Wrapping things up with Peter Pan & War Horse

Thursday (12/17) was another lazy day for me. I just relaxed more, made myself breakfast, nothing too crazy. I spent a good portion of the day writing my Billy Elliot review and got most of it done, but we had a scheduled dinner with the whole group and it was time to get a move on there.

So we went to what seemed like it was going to be a really great place for dinner, but it was quite disappointing. I got a Caesar salad that wasn’t good (how hard is it to screw up Caesar salad?) this lobster ravioli bisque thing which sucked because it was like 2 bites and didn’t even taste good, and I got a brownie for dessert which also tasted crappy. Oh well what can you do. The waiter knew Faryn and I (she ordered the same stuff as me) were unhappy with out meals so he brought each of us an order of French fries :P

After dinner we saw Peter Pan. Although I love Peter Pan, it wasn’t the best rendition of it I’d ever seen. It was very cool because all the actors were on wires and flying in the air at times, and there was also this projector system that surrounded the place which was very cool, but I guess the acting wasn’t so great. I don’t know really but it was a little disappointing. I slept threw some of it! That night it was SO COLD! It started to snow here which is the first snow I’ve seen all year! I don’t know what the exclamation points are for because I wasn’t excited lol

Today I wanted to do some shopping on my last full day in London, so Randy, Leanne and I went back to Oxford Circus and I finally went to HARRODS! It was a great place but I obviously didn’t buy anything. The place was ridiculous, they had a pet kingdom, and they had puppy bulldogs that were £4000 each! What?! Seriously!!? For a puppy?! I don’t get why people don’t just adopt their pets.

Anyway, we went to pizza hut for lunch! Haha, it was delicious and I needed some greasy American food. I got the buffet, so I ended up eating so much pizza that I was too full to eat dinner that night.

The show we saw tonight was called War Horse. I was actually excited to see it because we had heard it was very good, but I was sooooooo tired from shopping all day. Basically, I didn’t like the show, well at least the parts I was awake for! It just wasn’t that exciting and it took place during WWI and I don’t know. There were certain parts that were very good, like the horses were these amazing puppets that needed 3 people to handle, and there was music in the show that I thought was pretty good, but I thought the story and acting were both pretty bland overall.

Anyway, when we got back, I finished and submitted my Billy Elliot review, and finished my draft for my small Seize the Day review! After I submit that one which will be soon, I only have my final essay to do which I’m going to work on during the plane ride tomorrow. Well time for sleep soon… I’m going to finish packing in the morning and then off to the airport :D

The Globe, Tate Modern, Tower of London, and Billy Elliot

Seeing the Globe Theater (12/14) was pretty amazing (if you don’t know what that is it’s where Shakespeare’s plays were performed back during his time). It was very weird because there was no roof and it was like stadium seating? I don’t know it’s hard to explain, just look at the picture. The guy taking us around was explaining to us that the theaters unique design effects how the actors perform which I thought was very interesting.

After exploring the theater and doing an acting workshop, we went to the Tate Modern, which I had been looking forward to the entire trip! It was one of the best Museums I’ve ever been too! I loved it! They had all my favorite artists including Monet, Pollock, Dalí, Lichtenstein and… ANDY WARHOL! They ad an entire Andy Warhol Room! It was awesome :D

Yesterday (12/15), we went to the Tower of London. It was such a fiasco getting there. Basically, there was a ton of construction and delays on the tube, and Randy, Amy, Emily, and myself were about half an hour late. Patsy was not happy about it to say the least, so we had to pay for our own tickets. Patsy reimbursed Randy though so I need to e-mail her about that.

Anyway, the Tower of London was great! We saw the Queen’s crown jewels and Henry VIII armor and just walked all around. There were a lot of guards so we finally got some great pictures that we had been looking to take. We also saw the London Tower Bridge, which is so beautiful.

Later that night we saw Billy Elliot and it was phenomenal. I can’t even believe how good it was. I was crying during half the show; all the parts when he talked about his dead mom, and the talent of these kids was just so unreal. That show just made me wish I could do what those kids could do. I felt like such a dork crying during the show, but that’s just me for ya :)

Later that night a few of us went to a dance club called TigerTiger, which was a lot of fun. We danced and hung out and Steve tried teaching me how to Salsa, but that clearly didn’t work so well. We’ll have to try that again in the near future!

Today (12/16) was a day off so I slept in until about 1PM. Faryn had already left to go shopping. I considered going shopping myself, but I looked out the window and saw rain and lost my motivation. I finally submitted my Mother Courage review, so now I just have one more long review and one short review. I’m definitely writing a long review for Billy Elliot! Since its been a little while since Seize the Day so I might just do a short one on Peter Pan or War Horse since those are shows we’re seeing this week.

All of done today is THINK about writing my Billy Elliot review, and bought some groceries and went to Pret A Manger with Kamara. Don’t hate on me for being lazy, I’ve been doing so much! I bought myself a premade dinner thing so hopefully its good (trying to save a little money!) speaking of which, I’m all about of pounds! I need to exchange some ASAP. Don’t know what’s the plan for tonight. More to be continued!

Weekend in SCOTLAND

Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. Internet in Edinburgh was terrible!

Pied Piper was an extremely cool show. The entire thing was hip-hop dancing with pretty good music. There was no dialogue except for a narrator every once in a while. I enjoyed it a lot!

So Friday (12/11) morning we started our 3-day weekend as we journeyed off to SCOTLAND! The train north took a little less than 5 hours. The second we got off the train we knew we were in a totally new place. It was SO COLD and it was SO FOGGY! We arrived in Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland and the 2^nd biggest city in the UK. At first glance it seemed like a pretty nice place.

We arrived at the hotel and Steve booked a 2-bedroom apartment… for 10 of us! It was a little crowded to say the least, but we mad it work. It was like a giant slumber party. After settling in and whatnot, we were all excited to explore. We decided it would probably be a good idea to get some food. We went to a pub and decided we aught to do as the locals do, so everybody got a pint of beer with dinner. I know what you’re thinking, but it actually wasn’t terrible. Apparently the beer here tastes more like cider; I thought it tasted very similarly to red bull ;)

So we hung out at the pubs for a little bit and played pool and whatnot. When we went home around 12ish I noticed something… restaurants and other places were still open! And people were out and about on the streets! Everything in London closes around that time, but it was nice that people were still out in Edinburgh.

The next day (12/12) we basically shopped the whole afternoon. We also saw Edinburgh castle which was cool, but I got over it quickly and went back to shopping. That night we went to a dance club which was a lot of fun. A bunch of us just danced for a few hours and hung out but we didn’t stay out to late because we had to wake up early for the train the next working. It was still cold and still SO FOGGY!

This morning we left Edinburgh and arrived back in London this afternoon. I’ve just been relaxing for the most part and writing my review for Mother Courage, which is almost done. Tomorrow we are doing a bunch of things, like touring the Globe Theater. Well I’m off to sleep in a bit; I can’t believe it’s the start of the final week!

Lots of Touristy stuff and SARAH JESSICA PARKER!

So the Toy Museum was a little lame, but it was cute. It had a lot of really old dolls that freaked me out. The gift shop was fun. I got to play with some stuff.

Leanne found out about a premiere that night for Did you hear about the Morgans? so we went to that in Leicester Square. WE SAW SARAH JESSICA PARKER AND HUGH GRANT! it was so exciting! i wish i had something for them to sign, but i probably wouldn't have gotten anything anyway. the crowds were pretty intense, but it was so awesome. SJP looked so good!

Seize the Day was really good! I enjoyed it a lot and we saw the original production of it. It was basically an all black cast and it took place in modern time and it was about a black man running for mayor of London. It was very well done, so I’ll probably write a review about it.

Yesterday (12/9) was a very touristy day. We woke up on the earlier side to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (for the record, I always thought that Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament were the same thing. Well they’re not :P the one next to Big Ben that you see in all the pictures is the Houses are Parliament) the actual changing of the guards was pretty boring, but the whole experience was really great. Apparently it is the biggest visited tourist spot in the world. I definitely believe that because I heard so many different languages there. There was also a parade kind of thing that went on. There was a marching band and they played a medley of show tunes! It was so great! I’ll put a video below so you can see what I mean.

After that we walked through this park, which was really pretty. The walkway was named after Princess Diana which I thought was really nice. At the end of the walk we arrived at the Cabinet War Rooms, which was where Winston Churchill lead operations during WWII. It was also a Churchill museum and the place was basically left the way it was since WWII. It was pretty cool, and I little scary to see how it was then, but definitely an experience.

After this we went to Westminster Abbey which is where a lot of English figures are buried, including Queen Elizabeth I. it was a little freaky seeing tombs and whatnot, but the church was very pretty. It looked a lot like Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies, so I have a feeling it might have been designed after that.

From there we walked over the bridge to the South Bank for our tour of the National Theatre, which is where we saw Mother Courage and her Children. It was cool to see the backstage workings and whatnot, but I was so tired so I didn’t get to really appreciate it unfortunately.

When we finally got back to the flat, I literally passed out (around 7:30). I woke up about 4 hours later and stayed up for a while. Luckily my sleep cycle wasn’t completely screwed up this morning!

So I woke up a little early this morning and Faryn and I walked to Starbucks for breakfast and then to the grocery store to get some food. Definitely needed to do that because I totally didn’t have any food in the apartment.

Today’s big sight was the Bevis Marks Synagogue, which is the biggest operating Sephardic synagogue in London (which is orthodox). It was nice seeing some Jewish culture considering half the sites in Europe are churches. This was in the East End of London where apparently a lot of Jews live. To be honest, I didn’t see anyone that looked Jewish outside of a 20-foot radius of the temple. The area seemed very Arabic, but it was cool to see a different part of London for sure. While seeing the temple we walked on the trail of Jack the Ripper, which was interesting. The shopping in this area was also very cheap so I might be heading back there.

Right now I’m on a little break until we see Pied Piper tonight, which is supposed to involve so hip-hop so that should be fun. Probably won’t write a review on this one however. I need to start writing about Mother Courage before Scotland tomorrow! I refuse to fall behind!

More Shopping & Chinatown

Yesterday morning was lovely because I didn’t have to get up at any specific point. Steve came to my door and said to come up for breakfast. It was very cute. Randy was being like a short order cook; he mad everyone scrambled eggs and crumpets which was all very delicious.

We decided to go to Oxford Circus and Carnaby Street for some shopping. I didn’t buy much unfortunately, just a black hat and a ring. Oh well, there is still plenty more of this trip to go shopping! I saw a pea coat that I really liked, but I didn’t buy it. I’ll keep looking for one though because I want one so badly!

Then we went to a Japanese/Thai restaurant in CHINATOWN :P yea, I know how weird that sounds but that’s how it was. I got shrimp dumplings and spicy tuna rolls, which were very good. Then Kamara, Emily, and Steve decided to eat the wasabi that I didn’t touch… yea, not a good idea. Steve ate a lot of it, and his stomach was burning for a while! Haha. I exchanged some more cash too. We went into a small casino for a littlewhile. I just watched Steve play, but he didn't win any money. But he did win a stuffed animal from a crane game (naturally).

When we got back to the room, I basically passed out immediately. I guess I was just really tired from being out all day. I slept until noon today, which was lovely; I got a lot of hours under my belt for the day :)

We’re going to Pollock’s Toy Museum in about an hour, and then we’re seeing another show tonight called Seize the Day. I haven’t’ really heard anything good about it but we will see.

ALSO! Since we have 3 days off this weekend, we’ve planning to travel somewhere. Well we have officially booked a hotel in SCOTLAND! Very excited to go to another new place. I’ll tell you how the museum and show are in the next post. Until then, everything has been so fun! AND! Patsy posted our grades for stuff we’ve handed in and I got a 20/20 on my Inherit the Wind review and 10/10 on my Woman in Black mini-review! Woooooo! So as oh now I have a 40/40 for the class :) (Thank goodness!)

Frustrating Morning, but Mother Courage was AMAZING!

Yesterday I didn’t do much because I didn’t go to bed until 5 AM the night before! I made sure I finished one of my long reviews before I went to sleep (friday) so that I didn’t have to worry about submitting it on time (due on Saturday). So when I went to sleep I had the rough draft of my Inherit the Wind review finished and I e-mailed it to Ben so he could proofread it for me.

So naturally I didn’t set an alarm (for Saturday) because we had the whole day off and I thought it would be nice to not have to wake up to an alarm. When I woke up, I looked at the clock and it was 4 PM! I’ve never slept that late in my life. I guess I’m still jetlagged. I got up and finished my Inherit the Wind review, and did a mini-review for The Woman in Black. a lot of us went out for a nice dinner to a place called Prezzo which is right down the block, really convenient. The dinner was great and it was nice to dress up a little since I haven’t at all on this trip. When I came back to the room I watched 2 episodes of Ugly Betty and 2 episodes of Private Practice :P

This morning (12/6) was a bit annoying to say the least. Patsy asked us on Friday if everyone wanted to go for a meal to talk about the shows and whatnot either before or after the show today (Sunday). We decided then that we would do lunch at 1 PM. APPARENTLY the lunch was moved to 12, but the e-mail wasn’t sent out until 9ish this morning. I didn’t have my alarm set until 11:30 because I anticipated going to lunch at 1!! Faryn and I get a knock on the door at 11:25 that everyone is leaving at 11:30. I was so pissed off that nobody let us know earlier.

I figured Steve might not know that the time was changed wither, so Faryn went upstairs to see if they were up while I was getting ready, but him, Randy, Emily, and Amy left without us. To say the least I was pissed off by this whole situation, and of coarse Faryn and I were the only ones out of the loop, and 20 minutes late. I still don’t understand why the lunch was moved to 12 when the show didn’t start until 2:30! Whatever, I could go on and on about this, but there is no point venting here.

Anyway, we say Mother Courage and her Children, which starred Fiona Shaw who is Aunt Petunia in Harry Potter. Patsy says she’s one of the biggest stage stars in London. The show was AMAZING! I loved it so much. The special effects as well as the music were great, and Fiona Shaw was spectacular. I’m probably going to write a review about it, but haven’t decided if I’m going to do a long one or a short one.

That’s another thing! Patsy lessened our work load! Now we only have to do THREE long reviews instead of 4 AND she got rid of the deadlines! I’m probably going to write things right after the shows anyway, but this way I don’t have to stress about getting them in on time.

That’s pretty much it for now. I’m in my room just killing time, and Faryn is out with some of her friends that are here on term abroad. I’m still pissed about this morning though. But the show definitely cheered me up!

Shopping, and the WEIRDEST show EVER!

Today (12/4) we went on a shopping/walking tour. Faryn and I woke up excited to shop with everyone, but when I went to wake up Steve, Randy, Emily, and Amy, they all decided to stay in and sleep instead. Faryn and I ran to the tube stop and took it to the Marble Arch stop. The group for today ended up only being Faryn, Anna, Valerie, Patsy, and myself. It was actually good to have a small group because it was easier to go shopping that way! I can’t really remember the significance of the marble arch except that it is pretty and it used to be by Buckingham Palace and they moved it to its currently location? Whatever, all I know is it’s near the shopping district!

We walked into Governors Square which is across the road from the U.S. Embassy. It was cool seeing the embassy, and Patsy told us all about it. She said going in there is like crossing the boarder and they will check your passport and whatnot. She told us that she grew up in Switzerland as an embassy kid which I thought was cool. Her dad was someone important who worked at the embassy and it taught her to be tough. Every once in a while they would have kidnapping drills. Almost like fire drills but her family would practice what to do in a situation if her father were to be kidnapped or something and she wouldn’t know if it were real or not. I found that to be a little scary, but it was cool to hear about. She also said she used to have diplomatic immunity!

As we kept walking we located the house of HANDEL! That was so exciting considering I just wrote a paper on him for Baroque music. I wanted to go inside because it is a museum now, but nobody else wanted to go… I guess that’s something I’ll just have to do on my own one day soon. We went into the famous Liberty and Hamley’s Toy store, which was a lot of fun. We went to Carnaby Street which is where famous people in the 60’s would hang out (Beatles for example) and Piccadilly Circus, which is like the Times Square of London. We walked passed Waterstone’s, the biggest bookstore in the world. That’s something I also have to do on my own.

Around 1:30 we went to St. James Church which has free music concerts every Friday afternoon. We heard an orchestra of kids that looked about my age and they were incredible! We went to the famous Fortnum & Mason’s, which was so expensive haha. The shopping continued and then Faryn and I split and did our own thing and bought a few gifts :) then we went back to relax before the show.

That night we saw Endgame at the Duchess Theater. I honestly wish I could tell you what it was about, but I had no clue what the hell was going on during this show. The show was only one act, so there was no break. All I can tell you is that the main character was blind and sat in a chair the entire time, and he lived with his servant whom he always yelled at, and his parents lived in trashcans. It was so weird I cant even go more into it. Patsy loved it, but most of the group was so confused coming out of that theatre. Definitely not writing a review for this show.

A bunch of us found a place to eat a little. Most people wanted to stay out longer but I decided to go back and write my papers. I got back to the room and decided I wasn’t going to sleep until I had my long production review for Inherit the Wind finished. I eventually finished it, and went to bed at 5 in the morning. Oh well! Tomorrow is a day off and I can just sleep late! I’ll write a short review for The Woman in Black at some point during that free time.