incredible. Just looking at the design and architecture made me wish I was a princess like I haven't since I was 7 (don't lie, you did too). There were hidden passages, hidden symbolism, and I'm sure there was hidden treasure too, but they left that out of the tour. There was also a huge display about Queen Elizabeth's wedding, as it was her 60th (Diamond) wedding anniversary. The wedding dress was there, and the jewels she wore/received... it was amazing! Then we tried to get back to the bus... ended up get stopped by police since about 12 blocks of street and tube were cordoned off (for suspicious reasons that were never explained to us). So we had to try and get around it by going through Hyde Park. While Hyde Park was beautiful, we did manage to traverse (practically) the width and breadth of London to get back to the hotel. Then mom took me and Val out to dinner at Bella Italia which was muy delicioso. Then that night a humongous group of us decided to brave the clubs again. We all got separated on the subway but managed to find each other later on.

We went to this bar called Fudge, where we all got free shots and I double-fisted it with 2 smirnoff ices. Then we headed next door to a bar called Zoo, where Sonja proceeded to bargain with the bouncer and managed to get all the girls in for free and the guys in for 7 pounds (as opposed to everyone pays 10 pounds each) !!! Long story short, we all get smashed, there was some bar-top/pole dancing involved and a few random make-outs.

(see picture with the pole)

All ended well, except that Gretchen and I got our coats stolen. Only me :( . On the whole though, a VERY fun night.

Saturday Sept 15: Got up early AGAIN, met mom. Thank god no hangover. Got breakfast and just kind of wandered around Trafalgar and Leicester square for a while. Bought myself a pair of those really cute pashmina thingies. Then we went to go see Spamalot! Hysterical! Loved the stage and the actors (esp. Lancelot). Great music, great show, great time. Got dinner at Bella Italia again, cuz mom fell in love with it. Went to bed, exhausted.

(Me and mom in front of Spamalot!)

Sunday Sept 16: Slept in, went to the Tower of London! LOVED IT! I just fell in love with the ravens. There's this legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, London will fall.

So the Tower people decided to clip all their wings so they cant fly away, which I kind of think is cheating. But anyway, I kept taking pictures of the ravens (See above) and my mom thought I was crazy. But we actually spent about 5 hours at the Tower, there's just so much to see! Then we had fish and chips, and then dinner (At Bella Italia AGAIN... the waiters there knew us by name) and then we went to go see the fireworks at the end of the Thames Festival! Fantastic! We stood on the Westminster Bridge and watched all the fireworks over the river.

Monday Sept 17th: Mom leaves :(. I wander around, do some window shopping, get some laundry done, did some food shopping. Walked up and down Kings Road, looking at all the stores, cringing at all the prices. Got some gelato at the Valerie place that my roommate insists is named after her. The usual.

(me and my mom before she left)

Tuesday Sept 18: No Bloomsbury class today, so Val and I get up to go shopping on Oxford Street! I got a REALLLLLY cute long sweater (very london-esque) and Val finds some really cute tops. We go back to the Centre (after a mad dash for MacDonalds), just in time for Creative writing. AHHHHH freewriting kills me! I ended up trying to write the Greek alphabet and any Latin that I could remember. I also ended up writing "I don't know what to write" at least 12 times. Then we got to the writing activities, which were more fun. The most constructive criticism I received was that I tend to lose confidence in my writing near the end, but who didn't know that? Anyway, have to hand in my first assignment next week. Then on to Brit Lit into Film. Love the professor, he's so nice and he's been to dc! he told me he liked the metro system there, it was just like "a smaller Tube system, only quite a bit cleaner!" Talked about Joyce's The Dead. Pretty interesting stuff. Exhausted by the time we get back. Dinner and then bed.

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Wednesday Sept 19th: ummm slept in, was late to class. Had Shakespeare though, love that man. He had us watch Leo DiCaprio in "Romeo + Juliet". How can you not love it? Then on to the National Theatre for our tour and then our weekly performance. The tour was AMAZING!!! We got to see a rehearsal of "Saint Joan" in the Olivier Theatre, and now I am DYING to see it! I might go stand in line tomorrow for tickets, we'll see. Then on to the Lyttleton and the Cottesloe Theatres. Also cool. OH, and I found out that the His Dark Materials books had been made into not one, but a two-play series!!! I'd just missed it! :( so sad. Then we grabbed some refreshments and headed back to the Cottesloe to see Chatroom and Citizenship, two short plays that reflect on teenage issues today. Both were pretty hardcore, I was sobbing by the end of Chatroom. Then we hopped on the tube and made our way back, walking part of the way through the rain. Then everyone else hopped a bus, while I managed to get myself left behind, and had to walk ALL the way in the pouring rain. Oh well. It's my fault for wondering what had happened to the London weather (side note: since I'm pretty sure I hadn't mentioned it yet, the weather up until this point had been in the mid 70's, sunny and GORGEOUS every day).

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Thursday Sept 20th (today!): Had a ridiculously bad migraine this morning, had to go to class anyway. Went to Intro to Theatre, discussed Elling from last week. Went back to the dorm, had FAJITA NIGHT with Val and Sonja (but most just Val cuz Sonja got lost) and just kind of chilled in the res hall. lots of pictures, sex talks, and spontaneous dance parties. Mary and Ian each killed their own bottle of wine, but only Mary really needed any help by the end of the night. A fun, chill night was just what I needed after such a sucky morning.

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So now you are all caught up (those of you who made it this far). I'll try to post pretty regularly, once every day or so, so keep checking back. And comment! so i know who is actually reading this and who's just stalking me :) later

London Calling... (yes how original)

So, because everyone knows how bad I am at responding to AIM/emails, and on the advice of several of my friends here, I decided to start a blog describing my adventures here. Not that I'll be posting ALL the details here, of course. You'll have to email me for the "juicy bits" ;)

Because I've already been here for two weeks, there is no way I am writing down every single thing I've seen/done/drank (the list is far too long). I will try to summarize for anyone who cares; for those of you who don't, I'm not sure why you're reading this...

Wednesday, Sept 5th: Arrive in London, totally frazzled and travel-worn. Get to dorm, unpack in the RIDICULOUSLY tiny (and empty) dorm. Get TravelCard, meet my awesome roommate (VAL!) and ummm... random other first day stuff. Accidentally met all my new friends while Val and I get in the elevator with EVERY OTHER PERSON who lives on the 6th floor -- Sonja, Mary, Mike, Ian, Brandon, Griffin, Devin, plus a few awesome ppl like Gretchen and Zach at the pizza party, and whoever else I forgot. We all bond. the rest is history. Pub night at Cadogen Arms; i get wasted off one pint of StrongBow. Go me.

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Thursday Sept 6th: Academic Orientation to IES, I fall asleep during the lectures. Not my finest hour. Appologies to anyone if I snored during something important. Pub night, part deux: Cadogen Arms again.

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Friday Sept 7th: Brandon and I attempt to get breakfast; wind up walking up and down Kings road and settling for overpriced bagels and muffins. Final registration, travel fair, GUIDED BUS TOUR! Plus awesome tour of the British Museum. Pub night the third: attempted to find the "End of the World Pub" (either we got lost or it was a joke and never existed in the first place, both are entirely possible) end up at Trafalgar Pub. Mary gets hit on by a random guy, we drink beer out of coffee mugs in front of our RA (props to Manny for playing along with the whole latte thing)
(Me and Griffin in front of the Tower Bridge)



Saturday Sept 8th: Orientation trip to Greenwich! Fun boat cruise that left from the tower of London, awesome tour, amazing paintings and architecture. We went to the Naval Museum, and the Royal Observatory, saw the hill that people historically had rolling races down (one kid decided it would be cool to ACTUALLY roll down it, and hurt her ankle... dumb kid). Umm got Mexican food, got lost going back with Sonja and Val, ended up taking and hour and a half instead of 40 minutes. Went to the Globe Theatre!!!! Saw Love's Labour's Lost; man, Shakespeare was funny. Decided Irish accents are very hot. Pub night X 4: Henry J. Beans -- expensive drinks, American music. Zach drunkenly sings along to "Born in the USA". Quite entertaining.

(Sonja, Brandon, Ian, Me and Val in Greenwich)

Sunday Sept 9th: No Idea. Definitely broke the pub streak though. Thank God. My roommate just reminded me that I slept till noon, and then took a 5 hour nap in the middle of the day, while they watched The Departed. Aren't I so exciting?

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Monday Sept 10th: Again, no idea. Maybe I did some food shopping, but everyone else was in class.

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Tuesday Sept 11th: First Day of classes!!! Did i mention I have class from 10am until 8pm, and that its a 40 minute commute to and from the dorm to the Centre? Yeah long day. Gretchen and I have Bloomsbury Era together. Looks like it will be interesting to say the least, although i'm not a huge Virginia Woolf fan. Creative Writing should be MINDBLOWING! Professor (i'm supposed to call them tutors) is so nice, only 3 other people in the class, hugely writing intensive. Freewriting is going to kick my ass though, damn it. Brit Lit into film is going to be interesting, thank god Val is in it with me. Didn't realize it was September 11th until halfway through my last class. Felt oddly sad that no one mentioned it.

Wednesday Sept 12: Shakespeare the Dramatist, with the most adorable old man I've ever met in my life. He's 87 and still going strong, can quote any Shakespeare play at the drop of a hat, and is more active than most 20 year olds I know. Kudos to you, Professor Chapman. I wandered down to Drury Land and buy tickets to see... IAN McKELLAN in King Lear!!! so excited. Spur of the moment, Brandon and Rachel ask if I want to see Lord of the Rings (yes, the musical). So we run to the tube and in a strange unintentional tribute to Sam Chas, Lisa, and Michelle, decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Halfway up, what do we hear? "There are 193 steps. This is the equivalent of a 15 story building." Yes, not only did I take those damn stairs AGAIN, I had to run up them. Needless to say, I left my lungs in the Tube. We did make it to the show, allthough we were so late we had to sit in the back. What the show lacked in music and script (the songs were perfunctory, the actors just seemed like they were trying to fit three huge volumes into a two hour show and character interaction was at an all time low) it more than made up for in spectacle. The stage just blew my mind; every single section of it moved!!! the costumes were pretty impressive, if unoriginal, and the fights scenes were pretty cool. I loved the acrobats and bungee jumpers flying around, and when the orcs came into the audience, it was just plain cool. Went out for a beer afterwards and discussed. It's so nice to meet people who love theatre!

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Ok, one week down, one to go. I'll post the next week tomorrow, and then you'll be all caught up! I know you all are thrilled ;)