This is just to say that I am way too excited about my acquisition of an electric toothbrush. And is it bad that I'm so looking forward to a term during which I, an unathletic English major, will be taking Math and Health & Exercise Science?
Happy New Year's Eve everyone!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
p.s. Regarding the rest of London
Just to add a couple of notes about London that I never mentioned...
I got to see Wicked, starring Idina Menzel (popularly known by her role as Maureen in Rent). This would be the musical based on the book by Gregory Maguire, about how exactly the Wicked Witch of the West came to be regarded as wicked. Or, moreover, why it is that we only hear Dorothy and the Wizard's version of the story. The book and the musical are both fabulous, though very different. The show was amazing, my favorite of the 3 big-name musicals I saw in London.
I also had my 20th birthday during our London stay. To celebrate I went with some friends to TGIFridays in Leicester Square, where Casino Royale also happened to be holding its premiere that evening. It was fun, and I am eternally grateful that I have graduated from teenager to twenty-something.
I got to see Wicked, starring Idina Menzel (popularly known by her role as Maureen in Rent). This would be the musical based on the book by Gregory Maguire, about how exactly the Wicked Witch of the West came to be regarded as wicked. Or, moreover, why it is that we only hear Dorothy and the Wizard's version of the story. The book and the musical are both fabulous, though very different. The show was amazing, my favorite of the 3 big-name musicals I saw in London.
I also had my 20th birthday during our London stay. To celebrate I went with some friends to TGIFridays in Leicester Square, where Casino Royale also happened to be holding its premiere that evening. It was fun, and I am eternally grateful that I have graduated from teenager to twenty-something.
Free Travel Part 2: Dirty Rainy Romantic Paris
To continue yesterday's post...
So we were in Paris. At first I found our hotel there—the Hotel Milan, in Invalides—mildly sketchy, but excused that on the basis of how relatively cheap it was. I now know that continental European hotel standards are vastly different than American expectations. As in, Super 8 is an improvement over your average French hotel room. The bathroom in Paris Hotel was tiny with an oddly shaped tub that made it dangerous to shower, and a toilet that was so close to the wall you had to sit on it sideways because your knees wouldn’t fit in front of it. But hey, at least we had a bathroom! Oh yes, and our toilet had an endless array of problems, partially because Chandler couldn’t stop accidentally droppings things into it—soap, rolls of toilet paper, etc…
Our first night in Paris we had dinner a charming little Italian restaurant we found, where I finally got to practice practical French! With real French people! Who were much nicer than we commonly think!
The next day we hopped a train to Reims, which was a beautiful and clean city, in the Champagne region of France. There Chandler and I toured the Taittinger champagne caves, where we received an extensive education in the production of authentic champagne. I will now be setting up a bootleg pseudo-champagne business in my apartment. And an interesting factoid: any wine actually labeled “Champagne,” rather than sparkling wine or something similar, has been made in the Champagne region of France—they guard the name fiercely. Many a Californian sparkling wine manufacturer have “fallen” off castle walls for trying to pass off their inferior nectar-for-the-masses as champagne.
That was also the day we discovered that it is all-but-impossible to find dinner in France before 7:00 pm (or 19:00, in European time). But we finally came upon a little brasserie in Reims and managed to eat before taking a train back to Paris.
On Day 2 in France (Wednesday, Nov. 22) we took a train to Bayeux, where we intended to visit the D-Day Beaches, but unfortunately that did not work out due to the tour bus schedules. However, we did get to pay 8 euro for a bowl of soup and see the Bayeux tapestry (which was cheaper than the soup)! The tapestry has a very good exhibit with it explaining its historical significance. It wasn’t crowded that day, which was nice, because we could just take our time seeing it all. Though it was disappointing that we didn’t make it up to the Normandy coast, it was still a good day. We sought out dinner in another little Italian place close to our hotel. I think the French eat more Italian food than French food.
Thanksgiving day we stayed in Paris, seeing the sights soaked in rain, which prevented my getting a single decent photograph. Highlights of the day included the Centre Pompidou (modern art), the Musee d’Orsay (the amazing museum that accepted the Impressionist paintings that the Louvre rejected—Monet, Degas, Manet—it was Art Heaven for me, since Impressionism is my favorite movement in visual art), the original Sephora store on the Champs-Elysees (Art Heaven and Cosmetics Mecca in one day!), and getting to see the Eiffel Tower live and in person, even though I have no decent pictures of it, because God decided Paris needed rain on the one day Kristen needed photos of Paris.
That night Chandler and I celebrated Thanksgiving with a special meal at a charming little restaurant called L’Affriolé, which serves authentic French cuisine. However, because it was marked wrong on the map I was using, we had a difficult time finding the place. And because we were having a difficult time finding the place, I had out my large guidebook so we could figure out where we were, which I can only assume was how we were targeted by a Parisian pickpocketer/mugger/serial killer. Luckily I don’t know which of those amenable categories he fit in, because I successfully identified him as a criminal and spoiled his intentions. He had walked past us, and thankfully I was used to checking behind myself by that point, and when I did I saw him turning around to follow us. But when I looked him in the eye he turned back around and continued in his original direction. And that’s when I took a deep breath and put up the guidebook, because we looked enough like tourists anyway without that. In any event, dinner was splendid. My main course (plat) was a chicken dish with creamy sauce, while Chandler the Vegetarian Crime Magnet enjoyed a main course of vegetable side dishes, as Europe is not as vegetarian-friendly as the USA.
That was our last night in sorta-sketchy Paris hotel, where our toilet was finally working. The next day it was a 6 hour train ride to Nice. And as it is again late, I will end this now, and finish up later with Nice (warm and beautiful) and Glasgow (cold and nasty)
So we were in Paris. At first I found our hotel there—the Hotel Milan, in Invalides—mildly sketchy, but excused that on the basis of how relatively cheap it was. I now know that continental European hotel standards are vastly different than American expectations. As in, Super 8 is an improvement over your average French hotel room. The bathroom in Paris Hotel was tiny with an oddly shaped tub that made it dangerous to shower, and a toilet that was so close to the wall you had to sit on it sideways because your knees wouldn’t fit in front of it. But hey, at least we had a bathroom! Oh yes, and our toilet had an endless array of problems, partially because Chandler couldn’t stop accidentally droppings things into it—soap, rolls of toilet paper, etc…
Our first night in Paris we had dinner a charming little Italian restaurant we found, where I finally got to practice practical French! With real French people! Who were much nicer than we commonly think!
The next day we hopped a train to Reims, which was a beautiful and clean city, in the Champagne region of France. There Chandler and I toured the Taittinger champagne caves, where we received an extensive education in the production of authentic champagne. I will now be setting up a bootleg pseudo-champagne business in my apartment. And an interesting factoid: any wine actually labeled “Champagne,” rather than sparkling wine or something similar, has been made in the Champagne region of France—they guard the name fiercely. Many a Californian sparkling wine manufacturer have “fallen” off castle walls for trying to pass off their inferior nectar-for-the-masses as champagne.
That was also the day we discovered that it is all-but-impossible to find dinner in France before 7:00 pm (or 19:00, in European time). But we finally came upon a little brasserie in Reims and managed to eat before taking a train back to Paris.
On Day 2 in France (Wednesday, Nov. 22) we took a train to Bayeux, where we intended to visit the D-Day Beaches, but unfortunately that did not work out due to the tour bus schedules. However, we did get to pay 8 euro for a bowl of soup and see the Bayeux tapestry (which was cheaper than the soup)! The tapestry has a very good exhibit with it explaining its historical significance. It wasn’t crowded that day, which was nice, because we could just take our time seeing it all. Though it was disappointing that we didn’t make it up to the Normandy coast, it was still a good day. We sought out dinner in another little Italian place close to our hotel. I think the French eat more Italian food than French food.
Thanksgiving day we stayed in Paris, seeing the sights soaked in rain, which prevented my getting a single decent photograph. Highlights of the day included the Centre Pompidou (modern art), the Musee d’Orsay (the amazing museum that accepted the Impressionist paintings that the Louvre rejected—Monet, Degas, Manet—it was Art Heaven for me, since Impressionism is my favorite movement in visual art), the original Sephora store on the Champs-Elysees (Art Heaven and Cosmetics Mecca in one day!), and getting to see the Eiffel Tower live and in person, even though I have no decent pictures of it, because God decided Paris needed rain on the one day Kristen needed photos of Paris.
That night Chandler and I celebrated Thanksgiving with a special meal at a charming little restaurant called L’Affriolé, which serves authentic French cuisine. However, because it was marked wrong on the map I was using, we had a difficult time finding the place. And because we were having a difficult time finding the place, I had out my large guidebook so we could figure out where we were, which I can only assume was how we were targeted by a Parisian pickpocketer/mugger/serial killer. Luckily I don’t know which of those amenable categories he fit in, because I successfully identified him as a criminal and spoiled his intentions. He had walked past us, and thankfully I was used to checking behind myself by that point, and when I did I saw him turning around to follow us. But when I looked him in the eye he turned back around and continued in his original direction. And that’s when I took a deep breath and put up the guidebook, because we looked enough like tourists anyway without that. In any event, dinner was splendid. My main course (plat) was a chicken dish with creamy sauce, while Chandler the Vegetarian Crime Magnet enjoyed a main course of vegetable side dishes, as Europe is not as vegetarian-friendly as the USA.
That was our last night in sorta-sketchy Paris hotel, where our toilet was finally working. The next day it was a 6 hour train ride to Nice. And as it is again late, I will end this now, and finish up later with Nice (warm and beautiful) and Glasgow (cold and nasty)
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Free Travel, Part 1: The Monday I earned my adulthood
And now to work on the oft-promised update of what happened on Free Travel. Free travel period consisted of us students being able to go off alone or in groups or with our choice of traveling monkey to wherever the heck in Europe we cared to be. For the two professors traveling with their wives, Free Travel was the time when they had no obligations whatsoever and could enjoy the end of their 3 month vacation without those pesky students about and lectures to prepare. For the venerable Dr. Aarnes, Free Travel meant finally getting to see his family again, as he flew home the second us students were gone.
On Saturday, November 18, I checked out of the Royal Nasty, where I PAID MY PHONE BILL (more on this later), and hopped a train from London Marylebone to Stratford-upon-Avon with Chandler, Hayley, and Mordoch the Avenger (aka Murdock). That night I saw a very interesting production of Pericles by the RSC (oh how I’m missing professional theatre), and Sunday Murdock and I went to church and hung around Stratford while Chandler and Hayley went to Birmingham for the day. Mordoch and I also saw The Prestige, which is a magnificent film and definitely worth seeing in theatres. We stayed in the same B&B where we were before, and it was really nice to see Richard and Sue and the kids again. All-in-all, a good start to Free Travel.
Then there was Monday. This is what was supposed to happen: Chandler and I get on a train from Stratford to London, take the tube to another London station, then get on the Chunnel train to Paris. What actually happened was this: Chandler and I wake up late; we then find out that the B&B does not take credit cards, so Chandler has to go into town (a decent walk) to get to an ATM. We get a late start on our walk to the train station, and I stress about it, but we arrive with about 10 minutes to spare. Whew, crisis averted. Just when we were breathing easy again, we find out that our train to London has been cancelled. CANCELLED. Now take a moment to note that our Chunnel tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable, which means if we don’t make it on the appropriate train on time we are screwed and will be spending the rest of free travel in a London train station because we will not be able to afford new tickets or new accommodations. Ok, back to the cancelled train—the train company has hired a bus to take us to the next station where we will be able to take another train to London. But the bus is late. We end up taking a taxi to the next station with two other random Furman students we ran into at the station (that was bizarre), and by a genuine miracle of God the train there is late and we are able to make it on board. Again, I am stupid enough to think “Whew, crisis averted,” a phrase which I now believe to be a jinx on travelers. The train is set to arrive in plenty of time for us to make it to the Chunnel. But wait! Our train to London ends up behind a delinquent train that breaks down at every station it stops at, which results in massive delays to our train. There is no telling when we will make it to London. By now Chandler and I are laughing at this incredible sequence of bad circumstances that may very well prevent my ever seeing France. But it’s stress-laughing.
We finally arrive in London, and yes, we have enough time to get to the train! Alright, I’m thinking, we’ve made it here, everything’s going to be fine. Despite my reading the tube map wrong and making us change lines when we really didn’t have to, we got to Waterloo station, where the Chunnel leaves from, with about 15 minutes to spare before we have to check-in for the train. Just enough time to buy a couple of bagels for our lunch (it is 1:00 pm now) and get on board to eat them. Mission accomplished: we scan our tickets, bagels-in-hand, and proceed to security. Not that I had a single other problem with security on this trip, mind you, but apparently something in my suitcase created suspicion in the x-ray guard, who passed my bag off to the search table then promptly disappeared without telling anyone what she had seen in my bag, resulting in my carefully-packed suitcase having to be completely unpacked before the entire population of hurrying businesspeople and security guards populating the screening area. The very nice lady searching my suitcase can’t seem to stop mentioning how she doesn’t know whether we’ll make the train or not. My entire personal effects are spread out on a table. I am near tears. The suitcase is finally put back together in random order, and we have 7, count ‘em, seven minutes until the train leaves, and the platform is a considerable distance from the security point. We run—down hallways, down stairs, past curious dogs and moths, down the platform, hop onto the train—HOORAY! And then we realize, oops, we’re on the wrong car (we could tell by the extra-large comfy seats indicating first class)! So we hop back off the train, and run run run run run run down the platform. I am carrying a heavily loaded backpack, my messenger bag, and dragging my thank-goodness-it-rolls heavy suitcase behind me. I’m sure it made a great image. And despite what the movies may have led you to believe, running down a platform is neither attractive nor romantic. I was sweating, exhausted, breathing hard, and surrounded by a green haze of stress. You should take all possible precautions to avoid these circumstances.
But the good news is we made it to our seats just as the train left the platform, and 2 ½ hours later arrived in Paris, where a confused Asian immigrant cab driver barely got us to our hotel alive. And I imagine that if there is traffic in hell, it closely resembles French traffic.
Well, it is now 1:01 am, and I am tired of writing, and I’m sure that you are tired of reading, so I will post this now and update on the rest of free travel at some later point. Don’t worry, Monday is by far the longest part of the free travel postings.
On Saturday, November 18, I checked out of the Royal Nasty, where I PAID MY PHONE BILL (more on this later), and hopped a train from London Marylebone to Stratford-upon-Avon with Chandler, Hayley, and Mordoch the Avenger (aka Murdock). That night I saw a very interesting production of Pericles by the RSC (oh how I’m missing professional theatre), and Sunday Murdock and I went to church and hung around Stratford while Chandler and Hayley went to Birmingham for the day. Mordoch and I also saw The Prestige, which is a magnificent film and definitely worth seeing in theatres. We stayed in the same B&B where we were before, and it was really nice to see Richard and Sue and the kids again. All-in-all, a good start to Free Travel.
Then there was Monday. This is what was supposed to happen: Chandler and I get on a train from Stratford to London, take the tube to another London station, then get on the Chunnel train to Paris. What actually happened was this: Chandler and I wake up late; we then find out that the B&B does not take credit cards, so Chandler has to go into town (a decent walk) to get to an ATM. We get a late start on our walk to the train station, and I stress about it, but we arrive with about 10 minutes to spare. Whew, crisis averted. Just when we were breathing easy again, we find out that our train to London has been cancelled. CANCELLED. Now take a moment to note that our Chunnel tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable, which means if we don’t make it on the appropriate train on time we are screwed and will be spending the rest of free travel in a London train station because we will not be able to afford new tickets or new accommodations. Ok, back to the cancelled train—the train company has hired a bus to take us to the next station where we will be able to take another train to London. But the bus is late. We end up taking a taxi to the next station with two other random Furman students we ran into at the station (that was bizarre), and by a genuine miracle of God the train there is late and we are able to make it on board. Again, I am stupid enough to think “Whew, crisis averted,” a phrase which I now believe to be a jinx on travelers. The train is set to arrive in plenty of time for us to make it to the Chunnel. But wait! Our train to London ends up behind a delinquent train that breaks down at every station it stops at, which results in massive delays to our train. There is no telling when we will make it to London. By now Chandler and I are laughing at this incredible sequence of bad circumstances that may very well prevent my ever seeing France. But it’s stress-laughing.
We finally arrive in London, and yes, we have enough time to get to the train! Alright, I’m thinking, we’ve made it here, everything’s going to be fine. Despite my reading the tube map wrong and making us change lines when we really didn’t have to, we got to Waterloo station, where the Chunnel leaves from, with about 15 minutes to spare before we have to check-in for the train. Just enough time to buy a couple of bagels for our lunch (it is 1:00 pm now) and get on board to eat them. Mission accomplished: we scan our tickets, bagels-in-hand, and proceed to security. Not that I had a single other problem with security on this trip, mind you, but apparently something in my suitcase created suspicion in the x-ray guard, who passed my bag off to the search table then promptly disappeared without telling anyone what she had seen in my bag, resulting in my carefully-packed suitcase having to be completely unpacked before the entire population of hurrying businesspeople and security guards populating the screening area. The very nice lady searching my suitcase can’t seem to stop mentioning how she doesn’t know whether we’ll make the train or not. My entire personal effects are spread out on a table. I am near tears. The suitcase is finally put back together in random order, and we have 7, count ‘em, seven minutes until the train leaves, and the platform is a considerable distance from the security point. We run—down hallways, down stairs, past curious dogs and moths, down the platform, hop onto the train—HOORAY! And then we realize, oops, we’re on the wrong car (we could tell by the extra-large comfy seats indicating first class)! So we hop back off the train, and run run run run run run down the platform. I am carrying a heavily loaded backpack, my messenger bag, and dragging my thank-goodness-it-rolls heavy suitcase behind me. I’m sure it made a great image. And despite what the movies may have led you to believe, running down a platform is neither attractive nor romantic. I was sweating, exhausted, breathing hard, and surrounded by a green haze of stress. You should take all possible precautions to avoid these circumstances.
But the good news is we made it to our seats just as the train left the platform, and 2 ½ hours later arrived in Paris, where a confused Asian immigrant cab driver barely got us to our hotel alive. And I imagine that if there is traffic in hell, it closely resembles French traffic.
Well, it is now 1:01 am, and I am tired of writing, and I’m sure that you are tired of reading, so I will post this now and update on the rest of free travel at some later point. Don’t worry, Monday is by far the longest part of the free travel postings.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I know I know
And don't remind me, I know I'm supposed to be updating you all on the end of the trip. It's coming, I promise, though it might be July before it gets here.
Occupational destiny, a sentimental post
People say I'm lucky that I know what to do with my life. That's probably true. But there are plenty of days when I wonder whether it's what I'm supposed to be doing and whether I will still be happy with this decision in 10 or 20 years.
And then there days like today when I am confident that this is where I'm meant to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, at least right now. Whenever I have a discussion or debate about education, like I did today, and I can hear the passion in my voice, I realize that I cannot imagine that tone coming from a debate about any other subject.
Tomorrow I get to meet the new SC Superintendent of Education, and I'm more excited than I would be about meeting, I don't know, Brad Pitt. Given that I don't like Brad Pitt very much, but you get what I'm saying. I'm not even griping about having to get up early to be there, and trust me, that's a big deal. It's those sorts of things that make me realize that there is nothing else I'd rather do at this time in my life.
I don't know whether I'll be in education until retirement, and I'm even less sure whether I'll be teaching that long, but it is wonderful to have days like today as confirmation that I have found the one road out of hundreds that will make the most interesting and enlightening journey for me.
And then there days like today when I am confident that this is where I'm meant to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, at least right now. Whenever I have a discussion or debate about education, like I did today, and I can hear the passion in my voice, I realize that I cannot imagine that tone coming from a debate about any other subject.
Tomorrow I get to meet the new SC Superintendent of Education, and I'm more excited than I would be about meeting, I don't know, Brad Pitt. Given that I don't like Brad Pitt very much, but you get what I'm saying. I'm not even griping about having to get up early to be there, and trust me, that's a big deal. It's those sorts of things that make me realize that there is nothing else I'd rather do at this time in my life.
I don't know whether I'll be in education until retirement, and I'm even less sure whether I'll be teaching that long, but it is wonderful to have days like today as confirmation that I have found the one road out of hundreds that will make the most interesting and enlightening journey for me.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Last post from Europe
Well, this is it folks. I'm getting all reminiscient now that we're down to less than a day to takeoff. I don't have much to say I guess. This will be my last night in Europe for a long long time I imagine. I will miss it, but probably not as much as I've missed home. Anyway, this post is short, both because I have little to say and because it is, after all, my last day in London, and I'm certainly not going to waste it online!
Cheers from the girl who is very ready to get off that plane and onto Southern soil once more!
Cheers from the girl who is very ready to get off that plane and onto Southern soil once more!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
freezing rainy Glasgow
Let me describe today's weather in Glasgow, Scotland:
Imagine waking up to a flat gray sky that looks rather like God has spread a bleak depressing tablecloth over the world. It is cold, very very cold, as though this tablecloth is insulated and keeping all the Sun's heat out. Now add some rain to this, cold rain, at times misty, at times heavy pellets. Finally, an extreme wind, the umbrella-breaking, phone booth-shaking kind.
Is it hard to see why I barely went outside today?
I'm not all that keen on Glasgow, where we arrived Tuesday, from Paris. There doesn't seem to be that much to do, but I'm sure things would be a lot more lively if anyone could motivate themselves to go outdoors. An abundance of good cheap food though. We are staying in a hostel that's really just a hotel where you have to make your own bed. But hey, there's free internet!
I know there are huge gaps in this blog, but I promise to fill it in as much as possible when I get home. For now, just know that I'm alive and still enjoying myself, but also am anticipating being somewhere warmer and more like home. I fly out of London Sunday morning and arrive in Atlanta Sunday afternoon sometime. It's a 9.5 hour flight, oh goody! I'll have to buy another book to make it through.
Tomorrow we go back to London, collect our luggage stored there, and Saturday we run around trying to do all the things we didn't get around to during the six weeks we were there before. I can't believe it's coming to an end. In a way it feels like I've been here forever, and in a way it feels like it's been only a few days.
Well, I should go try to put this suitcase together again. I'm amazed it's survived, with all the stairs I've been dragging it up and down, literally, because it's usually too heavy for me to carry comfortably. Hope everyone had a good Turkey day last week (Chandler and I had a 4-course French meal in Paris), and I will see you all again very soon now!!!!!!!!!!!
Countdown: 2 days. Wow.
Imagine waking up to a flat gray sky that looks rather like God has spread a bleak depressing tablecloth over the world. It is cold, very very cold, as though this tablecloth is insulated and keeping all the Sun's heat out. Now add some rain to this, cold rain, at times misty, at times heavy pellets. Finally, an extreme wind, the umbrella-breaking, phone booth-shaking kind.
Is it hard to see why I barely went outside today?
I'm not all that keen on Glasgow, where we arrived Tuesday, from Paris. There doesn't seem to be that much to do, but I'm sure things would be a lot more lively if anyone could motivate themselves to go outdoors. An abundance of good cheap food though. We are staying in a hostel that's really just a hotel where you have to make your own bed. But hey, there's free internet!
I know there are huge gaps in this blog, but I promise to fill it in as much as possible when I get home. For now, just know that I'm alive and still enjoying myself, but also am anticipating being somewhere warmer and more like home. I fly out of London Sunday morning and arrive in Atlanta Sunday afternoon sometime. It's a 9.5 hour flight, oh goody! I'll have to buy another book to make it through.
Tomorrow we go back to London, collect our luggage stored there, and Saturday we run around trying to do all the things we didn't get around to during the six weeks we were there before. I can't believe it's coming to an end. In a way it feels like I've been here forever, and in a way it feels like it's been only a few days.
Well, I should go try to put this suitcase together again. I'm amazed it's survived, with all the stairs I've been dragging it up and down, literally, because it's usually too heavy for me to carry comfortably. Hope everyone had a good Turkey day last week (Chandler and I had a 4-course French meal in Paris), and I will see you all again very soon now!!!!!!!!!!!
Countdown: 2 days. Wow.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Bonjour a tout!
This message will be very short because the keyboard here is different and is quickly driving me mad. At any rate, Chandler and I are currently alive and in Nice, which is in the South of France, right on the Mediterranean, and naturally it is gorgeous. We have already been to Paris, where it rained a lot, and we will soon be leaving here for a one night stand in Paris before heading to Glasgow for the rest of free travel. Get excited, only one more week till you all get to see me again!!!
And now I am leaving before I throw this keyboard into the wall.
And now I am leaving before I throw this keyboard into the wall.
Monday, November 06, 2006
I am currently sitting on my bed in my room at the Nasty. Though I cannot get internet in my room, I will go downstairs and post this at some point later tonight.
Roommate Colleen is sick and was sleeping until a few minutes ago when a knock on the door awoke her. She has now disappeared from the room, but I expect her to return relatively soon and crawl back into bed.
I have acquired an official 6-cup teapot from Whittard. This is highly exciting because it means I do not have to brew one cup of tea at a time. Indeed, I can make 6, yes, 6 cups of tea at a time and just keep pouring. This teapot is especially nice because it has a built-in strainer for loose tea and because it is extremely cute, with a handpainted little London scene on it. I am very excited about the acquisition of the teapot, though I have yet to determine how it is going to get back to South Carolina. I intend to return to Whittard and buy a few varieties of their delicious smelling loose-leaf teas, including flavors like Chocolate Chai. Yay for fun teas.
Today I made reservations for the hotel in Paris, where we will theoretically be staying for part of free travel. I say theoretically because between the attendant’s bad English and my bad French I am not entirely certain that I did in fact reserve a room for two people for the appropriate dates. I suppose I will find out when we get there. He was also having some difficulties with my name, apparently thinking my first name is something to the pronounced effect of “Dett” (I was trying to get “Pitts” through to him, but I don’t think he knew the English alphabet so well), so I eventually had to resort to spelling my name for him in French. Thank goodness for the teachers who felt the need to drill the alphabet into me in every single French class I took (i.e. “Welcome to French 3. We will begin the term by learning the alphabet…”).
Other interesting events of the week…
Thursday night we went to see Phantom of the Opera at its original theatre, where it has been playing for 20 years now. It was a marvelous production. The actor playing the Phantom was particularly impressive—honestly I would say his performance was flawless. I was glad to see that the casting directors did not seem to favor acting over singing, or vice versa, as nearly all the cast seemed equally skilled in both.
Thursday the day was very very long indeed. We had, I don’t know, 3.5 hours of class in the morning, then we had a 3 hour long scavenger hunt in the afternoon, during which we had to traipse around London on foot searching for obscure semi-historical sites, like the portrait of one of Dr. Leavell’s ancestors hanging in the Somerset House. Of course, it is now officially Freaking Cold in London, so by the end of this little quest I could no longer feel either my legs or my feet, hooray. Despite all this, my team won the “London History Quest,” as the professors termed it, and as a reward for our sort-of committed efforts we received a certificate (one for each of us) and a chocolate bar (one bar to divide up amongst the members of the group). Out of concern for my personal safety, I declined to take a piece of the chocolate and instead gorged myself on the all-American Dove chocolates I had stashed in my purse.
Friday I spent the day singing Phantom songs over and over in my head.
An ambulance siren just went by. I’m sure it wasn’t the first since I started typing this, but bizarrely I have gotten accustomed to the sirens, though not the general London racket that fills the air night and day.
On Saturday I had a delightful two-pound (the currency, not the weight) traditional English breakfast at a pub 2 tube stops away. It was soooo good. I haven’t had a real full breakfast since Stratford, so it was very exciting.
Sunday evening we had a designated Girls Night, planned and hosted by two of the girls on the trip, and attended by about 12 of us. We had hors d’oeuvres in the girls’ rooms, then watched the Guy Fawkes Day fireworks from the roof of the hotel, and went out to eat Italian food. It was delightful, and I was completely exhausted by the end of the evening. I collapsed on my bed, fully intending to stay awake long enough to call home, but I apparently failed because several hours later I awoke with my glasses still on and a book imprint in my back. I think I just rolled over and went back to sleep. However, when I woke up around 5:15 am for No Apparent Reason, I found myself bizarrely wide awake and was unable to go back to sleep for a full two hours. Not fun at all. I had intended to be very productive today and go museum-hopping and such, but I ended up sleeping later due to the lack of sleep during the night and just went shopping with Hayley and Chandler, who bled all over the H&M store because she cut her finger and didn’t have any tissue and there were no toilets to be found. It was charming I tell you. She finally used my receipt to stanch it. I hope I don’t decide to return anything.
Roommate Colleen returned, put on a sweatshirt, then left again. She seemed to be in a sleep-induced stupor. Because we (and by "we" I mean "I") keep losing our ("my") room keys, we now have a large collection of useless key cards in our room and we have to check to make sure we have a functioning keycard before we leave. I think I shall eat a banana then go downstairs to post this bit of nonsense. Current countdown status: 27 days (less than 4 weeks, wow!)
Cheers from the Girl who is Really Starting to Miss Home.
Roommate Colleen is sick and was sleeping until a few minutes ago when a knock on the door awoke her. She has now disappeared from the room, but I expect her to return relatively soon and crawl back into bed.
I have acquired an official 6-cup teapot from Whittard. This is highly exciting because it means I do not have to brew one cup of tea at a time. Indeed, I can make 6, yes, 6 cups of tea at a time and just keep pouring. This teapot is especially nice because it has a built-in strainer for loose tea and because it is extremely cute, with a handpainted little London scene on it. I am very excited about the acquisition of the teapot, though I have yet to determine how it is going to get back to South Carolina. I intend to return to Whittard and buy a few varieties of their delicious smelling loose-leaf teas, including flavors like Chocolate Chai. Yay for fun teas.
Today I made reservations for the hotel in Paris, where we will theoretically be staying for part of free travel. I say theoretically because between the attendant’s bad English and my bad French I am not entirely certain that I did in fact reserve a room for two people for the appropriate dates. I suppose I will find out when we get there. He was also having some difficulties with my name, apparently thinking my first name is something to the pronounced effect of “Dett” (I was trying to get “Pitts” through to him, but I don’t think he knew the English alphabet so well), so I eventually had to resort to spelling my name for him in French. Thank goodness for the teachers who felt the need to drill the alphabet into me in every single French class I took (i.e. “Welcome to French 3. We will begin the term by learning the alphabet…”).
Other interesting events of the week…
Thursday night we went to see Phantom of the Opera at its original theatre, where it has been playing for 20 years now. It was a marvelous production. The actor playing the Phantom was particularly impressive—honestly I would say his performance was flawless. I was glad to see that the casting directors did not seem to favor acting over singing, or vice versa, as nearly all the cast seemed equally skilled in both.
Thursday the day was very very long indeed. We had, I don’t know, 3.5 hours of class in the morning, then we had a 3 hour long scavenger hunt in the afternoon, during which we had to traipse around London on foot searching for obscure semi-historical sites, like the portrait of one of Dr. Leavell’s ancestors hanging in the Somerset House. Of course, it is now officially Freaking Cold in London, so by the end of this little quest I could no longer feel either my legs or my feet, hooray. Despite all this, my team won the “London History Quest,” as the professors termed it, and as a reward for our sort-of committed efforts we received a certificate (one for each of us) and a chocolate bar (one bar to divide up amongst the members of the group). Out of concern for my personal safety, I declined to take a piece of the chocolate and instead gorged myself on the all-American Dove chocolates I had stashed in my purse.
Friday I spent the day singing Phantom songs over and over in my head.
An ambulance siren just went by. I’m sure it wasn’t the first since I started typing this, but bizarrely I have gotten accustomed to the sirens, though not the general London racket that fills the air night and day.
On Saturday I had a delightful two-pound (the currency, not the weight) traditional English breakfast at a pub 2 tube stops away. It was soooo good. I haven’t had a real full breakfast since Stratford, so it was very exciting.
Sunday evening we had a designated Girls Night, planned and hosted by two of the girls on the trip, and attended by about 12 of us. We had hors d’oeuvres in the girls’ rooms, then watched the Guy Fawkes Day fireworks from the roof of the hotel, and went out to eat Italian food. It was delightful, and I was completely exhausted by the end of the evening. I collapsed on my bed, fully intending to stay awake long enough to call home, but I apparently failed because several hours later I awoke with my glasses still on and a book imprint in my back. I think I just rolled over and went back to sleep. However, when I woke up around 5:15 am for No Apparent Reason, I found myself bizarrely wide awake and was unable to go back to sleep for a full two hours. Not fun at all. I had intended to be very productive today and go museum-hopping and such, but I ended up sleeping later due to the lack of sleep during the night and just went shopping with Hayley and Chandler, who bled all over the H&M store because she cut her finger and didn’t have any tissue and there were no toilets to be found. It was charming I tell you. She finally used my receipt to stanch it. I hope I don’t decide to return anything.
Roommate Colleen returned, put on a sweatshirt, then left again. She seemed to be in a sleep-induced stupor. Because we (and by "we" I mean "I") keep losing our ("my") room keys, we now have a large collection of useless key cards in our room and we have to check to make sure we have a functioning keycard before we leave. I think I shall eat a banana then go downstairs to post this bit of nonsense. Current countdown status: 27 days (less than 4 weeks, wow!)
Cheers from the Girl who is Really Starting to Miss Home.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Timmy my love!
What you really need to know in this post is that Monday night I went to see Spamalot (sooo clever!), with Tim Curry starring as King Arthur. And then after the show I went to the stage door to stalk the actors, and this is what happened:
This is the conversation I had with Tim Curry (post-picture, while he was signing my programme):
Me: Great show!
Tim Curry: Thanks.
Me: I feel the need to tell you that Clue is my favorite movie ever.
Tim Curry: That's alright, it's one of mine too.
This may be among the coolest things that has ever happened to me that I actually have proof of.
Among other things going on...
Monday I also had my picture day, so I have a few more pics to post other than the ME AND TIM CURRY one. (Note added later: actually I seem to be having difficulty uploading pictures, thus I will send out an email with pictures. If you don't get the email and would like to, then email me and I will put you on the list.) Tuesday we had class and a silly walking tour to a train station. Yes, a train station. A walk... to a train station. I can't describe how exciting it was. Today we had class and a tour of Highgate Cemetary, which was fairly cool. Lots of really old graves. Some newer ones. My favorite of the new ones was a husband/wife joint tomb. On the husband's side it said "Loved by all." On the wife's side it said "Loved by many." I laughed out loud, which was somewhat innapropriate at the time. Hopefully I will be able to post some of the Highgate pictures, if any of them came out right, later this week.
Up for tomorrow: a mystery scavenger hunt created by the professors (sounds promising, doesn't it?) and then Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!!!
Please email me any interesting news! I'm getting a little desperate for news from home!
This is the conversation I had with Tim Curry (post-picture, while he was signing my programme):
Me: Great show!
Tim Curry: Thanks.
Me: I feel the need to tell you that Clue is my favorite movie ever.
Tim Curry: That's alright, it's one of mine too.
This may be among the coolest things that has ever happened to me that I actually have proof of.
Among other things going on...
Monday I also had my picture day, so I have a few more pics to post other than the ME AND TIM CURRY one. (Note added later: actually I seem to be having difficulty uploading pictures, thus I will send out an email with pictures. If you don't get the email and would like to, then email me and I will put you on the list.) Tuesday we had class and a silly walking tour to a train station. Yes, a train station. A walk... to a train station. I can't describe how exciting it was. Today we had class and a tour of Highgate Cemetary, which was fairly cool. Lots of really old graves. Some newer ones. My favorite of the new ones was a husband/wife joint tomb. On the husband's side it said "Loved by all." On the wife's side it said "Loved by many." I laughed out loud, which was somewhat innapropriate at the time. Hopefully I will be able to post some of the Highgate pictures, if any of them came out right, later this week.
Up for tomorrow: a mystery scavenger hunt created by the professors (sounds promising, doesn't it?) and then Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!!!
Please email me any interesting news! I'm getting a little desperate for news from home!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Official Countdown: 36 days
Well it's Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! In London!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes it's still weird to wake up and think, "Wow, I'm in England."
Last week we saw Caroline, or Change Monday night--a musical about a black maid in 1960s Louisiana. It was great. Particularly entertaining was hearing British actors try to approximate a Southern American accent.
Tuesday I had to do my last presentation (well, except for the big final one), on City of the Mind. I talked about the fluidity of time in the novel--aren't you impressed? It's a good book though, despite the fact that it was required. Wednesday we took a walking tour, including Westminster Abbey, which was amazing, particularly Poets' Corner, where literary and other artistic greats are buries or otherwise commemorated, including Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales. Thursday we took an all day excursion to Windsor and Eton. Neither Windsor Castle nor Eton (the private boys' school) was particularly thrilling, except of course for the illegal walk through a restricted part of the Eton campus, led by the fearless and now imprisoned Dr. Leavell.
I've also had a bit of an insomnia issue this past week. By Wednesday night I was practically dead, completely unable to concentrate on anything. Which was rather inconvenient since I had to go see Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll that night. That play was horrible--not well written, too complex for the average (or even above-average) viewer, extremely slow paced, and to top it all off the main actor forgot his lines about 3 times and had to get the stage manager to feed his lines to him. We were wondering if maybe he was drunk. Chandler and I hugged each other when the final curtain fell, we were so glad it was over.
Guaranteed to be much more fun is Spamalot, the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which I am going to see Monday night from the 7th row. Oh yes, and TIM CURRY is playing King Arthur! You know, Tim Curry from Clue and about a million other cult comedies? Very exciting.
Then Thursday night we're seeing Phantom of the Opera. Isn't the London theatre scene just spectacular? We're also hoping to get tickets to Wicked while we're here.
Well, daylight savings time starts tonight, which means starting tomorrow it will be dark here by 5:00 pm, if not before. Actually, it's only about 5:15 here now, and it's already well on the way to night.
I'm hoping to have a go-take-pictures day Sunday or Monday, so hopefully I will soon have some more fun pictures to post. But to satiate you for now, here's a fun one of Big Ben as seen from a statue of Bodicea (sp?), a Celtic (female) warrior who helped save England from the Roman Empire. Whoohoo!
Yesterday I went to the grocery store, and the cashier actually smiled and chatted with me. It made me realize how much I miss smiling friendly people. No one here smiles or talks to people they don't know. In fact they pretty much try to avoid eye contact entirely. I can't wait to get me some more of that good ole' Southern hospitality!
Last week we saw Caroline, or Change Monday night--a musical about a black maid in 1960s Louisiana. It was great. Particularly entertaining was hearing British actors try to approximate a Southern American accent.
Tuesday I had to do my last presentation (well, except for the big final one), on City of the Mind. I talked about the fluidity of time in the novel--aren't you impressed? It's a good book though, despite the fact that it was required. Wednesday we took a walking tour, including Westminster Abbey, which was amazing, particularly Poets' Corner, where literary and other artistic greats are buries or otherwise commemorated, including Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales. Thursday we took an all day excursion to Windsor and Eton. Neither Windsor Castle nor Eton (the private boys' school) was particularly thrilling, except of course for the illegal walk through a restricted part of the Eton campus, led by the fearless and now imprisoned Dr. Leavell.
I've also had a bit of an insomnia issue this past week. By Wednesday night I was practically dead, completely unable to concentrate on anything. Which was rather inconvenient since I had to go see Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll that night. That play was horrible--not well written, too complex for the average (or even above-average) viewer, extremely slow paced, and to top it all off the main actor forgot his lines about 3 times and had to get the stage manager to feed his lines to him. We were wondering if maybe he was drunk. Chandler and I hugged each other when the final curtain fell, we were so glad it was over.
Guaranteed to be much more fun is Spamalot, the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which I am going to see Monday night from the 7th row. Oh yes, and TIM CURRY is playing King Arthur! You know, Tim Curry from Clue and about a million other cult comedies? Very exciting.
Then Thursday night we're seeing Phantom of the Opera. Isn't the London theatre scene just spectacular? We're also hoping to get tickets to Wicked while we're here.
Well, daylight savings time starts tonight, which means starting tomorrow it will be dark here by 5:00 pm, if not before. Actually, it's only about 5:15 here now, and it's already well on the way to night.
I'm hoping to have a go-take-pictures day Sunday or Monday, so hopefully I will soon have some more fun pictures to post. But to satiate you for now, here's a fun one of Big Ben as seen from a statue of Bodicea (sp?), a Celtic (female) warrior who helped save England from the Roman Empire. Whoohoo!
Yesterday I went to the grocery store, and the cashier actually smiled and chatted with me. It made me realize how much I miss smiling friendly people. No one here smiles or talks to people they don't know. In fact they pretty much try to avoid eye contact entirely. I can't wait to get me some more of that good ole' Southern hospitality!
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Grits, sirens, and hot chocolate
Good news: at least part of my Southern food craving has been satiated. I got my MARVELOUS care package from the parents yesterday, perhaps the most exciting item contained in which was authentic American Quaker Instant Grits--the cheddar cheese variety!!!!! I was so excited I immediately ran to the water boiler and prepared a bowl of that classic Southern delicacy, which was probably the greatest food-moment I've had in this country.
Speaking of which, I'm going to miss Indian food when we get home. I've been told there is only one Indian restaurant in Greenville, how sad. We also need to work on getting some good fish-n-chips in America, because that has become my favorite English meal.
Thursday night we saw the Life of Galileo by Brecht, but it was a shockingly un-Brechtian production. Brecht had interesting theories of theatre that basically oppose the Aristotelian theories of theatre, but the play, in spite of its playwright, followed Aristotle except for one memorable scene involving a singing goth priest with Chicago-style dancers, one of whom had "Galileo" printed in rhinestones on the back of her very short shorts.
Random thoughts on my life in London...
My hotel is in a great location, except for there being an ambulance station right beside the hotel, resulting in British siren noises randomly bursting through my window every 10 minutes or so, causing me to throw my cup of tea into the air in surprise.
I think the maids are getting tired of changing my soup and chocolate stained sheets, as I have a habit of eating in bed, and as we all know, I also have a habit of spilling things on myself.
I have re-discovered the joy of the hot bath. I have been limited to showers until this point, but this morning I took a real, long bubble bath--thanks to my parents for sending the fun bath products. And I drank Cadbury hot chocolate too, which is pretty much heaven in a mug.
Colleen the roommate is gone to Wales this weekend, so I am All Alone in the room at night, which means I am locking the deadbolt and propping a chair up under the doorknob. Ok not quite that extreme, but it is a little creepy in this huge hotel in this huge city that has a nasty history of violence and crime (anyone remember that good ol' bloke Jack the Ripper?). See Peter Ackroyd's London: A Biography for several detailed chapters on the patterns of crime in London, and by the way thanks to the Professors-at-large for making it required reading.
I got a nifty going-out sleevless shirt that makes me resemble a polar bear. How hot is that? I think I'll wear it to the Ice Bar next week. (The Ice Bar is, appropriately, a bar made entirely of ice. Wow.)
We're planning a trip to Paris next weekend, whoohoo! Isn't it great that two of the biggest culture-rich cities in the world are just a short Chunnel ride apart?
Hopefully I will be going to see either Spamalot (the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail) or Phantom of the Opera this week. And boo on the theatre elitists who consider musical theatre base.
According to the Official Keepers of the Countdown (aka my parents), there are now 43 days until my return, for anyone else who desperately misses me and wants to keep track. Or for anyone who is just that bored and looking for something to do other than homework, you can make yourself a Post-It notepad tear-off countdown calendar. That should take up a good 18 minutes or so.
This has been another transmission by your favorite Girl-in-London. Cheers, and have a fabulous fun-filled Saturday!
Speaking of which, I'm going to miss Indian food when we get home. I've been told there is only one Indian restaurant in Greenville, how sad. We also need to work on getting some good fish-n-chips in America, because that has become my favorite English meal.
Thursday night we saw the Life of Galileo by Brecht, but it was a shockingly un-Brechtian production. Brecht had interesting theories of theatre that basically oppose the Aristotelian theories of theatre, but the play, in spite of its playwright, followed Aristotle except for one memorable scene involving a singing goth priest with Chicago-style dancers, one of whom had "Galileo" printed in rhinestones on the back of her very short shorts.
Random thoughts on my life in London...
My hotel is in a great location, except for there being an ambulance station right beside the hotel, resulting in British siren noises randomly bursting through my window every 10 minutes or so, causing me to throw my cup of tea into the air in surprise.
I think the maids are getting tired of changing my soup and chocolate stained sheets, as I have a habit of eating in bed, and as we all know, I also have a habit of spilling things on myself.
I have re-discovered the joy of the hot bath. I have been limited to showers until this point, but this morning I took a real, long bubble bath--thanks to my parents for sending the fun bath products. And I drank Cadbury hot chocolate too, which is pretty much heaven in a mug.
Colleen the roommate is gone to Wales this weekend, so I am All Alone in the room at night, which means I am locking the deadbolt and propping a chair up under the doorknob. Ok not quite that extreme, but it is a little creepy in this huge hotel in this huge city that has a nasty history of violence and crime (anyone remember that good ol' bloke Jack the Ripper?). See Peter Ackroyd's London: A Biography for several detailed chapters on the patterns of crime in London, and by the way thanks to the Professors-at-large for making it required reading.
I got a nifty going-out sleevless shirt that makes me resemble a polar bear. How hot is that? I think I'll wear it to the Ice Bar next week. (The Ice Bar is, appropriately, a bar made entirely of ice. Wow.)
We're planning a trip to Paris next weekend, whoohoo! Isn't it great that two of the biggest culture-rich cities in the world are just a short Chunnel ride apart?
Hopefully I will be going to see either Spamalot (the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail) or Phantom of the Opera this week. And boo on the theatre elitists who consider musical theatre base.
According to the Official Keepers of the Countdown (aka my parents), there are now 43 days until my return, for anyone else who desperately misses me and wants to keep track. Or for anyone who is just that bored and looking for something to do other than homework, you can make yourself a Post-It notepad tear-off countdown calendar. That should take up a good 18 minutes or so.
This has been another transmission by your favorite Girl-in-London. Cheers, and have a fabulous fun-filled Saturday!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I GOT KEVIN SPACEY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!
Well, I sucessfully completed two presentations today before collapsing on my bed for a solid three hours this afternoon. I'm sick. Not majorly, but enough that I didn't feel that it was a good idea to go with the group on a 2.5 hour walking tour of London this afternoon. Thankfully, the kind and magnanimous professors-at-large agreed, and tonight I'm feeling somewhat better.
So, as the title says, I GOT KEVIN SPACEY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!! (13 exclamation points Lauren.) He was performing in A Moon for the Misbegotten, which was stunningly good, the most compelling play I've seen since we've been in England. And not became of Kevin Spacey. He did an excellent job of course, but the standout performance was from an actress named Eve (insert last name here) as Josie, the rough-n-ready farmgirl daughter of Phil Hogan (played by Colm Meaney), and unacknowledged love of Jim Tyrone (Kevin Spacey). Really, I didn't look at my watch a single time, and that's a first. Oh, and I also got Colm Meaney's autograph, best known to me as Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But that's probably just me. At any rate, this makes my first piece of authentic signed-in-person celebrity memorabilia! Whoohoo!
In other news, Monday night we saw Tom and Viv, otherwise known as The Excessively Depressing Play that Put the Entire Group in a Foul Mood. It's about the relationship between the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife, and between them and her family. As explanation: Tom puts Viv away in a sanitorium because she's gone completely crazy. It's later implied in the play (I don't know if this is true of the real woman also) that her insanity was caused by a hormonal imbalance that ended at menopause, which is particularly sad. The play caused a lot of controversy in group discussion because of the debate over whether Tom was wrong to put Viv away and whether his motives for doing so were entirely self-centered. Very interesting though.
Trying to think if there's anything else interesting going on...
And I'm coming up with nothing. So on that note, I'm retreating to my room again. I think I'll have some Frosties (Frosted Flakes, and also the only American food I've found here that actually tastes like it does at home).
Can you believe this trip isn't even halfway over??? (But don't worry, it will be Friday :)
Cheers!
So, as the title says, I GOT KEVIN SPACEY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!! (13 exclamation points Lauren.) He was performing in A Moon for the Misbegotten, which was stunningly good, the most compelling play I've seen since we've been in England. And not became of Kevin Spacey. He did an excellent job of course, but the standout performance was from an actress named Eve (insert last name here) as Josie, the rough-n-ready farmgirl daughter of Phil Hogan (played by Colm Meaney), and unacknowledged love of Jim Tyrone (Kevin Spacey). Really, I didn't look at my watch a single time, and that's a first. Oh, and I also got Colm Meaney's autograph, best known to me as Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But that's probably just me. At any rate, this makes my first piece of authentic signed-in-person celebrity memorabilia! Whoohoo!
In other news, Monday night we saw Tom and Viv, otherwise known as The Excessively Depressing Play that Put the Entire Group in a Foul Mood. It's about the relationship between the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife, and between them and her family. As explanation: Tom puts Viv away in a sanitorium because she's gone completely crazy. It's later implied in the play (I don't know if this is true of the real woman also) that her insanity was caused by a hormonal imbalance that ended at menopause, which is particularly sad. The play caused a lot of controversy in group discussion because of the debate over whether Tom was wrong to put Viv away and whether his motives for doing so were entirely self-centered. Very interesting though.
Trying to think if there's anything else interesting going on...
And I'm coming up with nothing. So on that note, I'm retreating to my room again. I think I'll have some Frosties (Frosted Flakes, and also the only American food I've found here that actually tastes like it does at home).
Can you believe this trip isn't even halfway over??? (But don't worry, it will be Friday :)
Cheers!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Sunday night in the Nasty
So, since last Tuesday…
We’ve had a lot of classes, involving lectures and presentations. Wednesday we went to the Tower of London (see pictures from last post), and Thursday we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where frustratingly you are not allowed to take pictures (grrrrr).
Classes ended at 12:30 Friday, and we had the whole weekend free. In fact, we don’t have to be anywhere specific until Monday night, when we see a play.
I slept a ridiculous amount Saturday and today as well. It seems I’m sleep-deprived and needed to recuperate. But I swear I’m setting an alarm for tomorrow.
Yesterday I went dress-shopping. (I know, Kristen??? In a DRESS??? Feel free to pass out now.) I didn’t actually buy anything, but I found a lovely purple dress I liked a lot and might get if I don’t stumble upon anything better in the next week or so. The depressing thing about buying clothing here is that the sizes are bigger. As in, you have to go up 2 sizes to find clothes that fit.
As a side note, Starbucks Caramel Hot Chocolate is AMAZING—you should go get one. With whipped cream, of course.
Today, after I finally dragged myself out of the bed (I feel bad for Colleen the roommate, who is an early riser) and ate a banana and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast/lunch (because it was, in fact 1:00 pm when I ate), I went with Hayley and Chandler to HARROD’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the couture shopping mecca of the world I think. Huge, HUGE store, with every classy brand name you can think of—Versace, Gucci, Dior, Juicy, Jimmy Choo. It was incredible. And you know what? I actually bought something!
A chocolate iced Krispy Kreme donut! (Yes, they sell those at Harrod’s too. And now I can say I bought something there.)
After that we visited what must be one of The Creepiest Cemetaries Ever. There were ravens and pigeons all over the place, trees, dead leaves, overgrown graves, actual mausoleums, and excessively friendly squirrels, who apparently are accustomed to being fed based on the way they ran up to my shoe and looked at me with big pitiful puppy-eyes. We didn’t get to stay there long though because it closed shortly after we arrived.
Also, it was dark at 6:00 here. According to our professors, who sometimes lie, it will be dark at 4:00 by the time we head home.
And now Kristen must go to her hovel and read, since she has been a slacker and done a whole bunch of anything-but-work since leaving the States.
Cheers!
We’ve had a lot of classes, involving lectures and presentations. Wednesday we went to the Tower of London (see pictures from last post), and Thursday we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where frustratingly you are not allowed to take pictures (grrrrr).
Classes ended at 12:30 Friday, and we had the whole weekend free. In fact, we don’t have to be anywhere specific until Monday night, when we see a play.
I slept a ridiculous amount Saturday and today as well. It seems I’m sleep-deprived and needed to recuperate. But I swear I’m setting an alarm for tomorrow.
Yesterday I went dress-shopping. (I know, Kristen??? In a DRESS??? Feel free to pass out now.) I didn’t actually buy anything, but I found a lovely purple dress I liked a lot and might get if I don’t stumble upon anything better in the next week or so. The depressing thing about buying clothing here is that the sizes are bigger. As in, you have to go up 2 sizes to find clothes that fit.
As a side note, Starbucks Caramel Hot Chocolate is AMAZING—you should go get one. With whipped cream, of course.
Today, after I finally dragged myself out of the bed (I feel bad for Colleen the roommate, who is an early riser) and ate a banana and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast/lunch (because it was, in fact 1:00 pm when I ate), I went with Hayley and Chandler to HARROD’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the couture shopping mecca of the world I think. Huge, HUGE store, with every classy brand name you can think of—Versace, Gucci, Dior, Juicy, Jimmy Choo. It was incredible. And you know what? I actually bought something!
A chocolate iced Krispy Kreme donut! (Yes, they sell those at Harrod’s too. And now I can say I bought something there.)
After that we visited what must be one of The Creepiest Cemetaries Ever. There were ravens and pigeons all over the place, trees, dead leaves, overgrown graves, actual mausoleums, and excessively friendly squirrels, who apparently are accustomed to being fed based on the way they ran up to my shoe and looked at me with big pitiful puppy-eyes. We didn’t get to stay there long though because it closed shortly after we arrived.
Also, it was dark at 6:00 here. According to our professors, who sometimes lie, it will be dark at 4:00 by the time we head home.
And now Kristen must go to her hovel and read, since she has been a slacker and done a whole bunch of anything-but-work since leaving the States.
Cheers!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
more pictures!!!!
Some pictures, variously of the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, both of which I visited today...
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Mind the Gap
I am now the Tube Master! At first I was completely intimidated by the tube (what Londoners call the subway), but I discovered it is much simpler than I originally thought, mostly thanks to the abundance of signs telling you where to go. But now I am virtually completely comfortable, and that is a good thing.
We have started real classes now. This morning we discussed Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, a play that we saw Monday night at the National Theatre. Unfortunately it wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped, and more confusing due to the characters' shifting dialects. Not the best, but certainly not the worst production I could imagine.
So I am really starting to miss home now. I absolutely love being here, but there are times when I wish I could transport Star Trek-style home to spend the night. Here are ten of the things I miss the most, in some not completely random order:
10. Furman (you like it more when you're not there)
9. the American economy (the exchange rate means everything costs nearly double here)
8. My car
7. American television (all the programmes here are pretty much ridiculously bad)
6. Silence (London is abominably loud, particularly when your window is just above a busy street)
5. Friendly smiling people
4. Air-conditioning (basically unheard of in England)
3. Mr. Bingley, Punk, Ricky, and the rest of the Pitts Animal Farm
2. Southern food!!!!!!!!!!! (No seriously, I would kill for some fried chicken right about now)
1. My family and friends, naturally.
I suppose I should now stop wasting time and go work on that pile of novels I am supposed to be reading. But what I'm actually going to do is eat more houmus (hummus? which I didn't like until yesterday, when I also conveniently discovered how marvelously cheap it is) and work on some more Su Doku, which I find I am surprisingly not horrible at.
Cheers!
P.S. The title of this entry is a reference to the tube, where a little voice reminds you to "Mind the gap" between the train and the platform when you're exiting the train.
We have started real classes now. This morning we discussed Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, a play that we saw Monday night at the National Theatre. Unfortunately it wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped, and more confusing due to the characters' shifting dialects. Not the best, but certainly not the worst production I could imagine.
So I am really starting to miss home now. I absolutely love being here, but there are times when I wish I could transport Star Trek-style home to spend the night. Here are ten of the things I miss the most, in some not completely random order:
10. Furman (you like it more when you're not there)
9. the American economy (the exchange rate means everything costs nearly double here)
8. My car
7. American television (all the programmes here are pretty much ridiculously bad)
6. Silence (London is abominably loud, particularly when your window is just above a busy street)
5. Friendly smiling people
4. Air-conditioning (basically unheard of in England)
3. Mr. Bingley, Punk, Ricky, and the rest of the Pitts Animal Farm
2. Southern food!!!!!!!!!!! (No seriously, I would kill for some fried chicken right about now)
1. My family and friends, naturally.
I suppose I should now stop wasting time and go work on that pile of novels I am supposed to be reading. But what I'm actually going to do is eat more houmus (hummus? which I didn't like until yesterday, when I also conveniently discovered how marvelously cheap it is) and work on some more Su Doku, which I find I am surprisingly not horrible at.
Cheers!
P.S. The title of this entry is a reference to the tube, where a little voice reminds you to "Mind the gap" between the train and the platform when you're exiting the train.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
London update 1: from the lobby of the Nasty
I am now officially in LONDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For anyone who is familiar with London, we are in the West End, quite near the Covent Garden area.
Yesterday we left Stratford at 10 am, stopped at Warwick Castle (where there were peacocks!), then headed to the Royal National, affectionately known to Furman students as "the Nasty." However the hotel thankfully does not live up to its nickname. It is absolutely huge and definitely basic, but also clean. To give you some idea of how big it is, they checked in 900 people yesterday alone.
Last night we had Indian cuisine, and then I completely crashed. I was exhausted, having been up late the previous few nights. Today I slept in a bit, unpacked, then went on a rather long walk to the Museum of London, which was pretty neat--I will have to return there. When we returned we discovered that our pilgrimage comrades had arrived, and so there was many a joyful reunion. Ok maybe it wasn't quite that exciting, but it was definitely fun and a little weird to see them all again after 2 weeks.
My first impressions of London: BIG, diverse, smelly, BIG, dirty, fun, and did I mention BIG?
Some of that may have sounded negative, but it's really not, it's just hard to get used to for a girl who lives 25 minutes away from a Wal-Mart.
The sign for our delightful B&B in Stratford--I highly recommend it if you ever happen to be there.
I just love this picture. :)
Friday, October 06, 2006
last update from Stratford!
Well it’s been another whirlwind few days. Tomorrow we leave for London, and I’m supposed to be packing now, but obviously I’m not making much progress.
Points of interest since I last updated:
Monday we went to Blenheim Palace, and I was beating myself for forgetting my camera because although you’re not allowed to take photographs inside the palace, there were gorgeous gardens, including one called the Secret Garden, which you must find if you’re ever visiting this site. It’s also interesting that the Duke of Marlborough still lives there (you don’t get to visit his private wing though). There is also a connection to the USA: The 9th Duchess of Marlborough was Consuelo Vanderbilt, of the Biltmore House family.
We spent several hours in Oxford after we left the palace. We just had lunch and wandered around town. I got an official Oxford hoodie--because I really wished I’d gotten one when we were there before. We also found the Best Bookstore in the World, known as Blackwell’s, where I may or may not have spent way too much money. They had a very large section of French literature—IN FRENCH!!! Which is nice because while one can buy French books online from the States, the shipping costs are quite exorbitant. Of course the overweight fee on my luggage is going to be quite exorbitant as well.
I did manage to sell 4 Shakespeare books today at a used bookstore and got a record-breaking 4 pounds for them. But at least I don’t have to carry them around anymore.
At any rate, Tuesday we saw King John, which was significantly more interesting than I was anticipating. Richard McCabe was probably the best King John I could imagine, and overall it was a well-done production. After the show we had a backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (aka the “main house”) and the Swan Theatre, which share a backstage area. I got to walk on The Tempest stage!!! And the King John stage, though I wasn’t so excited about that one. And I stole a pocketful of fake snow off the Tempest set, though I haven’t figured out where exactly to put the snow, since it’s currently zipped up inside the pocket of my heavy coat.
On the coat topic: it’s been much colder here the past few days, which is nice because I’m finally wearing those sweaters I packed.
Wednesday we sat through over 6 hours of history plays. We had a discussion of King John in the morning, then King Henry parts 2 & 3 in the afternoon/evening. It was quite exhausting.
Thursday consisted of discussion and lectures, then seeing Antony & Cleopatra (with PATRICK STEWART!!!). It was an impressive show, surprisingly minimalist, as most productions feel the need to more or less create Egypt on a stage, rather than just implying Egypt. Anyway, it was entirely compelling, I only looked at my watch once before intermission, and that was only because I was in need of the toilet (which is what they call a restroom here). A great show, I stood around at the stage door afterwards in an attempt to get the great Mr. Stewart’s signature, but no luck. I’m going back tonight though—I’m truly an optimist at heart.
At any rate, I direly need to get some packing done—by which I mean I’m about to sit here and try to do a Su Doku puzzle that Wink gave me. Who wants to bet I’ll be a complete failure at a puzzle of numbers?
Looks like another late night ahead! Cheers!
Points of interest since I last updated:
Monday we went to Blenheim Palace, and I was beating myself for forgetting my camera because although you’re not allowed to take photographs inside the palace, there were gorgeous gardens, including one called the Secret Garden, which you must find if you’re ever visiting this site. It’s also interesting that the Duke of Marlborough still lives there (you don’t get to visit his private wing though). There is also a connection to the USA: The 9th Duchess of Marlborough was Consuelo Vanderbilt, of the Biltmore House family.
We spent several hours in Oxford after we left the palace. We just had lunch and wandered around town. I got an official Oxford hoodie--because I really wished I’d gotten one when we were there before. We also found the Best Bookstore in the World, known as Blackwell’s, where I may or may not have spent way too much money. They had a very large section of French literature—IN FRENCH!!! Which is nice because while one can buy French books online from the States, the shipping costs are quite exorbitant. Of course the overweight fee on my luggage is going to be quite exorbitant as well.
I did manage to sell 4 Shakespeare books today at a used bookstore and got a record-breaking 4 pounds for them. But at least I don’t have to carry them around anymore.
At any rate, Tuesday we saw King John, which was significantly more interesting than I was anticipating. Richard McCabe was probably the best King John I could imagine, and overall it was a well-done production. After the show we had a backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (aka the “main house”) and the Swan Theatre, which share a backstage area. I got to walk on The Tempest stage!!! And the King John stage, though I wasn’t so excited about that one. And I stole a pocketful of fake snow off the Tempest set, though I haven’t figured out where exactly to put the snow, since it’s currently zipped up inside the pocket of my heavy coat.
On the coat topic: it’s been much colder here the past few days, which is nice because I’m finally wearing those sweaters I packed.
Wednesday we sat through over 6 hours of history plays. We had a discussion of King John in the morning, then King Henry parts 2 & 3 in the afternoon/evening. It was quite exhausting.
Thursday consisted of discussion and lectures, then seeing Antony & Cleopatra (with PATRICK STEWART!!!). It was an impressive show, surprisingly minimalist, as most productions feel the need to more or less create Egypt on a stage, rather than just implying Egypt. Anyway, it was entirely compelling, I only looked at my watch once before intermission, and that was only because I was in need of the toilet (which is what they call a restroom here). A great show, I stood around at the stage door afterwards in an attempt to get the great Mr. Stewart’s signature, but no luck. I’m going back tonight though—I’m truly an optimist at heart.
At any rate, I direly need to get some packing done—by which I mean I’m about to sit here and try to do a Su Doku puzzle that Wink gave me. Who wants to bet I’ll be a complete failure at a puzzle of numbers?
Looks like another late night ahead! Cheers!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
laying on my bed because i ate SOOOO much
Let me introduce you to Kristen in a Curry-Induced Stupor. Seriously, we had dinner at 6:00, and I ate a plate and a half of curry chicken and rice, a significant amount of nan (indian bread) and a slice of chocolate tart (again, read: pie) and now I might die. Conveniently I have noted that the emergency number here is 999, not 911, and have warned my roommate Wink of this, so when my intestines explode in the middle of the night, she'll know what to do. I'm not even kidding, I had to pause halfway up the stairs because I couldn't make it the whole way.
We saw King Henry VI, part 1 Saturday morning, and it was very well put together, very balanced as far as language, visual interest, and sound. A stunning performance, although it was a strict interpretation. Hopefully I will be able to get tickets to see PATRICK STEWART in THE TEMPEST again tomorrow night, but we'll have to see if I am able to beat up the rest of the people in line to make it to the front.
I literally slept over half the day away. I went bed at maybe 12:30-ish last night, got up at 10:30, ate breakfast, went back to bed at 11:30, and got up at 3:45 pm. And I'm ready to go to sleep again. Is that a bad sign?
We had a horrible storm this morning, which is part of the reason I slept so much. It was like, a severe Carolina storm, which I think is unusual for England. So it was nice to not have to go anywhere and be able to stay in bed and, um, SLEEP.
So basically nothing interesting to say today, I just felt like updating. Tomorrow we go to Blenheim Palace and spend the rest of the day in Oxford just doing whatever. Then Tuesday begins the crazy 4 plays in 3 days rush. It's crazy that a week from now I'll be in London.
Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!
We saw King Henry VI, part 1 Saturday morning, and it was very well put together, very balanced as far as language, visual interest, and sound. A stunning performance, although it was a strict interpretation. Hopefully I will be able to get tickets to see PATRICK STEWART in THE TEMPEST again tomorrow night, but we'll have to see if I am able to beat up the rest of the people in line to make it to the front.
I literally slept over half the day away. I went bed at maybe 12:30-ish last night, got up at 10:30, ate breakfast, went back to bed at 11:30, and got up at 3:45 pm. And I'm ready to go to sleep again. Is that a bad sign?
We had a horrible storm this morning, which is part of the reason I slept so much. It was like, a severe Carolina storm, which I think is unusual for England. So it was nice to not have to go anywhere and be able to stay in bed and, um, SLEEP.
So basically nothing interesting to say today, I just felt like updating. Tomorrow we go to Blenheim Palace and spend the rest of the day in Oxford just doing whatever. Then Tuesday begins the crazy 4 plays in 3 days rush. It's crazy that a week from now I'll be in London.
Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Shakespeare-ing it
We arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday, and I'm staying at a lovely little B&B just outside the main part of town. The town isn't that big, and you can walk from one end of it to the other in under 20 minutes really.
Sorry that it's taken me so long to update--my computer has been having some issues (the "blue screen of death" as the mac commercials say), but I think I've at least partially solved them for the moment.
Everything--EVERYTHING--here is about Shakespeare. Seriously, if you didn't love him you'd go crazy in this town. The names of cafes (As You Like It), B&Bs (Twelfth Night; Cymbeline), toy stores (Much Ado About Toys), and liquor stores (Bottom's Up) bombard you with references to Shakespeare's work. This is of course only natural, since Shakespeare is the only big thing to hit here in the past 600 years, and he makes a great tourist attraction, hence the proliferation of "authentic Shakespeare historical sites," like the one-time home of his grand-niece's husband's parents and their dog named Bill. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but really it's a little absurd here, with everyone trying to profit on this literary legacy.
At any rate, I'm enjoying this part of the trip much more than I'd expected to, considering that I'm not the biggest fan of Shakespeare. I think I'd never really considered that there are alternate ways to perform Shakespeare--that you don't necessarily have to do the show precisely as it is written, just as a pure play. However, I'm quite enjoying seeing these other interpretations of it, and the different aspects of the plays that they bring out.
Monday night we saw Romeo & Juliet, which is of course the most overdone Shakespeare show. It's also probably my least favorite Shakespeare play, so you can imagine how excited I was going into it. At any rate, I quite enjoyed it. They framed the story as two feuding families who are getting together to perform the play, which I liked because it put the focus more on the tension between the families, the bigger issues at stake, rather than the supposed romance between the 13 year old Juliet and the flighty wimpy Romeo. Instead of sword fights, the actors did a sort of tap-flamenco dance hybrid and swung quarterstaffs around, which sounds weird but was actually quite intriguing. They also had a very clever balcony scene involving a ladder tower with Juliet in a precarious position at the top. Some thought this allowed too much contact between the two lovers, but I really enjoyed the effect of it all. So at any rate, the show impressed me, and that is impressive.
Tuesday morning we discussed the play and Sorcha Cusack, who played a delightful Nurse in R&J, visited our class and talked about the production with us. She was refreshingly honest about facets she objected to (one fine example: a little girl wearing bunny ears which had no discernible purpose in the play) and the process they went through with the show. Quite fascinating.
Tuesday night we saw an extremely, er, “creative” version of Cymbeline, which used virtually none of Shakespeare’s language, but did involve music, graffiti, and a drag queen! I actually really enjoyed it. The people who went in expecting to see Shakespeare’s Cymbeline were understandably disappointed, but Cymbeline really isn’t one of my favorite plays so I had no great expectations going in.
Wednesday evening’s performance of The Tempest was definitely my favorite Stratford moment thus far, and not only because PATRICK STEWART was playing Prospero. Did you hear that? I SAW PATRICK STEWART LIVE IN A ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTION!!!!!!!!!!! No really you have no idea how amazing that was.
However, I also really loved the concept. They set it in the arctic, instead of the traditional tropical island, and the entire production was very dark, somber, and ethereal. Nothing like the show we did at Furman. To me there isn’t even a comparison between the two. This show focused intently on the relationship between Prospero and Ariel, and made that relationship very tense, with a tangible power struggle in the air. Very cold, desolate—it was a concept that completely pulled me into the story in a way a more outwardly energetic show would not.
The two things I truly despised about the show were a) the storm scene, or lack thereof, and b) the entire portrayal of Miranda. The storm scene consisted of a big radio projection with a cutout in one of the speakers showing a tiny space supposedly inside the ship, where the actors delivered their lines without the slightest bit of frenzy or confusion, and were jolted by waves at completely different times. Obviously a complete lack of direction in that scene, and it turned out to be a potentially interesting idea that did not work at all. Regarding Miranda, I think the idea was to show how growing up without socialization can make you awkward, but she just turned out completely stiff and weird. The worst part was that she was not only awkward around the strangers, but around her own father, who is the only person she has known for her entire life, so that bit seemed inappropriate to me.
Some of our group despised the show and made it very clear that they thought it was hideous. I think these were also the people who secretly wanted to see a reflection of our own production, so I can see why the idea was a problem for them. However today’s discussion was not the bloodbath I was anticipating, which gives me hope.
Speaking of bloodbaths, tonight’s by-the-book production of Julius Caesar involved the murderers literally bathing in Caesar’s blood, which is truly disgusting when you’re sitting in the third row and somewhat concerned that you will be stained red by theatre blood. I did not enjoy tonight’s production nearly as much as the others, although the actor playing Mark Antony was brilliant. This show was exactly what you would expect when you read the play, except with much less of a set and visual interest (anyone who knows me will understand that the lack of visual interest is a problem). I would much rather see a play taken in a new direction that I had not considered and explore what that interpretation brings out, but this show offered no such intrigue for me. Not to say that it was a bad show at all—I found the murder scene most compelling—but it was not my cup of tea (which by the way LaurenFrances I have been drinking an awful lot of).
Well, it is 12:40 am here so I am going to go to bed. No play tomorrow, hooray for a break! I will have to do laundry tomorrow afternoon though, which I am not looking forward to—it’s quite expensive and the washers are tiny.
Cheers from the girl with piles of dirty clothes because England is much too exciting to waste time in a laundromat!
Sorry that it's taken me so long to update--my computer has been having some issues (the "blue screen of death" as the mac commercials say), but I think I've at least partially solved them for the moment.
Everything--EVERYTHING--here is about Shakespeare. Seriously, if you didn't love him you'd go crazy in this town. The names of cafes (As You Like It), B&Bs (Twelfth Night; Cymbeline), toy stores (Much Ado About Toys), and liquor stores (Bottom's Up) bombard you with references to Shakespeare's work. This is of course only natural, since Shakespeare is the only big thing to hit here in the past 600 years, and he makes a great tourist attraction, hence the proliferation of "authentic Shakespeare historical sites," like the one-time home of his grand-niece's husband's parents and their dog named Bill. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but really it's a little absurd here, with everyone trying to profit on this literary legacy.
At any rate, I'm enjoying this part of the trip much more than I'd expected to, considering that I'm not the biggest fan of Shakespeare. I think I'd never really considered that there are alternate ways to perform Shakespeare--that you don't necessarily have to do the show precisely as it is written, just as a pure play. However, I'm quite enjoying seeing these other interpretations of it, and the different aspects of the plays that they bring out.
Monday night we saw Romeo & Juliet, which is of course the most overdone Shakespeare show. It's also probably my least favorite Shakespeare play, so you can imagine how excited I was going into it. At any rate, I quite enjoyed it. They framed the story as two feuding families who are getting together to perform the play, which I liked because it put the focus more on the tension between the families, the bigger issues at stake, rather than the supposed romance between the 13 year old Juliet and the flighty wimpy Romeo. Instead of sword fights, the actors did a sort of tap-flamenco dance hybrid and swung quarterstaffs around, which sounds weird but was actually quite intriguing. They also had a very clever balcony scene involving a ladder tower with Juliet in a precarious position at the top. Some thought this allowed too much contact between the two lovers, but I really enjoyed the effect of it all. So at any rate, the show impressed me, and that is impressive.
Tuesday morning we discussed the play and Sorcha Cusack, who played a delightful Nurse in R&J, visited our class and talked about the production with us. She was refreshingly honest about facets she objected to (one fine example: a little girl wearing bunny ears which had no discernible purpose in the play) and the process they went through with the show. Quite fascinating.
Tuesday night we saw an extremely, er, “creative” version of Cymbeline, which used virtually none of Shakespeare’s language, but did involve music, graffiti, and a drag queen! I actually really enjoyed it. The people who went in expecting to see Shakespeare’s Cymbeline were understandably disappointed, but Cymbeline really isn’t one of my favorite plays so I had no great expectations going in.
Wednesday evening’s performance of The Tempest was definitely my favorite Stratford moment thus far, and not only because PATRICK STEWART was playing Prospero. Did you hear that? I SAW PATRICK STEWART LIVE IN A ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTION!!!!!!!!!!! No really you have no idea how amazing that was.
However, I also really loved the concept. They set it in the arctic, instead of the traditional tropical island, and the entire production was very dark, somber, and ethereal. Nothing like the show we did at Furman. To me there isn’t even a comparison between the two. This show focused intently on the relationship between Prospero and Ariel, and made that relationship very tense, with a tangible power struggle in the air. Very cold, desolate—it was a concept that completely pulled me into the story in a way a more outwardly energetic show would not.
The two things I truly despised about the show were a) the storm scene, or lack thereof, and b) the entire portrayal of Miranda. The storm scene consisted of a big radio projection with a cutout in one of the speakers showing a tiny space supposedly inside the ship, where the actors delivered their lines without the slightest bit of frenzy or confusion, and were jolted by waves at completely different times. Obviously a complete lack of direction in that scene, and it turned out to be a potentially interesting idea that did not work at all. Regarding Miranda, I think the idea was to show how growing up without socialization can make you awkward, but she just turned out completely stiff and weird. The worst part was that she was not only awkward around the strangers, but around her own father, who is the only person she has known for her entire life, so that bit seemed inappropriate to me.
Some of our group despised the show and made it very clear that they thought it was hideous. I think these were also the people who secretly wanted to see a reflection of our own production, so I can see why the idea was a problem for them. However today’s discussion was not the bloodbath I was anticipating, which gives me hope.
Speaking of bloodbaths, tonight’s by-the-book production of Julius Caesar involved the murderers literally bathing in Caesar’s blood, which is truly disgusting when you’re sitting in the third row and somewhat concerned that you will be stained red by theatre blood. I did not enjoy tonight’s production nearly as much as the others, although the actor playing Mark Antony was brilliant. This show was exactly what you would expect when you read the play, except with much less of a set and visual interest (anyone who knows me will understand that the lack of visual interest is a problem). I would much rather see a play taken in a new direction that I had not considered and explore what that interpretation brings out, but this show offered no such intrigue for me. Not to say that it was a bad show at all—I found the murder scene most compelling—but it was not my cup of tea (which by the way LaurenFrances I have been drinking an awful lot of).
Well, it is 12:40 am here so I am going to go to bed. No play tomorrow, hooray for a break! I will have to do laundry tomorrow afternoon though, which I am not looking forward to—it’s quite expensive and the washers are tiny.
Cheers from the girl with piles of dirty clothes because England is much too exciting to waste time in a laundromat!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
this is it...
Well, I had typed up a really long detailed entry, but then somehow made it all go away, because I am just special like that. So here we go again, though it might not be as long and detailed as before...
Today (in Bath still) we left the hotel and went to the Bath Abbey, where two people gave their reports (we have to give reports on the topics our papers were on), and then we toured the Authentic Roman Baths, where the Romans tried to heal themselves in the hot mineral springs and thus gave the town its name. We then traipsed to a Palladian architecture site (not all that exciting), where the indomitable Laura-Ann gave the final report of tour (always very exciting)!
After that--prepare to be jealous--Chandler, Hailey and I ate at.....(drumroll please)........ the CADBURY COCOAHOUSE!!!!!!!! The only reason they even have real food is so that people like us won't feel like complete bums because, hey, even though I drank a Classic Chocolate Chiller (60% pure cocoa) and had a slice of Chocolate Tart (read: pie) with vanilla ice cream, I got some food food too, so it's okay! But really, if you're ever in Bath, you must go.
Now a couple more of you will be jealous, and a couple of you won't even care about where we went next, which was the Jane Austen Centre, located in a house where JANE AUSTEN ACTUALLY LIVED AND WROTE! Very exciting. It had an exhibit, tea room, and store, which I admirably resisted buying a 35-pound glicee print of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. It took a lot of willpower. If I did buy it though, I would have had to hang it over my bed in a fit of girliness so I could look at while I go to sleep. Of course I'm sure Colin doesn't much appreciate their selling his portrait to potential stalkers like myself, but so goes life.
I did buy a Making of Pride & Prejudice (the BBC miniseries) book for myself, which is wonderful, and a copy of Persuasion (set partially in Bath), which I hope to get to read a little tonight after I finish typing this for the second time, and in spite of the fact that I really should be reading our assigned London novels.
Here is a picture of me with the Jane Austen statue outside the Centre:
Meanwhile, trying to pack up all the books I've bought should be an entertaining dilemma tonight. It's gotten fairly out-of-control, although most of them are from Ireland, and I feel like I'm really less likely to buy English-ish books than Irish books, because Ireland is the homeland baby!
It's been ridiculously hot here again today. Thank goodness I bought 3 Oxford t-shirts! (This is me justifying my buying 3 Oxford t-shirts due to the fact that I couldn't choose among them.) I am currently wearing the one that says "Oxford Football" and has a picture of a soccer ball on it, because of course they do call soccer 'football.'
Also in Oxford (Thursday night) we saw Peter Hall's production of Waiting for Godot, which was interesting, though I don't recommend it for an exciting night out. After the show we went to the Eagle and the Child, the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and all their literary-minded friends used to hang around. That was pretty amazing.
Side note: I gave my report on Oxford and the Medieval University System on Thursday, and it went splendidly.
Tomorrow we leave at 10:00 am for Stratford-upon-Avon! This means that tonight all the Stratfordians are gloating over the Pilgrims, who have to be ready to go at 5:20 am. Over the next two weeks, while the Pilgrims are hungry, sleepy, and 3 days without a shower, I will be laughing it up with Patrick Stewart at the Dirty Duck and enjoying a charming B&B residence. Now seriously, which sounds better to you?
So now I intend to go pack (maybe) and read (much more likely), but before I go, here are a few pictures:
This is the Bath Abbey, as seen from the South-West side.
A really beautiful figure inside Yorkminster
Me conquering Hadrian's Wall!
Inside the old, delapidated Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. I found it very inspiring and took a massive amount of pictures here.
Today (in Bath still) we left the hotel and went to the Bath Abbey, where two people gave their reports (we have to give reports on the topics our papers were on), and then we toured the Authentic Roman Baths, where the Romans tried to heal themselves in the hot mineral springs and thus gave the town its name. We then traipsed to a Palladian architecture site (not all that exciting), where the indomitable Laura-Ann gave the final report of tour (always very exciting)!
After that--prepare to be jealous--Chandler, Hailey and I ate at.....(drumroll please)........ the CADBURY COCOAHOUSE!!!!!!!! The only reason they even have real food is so that people like us won't feel like complete bums because, hey, even though I drank a Classic Chocolate Chiller (60% pure cocoa) and had a slice of Chocolate Tart (read: pie) with vanilla ice cream, I got some food food too, so it's okay! But really, if you're ever in Bath, you must go.
Now a couple more of you will be jealous, and a couple of you won't even care about where we went next, which was the Jane Austen Centre, located in a house where JANE AUSTEN ACTUALLY LIVED AND WROTE! Very exciting. It had an exhibit, tea room, and store, which I admirably resisted buying a 35-pound glicee print of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. It took a lot of willpower. If I did buy it though, I would have had to hang it over my bed in a fit of girliness so I could look at while I go to sleep. Of course I'm sure Colin doesn't much appreciate their selling his portrait to potential stalkers like myself, but so goes life.
I did buy a Making of Pride & Prejudice (the BBC miniseries) book for myself, which is wonderful, and a copy of Persuasion (set partially in Bath), which I hope to get to read a little tonight after I finish typing this for the second time, and in spite of the fact that I really should be reading our assigned London novels.
Here is a picture of me with the Jane Austen statue outside the Centre:
Meanwhile, trying to pack up all the books I've bought should be an entertaining dilemma tonight. It's gotten fairly out-of-control, although most of them are from Ireland, and I feel like I'm really less likely to buy English-ish books than Irish books, because Ireland is the homeland baby!
It's been ridiculously hot here again today. Thank goodness I bought 3 Oxford t-shirts! (This is me justifying my buying 3 Oxford t-shirts due to the fact that I couldn't choose among them.) I am currently wearing the one that says "Oxford Football" and has a picture of a soccer ball on it, because of course they do call soccer 'football.'
Also in Oxford (Thursday night) we saw Peter Hall's production of Waiting for Godot, which was interesting, though I don't recommend it for an exciting night out. After the show we went to the Eagle and the Child, the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and all their literary-minded friends used to hang around. That was pretty amazing.
Side note: I gave my report on Oxford and the Medieval University System on Thursday, and it went splendidly.
Tomorrow we leave at 10:00 am for Stratford-upon-Avon! This means that tonight all the Stratfordians are gloating over the Pilgrims, who have to be ready to go at 5:20 am. Over the next two weeks, while the Pilgrims are hungry, sleepy, and 3 days without a shower, I will be laughing it up with Patrick Stewart at the Dirty Duck and enjoying a charming B&B residence. Now seriously, which sounds better to you?
So now I intend to go pack (maybe) and read (much more likely), but before I go, here are a few pictures:
This is the Bath Abbey, as seen from the South-West side.
A really beautiful figure inside Yorkminster
Me conquering Hadrian's Wall!
Inside the old, delapidated Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. I found it very inspiring and took a massive amount of pictures here.
Friday, September 22, 2006
from Bath, on the next to last day of Tour
Well, another speeding bus hit our speeding bus today. It was bound to happen. And by "hit," I mean "the side mirror of the other bus scraped against the window of our bus," but it did cause no small amount of screams from the girls next to the affected window.
We did at any rate successfully arrive at our final "on tour" destination: Bath, England. At a Holiday Inn Express, specifically.
The most exciting part of the day was, of course, getting our extra luggage! When we arrived at the airport, we sent one of our suitcases away to meet us later so that we wouldn't have to deal with it all on the tour (genius, since I was struggling a bit as it is), and so now we all have a whole suitcase full of clean clothes! Mine isn't doing me so much good though because it mostly contains sweaters, and in one of God's more humorous moments, it has been rather warm here lately.
At any rate, after Edinburgh we went to York, then Wednesday we went from York to Cambridge, then on Thursday from Cambridge to Oxford, where I bought 3 Oxford University t-shirts! I immediately changed into one because it was hot, yes, hot, in late September England.
I did finally catch the cold that's been going around the bus, but have no fear, it's not too bad. I picked it up Wednesday, so I'm hoping it's not going to get too miserable.
So it is after midnight here and I've got a bit more to do before bed, so I'm going to leave you now. But hopefully tomorrow I will post further and perhaps even add pictures (if the firewall doesn't prevent it)!
Cheers from Bath!
We did at any rate successfully arrive at our final "on tour" destination: Bath, England. At a Holiday Inn Express, specifically.
The most exciting part of the day was, of course, getting our extra luggage! When we arrived at the airport, we sent one of our suitcases away to meet us later so that we wouldn't have to deal with it all on the tour (genius, since I was struggling a bit as it is), and so now we all have a whole suitcase full of clean clothes! Mine isn't doing me so much good though because it mostly contains sweaters, and in one of God's more humorous moments, it has been rather warm here lately.
At any rate, after Edinburgh we went to York, then Wednesday we went from York to Cambridge, then on Thursday from Cambridge to Oxford, where I bought 3 Oxford University t-shirts! I immediately changed into one because it was hot, yes, hot, in late September England.
I did finally catch the cold that's been going around the bus, but have no fear, it's not too bad. I picked it up Wednesday, so I'm hoping it's not going to get too miserable.
So it is after midnight here and I've got a bit more to do before bed, so I'm going to leave you now. But hopefully tomorrow I will post further and perhaps even add pictures (if the firewall doesn't prevent it)!
Cheers from Bath!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
another day in York
Today we went to Yorkminster (ginormous cathedral), Clifford's Tower (involved a lot of steps), and Jorvik, which was a crazy Viking "ride" that had scenes from a Viking village excavated on the site, and a special Viking smell THROUGH THE WHOLE RIDE. No, not kidding, they actually put a disgusting "authentic" scent in the ride area. What is that about?
I've got a lot to do tonight, by which I mean I need to take a shower and pack, so this is short. Tomorrow we go to Cambridge and spend the night in the dorms there, where according to Doug Cummins (professor) we will have private rooms, but we'll have to see about that.
Cheers from the girl who now has a Viking-scented scarf...
I've got a lot to do tonight, by which I mean I need to take a shower and pack, so this is short. Tomorrow we go to Cambridge and spend the night in the dorms there, where according to Doug Cummins (professor) we will have private rooms, but we'll have to see about that.
Cheers from the girl who now has a Viking-scented scarf...
Monday, September 18, 2006
York is a REALLY long way from Edinburgh...
So I spent around 3 hours of today's bus ride passed out and sprawled across two seats. And by sprawled I mean curled up in the fetal position. But it was a good nap.
Now we are in York, in the Lady Anne Middleton Hotel, which is nearly heaven compared to the Edinburgh Travelodge on Sketch Street. We have hand towels! And a bath mat! And two beds! And free internet!
Edinburgh was wonderful, excluding the hotel, and I really want to go back. It's a lovely place, and at least seemingly safe. And there is a restaurant called Chocolate Soup, which is basically AMAZING! The pay phone booths smell really bad. I know because I stood in one for quite a while talking to my parents, since the hotel DID NOT HAVE PHONES!!! But really, it was a good 3 days.
Today we stopped in Durham to see the Cathedral there, which was very very grand. I think it's fascinating that people were passionate enough to carry out such a project, but I wonder if maybe they misunderstood the point of it all, if they were trying to impress God with a man-made structure. But it was lovely to be there.
As a side note, I had fish and chips for lunch again today, which I think makes this my 3rd fish and chips meal in 3 days.
York seems very pleasant, but I don't really know since I haven't seen it in daylight. I hope we get some free time tomorrow.
I was going to post some pictures, but it seems that this internet connection isn't too keen on that idea, so oh well. I may write more tomorrow, or email pics, or something of that nature.
Cheers!
Now we are in York, in the Lady Anne Middleton Hotel, which is nearly heaven compared to the Edinburgh Travelodge on Sketch Street. We have hand towels! And a bath mat! And two beds! And free internet!
Edinburgh was wonderful, excluding the hotel, and I really want to go back. It's a lovely place, and at least seemingly safe. And there is a restaurant called Chocolate Soup, which is basically AMAZING! The pay phone booths smell really bad. I know because I stood in one for quite a while talking to my parents, since the hotel DID NOT HAVE PHONES!!! But really, it was a good 3 days.
Today we stopped in Durham to see the Cathedral there, which was very very grand. I think it's fascinating that people were passionate enough to carry out such a project, but I wonder if maybe they misunderstood the point of it all, if they were trying to impress God with a man-made structure. But it was lovely to be there.
As a side note, I had fish and chips for lunch again today, which I think makes this my 3rd fish and chips meal in 3 days.
York seems very pleasant, but I don't really know since I haven't seen it in daylight. I hope we get some free time tomorrow.
I was going to post some pictures, but it seems that this internet connection isn't too keen on that idea, so oh well. I may write more tomorrow, or email pics, or something of that nature.
Cheers!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
update from Edinburgh
Well we are in Edinburgh now. I am with 2 other girls from our trip at an internet cafe, because the prices for internet at the hotel are downright extortionary (I don't know if that's a word or not).
Yesterday was very very long. We spent most of the day on the bus, as we traveled well over 200 miles from Chester to Edinburgh. Chester was a wonderful little town, and it was definitely the best hotel we'd had thus far. Edinburgh is quite amazing as well, and we got to sleep in for the first time today, which was good because I was quite exhausted, having taken a Dramamine to cure the motion sickness caused by Seamus driving us through winding hilly roads at approximately 112 miles per hour. I didn't do anything last night except eat in a pub called Tass and sit in my room with my eyes glazed over because I was so tired.
Our hotel (a Travelodge) is at a good/bad location, sitting right next to the Royal Mile (the big shopping/eating street here) and also right next to Cowgate (the sketchiest street here, which our professors warned us not to go down--so why did they pick this hotel again?).
We saw Edinburgh castle today, which was too touristy for my taste. There were tons of people there, and they had built a bunch of little shops and cafes into the castle walls. However, this is also where the "Honours" are kept, which include the crown jewels and the Stone of Scone (pronounced "scoon"), so seeing those was neat.
We also visited John Knox's grave today. Know where he's buried? A parking lot. I'm not even kidding. Beneath parking spot number 23 specifically, at the Church of St. Giles. There isn't even a plaque or anything, just a little blank gold-tone square in the pavement. Apparently they weren't all that keen on Knox since they decided to PAVE OVER HIS GRAVE.
We are going to go to dinner soon. I'm really trying to eat in as many pubs as possible, since there is no such thing as pub food at home. We also found a little place called Chocolate Soup, where I think we are going to go for dessert. At any rate, my internet time is about to run out.
For my fellow Furmanites, hope the first week of class went well! And to everyone else, Cheers!
Yesterday was very very long. We spent most of the day on the bus, as we traveled well over 200 miles from Chester to Edinburgh. Chester was a wonderful little town, and it was definitely the best hotel we'd had thus far. Edinburgh is quite amazing as well, and we got to sleep in for the first time today, which was good because I was quite exhausted, having taken a Dramamine to cure the motion sickness caused by Seamus driving us through winding hilly roads at approximately 112 miles per hour. I didn't do anything last night except eat in a pub called Tass and sit in my room with my eyes glazed over because I was so tired.
Our hotel (a Travelodge) is at a good/bad location, sitting right next to the Royal Mile (the big shopping/eating street here) and also right next to Cowgate (the sketchiest street here, which our professors warned us not to go down--so why did they pick this hotel again?).
We saw Edinburgh castle today, which was too touristy for my taste. There were tons of people there, and they had built a bunch of little shops and cafes into the castle walls. However, this is also where the "Honours" are kept, which include the crown jewels and the Stone of Scone (pronounced "scoon"), so seeing those was neat.
We also visited John Knox's grave today. Know where he's buried? A parking lot. I'm not even kidding. Beneath parking spot number 23 specifically, at the Church of St. Giles. There isn't even a plaque or anything, just a little blank gold-tone square in the pavement. Apparently they weren't all that keen on Knox since they decided to PAVE OVER HIS GRAVE.
We are going to go to dinner soon. I'm really trying to eat in as many pubs as possible, since there is no such thing as pub food at home. We also found a little place called Chocolate Soup, where I think we are going to go for dessert. At any rate, my internet time is about to run out.
For my fellow Furmanites, hope the first week of class went well! And to everyone else, Cheers!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
a few pictures, two rather heartbreaking
Today we crossed the Irish Sea, from Dublin to Wales (we had to get up at 5:15 to make sure we got to the ferry on time). We saw a rather intact castle at Conwy. Their city wall is still there too. Also had our first taste of true British weather today--quite rainy and cool. We arrived at Chester, England, without incident, excluding the arch that the bus BARELY fit through. Which we had to go through twice. We went to the Chester Cathedral here today after lunch. It was lovely, but unfortunately most of my pictures didn't turn out because it was rather dark, with a lot of wood, and I didn't want to be disruptive by using flash a lot. But here are some other pictures:
This first picture is a close up of one of the famine memorial statues in Dublin. Ireland had a Great Famine from 1945-1948 because of a potato blight and various government failures. Literally over half the country starved to death, died of disease caused by malnutrition, or immigrated to escape the Famine.
This is the Yeats statue in Sligo. Very cool. The words on it are bits of his poems.
This is the cross
at the site where several leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. The executions ended after one particularly brutal execution where the victim was so sick he could not even sit up in a chair--they had to tie him to the chair to be able to shoot him. Public disgust was so great that they ended the executions and made the rest of them life sentences.
This first picture is a close up of one of the famine memorial statues in Dublin. Ireland had a Great Famine from 1945-1948 because of a potato blight and various government failures. Literally over half the country starved to death, died of disease caused by malnutrition, or immigrated to escape the Famine.
This is the Yeats statue in Sligo. Very cool. The words on it are bits of his poems.
This is the cross
at the site where several leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. The executions ended after one particularly brutal execution where the victim was so sick he could not even sit up in a chair--they had to tie him to the chair to be able to shoot him. Public disgust was so great that they ended the executions and made the rest of them life sentences.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
obesity is your husband's fault
Have just read this article about how if you're fat it's really your husband's fault.
Guess we can just add this to the list of how singles without children are constantly screwed over:
1. Maternity parking spaces
2. The child-bearing induced breast cancer risk reduction
3. Taking responsibility for those 2 bags of chips you ate while watching Frasier
Countdown 3 days, 17 hours, 17 minutes
Guess we can just add this to the list of how singles without children are constantly screwed over:
1. Maternity parking spaces
2. The child-bearing induced breast cancer risk reduction
3. Taking responsibility for those 2 bags of chips you ate while watching Frasier
Countdown 3 days, 17 hours, 17 minutes
re: anonymous comments
Upon request from a friend who went WAY TOO FAR AWAY for grad school, readers can now leave anonymous comments. Or at least you don't have to have a blogger account.
from a recent insomniac, regarding suitcases and hooker boots
Meanwhile, back on the farm, it is now 1:26 am and I naturally cannot sleep due to the incredibly exciting peak of my life experience which will commence in precisely 4 days, 14 hours, 24 minutes, if I am doing my math correctly, which is doubtful.
We finished packing today. Twice, in fact. The original bag we packed for the tour part of the trip was maybe, I don't know, 203 pounds and just generally huge. We decided that this would not work. My parents insisted that there would be some good-hearted young gentleman on the trip willing to tote my large suitcase around for me. Perhaps I could exchange baggage carrying with him, they suggested. No. This is partially because I am highly opposed to being dependent on others for things like, oh, computer-fixing, potato-peeling, and bag-carrying. Thus, we shuffled things around, decreased the total number of items, and managed to fit my tour necessities into 1 very expandable carry-on size suitcase, a duffel bag, and a bookbag. Hooray! My Stratford/London bag is however much larger and rather heavy, but I only have to move it around twice and by golly I will do it myself even if it takes me 4 hours! (Actually, I'm not really that morally opposed to getting help. At least not if it is really going to take me 4 hours.)
We were somewhat concerned about how much space I would have to hold souvenirs and such on the way back. Then I realized, what the heck, I can just leave stuff there! I can assure you I will never again need my Arden Shakespeare volumes of King Henry VI, parts 1, 2 & 3. Why not sell it to a used booksalesman there? And all those toiletries I bought? Eh, they weren't that expensive, just dump them in the trash! And while I'm at it, I've had those hooker boots for a few years, I could just leave them as a souvenir of myself in England!
No, I couldn't survive without the hooker boots.
On a different note: a woman in China decided her dog was intelligent enough to drive. She discovered via a head-on collision that in fact he isn't. Obviously she should have a cat instead. No cat in a car would ever look sane/sober enough to convince the driver that the animal should take the wheel.
Countdown: 4 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes.
We finished packing today. Twice, in fact. The original bag we packed for the tour part of the trip was maybe, I don't know, 203 pounds and just generally huge. We decided that this would not work. My parents insisted that there would be some good-hearted young gentleman on the trip willing to tote my large suitcase around for me. Perhaps I could exchange baggage carrying with him, they suggested. No. This is partially because I am highly opposed to being dependent on others for things like, oh, computer-fixing, potato-peeling, and bag-carrying. Thus, we shuffled things around, decreased the total number of items, and managed to fit my tour necessities into 1 very expandable carry-on size suitcase, a duffel bag, and a bookbag. Hooray! My Stratford/London bag is however much larger and rather heavy, but I only have to move it around twice and by golly I will do it myself even if it takes me 4 hours! (Actually, I'm not really that morally opposed to getting help. At least not if it is really going to take me 4 hours.)
We were somewhat concerned about how much space I would have to hold souvenirs and such on the way back. Then I realized, what the heck, I can just leave stuff there! I can assure you I will never again need my Arden Shakespeare volumes of King Henry VI, parts 1, 2 & 3. Why not sell it to a used booksalesman there? And all those toiletries I bought? Eh, they weren't that expensive, just dump them in the trash! And while I'm at it, I've had those hooker boots for a few years, I could just leave them as a souvenir of myself in England!
No, I couldn't survive without the hooker boots.
On a different note: a woman in China decided her dog was intelligent enough to drive. She discovered via a head-on collision that in fact he isn't. Obviously she should have a cat instead. No cat in a car would ever look sane/sober enough to convince the driver that the animal should take the wheel.
Countdown: 4 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Today's news coverage
So, three interesting bits of news gleaned from the internet:
Scientists have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet. It is instead a "Dwarf Planet." Asked why they changed the status, government astronomers explained that well, they had to at least look like they were doing something.
Anyone over the age of 18 (or with a fake ID) can now purchase the Plan B contraceptive, also known as the "Morning-after pill", without a prescription. This is certainly a positive step considering that hundreds of ignorant Americans will probably accidentally kill themselves by not reading the directions. It's natural selection at work. Meanwhile, an anonymous college student states that she is "grateful that the traditional "Walk of Shame" has gotten a little bit shorter."
And finally, shock of the day: France has dedicated 2000 troops to keeping peace in Lebanon. Did anyone else not know that they have a military? (I know, I know--cheap shot. But it really is appalling.)
P.S. Cheer on Lindsay Davenport in the U.S. Open (tennis people, tennis)!
Scientists have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet. It is instead a "Dwarf Planet." Asked why they changed the status, government astronomers explained that well, they had to at least look like they were doing something.
Anyone over the age of 18 (or with a fake ID) can now purchase the Plan B contraceptive, also known as the "Morning-after pill", without a prescription. This is certainly a positive step considering that hundreds of ignorant Americans will probably accidentally kill themselves by not reading the directions. It's natural selection at work. Meanwhile, an anonymous college student states that she is "grateful that the traditional "Walk of Shame" has gotten a little bit shorter."
And finally, shock of the day: France has dedicated 2000 troops to keeping peace in Lebanon. Did anyone else not know that they have a military? (I know, I know--cheap shot. But it really is appalling.)
P.S. Cheer on Lindsay Davenport in the U.S. Open (tennis people, tennis)!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)