Saturday May 29
No pictures for today, sorry. I went to Portobello road in the morning (like I do every Saturday morning) to get produce and cheese. I've discovered a new favorite cheese: Spanish Iberico - it's a blend of cow, goat, and ewe milk, with a very mild creamy flavor, and I LOVE it!
I spent the afternoon at a backstage tour of the National Theatre, and a production of the 19th century comedy London Assurance at the same theatre. (Both of those were with the group). The show was very funny, and very well-acted. It was a little too farcical for my tastes, but then, I've always been more partial to dramatic theatre over comedic.
Sunday May 30
Choral Matins at Westminster Abbey. It was absolutely gorgeous! And during the sermon, I was once again reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have the truth. The whole thing was about the confusing debate of Christianity over whether Christ was human or God while He was on earth. They just don't understand that we had a premortal existence, that he was always divine, and that having a body didn't make him any less divine; in fact, it allowed him to become perfect. It isn't confusing, if you have modern revelation! After the sermon, I studied and compared the first few verses of John 1 and D&C 93:6-18. It's easy to see how they got confused, and how much modern revelation has clarified about the nature of Christ!
Monday May 31
First, how is it already the last day of May? Crazy!
I spent this morning at class, and this afternoon writing a paper. This evening, we went to Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Without a doubt, I can say that it was the best piece of theatre I have seen here. I was floored. The acting was so flawless and real, and the script is so well-written, and the set was amazing. I was literally so drawn in to the story that I experienced the emotions by proxy through those characters on stage, and felt a final release of emotions at the end of the show, like Aristotle talks about in The Poetics. Wow...I really can't even describe how amazing it was. I actually cried. This will probably surprise those of you who know me, who know that I'm quite the crybaby in movies, but I really don't react emotionally to seeing theatre. I just analyze it the whole time, and I'm usually very detached. I just don't care. This time, I cared. I HAD to care. I should just stop trying to describe it, because I'm failing miserably. Side note: we had the most terrible seats...we were in the balcony, and we were so high up that I couldn't even see the actors' faces unless they looked up. I could see the artwork on the ceiling better than the actors. Sad, right? But I still got I that involved in it...it must have been REALLY good!
Cheers, everyone! PS, tomorrow we leave for Stratford-on-Avon for a three day escapade out there. It should be fun!
Monday, May 31, 2010
The last few days in pictures con't
Friday May 28th
Holland park
Pretty to look at, but nowhere to sit and read a book. It was all fenced off and everything was very dense - it had a very foresty feel to it. All of the parks have lots of trees etc, and some of them have a wild, unkempt feeling to them, but they're all still open - you can walk and sit anywhere. So this one was unusual. There was a very pretty Japanese gardens in the middle though. And when I did finally find a spot to sit, I could hear the opera rehearsing. (There's an opera house there, open during the summer). I took a lovely nap, and read a play for class.
All of these pictures are in the Japanese garden.
The koi fish in the pond- there were so many of them, and they were all at least a foot long!
In front of the pretty waterfall
An adorable little girl and her mom feeding the koi bread, like you would feed ducks. That's why I got a picture of so many fish right next to each other. The fish made a funny sucking noise when they came up to the surface and sucked in the bread, especially when they missed the bread and sucked air or each other. Funny!
A view of the Kyoto garden (the Japanese garden in Holland Park)
Holland park
Pretty to look at, but nowhere to sit and read a book. It was all fenced off and everything was very dense - it had a very foresty feel to it. All of the parks have lots of trees etc, and some of them have a wild, unkempt feeling to them, but they're all still open - you can walk and sit anywhere. So this one was unusual. There was a very pretty Japanese gardens in the middle though. And when I did finally find a spot to sit, I could hear the opera rehearsing. (There's an opera house there, open during the summer). I took a lovely nap, and read a play for class.
All of these pictures are in the Japanese garden.
The koi fish in the pond- there were so many of them, and they were all at least a foot long!
In front of the pretty waterfall
An adorable little girl and her mom feeding the koi bread, like you would feed ducks. That's why I got a picture of so many fish right next to each other. The fish made a funny sucking noise when they came up to the surface and sucked in the bread, especially when they missed the bread and sucked air or each other. Funny!
A view of the Kyoto garden (the Japanese garden in Holland Park)
The last few days in pictures
This is the easiest way to do it, and I'm so exhausted that nothing else is gonna happen. Sorry about that...
Thursday, May 27: country walk through Kent
We took a walk through the countryside: it's so picturesque! I kept thinking I was in a Jane Austen movie - I couldn't believe that I was actually walking through reality, and not through a huge time-warp back to the 1800s. I've decided that London is cool, but there's no way I want to live there with the gorgeous countryside just an hour away...I can visit London. I'm going to LIVE in Kent. I'm SO in love with it!
Me at the ruins of Eynsford castle, an 11th century Norman castle. It was pretty awesome!
Rodger (our AWESOME theatre teacher - check out the look on his face...I TOLD him to smile, but no...) and Melissa, one of my roommates.
A pretty bridge we passed by during our walk
Those steps led up to the door of a house...awesome, right?
Our first stop on the walk was a really pretty old church and cemetery, with tombstones dating back into the 1600s if I remember right.
Thursday, May 27: country walk through Kent
We took a walk through the countryside: it's so picturesque! I kept thinking I was in a Jane Austen movie - I couldn't believe that I was actually walking through reality, and not through a huge time-warp back to the 1800s. I've decided that London is cool, but there's no way I want to live there with the gorgeous countryside just an hour away...I can visit London. I'm going to LIVE in Kent. I'm SO in love with it!
Me at the ruins of Eynsford castle, an 11th century Norman castle. It was pretty awesome!
Rodger (our AWESOME theatre teacher - check out the look on his face...I TOLD him to smile, but no...) and Melissa, one of my roommates.
A pretty bridge we passed by during our walk
Those steps led up to the door of a house...awesome, right?
Our first stop on the walk was a really pretty old church and cemetery, with tombstones dating back into the 1600s if I remember right.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Two words: TOM FREAKING CRUISE!!!!
You're going to have to wait for it. I mean, for an explanation of the title. I'm GOING to update you on the last few days first, and if you skip to the end just to figure out what the title's all about, then you fail. At life. And all that. So there. :) OK, so if you really can't stand it, I guess I'll forgive you. But you're spoiling all the fun, I'm telling you. :)
Wow, so I really stink at the whole regularly posting on my blog thing. I'm really sorry guys. I was so good at the beginning too...I'll do my best to catch you up on the last few days of my life, k?
Monday: A pretty slow day. At least I had an excuse for not posting...nothing notable really happened! Except that, oh wait, it was a day spent in LONDON - so I guess that makes it pretty notable! I went to class in the morning, did homework for most of the afternoon, and went to see "War Horse" with our group that evening. It was a very slick show, by which I mean it was full of special effects and what-have-you. It was a West End show, so that part of it was definitely not unexpected. The coolest part was the life-size horse puppets: they each took 3 people to work them, and the actors could ride them!! Awesome, huh! Of course, that means they were 3-d puppets. The puppet workers were fantastic - they coordinated so well, and they knew just how to make the horses move like real horses do, down to the anxious ear swivels, the occasionally stomping hind leg when they're standing still, and the wary neck/head movements when they meet someone new. It was pretty awesome.
Tuesday: Very "touristy" but worth every minute of it!
The first stop of the day was the Tower of London (as a group). It was SO amazing! I really wasn't expecting much - just another old castle, right? - but it was really very impressive. First thing that I learned is that the Tower of London isn't just a tower - it's a full-on castle with outbuildings, impressive walls, a moat (it's empty now), and a history rich enough to suffocate in! Let's see...where to start...
First, I don't know how many of you know the legend of the ravens, but here's a quick summary: if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then terrible disaster will befall England, likely leading to the collapse of the entire country. According to this legend, it was King Charles II (in the 1600's) that ordered that at least 6 ravens should always be kept in the tower. Ever since then, there has been ravens kept here. And yes, they're still there - paid for by England's government, and cared for by a special Yeoman warder who raises them from hatchlings, and so is accepted by them as one of their own. They even have their wings clipped to ensure that they don't ever leave the tower grounds. Crazy what people do because of ancient legend, isn't it?
Another fantastic must-see at the Tower of London are the crown jewels. Unfortunately, nobody is allowed to take pictures in the building where they're held...so I can only describe them from memory. Honestly, my persistent thought was that they couldn't possibly be real...everything is so crusted with huge jewels that it looks rather fake! I mean, I know they're all real, but it's just so mindblowing that it's hard to believe. There are at least 6 crowns, a few sceptres, a ceremonial orb, solid gold dinnerware, and a robe embroidered with gold thread. One of the sceptres is topped by the second-largest cut diamond in the world, called the Star of Africa, or Cullinan I. It's over 500 carats. Yes, 500. CRAZY!!!!!! It's about the size of a toddler's fist. Absolutely mind blowing. I looked it up online last night, because I was so curious about it, and I found out some pretty amazing stuff. For example, the rough diamond it was cut from was over 3100 carats. Yes, that's a figure in the thousands. I can't even wrap my mind around it!
And who knew? They still use these priceless things in ceremonies! The very day we were there, the crown and sceptre of state were gone because the Queen was opening Parliament for the new legislative year. They played a video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and she was wearing and holding so many of the amazing things that I saw on display, including the sceptre with the Star of Africa. Anyway, to sum it all up, the crown jewels were beautiful, stunning, mind blowing, insane, and shockingly real.
My final favorite of the Tower of London was the armory exhibit in the White Palace. It held many of the suits of armor of England's past Kings. I think it's really amazing that people actually wore those things...they're so bulky and awkward, it just seems illogical! They had a hands-on portion, and one thing you could do is stick your head in a helmet to see for yourself how limiting they were. I couldn't see hardly ANYTHING - I mean, all there is to see out of is a smattering of 20 or so pin-head-sized holes in the visor. I can't believe people fought in those things! The exhibit also displayed the heaviest (130 lbs) smallest (barely 2 feet tall), and largest (6' 9", I think) suits of armor ever. The guide said that in all likelihood, the smallest one was never worn by anyone - rather, it was an armor apprentice's final project. A child small enough to wear it would never have the muscle development to carry it. Anyway, it was super-cool looking.
In conclusion, even though it's very touristy, I definitely think that the Tower is a must-see for anyone. It's absolutely awesome. I'm glad that the program covered it, because getting in is expensive, but in any case, I think it's worth it!
After the Tower, I went to Chinatown to wander around for a bit. It wasn't anything like New York City's Chinatown...I guess I just thought it would be, since they have the same name. Not so. London's is 95% restaurants, rather than 95% cute little booths full of merchandise to haggle for. So it was cool to walk around in, and I did buy chopsticks, (PS, they're the same exact ones that my family has - funny, innit?) but it wasn't the hustle and bustle of the one in NYC. I'm glad I went though!
Wow...yesterday took a long time to write about! Now, on to today!
Class this morning - nothing unusual. Right after class, we caught a matinee of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at the Unicorn theatre. It was a children's theatre production, so it was cut down and made flashier and more entertaining, to suit the hordes of field trip students. It was a fun atmosphere with all the little kids, and the company did a fantastic job of making it accessible to a younger audience, I thought. I mean, I didn't learn anything new about the text, really, because it wasn't meant to be a production that opened the scholar's eyes to new subtleties of Shakespeare's mastery of the English language. It was just meant to be fun, and that it was.
After "The Tempest" is where my day got incredibly exciting. Some of the girls in the group got tickets to go to the National Movie Awards tonight. I didn't care enough to want to shell out the $40 bucks for a back-row balcony seat, though. Anyway, they pointed out to me that I was welcome to come with them for the pre-show red carpet entrance of the stars. Since I had nothing else to do, I said why not! We got there at about 4:30, and the stars were scheduled to start arriving at 6. As we talked to people around us, I just got more and more excited - Harry Potter cast members (including Harry himself), Brad Pitt, Sarah Jessica Parker, some of the Twilight cast (:P), Orlando Bloom, Johny Depp - the list of confirmed attendees just kept growing! Well, 6:00 rolled around...and 6:30...and 7:00...and all we saw were a bunch of nobodies. At this point, I was starting to get cold, tired, and rather frustrated. The other girls had to leave at 7 to be seated, but I decided to stick around a little longer anyway. I can't be happier that I did!!! At about 7:15, who should walk by but Orlando Bloom! He wasn't really signing autographs, he was in too much of a hurry. But I did get a couple of terrible, blurry pictures. :) After that, I was more enheartened, so I decided to stick around even a little longer. Best decision EVER!!!!!!!!! At about 8:15, I heard an absolutely deafening cheer from the other end of the carpet, and pretty soon, the message was passed down the line - TOM CRUISE IS HERE! Well, I definitely wasn't going to leave then! He's such a great guy - he signs a good deal of what is thrust at him, and he even takes pictures with people (his bouncers take cameras from fans so that they can get a good shot from the red carpet with the fans leaning up against the metal barriers and Tom right up there next to them). Well, thanks to his kindness, it took nearly an hour for him to get down the line to where I was standing. PS, he's just as GORGEOUS in real life as he is in the movies! OH. MY. GOSH. I took a ton of pictures. I didn't get one with him, unfortunately...I wasn't standing in the very front, so I didn't really have a chance. BUT...are you ready for this?...I GOT HIS AUTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOM FAMOUS FOR DECADES AWESOMENESS CRUISE!!!!!!!! I swear, I've felt like a hyperactive teenager all night, because I can't stop freaking out about it. Amazingness of my life. So ya. That's my amazing claim to fame. TOM CRUISE, you guys.
Well, after that I just went home - I mean, the awards had already been going for an hour, and I'm pretty sure everyone else was already inside. After all, like the security guard said, there are two entrances (essentially one red carpet, and one "I don't feel like dealing with crazy fans"). So now I'm just trying to stop hyperventilating and calm down enough to go to bed. :)
Cheers, everyone!
THE AUTOGRAPH
His GORGEOUS face...and NO, the camera was not zoomed in. He was this close to my face. :)
Orlando Bloom's profile. PS, he's a bumhead. He wouldn't sign anyone's anything, and I guess he was just as much of an unsocial stinker inside, according to the girls in my group who went in. Meh. Oh well...at least I got a sideways shot.
Outside the Tower of London - this is just one corner of the fortress.
Me with the smallest and largest suits of armor in the Tower.
Wow, so I really stink at the whole regularly posting on my blog thing. I'm really sorry guys. I was so good at the beginning too...I'll do my best to catch you up on the last few days of my life, k?
Monday: A pretty slow day. At least I had an excuse for not posting...nothing notable really happened! Except that, oh wait, it was a day spent in LONDON - so I guess that makes it pretty notable! I went to class in the morning, did homework for most of the afternoon, and went to see "War Horse" with our group that evening. It was a very slick show, by which I mean it was full of special effects and what-have-you. It was a West End show, so that part of it was definitely not unexpected. The coolest part was the life-size horse puppets: they each took 3 people to work them, and the actors could ride them!! Awesome, huh! Of course, that means they were 3-d puppets. The puppet workers were fantastic - they coordinated so well, and they knew just how to make the horses move like real horses do, down to the anxious ear swivels, the occasionally stomping hind leg when they're standing still, and the wary neck/head movements when they meet someone new. It was pretty awesome.
Tuesday: Very "touristy" but worth every minute of it!
The first stop of the day was the Tower of London (as a group). It was SO amazing! I really wasn't expecting much - just another old castle, right? - but it was really very impressive. First thing that I learned is that the Tower of London isn't just a tower - it's a full-on castle with outbuildings, impressive walls, a moat (it's empty now), and a history rich enough to suffocate in! Let's see...where to start...
First, I don't know how many of you know the legend of the ravens, but here's a quick summary: if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then terrible disaster will befall England, likely leading to the collapse of the entire country. According to this legend, it was King Charles II (in the 1600's) that ordered that at least 6 ravens should always be kept in the tower. Ever since then, there has been ravens kept here. And yes, they're still there - paid for by England's government, and cared for by a special Yeoman warder who raises them from hatchlings, and so is accepted by them as one of their own. They even have their wings clipped to ensure that they don't ever leave the tower grounds. Crazy what people do because of ancient legend, isn't it?
Another fantastic must-see at the Tower of London are the crown jewels. Unfortunately, nobody is allowed to take pictures in the building where they're held...so I can only describe them from memory. Honestly, my persistent thought was that they couldn't possibly be real...everything is so crusted with huge jewels that it looks rather fake! I mean, I know they're all real, but it's just so mindblowing that it's hard to believe. There are at least 6 crowns, a few sceptres, a ceremonial orb, solid gold dinnerware, and a robe embroidered with gold thread. One of the sceptres is topped by the second-largest cut diamond in the world, called the Star of Africa, or Cullinan I. It's over 500 carats. Yes, 500. CRAZY!!!!!! It's about the size of a toddler's fist. Absolutely mind blowing. I looked it up online last night, because I was so curious about it, and I found out some pretty amazing stuff. For example, the rough diamond it was cut from was over 3100 carats. Yes, that's a figure in the thousands. I can't even wrap my mind around it!
And who knew? They still use these priceless things in ceremonies! The very day we were there, the crown and sceptre of state were gone because the Queen was opening Parliament for the new legislative year. They played a video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and she was wearing and holding so many of the amazing things that I saw on display, including the sceptre with the Star of Africa. Anyway, to sum it all up, the crown jewels were beautiful, stunning, mind blowing, insane, and shockingly real.
My final favorite of the Tower of London was the armory exhibit in the White Palace. It held many of the suits of armor of England's past Kings. I think it's really amazing that people actually wore those things...they're so bulky and awkward, it just seems illogical! They had a hands-on portion, and one thing you could do is stick your head in a helmet to see for yourself how limiting they were. I couldn't see hardly ANYTHING - I mean, all there is to see out of is a smattering of 20 or so pin-head-sized holes in the visor. I can't believe people fought in those things! The exhibit also displayed the heaviest (130 lbs) smallest (barely 2 feet tall), and largest (6' 9", I think) suits of armor ever. The guide said that in all likelihood, the smallest one was never worn by anyone - rather, it was an armor apprentice's final project. A child small enough to wear it would never have the muscle development to carry it. Anyway, it was super-cool looking.
In conclusion, even though it's very touristy, I definitely think that the Tower is a must-see for anyone. It's absolutely awesome. I'm glad that the program covered it, because getting in is expensive, but in any case, I think it's worth it!
After the Tower, I went to Chinatown to wander around for a bit. It wasn't anything like New York City's Chinatown...I guess I just thought it would be, since they have the same name. Not so. London's is 95% restaurants, rather than 95% cute little booths full of merchandise to haggle for. So it was cool to walk around in, and I did buy chopsticks, (PS, they're the same exact ones that my family has - funny, innit?) but it wasn't the hustle and bustle of the one in NYC. I'm glad I went though!
Wow...yesterday took a long time to write about! Now, on to today!
Class this morning - nothing unusual. Right after class, we caught a matinee of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at the Unicorn theatre. It was a children's theatre production, so it was cut down and made flashier and more entertaining, to suit the hordes of field trip students. It was a fun atmosphere with all the little kids, and the company did a fantastic job of making it accessible to a younger audience, I thought. I mean, I didn't learn anything new about the text, really, because it wasn't meant to be a production that opened the scholar's eyes to new subtleties of Shakespeare's mastery of the English language. It was just meant to be fun, and that it was.
After "The Tempest" is where my day got incredibly exciting. Some of the girls in the group got tickets to go to the National Movie Awards tonight. I didn't care enough to want to shell out the $40 bucks for a back-row balcony seat, though. Anyway, they pointed out to me that I was welcome to come with them for the pre-show red carpet entrance of the stars. Since I had nothing else to do, I said why not! We got there at about 4:30, and the stars were scheduled to start arriving at 6. As we talked to people around us, I just got more and more excited - Harry Potter cast members (including Harry himself), Brad Pitt, Sarah Jessica Parker, some of the Twilight cast (:P), Orlando Bloom, Johny Depp - the list of confirmed attendees just kept growing! Well, 6:00 rolled around...and 6:30...and 7:00...and all we saw were a bunch of nobodies. At this point, I was starting to get cold, tired, and rather frustrated. The other girls had to leave at 7 to be seated, but I decided to stick around a little longer anyway. I can't be happier that I did!!! At about 7:15, who should walk by but Orlando Bloom! He wasn't really signing autographs, he was in too much of a hurry. But I did get a couple of terrible, blurry pictures. :) After that, I was more enheartened, so I decided to stick around even a little longer. Best decision EVER!!!!!!!!! At about 8:15, I heard an absolutely deafening cheer from the other end of the carpet, and pretty soon, the message was passed down the line - TOM CRUISE IS HERE! Well, I definitely wasn't going to leave then! He's such a great guy - he signs a good deal of what is thrust at him, and he even takes pictures with people (his bouncers take cameras from fans so that they can get a good shot from the red carpet with the fans leaning up against the metal barriers and Tom right up there next to them). Well, thanks to his kindness, it took nearly an hour for him to get down the line to where I was standing. PS, he's just as GORGEOUS in real life as he is in the movies! OH. MY. GOSH. I took a ton of pictures. I didn't get one with him, unfortunately...I wasn't standing in the very front, so I didn't really have a chance. BUT...are you ready for this?...I GOT HIS AUTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOM FAMOUS FOR DECADES AWESOMENESS CRUISE!!!!!!!! I swear, I've felt like a hyperactive teenager all night, because I can't stop freaking out about it. Amazingness of my life. So ya. That's my amazing claim to fame. TOM CRUISE, you guys.
Well, after that I just went home - I mean, the awards had already been going for an hour, and I'm pretty sure everyone else was already inside. After all, like the security guard said, there are two entrances (essentially one red carpet, and one "I don't feel like dealing with crazy fans"). So now I'm just trying to stop hyperventilating and calm down enough to go to bed. :)
Cheers, everyone!
THE AUTOGRAPH
His GORGEOUS face...and NO, the camera was not zoomed in. He was this close to my face. :)
Orlando Bloom's profile. PS, he's a bumhead. He wouldn't sign anyone's anything, and I guess he was just as much of an unsocial stinker inside, according to the girls in my group who went in. Meh. Oh well...at least I got a sideways shot.
Outside the Tower of London - this is just one corner of the fortress.
Me with the smallest and largest suits of armor in the Tower.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Wooooooaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh....hold on!
Um, last-minute addition to the day...
I GOT A SUNBURN!!!
I just glanced at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, and noticed that I have very distinct burn/tan lines on my arms from where my sleeves ended. (I hadn't noticed until now, because I just barely changed out of my shirt into a tank top to sleep in.) SCORE!!! I got a sunburn in London!!! I mean, how many visitors here can say they've accomplished THAT? :)
Okay...now good night for real. Love you all!
I GOT A SUNBURN!!!
I just glanced at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, and noticed that I have very distinct burn/tan lines on my arms from where my sleeves ended. (I hadn't noticed until now, because I just barely changed out of my shirt into a tank top to sleep in.) SCORE!!! I got a sunburn in London!!! I mean, how many visitors here can say they've accomplished THAT? :)
Okay...now good night for real. Love you all!
You never knew...
So, I've decided that today's post should include a list of some more things that are different in England. Things that you've heard about and can't believe are true, and things that you've never heard about because it's just so random. Besides, if I write them down while I'm here, then I'll remember them later, which would be tres bien. :)
Before I do that, though, I suppose I'll give a quick summary of my day:
First, I went to Portobello Road to get fruit & veg for the week. I also stopped by this awesome little store called "Books for Cooks". You guessed it: a bookstore devoted to cookbooks! Fantastic! I browsed for a while, but tore myself away before I spent the rest of my trip's money on cookbooks for everything from sushi to pastries.
After Portobello, I caught a bus to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. One of those things you just have to do in London, you know? Honestly, it was a pretty silly touristy thing, but I can say that I've seen it now, right? Essentially, they stand and play band music while pairs of guards march around the courtyard outside the palace. It's easy to tell that it's a touristy event, because not only is everything roped off, clearly labeled, and crawling with direction-giving police officers, the music the band played included a medley of Disney songs. I'm not kidding. I heard Under the Sea, The Bear Necessities, and Colors of the Wind to name a few. Oh, at the beginning and the end of the 1/2 hour ceremony they played patriotic sounding music, but the middle was all for-fun stuff. Umm...interesting? :)
I just remembered a funny story. Remember how the random French man said bonjour to me the other day? Well, while I was waiting for the changing of the guard to start, an older gentleman who looked a little confused and lost turned to me and said "Tu parle Francais?" Do I LOOK French to people? Honestly!! I don't get it! Anyway, I responded with "Un petit peu" (a little bit). Mistake. He spoke zero English, which meant that I had to struggle to understand his questions...turns out I remember nothing of the little I learned in high school. Duh. I did manage to understand that he was asking for the time when the guards would appear, and successfully remembered how to say "A midi" (at midday = noon). Anyway. Good story.
After the changing of the guard, I went to the nearby park (Green Park - another one of those fantastic humoungous royal parks) to eat my sack lunch. It was SO crowded it was almost funny! I mean, I didn't go very far into the park, so I probably could have found empty space, but it was fun to sit in the middle of all the London picnickers. Since spending an afternoon sitting on the grass in the park isn't a very touristy thing to do, it really was full of LONDON picnickers, not obnoxious gaggles of impatient picture-snapping tourists. :P I really do prefer places that are off the beaten track. I mean, Buckingham palace is pretty and all, but London has so much more to offer than that. That's my philosophy. I spent about 3 hours in the park, eating, reading, and taking a lovely nap. The weather today was just as fantastic as yesterday - blue skies, sunshine, an occasional breeze. Definitely shorts and sandals weather!! That's really why the park was so crowded, I'm sure. The news yesterday was talking about how the parks are expecting an influx of visitors over the weekend as Londoners get out to soak up the rare sunshine.
Anyway, after I spent the afternoon at the park, I just headed back to the flats. I've kept myself pretty busy, and I was just ready to crash. Mmm...comfy bed!
OK, now for a list of a few more of the unique things I've noticed about London.
1) Traffic laws. I definitely don't understand all of them, but I've figured out a couple of things. First, traffic lights. The lights are the same: red on top, yellow in the middle, green on the bottom. Green means go, red means stop. However, yellow is special. When green goes to yellow, it means the same thing as in America: be careful, the light's about to change, either speed up or stop. (Mostly speed up). Here's where it's different: when the light is about to change from red to green, the yellow light comes on again, so the red and the yellow are on together. Sometimes the yellow flashes, sometimes it doesn't. What that means is that if there are no pedestrians or cross traffic still in the way, you can go. Crazy, huh? At crosswalks, the yellow comes on when the "walk" symbol starts flashing (which means the same thing as it does here - don't start crossing, finish if you've already started).
2) Sausages are a staple member of the food pyramid. The grocery stores carry about a million different varieties. "The famous British Banger" and all that.
3) Beer is also a staple member of the food pyramid. So are cigarettes. EVERYONE smokes and drinks here...it's nasty. I think I'm going to have lung cancer from second-hand smoke by the time I get back :P
4) When you're standing at the bus stop, if you don't hail the bus, it won't stop. If you take too long to get on, it will drive away. They're not as patient as Provo bus drivers :)
5) Toilets (what they call bathrooms/restrooms) are much more private...the stall walls and doors usually go ceiling-to-floor, rather than leaving 18-inch gaps at the bottom and barely rising above head level. It's kind of nice.
6) Yes, diapers are called "nappies". It's not something the books made up.
7) Don't try to talk to anyone (except your close friends, and then talk softly) on the tube. Stare at your shoes inside your own little bubble, even when it's so crowded that you're eating someone's hair. It's funny, but true...even when the tubes are packed, they're usually pretty quiet. Ummm...antisocial, anyone? ;)
8) To get someone's attention to ask a question, most people say "sorry", not "excuse me".
9) There's a significant difference between British and English. Someone who is British is from Great Britain (Sometimes called Britain, composed of England, Scotland, and Wales) or the UK (composed of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Someone who is English is from England. I know, this isn't something unique like "nappies" or traffic lights, but it's something I learned here and it's good to know. So don't call an Scotsman "English" - he'll quite possibly be offended.
10) The first floor of a building is NOT the floor at ground level. A multi-storied building will usually be labeled something like this in an elevator: G 1 2 3 4 etc rather than our 1 2 3 4 5 etc. So, if someone tells you that womenswear is on the first floor, they mean what we would call the second floor. That totally threw me off the first time. Sometimes there's even an extra one in there, like at the Hyde Park LDS building where we have church and class. There, it's G (ground) M (Mezzanine) and then 1, 2, 3. So, it's 5 stories, but the numbers only go to 3. Weird, huh?
11) Vegetables really are called "veg" here - I'm not just being lazy and not typing it up when I say I went shopping for them. You know, like in Wallace and Gromit when they talk about feeding the rabbits "veg" or going to the "veg" festival? Most of the stands on Portobello road are labeled "Fruit and Veg", rather than "Fruit and Vegetable".
Well, I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed. Cheers! More later!
Before I do that, though, I suppose I'll give a quick summary of my day:
First, I went to Portobello Road to get fruit & veg for the week. I also stopped by this awesome little store called "Books for Cooks". You guessed it: a bookstore devoted to cookbooks! Fantastic! I browsed for a while, but tore myself away before I spent the rest of my trip's money on cookbooks for everything from sushi to pastries.
After Portobello, I caught a bus to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. One of those things you just have to do in London, you know? Honestly, it was a pretty silly touristy thing, but I can say that I've seen it now, right? Essentially, they stand and play band music while pairs of guards march around the courtyard outside the palace. It's easy to tell that it's a touristy event, because not only is everything roped off, clearly labeled, and crawling with direction-giving police officers, the music the band played included a medley of Disney songs. I'm not kidding. I heard Under the Sea, The Bear Necessities, and Colors of the Wind to name a few. Oh, at the beginning and the end of the 1/2 hour ceremony they played patriotic sounding music, but the middle was all for-fun stuff. Umm...interesting? :)
I just remembered a funny story. Remember how the random French man said bonjour to me the other day? Well, while I was waiting for the changing of the guard to start, an older gentleman who looked a little confused and lost turned to me and said "Tu parle Francais?" Do I LOOK French to people? Honestly!! I don't get it! Anyway, I responded with "Un petit peu" (a little bit). Mistake. He spoke zero English, which meant that I had to struggle to understand his questions...turns out I remember nothing of the little I learned in high school. Duh. I did manage to understand that he was asking for the time when the guards would appear, and successfully remembered how to say "A midi" (at midday = noon). Anyway. Good story.
After the changing of the guard, I went to the nearby park (Green Park - another one of those fantastic humoungous royal parks) to eat my sack lunch. It was SO crowded it was almost funny! I mean, I didn't go very far into the park, so I probably could have found empty space, but it was fun to sit in the middle of all the London picnickers. Since spending an afternoon sitting on the grass in the park isn't a very touristy thing to do, it really was full of LONDON picnickers, not obnoxious gaggles of impatient picture-snapping tourists. :P I really do prefer places that are off the beaten track. I mean, Buckingham palace is pretty and all, but London has so much more to offer than that. That's my philosophy. I spent about 3 hours in the park, eating, reading, and taking a lovely nap. The weather today was just as fantastic as yesterday - blue skies, sunshine, an occasional breeze. Definitely shorts and sandals weather!! That's really why the park was so crowded, I'm sure. The news yesterday was talking about how the parks are expecting an influx of visitors over the weekend as Londoners get out to soak up the rare sunshine.
Anyway, after I spent the afternoon at the park, I just headed back to the flats. I've kept myself pretty busy, and I was just ready to crash. Mmm...comfy bed!
OK, now for a list of a few more of the unique things I've noticed about London.
1) Traffic laws. I definitely don't understand all of them, but I've figured out a couple of things. First, traffic lights. The lights are the same: red on top, yellow in the middle, green on the bottom. Green means go, red means stop. However, yellow is special. When green goes to yellow, it means the same thing as in America: be careful, the light's about to change, either speed up or stop. (Mostly speed up). Here's where it's different: when the light is about to change from red to green, the yellow light comes on again, so the red and the yellow are on together. Sometimes the yellow flashes, sometimes it doesn't. What that means is that if there are no pedestrians or cross traffic still in the way, you can go. Crazy, huh? At crosswalks, the yellow comes on when the "walk" symbol starts flashing (which means the same thing as it does here - don't start crossing, finish if you've already started).
2) Sausages are a staple member of the food pyramid. The grocery stores carry about a million different varieties. "The famous British Banger" and all that.
3) Beer is also a staple member of the food pyramid. So are cigarettes. EVERYONE smokes and drinks here...it's nasty. I think I'm going to have lung cancer from second-hand smoke by the time I get back :P
4) When you're standing at the bus stop, if you don't hail the bus, it won't stop. If you take too long to get on, it will drive away. They're not as patient as Provo bus drivers :)
5) Toilets (what they call bathrooms/restrooms) are much more private...the stall walls and doors usually go ceiling-to-floor, rather than leaving 18-inch gaps at the bottom and barely rising above head level. It's kind of nice.
6) Yes, diapers are called "nappies". It's not something the books made up.
7) Don't try to talk to anyone (except your close friends, and then talk softly) on the tube. Stare at your shoes inside your own little bubble, even when it's so crowded that you're eating someone's hair. It's funny, but true...even when the tubes are packed, they're usually pretty quiet. Ummm...antisocial, anyone? ;)
8) To get someone's attention to ask a question, most people say "sorry", not "excuse me".
9) There's a significant difference between British and English. Someone who is British is from Great Britain (Sometimes called Britain, composed of England, Scotland, and Wales) or the UK (composed of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Someone who is English is from England. I know, this isn't something unique like "nappies" or traffic lights, but it's something I learned here and it's good to know. So don't call an Scotsman "English" - he'll quite possibly be offended.
10) The first floor of a building is NOT the floor at ground level. A multi-storied building will usually be labeled something like this in an elevator: G 1 2 3 4 etc rather than our 1 2 3 4 5 etc. So, if someone tells you that womenswear is on the first floor, they mean what we would call the second floor. That totally threw me off the first time. Sometimes there's even an extra one in there, like at the Hyde Park LDS building where we have church and class. There, it's G (ground) M (Mezzanine) and then 1, 2, 3. So, it's 5 stories, but the numbers only go to 3. Weird, huh?
11) Vegetables really are called "veg" here - I'm not just being lazy and not typing it up when I say I went shopping for them. You know, like in Wallace and Gromit when they talk about feeding the rabbits "veg" or going to the "veg" festival? Most of the stands on Portobello road are labeled "Fruit and Veg", rather than "Fruit and Vegetable".
Well, I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed. Cheers! More later!
Friday, May 21, 2010
How times change...
You know, it's funny. When I got here, I posted faithfully every day...now it's pretty regularly every other day. Oops. :)
Today was a wonderful day. I smiled a lot, just because I was so happy! The weather was absolutely blissful - about 70 degrees, mostly sunny, with an occasional light breeze. It's supposed to be like this at least to Monday, which thrills me. I feel pretty lucky - this is SO unseasonal for London. Since it was so gorgeous, I opted to spend most of the day outside rather than in museums or such.
I left the flat at about 10:00 this morning, after many delays due to indecision. I swear, I changed my outfit at least 5 times. Why, I'm not really sure...it's not like I had anyone to impress or anywhere special to go. It's just that nothing looked or felt right. Oh ya, and the large majority of my clothes were still drying after being washed last night, which meant that it was even harder to cobble together a satisfactory outfit. I'm such a girl sometimes!
I took the tube up to Camden Town - about a 45 minute journey, all told. I intended to walk straight to Regent Park from the tube, but I got a little distracted. :) Turns out, there's a FANTASTIC market in Camden. I kept thinking "just a little further. Just one more shop. Just one more little side street" until I finally gave up and just explored the whole thing. It's huge! There was cheap food from every corner of the world: Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, even some American. A good deal of the market was clothes: vintage, screen tees, and specialty shops mostly. One portion was an old stable full of antiques - each horse stall was a new miniature shop. Old used books, china sets, comic books, vinyl records, you name it. I almost got lost in the stacks of used books... :) Old books are so pretty!
After I extracted myself from the wonderful market, I walked down to Regent Park. Can I just say I love London's parks? They're SO amazing. Acres and acres of beautiful trees, unmowed grass, landscaping to blow your mind, flower gardens, old monuments, pathways, and (on pretty days like today) people of all ages sprawled across the lawn (some of them less than fully clothed...welcome to Europe, where it's acceptable to strip down to your tank top or even, um, underwear, to sunbathe. lol. Anyway, Regent Park is 410 acres of absolute loveliness! I saw some pretty crazy waterfowl, including a Black Swan. Apparently, there's a waterfowl conservation program at this park, so there's birds from all over the world in the bodies of water here. Black Swans are native to Australia.
Side note: the park across the road from my flat (Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens) is 625 acres. I absolutely love the fact that London cares enough about greenery to not just bowl it over and build it. I mean, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea is one of the wealthiest in London, and the amount of money that could be made by building flats and mansions on that ground is astronomical. Fortunately, they've preserved the parks, which means wonderful walks and loafing about for me (ok, and millions of other people). I LOVE it!!!!
After I walked through Regent Park, I walked to the nearest tube stop so I could get to the next stop on my itinerary. On the way, I walked by the Sherlock Holmes Museum and had to stop in. It isn't free to go in, but I wandered around the gift shop for a little bit and had a laugh when I heard a tourist ask an amusing question: "Was Sherlock Holmes real??" The employee almost giggled, but was polite. ;) While I was in the gift shop, I saw a really cute magnet that had absolutely nothing to do with Holmes. So, I took a picture so I could remember what it said:
"THAT'S NOT MY JOB
This is a story about four people named: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when did what Nobody did what Anybody could have done."
It made me laugh. I think anyone who's ever lived with other people, especially a big family, knows exactly how true that is. :)
After a few minutes in the museum gift shop I made my way to the tube, rode to the next stop, and began my walk down Edgeware Road. Apparently, it's notable for Middle Eastern stuff, so I wanted to walk down it and check it out. I've never seen so many restaurants from that area of the world shoved together! Persian, Iranian, Iraqi, Damascan, Pakistani, and so on and so forth. Of course, since it was around dinnertime, I had to get dinner at one of them. I settled on takeaway something-arabic-hommos. It was fried pita bread, chickpeas, yogurt, tahini, and I don't know what else. It was pretty good, but a little bitter for my preference. I'm glad I branched out at got something besides falafel though. It was good for me. Although, next time, I'll probably go back to falafel. It's just so good! I still want to learn how to make it...I'll probably figure it out when I get back to the states and I can't just buy it on the street whenever I feel like it.
Edgeware Road runs into Hyde park after a while, so I brought my dinner to the park and ate on the lovely grass in the glorious sun. I read most of The Tempest, which we're discussing in class on Monday. It's one of Shakespeare's shorter plays, which is nice. I've never read it before, so it was a little harder to follow, but the language isn't as complicated as in some of his other plays so I was pretty much ok. I can see why scholars have a hard time classifying it...it's not quite a romance, but not quite a comedy either. Of course, some scholars have just decided to call it a romantic comedy...which is funny. I can just hear them: "Comedy" "Romance!" "Comedy!!" "Romance!!" "Comedy!" "Hey, I have an idea! How about 'Romantic Comedy'!" "Hey, that sounds good!" "Ya, I agree!" Anyway...I think that's how it must have gone.
Once it started getting a little chilly, around 7:15 or so, I walked back through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens back to the flat. Since I've been back, I've been catching up on emails, writing this rather long post, and talking to the other two girls who stayed behind from the travel weekend.
Cheers! More later!
Today was a wonderful day. I smiled a lot, just because I was so happy! The weather was absolutely blissful - about 70 degrees, mostly sunny, with an occasional light breeze. It's supposed to be like this at least to Monday, which thrills me. I feel pretty lucky - this is SO unseasonal for London. Since it was so gorgeous, I opted to spend most of the day outside rather than in museums or such.
I left the flat at about 10:00 this morning, after many delays due to indecision. I swear, I changed my outfit at least 5 times. Why, I'm not really sure...it's not like I had anyone to impress or anywhere special to go. It's just that nothing looked or felt right. Oh ya, and the large majority of my clothes were still drying after being washed last night, which meant that it was even harder to cobble together a satisfactory outfit. I'm such a girl sometimes!
I took the tube up to Camden Town - about a 45 minute journey, all told. I intended to walk straight to Regent Park from the tube, but I got a little distracted. :) Turns out, there's a FANTASTIC market in Camden. I kept thinking "just a little further. Just one more shop. Just one more little side street" until I finally gave up and just explored the whole thing. It's huge! There was cheap food from every corner of the world: Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, even some American. A good deal of the market was clothes: vintage, screen tees, and specialty shops mostly. One portion was an old stable full of antiques - each horse stall was a new miniature shop. Old used books, china sets, comic books, vinyl records, you name it. I almost got lost in the stacks of used books... :) Old books are so pretty!
After I extracted myself from the wonderful market, I walked down to Regent Park. Can I just say I love London's parks? They're SO amazing. Acres and acres of beautiful trees, unmowed grass, landscaping to blow your mind, flower gardens, old monuments, pathways, and (on pretty days like today) people of all ages sprawled across the lawn (some of them less than fully clothed...welcome to Europe, where it's acceptable to strip down to your tank top or even, um, underwear, to sunbathe. lol. Anyway, Regent Park is 410 acres of absolute loveliness! I saw some pretty crazy waterfowl, including a Black Swan. Apparently, there's a waterfowl conservation program at this park, so there's birds from all over the world in the bodies of water here. Black Swans are native to Australia.
Side note: the park across the road from my flat (Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens) is 625 acres. I absolutely love the fact that London cares enough about greenery to not just bowl it over and build it. I mean, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea is one of the wealthiest in London, and the amount of money that could be made by building flats and mansions on that ground is astronomical. Fortunately, they've preserved the parks, which means wonderful walks and loafing about for me (ok, and millions of other people). I LOVE it!!!!
After I walked through Regent Park, I walked to the nearest tube stop so I could get to the next stop on my itinerary. On the way, I walked by the Sherlock Holmes Museum and had to stop in. It isn't free to go in, but I wandered around the gift shop for a little bit and had a laugh when I heard a tourist ask an amusing question: "Was Sherlock Holmes real??" The employee almost giggled, but was polite. ;) While I was in the gift shop, I saw a really cute magnet that had absolutely nothing to do with Holmes. So, I took a picture so I could remember what it said:
"THAT'S NOT MY JOB
This is a story about four people named: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when did what Nobody did what Anybody could have done."
It made me laugh. I think anyone who's ever lived with other people, especially a big family, knows exactly how true that is. :)
After a few minutes in the museum gift shop I made my way to the tube, rode to the next stop, and began my walk down Edgeware Road. Apparently, it's notable for Middle Eastern stuff, so I wanted to walk down it and check it out. I've never seen so many restaurants from that area of the world shoved together! Persian, Iranian, Iraqi, Damascan, Pakistani, and so on and so forth. Of course, since it was around dinnertime, I had to get dinner at one of them. I settled on takeaway something-arabic-hommos. It was fried pita bread, chickpeas, yogurt, tahini, and I don't know what else. It was pretty good, but a little bitter for my preference. I'm glad I branched out at got something besides falafel though. It was good for me. Although, next time, I'll probably go back to falafel. It's just so good! I still want to learn how to make it...I'll probably figure it out when I get back to the states and I can't just buy it on the street whenever I feel like it.
Edgeware Road runs into Hyde park after a while, so I brought my dinner to the park and ate on the lovely grass in the glorious sun. I read most of The Tempest, which we're discussing in class on Monday. It's one of Shakespeare's shorter plays, which is nice. I've never read it before, so it was a little harder to follow, but the language isn't as complicated as in some of his other plays so I was pretty much ok. I can see why scholars have a hard time classifying it...it's not quite a romance, but not quite a comedy either. Of course, some scholars have just decided to call it a romantic comedy...which is funny. I can just hear them: "Comedy" "Romance!" "Comedy!!" "Romance!!" "Comedy!" "Hey, I have an idea! How about 'Romantic Comedy'!" "Hey, that sounds good!" "Ya, I agree!" Anyway...I think that's how it must have gone.
Once it started getting a little chilly, around 7:15 or so, I walked back through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens back to the flat. Since I've been back, I've been catching up on emails, writing this rather long post, and talking to the other two girls who stayed behind from the travel weekend.
Cheers! More later!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Quiet...ahhhh
Since all but three of the students in the program are travelling in other parts of Europe right now, the flat is very quiet. It's strange, but it's nice for a change. I cleaned up my room and did the dishes, and the cleaning lady comes tomorrow; after she's been here, the flat will be quiet and wonderfully clean! I miss my roommates though - they make my life so much more entertaining!
In addition to being quiet, today was blissfully slow-paced. I slept in (you don't want to know how late) and then spent most of the afternoon looking through lists of fringe shows to find some I wanted to go see. By the way, fringe theatre isn't a term I made up: there's West End shows, off West End shows, off off West End shows, and then fringe shows. I don't know exactly what the difference is between the last three categories, but I think they're essentially ranked from big, flashy shows in large theatres on main roads meant to attract big crowds, down to small theatres above pubs putting on unknown or new plays on a small budget to a small audience.
After looking through all those shows, I just had to go to one tonight! I chose "Madagascar", which was playing at Theatre 503, an intimate space above the Latchmere Pub. It was definitely unique, which I appreciated. The set and lighting were very simple and none of the three actors changed costumes. The script was written entirely in monologues to the audience, so the characters never spoke to each other. It was very well-acted; I was especially impressed since the actors couldn't really feed off of each other since they never interacted. The play asked a lot of questions that it (gratefully) didn't attempt to answer. Questions like: Does what I remember or what I don't remember define who I am? Do I let the details of reality blind me to the truth? Do I deserve punishment for what I do, or what I don't do? In the context of the story, the questions were really poignant, and made me stop and think for a minute, which was refreshing. Overall, it was thought-provoking and well performed, but nothing to ooh and ah about visually (design-wise).
Time to hit the sack! Tomorrow, I'm going to start working on some family history, since I have ancestors from London. I hope to find some names that we don't have records for, maybe from old parish records or even tombstones. After all, this might be the only chance I get to look for original documents about these people who lived here 2 or 3 or even 4hundred years ago! Wish me luck!
In addition to being quiet, today was blissfully slow-paced. I slept in (you don't want to know how late) and then spent most of the afternoon looking through lists of fringe shows to find some I wanted to go see. By the way, fringe theatre isn't a term I made up: there's West End shows, off West End shows, off off West End shows, and then fringe shows. I don't know exactly what the difference is between the last three categories, but I think they're essentially ranked from big, flashy shows in large theatres on main roads meant to attract big crowds, down to small theatres above pubs putting on unknown or new plays on a small budget to a small audience.
After looking through all those shows, I just had to go to one tonight! I chose "Madagascar", which was playing at Theatre 503, an intimate space above the Latchmere Pub. It was definitely unique, which I appreciated. The set and lighting were very simple and none of the three actors changed costumes. The script was written entirely in monologues to the audience, so the characters never spoke to each other. It was very well-acted; I was especially impressed since the actors couldn't really feed off of each other since they never interacted. The play asked a lot of questions that it (gratefully) didn't attempt to answer. Questions like: Does what I remember or what I don't remember define who I am? Do I let the details of reality blind me to the truth? Do I deserve punishment for what I do, or what I don't do? In the context of the story, the questions were really poignant, and made me stop and think for a minute, which was refreshing. Overall, it was thought-provoking and well performed, but nothing to ooh and ah about visually (design-wise).
Time to hit the sack! Tomorrow, I'm going to start working on some family history, since I have ancestors from London. I hope to find some names that we don't have records for, maybe from old parish records or even tombstones. After all, this might be the only chance I get to look for original documents about these people who lived here 2 or 3 or even 4hundred years ago! Wish me luck!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Goal: chill at a bar/club. Status: mission accomplished!
I know, I know, I've missed two days in a row...I'm really sorry! But I've had some really late nights, and I've been really busy, and excuses excuses excuses.
Quick summary of the days I missed:
Sunday: spiritual, wonderful, relaxing, beautiful!
Monday: class, homework, run in Kensington Gardens
Now, a real blog post for today!
We had class this morning, which is unusual, because it's Tuesday. Why did we have class today, you ask? I will 'splain. Tomorrow (Wednesday, when we usually have class) through Saturday is the scheduled travel weekend, so we have no shows to see, assignments due, classes to attend, etc. There's a big group going to Ireland and Scotland, some people are going to Paris, and I think a small group is going to Spain. Anyway, I've decided to stay in London and enjoy a few unscheduled days: first, because I'm poor, and second, because I don't have the energy to plan a separate trip, and third, because there's SO much to do here that I don't feel a need to go somewhere else. There's only two other people staying here, so the flat will be very empty. Bonus: I can go to sleep and get up whenever I want, and the dirty dishes won't accumulate so fast. Seriously, you thought that living in an apartment with 5 other college students (or in a house with 10 other people) made a lot of dishes? Try living in a flat with 20 other people and ONE kitchen.
Moving on. After the anomaly of Tuesday class, I came back to the flat and wrote the paper that was due at 5pm today. And I finished it before 4! Aren't you proud of me? That's an entire hour early!
After class, I went to Primark (the Kohls of London) with Courtney, and bought a new outfit for tonight. It was an absolute madhouse, I kid you not. I've decided that I really don't like it, as a store. Not because it doesn't have fabulous prices and cute clothes, but because it doesn't feel like London to me. It isn't a cute little street vendor with one-of-a-kind merchandise. It isn't an upscale boutique near Kensington Palace. It's boring. I mean, I got a cute outfit, and I'm happy with it, but I probably won't go back!
After Primark, I ran back to the flat, wolfed down some leftover meatballs, and headed to the Old Vic theatre to see Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing". Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly impressed with this production. The script is fantastic, the set designer did some really interesting and innovative things, and the director created excellent stage pictures; however, I was disappointed in all of the actors. Since I tend to pay more attention to the acting than to any other element - which is only fair; I am an actor myself - I just didn't enjoy the production as much as I wish I could have. I learned from it though, and that means that it was a worthwhile theatre experience. And it definitely wasn't nearly as bad as Midsummer Night's Dream. *phew!*
After the show was, without a doubt, the highlight of my day. I left the Old Vic and went to a little bar underneath the Lyceum theatre, where I met up with two of the choir study abroad students and an awesome girl we met at the fireside our first Sunday here. Here's the secret: every Tuesday night at the Cellar Door (the name of the bar/pub) is Broadway open mic night! AWESOME! The three of them sang, but I didn't get my name on the list fast enough, so I didn't get the chance...sad! We're all going again next week though, and I'll be sure to get my name on there this time. Oh ya, and practice a song before I go, so that I don't make a fool of myself! PS, I swear there wasn't a straight man in there, except Logan (from the choir program). Well, it is Broadway open mic night. What was I expecting, right? To sum it all up, the three people I was with are a lot of fun, and the atmosphere was great, and it was just an all-around fun experience. I'm glad that I went, and I'm glad that I was patient enough to find the dumb place. That's a story in itself...
*insert "finding it" story*
Their website says they're underneath the Aldwych theatre. The girl we met at the fireside who recommended it to us said it was underneath the Lyceum theatre. Turns out, it's just a random staircase going down into the sidewalk on a street corner between the two theatres. No joke. So, after I spent about 10 minutes wandering around the Aldwych theatre (while trying to stay in the light and NOT look like I was lost, because it was nearly 11pm and I was alone...um, sketchy!) I decided to wander down towards where I thought the Lyceum was. Fortunately, my Heavenly Father loves me, and He responded to my prayer for directions by practically ramming my nose into the staircase leading to it. It was, well, exciting?
*end of "finding it" story*
Well, I'd better hit the sack. It's 2:20am and I'm absolutely exhausted!!! I love you all, don't forget to write me, and never follow a mysterious light when you're walking through a forest at midnight.
Michelle, Logan, and me in front of the entrance to the Cellar Door (the bar we went to)
Me and Michelle inside the Cellar Door
I realized today that I don't think I've posted any pictures of our flats...so here you are! This is the view from across the street, right inside Kensington Gardens. Isn't it a cute building?
Quick summary of the days I missed:
Sunday: spiritual, wonderful, relaxing, beautiful!
Monday: class, homework, run in Kensington Gardens
Now, a real blog post for today!
We had class this morning, which is unusual, because it's Tuesday. Why did we have class today, you ask? I will 'splain. Tomorrow (Wednesday, when we usually have class) through Saturday is the scheduled travel weekend, so we have no shows to see, assignments due, classes to attend, etc. There's a big group going to Ireland and Scotland, some people are going to Paris, and I think a small group is going to Spain. Anyway, I've decided to stay in London and enjoy a few unscheduled days: first, because I'm poor, and second, because I don't have the energy to plan a separate trip, and third, because there's SO much to do here that I don't feel a need to go somewhere else. There's only two other people staying here, so the flat will be very empty. Bonus: I can go to sleep and get up whenever I want, and the dirty dishes won't accumulate so fast. Seriously, you thought that living in an apartment with 5 other college students (or in a house with 10 other people) made a lot of dishes? Try living in a flat with 20 other people and ONE kitchen.
Moving on. After the anomaly of Tuesday class, I came back to the flat and wrote the paper that was due at 5pm today. And I finished it before 4! Aren't you proud of me? That's an entire hour early!
After class, I went to Primark (the Kohls of London) with Courtney, and bought a new outfit for tonight. It was an absolute madhouse, I kid you not. I've decided that I really don't like it, as a store. Not because it doesn't have fabulous prices and cute clothes, but because it doesn't feel like London to me. It isn't a cute little street vendor with one-of-a-kind merchandise. It isn't an upscale boutique near Kensington Palace. It's boring. I mean, I got a cute outfit, and I'm happy with it, but I probably won't go back!
After Primark, I ran back to the flat, wolfed down some leftover meatballs, and headed to the Old Vic theatre to see Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing". Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly impressed with this production. The script is fantastic, the set designer did some really interesting and innovative things, and the director created excellent stage pictures; however, I was disappointed in all of the actors. Since I tend to pay more attention to the acting than to any other element - which is only fair; I am an actor myself - I just didn't enjoy the production as much as I wish I could have. I learned from it though, and that means that it was a worthwhile theatre experience. And it definitely wasn't nearly as bad as Midsummer Night's Dream. *phew!*
After the show was, without a doubt, the highlight of my day. I left the Old Vic and went to a little bar underneath the Lyceum theatre, where I met up with two of the choir study abroad students and an awesome girl we met at the fireside our first Sunday here. Here's the secret: every Tuesday night at the Cellar Door (the name of the bar/pub) is Broadway open mic night! AWESOME! The three of them sang, but I didn't get my name on the list fast enough, so I didn't get the chance...sad! We're all going again next week though, and I'll be sure to get my name on there this time. Oh ya, and practice a song before I go, so that I don't make a fool of myself! PS, I swear there wasn't a straight man in there, except Logan (from the choir program). Well, it is Broadway open mic night. What was I expecting, right? To sum it all up, the three people I was with are a lot of fun, and the atmosphere was great, and it was just an all-around fun experience. I'm glad that I went, and I'm glad that I was patient enough to find the dumb place. That's a story in itself...
*insert "finding it" story*
Their website says they're underneath the Aldwych theatre. The girl we met at the fireside who recommended it to us said it was underneath the Lyceum theatre. Turns out, it's just a random staircase going down into the sidewalk on a street corner between the two theatres. No joke. So, after I spent about 10 minutes wandering around the Aldwych theatre (while trying to stay in the light and NOT look like I was lost, because it was nearly 11pm and I was alone...um, sketchy!) I decided to wander down towards where I thought the Lyceum was. Fortunately, my Heavenly Father loves me, and He responded to my prayer for directions by practically ramming my nose into the staircase leading to it. It was, well, exciting?
*end of "finding it" story*
Well, I'd better hit the sack. It's 2:20am and I'm absolutely exhausted!!! I love you all, don't forget to write me, and never follow a mysterious light when you're walking through a forest at midnight.
Michelle, Logan, and me in front of the entrance to the Cellar Door (the bar we went to)
Me and Michelle inside the Cellar Door
I realized today that I don't think I've posted any pictures of our flats...so here you are! This is the view from across the street, right inside Kensington Gardens. Isn't it a cute building?
Saturday, May 15, 2010
What is this unfamiliar bright light coming from the sky?
Guess what? It was actually sunny today! There were only a few clouds in the sky, the breeze was minimal, and I was comfortable without a jacket. Miracles do happen!! Since it was so nice, I spent as much of the day outside as possible.
I went to Portobello Road market (again) this morning, to buy produce and cheese for the week, since it's so cheap there. I really love that place. It's got such a fun atmosphere! While I was there, I had a monumental lunch. Are you ready to hear why? Here goes:
Before I left for London, I was retested to check on the progress of my intestinal issues and allergies. The results came back this week, and Mom went to the doctor to talk about them. As it turns out, I've actually made progress! 1st, the candida is gone, which means I can once again eat yeast and sugar!!! (Farewell to that flatter tummy that I have grown to love, right? haha) The test also came back saying that I am no longer sensitive to gluten. Now, I'm not sure I trust that once, because I haven't been eating gluten for months. So naturally, there won't be any damage or anti-gluten reactions inside me for the test to pick up on. But the doctor said I could try eating it once every four days or so, and see how I feel.
So, with those exciting results, I went all-out at Portobello for lunch. It was awesome! I had a falafel (amazing deep-fried chickpea patties) pita bread wrap, and a huge crepe with nutella. It's amazing how forbidden that meal was yesterday. It tasted really good! Except I made myself a little sick with the crepe...it was really big, but I had it in front of me, so of course I ate the whole thing. lol...nice job on the self-control there, sweetheart.
After Portobello, I came back to the flats to drop off my purchases, took a 10-minute powernap, and left for Eurydice at the Young Vic theatre. It was definitely an interesting production. The script is a new retelling of the classic Greek story about Eurydice and Orpheus. PS, Eurydice is pronounced yer-id-ih-see, for those like me who had no idea. :) The acting was mostly good; there were only two actors that I just couldn't connect with. On the whole, it wasn't blow-my-mind fantastic, but it was well done and interesting.
Since Eurydice was a matinee, I had a few hours of daylight left when it was over. I chose to spend them reading for class in Kensington Gardens, since the weather was still so gorgeous. Two wonderful hours later, I'd finished the play I needed to read, done some scripture study, and been asked out to coffee. I feel a story coming on...
Before I sat down to read, I meandered through the park for a few minutes looking for the perfect spot of grass to settle down on. As I was about to turn on to a new pathway to wander down, I heard a voice say "bonjour!" Lo and behold, he was talking to me. Instinctually, I responded in kind, in my best friendly french "bonjour!" He stopped, and with a rather surprised look said "parlez francais?" to which I replied "Un peu" (a little). Gratefully, he began speaking in English after that. We had a short conversation - he asked me where I was from, told me he was from France (but had just left Rome, where he had stayed for a while before coming to England), asked me what I was doing here, how I liked it, etc. Then he said "do you like cappucino?" I told him that I actually don't drink coffee, which he quickly responded to with "how about soft drinks?" I stammered out a yes; by this point I knew where the conversation was going, and I was flattered but a little shocked and nervous. Anyway, at that point he said straight out that he was going for a cup of coffee and asked if I wanted to come. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a quick "Thank you, but I actually have to go study" (which made sense, because I told him I was here studying). I dunno, I just might have gone if he hadn't looked, like, 40. And hadn't been smoking. Why can't I be asked out to coffee by a hot English 20-something? lol. This makes for a good story anyway. :)
Well, that's all for today, folks. Now I really need to write that dumb reading response. :)
I went to Portobello Road market (again) this morning, to buy produce and cheese for the week, since it's so cheap there. I really love that place. It's got such a fun atmosphere! While I was there, I had a monumental lunch. Are you ready to hear why? Here goes:
Before I left for London, I was retested to check on the progress of my intestinal issues and allergies. The results came back this week, and Mom went to the doctor to talk about them. As it turns out, I've actually made progress! 1st, the candida is gone, which means I can once again eat yeast and sugar!!! (Farewell to that flatter tummy that I have grown to love, right? haha) The test also came back saying that I am no longer sensitive to gluten. Now, I'm not sure I trust that once, because I haven't been eating gluten for months. So naturally, there won't be any damage or anti-gluten reactions inside me for the test to pick up on. But the doctor said I could try eating it once every four days or so, and see how I feel.
So, with those exciting results, I went all-out at Portobello for lunch. It was awesome! I had a falafel (amazing deep-fried chickpea patties) pita bread wrap, and a huge crepe with nutella. It's amazing how forbidden that meal was yesterday. It tasted really good! Except I made myself a little sick with the crepe...it was really big, but I had it in front of me, so of course I ate the whole thing. lol...nice job on the self-control there, sweetheart.
After Portobello, I came back to the flats to drop off my purchases, took a 10-minute powernap, and left for Eurydice at the Young Vic theatre. It was definitely an interesting production. The script is a new retelling of the classic Greek story about Eurydice and Orpheus. PS, Eurydice is pronounced yer-id-ih-see, for those like me who had no idea. :) The acting was mostly good; there were only two actors that I just couldn't connect with. On the whole, it wasn't blow-my-mind fantastic, but it was well done and interesting.
Since Eurydice was a matinee, I had a few hours of daylight left when it was over. I chose to spend them reading for class in Kensington Gardens, since the weather was still so gorgeous. Two wonderful hours later, I'd finished the play I needed to read, done some scripture study, and been asked out to coffee. I feel a story coming on...
Before I sat down to read, I meandered through the park for a few minutes looking for the perfect spot of grass to settle down on. As I was about to turn on to a new pathway to wander down, I heard a voice say "bonjour!" Lo and behold, he was talking to me. Instinctually, I responded in kind, in my best friendly french "bonjour!" He stopped, and with a rather surprised look said "parlez francais?" to which I replied "Un peu" (a little). Gratefully, he began speaking in English after that. We had a short conversation - he asked me where I was from, told me he was from France (but had just left Rome, where he had stayed for a while before coming to England), asked me what I was doing here, how I liked it, etc. Then he said "do you like cappucino?" I told him that I actually don't drink coffee, which he quickly responded to with "how about soft drinks?" I stammered out a yes; by this point I knew where the conversation was going, and I was flattered but a little shocked and nervous. Anyway, at that point he said straight out that he was going for a cup of coffee and asked if I wanted to come. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a quick "Thank you, but I actually have to go study" (which made sense, because I told him I was here studying). I dunno, I just might have gone if he hadn't looked, like, 40. And hadn't been smoking. Why can't I be asked out to coffee by a hot English 20-something? lol. This makes for a good story anyway. :)
Well, that's all for today, folks. Now I really need to write that dumb reading response. :)
Friday, May 14, 2010
Last night and today
After I posted yesterday, I had a few more adventures. Here they are:
First, I did my laundry in the tub. I really didn't want to pay to do laundry (it costs the equivalent of $6 for one load washed and dried) so I decided to just get some detergent and scrub away here at the flats. It was actually kind of fun...I dumped a bunch of my clothes into the dub, rolled up my pants, and squished them around (all the while laughing because I kept picturing Lucy in the grape-press...). I only got about halfway through before I had to leave for the Globe tour though, so I think I'll finish tonight, after I post this and do some homework.
The Globe tour actually covered a lot more than the Globe: we walked around the area and saw the currently-being-excavated remains of the original Rose theatre, the site of the original Globe, and or course, the Globe itself. Here's an interesting did-you-know: the new Globe was built out of the same materials the old Globe would have been built with - mostly English Oak and plaster. The plaster in Shakespeare's time was made out of limestone, cow hair, and something else. However, for the new Globe, they couldn't use cow hair - instead, they used cashmere. Ummm...designer theatre? I thought that was funny.
After the tour, I went to Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. Usually, there's an entrance fee to see the cathedral, but they don't charge if you come worship with them. You also don't get to see the whole cathedral if you just do a worship service, but you can see a decent portion of it. As I walked in for evensong, I was handed a program that contained the words to all the prayers and songs, including the things the congregation is supposed to say in bold. I was grateful to have it written out, because otherwise I would have felt really lost... It's a complicated service! Stand here, sit here, sing along here, say amen here but not here, etc. Anyway, it was really beautiful, and I'm glad that I was able to go. The choir was all male, with young boys and grown men. The little boys sang the soprano part gloriously! It was so fun to listen to! The reverb underneath that dome is stunning - it must be really fun to sing under as a choir. The choir director had his work cut out for him though, to keep them all in time with such a lengthy reverb. He used a lot of very choppy, definitive movements rather than flowery, expressive stuff.
Aside from the beauty of the music and ceremony, I really appreciated one thing about going to evensong: I was able to draw closer to my Heavenly Father by a witness from his Holy Spirit that my religion has the full truth. I am so blessed! I wanted to stand and shout my testimony a couple of times during the brief sermon about the ascension of Christ, because I couldn't stand that I knew what Christ's plan for His church was for after He left this earth, and these good people didn't know. All they could say was that the day of ascension was (and is, as it is remembered every year) a day of sadness and mystery.
After evensong, it was time for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Globe (with the study abroad group). Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. The actors were all playing for laughs (which never works - when you think/know you're funny, you never are). Part of this "look at me, I'm so funny" attitude translated into awful over-acting, especially (and sadly) for Puck. There was also an unnecessary amount of awkward innuendo. :P Anyway, we were all really disappointed with it, and left much more soberly than we left "Taking Steps" the night before.
*phew* Done with yesterday! Now, on to today:
Today was an entirely free day - we had nothing planned as a group. Not even a show, or any homework due...crazy! So I got to choose-my-own-adventure today.
I got out of bed at about 9, showered, and got ready for the day. At about 10, I left for the day armed with my trusty map, a waterbottle, some snacks, and my tube pass. First stop: Borough Market. It's an entirely food market, open Th-Sat. Wow! It was really impressive. Very artesian. I saw buckets of more varieties of olives than I ever imagined existed, piles of artesian breads, rows of exotic spices, counters of organic meats, and iced piles of fresh seafood; tasted some delicious sugar/gluten-free granola and $20-25/lb cheeses(hooray free samples); smelled ostrich burgers cooking; and drooled over gourmet cheesecakes and handmade chocolates. Unfortunately, it was all really expensive...but it was fun to look at and taste-test!
I bought a cup of soup from Pret on my way to the Tate Modern - the next stop on my itinerary. Pret is one of London's most common fast-food restaurants. It's everywhere! It's a sandwich/salad/soup place. Let me tell you - this beats McDonalds or Taco Bell ANY day! I only wish we could catch on in the states and replace our nasty greasy fast food with stuff like this. They pride themselves in being free from all artificial additives, and advertise it everywhere. The pre-made sandwiches included spicy prawn, houmus and tabouleh, and chicken tikka; the salads were just as yummy-sounding. Anyway. For fast food chains, London definitely takes the cake in my experience. :)
After lunch and people-watching, I went to the modern art museum Tate Modern: another one of London's fabulous government subsidized museums. (Government subsidized = free entry!) I tend to prefer modern art to classical art, and this museum was no exception. Granted, there are some modern art movements that I don't understand (like cubism) but I love impressionism, geometric art, and whatever Kandinsky's art is called.
While I wandered through the exhibits, I encountered the best-ever surprise highlight of the day entirely by accident. Ready? The Tate Modern currently houses Monet's "Water-Lilies" which is only my FAVORITE EVER IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING!!!! I had NO idea it was here - I just walked into another room on my way through the floor, and there it was. I almost fell over in shock! It's even more beautiful in real life.
I discovered a new artist to add to my list of favorites: his name is Victor Pasmore. This particular exhibit held five or six of his ink-and-paper prints. His particular style of abstraction just speaks to me more than most abstract art. I loved the energy in his works, and the way he used imperfect repetition to create a sense of unity.
After the Tate Modern, I walked back across the Thames (on the Millennium Bridge) and began heading home. I took one more detour on my way to the tube, though. Fleet Street! Come on, does anyone else start singing Sweeney Todd? Honestly, it's not my favorite musical, but I had to visit so I could get a picture next to a street sign and send it to a certain someone. :) Back story: out of all the shows he's been in, Sweeney Todd is Andy's favorite. So, I figured I better visit Fleet Street just for him. Unfortunately, all of the street signs were attached high up on the buildings (remember, the street signs here aren't on poles, they're metal plaques attached to the sides of buildings or fences). So, I had to settle for an address plaque on the outside of a building on the street. Sigh.
Well, that's all for today. Cheers, everyone! Love you all!
OK, so, I look like a retard...but here's me on Fleet Street
Oh, Andy Warhol, we love you. Yes, that is definitely pink cow wallpaper. It covered the whole room dedicated to his artwork. Combined with the camo, it's pretty eye-shocking, to say the least.
Every one of those buckets has a different kind of olive (stuffed, plain, or in an antipasti-type blend) in it. Not even kidding. HOLY COW!
Ummm...loo of the year? OK. Random.
At the Globe for "Midsummer" last night. This time we weren't groundlings. It's kind of a trade: if you're a groundling, you can see everything even though you have to stand. If you sit, there's invariably something in your way, like that big fat pillar that's unfortunately hard to see through. You can see all the groundlings standing in the yard, and people sitting on the outside edge. The lucky groundlings get to lean against the stage - everyone else just gets to stand. Mwahahahahaha!
First, I did my laundry in the tub. I really didn't want to pay to do laundry (it costs the equivalent of $6 for one load washed and dried) so I decided to just get some detergent and scrub away here at the flats. It was actually kind of fun...I dumped a bunch of my clothes into the dub, rolled up my pants, and squished them around (all the while laughing because I kept picturing Lucy in the grape-press...). I only got about halfway through before I had to leave for the Globe tour though, so I think I'll finish tonight, after I post this and do some homework.
The Globe tour actually covered a lot more than the Globe: we walked around the area and saw the currently-being-excavated remains of the original Rose theatre, the site of the original Globe, and or course, the Globe itself. Here's an interesting did-you-know: the new Globe was built out of the same materials the old Globe would have been built with - mostly English Oak and plaster. The plaster in Shakespeare's time was made out of limestone, cow hair, and something else. However, for the new Globe, they couldn't use cow hair - instead, they used cashmere. Ummm...designer theatre? I thought that was funny.
After the tour, I went to Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. Usually, there's an entrance fee to see the cathedral, but they don't charge if you come worship with them. You also don't get to see the whole cathedral if you just do a worship service, but you can see a decent portion of it. As I walked in for evensong, I was handed a program that contained the words to all the prayers and songs, including the things the congregation is supposed to say in bold. I was grateful to have it written out, because otherwise I would have felt really lost... It's a complicated service! Stand here, sit here, sing along here, say amen here but not here, etc. Anyway, it was really beautiful, and I'm glad that I was able to go. The choir was all male, with young boys and grown men. The little boys sang the soprano part gloriously! It was so fun to listen to! The reverb underneath that dome is stunning - it must be really fun to sing under as a choir. The choir director had his work cut out for him though, to keep them all in time with such a lengthy reverb. He used a lot of very choppy, definitive movements rather than flowery, expressive stuff.
Aside from the beauty of the music and ceremony, I really appreciated one thing about going to evensong: I was able to draw closer to my Heavenly Father by a witness from his Holy Spirit that my religion has the full truth. I am so blessed! I wanted to stand and shout my testimony a couple of times during the brief sermon about the ascension of Christ, because I couldn't stand that I knew what Christ's plan for His church was for after He left this earth, and these good people didn't know. All they could say was that the day of ascension was (and is, as it is remembered every year) a day of sadness and mystery.
After evensong, it was time for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Globe (with the study abroad group). Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. The actors were all playing for laughs (which never works - when you think/know you're funny, you never are). Part of this "look at me, I'm so funny" attitude translated into awful over-acting, especially (and sadly) for Puck. There was also an unnecessary amount of awkward innuendo. :P Anyway, we were all really disappointed with it, and left much more soberly than we left "Taking Steps" the night before.
*phew* Done with yesterday! Now, on to today:
Today was an entirely free day - we had nothing planned as a group. Not even a show, or any homework due...crazy! So I got to choose-my-own-adventure today.
I got out of bed at about 9, showered, and got ready for the day. At about 10, I left for the day armed with my trusty map, a waterbottle, some snacks, and my tube pass. First stop: Borough Market. It's an entirely food market, open Th-Sat. Wow! It was really impressive. Very artesian. I saw buckets of more varieties of olives than I ever imagined existed, piles of artesian breads, rows of exotic spices, counters of organic meats, and iced piles of fresh seafood; tasted some delicious sugar/gluten-free granola and $20-25/lb cheeses(hooray free samples); smelled ostrich burgers cooking; and drooled over gourmet cheesecakes and handmade chocolates. Unfortunately, it was all really expensive...but it was fun to look at and taste-test!
I bought a cup of soup from Pret on my way to the Tate Modern - the next stop on my itinerary. Pret is one of London's most common fast-food restaurants. It's everywhere! It's a sandwich/salad/soup place. Let me tell you - this beats McDonalds or Taco Bell ANY day! I only wish we could catch on in the states and replace our nasty greasy fast food with stuff like this. They pride themselves in being free from all artificial additives, and advertise it everywhere. The pre-made sandwiches included spicy prawn, houmus and tabouleh, and chicken tikka; the salads were just as yummy-sounding. Anyway. For fast food chains, London definitely takes the cake in my experience. :)
After lunch and people-watching, I went to the modern art museum Tate Modern: another one of London's fabulous government subsidized museums. (Government subsidized = free entry!) I tend to prefer modern art to classical art, and this museum was no exception. Granted, there are some modern art movements that I don't understand (like cubism) but I love impressionism, geometric art, and whatever Kandinsky's art is called.
While I wandered through the exhibits, I encountered the best-ever surprise highlight of the day entirely by accident. Ready? The Tate Modern currently houses Monet's "Water-Lilies" which is only my FAVORITE EVER IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING!!!! I had NO idea it was here - I just walked into another room on my way through the floor, and there it was. I almost fell over in shock! It's even more beautiful in real life.
I discovered a new artist to add to my list of favorites: his name is Victor Pasmore. This particular exhibit held five or six of his ink-and-paper prints. His particular style of abstraction just speaks to me more than most abstract art. I loved the energy in his works, and the way he used imperfect repetition to create a sense of unity.
After the Tate Modern, I walked back across the Thames (on the Millennium Bridge) and began heading home. I took one more detour on my way to the tube, though. Fleet Street! Come on, does anyone else start singing Sweeney Todd? Honestly, it's not my favorite musical, but I had to visit so I could get a picture next to a street sign and send it to a certain someone. :) Back story: out of all the shows he's been in, Sweeney Todd is Andy's favorite. So, I figured I better visit Fleet Street just for him. Unfortunately, all of the street signs were attached high up on the buildings (remember, the street signs here aren't on poles, they're metal plaques attached to the sides of buildings or fences). So, I had to settle for an address plaque on the outside of a building on the street. Sigh.
Well, that's all for today. Cheers, everyone! Love you all!
OK, so, I look like a retard...but here's me on Fleet Street
Oh, Andy Warhol, we love you. Yes, that is definitely pink cow wallpaper. It covered the whole room dedicated to his artwork. Combined with the camo, it's pretty eye-shocking, to say the least.
Every one of those buckets has a different kind of olive (stuffed, plain, or in an antipasti-type blend) in it. Not even kidding. HOLY COW!
Ummm...loo of the year? OK. Random.
At the Globe for "Midsummer" last night. This time we weren't groundlings. It's kind of a trade: if you're a groundling, you can see everything even though you have to stand. If you sit, there's invariably something in your way, like that big fat pillar that's unfortunately hard to see through. You can see all the groundlings standing in the yard, and people sitting on the outside edge. The lucky groundlings get to lean against the stage - everyone else just gets to stand. Mwahahahahaha!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
So, as I tucked myself into bed last night, I realized that I completely spaced blogging. I had such a fantastic evening last night that it entirely slipped my mind. Oops! Sorry guys! So, I'll make up for that right now, and blog about yesterday.
It's about noon right now here, and I just woke up an hour ago. It felt fantastic. I haven't slept in the whole time I've been here. The first thing we have scheduled today is a tour of the Globe at 3pm, so I didn't have to get up for anything. I intended to get up and go to the Tate Modern (a modern art museum) but that didn't happen. Oh well. I'll go in between the tour and Midsummer Night's Dream tonight at the Globe.
OK, introduction over. Yesterday:
Class in the morning was standard - I was tired and hungry and antsy, but enjoyed the discussion material anyway. :)
After class, I came home and ate lunch. I think it consisted of rice (again) and a couple of clementines. Speaking of rice: I bought a 4 kilo bag of it when I got here (that's almost 9lbs). Ya...it's halfway gone, and it's only been two weeks. Can you tell that I've been eating a lot of rice? Hey, it's cheap, versatile, and convenient. Nevermind that it has no nutritional value. :) It makes a good snack. I actually just made meatballs today for lunch/dinner, and I'm really excited to see how they turn out. I totally just threw together anything that I had, so they're definitely an experiment. Lets see...feta, pork mince, provencal herbs, pepper, rolled oats, milk...doused in a healthy amount of antipasti (that's a canned/pickled blend of artichokes, greek olives, sun dried tomatoes, and peppers. YUM!). It's cooking in the oven right now. I love that I got a bunch of the ingredients I used for super-cheap on Portobello road. Making meatballs with those ingredients would be so expensive in the states, but because I got half of the stuff for basically nothing, I can afford it. :)
Wow, that was a long side note that has nothing to do with yesterday and very little to do with today. Moving on.
After lunch, I wrote that paper that was due at five. Meh. I hate writing papers.
After the paper was done, I hopped on the bus and went to see Taking Steps with the program. OH. MY. HEAVENS. That was the funniest play I've seen in my life, I think. I laughed SO hard!!! It was a really small theatre in the round, so our program filled up nearly half the seats. Since all of us had read the play before we went, we knew when the jokes were coming up, which meant that we laughed even harder (much to the confusion of some of the other audience members, probably). Seriously, if any of you get the chance to see that play, GO SEE IT. And I really hope that you see a good staging of it. Because it's fantastic. Even if you only get to read it, read the script, because it's funny too. I left right after the show was over, but one of my roommates stuck around for a few minutes, and got autographs. I guess one of the actors approached her and asked if she was in the school group that came - which totally threw her off (wait, this is one of the actors. Why is HE approaching ME? Did I do something wrong?) - but of course she told him yes. He proceeded to tell her that we were an "absolutely fantastic audience, thank you so much!" And all she wanted to say was "No, thank YOU for being amazing!!!" Anyway, I LOVED it.
After the show, I was too hyper to go to bed, so I stayed up and watched the newest episode of Bleach. Which was, PS, AMAZING. It totally reminded me why I got hooked on the series in the first place, which was nice, because the filler arc that just ended was terrible and made me really wonder why I even bother watching it. Anyway. That was another super-happy moment in my life yesterday.
Well, I think my meatballs are probably done by now. And I'm hungry. And I need to do laundry...I'm officially out of clean socks and underwear. Which I'm sure you all wanted to know. Umm...ya. But I need to do laundry before the Globe tour in a few hours. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
It's about noon right now here, and I just woke up an hour ago. It felt fantastic. I haven't slept in the whole time I've been here. The first thing we have scheduled today is a tour of the Globe at 3pm, so I didn't have to get up for anything. I intended to get up and go to the Tate Modern (a modern art museum) but that didn't happen. Oh well. I'll go in between the tour and Midsummer Night's Dream tonight at the Globe.
OK, introduction over. Yesterday:
Class in the morning was standard - I was tired and hungry and antsy, but enjoyed the discussion material anyway. :)
After class, I came home and ate lunch. I think it consisted of rice (again) and a couple of clementines. Speaking of rice: I bought a 4 kilo bag of it when I got here (that's almost 9lbs). Ya...it's halfway gone, and it's only been two weeks. Can you tell that I've been eating a lot of rice? Hey, it's cheap, versatile, and convenient. Nevermind that it has no nutritional value. :) It makes a good snack. I actually just made meatballs today for lunch/dinner, and I'm really excited to see how they turn out. I totally just threw together anything that I had, so they're definitely an experiment. Lets see...feta, pork mince, provencal herbs, pepper, rolled oats, milk...doused in a healthy amount of antipasti (that's a canned/pickled blend of artichokes, greek olives, sun dried tomatoes, and peppers. YUM!). It's cooking in the oven right now. I love that I got a bunch of the ingredients I used for super-cheap on Portobello road. Making meatballs with those ingredients would be so expensive in the states, but because I got half of the stuff for basically nothing, I can afford it. :)
Wow, that was a long side note that has nothing to do with yesterday and very little to do with today. Moving on.
After lunch, I wrote that paper that was due at five. Meh. I hate writing papers.
After the paper was done, I hopped on the bus and went to see Taking Steps with the program. OH. MY. HEAVENS. That was the funniest play I've seen in my life, I think. I laughed SO hard!!! It was a really small theatre in the round, so our program filled up nearly half the seats. Since all of us had read the play before we went, we knew when the jokes were coming up, which meant that we laughed even harder (much to the confusion of some of the other audience members, probably). Seriously, if any of you get the chance to see that play, GO SEE IT. And I really hope that you see a good staging of it. Because it's fantastic. Even if you only get to read it, read the script, because it's funny too. I left right after the show was over, but one of my roommates stuck around for a few minutes, and got autographs. I guess one of the actors approached her and asked if she was in the school group that came - which totally threw her off (wait, this is one of the actors. Why is HE approaching ME? Did I do something wrong?) - but of course she told him yes. He proceeded to tell her that we were an "absolutely fantastic audience, thank you so much!" And all she wanted to say was "No, thank YOU for being amazing!!!" Anyway, I LOVED it.
After the show, I was too hyper to go to bed, so I stayed up and watched the newest episode of Bleach. Which was, PS, AMAZING. It totally reminded me why I got hooked on the series in the first place, which was nice, because the filler arc that just ended was terrible and made me really wonder why I even bother watching it. Anyway. That was another super-happy moment in my life yesterday.
Well, I think my meatballs are probably done by now. And I'm hungry. And I need to do laundry...I'm officially out of clean socks and underwear. Which I'm sure you all wanted to know. Umm...ya. But I need to do laundry before the Globe tour in a few hours. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Where's my mind? Oh, that's right...it's BLOWN!! Cuz today was AWESOME!
NOTE: It's late, I'm tired, and I definitely did not proofread this. Continue at your own risk. :D
Pretty much the best day of my life! Except it's 11pm and I'm exhausted. But I'm going to blog now, because otherwise I probably won't get around to it, let's be honest.
First item of the day: TEMPLE TRIP! I did 14 family names, baptisms and confirmations. I love doing family names: it just makes everything a little more special. It took a long time for the group to get through the temple, so I had plenty of time to read my scriptures and wander through the visitor's center. No really, I mean it took a long time. We only had the priesthood that we brought with us (the two professors and the four guys), which meant that we couldn't do baptisms and confirmations simultaneously. (You need at least 7 to do that, with witnesses and recorders and everything) On top of that, we had to split the girls in half because there weren't enough lockers. So the first half was baptized, then we all changed and went to the confirmation room and were confirmed, then we repeated the process with the second half. Overall, it was a little crazy, but it was a wonderful day in the temple.
We got back to the flats about 3pm, and almost everyone crashed for a nap. I was feeling pretty good, because I slept for most of the bus ride there and back (about 3 hours round trip). So I took off to find a couple of Japanese supermarkets that I've been meaning to check out. The first one was cool, except I couldn't read most of the packages. Duh, Paige. I wandered around that one for a bit and then set off to find the second one. Which, um, never happened. I swear, it doesn't exist. I even had the address. And I saw 47 and 49, but no 48. But, um, bonus(?) I wandered through Soho as I was trying to find it. Ah, Soho. I don't think I walked for more than 1/2 block without seeing some scandalous store name. Well, I'll just tuck that away in the little box in my brain labeled "Places NOT to be During the Second Coming".
Another side note: I also totally found a Japanese toy/manga store during my wanderings. And, being the nut that I am, I almost bought a Bleach keychain. Then I decided that I really didn't need to spend 5 pounds on a keychain. Oh right. So I didn't buy it. Aren't you proud of me? ;) I also didn't buy any of the manga books. Applause would be appropriate here.
After my little side adventure, I went back to the first Japanese market and bought sushi for dinner and a bottle of wasabi to take home. You all think horseradish is powerful? Think again!!! I love wasabi! Oh ya, and the sushi I bought? Definitely raw. I think this is the first time I've ever had raw sushi. I've decided I don't really like it. But, I've now tried real, genuine, authentic raw sushi, and I ate almost all of it (8 whole rolls). Mission accomplished: now I'll go back to eating cooked, which I much prefer. I think I've decided to get myself a sushi rolling mat while I'm here and learn how to make sushi, because that would just be awesome possum.
After I bought dinner, I met up with two other girls to see "Psy" at the Peacock Theatre. BLEW MY MIND!!!!!!! Words cannot describe how incredible it was. Essentially, it was a group of phenomenal circus performers portraying various mental illnesses. There wasn't a lot of dialogue; instead, it was mostly music and acrobatics. There were some group numbers, and almost every cast member had their own 10-15 minutes of solo where they portrayed their specific mental illness. There was insomnia, addiction, agoraphobia, and OCD, just to name a few. The things they did just absolutely blew me away. Their individual physicalities (an acting word that means basically "the little physical traits that are an inherent part of each individual's personality" like talking with your hands, constantly fixing your bangs, or fiddling with the knot of your tie) were stunning, especially Addiction. Some of the most amazing tricks? When the man climbed down the pole with a woman doing a handstand on his head. I'm not kidding. Or when the man was catapulted off of a see-saw and did a triple-back-layout before landing on his feet on a fat gymnastics pad. Or when the woman did an aerial (a hand-less cartwheel) while playing with throwing knives. Oh ya, and every one of them was incredibly muscular. The first solo performer, when he was hanging upside down from a trapeze by his feet, took off his shirt and I could see every muscle in his torso. (Hey, it's like anatomy class. I'll give you the name of the muscle, and you point it out on his so-ripped-that-every-muscle-is-visible back) and I'm pretty sure I drooled a little bit. Just a little bit. :) He was gorgeous! And Miriam (who was there with me) definitely agreed with me.
So ya. That was my totally awesome amazing day. I LOVED IT!!! And PS, I totally have a paper due tomorrow. That I most definitely have not started yet. But it's not due until 5pm, right? I've got time... :) I love you all so much! Cheers!!!
Yes, this is me, with (most of) the cast of Psy! I was definitely brave enough to go up to them and ask for a picture!!!!!!! YES! By the way, they're almost all French. Mmmm...
L-R, we have: hypochondriac, addict, me, manic, hears voices, amnesiac, and OCD. Do I have any idea what their real names are? No. ;)
Isn't the temple pretty? I love temples.
Ya...I couldn't choose just one to post. So I just uploaded two and saved myself the pain of choosing.
Pretty much the best day of my life! Except it's 11pm and I'm exhausted. But I'm going to blog now, because otherwise I probably won't get around to it, let's be honest.
First item of the day: TEMPLE TRIP! I did 14 family names, baptisms and confirmations. I love doing family names: it just makes everything a little more special. It took a long time for the group to get through the temple, so I had plenty of time to read my scriptures and wander through the visitor's center. No really, I mean it took a long time. We only had the priesthood that we brought with us (the two professors and the four guys), which meant that we couldn't do baptisms and confirmations simultaneously. (You need at least 7 to do that, with witnesses and recorders and everything) On top of that, we had to split the girls in half because there weren't enough lockers. So the first half was baptized, then we all changed and went to the confirmation room and were confirmed, then we repeated the process with the second half. Overall, it was a little crazy, but it was a wonderful day in the temple.
We got back to the flats about 3pm, and almost everyone crashed for a nap. I was feeling pretty good, because I slept for most of the bus ride there and back (about 3 hours round trip). So I took off to find a couple of Japanese supermarkets that I've been meaning to check out. The first one was cool, except I couldn't read most of the packages. Duh, Paige. I wandered around that one for a bit and then set off to find the second one. Which, um, never happened. I swear, it doesn't exist. I even had the address. And I saw 47 and 49, but no 48. But, um, bonus(?) I wandered through Soho as I was trying to find it. Ah, Soho. I don't think I walked for more than 1/2 block without seeing some scandalous store name. Well, I'll just tuck that away in the little box in my brain labeled "Places NOT to be During the Second Coming".
Another side note: I also totally found a Japanese toy/manga store during my wanderings. And, being the nut that I am, I almost bought a Bleach keychain. Then I decided that I really didn't need to spend 5 pounds on a keychain. Oh right. So I didn't buy it. Aren't you proud of me? ;) I also didn't buy any of the manga books. Applause would be appropriate here.
After my little side adventure, I went back to the first Japanese market and bought sushi for dinner and a bottle of wasabi to take home. You all think horseradish is powerful? Think again!!! I love wasabi! Oh ya, and the sushi I bought? Definitely raw. I think this is the first time I've ever had raw sushi. I've decided I don't really like it. But, I've now tried real, genuine, authentic raw sushi, and I ate almost all of it (8 whole rolls). Mission accomplished: now I'll go back to eating cooked, which I much prefer. I think I've decided to get myself a sushi rolling mat while I'm here and learn how to make sushi, because that would just be awesome possum.
After I bought dinner, I met up with two other girls to see "Psy" at the Peacock Theatre. BLEW MY MIND!!!!!!! Words cannot describe how incredible it was. Essentially, it was a group of phenomenal circus performers portraying various mental illnesses. There wasn't a lot of dialogue; instead, it was mostly music and acrobatics. There were some group numbers, and almost every cast member had their own 10-15 minutes of solo where they portrayed their specific mental illness. There was insomnia, addiction, agoraphobia, and OCD, just to name a few. The things they did just absolutely blew me away. Their individual physicalities (an acting word that means basically "the little physical traits that are an inherent part of each individual's personality" like talking with your hands, constantly fixing your bangs, or fiddling with the knot of your tie) were stunning, especially Addiction. Some of the most amazing tricks? When the man climbed down the pole with a woman doing a handstand on his head. I'm not kidding. Or when the man was catapulted off of a see-saw and did a triple-back-layout before landing on his feet on a fat gymnastics pad. Or when the woman did an aerial (a hand-less cartwheel) while playing with throwing knives. Oh ya, and every one of them was incredibly muscular. The first solo performer, when he was hanging upside down from a trapeze by his feet, took off his shirt and I could see every muscle in his torso. (Hey, it's like anatomy class. I'll give you the name of the muscle, and you point it out on his so-ripped-that-every-muscle-is-visible back) and I'm pretty sure I drooled a little bit. Just a little bit. :) He was gorgeous! And Miriam (who was there with me) definitely agreed with me.
So ya. That was my totally awesome amazing day. I LOVED IT!!! And PS, I totally have a paper due tomorrow. That I most definitely have not started yet. But it's not due until 5pm, right? I've got time... :) I love you all so much! Cheers!!!
Yes, this is me, with (most of) the cast of Psy! I was definitely brave enough to go up to them and ask for a picture!!!!!!! YES! By the way, they're almost all French. Mmmm...
L-R, we have: hypochondriac, addict, me, manic, hears voices, amnesiac, and OCD. Do I have any idea what their real names are? No. ;)
Isn't the temple pretty? I love temples.
Ya...I couldn't choose just one to post. So I just uploaded two and saved myself the pain of choosing.
Monday, May 10, 2010
A slow, relaxing day
After staying up until 1:30 last night talking to my family on the phone (for the first time since I arrived) and doing readings for class today, I was too tired to want to do much of anything today. I know, I know...I'm in London, I should do something every day, right? Well, today that something consisted of class, a nice long nap, some address-finding (for Chinatown and Japanese supermarkets), and a lot of homework. So, I figure, I was still productive, even if I wasn't much of an adventurer.
Tomorrow should be a busy day, though! We have our group temple trip, which will last from about 7am-2pm. We're taking a hired bus, which is nice. Otherwise the only way to get there is by taking the train out to the end of the line and then a taxi from there, which gets expensive and time-consuming. The bus ride is still an hour each way, but that's not too bad. I brought family names, so I'll do those as long as the London temple has the facilities to print the cards, which I assume they do. If not, I'll just do temple names and bring these family names home with me to do in the Provo temple. After the temple trip, I intend to go to Chinatown and some Japanese markets, where I'll hopefully pick up something cool from the street vendors and maybe ingredients to make sushi. I'd really like to learn how, and I figure now is as good a time as any, since I have access to plenty of authenticity here in the great cultural mash-up that is London. After dinner, I hope to go to a show. I'm not sure which one yet, but I know I can find something to go see. Apparently Psy is really good...
I guess I could tell you all what I did yesterday...since I slacked off and didn't post. We've been assigned to our wards now (as opposed to our first Sunday here when we all just went to the nearest meeting, in the Hyde Park chapel). I was lucky enough to be assigned to Hyde Park, so my church meetings are only a 15 minute walk away. Some of the students were assigned to wards two hours away! I sat next to a really nice young family for sacrament meeting. They have a 3-month old girl named Victoria, and a little boy (he looks about 2) named Caesar. After church, the ward had a munch-n-mingle. Relief Society got out a few minutes early, so I went into the kitchen to see if I could help. The sister in charge put me to work immediately! I helped set up, serve the food, and clean up. It was a really great opportunity to get to know a few of the ward members. I really enjoyed myself! I got to see most of the faces in the ward as I served the food, and I talked with a few of them.
I did get to talk to my family on the phone yesterday evening, which was wonderful. It was quite the adventure to actually start communicating, but it was worth it! First we tried Skype, but my computer doesn't have a mic or a camera, so I had to borrow someone else's computer. The internet on both ends of the connection was being retarded, so after the call dropped for the third time, I just gave up. Fortunately, one of my roommates knew of an online international calling card service that her family has used and trusts. So, I bought a card really quickly, figured out how to make an international calling card call (which was more complicated than it should have been) and got connected. Of course, once I got connected, I promptly asked them to call me and hung up, because it's about 1/5 of the cost per minute with this particular card to have the call placed from the US to here, rather than from the UK to home. After a few minutes, my phone rang, and I finally got to talk to everyone. Phew! I kept it to an hour, which is a record for talking to my family, I think. :) Hey, there's a lot of us, ok?
Well, I'm off to the grocery store and then back to some more homework. I love you all! Don't forget to email me!
Tomorrow should be a busy day, though! We have our group temple trip, which will last from about 7am-2pm. We're taking a hired bus, which is nice. Otherwise the only way to get there is by taking the train out to the end of the line and then a taxi from there, which gets expensive and time-consuming. The bus ride is still an hour each way, but that's not too bad. I brought family names, so I'll do those as long as the London temple has the facilities to print the cards, which I assume they do. If not, I'll just do temple names and bring these family names home with me to do in the Provo temple. After the temple trip, I intend to go to Chinatown and some Japanese markets, where I'll hopefully pick up something cool from the street vendors and maybe ingredients to make sushi. I'd really like to learn how, and I figure now is as good a time as any, since I have access to plenty of authenticity here in the great cultural mash-up that is London. After dinner, I hope to go to a show. I'm not sure which one yet, but I know I can find something to go see. Apparently Psy is really good...
I guess I could tell you all what I did yesterday...since I slacked off and didn't post. We've been assigned to our wards now (as opposed to our first Sunday here when we all just went to the nearest meeting, in the Hyde Park chapel). I was lucky enough to be assigned to Hyde Park, so my church meetings are only a 15 minute walk away. Some of the students were assigned to wards two hours away! I sat next to a really nice young family for sacrament meeting. They have a 3-month old girl named Victoria, and a little boy (he looks about 2) named Caesar. After church, the ward had a munch-n-mingle. Relief Society got out a few minutes early, so I went into the kitchen to see if I could help. The sister in charge put me to work immediately! I helped set up, serve the food, and clean up. It was a really great opportunity to get to know a few of the ward members. I really enjoyed myself! I got to see most of the faces in the ward as I served the food, and I talked with a few of them.
I did get to talk to my family on the phone yesterday evening, which was wonderful. It was quite the adventure to actually start communicating, but it was worth it! First we tried Skype, but my computer doesn't have a mic or a camera, so I had to borrow someone else's computer. The internet on both ends of the connection was being retarded, so after the call dropped for the third time, I just gave up. Fortunately, one of my roommates knew of an online international calling card service that her family has used and trusts. So, I bought a card really quickly, figured out how to make an international calling card call (which was more complicated than it should have been) and got connected. Of course, once I got connected, I promptly asked them to call me and hung up, because it's about 1/5 of the cost per minute with this particular card to have the call placed from the US to here, rather than from the UK to home. After a few minutes, my phone rang, and I finally got to talk to everyone. Phew! I kept it to an hour, which is a record for talking to my family, I think. :) Hey, there's a lot of us, ok?
Well, I'm off to the grocery store and then back to some more homework. I love you all! Don't forget to email me!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Random adventures
We had nothing planned for today as a group, so I designed my own adventure. It included sleeping in until 9:30, wandering around and getting lost, and oh ya...writing a paper.
I intended to go to an 11:00 rehearsal for La Traviata at the Royal Opera House. Only then I slept in AND got lost coming out of the tube station. So that didn't happen. PS, coming out of that tube station is REALLY confusing. I swear, there's at least 8 streets converging on it and none of them have street signs. And the opera house itself isn't clearly marked, so it doesn't stand out from the other beautiful brick buildings very well. It doesn't help that there isn't space between any of the buildings here - roads are lined with solid strips of buildings, only breaking for another road.
Since I missed the opera, I wandered around the next-door Covent Garden market. The gourmet food market was tempting, but unfortunately it was mostly artesian breads and fancy deserts, neither of which I can have. I did try falafel for the first time though, and it was VERY yummy. I also saw a random magician street performer who was pretty funny.
After wandering around there for a while, I went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I didn't actually go in past the foyer, because it costs a lot to actually go in. Like $15. :P So, I'm going to go back for evensong sometime, because they don't charge admission if you come to worship. One of my roommates went to evensong the other day and said it was absolutely beautiful. She's been to tons of cathedrals all over Europe, and says St. Paul's is the prettiest she's seen. Wow - I better check it out!
After St. Paul's I went to Portobello Road market (same place I went last Saturday) to get more fruit/veg/cheese and to browse the clothes/jewelry/souvenirs. I really love that place. :) I got an eggplant, because they're cheap here, and they're everywhere. And they're called aubergines, not eggplants, which totally threw me off the first time I saw it! I've never tried one (that I can remember) so I was a little nervous. I cooked it tonight for part of dinner; turns out, I don't like eggplant. I had one of my roommates try it, because she said she really likes eggplant. She liked it, so I know it wasn't just how I cooked it that I didn't like - it's just that I don't like eggplant. I think I might like it better if I make it with something else, like chicken and pasta.
After two visits, I've definitely decided that my favorite feature of Portobello Market is the tables of scarves for a pound each. There are literally thousands of scarves of all shapes, sizes, colors, and materials piled feet high on folding tables - all for me to dig through! I've already bought far too many, and I'll probably keep going back for more. Since I go on Saturdays, I can essentially spend all of the money I have left since I budget weekly. That means that the less I spend during the week, the more scarves I can buy each week! :) *Fashion side note: to look like a Londoner, wear a scarf. All the time. Regardless of what else you are wearing, or the temperature outside. It can be any size, color, or material (except knit - I haven't seen any of that) and it doesn't have to match your outfit, really. Actually, you can wear just about anything here, and get away with it. There's so many different cultures and styles here, that in order to stand out you have to pretty much be wearing a halloween costume. I've seen 60's, 70's, plenty of 80's, pink/electric red/blue hair, leopard prints, sari-type wraps, skirts, pants, goth, tiedye, etc. One of the most popular fashion things right now is to wear a loose, even baggy sweater or t-shirt with opaque tights. Miniskirt optional. I'm not kidding. Girls wearing a nothing but a top, leggings, and (of course) a scarf is not unusual. My honest reaction to that is "I'm glad you're that confident in the appearance of your read end and thighs, because I'm certainly not!" :)
Overall, it was a good day, even though it was rather scattered, random, and non-directional. Sometimes those are the best days.
Well, I better sign off for the night! Church tomorrow morning, and all that. Cheers!
A quartet of (atTRACtive) British barbershop singers performing on the street right outside Portobello Market. They sounded good, too!
Oh no...is acid wash coming back???? Mom and Dad, are you ready to relive the glory?
OK, does ANYONE know what these are? They were at one of the fruit/veg stands at the market. They're about the same size as cucumbers. I couldn't figure them out for the life of me.
I intended to go to an 11:00 rehearsal for La Traviata at the Royal Opera House. Only then I slept in AND got lost coming out of the tube station. So that didn't happen. PS, coming out of that tube station is REALLY confusing. I swear, there's at least 8 streets converging on it and none of them have street signs. And the opera house itself isn't clearly marked, so it doesn't stand out from the other beautiful brick buildings very well. It doesn't help that there isn't space between any of the buildings here - roads are lined with solid strips of buildings, only breaking for another road.
Since I missed the opera, I wandered around the next-door Covent Garden market. The gourmet food market was tempting, but unfortunately it was mostly artesian breads and fancy deserts, neither of which I can have. I did try falafel for the first time though, and it was VERY yummy. I also saw a random magician street performer who was pretty funny.
After wandering around there for a while, I went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I didn't actually go in past the foyer, because it costs a lot to actually go in. Like $15. :P So, I'm going to go back for evensong sometime, because they don't charge admission if you come to worship. One of my roommates went to evensong the other day and said it was absolutely beautiful. She's been to tons of cathedrals all over Europe, and says St. Paul's is the prettiest she's seen. Wow - I better check it out!
After St. Paul's I went to Portobello Road market (same place I went last Saturday) to get more fruit/veg/cheese and to browse the clothes/jewelry/souvenirs. I really love that place. :) I got an eggplant, because they're cheap here, and they're everywhere. And they're called aubergines, not eggplants, which totally threw me off the first time I saw it! I've never tried one (that I can remember) so I was a little nervous. I cooked it tonight for part of dinner; turns out, I don't like eggplant. I had one of my roommates try it, because she said she really likes eggplant. She liked it, so I know it wasn't just how I cooked it that I didn't like - it's just that I don't like eggplant. I think I might like it better if I make it with something else, like chicken and pasta.
After two visits, I've definitely decided that my favorite feature of Portobello Market is the tables of scarves for a pound each. There are literally thousands of scarves of all shapes, sizes, colors, and materials piled feet high on folding tables - all for me to dig through! I've already bought far too many, and I'll probably keep going back for more. Since I go on Saturdays, I can essentially spend all of the money I have left since I budget weekly. That means that the less I spend during the week, the more scarves I can buy each week! :) *Fashion side note: to look like a Londoner, wear a scarf. All the time. Regardless of what else you are wearing, or the temperature outside. It can be any size, color, or material (except knit - I haven't seen any of that) and it doesn't have to match your outfit, really. Actually, you can wear just about anything here, and get away with it. There's so many different cultures and styles here, that in order to stand out you have to pretty much be wearing a halloween costume. I've seen 60's, 70's, plenty of 80's, pink/electric red/blue hair, leopard prints, sari-type wraps, skirts, pants, goth, tiedye, etc. One of the most popular fashion things right now is to wear a loose, even baggy sweater or t-shirt with opaque tights. Miniskirt optional. I'm not kidding. Girls wearing a nothing but a top, leggings, and (of course) a scarf is not unusual. My honest reaction to that is "I'm glad you're that confident in the appearance of your read end and thighs, because I'm certainly not!" :)
Overall, it was a good day, even though it was rather scattered, random, and non-directional. Sometimes those are the best days.
Well, I better sign off for the night! Church tomorrow morning, and all that. Cheers!
A quartet of (atTRACtive) British barbershop singers performing on the street right outside Portobello Market. They sounded good, too!
Oh no...is acid wash coming back???? Mom and Dad, are you ready to relive the glory?
OK, does ANYONE know what these are? They were at one of the fruit/veg stands at the market. They're about the same size as cucumbers. I couldn't figure them out for the life of me.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Kew Gardens
Today can be summed up in two words: Kew Gardens. This was an optional group outing, which means that we weren't required to go, but it was bought and paid for if we wanted to come.
It took about an hour to get to the Gardens from the flats; the small group I travelled with and I arrived at 10am. After we entered, we split into smaller groups to tour the gardens. After about an hour, I lost my group and spent the rest of the time wandering by myself, which I didn't really mind. I tend to spend far more time looking at growing things than most people do, and so it was better that I wasn't holding others back or being pushed along too quickly, I think. :) I'm so weird sometimes. I ran into others from the program occasionally, and we'd chat for a minute before once again separating. The only hard part about being on my own was that I didn't have a map...and navigating the 325 acre Gardens without a map is rather challenging. :)
If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the outdoors, especially plants and birds. I still remember a good deal of what I learned in Environmental Solutions in high school, which means that I can identify many of the local trees, flowers, and grasses. Needless to say, I felt like a kid in a candy store at Kew Gardens. Quite honestly, my first coherent thought after about 5 minutes of walking was "this is paradise". I'm absolutely in love with the whole thing! I managed to see most of it, but I'll admit that I rushed through the last bit. I was almost definitely the last person of the whole study abroad to leave...most people I've talked to left after 4 hours or so (about 2pm). I didn't leave until 5pm. Well, I had to cover over 300 acres! That takes at LEAST 7 hours, right? :)
One of the most stunning things about the gardens is how difficult it is to find a duplicate of anything. That's how many different varieties of trees, shrubs, flowers, etc., there are. It's mindblowing. As I wandered around (on or off the paths - you're allowed to walk just about anywhere, and since it's so huge and most of the groundcover is grass or other hardy plants, it all still looks beautiful) I saw a Bamboo garden, a Rhododendron walk, a lake, Redwoods, a Japanese Zen-type garden, a waterlily pond, an ivy garden, an iris garden, a holly walk, and too many others to name. Some of the neatest attractions were the two large glass houses. One was essentially a world tour of plants, and the other was a zone-by-zone tour (you know, like you see on the back of seed packages? "Grows best in zone x"). The zone-by-zone was really amazing. As I passed through glass doors I went from cool, humid irises to dry, cool deserts to warm, humid jungles in a matter of metres. The massive variety of life that is present in such a relatively tiny area of land just blows my mind.
Essentially, I fell in love with yet another corner of London today. It was absolutely beautiful. I'll post a few pictures, but I just have to warn you: they do the Gardens a great injustice by trying to capture all the wonderful sights, sounds, smells, and feels in a pathetically two-dimensional way.
Cheers!
Awww...look at the little ducklings...there were little duck families all over the place, thanks to the time of year! Hooray spring!
The Japanese Gardens. Isn't it stunning?
There were peacocks everywhere...weird, right? This one was nice enough to fan out for us (after a toddler ran right up to him and probably scared him to death. Hey, those of us with cameras appreciated it!)
Aren't they GORGEOUS!?!?
Me in the Temperate House (one of the Glass Houses there)
It took about an hour to get to the Gardens from the flats; the small group I travelled with and I arrived at 10am. After we entered, we split into smaller groups to tour the gardens. After about an hour, I lost my group and spent the rest of the time wandering by myself, which I didn't really mind. I tend to spend far more time looking at growing things than most people do, and so it was better that I wasn't holding others back or being pushed along too quickly, I think. :) I'm so weird sometimes. I ran into others from the program occasionally, and we'd chat for a minute before once again separating. The only hard part about being on my own was that I didn't have a map...and navigating the 325 acre Gardens without a map is rather challenging. :)
If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the outdoors, especially plants and birds. I still remember a good deal of what I learned in Environmental Solutions in high school, which means that I can identify many of the local trees, flowers, and grasses. Needless to say, I felt like a kid in a candy store at Kew Gardens. Quite honestly, my first coherent thought after about 5 minutes of walking was "this is paradise". I'm absolutely in love with the whole thing! I managed to see most of it, but I'll admit that I rushed through the last bit. I was almost definitely the last person of the whole study abroad to leave...most people I've talked to left after 4 hours or so (about 2pm). I didn't leave until 5pm. Well, I had to cover over 300 acres! That takes at LEAST 7 hours, right? :)
One of the most stunning things about the gardens is how difficult it is to find a duplicate of anything. That's how many different varieties of trees, shrubs, flowers, etc., there are. It's mindblowing. As I wandered around (on or off the paths - you're allowed to walk just about anywhere, and since it's so huge and most of the groundcover is grass or other hardy plants, it all still looks beautiful) I saw a Bamboo garden, a Rhododendron walk, a lake, Redwoods, a Japanese Zen-type garden, a waterlily pond, an ivy garden, an iris garden, a holly walk, and too many others to name. Some of the neatest attractions were the two large glass houses. One was essentially a world tour of plants, and the other was a zone-by-zone tour (you know, like you see on the back of seed packages? "Grows best in zone x"). The zone-by-zone was really amazing. As I passed through glass doors I went from cool, humid irises to dry, cool deserts to warm, humid jungles in a matter of metres. The massive variety of life that is present in such a relatively tiny area of land just blows my mind.
Essentially, I fell in love with yet another corner of London today. It was absolutely beautiful. I'll post a few pictures, but I just have to warn you: they do the Gardens a great injustice by trying to capture all the wonderful sights, sounds, smells, and feels in a pathetically two-dimensional way.
Cheers!
Awww...look at the little ducklings...there were little duck families all over the place, thanks to the time of year! Hooray spring!
The Japanese Gardens. Isn't it stunning?
There were peacocks everywhere...weird, right? This one was nice enough to fan out for us (after a toddler ran right up to him and probably scared him to death. Hey, those of us with cameras appreciated it!)
Aren't they GORGEOUS!?!?
Me in the Temperate House (one of the Glass Houses there)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Forecast: sunny skies & scattered rock n' roll
Sorry I didn't post yesterday - it was a late night, and I was exhausted! And I've been really good about posting so far, so I don't feel so bad about skipping one day here and there :)
Yesterday was a fairly slow, relaxing day, which was nice for a change. It was still really cold (yesterday and the day before were permeated with biting winds and cloudy skies) so I spent most of my free time inside rather than out. We had class in the morning from 10-12:45, which is about normal. We had planned to go see a matinee, but Rodger and Lance cancelled it at the last minute. They preview everything before taking the group, and this one was raunchy enough that they decided it really wasn't appropriate for them to endorse it - besides, they said it was a really poorly written script and just tacky all around. However, since they'd already bought the tickets, they told us that we could go anyway if we really wanted, but they were definitely NOT endorsing it. I didn't go, and I'm glad I didn't. The few students who went said it was just lame and crude. It got really great reviews, and so far none of us can figure out why.
Anyway, since we didn't end up going to a matinee, I spent the afternoon finishing a paper that had to be turned in by 5 (yes, I do have homework here, believe it or not - I just didn't for the first few days as we got settled in). I also went through a guidebook or two and made a list of things I want to see and do while I'm here. I've run out of automatic to-sees, so I needed a list for my free time every day!
A small group of us decided to go see a play called "Anderson's English" last night. The script was fantastic, and the set and how they used it was ingenious, but I didn't particularly like the acting. Since acting is my focus in theatre, that meant I didn't enjoy the show as much as some of the others who went, but I still definitely enjoyed myself. It was a worthwhile night at the theatre. Essentially, it was about the relationship between Charles Dickens and the people around him, primarily his family and Hans Christian Anderson. The story reveals how troubled Dickens' home life was, and shows the slow disintegration of his family. (Definitely a Drama/Tragedy.)
On to today! This morning, my roommates and I went to Bloomsbury, the neighborhood that holds the University of London. It's a very student-friendly area: cheap eats, lots of parks to lounge and do homework, and some really cute used bookstores. So far, I think it's my favorite area of London. It's got a very friendly, social vibe to it. And cheap food is definitely ok with me! I got lunch in the area, at a sushi place called Samurai Sushi. They had some hot dishes and some pre-made bento boxes, or you could build your own bento box. That's what I did. I just browsed the refrigerated shelves of individual sushi rolls and took one or two of each of the ones that looked tasty. I really liked doing it that way, because then I could have a large variety, and I could choose exactly how much I wanted to spend. Each roll was between 40 and 90 pence. I think I ended up with 4, plus a salmon onigiri, for just a little over 3 pounds. Score! It was SO good. I haven't had sushi in way too long.
After lunch, I headed over to the Tricycle theatre to see Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" with our group. It was the craziest Shakespeare show I have ever seen!!! Picture this:
1) garage band/rock n' roll: the set looked literally like someone's garage band; actors randomly burst out into rock n' roll with Shakespeare's dialogue as lyrics
2)multiple characters played by the same actor: including Viola and her twin Sebastian. For those of you who are at all familiar with 12th Night, you know how difficult that makes the ending. Wow.
3)a rather unattractive middle-aged man in nothing but bright yellow briefs and thigh-high stockings: this was the costume of choice for Malvolio after he reads the letter he thinks is from Olivia. Eww. Gag. Cry. But laugh out loud funny!!!!!!!
4)Sir Toby creatively, um, drinking? a tequila: first, he snorted the salt; then he downed the shot of tequila; then he shoved the slice of lime in his eye. Ummm....... And once the audience calmed down a little, Sir Andrew immediately admonished us to not try that at home. Ok. I'll remember that.
5)actors interacting with the audience: handing out pizza in the middle of the show, taking hats and jackets to use as costumes, throwing squishy balls, and generally causing mayhem
Ya. This was Shakespeare...I think. They did use Shakespeare's language. I laughed REALLY hard, and loved it 100%! It was a refreshing dose of real creativity.
After the show, I wandered Kilburn High Street for a couple of hours. It's very ethnic - lots of middle eastern shops and restaurants. I felt a little lost, because I couldn't read half the signs and I couldn't understand most of the people. But I got some yummy clementines, and I visited a Primark for the first time. It's essentially the London version of Kohls. Super-cheap and mostly cute clothes. I got a couple of plain undershirts for a pound and a half each (that's about $2.25 each) and a pair of sunglasses for a pound ($1.50). I mean, it's a great store for cheap clothes, but it's not uniquely London, you know? It's just a clothing store. So I probably won't go back unless I get SO sick of the 10-ish shirts I brought with me that I just have to get something new.
I love you all!! I'm going to go read a play and write a response paper or two now. Meh. Homework. Cheers!
-Paige
Yesterday was a fairly slow, relaxing day, which was nice for a change. It was still really cold (yesterday and the day before were permeated with biting winds and cloudy skies) so I spent most of my free time inside rather than out. We had class in the morning from 10-12:45, which is about normal. We had planned to go see a matinee, but Rodger and Lance cancelled it at the last minute. They preview everything before taking the group, and this one was raunchy enough that they decided it really wasn't appropriate for them to endorse it - besides, they said it was a really poorly written script and just tacky all around. However, since they'd already bought the tickets, they told us that we could go anyway if we really wanted, but they were definitely NOT endorsing it. I didn't go, and I'm glad I didn't. The few students who went said it was just lame and crude. It got really great reviews, and so far none of us can figure out why.
Anyway, since we didn't end up going to a matinee, I spent the afternoon finishing a paper that had to be turned in by 5 (yes, I do have homework here, believe it or not - I just didn't for the first few days as we got settled in). I also went through a guidebook or two and made a list of things I want to see and do while I'm here. I've run out of automatic to-sees, so I needed a list for my free time every day!
A small group of us decided to go see a play called "Anderson's English" last night. The script was fantastic, and the set and how they used it was ingenious, but I didn't particularly like the acting. Since acting is my focus in theatre, that meant I didn't enjoy the show as much as some of the others who went, but I still definitely enjoyed myself. It was a worthwhile night at the theatre. Essentially, it was about the relationship between Charles Dickens and the people around him, primarily his family and Hans Christian Anderson. The story reveals how troubled Dickens' home life was, and shows the slow disintegration of his family. (Definitely a Drama/Tragedy.)
On to today! This morning, my roommates and I went to Bloomsbury, the neighborhood that holds the University of London. It's a very student-friendly area: cheap eats, lots of parks to lounge and do homework, and some really cute used bookstores. So far, I think it's my favorite area of London. It's got a very friendly, social vibe to it. And cheap food is definitely ok with me! I got lunch in the area, at a sushi place called Samurai Sushi. They had some hot dishes and some pre-made bento boxes, or you could build your own bento box. That's what I did. I just browsed the refrigerated shelves of individual sushi rolls and took one or two of each of the ones that looked tasty. I really liked doing it that way, because then I could have a large variety, and I could choose exactly how much I wanted to spend. Each roll was between 40 and 90 pence. I think I ended up with 4, plus a salmon onigiri, for just a little over 3 pounds. Score! It was SO good. I haven't had sushi in way too long.
After lunch, I headed over to the Tricycle theatre to see Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" with our group. It was the craziest Shakespeare show I have ever seen!!! Picture this:
1) garage band/rock n' roll: the set looked literally like someone's garage band; actors randomly burst out into rock n' roll with Shakespeare's dialogue as lyrics
2)multiple characters played by the same actor: including Viola and her twin Sebastian. For those of you who are at all familiar with 12th Night, you know how difficult that makes the ending. Wow.
3)a rather unattractive middle-aged man in nothing but bright yellow briefs and thigh-high stockings: this was the costume of choice for Malvolio after he reads the letter he thinks is from Olivia. Eww. Gag. Cry. But laugh out loud funny!!!!!!!
4)Sir Toby creatively, um, drinking? a tequila: first, he snorted the salt; then he downed the shot of tequila; then he shoved the slice of lime in his eye. Ummm....... And once the audience calmed down a little, Sir Andrew immediately admonished us to not try that at home. Ok. I'll remember that.
5)actors interacting with the audience: handing out pizza in the middle of the show, taking hats and jackets to use as costumes, throwing squishy balls, and generally causing mayhem
Ya. This was Shakespeare...I think. They did use Shakespeare's language. I laughed REALLY hard, and loved it 100%! It was a refreshing dose of real creativity.
After the show, I wandered Kilburn High Street for a couple of hours. It's very ethnic - lots of middle eastern shops and restaurants. I felt a little lost, because I couldn't read half the signs and I couldn't understand most of the people. But I got some yummy clementines, and I visited a Primark for the first time. It's essentially the London version of Kohls. Super-cheap and mostly cute clothes. I got a couple of plain undershirts for a pound and a half each (that's about $2.25 each) and a pair of sunglasses for a pound ($1.50). I mean, it's a great store for cheap clothes, but it's not uniquely London, you know? It's just a clothing store. So I probably won't go back unless I get SO sick of the 10-ish shirts I brought with me that I just have to get something new.
I love you all!! I'm going to go read a play and write a response paper or two now. Meh. Homework. Cheers!
-Paige
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