Wet and Wild!

Ok I did not see a play about gay cannibals. I will, however, see it at some point. It sounds too good to be true.

I have some more pictures. Tia, Megan, Jaclyn and I went to this museum called Somerset House. Inside the museum courtyard there are rows and rows or water jets that shoot up from the ground. It was a remarkably hot day and we got our bathing suits on and headed down. Here's what it looks like:











It was very wet and fun and we had to ride the tube home soaking wet. I felt bad for the guy who sat down after me (but not really).

Tonight I went and saw Avenue Q. I love that show. I had the fortune of seeing it a few years ago in San Diego and tonight did not disappoint. It is absolutely brilliant, and if you haven't seen it please do. It's raunchy and it has puppets: what more could you want from a play?

Plays for days

Well I have seen a few more shows since the last time I posted.

The first was called Ditch. When Josh told us we were seeing it all we knew was that it was in a tunnel system underneath Waterloo train station. Well it certainly was underground. We walked through Waterloo station to the outside and down and around under a bridge to find a door with a line coming out of it. Upon entering, we found a series of tableaus: crates with potatoes, a tree broken into several parts, a small deer with its shadow projected into the background, and a bar area with old furniture entitled the Bunker. The space where the play was taking place had a circular dirt area in the middle surrounded by a small moat. Coming into the space from offstage was a large table and in the back there were two towers, with two exits relatively close behind them. The play was about a dystopian post-apocalyptic England in which citizens were required to register on a list, and the Security kept "track" of those who didn't register. The play followed a small outpost of the Security with six people living in it, and their time together. The design as a whole was beautiful; trains even passed overhead during the show to enhance the idea of living underground (although we discussed in class later that them living underground was actually debatable). The script itself was very weak, unfortunately, which did not match up with the quality of the production as a whole. But this happens a lot.

The next night we saw a play entitled The 39 Steps. It is a theatrical version of the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. Four actors (3 men and 1 woman) play about 100 parts, and turn the thriller into a comedic romp. They even used the exact same dialogue from the film, which is especially hilarious. The commitment from the actors was wonderful to watch, as some had to switch in the middle of the scene to be different roles. I laughed nonstop.

Tonight I think I'm going to see a play about gay cannibals. It's not for class, though. Perhaps more personal research..........?????

hehehe. No but really, I think I'm going to see a play about gay cannibals.

Photos!

So it's been a while since I've posted. Here we are:

Monday night I went to Chinatown with some new friends. It's a small Chinatown, about 2 blocks long and one block down, so they don't have a ton to offer, but the food is good. They also have dim sum everyday until 5 (which I was very surprised to learn) so I'll be heading back there multiple times, on that you can bet.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. After class, the group of us went over to the Temple Church, where the Knights Templar headquarters were located. The church itself was constructed in the 1100s, with some people in there buried shortly after that century began. To think, that people have been interned in the church over 900 years is phenomenal.

We finally headed over to the Globe Theater, Shakespeare's theater, where we saw a splendid production of Macbeth. Inspired by Dante's Inferno, the area on the ground where people stand had a black tarp spread over it with holes cut in it for peoples' heads to represent the final circle of hell. It was extremely bloody and gory, a plus in my mind to spice up Shakespeare.

Now I'm going to post some pictures because I haven't done that yet:

EXPLORE

Sorry, this is probably going to be a long post:

Yesterday was a cool day. In the morning, all of us piled on a bus and took a tour around the entire city. We got an overall visual of what the city looks like, as well as where everything is. After that we were given time for lunch, and then we headed out on a walking tour of the area we are staying in, Kensington. This borough is very posh and rich, with lots of big, beautiful houses and upscale shops. We walked past the Royal Albert Hall, The Albert Monument, The Royal College of Music, through Kensington Park and back down and around. Any and all of Kensington is positively gorgeous, so we are very lucky to be living in this area. Later that night we got to see our first play: Money.

Money has been running intermittently for about 4 years in the London and is not the average piece of theater. It is staged in a massive warehouse, and when you walk in there is a bar to the left, and in front of you a giant machine from which a low rumbling is emitting. There were a smattering of tables and chairs around the front of the machine. There were 2 flights of metal stairs and opera music playing in the background. At 9:45 a man wearing police riot gear emerged from the shadows to hand out 5 colored balloons to people. He then got a drink from the bar as the audience continued to chat. About 10 minutes later, he collected the balloons and ushered everyone into the machine. The room was pitch black and about 80 people were crammed in like sardines. The noises of trains steaming, hammers clamoring, and loud ticking pummeled the ears when suddenly the noise stopped and the lights flicked on. To the sides of us were rows of seats that we took to, and in front and behind us were doors with no knobs. The performers came in and out of the doors holding their own knobs. The play is based on an Emile Zola novel entitled L'Argent about a French banking fiasco in the 19th century, although it was not at all very obvious. The play was witty and intense, with heavy symbolism that I only understood after I got home and wikipedia'd what the novel was about. However, it was visually stunning, with the play running on three planes (a bottom floor, middle floor and top floor that could all be seen through because the floors were made of plexiglass). It is phenomenally difficult for me to describe the full effects of this piece, but ask me about it when I get home and I'd be glad to fill in any details.

So, not done yet!

Today I woke up around noon (waaaay too late) and Ashleigh, Tia and I decided to take a walk through Kensington Palace. They have a very unique display in the Palace right now; the palace itself is actually under renovation, so instead of fully closing it, they've asked famous artists to create exhibits that represent the various princesses that have lived there over the years. The exhibit is artistic and engaging and a little freaky at times, but it was always beautiful.

After the palace, we headed over to our professor's, Josh's, house to meet his wife and two daughters. We trekked down to the local pub where I had a Pimm's and then moved on to a street that had only Middle Eastern restaurants and stores from start to end. A lot of baklava was consumed.

Well I start school tomorrow. It's going to be interesting, adjusting to a school schedule while still in a place that beckons me to explore it every second of the day. Wish me luck!

Writing this while not watching soccer

Hello everyone!!

So I feel like everyone here is also starting a blog. I'm competing with my friends to write blogs. Stupid blogs.

Anyway, I'm adjusting to the time schedule pretty well already. It's half past midnight and I'm just now starting to get sleepy. My body is tired but my brain is racing, which is a sign of some disease, I'm sure.

Today was a good day. We had orientation at the Foundation House where they gave us tips on how to live in London and stuff like that. Turns out you're not supposed to tip bartenders because they make really good wages already. Also we got our Oyster card, which allows us to travel pretty much anywhere within Zone 1 and 2, which is pretty much everywhere important.

After all this we headed out to Camden Market, a spot that both Jeff and Rory suggested to multiple people in our crew. Camden is this wonderful, open-air market that I equate with Olvera Street in LA, but with a greater variety of food (the whole reason I was there in the first place. Am I my mother's son, or what?). We perused the stalls and ate some delicious salt and pepper chicken and some food from the French Alps - sausage and potatoes with cheese.

Coming back through Leicester Square we got off to take a look around: that is a very happening place! It is the heart of the city, with theaters, cinemas, restaurants, and tons of things happening within the actual square itself. But heading home in rush hour traffic is insane. Pictures to follow of that!

I don't know if you guys have heard, but I guess people around the world play this game called soccer, or football to some, and it's pretty popular I guess. People watch it - I just get a beer and cheer when appropriate.

Toooooo much fun.

Enmasse

I'll start by finishing my day from yesterday:

So I eventually fell asleep, as did Ellen, and we emerged fresh and new to greet the (surprisingly) sunny London skies. We ventured out feeling spunky, so we decided to walk all the way to Piccadilly Circus, a decent walk. We traveled through all sorts of places, mostly very posh, upper class sections that had stores that I could never afford to shop in. We ended up in Piccadilly when I remembered that a restaurant called Wagamama was in the area. Wagamama is a delicious noodle house that serves all different kind of asian foods. We had to stop and ask like 10 times where it was but eventually we found it, and boy was it worth it. After eating, Ellen and I headed home on the train where we just hung around the empty flat by ourselves. At around 11 she and I started getting hungry again, so we traveled to the Tesco Express (a generic supermarket chain) where we got breakfast foods. We also stopped at this little Italian place which we now call Princess Diana Pizza because there are pictures of her everywhere, and her name is engraved on the steps outside. Finally arriving home, we each took a Benadryll and a melatonin and passed out. Hardcore.

The next morning I got up to pee and all of a sudden I heard voices from down the hall. Now Ellen and had discussed the night before that we thought that no one would show up till at least around noon, giving us free reign of the apartment. This was 9:30 in the morning and both she and I were very shocked to find that Jill, Ashleigh, and Tia had all arrived looking very happy to be home. Soon after them two more kids showed up. Well, we pretty much forced to accept that the flat was no longer ours at this point, giving us the incentive to get up and start getting dressed. Ellen and I had discussed seeing a matinee of Hair, so we convinced the girls to head into the city with us and check out the scene. The tickets were sold out, much to our dismay; we next decided to grab some lunch and walk back home. We took the most roundabout path home: down Regent Street to the Palace, around the Palace and then back up through Knightsbridge and then home in Kensington. Tired and sore, we were happy to relax for a little while, but when we got home we discovered that everyone else had finally arrived. So many people had shown up literally at the same time that it was fairly overwhelming, and I still have so many names to learn. At 6, everyone gathered in our flat for a meeting and to talk a walking tour of the facilities we're allowed to use. I'll touch more on those later. Food shopping, then dinner at Wagamama again (a different restaurant, but man it's so damn good) and a pint in a pub and now I'm home again.

I'm not rooming with Ryan; I'm rooming with a guy named Derek. He's an engineer/liberal arts major who is also in the ROTC. He's nice.

I should really be updating this at the end of the day, instead of in the middle. This was a super long post. I'll try to keep them more succinct, or at least not of multiple days. But we'll see, right?

AIR CANADA FTW!!!!!!

So let it be said, that as much as people make fun of Canadians, their airline rocks. The people are friendly, the seats are comfortable, even the food is pretty decent. Here's what is annoying though: everything they say in English, they also have to say in French. And it's not that I don't like French or anything - it's just that after already having it interrupt my movie to tell me something I already know because I've been on an airplane at least one time before, they then have to do it in a language that sounds like pretty gibberish. Whatever, I guess. Maybe I'm picking fights with Canada for no reason other than I'm jealous of their flannel.

I watched a movie on the plane called The Art of the Steal. It's a documentary about the Barnes art collection, which housed the greatest personal collection of Post Impressionist art in the world, which was then consumed by greedy politicians in Philadelphia. It's hard, as an artist, to watch someone's dream (in this case to have the collection remain in it's original location with the intention of using the art to teach) be commercialized or ripped apart by people who cannot see the more specific picture. It reaffirmed how much I love doing theater and the reasons for me doing it.

Well I met Ellen in the airport after waiting around in baggage for 3 hours. That's a long time to be staring at luggage. She isn't feeling well so we looked into Metrogate House (the main place where all the classrooms are) and they let us into our rooms a day early. So she's napping and I'm typing and hopefully when she's feeling better we'll go out and see some of the sights. I'm hoping for a little West End action. And you can take that any way you want.

Days

Just two days out.

Two days.

It's crazy to think it's arrived to suddenly. I'm truthfully a little nervous. I mean, this will be the longest I'll go without seeing my family, and on top of that I'll be in another country. Another world, pretty much.

Am I hyping this up too much? Possibly.

I'm compiling all the documents and putting off the packing. God, packing is the worst. It's unbearably painful. I wish I could just ship my whole closet or dresser with me and not have to deal with it. Ah, too simple a solution.

Also, I said goodbye to Alison today. She's probably going to kill me for putting this on here, but I'm sure she'll live. It was tough: 6 weeks is a long time to go without seeing one's girlfriend. I'm going to miss her a lot.

Two days people. Less, really.

1 week out

Well I'm one week away from the embarkation of a lifetime.

This will either be an exceptionally fast week or an exceptionally slow one.

Either way I'm excited to get on and get out. In less then 7 days I'll be on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. Through this blog I hope to fill you all in on the plays I'm seeing, the work I'm doing, the laughs I'm sharing, the beer I'm drinking and the fun I'm having. I'm glad you all can join me.

Well not necessarily join me, seeing as you won't be there. Suckers.