the end. maybe.

Well, this is it.

Three and a half months. Done.

I feel very numb right now. Elizabeth asked me if I was excited to go home. I’m not. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s not meant to be. I’m not excited to go back to boring old Washington state. I don’t even know if I’m excited to see people. Its not that I’m not happy to be reunited with my friends and family, because I am. I am looking forward to seeing people. It’s just, in seeing people, I’m not visiting and then coming back here. I’m seeing them and staying in boring old Washington. There is so much more of the world for me to see, and It’s kind of a drag that I have to go back to school next year. Okay, technically I was here in London for school, but it honestly was more of a trip than anything else.

Um.

I’ve done a lot in the past week. Met more people in the past week than I did the whole program. Or that’s what it feels like anyway- EW. In 24 hours I will be touching ground in Sea Tac- I mean, more international people. I met Warren from Florida, Emily from…. I forget but she was studying in florence and in Rome for the day. We spent half of our second tour chasing around the tour guide and calling the tour people. Good story. Jesse from Vancouver, BC, Kevin from Cork, Mike and Ian from Wisconsin…. okay so they were mostly all boys, so what.

OH. today I tried to go through security without my boarding pass. It kind of made me feel like an idiot, but it was funny.

Okay so stories from this past week:

Garmisch with Sarah and Lizzie.
Cute Bar with Sarah
Innsbruck with Elizabeth
Laughing for 756789 hours at this really nice restaurant
Clubbing until 4 at the old aquaducts in Vienna
Walking around Vienna with Kevin
NOT seeing Spring Awakening in German
Touring Munich
trying to go through security AFTER having my passport stamped, and realizing I didn’t have a boarding pass and hadn’t checked in
Running around Rome with Emily
Breaking a glass at the hostel in rome
Eating an entire Margharita pizza in Rome by myself.
Drinking a beer in Munich. Disgusting
Gelato at the Vatican.

just a lot of stuff I suppose.

I feel like I have a lot to say, and just don’t know where to start. I haven’t had a breakdown, but isort of cried when I realized that it was my last time taking the tube. Sad.

is that it?

can that be it? really?

to celebrate, Nicole, Leah, Karen, Kim, Jamie and myself went on a Hurrah Spring Awakening trip. halfway through dinner, I realized that I was eating at the same place I had had my first Pre-theatre dinner before Midsummer night's dream 3 months ago. Insane.

So after curtain call--- they went into a reprise of Totally Fkd!!!!!! AAHHHHH!!!!! most amazing thing ever. we talked to them after and.... good times..

insane. How can my semester In london be over? I was on the brink of tears many-a-time today.

I'm going to be in ROME tomorrow night. WHAT???

Waiting For Godot.

I think that has been the best show I've ever seen. perhaps I was influenced by the fact that it was Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.

And then who stepped out of the stage door? Mr. Morgan Freeman. goodness.

so lucky

I can't believe I actually did it. All of last semester, and Last summer, I was telling people I was going to London. Just telling them. But I don't know how much I actually believed it. Then I applied for a passport. Cool, whatever. I have a passport. Then my parents bought plane tickets. wierd. then I went to some orientations. Kept telling people I wouldn't be here for the Spring.

Then January came around, and I got worried about it actually happening. Before then, I really didn't think it was actually going to happen, for whatever reason or another. It really freaked me out. I thought I was going to miss everything and everyone so unbearably. I thought I would miss out on everthing at PLU, all the theatre experiences, the Clay Crows, and feel so left out of the group--whatever group that might be. And it's true because people kept talking about stuff in the spring and I just thought, "um, Hello, I'm not going to be there." People can change so much over a semester, and I didn't want to be lost when i came back. I was also worried that people wouldn't care that I was gone. That they would forget about me I guess. I like being wanted and invited and missed. I was afraif that wasn't going to happen.

And, when I would look ahead, There was this big black void from February until May. I had no idea what was going to happen. I can usually picture the future in some form or another, but I had absolutely no clue. And I didn't want to put any expectations on it.

At the end of January, I packed up, moved out, went home, then re-packed. I hopped onto a Plane with 6 other girls at 1 in the morning and Flew over to London, England.

I'm in London. I've been in London for the past three months and wouldn't change it for anything. No theatre at PLU, no CLAY CROWS Shows. NO nerf gun wars, no concerts, no birthday parties. Nothing. Yeah, I'll have missed out on stuff and probably feel a little wierded out by it when people reference things that I have no idea about. But I can do that too. Think of everything I've done since I've been here;

~I Saw the Original London Cast of Spring Awakening during their off-west end run.

~I went to Edinburgh. Took a tour of the Castle, and Haunted Vaults.

~I got to go to Loch Ness and SEE the Loch Ness monster.

~I took a 8 hour bus ride back from Glasgow, and got no sleep and went to class straightaway.

~I've bought 1000 scarves for cheap. (okay not really, but a lot). and TWO POUND SHOES???/

~Went to Germany. BY Myself. Saw Franzi- who I havent seen in 4 years.

~One of my best friends came over to visit me!!!!

~I got to tour Paris WITH MY FAMILY.

~ Up the eiffel tower, Mona Lisa, Versailles, Michaelangelo's sculpture, Moulin Rouge. Yummy Yummy Bread.

~My parents took us to see "The Lion King"

~I can get around central london BY MYSELF and feel totally comfortable and safe doing it.

~I've been to church service INSIDE westminster Abbey.

~Buckingham Palace, and Possibly seen the queen in one of her motor parades and entourage.

~I've also been to Church INSIDE St. Paul's Cathedral. 2nd Largest Church dome anywhere.

~I saw a play IN FRENCH at the Comedie Frances. Oldest National theatre. and it was "the ILLUSION" What is this?

~I've seen, essentailly, 2 shows a week for the past 12 weeks. Derek Jacobi, Juliete stephenson, and This weekend--- this AFTERNOON I'm seeing JUDI DENCH and tomorrow SIR IAN MCKELLAN and PATRICk STEWART.

~Seen Spring awakening another 4 times. CAn't get much better than that

~Went out to a pub and talked to actors for 3 hours.

~IRELAND. GORGEOUS

~Saw Jason Mraz Live in concert.

~SAW HARRY POTTER BEING FILMED!!!!!!!!!!!

~seen the Magna Carte.

~what did I do the Other day that was important to me that I see before I leave. Umm..... I forget.

~ OXFORD and Cambridge Universities. stood where they;ve filmed Harry Potter!!!

~Enjoyed my fair share Of Pints and different Pubs.

~Been TO STratford, Stonehenge, and Bath.

~ I can Ride the Tube Just fine.

~Notre Dame with the Family

~Had to run to see a show on time. It was a wierd show, but cutting it close is good for adrenaline.

~seen a Show-- romeo and juliet, actually-- at SHAKESPEARE's GLOBE!

~had the awkward experience of people making out next to me on the tube. And drunk guys blessing other people on the program

~in Scotland, sat in the Elephant Cafe, where JK Rowling sat while writing Harry Potter.

~Barely Missed seeing Zac Efron and PInk around London.

~Kings cross

~WIndsor Castle



Wow. Just Wow. And that's probably not half of it.

I don't know if Ive changed at all. I've gained weight, but I mean like... myself. I think I'm more willing to accept the fact that I am percieved as an independent person. Also, the regrets thing. I try to live without regrets. what's why ive spent the money to do some of these things. I dont want to regret not doing them. What else was I supposed to do?

And now, I jsut..... it's so close to being over.

It's not the leaving I hate. It's the fact that I don't know when I'm coming back. I can't just hop on the tube, or fly away somewhere for a weekend. No more London Papers, No more Harry Potter Filming.

ANd I get to go to Rome and Vienna Next week. By myself. What? I dont think I would have even considered that last year. In fact, I wasn't even considering London until Last spring. It was on a whim I even applied. And I'm so thankful that I decided to do it. Now I know that I want to travel and see other places and be with other people, and I can survive being on my own.

I'm incredibly grateful that I've been able to accomplish so much. And have had my friends to help me along the way. Even though I'm like, 5000 miles away from them and my family.

And, I get to go to Ireland next January. With a bunch of my best friends. How lucky am I? So freaking lucky.

long long long long overdue. and I should be writing my papers.

Sorry I've been so crap and blogging lately.

This is what I said I would elaborate on from Ireland:

"Andy and Shiv, SOOOOO nice
Powerscourt gardens
Temple Bar
St. Patricks Cathedral
Book of Kells
Erection at the Intersection
JOHNNIE FOXES"

Andy and Shiv are the people we stayed with. Andy is Sara's Dad's Co-worker. He picked us up where the bus dropped us off. Got back to thier house, Had an egg, Layed down, 2 hour nap, then Powerscourt Gardens.

Powerscourt Gardens were pretty, but I thin, honestly, what I liked best was the food. Best chicken Pesto thing I have ever had in my life. Ever. And Andy paid for that too. Seriously, they were so generous. Made me feel kind of bad. But Shiv was so freindly and nice and everything.

That night, Andy took us out to Temple Bar, we walked along the Bar for a Bit, saw some street musicans playing THE FINAL COUNTDOWN and people jigging to it, or something, and it made me think of Val. Then we went to a Pub, Andy got us drinks--bullmers and black. yum yum yum.

The next morning, Andy drove us into town, and we had seen some stuff the night before, which had helped. Basically everything runs from Christ Church Down Dame Stree, Tuen, then Down O'connel Street. If you use that ass a guide you are golden. We hopped into one of the sightseeing buses, Drove Past the spire, or "erection at the intersection" if you will. Hopped off at Trinity College, went to the Library where the book of Kells is. It's a manuscript from the 8th Century. Friggin Crazy.

The Did St. Stephen's Green and Grofton Street! Woo!

That night, we went to Johnnie Foxe's pub for food and dance. SO AMAZING! music too! yummy salmon, but sara's steak was better. And the dark haired dancer....mmmm. I did not mind looking at that for an hour, let me tell you.

The next day, we had to pack, and headed into Dublin for the last day. Went to the GUiness Factory. Tried it, I hate beer. Pretty much, just can't stand it, so that was alightly pointless. BUt it was cool to see how it all works. I guess, I don't mind beer, I just hate the aftertaste. sick.

Flew back. Boo.


_____________________________________________________________________________

OKay. Then we did the Harry potter thing. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! freak out some more why don't I. It was pretty frreaking cool.

___________________________________________________________________________

THursday Night: SPRING AWAKENING! And like I said, we saw 4 swings on. A few of us stayed afterwards to talk to them. I got to Talk to Chris Barton, Who was on FOr Ernst. He was so nice!!!!! And Anyway, people loved the show, which is all I care about.

Oh I also had a paper due on thursday, SO I had gotten next to no sleep. And the Harry Potter thing, no slep then ether. but whatever. I sat onstage at Spring Awakening. That was my....5th Time seeing the show.
______________________________________________________________________________

Stratford. PRetty. I got married to colin, so that was unexpected. I got my own room, which was also nice. We went to the Birthplace, and the Nash house, Halls croft and Anne Hathaway's Cottage.

That night, we saw "as you like it" with 3 of the people who had been in King Lear. Pretty cool to see them twice. AND. We went out to the "dirty Duck" afterwards and got to talk to them.
______________________________________________________

I was trying to remember what Happened on sunday. I went to Stonehenge and Bath.

______________________________________________________________

Tuesday Night, a bunch of us went to see Spring Awakening Again. GEMMA WAS ON FOR ILSE! FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! A bunch of people went. Some liked it, some didn't. whatever I love the show. Jamie and I stayed after to talk to them. Talked to Aneurin for a little bit, but he was mostly talking to the people we sat next to- Ben and Lauren- because they've seen it 14 times. SO I dont feel too bad. THen Jamie and I went out for Coffee.

What else Happened this week? Um. Yesterday we went to Cambrigde. It's GORGEOUS over there. Absolutely Stunning. I was trying to see Billy Elliot Last night, but there were absolutey no more seats. whatveer. it's fine. So I came home and Packed a bit.
______________________

I cannot believe that this is my last saturday here. Cannot believe it. I want to stay forever, sort of. BUT I MIGHT BE going to West Yellowstone this summer, getting PAID to ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eeekkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANd. We're seeing MAdame De Sade. Judy DENCH! TODAY.

SA last night.

Went and saw SA last night, on a whim with 5 other people from the program. They all loved it too! yay! It was the best i've seen it in london so far!!!! there were 4 swings on, but it was so fantastic! Perhaps just because It's been running for 4 months now, but.... so good! I wan only able to talk to like, 2 people after the show, which is a very american thing to do, but I don't even care anymore.

Now i'm off to stratford. I'll try and legitimately update with everything soon.

HARRY POTTER

I SAW DANIEL RADCLIFFE AND EMMA WATSON AND RUPERT GRINT! and thier stand ins. OMG!!!

He said "good evening to us!" we were 4 feet away!

And the security guards and stand ins recognized us. The ron stand in said " You girls are mad! you're still here!" we were definately the first stalkeratzi to show up and last to leave. cool.

OMG!!!!!!!!!! HARRYv POTTER

I got really upset because I found out that Harry Potter was filming in Picadilly last night.

THEYRE DOING IT AGAIN TONIGHT AND I AM SO GOING!!!!!!!!!

i keep forgetting

to make a list of little things that are different between here and home

they don't have toilet seat covers....

a foretaste of the feast to come

Ireland Highlights:

(I just got in, and it's 12:10, so here's what I will elaborate on later)

Andy and Shiv, SOOOOO nice
Powerscourt gardens
Temple Bar
St. Patricks Cathedral
Book of Kells
Erection at the Intersection
JOHNNIE FOXES
http://www.jfp.ie/dancers.htm


just a taste. I tired.

I want to do this.

tonight, our shakespeare class went and saw "The Winter's Tale" with theatredelicatessen. It's a group of graduates who, instead of waiting for fate/luck/the biz/whatever to come knocking on their door, formed their own company, fond a venue, and started performing. it was in the back of an old office building. no curtains, minimal lights, boxes to sit on. bricks hanging in places.

Honestly it was one of the coolest things ive ever seen. IT was really cramped during the 1st half, and since we were so close to the "stage" (the playing area, really" the actors really got in touch with us. Direct contact with the audience, looking at us and delivering asides and monologues to us. And, when time comes out and says "let me transport you", the walls behind us moved, and opened up into this paying area with flowers and brght colors and open places. it was very cool. Then some actors come over to set more stuff up, and ask us to move, so we moved to sitting in the round around the playing space. the opening of the second act, the actors come out, and start dancing, and pulling everyone up onto the stage. bascially we got to be a part of the show, a part of the party by dancing and having a good time. everyone from the class got up there I think. except maybe jean. and then they kept interacting with us. and because it's a new company and poor company ,im assuming, it was a ton of double casting, but it looked really fun. (double casting? double roles, i think is what im looking for). anyway, then tey all got on the "ship" and gurried all of us who were sitting in the round to go back to the benches, and they pulled this sheet over our heads. very, very cool.

It's like, this is what theatre is. these found spaces.

also, 3 other people in the group do improv. and we want to do improv here together, me rollie, emily dermann and sara. yes please,

weekend

I got a really cute coat from river Island, I splurged using themoney that my grandparents gave me. its cute and almost everyone has said they really liked it. I also had my first primark experience. crazy,and crazy cheap, so we'll see how long my 2 pound shoes last.

like i said, we went to oxford. it was beautful. the architecture was amazing. and I've stood where harry potter people have, which was even cooler. OH, we went to the 'nklings' meeting place: the eacgle and child. and it was crazy because not even five minutes after we sat down, who do we see at our table, but Alice and Jamie and Claire. fun times.

Camden Market was good up until Sara's wallet got stolen. But she handled it very well, got her cards cancelled and talked to maggie and it looks like everythings going to work out.

Last night, I went to see "the boat that rocked" with nicole. wonderful music, funny film. oh and we got creeper stared at by a couple car full of boys on the walk home. half flattering, half creepy mccreeperton.

Um. today. got care packages from school. Notes from Jackie and faith! yay for notes. I love notes from people from PLU. HINT HINT. I also got my easter card from the family! yay! The card was delivered to the house, so that was a nice present to wake up to.

Oh, horrid dream yesterady. I dreamt i was home only in my dream i knew i had a month left, and no one really cared that i was back, except for this one guy who gave me a hug who im not really even friend with anymore, but i tried to wake myself up, and woke up in my bed at home and got really upset because i thought my trip was over. then i actually woke up and knew i was still in london.

BUT i did book a trip to stonehenge and bath by myself for the 26th of april. woo.

and ireland this weekend.

woo hoo. happy easter.

went to oxford yesterday. stood in the great hall at hogwarts... no big deal. and the ballroom lesson room. and some stairs. and shopped.

easter service at westminster. beautiful.

camden town today. and bad news bears. sara's wallet was stolen.

bad mood

I dont know why. IM just in a bad mood. I didn't do anything with people last night, although I wanted too. because jamie's host family was gone and she didn't want people over who hadnt met her host family. aslo they all live in harrow.

found a cute coat today though.

Im thinking im beiginning to get very homesick. but i dont want to go home. i just want the people over here. i miss missing out on things. and i miss being on stage and doing theatre and hanging out with mana until 1 and yeah. and, like i said, no one invites me to anything.

ugh.

im also just really tired, because shopping makes you tired.

in happier news, OXFORD TOMORROW. AND I get to audit that theatre class! YAY! ANd I got a tour of the NAtional theatre on monday and got to see a play. "Death and the kinds Horseman" wasn't my favorite, but the Olivier theatre is cool.

OH I'm also noticing that Sara, Nicole, And I each want to be right about whatveer, and so if there's ever any tension between us, it's because all three of us think we know the answer. even if we all disagree, we all want to be right.

OH! Again! So sara and I went to Oxford circus and we each found some cute stuff, we ha our first Primark Experience (1.96 for a pair of shoes.... haha.) and we shared the BEST belgian waffle I have ever had.

in general

I'm feeling lethargic. I miss last year. As i said, I love London, wouldn't trade it for anything. But I have to go home. Which sucks. Because it's a constant reminder that I'm not ehre forever, and I can't keep wasting time. I like to think i don't waste too much time, but really, I do. And I am getting out of shape.

I don't know. I miss not being around PLU people...Wait... thats wrong. I miss being around them. Seeing pictures of everyone makes me sad. and Im missing knowing whats going on. I want to hear about stuff down there. In a perfect world, they would just be here with me.

Like i said, I'm feeling lethargic. I really don't want to leave though. Because, honestly, when in the world will i get to do this again? never. And I have to get a job lined up for the summer and do something involving theatre.... I dont know though. I wouldn't know what to do. I think The Y would be good again, you make a fair amount of oney and its a good organization and everything. But

What am I doing? Really. I have no idea what I am going to do with myself once I graduate. It's not that I have no idea what I want to do, i just don't know what I am going to do. does that distinction make sense?

In more happy things, we went to the Globe this morning....

HAHA. the song Im listening to just went "let's forget we're running out of time".

Globe. It was like visitng the birthplace of my ansectors or something. so surreal. and then we did this cool workshop thing, and the opening activity reminded me a lot of our improv warm ups.

thats another thing that makes me sad. Improv and performing and the people i do that with have been a pretty big part of my life for the past 2 years, and to not have that, and seeing it change is hard. especially being over here and not being a part of that change. last year was so different. change and progression is good I know, but it's hard when I feel like I'm watching it from the outside. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I dont think I will ever have a really solid group of people. THat sounds really depressing, but i think it's true. I dont eman good friends, I mean like... a group. Im a pretty fluid person that way. and I kind of think i've been that way for a while. In High school I had my ddrama friends and then band friends and my friends from elementary school. Freshman year it took me forever to find a group- and I move around a lot. not like... packing up and moving out. But freshman year i was clost to the wing, and then after eclipsed and J-term.... I wasn't. I didn't branch out. It wasn't until last year i got close with the crows and the murder and the theatre department. and this year i branched out again to mana and kings and more chior people. which wasn't bad, just different. and it can be really hard because I see everyone else getting uuber close and I feel left out. there's nothing wrong with being independent, and its' ahrd to think of myself as an independent person because i feel like i rely on other people a lot. But I don't get called up and invitied to things. It takes me a long time to settle with a group. and i hate inviting myself to things. I feel like im being intrusive. I also hate judging people and I hate feeling judged. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but whatever. I just feel like... im never going to be "in" with a group. Im always going to have to stand on my own. which is scary. and for planning for next year and after graduation and after the program ends, I would much rather travel with someone else. but.... i dont really know what im trying to say.

I hate feeling like i have to be independent BECAUSE no one else wants to be with me. not romantically or anything. is it somethign i do? am i stand offish? i just feel like i cannect with a lot of people, but rarely on a deep level. a lot of times its just shallow friendship. I think. I dont know. I do have my close friends, but until i have those close friends its all on the surface. people hang out with me by default. they dont seek me out and want to hang out with me. and i wish they did. maybe this sounds whiny. im also very insecure a lot of times. it goes back to the judging things. i hate being judged because it makes me feel stupid. I try not to be that kind of person and I wish more people saw that. maybe that's self uplifting or self righteous sounding. i dont know.

i think im getting a little homesick too. But i dont want to go home. I dont want to leave london. there are so many more opportunities for things here. also, i dont want to leave because it really hasn't sank in that im here. its still very surreal. i wish that had passed, but it hasn't. Its only when im sitting on the tube thinking about people half a world away that it seems real.

the tube is a really interesting place. its wierd to think about how everyone on it, and you hardly ever see the same people, everyone has a story. everyone has a family and experiences and a life and.... it sounds wierd to say, obvious, really, but it's crazy thinking about how many people there are out there. again, no idea what that hast to do with anything but.... whatever

okay so here are some tube stories:

crazy blessing guy
awkward canoodling
nicoles secret lover kissing her on the train
other people who pretended to be spanish to get these irish guys to leave them alone.

so yeah.

long random rant.

ive gotta plan my trip.
and i dont think im going to be flying anywhere this weekend. stupid.

my life, lately

Okay. Time for a big entry to get myself caught up. I don't even remember the last time I legitimately wrote in this thing.

Alrighty. So.

Last monday: No second Improv Show. That's fine. We went to a wonderful Vegetarian place for food. Best nachos I've ever had. Saw Spring Awakening. ONSTAGE! Lovely. I sat next to Georg and Anna and Ilse And maybe a couple other people. But afterwards we were walking back to the Tube and saw where the stage door was. THere were already people standing there so It was like, well, what the heck. So we waited afterwards and met Charlotte Wakefield (Wendla) and Jamie Blakely (Hanschen) Thea, Aneuirin (I don't know how you spell his name) Bernard (MELCHIOR). He was so nice! actually talked to us and it was cool. During the performance we there were some technical problems. Some light thing started buzzing loudly during I believe and During MIrror Blue night (I think) The lights started flickering wierd. oh well. ANYWAY after we met them we were walking towards the tube station and clare was like "Maybe I should ask them out for a drink" I was like.... what???? And then she goes "Screw it, I'm only in London till tomorrow". So we left and went abck and she wasked them out for a drink, they couldnt becausee of the show or something, but they were really nice about it. Wonderful. We ended up staying at a hostel in London right by Kings Cross, Sleeping in our Clothes, and getting 4 hours of sleep. But It all worked out.

Last Tuesday: Took the Eurostar over to FRANCE!!! When I met up with my family, katie nearly attacked me. We went to the Shakespeare and CO. bookstore. Did a few museums, notre Dame. Orsay. I didn't want to do 4 museums in a day, but I didn't realize we had 2 day museum passes. Oh well. Okay. so then That night we went to L'Illusion Comique: The Illusion at the COmedie Frances. It was wierd. And I didn't understand hardly wny of it, but oh well.

Last Wed: Clare left early in the morning. Sad day. But then We weent to the Lourve, Woo Mona Lisa and a michaelangelo sculpture. Got there early, which was nice. Did the Monet Water Lillies musem thing. I accidentally left the flash on my camera so that was no good. I got yelled at. Musee D'Orsay was next. then we went to VersailleS! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! was goofy with sisters and everyone there. fun stuff. Um....... I dont remember what we did for dinner. OH We went to The eiffel tower just to tkae picutres and then to the Arc D' Triumph.

Last Thursday: Spent the day basically lounding around. And it rained a bit. Went to Moulin Rouge, got somee yummy bread at a patissere. Vionesse. Went back to around Notra Dame. I thought It would be really funny if I jumped up on Katie and dad. So I ran over to them, Yelled "Wooooooooooo!" and slipped and fell on my butt instead. It was hilarious. And It actually didn't hurt. But then We weent to the Lafeyette GAlleries. WThen we went up the Eiffell Tower!!1! Oh katie and I saw some pigeons doing it. It was awkwardly hilarious. Yeah UP the Eiffell Tower. Beautiful Then mom and dad took us out to this really nice restuaraunt and there were some other people there from washington. CRAZYYYYY.

Friday: Up early and ready to catch the plane Icky. flight was good. Got into London, got oyster cards and got to the Hotel. Um. i went home to grab stuff, laura and mom came with me. The Twilight DVD didn't wrk in my computer. Le sad. what did we do that day? I dont even remember. found a pub, wasn't that good. I basically spent the next four days at the hotel with my family.

Satuday: I stayed in to Work on stuff, and family went to buckingham palace and big ben and such. Met up to meet Julia and her husband and went to Covent Garden. There as this wonderful String band playing. very cool and energetic and fun to watch. That night... weeee........ um..... I dont rememebr again. Pizza Express maybe? I dont remember.

Sunday: Took Laura to the Comedy Club, so that was the night we went to Pizza Express. Daddy agreed with me about how wonderful the Lasagna is. I introduced my family to Minstrels. They Liked them. FAmily did St. Pauls in the Morning, and we met up at Westminster for Evensong. Hung out around Picadilly CIrcus and then ate and then comedy Club.

Monday: SChool. Gross. We saw grease that night. OH.maybe we did O'neills that night??

Tuesday: Sainsburys for food. my school for lunch. I had class, and then we went to my house for dinner. Fun stuff.

Wed. WE SAW THE LION KING!!!!!! My parents tried to april fools me that we had got the wrong tickets, and it worked. We didn't have time for dinner, and it took em a while to pretend like I knew exactly where I was going, because I didn't. Anyway, it was really cool, and really wonderful to experience with my family. I had to say goodbye to them on the tube, which sucked. but, oh well. Then I had to go write a paper. OHHHHHHh we argued with our Prof on wed. about the due date for our paper. He clearly said "we'll see where you're at on wed." and then denied saying that so...... Leah fought it. and we got our journals back. no good. I got a b. Icky. OH i also brough my parents 10000 books to take back for me. fun stuff.

Thusday: Early Morning Shakepeare. Paper writing. and Museum Visisting.

Friday: Kew Gardens. Cool. As Im walking around with people, I was listening to my pod. I said to Sarah "You know who I love? Jason Mraz". And she goes "really, he's playing here tomorrow night.

WHAT??????? I want to go!!!!!!

So we called the theatre, there were still tickets. We went to O'Neills with Bethany and Sarah called and ordered 3 tickets. One for me, one for sarah, and onr for sara. It's confusing, I know. BUT!!!!! JASON MRAZ!!!!

Saruday: WINDSOR CASTLE. Sara and I left a little after 8, got some food at the train station, and got out to windsor about 10:30. We didn't go in, but we saw it. It was pretty. we went up "The long Walk" and had lunch there.



Walked back, went over to eton College, got back to the train station, back to waterloo, Jubilee line to Green Park, Walked green Park to Hyde Park Corner, hopped on the Picadilly and then over to Hammersmith. EEEEEKKKKK.

We waited wth this guy and girl who were pretty chill. Pretty funny. They'd seen Jason Mraz Before. So.... whatver.We had standing room in the back. Whatever. It's Jason Mraz. I knew about 2/3 of the songs. He only played for about an hour and a half, so I was bummed about that. But. Like I said, It's Jason Mraz. I think My favorite part was when the band went into the audience



Um yeah. The people in th chairs in fron of us stood up, so we couldn't see. I got a cute bag. It's got a butterfly and a guitar on it. I spent a lot of money yesterday. It's okay though. Windsor was good and Jason Mraz is cool. I got sunburned though.

SO today, I think Nicole and I are going into town to look at getting our haircut. Scary.

sorry ive been lazy lately

sorry. later this weekend i will take an hour and just update this.

I'm giong to Windsor tomorrow.

and seeing JASON MRAZ LIVE!!!

CLARE IS HERE!

yesterdya we saw the 39 steps.

today we went to camden market. i bought some scarves, clare bought a elephant necklace watch thing, and tarot card reading, we got some food. went to charing cross road. met up with nicole. on a whim we decided to go to this improv thing. HILARIOUS!!!!!!! loved it. made me miss my favorite people more. I wanted to just jump up there and do improw with them.

TOMORROW we see SPRING AWAKENING!!!!!!!!!!! I have to get more minutes on my phone, and we want to go to a vegan place and she wants to check out a school and maybe another improv show and we have to figure out what to do with our crap. THEN WE GO TO PARIS~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

germany cont. oh and tube story.

Nicole was kissed by some random girl she had been sitting next to, as the girl left. She ran over to Nicole, hugged her, sort of kissed her forehead, and got off the tube.

OKay. FRIDAY NIGHT:

Franzi and I went out for Cocktails after I had taken a 2 hour nap.

SATURDAY:

I slept in late. They have these wonderful light eliminating shadeds on the outside of thier house. wonderful. Got up, had yummy breakfast which consisted of bread and spreads. yum. Nutella and such. After I had gotten dressed, Franzi and I headed over to the train station. We got on the train and went over to Hannover. It was game day, so there were football fans everywhere in thier scrves and jerseys. Oh and policemen everywhere as well. The first thing we did was walk over to the Rathouse (Town hall) where there was a guy sweeping a bunch of buttons off the steps. I was like, "huh?" and this lady came up behind us and started talking to Franzi. After the ladyleft, franzi explined that the lady's brother was turning thirty. There is this custom that if you are thirty and not married, as a joke, you have to go around cleaning up your city and getting as many people to kiss you as possible. the lady was asking if we would kiss her brother."Nicht Heute".

Then we went to the museum. Which had some aquarium in it. cool. and then an art gallery as well. It was almost overwhelming. After that we went back to the train and back to the hauptvanhaute or something gardens. Since it wasn't summer, it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. but it was huge.





Tube ride back. Train i guess. Got to her house...then i used the sauna!!! they have a sauna in their house. Used that, got online, then we went over to her friends house to make wraps. soft tacos essentially. It was really funny, as we were preparing it, Everyone had a job, i kind of just sat at the table with the alcohol. So everyone gets busy with thier stuff, and franzi opens her can of corn, pours it into a bowl and stands there and goes "Ich bin fiertig". It made me laugh a lot. The wraps were yummy. and they had this sparkly wine, which wasn't champagne, but good. then we were watchcing the german singstar show, similar to, actually, its just the german version of american idol. so we were watching that, and Julianna's parents came in from the kitchen and say "is that a kitchen or a bar in there?" in german. made them all laugh, so franzi had to translate. But then we went upstairs into Juliannas room and brought chips and dip and alcohol. Fun times. A very chill, relaxed night. had amaretto and Milk for val. We watched the 40 retro music videos or something. it was funny. around 11 we left.



Oh. saturday i also went to a super market. Family, be ready for german candy.

SUNDAY:

got up, ick, had to pack, ick, wrote the meiers a note. went down for breakfast. Had to say goodbye to franzi's parents and sister, tina. I didn't want to. they are such wonderful people. Then franzi and I played sing star. haha. got ready, went to the airport. ate lunch there and said goodbye to franzi. boo.



Seriously, such generous, wonderful people. the only thing they let me pay for was my chocolate and postcards.


So to sum up this week:

Finals. ew. 2 really late nights for papers and such. oh no. at least i only have to pass. which is good. Saw King lear. Fantastic, but very gory. like.... regan bit out gloucesters eye. icky. Um. what else. oh yeah. dropped my ipod into a toilet. i think i ruined it. cleaned up my room. I really want to see a play tonight. WITH CLARE> SHE COMES IN TODAY!!! oh. got our eurostar tickets. I really think i need to go somewhere for easter weekend. so i have to do that soon. get tickets. and plan my after the semester trip. OH crap. after next week, we come back,and I only have a month and a half left. icky. sad. stupid.

OHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! when I was supposed to be writing my paper wed. night, i skyped with miss K. Rice. And our CLAY CROWS dvds are out. and i watched some with her. THEY GOT THE CAVE SHOW FROM LAST YEAR!!!!!!! yay! and then at 5 my time, I got online to say hi to val and andrea and travis who were all over for theatre history study session. Travis was mad i didnt put my return address on the postcard i sent him. um. you dont put return addresses on postcards. i dont anyway. but it was funny and i mss them all. I almost cried because of watching CCTV. but. yeah. I still havent found my niche here. which sucks. But i still love london. How about everyone just moves here and I dont move back? sounds good to me.

Um. CLARE COMES IN TODAY. and we got to paris next week. And then my family will be in EUROPE with me!!!! im excited. it will be wonderful!

fail

horrible time getting to kings cross/st pancras to get my eurostar tickets again.

I left at 8:10. All well and good. Morden Via Bank, I think is what I did.

1.)As I got Camden Town I hear the announcement that Kings Cross is closed due to overcrowding

**SO, at Euston, I transfer to just go to Kennington VIa Charing Cross. Whatever. It's nowhere near kings cross, but i figureed it would be better than nothing.

2.) Get up and over to the Platform, and I hear the announcement that Kings CRoss is now Open

** so i turn around and go back down the escalator.

3) First train was crowded, so I wait.

4.) I get off at kings cross and look for the sings to St. Pancras. I headed into one of the little hallways that connects the Northbound and Southbound platforms. And then the alarm goes off, the double doors on both sides of me shut. I start freaking out a bit because im like "Am I stuck in the tube?" and an announcer goes "This station is now closed due to an emergency, please exit immediately". So I exited.

5.) It looked like St. Pancras was closed. Everyone else would have been on the tube at that point so i couldn't even call to warn anyone.

6.) I had no idea how to get to school from kings cross. No map.

**I found the map which i did have when I got back to school.

But then I saw St. Pancras and just went there and got our tickets. yay!


Oh. saw king lear tonight. Intense and lots of blood. almost 4 hours long. Paper due tomorrow and I have a test. Oh joy.

and my ipod fell into the toilet today. and I think i ruined it.

not upsetting, just inconvenient.

okay first off. my crazy long tube ride home today.

After talking to clare, I decided to go get the eurostar tickets at Kings cross st. pancras. So I left school, went to russel square, and waited in line for the tube


1. I waited a half an hour before i could actually get on the tube

2. during which time the announcement was made that "someone was under the train at terminal three" and there were "minor delays". If you don't know what i'm talking about, look it up.

3. Once I got on the tube, it took about 5 minutes for us to leave the station. and The guy behind me was touching my butt. Whether it was inadvertently or not, it was wierd

4. Once we left the platform, the driver made the annoucement that we would not be stopping at kings cross, because the station was closed due to overcrowding, and that hopefully by the time we got to Caledonian something or other kings cross would be open again.

* I have never been past kings cross on the picadlly line.... um yeah.

5. So... got to caledonian whatchamacallit. The train was so crowded, i didn't even bother to try to get off it. I was already going to have to backtrack anyway.

6. The driver made the announcement, as we were getting close to the next stop, that the trains there were not running. or you couldnt catch a train or something. i dont remember. So i went on to the next stop.

7. As soon as we left that station, the conductor man got on again and was like, sorry, i was mistaken, the southbound trains are running.

**So i get to the next stop, Arsenal, which crosses with the Victoria line which goes straight to kings cross, so i figure I'll just do that

8. I followed the signs, or so I thought, but ended up outside

9. Arsenal is a big football town. There was a match tonight.

**so i turn around, tap in and tap out of the station and get on the victoria, great.
**get to kings cross, fine. Follow the signs to the northern, because I was coming from the Victoria, not the Picadilly as normally do.

10. I missed the exit again. So I take the excalator

11. The escalator going down is broken, and there is a huge queue just to walk down it. Waited... got down fine.

12. Got to the platform. My train was coming. Read the front of is as it pulled up to the platform. They had written the wrong train on the reader board. So I waited for anotherone. This one was right.

I got home at 8 10. I left school at 6. depressing.

Ich muß gehen. Nicht so gut. Ich liebe das nicht.

I have to go back to london today. stupid.

Auf Deutsch!

So I'm at Franzi's house right now on their computer. The keyboards are slightly different. The Z and the Y have switched places. Also, look at the cool letters.

ä, ö, ß, €, µ, §,

Very cool.

I got in yesterday. Franzi'y parents, Elke and Berhardt picked me up at the gate. They had a little sign with my name on it and a picture of me with Franzi from 4 years ago. It was very sweet. Their English is much better than my german, but I am finding that "Ich verstehe ein bischen". Ich spreche deutsch nicht so gut, aber kann ich hören und verstehen. nur ein bischen.

SO we got back to the house, Elke showed me around. And to my room. Feather duvet and pillows. uh oh. But then Franzi got here. and it was wonderful to see her! We ate a delicious lunch, which Franzi's parents had made. Elke made this wonderful pasta cream sauce. delicious. and then Franzi walked me around Springe. It's a very cute little town. then we drove to the church, and down to hameln. The pied Piper of Hamlin, anyone? yeah, so, ich habe das besuchen. very cool. But i felt bad because I was falling asleep half the time. not while walking around, but in the car. And then we got back, and I took a nap. CHeese and bread for dinner, then franzi and I went out for cocktails. wooo!! very good. we got back around nine thirty, and I went to bed at 10. passed out. And got up at 9 30 today. very tired. i was. gut geschlaft. Oh, talked to mom on skype last night. Had bread and jam and nutella for breakfast. not altogether, but on sperate pieces of bread. yum yum yum. ANd today we go to hannover. So Ich muß jetzt gehen. bis spater.

brilliant

went and saw duet for one. Loved it. a lot. i can't quite say why, but this production and this play had the 'it' factor for me.

also. In Theatre class today we were reading the duchess of malfi outloud ad w rod came up that the girl was having trouble pronouncing. I knew what word it was. So I said "Catarrh". I heard another voice prompting the girl. It was sara. And then we both started laughing, because we both only knew what the word meant and how to say it because of "the Miser"

also I was looking up intership/summer job stuff online last night instead of sleeping. Cool.

Also again. I'm going to germany tomorrow. Or rather, Going to the airport to go to germany. Tomorrow night. Because my flight leaves at 7 15 on friday and i would have to get to the airport at 5 15 and that means leaving by... i dont know when. But regardless. I'm just going to spend a night at the airport. so basically Im going to get no sleep. Because I have to write a paper tonight. its due in 13 hours. havent really started. I'm such a bad student.

Judi Dench???? what????

I'm seeing her in "Madame de Sade". AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And I bought ONSTAGE tickets for Clare and Me for when She's here. eeeeeeeekkkkkk. Oh--For SPRING AWAKENING!!!

details of my life.

Alright.

Let's start with last wednesday, shall we?

Oh but before that We went to this restaurant called "small and beautiful" before the play on tuesday. It was yummy and delicious and not too expensive. which is great.

Class. All day. Theatre 10-1, Britain Today 2-5. Um. I love theatre. I'm a theatre major. I am not enjoying this Class. Chris knows a lot, but I wish he would give us his lecture notes, because he just reads them out loud, and then we could actually talk about the plays. Dissect them, if you will. Because that's what I'm there fore, to talk about plays. I feel like I could have taught the last 3 classes, because all the stuff he's brought up, I learned about last semester. I ahd the important details written down in my notes before he got to them. So That's my complainy spiel. Although I do have to read a play for class tomorrow. Haven't done that yet.

In Britain today we went to the Maritime Museum. And the Royal Observatory. And the Prime Meridan! Very exciting. I stood on 0, 0. I don't know if that's how you write longitude, I'm pretty sure It's not. But oh well and whatever. So then we went to Wetherspoon's for dinner, and stopped at either tesco or sainsbury's to get snacks. I need to stop snacking. I've probably already gained weight. But At least I walk everywhere.

Then we saw RSC's "Taming of the Shrew" at the Novello. Nogood. Trannio, Tramio. Whatever his name is was the best part of the show. Him and the Fake Venchentio. Oh and Biondello. I don't know. They didn't trust shakespeare. The acting wasn't bad, but the concept and direction I kind of hated. They threw in too much sexual stuff that was unjustified. EIther because they thought the audience was stupid or because they thought it was funny. But Either way it was painful to watch. Didn't like it. But at one point I turned around to say something to sara and she said that Tramio was Paul. Which made me laugh. but it was true. And Biondello could have been Dylan. So then whenever they were onstage I was laughing not just because they were funny, which they were, but because what they were doing were things that both Paul and dylan do. And I could see them doing it in this show. So that was good. Kate and Petruchio weren't bad actors, but.... i don't know. again with the sex stuff. Oh and they threw in a nice sex scene with Bianca and Lucentio. Didn't like it.

Alrighty So thursday.... I forget what I did. I had class... OOOHHH.... after taming of the shrew i had to write my shakespeare paper. Mm. Paper. Ick. So i got about 2 hours of sleep.

Shakespeare at 9:30. I dont know what I did for the next two hours, then I had Empire Class. We drew triangles on pieces of paper. Again, the info presented in the class is fine, but.....dear goodness how she presents it is not. Its busywork that I could have done in the 6th grade.

Um.... Early night thursday night. I think I talked to mom on skype. woo. OH I got spring awakening tickets. ahah!

Friday... lazy day again. Friday Night Nicole and I went down to Brixton, where the Ting Tings were playing, and we tried to find cheap tickets. There were none to be found, so we didnt go.

SATURDAY!!! SPRING AWAKENING!!!!! AYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!! I had been watching thier blogging stuff online, and Ive seen it before so i sort of knew what to expect. But i really liked it. They had some of the neon lights even on the sides in the audience. and the guy who was on spot behind us kept rocking out. I rocked out. Sara, I'm sorry if it was annoying at all. But Yeah. Wendla was great. Ilse (Lucy Barker) was AMAZING!!!! I really liked Moritz as well. And thea was uuber cute, as always. Melchior was really different. He played it a lot.... weaker? I don't know. His performance wasn't bad at all, but he wasn't as bitter, or as "Take a Stand-y"! Some things different from this show were.. well.. the lights for one thing. Some words were changed. They say "come autumn" rather then "come fall" Also, they had to change "Fanny Gabor"'s name to Laurie. For obvious reasons. ALSO. The Chair that Melchior sits in was on Stage Left, House right, rather then the other side. Which I thought was wierd. But THE CHAIR MOVED! When he was sitting in it. During whispering, They threw in this wierd echo thing with Melchior singing under Wendla, and the chair moved to Stage Right. Like a transition to the Reformatory. And "Trash heap" to "scrap heap". Um.... OH... the ghosts came out of the floor.

Needless to say, I loved it. Ive decided I'm seeing it at the Novello.

Then afterwards, Sara and I took the Tube to Hyde Park Corner, Walked over to.... BUCKINGHAM PALACE"!!!!!! wooooooooo!!!! So there's another check on my accomplishments.
Then we went to Westminster and Parliament. It was beautiful.

Sunday... lazy, but I made myself go to church. AT ST PAUL's CATHEDRAL!!!!!! and it was at 6 o clock, which was wonderful. It's gorgeous, and I want to go back. I got to sit and listen to a service under the dome. eek.

I sent more postcards then too. OH and we didn't have daylight savings time ehre, so I had a confusing talk with mom and dad, because we were supposed to have a skype chat on sunday at 9 my time, 1 their time. But It was 8:30 my time and 1 their time. So... whatvere, it all got worked out.

I tried to get a group together to go see Waiting for Godot, but It didn't work out. That's fine. I BOUGHT MY TICKETS TODAY ANYWAY!!!! ahahahahah!!!!! another check on accomplishments. All the group seats were sold out for that first week. That makes sense though.

I talked to Grandma and Grandpa last night. That was exciting.

Oh dream play opened last weekend so I called Val to wish everyone a broken leg. Tried calling Kirsten on Saturday but i didn't get ahold of her.

So I'm at school now. It's raining. I go to germany on friday. Yaya. I need to figure out how Im getting to the airport. that would be smart. I also need to do more postcards. I decided Im going to send at least one a week. So be on the lookout. Ew i have a paper due thursday.

Well. that's it. Love you and Miss you.

I'm seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. I'm bragging, I know.

Okay. I know it's been a long time since I've updated. Not a long time, but a while.

I GOT MY WAITING FOR GODOT TICKETS!!!!! ayayayayayayayaya! went in today with Alice and Aubrey and got them. YAY! I'm seeing it. I knew i would regret not getting tickets if i didn't get them, but I got them and yay!

Other good news. I called BECU last night and got my online stuff figured out and I still have money and YAY!!!!

Oh... I'm going to germany this weekend. YAY!

And I saw buckingham Palace and Spring Awakening and went to church in St. Paul's Cathedral over the weekend. another YAY!

I got postcards mailed. YAY

I'm eating cadbury caramel. My favorite. YAY

wow.

Scotland highlights

I may or may not elaborate later. I still need to apply for ireland. ick. and write a paper. crap. due thursday. tomorrow will be a late night. and i forget. Oh Nicole, Sara and I sang on the tube ride home. I was like... drunk tired. where you do things but youre not quite sure why and people might think youre drunk but youre not, you're just tired. yep.

OKAY. scotland highlights.

Okay. I can’t do a long thing right away or I will get caught up in the details. So here are some bullet points of my Scotland experience. I will try to elaborate later.

~We left from Kings Cross. I felt like Harry Potter. Except, I’m not a witch.
~We passed through York. I finally got how “New York” got it’s name
~I could take a thousand Pictures of Scotland and never do it justice. But I did take a lot of pictures. Lots of landscape pictures. I tried to limit what I posted, so If you want to see more, just let me know.
~I don’t take normal pictures of myself. I feel stupid when I do.
~anyway. Arrived in one piece, 4 hour train ride.
~got to the hostel
~edinburgh Castle. Cool. saw the crown jewels
~went to this rock/punk/goth bar/pub place. kinda lame. but they had cool candles.

~Thursday: what did we do on thursday. we had afternoon time. OH we went to the Monuments, which are just these monuments on this gigantic hill. It was gorgeous. I felt like I was on top of the world. except for the fact we had to walk up three thousand stairs to get to the top of the hill. Oh we went to the Royal Scottish museum thing. about ten minutes after we got in, the fire alarm went off. After that we went down to the National Gallery. Then I went back up to the castle and wandered around. went to St. Giles. Chocolate soup, which is a place that Rowan suggested.
~Thursday Night…….. I did the haunted underground tour!!!!!!!!! with Jenny and Nicole and Greg and Rollie and David. Rollie tried to scare me by poking me in the back. Jenny ratted him out so I punched him. I had to have someone on all sides of me at all times, so I grabbed onto greg for most of it. We may or may not have had a paranormal experience. Our guide was wonderful. They had a jumper outer guy. so we all got scared at the end. she blew out the lights at one point.
~Thursday night still: afterwards we were walking back to the hostel, and these two Scottish guys stopped us and were like “Are you American?” So it was the beginning of an interesting night with Collin and Alistar. Alistar was a Canadian/Scottish liar guy. funny, but couldn’t keep his stories straight.
~Friday we went to the Scottish parliament. Then back up to st. Giles. I had the WORSt shin splints and my feet hurt pretty badly.
~then we all took the train over tooo…… GLASGOW! took a nap
~dannica, Jamie, Claire, Nicole, Erin and I all stayed at McLays, this cute little bed and breakfast
~went to Pizza express for dinner. MMMM it was the best lasagna ever.

~Saturday I just had some me time. I walked around Glasgow by myself. a tiny, crap map, but I knew which street McLays was on so I just tried to keep that direction in my mind. So I just headed in the general direction of this park, which was gorgeous, walked by University of Glasgow, went into the Kelvingrove art gallery and museum, down to the Clyde river where the tall ship was. On the walk down there I went past this city center with all of these little girls in high school musical outfits were. it was worse when I walked back. it was HSM live. yay for them. by this time I had been walking around for about three hours. my shin splints were horrible and my feet were in pain, so I went back to Mclays and watched some TV and took a nap.

~Saturday night: CLUBBING> we went to Tiger Tiger, then left, because ther were 40 year old drunk people there. women. not a pretty sight. expeically when they are trying to mosh pit surf in a non existent mosh pit and just jumping off chairs into each others arms. so then after we left, we were just asking random Scottish people where a good place to go would be, and ran into this drunk group of girls. we were like “hey we’re American!” and they go “ NO WAY! Hang with us!” so then they were singin, and one of them was swinging an umbrella around and almost poked a bunch of people’s eyes out, but it was funny. and one of them was imitating our accent while we were imitating hers. We pulled the “we’re American” card to get into a guest list only club. HAHAHA! it was pretty wonderful. except it cost 10 quid to actually get into the club, so we passed. then we just kind of walked around and went back to McLays.

~SUNDAY::: NESSIE!!!!! 12 hour bus tour up through the highlands and to Loch Ness. Look at my pics. it was gorgeous. then we had a 8 hour bus ride back to London which left at ten thirty at night ick. erin and my’s bus didn’t get back until 8 15, so there was no point in going home. yeah. crazy. so I just changed at school, took a nap and came home. that was monday.

~Tonight: PLAY. boring, hated most of it. predictable, too much talky. whatever. BUT It was k. rice’s birthday and I called her and it was fun. yay.

booked!

Alright! I'm booked and paid for Ireland and Germany!!! yay!!! And I have my train back from Glasgow. A bunch of people are planning on staying in Glasgow extra this weekend, and I wasn't but then the opportunity came up, and I decided that I would regret it if I didn't go. So I have to decide what to do between 27-1st and talk to those who are going.

BUT! I went to STA today, and yesterday. And was looking into paying for Ireland, and the guy there was kinda cute, kinda funny. This was yesterday. I was putting something into my bad, and It wouldn't fit, so then I was like "why aren't you working???" and he goes "What, me?"

"no, my book is not going into my bag"
"Oh, do you converse regularily with your bag? is it known to talk back to you?"

"...no..."

and then I was like, "If I go get money and come back, well, can I do that?"
"yeah that's fine."
"Okay the machine is right down the road"
"Oh you mean right now?"
"Yeah... if I do that then... well it won't...."
"-It'll go up £500"

made me laugh. But I had already withdrawn for ireland so I couldn't take anymore money out. BUT... I did and went in and Paid today and sent birthday cards to people and yay. So Good times. I also asked rowan about places to maybe go in edinburgh. HA! we're going to scotland.

I just want to live in every country. Really. I want to move all over europe and... it think it would be so cool.

party

FRIDAY

Um. what did we do? OH, Sara and I went to Charing Cross Road.... 3 scarves for 5 pounds. ha!
we also went over to Harrow and went to O'Neills. Wonderful place.

SATURDAY

we spent the day at Camden Town. Yay! huge market. HUGE. I wanted to take pictures of everything. we found some wonderful antique shops. I wanted to buy everything and bring it back for svea and paul and dylan. they had some really cool coats. Also, we found shoes with a place for tips in them. hahaha.

ALSO. Nicole and I went out last night. I legitmately went out. big night for me. haha. also, I wore my dress, so I looked cute. I got a bullmers, which is a cider. and I had a shot! ha. They named thier shots after the adams family characters. I had a "fester" it was yummy. We met these boys, Robbie, Charles, and Oliver. Then marne, dannica, nicole, alice and I went to find a club. We found some lady who was from woodside park. she told us which bus to take. crazy. we just walked by "bar 101" and the bouncers were like... come in here, no cover. so we went there for a bit. marne can dance. very well. but then we left. some irish guy hit on us outside of mcdonalds. alice fell, twice. the other girls sang "get low" by flow rida. then we could not find our bus. I was getting a bit annoyed. not at them, just at the fact we couldnt find a bus. But marne saved us. she went around asking people which bus to take. she just stopped the N20 to ask where we could get on, and the driver let us on. and then we got home. yay.

I have done absolutely nothing today. ate chocolate and watched friends. I need to be better at exploring. and getting up.

BUT... it's the crows 1 year anniversary, birthday, whatever. I guess auditions were this weekend and I HAVENT HEARD ANYTHING. HINT HINT to any of my fellow crows who mght be reading this. Yeah. February 22nd we had our first show last year. crazy.

tube story

alright. it's been a while since i've updated. sorry. um.

so tuesday, i don't remember much happening. i have class late so i got up later and went into school later. Oh. i remember. I was just really happy. I sang a little song to myself on the walk over. it went something like this:

"I'm in london.
I'm in London england."

yep. it was a good day. i still sounded funny. goose-esque. that is what me, sara, and rollie decided. goose.

Wed. is the day that never ends. Class from 10-1, then 2-5 and usually a show that night. so it's a pretty full day. we talked about second shepherds pageant and quaem quaritis and corpus christi and stuff. essentially, i feel like I'm back in Theatre History I. which is good and bad. becausee I keep knowing the stuff Chris is going to say before he says it. and Wed. we went to see Twelfth Night! for Britian today we watched a video, then went to the banqueting house,which is where King Charles was beheaded. so that was fun. I got some pictures, I'll put them up.

A group of us wandered around to try to find this one restaurant Balogonoa or something. Banadoo. I don't know. the thing about the restauraunt is that you pay whatever the time is. for instance, if it was 5 30,, you'd pay 5 pound 30. we found the restaurant, after much tromping around, but the menu was tiny and consisted of a lot of lentil beans. I'm exaggerating, but it was only about 5 dishes. so we decided to go somewhere else. we went to this italian place.... it wasn't very good. the bruschetta was delicious, but not the food. I got pesto. and the thing is, I'm used to PLU pesto. Very different from real pesto, and i didn't like it. well. i got pesto with pasta, duh.

To get to the theatre from where we were eating, we walked up and down Charring Cross road, which used to just be book stores. and the majority are still. So that was cool. I want to go back and look for plays. Twelfth night was good, Orsino was a bit to whiny mopey angry for me. And Viola was going to be. I thought. but she wasn't so that was good. mmm sebastian was nice looking. Andrew/Toby/Maria were wonderful. I got a picutre of the theatre. pretty pretty.

Alright so then Thursday, we have shakespeare in the morning, then i have a 5 hour break until my next class. when I'm back up to par, I'm going to use taht time to wander around london, but as I'm still sick, I just take naps. Nice. But yesterday the room got really loud right after I layed down. (I was in the student Lounge). But I was far too lazy to leave. and then we had Empire at this museum place, we had to take the DLR to get there.

On the way back from the museum, which was cool, but we were focused on the slavery unit. Not the most upbeat class ever. anyway, on the way back, we got on the central line. It was me, Nick, Claire, and Julia. This redfaced old man sees us get on, stands up ,walks over, and starts crossing us. like. churchy wise. blessing us. saying things like "You have the spirit in you." and "I want to make sure we all get to heaven". Then he layed his hands on Nick and started praying. I had to turn around ebcause I was laughing so hard. it was funny. And he did this for an entire stretch of time from one platform to another. luckily he got off at the next stop. Clare was like "was that get really a preist?" but as soon as he left Nick goes "yeah that guy was drunk." He was this cute little old man. It was hilarious.

We went to a pub. "The old swan" for dinner. it was alrght. we had to go get snackies before the show. I found a place that sold KINDER! it was tesco, but... the good kind of Kinder. so i had to buy them, even though I'd already gotten my snacks. Anyway. we went to the "gate" theatre, which is this converted space, which is really cool. the show was less than an hour long, and the program came with the script. The show was everything I was hopng it wouldn't be: Interpretive dance to wierdo music, found theatre space. but I loved it. The movement was so cool. and the performers had to be so strong to carry it. It was a very long, shallow stage. I really liked it though.

So today, im hopefully going to make some travel plans and look around the City with Sara. should be fun.

i sound like a man.

and I don't feel good. ugh.... like... not a mad don't feel good, like, i think i ate something that just.... disagrees with my stomach.

um... class was fine. i've been talking to clare and my family about spring break, which I'm stoked for. i took a nap in the student lounge, again, which i'm totally fine with.

and i sound like a man. maybe i should try not talking tomorrow. I need to get a full nights sleep I think. OH and I have groceries to put in the fridge.

sara was totally right, they do park on the curb here. a lot.

also, they really like black currant flavored things. cough drops, starbucks, gum. what have you.

It's february 15th.

Ugh.

i still want today to be over. UUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh. I hate today. not really. but... ugh.

BUT

After sleeping in, and wasting some time, Nicole and I left to go to service at.... Westminster!
I was going to write about how beautiful it was. And It was beautiful. "a pocket full of leaves" I don't know that just popped into my head. ANYWAY. so the service. we got there early, and the gates were all locked, then these people came out and unlocked the gates, and so we went in. eek! westminster abbey. it's pretty from the outside, and even more beautiful from the inside. we sat in the choir loft. Service started with this beautiful choir music. I couldn't see the choir, so all i heard was theic gorgeous choral music, supranos and tenors and basses and.... beautiful. and then we were supposed to stand up when they come in. and I was so shocked to see 8, 9, 10 year old boys walk in first. wow.

But service was beautiful. I loved it. i want to go again. the echo in there is gorgeous. and you can just look around forever. it actually hurt my eyes to look up to the ceiling. crazy. but... yeah, and I really liked the sermon. the preacher started by saying something about how it doesn't matter what you believe about how we came to be, what matters is what we do now, and how we live now, and how we have to help create peace by forgiving others. liked it a lot.

I'm still sick. now i sound like a man. so my singing during service im sure was lovely.

okay. the day is alost over. good. and my throat hurts. and i'm tired, and i should go to bed.

he's just not that into you.

i braved the coled weather and went out with Nicole and Sara today. First, Nicole and I went down to Oxford Circus to get lunch and find sone Pants. Excuse me, trousers. But we went to this flace called Fresno Juice or something, it was pretty good. Pretty cheap. I got some nice tomato soup. Wonderful. We didn't end up getting Pants, so then we split up. She was going to go pub crawling with Alice and some others, but I didn't think that would be the best decision for me for tonight, what with getting over beeing sick and all.

So Then I came back, and Ros made me some water and Honey, and Sara and I went to see

He's Just Not That Into You.

Good Movie. Very Cute. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me depressed as I was leaving because I WANT A BOY. That and It's valentines day.........

Also, It was ros' dad's birthday Party today, so there was a bunch of thier family over here. Loud kids. Saul in particular. BUT...... yes.....

Sleep ish now. I'm losing my voice, I think.

saturday morning. and I have wierd dreams

I have wierd dreams. And I've dreamt like, every night since I've been here. I woke up a few times last night, so I think That's why my dreams were so disconnected, but I think the first one was:

It was an imporv workshop, and like, 40 kids showed up. kids, not PLU students. But it was a performance or a reherasal or something for PLU, so Paul and Travis (I don't know why travis was leading the workshop, but he was) ended up leaving. But these kids were complaining about how they needed to leave to go get food, so I was like.... well, are you here to ead or do improv? And this one girl was like, do improv, but I've gotta make spaghetti and fish, which take a long time. So I think I ended up making them Spaghetti or something. So they all sat on tarps eating their spaghetti. And for some reason we were all at my church.

Another part of my dream was like.... at a band thing, and Ben Roetchisender was there. I havent heard about or thought about the Roetchisenders in 4 years. Oh well. So then there were these candy canes that I was stealing and taking, and was being chastized for taking so many. But they ended up being games you put onto your phone. Wierd, I know.

Another thing that was all connected was like.... we were a group of people, indians or something, and we were down on a beach. We were trying to open these umbrellas but not catch them on fire, because the thing we were standing under was on fire, or something. This was a mix of people who I felt I was familiar with, but the only person I could actually recognize was maybe Henry and Kingsley. Anyway, we were trying to get on this train thing, so we had to make up a chant and then tie palm leaves or ferns around ourselves. I have no idea. Anyway, we got to the train, and we had to sit/lay down with our feet hidden. I was very bad at that. And then we got on the train and one of the crew members jumped off, or around and someone was like "He's your guy, stop him" and out of nowhere pulled out a gun and this guy came around the corner and I shot him as he shot me. So then I'm telling whoever to tell everyone that I love them, And I'm dying, and fall onto the ground, and I can taste the blood or whatever, and somewhere in my subconsious I tell myself that I'm probably just dreaming, and can open my eyes if I want to. So I opened my eyes and I was in bed.

Wierd.

I do feel better today though. my throat is still sore, but it doesn't hurt as bad when I cough, and I think my fever broke. so maybe I'll get to go do stuff today.

It's valentines day. "I hate it".

feeling a bit better

a bit.

Sometimes my internet over here is really funky. and I hate it when I'm talking to someone and it shuts off and I can't get it to go for 10 minutes and by the time i get back on they've logged off. It's happened like five times. not today, but still, it's happened.

also, I don't know whether to apply for ireland or not. I have the application. I suppose I might as well, but..... I don't know. its a lot of money i don't have and.... you know what.....I think i should do it. because I won't know if I can do it and If i don't apply I'll never know anyway.

in bed

my temperature was up again, so i skipped bath. I feel better, but I'm going back to sleep now. gatorade?

ALSO.... i forgot to mention.

Rollie said "Macbeth" in the theatre after Othello. I almost punched him. we were talking about how this is a pretty depressing play, in terms of the number of people that die, and so I said something like "well, look at romeo and juliet, and king lear, and the scottish play". And he goes "what, Macbeth?" and then half smiled. He's done theatre before, and..... ugh. I guess luckily it was after the show. but still. that's a no no.

i cant breathe

i'm going to complain now.

i went to bed early last night to hopefully sleep off whatever I have.

I woke up 5 times

at 11
at 12
at 3, when my waterbottle spilled all over my bed.
at 5
and at 6

im seriously debating not going. I feel miserable. Cold air hurts really bad when I breathe. It feels like someone is scratching my throat with sandpaper everytime I breathe.

uuuuuuhgggggghhhhhhh. maybe i should look for some gatorade.

I'm sick. no good

OKAY so last night I went straight to bed because I knew I had gotten sick. I knew because in the middle of the day I started coughing and was thinking that I might be getting sick. By the end of the night it hurt to breathe.

I'm at school right now, I have a huge break inbetween my classes.

Alright so yesterday we had theatre from 10-1. it was a long class. talking about the origins of theatre which, as a theatre student, i've learned three times already. and we didn't get to talk about medea really. how sad. I had an hour break and then off to "britian today". that was from 2-5. we had to peruse around the City again. Not too bad, but there are 34 of us touristy children and...... yeah. we went to 2 old churches. including a midieval one, so that was cool. Then it was off to the theatre! for Othello. We took one of the longest bus rides ever, and I had no idea where to get off at. But we made it. We ate dinner first, at "wetherspoon's". Pretty cheap, not the best food ever, but cheap is good. I got ham eggs and chips. mmm mmm. and then I had hot chocolate! and a pepsi! BUT I almost went to a place called "the cock tavern". Rude and lewd, I know, but I knew some friends from home who would not have walked past that without going in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you look at it, they weren't serving food.

Othello. Well. Um.... we saw 3 understudies. Props to the guy who was understudying Iago. He wasn't that wonderful, but he did a magnificanet job stepping in. Originally, he plays Cassio, so then it was an understudy for Cassio as well, and I really liked him! and then they split up the Lodovicio character between Desdemona's uncle and Montano. So, It was alright. They threw in african sounding music. The set was wonderful. It was these two bridges they moved around as needed and yeah. Minimal, but very effective. Lighting was cool too. Othello strangled Desdemona with a whip. Crap I was going to say something else. OH we went to the captioned performance, so that was distracting. But Tonks was there. From harry potter. In the play. As Desdemona. So that was cool. There was an over use of gunshots, I thought. It was set in WWII, and that seemed very jsutified. Des. was in pink/red the whole time, except her nightgown was white. Pure. Duh. Um.... I was going to say something else. I got a program. It ran 3 and a half hours, so that was no good. they threw in a lot of music. The clown sang, and he was in black face, which was fine, but I hated the song and fake brithing thing. And Cassio sang a song and Othello and Desdemona danced around in the background. naked. Half naked. They switched around the Barbary song and made that section be in a dream with Desdemona's father. I don't know. I thought It was justified, but I don't know how much I liked it. I dont know how much I liked the direction in general. Whatever. By the time we got outside I knew I was sick. I keep coughing and it hurts my throat to breathe when I'm outside. So I'm going to go to bed early tonight.

OKAy. so then, on the tube ride home, we got on the northern line and there was this couple canoodling.
1) They were standing up
2) they were making out
3) they were 4 feet away from Nicole and I.

It was one of the most awkward things ever, because she and I kept giggling. We're very mature I know. But really, I can't think of a more uncomfortable place to be publicly making out then on the tube. AND standing up. What if we had hit a rough spot of track and then they chipped their teeth or bonked heads or something? So then we were making up a story for them. They can only meet on the tube because their parents hate each other or something.

Woke up, had water and honey and emergency, stopped at the store to get cough syrup and lozenges. just sat in shakespeare class discussing othello. and now I'm here.

I want to go do something but it hurts to breathe when Im outside, because the air is so cold. I hope this medicine works......

'Private Lives'

Very funny.

But seeing as it's 11:30 and I'm super tired, I'll have to make this quick. It was a good day. Got up early, ish, took a different route to school. Sara and I met with STA people. We're going to Ireland on the 17-19 of April! yay! I also looked at going to germany, greece and sweden, so we'll see what actually happens.
On the way to STA this guy stopped me and goes

"Excuse, me, can I ask you a question?"
"Alright."
"Can I ask where you get your hair cut?"
I'm like....."Uh..... in the states"
"How long are you going to be in the UK?
"Three months."
"are you going to get your hair cut in the next 3-6 months"
"Perhaps, I don't know."
"well let me tell you about this deal... blah blah blah.... me and this other guy here.... blah blah blah 30 pounds blah blah blah.... how does that sound?"
"Well.... at home I get my hair cut for free.... soooo"
He just looked at me for a second and goes, "But it's London!"
I was like "I know... i don't know if I'll need a haircut."
Then he says, "would you think me a bit cheeky if I asked to show you the salon right now?"

First off, I was distracted by the fact he said "CHeeky". It made me giggle in my head. secondly, he said "SALon", not saLON like i'm used to at home, and I was trying to decipher what he had said.

I just said "Well, I'm late for a meeting right now, so I've got to go, thank you though, and walked away.

So that was that story. Had class from 3:30 to five, but I got my reading done so that's good. After class, I was up in the computer lab, and a bunch of us were tlaking about theatre and such and I was like "I want to see spring awakening this weekend, anyone else want to come?" they wanted to know what it was, so I told them. Then I said "I have to go see waiting for Godot when it comes out." someone asked me why, and I told them.... duh, patrick stewart and Ian Mckellan. So then we started talking about how we were supposed to go see Hamlet, but didn't and we got abck to Godot.

Leah goes "It's kind of a depressing play. They just wait around for this guy and he never shows up."

"Hey! Thanks for ruining the ending!" -sarah

"Well, it's called "waiting for godot" not "godot arrives". -Leah


that made me laugh really hard. THen a group of us who were going to see the play went out for dinner first, to this chinese place. Wasn't bad, wasn't the best i've ever had, and the waiting staff kept obsessively checking on us. Like, every 2 minutes or so. eh. And no fortune cookie. Boo. BUT then we went to see "Private Lives" For the ost part it was really good. Because programs cost so much, or.... cost money, whatever, I'm waiting until intermission to decide whether I want to buy one. I did, I liked this show. It was very funny, pretty clever.

And now It's 11:43 and I need to get ready for bed. Night.

It's been One week.

well, yesterday was anyway.

So, I'm finding I say "Allright" a lot. Also, sometimes, my words slip out a bit more british sounding. I don't know whether it's a sub conscious thing or not. So, today was our first monday of classes. I only had shakespeare in the morning, so I actually got up at SEVEN and showered and we left at 8 30. Sara and I got there about twenty minutes early. I read more of Othello on the tube. Dang it. I have more reading for tomorrow--my history class. But then after shakespeare, sara and I walked around and I went to Ryman's to pick up some pens and a folder to stick all my papers in. then we (FINALLY) got to the post office. So Now I can send post cards and things. wonderful. After that we stopped by Tesco Express to pick up.... well... we got chocolate. I didn't have anything to do the rest of the day, so when we got back to school I finished Othello, and then... took a nap! Hurrah. We got back to the house around six which was good.

It's still wet and rainy and cold. But Sarah brought Ros' boots back from work and so I wore them to school today. I really need a pair of my own. The snow is all gone now, but it may or may not snow tomorrow night. And by tomorrow night I mean tonight. I woke up last night around three, but then I fell right back asleep. I'm going to try to go to bed early, so before 10, provided I do my readings and stuff and dont get stuck online. Of course, Tomorrow is when I don't have early classes, but If I get up early enough, perhaps I could wander about london for a bit.

OH. So, a guy from STA, which I think stands for student travel agency, came by school today, and was talking about trips and such. So on our way back From the post office, and before Tesco, we stopped at the office and made appointments for tomorrow. I've decided I'm definately going to Ireland. I know I'm going to Paris as well. In terms of out of the country, I would really like to go to germany and maybe greece or rome, or both, which I could do at the end of the semester. And then for day trips I need to go to stonehenge and windsor castle.

We got our ISH membership cards today. I might try to find that tomrrow. THis sunday I need to go to Westminster abbey. HAVE to do it. No regrets on this trip. If I want to do something, or if i'm going to regret not doing it, Then I need to do it. That's my idea about it anyway.

Ros made us dinner early tonight. We all got back, so we had pizza and Salad. Yum. I've eaten so much today. it made me feel a bit like a pig. I had sandwhich and soup and cherries for lunch. And then I ate those munchies (It's a twix/rolo like candy). and then I had half a HUGE Cadbury chocolate bar. I ate the 4 slices of Pizza ros put on my plate (they were mini slices though, like from the mini pizza's at alfy's or something) and salad and 2 biscuits. So Maybe I'll work on not stuffing my face tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, We get to go see "private lives" with our Theatre class, and then Wednesday is "Othello". good times. On my calendar, I've also found weeks where there's not a lot planned, so I need to look into shows to see. I HAVE to see spring Awakening, and Waiting for Godot, and I really want to see the Lion King. Maybe tomorrow I'll just wander arund Leicester Square and mark out where all the theatres are. who knows. I've got 12 more weeks here. It's a lot. I can't waste it. Like I said, No regrets.

stupid plu.

ststupid account. I still hate money. stupid screwing up my account. It's 10:40 here.

i don't know.

got up late again. meant to go to westminster at three. was late. so instead nicole and I walked around the south bank for a bit, hit up picadilly circus, then went over to the national gallery. Sara, Bethany, and Aubrey met us there, then Nicole and I headed over to Harrow on the Hill. We met up with Alice and the other Nicole at the beginning, and then Alice, Nicole and I headed off to find food. First we wer looking for a pizza express, couldn't find it, so we turned around and headed somewhere else. We found this pub that was serving food until 10. O'Neill's. oh my goodness, their food was wonderful. I got a huge BLT wth chips and salad for under 4 quid, and then we all spit a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. So I spent less than 5 pounds on dinner, and I was very happy about that. It was funny though, when I went to order dessert, there was a drunk guy at the bad, and he just yelled to the waiter "I'll cover ehr drink as well." I was like, "Oh, I'm just getting cake, nothing to drink." and he was like, no I'll get her drink. I just looked at the waitress and shook my head, because I wasn't getting a drink.

But pubs really are the best place to get cheap food. I forget what shows we're seeing this week, but it should be exciting.

London is better than tacoma.

OH! I've been here a week. YAY!

I forgot

OKAY so yesterday we were shopping, right. We were looking at clothes in the back of this one store, and theyw ere all up against a wall. Then, this 2 year old kid runs up from behind me, grabs my legs, lays down, and sticks his/her head in between my legs, and just lays there. I was like, "hey buddy...." and then his/her mom comes up goes "oh sorry he's sleeping" or something like that. She grabs him, picks him up, and just walks away. It all happened in the span of about 10 seconds. The kid didn't say anything. It wasn't creepy or gross, he was 2, it was just wierd. Afterwards I was like, "did that really just happen?" and I just started laughing.

so that was my funny story.

THere is church at three, and it's 10:30 right now, so I'm hoping to leave here by noon. Also, I need a pen or two, mine died.

yesterday and today.

alright, so yesterday at the museum Martin told us that we should check out rooms 41, 50, and 49. And so I did, some of it was cool, but I'm not keen on old money. the statues and swords amaze me the most. Just... because I can imagine, and at the same time cant believe, that people actually touched them, used them, and such. But then I had to pee! and so I tried to find a toilet, but I couldnt find one at all. So I was running around, but then I ran into the egyptian room and was like... AHHHHH this is beautiful, I have to peE!!!!! but it all worked out. found a toilet, got food, met up with people.

Then we met up with everyone, and went on a walk and passed this beautiful old building. well, many, but one in particular.

Then we went on a boat ride down the Thames, passed through and by monuments. Then we went to..... the tower of london!!!!! woo!

First we checked out the white tower, which is what the romans built. It had a bunch of artillery stuff in it. Not my favorite. Then I went over to the Jewel house, saw the crown jewels! woot. Diamonds and such galore. The jewels themselves are pretty, but honestly, the crowns are a bit gaudy for my tastes. Can't take pictures in there. Thirdly I checked out the bloody tower, because i thought it whas where the torture stuff was, it wasn't. It was where sir walter raliegh was kept, and the twins Charles and Richard... or something. Then I went over to the tower where people were kept in isolation of whatever. creepy, scary, old, cool. There were these pieces of the wall marked on and dug out, 15th C graffiti! yay!

then Sara, Alice, Sara's friend bethany and I went and linked up with...... STEVIE!!!! she met us at baker street. We went out for italian, and then Stevie, myself, and Alice went to a hookah Bar! It was good fun. Stevie caught us up on all the english slang. It was well good.

So then today we were planning to get up early and go shopping. We didn't leave until 1:30. That's alright though. none of us got boots, which was why we went shopping in the first place. BUT I got my phone. I spent 44 pounds on the whole mobile thing, which is expensive yes, but the cheapest phone was ugly, and I didn't want a phone I hated looking at. So My phone is pink! I also got a straightener for UNDER TEN POUNDS! and shampoo, and multi vitamins, a snack bar and.... cadbury eggs! It's england, so they have those year round.

We just stayed in tonight, and watched ONCE. My host family has "Serenity"!!!! I freaked out when I found out. I have to figure out where I want to travel to. I HAVE to go to Ireland, and I think I should probably go to stonehenge. I would like to go to germany and greece or rome.

I have to see waiting for Godot, Spring awakening, And I would like to see The Lion King. TOmorrow, I want to go to church at westminster Abbey. How amazing would that be???

another full day, but with STEVIE

So, it's 10:51 over here. I should be in bed.

Alright, so no crazy bus train tube problems today. Sara and I went to look at phones and such, but neither of us purchased anything.

(haha, I just looked, and my PLU email is still on Pacific Time.)

anyway, it's been freezing here. we had class until about 11:30 at school with Martin, then we went for a trek to the British Museum! Yay! My first time there. It kindof sucks though, because--and I know this is only our first week--everytime we walk around as a big group, I feel as though I have a black stamp across my forehead that says "TOURIST". No Bueno.

I'm tired. Finish tomorrow.

I should be midsummer night dreaming myself.

figuratively. Because it's not midsummer. at all. It was cold and wet and because I wanted to look cute i did an idiot thing and wore flats in the slushy mcRain. like I said, idiot.

So.... story time, even though I should be in bed. (It's 12:30 am here)

We got up at seven twenty to leave by 8:15. And then we were late, by we I mean I, because Sara and I went shopping last night and got food to make sandwiches. We had to get up early to make them, and didn't, so that made us later. OHHHH I slept through the night last night! Yay! Okay, so we left at 8:30. We got to the station, and then found out that our line was cancelled, from the stop just before us to about 4 stops down. So then we followed everyone else who couldn't catch the train up to catch the bus, no. 125. Waited for about ten mintues, it came, and then As soon as we got on the driver was like "This bus terminates at the next stop". So then we had to wait for another bus to take us to Finchley Central. the 82. Did it, got to Finchley Central. Then we were able to get on the Northern Line and Head into town. So I rode one of the double decker buses! woot. But we were about 45 mintues late. That was great.

So I had shakespeare, and got to meet jean, she's hilarious. For the afternoon I tromped around with David, Jenny, Colin, Sarah, Rollie, and Maureen, and we met up with Rollie, Jenny, and Colin's friend Amelia, who has been here about a month. So we went down to this coffee shop "Pret a Manger" or "Perk a Manger" or something. They are everywhere! Amelia told me that HP7 will be filming at Tottenham Court Road in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhh!!!!! Gotta go do that if I can swing it. We also went down to Covent Garden, which was lovely, and saw DRURY LANE!!!!!!!!! I took a picture. I also navigated my way from Covent Garden to Leicester Square to find the art store we went to on the first day. I Did, and got a few Moleskin Notebooks. allelujah.

Got back to school, had class, Sara and I went back to the art store and then dinner at this Rotissere Place, and then..... ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY!!!! The theatre was gorgeous, the sets was cool. It was all mirrors or reflective material. The Faires became bushes and brambles and stuff, very fun. Im keeping a theatre Journal. So oh well. But! first show in London.

Tomorrow we go to the British Museum and then To the TOWER OF LONDON.

It's inductions at school tomorrow. PLU school, not AHA school. I'm looking forward to pictures and things. I think I'm going to try to ont be on the computer as much. I will still blog, but maybe not check facebook as compulsively.....?

loves and Penna Hoc.

full day.

So, lets see.
Well, last night I put up some pictures of wonderful people on my wall. I don't know if that will make me miss home more or not. I guess we shall see.

As it was the first day of orientation, we decided to leave by 8 45 to catch the tube and get to town.

okay, I was going to take the time to write out a whole long thing, but I'm really tired. I woke up at 2 or something and then again at six, and I couldn't fall asleep. so here are the highlights

~ we need to leave earlier, because we definately had to run up the huge escalator (pain!) at Holborn and we were almost late
~met everyone in the program
~got our oyster cards, yay!
~ Martin took all 34 of us around the school and surrounding locality, we definately looked like tourists. Half of us were in black pea coats, and te rest were either in some other color or in boots, whatever. My taking picutres did not help the looking like tourists.
~Ed Inch took us out to a pub! My first english Pub! I had a half pint of "dry cider" and a chicken burger
~went shopping for food, yay
~Nicole peaced out, so sara and I had to navigate the tube by ourself. That was an intersting trip.
~great food from Ros as usual.

Now I'm tired and need to shower. Midsummer tomorrow!!!!

idiot.

It totally was buckingham palace.

this was me

earlier today

"Ohhh it's just a cute little park....."

idiot.

so much to see, so much to do.

Well, first, we thought we lost sara in the underground, so that was bad.

my atm card works, YAY.

Lamely, the first place we went to for londonish food was..... mcdonalds.

BUT we did find an awesome food place, which is where we will go tomorrow after school to buy things.

Also, saw a sign for Twelfth night. WEST END!!!!!

we went to St. James Park, apparently, I didn't know until about 30 minutes ago, but that's a park that is right across from BUCKINGHAM PALACE!!!!!!

And we went to Trafalger square! and saw westminster Abbey!!!! ahhhhh! and Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. Peered over by the river Thames. Saw where Sir Walter Raliegh is buried. Holy crap. Also went into the National Portrait Gallery. I am so excited to get to see everything more than once. It will be wonderful!