Photos from Paris & London

The Following pics are from Paris, France; Bath, England; & London, England (duh) Enjoy! I most certainly did...

awesome painting in the Louvre. it's a big deal.

a bit blurry, but it's the Mona Lisa-- kind of small, bit dissapointing, but still cool to see it IN THE FLESH (?)

Winged Victory! thanks, Jackie ;)

Venus de Milo

I meant to do that.

whew that's big.

I totes wanted to join those kids. might have been a little sketch tho

miniature version

ROoooaaAARRR!!!!

La Seine- such a beautiful day

Notre Dame Cathedral

What's Garfield doin' at Pere Lachaise??? haha. so cute.

Moliere & LaFontaine

"You're one of the few reasons I'm proud to be Irish." on Oscar Wilde's grave. I thought this was just fantastic. I'd be Irish any day, dude... you're awesome.

The infamous Oscar Wilde tombstone.

Sarah Bernhardt

Chopin- I legit almost cried. wow.

Jim Morrison- I actually did cry... then these dudes came up and took whiskey shots and, weirdly, I felt much better.

I forget who's grave this is... jk jk

dinner in Paris w/ my new loves

from atop Tour d'Eiffel

@ night

Champs Elysee!

shopping in Paris w/ Lily & Seshan

Outside of one of the metro stations. whoa.

Detail at the top. very nice.

Crepe nutella. yum.

Street by my hotel.

view from hotel window, which I never ever closed because I love the sound of PARIS!

view of the Thames from the National Theatre @ night. loves.

That's Harrods way back there. Isn't it glorious?

Marble Arch near Hyde Park

Piccadilly Circus during the day :)

Accessories store in Bath market

beautiful park in Bath. view from the Balcony.

other side of the park-- I get why Jane Austen was so inspired by this town. It was absolutely beautiful. Every which way you turn...

very elegant/ expensive flats. Nick Cage used to own one over here before he went bankrupt... oh did i do that? woops...

Where they used to hold balls and ceremonies-- now is for living and there's a museum on the end.

Angles climbing the ladder up to heaven

a very old Roman bath. it was dark inside. The stacks that look like books are limestone deposits from the original bottom of the bath. It wears away little by little every year.

The grand bath 2nd floor balcony. Back when the Romans were in control of this city, this part of the building was inside.

View from the balcony upstairs and inside.

SSSSHHHHHeeeeeep!!!

Stonehenge! it was cold...

really old rocks aka Stonehenge

my workspace @ The Cavendish

where some kids sit and chill... i mean, work.

activity board

The Peace Carpet

London, my home @ long last

So this entry, I realize I'm actually starting to become (gulp) a citizen. I'm actually starting to get annoyed by tourists now, I'm more and more content with the weather-- I actually don't know what I'll do when the sun starts to come out more consistently-- and I'm saying words like "dodgy" and "snogged" on an almost regular basis.

wow.

allllllrighty then.

March 17:

Saw Enron! It was amazing. Seriously, the best production I have seen this semester. There was an amazing incorporation of music and drama and I loved how the Brits kept poking fun of America. The whole play was simply fantastic and I want to see again when it goes to New York City… in 2 weeks. It’ll be interesting actually to see how they react to it because it is a British take on an American controversy, but it was really really really (surprisingly, too) well done. I mean, Bravo. Also, any play that includes a light saber fight wins my heart. Haha. Great night!

March 18-19

Some highlights from these couple of days:

-Skype’d with the oh so lovely Jorie moss and Anton, who I should mention was in nothing, but a towel (hot), back home at Alpha Chi Omega.

-Ate Sushi and saw Avenue Q , which was hilarious. I wish I hadn’t known most of the music though….Got back home and chatted with Jackie and Lily in their common room. We talked about some upcoming football games, which really got us in the mood to go play some football…. Idea!

--Went to Somerset House for photo exhibit – last 100 years of photography in 100 pictures---and National Gallery with Jackie. Came home, took a nap, watched Entourage (love Jeremy Piven- I met him when he came to our school to tell us to vote for Obama)

March 20: today, I was a bum. I sat on my ass and watched movies. I Watched LOTS of movies on the 20^th… I just didn’t feel like doing anything else, but don’t worry, I didn’t sacrifice this day for nothing. Today I watched movies that pretty much changed my life… I saw:

Annie Hall,

Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights,

The Doors,

Taxi Driver,

Ed Wood,

Fantastic Mr. Fox,

Inglourious Basterds,

Men Who Stare At Goats,

and Zombieland

ALL FOR THE FIRST TIME and not necessarily in that order... It was a full day of watching movies.. A full day of me being lazy and staying in bed, but it was glorious. I just did what I’ve always wanted to do and I just sat on my butt and watched movies and I cried and laughed and cried some more and geeked out about every single one of these brilliant brilliant films. Especially City Lights--- the only silent film I watched today, but probably the BEST movie I watched today, which just goes to show that sometimes you just don’t need words to feel something. I could write for days on all these movies, but I won’t, but I want to…

March 21:

Today we had our picnic (finally- we’ve been talking about it for ages and ages) in regent’s park with Lily and Jackie. We also was an awesome soccer match with some European students from Sweden, Greece, and Germany--- They were really good. They killed us because apparently, “ they have it in their blood.” One of the Greeks kicked me in the leg, though and I’m still waiting for my apology.

After that we came home, ate dinner, hung out again in Lily’s common room then I Met Sam’s friends who are visiting for spring break. Meanwhile Nan was booking Amsterdam for us. We’re going there on a freaking boat in April! Yay! I’m genuinely ecstactic for this ferry to Amsterdam. We even get beds and dinner! Should be fun AND it was weirdly cheaper than flying so NO airport security, which is rad. Next, I did a little homework, went upstairs, made a drink or two to distress and watched more Entourage, which has become kind of a guilty pleasure… The episode where they go to the dessert and do shrooms is the absolute best. Vince is hilarious!

March 22:

Business time. And spent the day watching entourage. Got to come home early from work cuz Cecilia threw up on me. Thank god she chose the fruit plate and not the rice pudding… that would have been messy.

March 23:

Shakespeare Class and the worst production so far this semester… Macbeth. It was awful, but the lighting was cool, but I just couldn’t get over how plain and boring it was. The performers weren’t all that bad, but I just did not care for them and honestly, the whole “let’s all wear black so we can make the audience think we’re making a point, but really we want to save money on making elaborate costumes” thing is getting seriously overdone in this town. The barbican (the theatre the play was at) is annoying and ugly and busy and I think I just really hated the show so much it affected my impression of the entire evening. It was all good though. I had a some of that good ole Echo Falls rose waiting for me when I got home! Just as Shakespeare himself once put it… All’s well that ends well.

March 24:

Saw chronicles of long kesh tonight for class. So amazing, love the Irish accents, totally made up for that awful and sadly oh so forgettable production of Macbeth. Then I saw one of the leads from Long Kesh on the tube back home. He changed clothes so fast! Like whoa—he’s freaking superman or something.

March 25:

Class in Bedford square, walk home in the worst rain yet… really London? Really? …. But in all seriousness, it was kind of fun. You just give up after a while and splashed around in puddles while onlookers look at you like you’re crazy…. Yes, this was the highlight of my day.

Let's Play Catch Up

Okay, So London is still fantastic, but I have, yet again, waited too long between posts and I'm afraid this will mean less detail in general, but you will get the gist of what I've been up to. I'm really not doing too many fancy activities and I'm just trying to enjoy the time I've got! 5 more weeks in London town then I'm home, in Greencastle for some graduation festivities, then I'm working for 10 weeks at the Y... then I'm finishing Senior year of college. (wha??) Hope you all are still doing well. I miss you!

Feb. 26:

Okay so I have been in the theatre almost too much this week… almost…, which is why tonight I decided to go see The Misanthrope! It was really fun because I went with Emily V and some of our wolf pack ladies. The Misanthrope is a play by Moliere, but this version was kind of rewritten and re-styled for a present day kind of feel. Keira Knightley was in it with an American accent and she was pretty good except I kept getting distracted by her voice. She normally speaks in a very low resonance, but this time she had a kind of high ringing, nasally (don’t know if that’s a word) voice. It was ugly, but then again she played a very ugly character. The show was hilarious though. The title character was played by Damien Lewis who is a big deal over here and apparently had been in some films, too, but I haven’t seen any of him in anything. Hope that changes because he was the best part of the show!

Afterwards, we all went out back (sketch) to meet Keira Knightley. Kelly was afraid to push people out of the way and really get in there so I took some pics of Keira Knightley for her…. No big deal, but they were basically pretty professional. The girls are actually still making fun of me a bit for the “conversation” I had with Keira Knightley that was more or less me telling her what an amazing accent she had (“Keira, you were brilliant, I felt like I was in America”) with her saying back, “oh thank you, that’s so sweet. Thank you…”)

Oh the best part of this evening was taking a group pic with Damien Lewis, who up close is really cute. Not in a, wow- let’s -go -to –your-place kind of cute, but in a you’ll-make-a-great-dad-one-day cute. When we all jumped in for a photo he said, “well, this is my kind of soccer team…” What a charmer. Love him.

Feb. 27:

Saturday. Party Bus. 4 clubs. Strawberry Moons, The Zoo, Verve, and Sway. Great night. HAPPY 21^ST BDAY, EMILY!!!!!

The Party Bus was actually very interesting. I had never done anything like this before. I was already ready to “go” before we even reached the first club. It was a long and arduous night full of very yummy drinks (some of which were on me… some of which were not), disco floors, stripper poles ;) and yes, of course, McDonalds. We all got dressed up and surprised Emily on Baker St, too. I had such a great night and I hope Emily did, too, since it was her 21^st birthday! Always a good night when I’m hanging out with the Westminster kids.

Feb. 28:

Recoup day, ugh--- hilarious skype conference with my family back in the states. A very nice surprise to talk to the aunts and uncles, too! Hope to do it again sometime! I really needed to hear those friendly voices.

March 1-5:

This was kind of a boring week. I had papers to get out of the way, errands to run for work and cancelled plays to NOT go see. This was kind of bad week in which I started to really get homesick, but everything turned around when I saw Dunsinane on Wednesday.

Dunsinane was a really funny show produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company that was the story of the aftermath of what happens pretty much after the aftermath of Macbeth. It was really colorful, too. The company was really young, which was nice to see because it just made it very … fresh. The staging was also very interesting. I can’t really explain it, but I took some pictures… I wasn’t supposed to, but whatever.

6:

Tonight, I checked out this place called the Blue’s Kitchen in Camden. It was awesome. This bluegrass group was playing and the lead singer kind of reminded me of Johnny Cash. He was not no Johnny Cash, but it was a fun night still.

7:

Saw Les Mis for the first time and cried like a baby. Also, Jean Val Jean was SO attractive…. I mean, wow.

8:

Camden Town shop day, Paul’s café with Jennifer from Barcelona, and Pub Crawl in Soho (fail) met Frenchmen at first pub we went to and then resorted to Oneills so we could just go chill. They had decorations up for St. Patty’s Day already. It was hilarious. And they had a live band on the 2^nd floor which was kind of a big deal. So fun.

9:

Class, home, Waiting for Godot w/ Sarah- one of my roommates. WfG was incredible and Ian Mckellan was hysterical. The story itself I’ve never really been a huge fan of, mostly because I’m not really into all that existentialism crap and why-are-we-here mumbo jumbo, but his performance along with the wonderous Roger Kees was truly thought provoking. The set was really well done, too, and the whole vaudeville theme was a neat undertone. Just in general the production was simply fantastic.

10:

Today I stayed home and watched the LOTR trilogy because I’m still geeking out about Ian Mckellen. Also, I saw a play called Sweet Nothings tonight. It was brilliant and there was a hell of a lot of stage sex… so yeah, you do the math. Now I’m getting excited for a fun filled trip to Barcelona!

March 11-14: Barcelona! (see mah pics!)

March 15: stayed home from work, did nothing. Recovered from a horribly ended weekend (My room mate Ashley got pickpocketed and I really just don’t want to remember the last 24 hours…..

March 16:

Shakespeare class and saw Judi Dench in Midsummer Night’s Dream. Totally worth the hour trip to Kingston… finally figured out the national rail! Whoo!

Alica and Wonderland World Premiere @ the Odeon

Feb. 25:

I went to the Alice and Wonderland premiere today, met, shook hands with, and spoke to… wait for it… wait for it… JOHNNY DEPP! Yup, we’re basically best friends now… I wish…The premiere was at the Odeon in Piccadilly and I actually was really conflicted on whether or not I should go, but I am so so so glad I did. I also saw Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, Christopher Lee, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, some really famous fashion designer lady (eh), and Anne Hathaway. Those were the celebs who stopped by in the area I was waiting in, but all these dudes just kind of stood in the center for pictures, waved, and signed SOME autographs, not many though because it was raining pretty badly. JOHNNY was the only one who stayed with us the whole time. He’s absolutely wonderful and anyone who knows me, knows that he is my hero and knows that I am eternally grateful that I was even in his presense at all. Such a talented, wonderful man who made my day complete.

Paris, France aka The Bees Knees

So I realize that it is now April and this was written in February, but I have been so busy I almost forgot I had a duty to uphold...not really, but here's what I've been up to!

Feb. 18:

Today I had class and packing for Paris! It was a long day (and night), but all the hastle was totally worth it. Class actually went by really fast, which was a little sad because I wanted to keep talking about last night’s play (Every Good Boy Deserves Favor), but then again I needed to get ready for Paris. I meant to that morning, but I was watching this British TV show called “Skins” and I got caught up with the amazingness so I didn’t have time to pack till I got home. Our bus didn’t leave until 10:30, but we had to be at the bus station an hour early to check in. As excited as I was that I was taking A BUS to Paris (so fun, so cheap) on the infamous chunnel, I needed to sleep. Tonight I slept on a bus. Wow.

Feb. 19: WEEKEND IN PARIS, FRANCE J J J J J JJ J J

Holy crap! Dans Paris! We made it to our hostel, took a little nap, and then Nandine, Lily, and I got up and just kind of walked around a bit. We got crepes with nutella for breakfast. (Duh. How could we not do that?! It’s France.) We explored the area we lived in a bit, found the opera house (wow) and then worked up the courage to figure out the metro. Once we did that we made our way to Champs Elysee and did a little shopping. I got this really rad Manchester United jersey, a Paris football team poster and roster, some presents for my mom (not gonna tell you yet, ma! Haha) and a bracelet from this little boutique on some side street. The lady in the store was really sweet, she spoke to us in French, but I felt bad that I couldn’t chat back to her in French. It was interesting, though, because I understood most of what she was saying. We ended up in this little café later and started a conversation with one of the owners. He was American, but he had been living in France for a really long time. He was nice and his friends who he was eating lunch with were cool. It was so chill. He was running the place pretty much, serving people, and eating lunch with his buddies. That’s retirement for you, I guess, though.

Nandine, Lily, and I split up and I went back to my hostel to freshen up a bit before meeting Tracey, my friend from school. We made plans to meet under the Eiffel Tower! I didn’t have much time to get ready, but I caught some of the Olympics in Vancouver while I got ready so that was neat. I had almost forgotten that those were even going on.

I finally found Tracey under the Eiffel Tower. She said she spotted me because of my (quite awesome) moon boots. We ran into each other’s arms and I could see people laughing at me out of the corner of my eye, but it was better than that scene in Field of Dreams…. So yeah.

We rode to the top, took some beautiful pictures of the “City of Lights”—I finally get why they call it that… wow. And then we climbed back down for some dinner. We went to this café thing and I got some Frenchy Frencher kind of salad. It was weird. Those cubes were definitely NOT cheese.

Oh yeah, Also, if you go to the Eiffel Tower, get ready for people to FOLLOW YOU on the way there selling you little Eiffel tower key chains and crap in really sketch ways… just saying. Those dudes kinda scared me. ..

Feb. 20:

Okay this is gonna sound crazy, but today I spent the day in the graveyards. I went to Montparnasse and Pere Lachaise and never have I felt so at peace with just walking around and seeing the beauty in mere objects. Everything was beautiful. I about lost it when I ran into Rossini’s tomb and then Oscar Wilde’s grave made me laugh out loud. I also saw Notre Dame cathedral (went inside for a sec, but I left quickly because I feel like once you’ve seen one cathedral you’ve seen them all… just saying, I was ready to move on). Next, I walked along Le Seine River. It was such a beautiful day and I got myself lost in looking at the sky and at the architecture of the city. I was also on a crazy high from having seen Jim Morrison’s grave. I listened to music from the Doors all day and I probably won’t stop listening to this amazing music for a while. A group of true artists, they were…. I had such a wonderful day.

Feb. 21:

After a delicious breakfast in the hostel, today was the day I spent my time in the Louvre museum. I spent almost the entire day there and I still didn’t see the whole thing. I was taking my time, though, so no big deal. I was very impressed, but then again, who wouldn’t be by the greatest art museum in the world. After the museum, I found the river again and a bunch of really cool bookshop like things set up against the sidewalk. Everything was in French, but it was good because I could read a few titles. The only book I really looked into and almost got suckered into buying was a book on Charlie Chaplin. (I had recently watched City Lights for the first time and I was still feeling particularly sentimental whenever I thought about this brilliant brilliant brilliant actor.)

Feb 22:

Today, I came home from Paris only to discover the terrible destruction to my room caused by bed bugs. Merde.

Not actually that big of a deal, but I did spend most of today washing my clothes and sheets and I waited for the exterminator… It was the first time I genuinely started to feel homesick… well, not homesick, I was just ready to be back in MY bed. Not such a good day, but I still have Paris…

Feb 23:

I had work this morning and then I went straight to class as I was running a bit late. I had to take the tube, which was weirdly fun because it was just one of those Lauren-takes-on-the-city-of-London moments. I basically got across town in 10 minutes. Baller. Shakespeare class was decent, but the real cherry on top of this Sunday was seeing Measure for Measure in Angel. It was such a great production! And so intense! And so funny! I didn’t get hold of a programme, but I looked the actors up later and some of them are big deal UK actors, so I was excited that I got to be a part of that… even if it was as a measly audience member J

Feb. 24:

Today’s highlight was seeing Off the Endz, a play about a couple and their struggle to get out of a rather crooked part of London (US equivalent of the ghetto) and their best friend, Dave who gets out of jail and provides them an offer to sell drugs to get them some money to get out. It was brilliant the way the characters were all so smart, but yet, still challenged. Even Dave, the jailbird, made some really good points. AND it was really nice to see an all black company for once. I kept thinking of my brother when I was watching this show. He would love it.

*And he Decreed,” I have met a woman from Bath!”

So this week’s post pretty much revolves around my trip to Bath and Stonehenge... or at least the title of this post does. It was a pretty typical week… for being in London! Pah! Haha. Still lovin’ life and everything’s going beautifully for me. I’m really really really missing my friends and family back home. I feel so torn in that respect. I mean, I feel like I could easily live here and make a great life for myself, but I get so terribly homesick sometimes and I just miss America, although the Brits are much nicer to me than I expected they would be. I thought everybody hated America right now. I guess I owe thanks to President Obama. Thanks Obama. You kind of saved this trip.

Anyway, school at the Cavendish was pretty fun this week. I switched back and forth between year 1 and year 2 and two of the students still think I’m from Australia, which is weirdly cool, but I’m learning names and getting on with the staff even though some of them are convinced my name is Florence. According to my last post, I left off at Feb. 5 so to keep on truckin:

Feb. 6:

Today I went to the Tower of London and it was absolutely brilliant. I went with Ashley and Nickie, which was a really fun trip. We took the tube and I finally figured out where Elephant & Castle is because a very good friend of mine used to live near there and I was just curious. I love that name- Elephant & Castle- it’s so British!

Anyway, the Tower of London was basically where we got our load of medieval English history. My favorite exhibit was the one about torture and war, but of course the crown jewels were pretty awesome, too. Only one of guards, called beefeaters over here, yelled at me for trying to take a picture. I knew you weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I was like, “At least I’m not the one storing all this pure gold for people to arbitrarily peek at when people are starving in the world!” and I felt better about “my crimes.” Ashley was a bit embarrassed to walk next to me after that, and I couldn’t blame her, I was quite obvious and shameless with the camera. You can see the picture I took down below.

It was a beautiful day so Nickie, Ashley and I took some pictures in front of Tower Bridge, my camera died, though, so I’ll have to steal some of their pictures a little later. After the day at Tower Bridge, we went back to the flat and started playing drinking games. We never made it out that night, but it was a very interesting evening. Seriously, how many different versions of kings are there!?

Feb. 7:

SuperBowl Sunday. The game didn’t start until 11p.m. over here so I waited all day for that and did a little HW. I randomly skyped with some friend from DPU and I talked to Chance, one of my good friends from camp at the YMCA, for the first time since I’d been to England and he showed me snow! LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW! And a Hitler parody…. It was a great convo.

I also had dinner with Emily at her dorm because 1) I needed a break from working and 2) I really hadn’t seen her in a while and 3) I wanted to stop by Baker St. to see the hours of the Sherlock Holmes museum—gotta plan a day when I can go check that out.

Also, I purposefully avoided talking about the end of the Superbowl. It still hurts…. But that halftime show, huh? What a winner! The Who? Yeah….

Feb. 8:

It snowed today! But it didn’t stick….

I had work all day today. It was fun. I gave a lesson on “what babies are.” At another time in my life, I might have seen what I did today as a complete waste. Oh how I am growing!

Feb. 9:

Today I had my Shakespeare course. I did not want to go. I mean, I really really really really did not want to go. It’s not that I dislike the class, but I just kept thinking of other things I’d rather do in the city. This city is so weird. It’s easy to learn here, but it’s hard to sit in a classroom… for 3 hours.

Finally, I convinced myself to go and, honestly, it was the best lesson we have had so far. We continued talking about Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’, but instead of going over our group discussions from our boring online assignments we acted out bits of the play. There were a couple people who had stage fright in the class so I kept taking their turns. In a matter of speaking, their loss was my gain, right? It was brilliantly directed by the circle of students around us. I mean, I felt like I was working with real professionals. These kids are really smart. Not that I don’t feel I can’t compete, but, whoa…they are so intelligent. I’m truly blessed.

Feb. 10:

I went back to work for my full day of classes. I helped with reading and literature again. And they had a history lesson on the Regent St. Bridge or something like that, which I was useless in assisting (obviously) because I’ve never heard of it, but apparently it’s a big deal if you live over here, so maybe one day I’ll care, but not today… I instead went in the music room and helped some 2^nd graders with the lyrics to Supercalafr…. Mary Poppins songs.

Later this evening I saw War Horse, which was very interesting. The play’s central character was (yep you guessed it) a horse, made out of wood and controlled by puppeteers. The horse, named Joey, didn’t speak or anything and it wasn’t incredibly Disney-fied, but I was blown away with how realistic the movements of the horse were. I mean, these actors, these puppeteers gave this pile of wood life. It was absolutely brilliant to watch. The two characters, Joey the horse and Albert the boy who takes care of him, become grossly attached and then one day Albert’s dad sells the horse to the army. So Joey is a horse in the British Army, going to France to fight Germans, and he is a completely neutral character, but it’s interesting to think how the horses were victims during this war, too, and it’s even worse because they had no choice in it. I don’t know, it’s just one of those plays that while you watch it, you don’t really take advantage of it, but then you leave the theatre and you can’t stop thinking about it. It was very vivid and it may have been the best play, I’ve seen so far.

Feb.11:

Today we discussed War Horse in class and we watched a video on the making of it. It was positively inspiring to watch these men take an idea that seemed to be complete madness from the start and develop it into something truly unbelievable. These life like horses were truly a vision and I wish that everybody could see this play. It was beautiful.

Feb. 12-14- weekend at Bath and Stonehenge

This weekend was really fun. I did a guided tour to Bath and Stonehenge and had such a wonderful time. Especially, since it only took about an hour to get to Stonehenge and then another hour to get to Bath. Stonehenge was impressive, but I really only needed to be there for about 10 minutes. Our group stayed there for about 45 minutes.

You could tell when we were getting close to bath as the hills got steeper and before you knew it they were turning into these great mountains. I looked over the edge as we were driving and you could see these great rolling hills down below us containing cute little picturesque houses. We arrived and parked at Bath Abbey so we could just get off immediately and walk around. The city was booming. It was a little chilly that day so I stopped off for some hot chocolate and kept right on walking. Then of course, I went to check out the Roman Bath house. It’s now a museum, but two grand bath rooms still contain the water that the hot spring empties into. The hot spring in Bath is the only hot spring in the whole country so it was cool to be there. Of course, there were contemporary spas all around the place, but the famous Thermae was too expensive for me. Maybe next time. Anyway, I had fun just walking around the city. I found a park and I walked through it, made a video of that and of a street performer, juggling fire nearby. It was an incredibly wonderful day. I had such a great time.

Feb. 15:

I have no work this week because there is this holiday called half term where the students get a week off in February. I guess the significance when they come back is that it is a new quarter. I don’t know. I didn’t really argue with it because it means that today I get to tour the city again! I went out with two of Rhoneesha’s friends who were visiting her from their study abroad places. Stevie, who’s studying in Dublin, and Diana, who’s studying in Vienna, wanted to go buy tickets for musicals. We went to Piccadilly to try and get some discounted tickets and they bought tickets for Les Miserable and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, plays I’ve already made separate plans to see! Can’t wait to go! Then we hopped on a bus to Harrod’s so we could go look around. I had not been back to Harrods since the first night I was there, so it was cool being back after all I now knew about London fashion. We went to the chocolate kitchen, too, that’s inside of Harrods and we had a field day! It was great. Eventually I made it back to the flat and did some homework for my Shakespeare class. Got a paper coming up! Shan’t get behind on that!

Feb. 16:

Shakespeare class today. Our professor invited us to go see another production of Measure for Measure, which is what we are currently studying, so I’m thinking about it…

Feb. 17:

Today was a busy day, but also a very productive one. Since I did not have to work today, I got to sleep in a bit, then I woke up and did some homework. I’m officially caught up on everything! So far this semester, I’m holding steady between the classes, work, and social activities. Usually, this far into the semester I’m so exhausted and ready to be done with it already, but I feel so energized every day, I just keep going. It’s really amazing. It also helps that I’m in a city where you never have an excuse to be bored.

When Ashley came home from work, we went over to Emily’s for dinner. She’s going to Stockholm this weekend, I’m going to Paris, and we probably will not see each other again until her 21^st birthday!!!! So we had pizza, vegetables, and wine. It was a lovely meal and it was great to see Colleen, Kelly, and Amanda again. It’s been almost a week now… Haha. (Wolf pack)

After dinner, Ashley and I had to get going to go see this week’s play, “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor” by Tom Stoppard. It was a 65 minute show, so it was relatively short, but it was quite good. It was about a man who hears an orchestra in his head (the orchestra is actually on stage and they play at various points throughout the play), but nobody else can hear it besides him and, obviously, us, the audience. He has a cellmate… excuse me, roommate… who is charged for being insane because of some political uproar he caused. They are very different characters, but there musings were very funny. I enjoyed it, although I must admit, I was a little confused from time to time. The orchestra took up most of the stage, because it was a full orchestra, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the show. I had also never been inside the Olivier before. It was again, at the National Theatre, where I saw Pitman Painters a few weeks ago, but that was in Lyttleton… this show was in the Olivier, named after Laurence Olivier. It was grand. And there was a museum in the hallway of the entrance, which was fascinating. I definitely plan on going back.

*Sorry for spelling or syntax errors. This was written in kind of a hurry. But what d’you want from me!? It’s my blog, so don’t complain. Just kidding, but seriously… don’t do it.