I don't think I've actually stopped and taken a real breath since the moment we touched down on Saturday! So, here we go, let's maybe get things a little more... settled in this here blog, yes?
First off, hello all! I miss everyone already, but I think I'll survive. ;) Let me give you a play by play of things since we took off and whatnot. Number one, Friday, the flight over was pretty cramped. In fact, the overbooked our plane, so they offered anyone who wanted to, to fly over the following day a $750.00 voucher for anywhere in the continental US that was good for a year, hotel for the night and food as well... well, I was pretty tempted, but since eight of us (out of eleven) in the study abroad program were on the same flight, no one else particular wanted to. So around 10:35, we took off for London. Long, long flight. When in actuality, not as long as I thought it was going to be, but still long. I took some sleeping pills I bought at the airport... which only worked for about as long as 3 hours. I kept waking up and falling asleep and waking up and falling asleep. At least we were on a newer plane, so we had touch screens in front of us (typically where the old phones that you could call someone on a flight would be) and we got to individually watch whatever movie we wanted to. Needless to say, I definitely watched Star Trek. I also watched 17 Again... surprisingly cute and good movie! They also had television shows that you could watch as well. It was really interesting. And shock of all shocks, we were served not one, but TWO meals for free! I couldn't believe it at all. Pasta or Chicken was dinner and then they gave us a biscuit sandwich for breakfast. The breakfast was disgusting, but the dinner was fantastic. Very very nice!
Once we landed at Heathrow, it took us about an hour to get through the airport and get through customs. No one had any issues or problems or whatever out of the eight of us, which was nice. And it was a lot quicker and smoother than I thought it would have been. I'm sure getting back into the United States will be an entirely different story, but what can you do, right? So all of us managed to get down to the Tube (London Underground, in otherwords their subway or LightRail system in London for those who don't know!) station that would take us straight to the stop where our flats were/are. It was quite a humorous sight to see all of us with extremely large suitcases - some of us with two and some with tennis rackets and whatnot - try to get through extremely thin turnstyles since none of us spotted the elevators. Really intelligent on our part! It was an experience to say the least. We met up with Gary as soon as we got off at Baron's Court, who led us to our flats on Auriol Road. The flats are really nice. Not overly nice or anything, but just enough that we'll get by. Sam and I are in a room together while Rachel, Taryn and Krista are in the triple room. We also have a kitchen, bathroom and living room area. It's pretty decent. The boys are straight across the hall from us and we're all on the first floor (VERY convenient for not having to lug suitcases and things upstairs to the other floors!!). After that, we walked up to Tesco, which is London's main grocery store, and picked up a few things to tie us over until Krista arrived the next day... since none of us can cook at all and Krista really can. We get a £50 stippend for food, which isn't bad at all when we're pooling five of us together. The food from Tesco is really fantastic too. Everything in London is so much more healthier and organic than in America. I freaking LOVE it. So Gary continued to try and keep us awake to avoid any jet lag as we went back to the flats, then headed straight out to Piccadilly Circus for a night on the town (well, as much of a night on the town as we could with all of us dragging from an incredibly long day). VERY fun area and I can't wait to go back when I'm awake and alive because it looks like so much fun. Piccadilly Circus is basically the equivalent of Times Square in New York and all of the West End shows are there. We're actually going to see Les Miserables on Monday down there, so that should be fantastic. We went out to eat at a small Italian (real authentic Italian too) place which was wonderful. Gary definitely knows where he's going and whatnot. So we also passed by Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square as well, along with the place down here in this picture (so cool!!). It was a very exciting and eventful day! Very long and neverending, so if you can well imagine, sleep was a definite good thing after everything.
Sunday, we slept in, despite getting up around 7:00 to try and get a tour of the Globe theatre. I woke up not feeling well at all, so we stayed home and continued to sleep in. Which was so nice. Afterwards, we went to Oxford Circus to buy phones that we could use in London with each other - extremely cheap phones that are pay as you go phones. After that, the girls and I seperated from the group and went up to Primark, which might be one of my new favorite stores. They sell clothes, homewares (at least as far as towels, bedding, PILLOWS, etc.), jewellry and bags - so I definitely know where I'll be getting a new suitcase for the way home. Their prices are cheap and their goods are pretty quality, I have to say. I spent £5.00 on a pillow and two pillowcases. Mega bonus! We just meandered along Oxford Circus for a bit of the rest of the night and then came home... to which we got internet finally hooked up in the flats. £30.00 for 30 days which isn't bad at all, considering that it's £1.00 for an hour at any internet cafe. It's a really nice convenience to just have it here at home, so we totally went for it. The rest of the night, I literally spent all night working on a presentation that I had to finish for class the following day. So that was Sunday.
Monday was class, class and more class. I gave my presentation on The Globe theatre, Shakespeare's original theatre and the rebuilt Globe. It went well, I think! In the meantime, even after all of that hard work, it's nice because a huge part of our grade is based on the presentation. So essentially, despite a final paper, I'm all finished with work for Theatre in London. Bonus! Page to Stage was fun. We discussed As You Like It by Shakespeare and Mother Courage and Her Children by Brecht. Very interesting takes on things even from the four of us in the class. Then we had rehearsal and met Joanna for the first time - who is absolutely sweet and amazing! She's fantastic. She's the girl who was added into our cast after we learned the unfortunate news that Anna wasn't coming with us to London. She's going to be a great addition to our show. To top things off for the day, that night we went to the Globe for a performance of As You Like It. We actually were in the section where we were groundlings so we literally were up against the stage, leaning against it, which for 3 hours we stood, but it didn't matter one bit since it was one of the best performances of theatre that I have ever seen in my life. It was so funny and so much fun overall, just... wow. That's all I can do to describe it! And the THEATRE! Everything is reconstructed to the smallest detail as best as they possibly could. They literally spent twenty years to research the original Globe. It's pretty incredible. Just to be there... it's like a trip to Mecca, really. That was Monday! VERY long day, but VERY worth it.
Tuesday, we had classes out at the Rose Bruford college in Kent. It's a 45 minute train ride out of London to get to, but it's an incredible campus. It's so small, but it's a primary theatre arts school. Students go for three years and they have a variety of programs, from American Acting, European Acting, Stage Management, Costume Design, Costume Production, Lighting Design, etc. Students go and they study strictly the topic that you want to go into for the future. It's an interesting concept. But we have two classes there, Global Issues, which is our Lasallian Core Traditions fulfillment at SMU, taught by Steve, who runs Rose Bruford. I think it'll be an incredible class. It basically is comparing the idea of the American Dream against the idea of socialism in Europe, which is so relavent to everything today that's happening at home (of which I'm not happy about hearing about... how can people be so stupid about health care? Really?! And all of the Brits think that too about our country, how people can be so adamant against it when it's the greatest idea for all of us to be cared for in the first place. Anyway, different topic for a different day!) so that should be extremely interesting. And the second course is the Acting the British Approach that's taught by Tony James. That class is going to be so much fun. Tony is a blast and I adore him already. I cannot wait to actually get some acting in since it's been so long since I've done any! Then Tuesday night we had rehearsal for the first time at Drill Hall, the rehearsal space we'll be in primarily until we move into the actual theatre we're performing in. Once again... long long day!
So today, we just had rehearsal tonight. It was a nice change not having any classes. We had every intention to actually get out and see the town... but that didn't happen at all since we all took advantage of sleeping in. I literally slept for 12 hours last night and it was amazing. But I finally got all unpacked and settled into my room today during the down time, which was really needed and nice to do. Tomorrow we have Art in London and then rehearsal tomorrow night. Supposedly we're going to some museum tomorrow - not sure which one yet. So we'll see! I apologize for the ungodly length of this thing, but hopefully I'll be able to update more daily from now on since I'm finally getting in sync with my schedule (and it's somewhat ironic since I just said "in sync" when I have N'SYNC playing on my iTunes right now... no judgement, okay) and adjusting to everything, so! It should be better here on out. And I would definitely upload pictures but my internet connection is kind of dicey at the moment. So later, totally. Look for pictures and things tomorrow! Cheers!
First off, hello all! I miss everyone already, but I think I'll survive. ;) Let me give you a play by play of things since we took off and whatnot. Number one, Friday, the flight over was pretty cramped. In fact, the overbooked our plane, so they offered anyone who wanted to, to fly over the following day a $750.00 voucher for anywhere in the continental US that was good for a year, hotel for the night and food as well... well, I was pretty tempted, but since eight of us (out of eleven) in the study abroad program were on the same flight, no one else particular wanted to. So around 10:35, we took off for London. Long, long flight. When in actuality, not as long as I thought it was going to be, but still long. I took some sleeping pills I bought at the airport... which only worked for about as long as 3 hours. I kept waking up and falling asleep and waking up and falling asleep. At least we were on a newer plane, so we had touch screens in front of us (typically where the old phones that you could call someone on a flight would be) and we got to individually watch whatever movie we wanted to. Needless to say, I definitely watched Star Trek. I also watched 17 Again... surprisingly cute and good movie! They also had television shows that you could watch as well. It was really interesting. And shock of all shocks, we were served not one, but TWO meals for free! I couldn't believe it at all. Pasta or Chicken was dinner and then they gave us a biscuit sandwich for breakfast. The breakfast was disgusting, but the dinner was fantastic. Very very nice!
Once we landed at Heathrow, it took us about an hour to get through the airport and get through customs. No one had any issues or problems or whatever out of the eight of us, which was nice. And it was a lot quicker and smoother than I thought it would have been. I'm sure getting back into the United States will be an entirely different story, but what can you do, right? So all of us managed to get down to the Tube (London Underground, in otherwords their subway or LightRail system in London for those who don't know!) station that would take us straight to the stop where our flats were/are. It was quite a humorous sight to see all of us with extremely large suitcases - some of us with two and some with tennis rackets and whatnot - try to get through extremely thin turnstyles since none of us spotted the elevators. Really intelligent on our part! It was an experience to say the least. We met up with Gary as soon as we got off at Baron's Court, who led us to our flats on Auriol Road. The flats are really nice. Not overly nice or anything, but just enough that we'll get by. Sam and I are in a room together while Rachel, Taryn and Krista are in the triple room. We also have a kitchen, bathroom and living room area. It's pretty decent. The boys are straight across the hall from us and we're all on the first floor (VERY convenient for not having to lug suitcases and things upstairs to the other floors!!). After that, we walked up to Tesco, which is London's main grocery store, and picked up a few things to tie us over until Krista arrived the next day... since none of us can cook at all and Krista really can. We get a £50 stippend for food, which isn't bad at all when we're pooling five of us together. The food from Tesco is really fantastic too. Everything in London is so much more healthier and organic than in America. I freaking LOVE it. So Gary continued to try and keep us awake to avoid any jet lag as we went back to the flats, then headed straight out to Piccadilly Circus for a night on the town (well, as much of a night on the town as we could with all of us dragging from an incredibly long day). VERY fun area and I can't wait to go back when I'm awake and alive because it looks like so much fun. Piccadilly Circus is basically the equivalent of Times Square in New York and all of the West End shows are there. We're actually going to see Les Miserables on Monday down there, so that should be fantastic. We went out to eat at a small Italian (real authentic Italian too) place which was wonderful. Gary definitely knows where he's going and whatnot. So we also passed by Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square as well, along with the place down here in this picture (so cool!!). It was a very exciting and eventful day! Very long and neverending, so if you can well imagine, sleep was a definite good thing after everything.
Sunday, we slept in, despite getting up around 7:00 to try and get a tour of the Globe theatre. I woke up not feeling well at all, so we stayed home and continued to sleep in. Which was so nice. Afterwards, we went to Oxford Circus to buy phones that we could use in London with each other - extremely cheap phones that are pay as you go phones. After that, the girls and I seperated from the group and went up to Primark, which might be one of my new favorite stores. They sell clothes, homewares (at least as far as towels, bedding, PILLOWS, etc.), jewellry and bags - so I definitely know where I'll be getting a new suitcase for the way home. Their prices are cheap and their goods are pretty quality, I have to say. I spent £5.00 on a pillow and two pillowcases. Mega bonus! We just meandered along Oxford Circus for a bit of the rest of the night and then came home... to which we got internet finally hooked up in the flats. £30.00 for 30 days which isn't bad at all, considering that it's £1.00 for an hour at any internet cafe. It's a really nice convenience to just have it here at home, so we totally went for it. The rest of the night, I literally spent all night working on a presentation that I had to finish for class the following day. So that was Sunday.
Monday was class, class and more class. I gave my presentation on The Globe theatre, Shakespeare's original theatre and the rebuilt Globe. It went well, I think! In the meantime, even after all of that hard work, it's nice because a huge part of our grade is based on the presentation. So essentially, despite a final paper, I'm all finished with work for Theatre in London. Bonus! Page to Stage was fun. We discussed As You Like It by Shakespeare and Mother Courage and Her Children by Brecht. Very interesting takes on things even from the four of us in the class. Then we had rehearsal and met Joanna for the first time - who is absolutely sweet and amazing! She's fantastic. She's the girl who was added into our cast after we learned the unfortunate news that Anna wasn't coming with us to London. She's going to be a great addition to our show. To top things off for the day, that night we went to the Globe for a performance of As You Like It. We actually were in the section where we were groundlings so we literally were up against the stage, leaning against it, which for 3 hours we stood, but it didn't matter one bit since it was one of the best performances of theatre that I have ever seen in my life. It was so funny and so much fun overall, just... wow. That's all I can do to describe it! And the THEATRE! Everything is reconstructed to the smallest detail as best as they possibly could. They literally spent twenty years to research the original Globe. It's pretty incredible. Just to be there... it's like a trip to Mecca, really. That was Monday! VERY long day, but VERY worth it.
Tuesday, we had classes out at the Rose Bruford college in Kent. It's a 45 minute train ride out of London to get to, but it's an incredible campus. It's so small, but it's a primary theatre arts school. Students go for three years and they have a variety of programs, from American Acting, European Acting, Stage Management, Costume Design, Costume Production, Lighting Design, etc. Students go and they study strictly the topic that you want to go into for the future. It's an interesting concept. But we have two classes there, Global Issues, which is our Lasallian Core Traditions fulfillment at SMU, taught by Steve, who runs Rose Bruford. I think it'll be an incredible class. It basically is comparing the idea of the American Dream against the idea of socialism in Europe, which is so relavent to everything today that's happening at home (of which I'm not happy about hearing about... how can people be so stupid about health care? Really?! And all of the Brits think that too about our country, how people can be so adamant against it when it's the greatest idea for all of us to be cared for in the first place. Anyway, different topic for a different day!) so that should be extremely interesting. And the second course is the Acting the British Approach that's taught by Tony James. That class is going to be so much fun. Tony is a blast and I adore him already. I cannot wait to actually get some acting in since it's been so long since I've done any! Then Tuesday night we had rehearsal for the first time at Drill Hall, the rehearsal space we'll be in primarily until we move into the actual theatre we're performing in. Once again... long long day!
So today, we just had rehearsal tonight. It was a nice change not having any classes. We had every intention to actually get out and see the town... but that didn't happen at all since we all took advantage of sleeping in. I literally slept for 12 hours last night and it was amazing. But I finally got all unpacked and settled into my room today during the down time, which was really needed and nice to do. Tomorrow we have Art in London and then rehearsal tomorrow night. Supposedly we're going to some museum tomorrow - not sure which one yet. So we'll see! I apologize for the ungodly length of this thing, but hopefully I'll be able to update more daily from now on since I'm finally getting in sync with my schedule (and it's somewhat ironic since I just said "in sync" when I have N'SYNC playing on my iTunes right now... no judgement, okay) and adjusting to everything, so! It should be better here on out. And I would definitely upload pictures but my internet connection is kind of dicey at the moment. So later, totally. Look for pictures and things tomorrow! Cheers!
So much deatil. I love it!
ReplyDelete