Massive Update

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been a few days since my last update, and that this update is going to be so long. But, I'll include some pretty picture to make it more enjoyable. I'm also not going to do full reviews of shows most of the time now, but instead just give you a snippet about each one.

This is the insane and awesome stage where I saw Earthquakes in London. The stage includes a long and winding orange runway that part of the audience is sitting around in swiveling chairs. The actors also used the areas behind the curtains that looked like windows but functioned as stages (another of which was on the opposite side). I sat on the floor, in the middle of the action, but there were seats above the stage to the left and right. I loved this set up, as you were constantly spinning to keep up with all the chaotic action and dialogue of this fast-paced play. The show itself uses a dysfunctional family as a foil for the deteriorating state of the earth because of global warming due to recent and massive amounts of human activity. I found the first 80% of the play very moving and meaningful, but the end was a little too out there and far too preachy to be enjoyable to watch.

DON'T STOP READING! I know it's a poster for Charlie St. Cloud, but I didn't actually see it. My friend and I found the UK premiere of this movie happening just a short walk from our dorm, so we stuck around to see what it was like. There were a lot of British stars who we didn't recognize, but who all the girls around us were screaming for. The only one I knew was Anna Popplewell (from the Narnia movies), and that was mostly because I'd met her once before at Disney World. We saw Zac Efron further down the blue (who knows why) carpet, but we had to leave before he made it to where we were. Overall, kind of exciting, and I'll have to go to another premiere for a movie I'm actually interested in.

The thing we had to leave to go to was Design for Living, a production of one of Noel Coward's plays. At first, I was kind of wishing that I'd stayed to see Zac. I found the first act of this show to be fairly boring - well-acted - just not very entertaining to watch. However, once we got to the end of Act II, things started to look up substantially. There's a brilliant scene between the two lead male characters, Otto and Leo, where they are both extremely drunk and frickin' hilarious. Both these guys are comic geniuses! They continued this hilarity through the third act, which made the end of the play a riot to watch. At some points the actor who plays Leo would do something so totally random that you would see the cast members try to hold in a laugh for a minute, and then actually burst out in what I assume to be (because of the uncontrollable nature of it) real laughter. Amazingly the actor who plays Leo will be coming into one of my classes, and I'm SO EXCITED!

And wait... THERE'S MORE!

I went boating! It sounds very lovely and picturesque, and parts of it were - mostly the parts where we weren't in the boat. Did you know that it is REALLY DIFFICULT to maneuver a row boat? It's practically impossible. But, Regent's Park is absolutely beautiful, so even though I will never be able to use my arms again, I'd say it was worth it.

On a final note, I made my fall break plans! Hooray! Be excited! It was really difficult and time-consuming so you better be jumping up and down! Now you can look forward to incredible posts about Venice, Rome, Athens, Mykenos, Santorini, and Dublin!

Because you couldn't be there...

Out on the Town and the Thames Festival

Let me just say that although I did not experience a whirlwind shopping montage like Mary-Kate and Ashley, lots of fun can be found around here if you know where to look. I'd been told by many a previous London student that London can be extremely boring as pubs close at 11 p.m. And I thought this was the case... until last weekend.

Saturday night began at the magical Thames Festival. My friends and I checked out the most important event... DUH the Feast on the Bridge!!! We started at the beer stand because we're Americans of course! But, that actually turned out to be a bad decision as whatever they served me was surely the worst-tasting liquid ever brewed. Then came the fantastic, the marvelous, the French... Nutella crepe. If you've never had a Nutella crepe, you haven't truly lived. If you don't know what Nutella is, how on earth do you find the motivation to get up in the morning? Anyway, you might have picked up that it was frickin AWESOME! After chowing down for a while at the banquet style tables, we moved to the mostly-cheesy concert that was going on. We attempted to copy the really intense people who'd come dressed up and with years of dancing experience, but mostly we just made fools of ourselves - in the most fun way possible.

From there we contemplated walking back to the dorm as most of the festival had finished for the night (by 10 p.m. - so those nay-sayers did partly get the early thing right). But, we ended up finding a bar that was open past 11. There we met a whole slew of delightful (and not so delightful) British characters. One, who we decided to refer to all night only as David Beckham, had some killer dance moves, by which I mean that Carlton would have been proud. But, he did have that Beckham look, so no one cared. Another guy ended up showing us around various bars and clubs all night, which an adventure on a scale I didn't know London had. Overall, (and that was definitely a SHORT summary), perhaps those past students should try London over again because I think they missed it. I also went back to the Thames Festival on Sunday and watched the Carnival (like as in Rio) and the spectacular fireworks. They were shot off from a boat on the Thames and everyone was squishing in trying to get the best view from the bridge. It was amazing to watch them go off right in front (or rather above) me.

On a final and side note, I made tacos! So that can be added to my three-item long list of things I can cook! Hooray!

More Reasons Why I May Never Leave Here

I had my last first (got it?) class today. Guess what? It rocks as much as the others! We get to see a play every week (in addition to the entirely different set of performances I get to see with the other class), and there are only TWO assignments for the whole semester! I'm beyond excited.

I also got to see Deathtrap tonight for my previously mentioned journalism class. And let me tell you, that is the most I have ever heard a British audience laugh. They were rolling in aisles. I saw one of the Harry Potter movies here, and the crowd was silent as death, or a really awkward moment you wish would end, but won't. But any words that came out of the lead actor, Simon Russell Beale's, mouth caused them to practically wet themselves with joy. This is not to say that I wasn't laughing along, but I think there was definitely more support for this national celebrity. For a thriller, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was entertaining, witty, surprising, scary (yes, legitimate screams came from the audience), and of course, cheesy (but not to the usually very high standard). The set and lighting were perfect for the genre and beautifully executed. The acting was what it needed to be, but nothing, besides the very comedic lead performance, was really praise-worthy. So, overall, if that had been my day, I would have been pleased. BUT WAIT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THAT'S NOT ALL. BESIDES WINNING A FREE TOASTER FOR STICKING AROUND, YOU'LL ALSO GET TO HEAR HOW MY NIGHT GOT BETTER! Impossible, you say? Well listen to this.

After the show we went outside the theater to see if we could find our professor, and guess you was standing a convenient five feet away from us - JOHN C. REILLY! (You know who he is, just look up his picture on Google). He was really nice and took a picture with us! Yay! And just for kicks, I'll tell you that a cat wandered into our dorm, and it was really funny. It just walked right in the door and started strutting around the hallways.

British People love their KARAOKE!!!

http://www.djjdee-mobiledisco.co.uk/images/karaoke.gif

Soooo... yesterday night my friends and I went on the epic adventure of finding a British pub with karaoke. And let me tell you, it started out pretty interestingly. When we arrived at our pre-determined meeting place, one of my friends, let's call her Carla, was telling a story. The middle of this story involves her screaming, "I'M A BISEXUAL! DEAL WITH IT!" Now "Carla" is not a bisexual, but the 80 year old lady who still maintains her residence in our dorm building now thinks that Carla is, as that's what she was yelling as this poor elderly person peeked out of the main door. Carla then made it much worse by mumbling, "Oh no, not me. I'm not bisexual... sorry," but the woman had already broken the people over 70 record for warp speeding away. A few minutes later while this instant classic story was being retold, a bike rider (fairly attractive) was riding by, and he caught the same words as the old woman. He almost fell off his bike, whipping his head around, and proceeded to turn back looking at us his entire way down the street. All before we got to the pub.

Now, "British People" may seem like kind of a broad title considering I'm in England, but let me tell you, it's nearly impossible to get one to engage in conversation with you. That is, except on karaoke night. Something about the cheesy 90s music brings the Brits alive. Everyone sings, dances, AND EVEN TALKS TO THE AMERICANS. We met an unbelievably nice girl who swore she would dance through our entire, off-key rendition of "Respect," and not only kept that promise, but continued to dance throughout the night. While in the "loo" we met another charming young lady who complimented are terrible singing and informed us that she would be heading to New York soon, and who was eager to hear all the advice we had about it. After this discussion my friend and I, still in the bathroom, began commenting how nice British women are, especially compared to British guys, and out emerges a British woman say, "So why are British women so nice?" While she may have been somewhat condescending, overall she seemed to enjoy talking to us (perhaps because she was mocking us) just as much as we enjoyed hearing a different perspective. When asked about how to approach British guys, she suggested "being subtle," but sort of laughed and said "that might be hard for us Americans." She came up to us later in the night to discuss comedy and how no one can mock Americans like an American. The grand sum total of these conversations doesn't equal much, but I'm glad to have just had someone from this native country say something other than, "What kind of beer do you want?" to me.

Theater with a Little Theater on the Side

Into the Woods set in Regent's Park

Hello to all those in a country where eggs are in the refrigerated section of the grocery store! Just another day in paradise here. My paradise at least. So, I've attended my first class of the semester, and let me tell you, I may never go back to New York. Not only is our teacher fairly brilliant, but the class itself sounds more like scheduled fun than something to be graded on. Every week we'll be heading off to either a theatrical, dance, or musical performance, and then writing about it. I KNOW! Can you believe I get credit for this? This week's play is entitled Deathtrap, and surrounded by an outstanding cast is the incredible Jonathan Groff of Glee. I'm so excited and will be sure to post my thoughts. As if that isn't enough, I have another class that focuses solely on theater (so not the dance and music) with multiple theater trips around the city. However, it doesn't begin until Thursday.

Tonight I was lucky enough to see Into the Woods in the Open Air Theater in Regent's Park, which was great. The location itself is enough to make the trip worth it. There are lights strung all around the absolutely beautiful park and tons of food to be had right outside the theater. Everyone sits at picnic tables and chows down before the show, with no rushing to their seats like in the U.S. The tickets were even reasonably priced at 15 pounds. As this show is my favorite musical it is pretty much impossible for me to not enjoy a production; however, it also means that I have seen many variations, and I know what I like and expect. While the set and lighting were incredible as they seemed to grow out of and be a part of the wooded area that surrounded them, they did come with a somewhat scattered feeling. Often chorus member were just hanging about the scene, with no apparent purpose, but still strangely choreographed. The changes made because of the environment were brilliant though. The recreation of the giant, the bed formed from humans, and the umbrella beanstalk were all delightful touches.

The cast as a whole was a joy to watch, with the group numbers standing out as very strong pieces. Perhaps it's because I'm used to Broadway, but across the board, I felt the solos could have used more power. I wasn't quite as blown away by the voices as I usually am. The notable exceptions to this were the "charming, not sincere" princes. They won the show with their comedy and truly stunning sound. Their comedy did seem to be the only bit that was consistent with what I'd seen in the U.S. though. Overall, I found the show played less to the comedic side that I'm used to, and more to the weirder and slightly more sexual side. Perhaps it was the British actors or perhaps it was the British crowd, who seemed to laugh far less than their American counterparts. The switch of the narrator to a young boy seemed a stroke of genius to me. He tells the story with innocence and imagination, as fairy tales should be told. I thoroughly enjoyed the show as a whole, and am sure to be singing the tunes from it for weeks.

On a non-theater-related note, I MADE CHICKEN SALAD TODAY! To anyone normal this is not a big deal, but as my specialty is chocolate chip pancake and only chocolate chip pancakes, it was a great achievement. Picture may be on the way.

London Calling

Princess Louise Pub

Hello Blog-readers! If you read the title of this blog and you're still reading, I would guess you and I would get along pretty well. Of course, Winning London was one of many Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen instant classics to come out during my childhood. Every Christmas my sisters would get me the newest one - mostly to mock it, which was somewhat traumatic as I still found them delightfully enjoyable at the time. ANYWAY... this blog will be about my one semester abroad in London as a student. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll stop watching that great movie that made you laugh and cry for a second and then glance at this. A good time will be had by all. So stay tuned for all the drama that comes with being in a country slightly different than your own. Heaven knows I'm destined to repeat the "Where is your saran wrap?" - insulted/confused look - discovering it is called "cling film" grocery escapade. I know, you're at the edge of your seat. Well, as that's probably an uncomfortable position, I recommend just falling off and waiting perfectly still on the floor, or finding a paper bag to breath into until my next post.

Until then-