Impressionist Paintings and Our Crazy Running Late Fiasco!

I actually got some sleep last night. I think I’m getting used to these shitty beds! Wooh!

Today (12/3) at 1 we went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square which had a lot of famous paintings including Monet and Van Gogh!! The impressionists are some of my favorites, it was so great to see some of the paintings I’ve been familiar with for so long and actually see them up close. The textures, for example, were so great! The museum had a lot of medieval and renaissance paintings as well, but they were mostly of Jesus and Mary so it was getting a little redundant if you catch my drift.

Afterwards we went around the corner to the National Portrait Gallery which was mostly photographs from today. There were pictures of a lot of English celebrities, like Keira Knightly, Kate Moss, and Twiggy which was cool to see. There were some disturbing pictures too, like a woman with a stab wound in Rwanda that I couldn’t look at for too long because it was just so sad. The woman in the picture was crying and it make me really upset :( we had the rest of the afternoon off, so the lot of us went back to the room until the show that night. We also stopped in some church between the museums, but I really can’t remember the significance to be honest! Hehe. It was pretty boring compared to the others.

So being the irresponsible group that I guess we are, Myself, Faryn, Steve, Randy, Emily, Amy, and Kamara as well, we were running late getting to Covent Garden where the Woman in Black was showing at the Fortune Theater. We got off the train around 7:45, which was the time we were supposed to be at the theater! Then after running around like maniacs not knowing where this theater was, we finally made it. But we were late and the show had already started. Since the show already started Patsy left our tickets at the box-office for us, which wouldn’t seem like a big deal right?

So we get to the box-office and I tell them who we are and they say they have our tickets. The man counts the tickets and there are only 6 tickets although there are 7 of us!! We were like shit what the hell do we do!? Steve said he would wait out here until things got figured out (despite the fact that we didn’t know if things would get figured out).

The rest of us wait until we are aloud in the theater which takes a good 10-15 minutes. Luckily one of the ushers filled us in on what we missed before showing us our seats. We finally sit down and Patsy immediately notices that Steve is missing. Randy tells her what happens and she immediately gets out of her seat! Next thing we know she’s back and said she got it figured out, thankfully. Apparently the theater didn’t print out the last ticket and she didn’t notice because she kept it in a stack. Nevertheless, Patsy called Steve, and he he came into the show during intermission.

Despite the fiasco, the play was okay. I enjoyed it and I was scared at times, but it wasn’t my favorite. We walked around afterwards because none of us had really eaten anything, and we ended up walking around forever because the restaurants close so early here. Finally we find a really good Italian restaurant. We played never have I ever and it was a cute, bonding experience. we took the bus back instead of the tube for the first time because the tube stops running after 12. Overall it was a good day, which was definitely what I needed after the previous day. Onward to shopping tomorrow!!

St Paul's Cathedral, Inherit the Wind, and definitely not my finest hour

I woke up this morning (12/2) and actually got some sleep the night before! Yay! I finally figured out a way to feel comfortable at night; I take the blanket and rap half of it into a ball and rest my head on that to make the pillow softer, then rap the rest of it around my body to keep myself warm. I know that sounds weird but it’s the only way I’m comfortable!

We started our day by heading over to the tube station, and of coarse I forgot my oyster card that allows me to get on the train. I had to pay for a single ride ticket which sucked because it was £4! For one way! So expensive… that was really frustrating and I was pissed about it.

We went to St. Pauls Cathedral in the City of London. Yes, that is different than London. It is the old, historic part of London. St. Paul’s cathedral was designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren, and apparently Memorial Chapel at school is based on his design! What was also really great about the Cathedral was that it is in the Engl

ish Baroque style, and I actually knew what that meant after just finishing the Baroque music class! I thought it was really great being able to understand that first hand. The church was very beautiful, and the fourth biggest in Europe.

We also went to the Museum of London. It wasn’t anything truly impressive to be honest. All I really saw there were some really old artifacts that were thousands of years old which actually was cool and a bunch of stuff on the fire of 1666 and plagues and whatnot. Nothing very exciting.

We then had the rest of the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted, so myself, Steve, Faryn, randy, Emily, and Amy (the 6 of us have kind of formed our own little group) took the tube to Waterloo, which is where we were the day before (on the south bank of the Thames River). We went to a really good Italian restaurant called Strada which is all over England. I got a kind of margarita pizza that was really good. I took about half of it to go because it was too big to finish. (keep this in mind for later)

So when we left the restaurant we finally got a hint of the London weather; it was DOWNPOURING! There were lots of booths of candy and food and whatnot, so while we were standing under train tracks to keep warm, Steve ran to a gourmet candy booth full of candy that Emily and I had been eying the day before. He bought so much candy it was actually ridiculous; I think he ended up spending £45 worth of candy! We kept walking around and we found a little café to sit in to pass the time, and all of a sudden I realized that the stuff in my hands felt light. I look down to find that the paper bag that was holding my leftover pizza got so wet from the rain that the pizza fell through the bag! It was actually really fun, but frustration. I guess I’m just having one of those days…

Later that night we saw Inherit the Wind, which was starring Kevin Spacey as Henry Drummond. The play was really great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure it was the first non-musical I’ve ever seen! All the British actors also have American accents, which I thought was really cool. Because I read the play in high school I’m going to write my first theatre review for it (has to be 2 pages single spaced, ugghh). Oh well at least I’ll have the first one out of the day done with.

Later in the evening I checked my grades for the fall term, which I probably shouldn’t have done because it made me sad :( oh well. Tomorrow will most definitely be a better day! I've never been that person who always forgets something, but I did have a little bit of an off day. But no worries, I am in London after all!

Terrible Night Sleep & Theatreland Tour

I had the worst night sleep of my life last night. I fell asleep right away obviously because I was so tired, but I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t go back to sleep for a number of reasons. For 1, the fire department is down the block, so there are tons of sirens, 2. the streets are extremely noisy in general, and 3. The beds are still hard as rocks!!! I had to bunch up a blanket on top of the pillow for my head because it’s actually painful to sleep with my head directly on the pillow :( I was like wide away at 4 in the morning, I got up and had a glass of orange juice, got up and charged my camera, and basically waited for the sun to come up.

So a bunch of us woke up early and went to that shopping center. Faryn and I bought some groceries. I still don’t have a phone because the cheapest phone they had was out and I refuse to spend a ton of money when I’ll probably end up throwing out the phone. The line in starbucks was ridiculous, so I went to another coffee place called Giraffe, and the coffee sucked to say the least. We went back to our rooms, Faryn and I sat down and ate a little breakfast, and then the lot of us was off to the Tube (their version of the subway).

We arrived at Leicester Square in Westminster, which is kind of like the Theatre district of London (technically next to London), known as Theatreland. We met with Patsy and our tour guide named Val around 1:30 PM. Val was a great tour guide, but she had purple hair (I’m just saying). Anyway, we had a walking tour of Westminster for about 2 hours. I learned a lot from her. Some things that I found interesting that she told us was that London was not a planned city, therefore there are a lot of different kinds of buildings and architecture. WE went to a church called St. Paul’s, which is a church dedicated to the theatre and many English actors have memorials there. She explained to us how England switch from catholic to protestant around the time of Henry IIX because he wanted to get a divorce and the pope wouldn’t let him.

We also saw the Savoy hotel and theatre, which is supposed to be one of the most luxurious hotels in England. The street that drives up to it is the only street in England where everyone drives on the RIGHT side, rather than the left. The reason for this was back in the day, females needed to get out of the carriage on the side closest to the theatre (or something like that). There are no signs there though so I don’t know how they expect people to assume. That’s another thing I noticed about London… THERE ARE NO STREETS SIGNS ANYWHERE! It’s the most bizarre thing.

We went to Covent Garden, which is like a big piazza now, but it used to be a major farmers market. The walking tour continued until we got to the Thames River. Val explained the importance of the river and its history in London. She said that when the Romans developed the city, it was crucial to be centered on the river for trade purposes. She also said that the river is gradually getting narrower and deeper with time, which I thought was cool. We walked across to the other side of the river, which is considered London and the tour stopped there.

When we got there, everyone immediately agreed that we should go on the London Eye which is that Ferris Wheel looking observatory which has a perfect view of anywhere near the river, like the bridges and Buckingham Palace. The palace is on the Westminster side of the river, while we were on the other side in London. There was a really cute street fair going on around there so I’ll be wanting to check that out in the near future. We saw billboards for the Beatles exhibit and a Dali exhibit, so those are some things I might do on a day off.

For dinner we went to a pub called the Mad Hatter which had the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland painted on the ceiling. They claim to be one of the first pubs in London. I got vegetarian lasagna, which was different but tasty. Eventually we walked back to the tube stop and ended the night back in our flats. I am very exhausted but it was a great day. It was kind of cold out towards the end, but Steve tricked me into dressing very warmly in the morning so I was very content. A bunch of us hung out in Emily and Amy’s room later that night and ate chocolates. Amy

and Steve decided to make a fort in his room? And a bunch of us watch my dads bootleg of 2012. I fell asleep immediately :P when I woke up I had a second wind which sucked because I need all the help I can get falling asleep tonight. Oh well, hopefully tonight will be different! I am just going to finish up a homework assignment that’s due on Thursday and then I am off to bed (hopefully!). We are seeing Inherit the Wind tomorrow night with Kevin Spacey! I’m very excited.

Goodnight!!

View from the London Eye:

American Dining and Starbucks Galore

So I woke up from a glorious nap and feel extremely refreshed, despite the fact that the bed and especially the pillows are rock hard. Oh well I’ll manage. A bunch of us went to a pub down the road and of coarse I got the most American thing they had on the menu: Cheeseburger. Don’t worry I’ll get into the culture soon, but it was bar food so not too much to choose from. Steve of coarse got desserts for the table…

We walked around for a bit to see what the neighborhood is like. There are SO MANY restaurants! Thank god. We also found a shopping center with a grocery store and a lot of boutiques including FCUK, so I’ll definitely be doing that in the very near future. Faryn and I are planning to go there around 10 AM tomorrow morning to get groceries and some window-shopping. Did I mention there are 2 starbucks within 3 blocks of my studio flat?! Yea, so good. (by the way, the place I’m staying at is a studio flat, not a hostel like I said in my last post).

So it’s almost 11 PM and I’m exhausted so I’m just relaxing in my room. Faryn is video chatting with her boyfriend and they’re playing Chinese checkers against each other (so cute). I’m trying to load last night’s episode of desperate housewives but it’s taking forever to load!!

Tomorrow we’re supposed to meet Patsy (Patricia Culbert, Theater Professor from Union) at Leicester Square I believe it’s called? We’re supposed to meet around 1:30 and since I am so afraid of getting lost I want to leave at least an hour in advance (it’ll also leave time to shop more!). I’m so afraid of getting lost because Patsy isn’t staying in the same place as us, so it’s our responsibility to get there. In addition to the many instant messages I have going on my screen right now, I’m just going to do some last minute computer stuff then get to sleep early for an early start in the morning. So far this trip is looking good.

Oh and I love Mike Jacobson, just throwing that out there ;)

I have Arrived!

The trip has officially begun! I am currently on the plane in seat #59D on Virgin Atlantic Flight #46. Our flight took off right on time which is always a great start. I am sitting with the aisle to my left and Steve to my right and Randy to his right.

So the first movie of the evening with my oh so delicious airplane dinner (not going to lie, the brownie for dessert was excellent) was 500 Days of Summer which was great because I’ve been wanting to see it. I really liked it, I thought it was very cute and I love Zooey Dechanel so that was a plus. I LOVED the point of the movie, which was basically that everything in life is a coincident and that there are no miracles; things happen the way they are meant to happen. I’m going to keep that in mind…

17 Again is the best movie .. Zac Efron actually said as a guy was giving his wife carnations, “Carnations? What a dooshbag!” Ahhh! Love it, so good. I actually got choked up at the end of this movie, it was so cute :) steve is watching it too, I find that very funny.

Someone 2 rows up is watching the west wing…

Bandsland or whatever the movie is called with Aly Michalka and Vanessa Hudgens was cute but I didn’t finish it before the plan ride :( Anyway, we landed, and I am officially in the UK! Of coarse it is raining… The group of us on the plane consists of myself, Steve, Faryn, Randy, Emily, Amy, and Kamara. We split up into 2 cabs; the cabs are so cute and different, and the driver was kinda a jerk and I couldn’t understand him… the other driver called him a wanker (first slang word since being here)

The drive to the hostel or whatever you call this place, it is called Endsley Garden, took an hour and I kept sleeping on and off until we got here… the trip cost £80 for 4 of us, so we each payed 20, not terrible. I converted $300 and got about £160 in exchange just to start off with. I’m finally in my room. Its not bad, there's a bathroom and a bedroom and an extremely tiny kitchen. I don’t plan on doing a ton of cooking to be honest. Faryn, Steve, and Randy just left to go to startbucks even though it is about 5 AM in our minds (actually 10 AM here), but I choose to stay in and sleep since I haven't gotten any. I need to get a pay as you go phone at some point soon. For now I’m going to relax and try to sleep as much as possible. Until next time <3!