I've now been here a month, funny how time flies. A month ago I was tossing and turning on an airplane, with one earbud playing Atmosphere's "Music Box", pretending that I'd get some sleep before I landed, and becoming more and more distracted by the rising sun. Inspired by this post, I thought I'd do a little one month review.
Things I now know:
-- Where my flat is. This is crucial information when you go out on a walk your first day.
-- How to successfully flush our toilet. (It hums angrily at you when done improperly).
-- The useful acronym "blood" in stage fighting (balance, leading with the weapon, eye contact, distance)
-- How to use a fan in the Restoration style
-- The nearest tub stops
-- Never to leave without an umbrella
-- To always tell the people you meet you voted for Obama (big points, no joke).
-- What way to look when crossing the street. (mostly- turns still mess me up).
Things I'm proud of/Accomplishments:
-- A sonnet in Sheila's class rated "simply marvelous"
-- Getting advice/critique from Fiona Shaw
-- My navagational skills
-- Salsa dancing
-- Snow! (okay, not my doing, btu certainly my supporting)
-- Grocery shopping on a budget
--Taking on the Tub in heels
Things to work on/Goals:
-- PR, must smile more, they take me seriously here.
-- Stage fighting. Natalie will kill me someday otherwise...
-- Finding somethig good for auditions (three weeks, eeeeeee)
-- More adventures! I've been exploring, but I need to do more outside my norm.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
weekend adventures
fun weekend!
Last night, we went on a historic pub crawl, which was a blast. It was apparently also New Zealand Independance Day, so the first pub we went to was full of people celebrating it. Made my day. I met this cute guy who drew an N.Z. on my cheek, so I got to be an honorary New Zealander. I also talked to a guy from Scotland named Charlie. It was interesting, because he couldn't figure out why we would say that we were Scottish or Irish or what have you when we were clearly American. A bit of culture shock, I guess.
Today my shakespeare teacher had us over for lunch. She made us delicious roasted vegtables and chicken, and then we sat around listening to her tell us stories about her acting days. She knows Judi Dench!, which is incredible but when we gasped about it, she was like "it's not a big deal, we were just growing up at the same time. It's like you guys right now." Which is weird to think about, being the next generation, and how we're all working a this thing we want to do with our lives. The question then is, which one of us is Judi Dench?
Last night, we went on a historic pub crawl, which was a blast. It was apparently also New Zealand Independance Day, so the first pub we went to was full of people celebrating it. Made my day. I met this cute guy who drew an N.Z. on my cheek, so I got to be an honorary New Zealander. I also talked to a guy from Scotland named Charlie. It was interesting, because he couldn't figure out why we would say that we were Scottish or Irish or what have you when we were clearly American. A bit of culture shock, I guess.
Today my shakespeare teacher had us over for lunch. She made us delicious roasted vegtables and chicken, and then we sat around listening to her tell us stories about her acting days. She knows Judi Dench!, which is incredible but when we gasped about it, she was like "it's not a big deal, we were just growing up at the same time. It's like you guys right now." Which is weird to think about, being the next generation, and how we're all working a this thing we want to do with our lives. The question then is, which one of us is Judi Dench?
Friday, February 6, 2009
it's like wallstreet on water
It's Friday, which makes it a masterclass day. Today we did a workshop on Merchant of Venice with actor Henry Goodman. It was a really good time- he's very funny and very energetic. He talks a mile a minute (all really intelligent stuff, too), and claps his hands a lot.
Working on Merchant made me remember ninth grade with Ms. Moe, who thought that six ninth graders couldn't possibly have the mental capacity to read an act of Shakespeare out loud in half and hour. We had such a good time with it, too. We were practically killing oursleves laughing, I remember, making up all these side little stories. Made me smile.
Working on Merchant made me remember ninth grade with Ms. Moe, who thought that six ninth graders couldn't possibly have the mental capacity to read an act of Shakespeare out loud in half and hour. We had such a good time with it, too. We were practically killing oursleves laughing, I remember, making up all these side little stories. Made me smile.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Three Days of Snow
It has snowed in London. The most it has snowed in 18 years, I'm told. Which by my count is 6 inches or so. Some schools have gotten a two day snowday.
It was pretty to walk around in though, all these old buildings blanketed in white. And the park is covered with snowmen, they're just everywhere! And yesterday it was perfectly accpetable to walk around with a snowball in hand. I had two hot coccoas and a good snowball fight.
It's good the snow cheers me up, because today was a rough day. For some reason everyone was just in a bad mood, myself included. Which is a shame really, considering I saw this great play, "Three Days of Rain" last night. I walked out of the theater nearly crying in happiness, which was a lovely feeling. One of the three actors was James McAvoy, Mr. Tumnus in Narnia, (among other things). I got his autograph after the show- he has a lovely burr in his accent, all the funnier because he speaks with an American accent onstage.
The snow made me wonder though. There are students here who have never really lived in snow before. Never experienced it. What must that be like, to experiance for the first time? Perhaps a bit like my classmate Noel, who has never seen nor read Romeo and Juliet. What must that have been like to see? To know the story, (or to know the general concept of snow), but never have experienced the details?
It was pretty to walk around in though, all these old buildings blanketed in white. And the park is covered with snowmen, they're just everywhere! And yesterday it was perfectly accpetable to walk around with a snowball in hand. I had two hot coccoas and a good snowball fight.
It's good the snow cheers me up, because today was a rough day. For some reason everyone was just in a bad mood, myself included. Which is a shame really, considering I saw this great play, "Three Days of Rain" last night. I walked out of the theater nearly crying in happiness, which was a lovely feeling. One of the three actors was James McAvoy, Mr. Tumnus in Narnia, (among other things). I got his autograph after the show- he has a lovely burr in his accent, all the funnier because he speaks with an American accent onstage.
The snow made me wonder though. There are students here who have never really lived in snow before. Never experienced it. What must that be like, to experiance for the first time? Perhaps a bit like my classmate Noel, who has never seen nor read Romeo and Juliet. What must that have been like to see? To know the story, (or to know the general concept of snow), but never have experienced the details?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Very Berry Trifle
What a lovely weekend it has been! Technically festivities began Thursday, when my flatmate Leanna and I scoped out a salsa bar called Salsa! (go figure). I only had two hours of class on Friday, (which can sometimes make it seem pointless to walk all the way there, but this Friday it was lovely so I didn’t mind).
Friday, a whole group of us trooped out to Salsa!. We split a couple pitchers of margaritas and then stole the abandoned alcohol from a bachlorette party where the girls all wore red sparkly heart shaped antennas. The bar is actually not too different from Famous Dave’s, a little larger, with more dance space, and thankfully a slightly younger crowd. I danced with at least six guys, and only one of them was icky. Had to save another BADA girl, though. Her partner then tried to dance with us, but I told him “She’s all mine.” Dancing felt really good, it’s probably when I feel best about myself. My feet were angry with me for being in heels two nights in a row, but it was worth it.
The next day I got up and went to a soccer game with my friend, Katie. It was a Fullham/Portsmouth game, which funnily enough was the same match up as the game I saw four years ago. A good game, though. We (Fullham- they’ll always have a special place in my heart), won 3-1. The opposing fans were really funny- they brought a beach ball and an inflatable banana which they passed around until it got all wrinkly and deflated.
Today I was good for a while and did some homework… by which I mean read a book I found in the library, and then I bussed over to Trafalgar’s Square for the Chinese New Year celebration. It was a lot of fun, though really crowded. People are really rude, they just keep pushing you or whack you with their camera as they try to shoot pictures (no, my head is NOT a suitable stabilizer for your camera!). It was a very impulsive buying day, I bought lo mein, bubble tea, a red bean moon cake (yes, I know it’s the wrong holiday), lychee juice, and then stickers and two Olympic pins (score!). Once it got dark, they set off fireworks. Because we were in the heart of the city, they obviously couldn’t be that high, but they were really pretty all the same. And loud- the noise was just ricocheting off the surrounding buildings.
It snowed today, at first just light flurries, but now it falling hard and the sky is nearly lavender with all the falling snowflakes. I went out with the Californians and we had a snowball fight and made a little snowman, no bigger than a foot tall. We named him Yorrick and snuck him on the elevator, and after showing him off to all the BADA flats, we dumped him out the window, a hero’s death. Some of the BADA kids are bussing tomorrow because they’re afraid it will be too cold with the snow, I just laughed. As I write this, I can hear people out on the streets running and playing, and just now there was a little bagpiping. It makes me smile, I’d forgotten how much snow cheers me up.
Friday, a whole group of us trooped out to Salsa!. We split a couple pitchers of margaritas and then stole the abandoned alcohol from a bachlorette party where the girls all wore red sparkly heart shaped antennas. The bar is actually not too different from Famous Dave’s, a little larger, with more dance space, and thankfully a slightly younger crowd. I danced with at least six guys, and only one of them was icky. Had to save another BADA girl, though. Her partner then tried to dance with us, but I told him “She’s all mine.” Dancing felt really good, it’s probably when I feel best about myself. My feet were angry with me for being in heels two nights in a row, but it was worth it.
The next day I got up and went to a soccer game with my friend, Katie. It was a Fullham/Portsmouth game, which funnily enough was the same match up as the game I saw four years ago. A good game, though. We (Fullham- they’ll always have a special place in my heart), won 3-1. The opposing fans were really funny- they brought a beach ball and an inflatable banana which they passed around until it got all wrinkly and deflated.
Today I was good for a while and did some homework… by which I mean read a book I found in the library, and then I bussed over to Trafalgar’s Square for the Chinese New Year celebration. It was a lot of fun, though really crowded. People are really rude, they just keep pushing you or whack you with their camera as they try to shoot pictures (no, my head is NOT a suitable stabilizer for your camera!). It was a very impulsive buying day, I bought lo mein, bubble tea, a red bean moon cake (yes, I know it’s the wrong holiday), lychee juice, and then stickers and two Olympic pins (score!). Once it got dark, they set off fireworks. Because we were in the heart of the city, they obviously couldn’t be that high, but they were really pretty all the same. And loud- the noise was just ricocheting off the surrounding buildings.
It snowed today, at first just light flurries, but now it falling hard and the sky is nearly lavender with all the falling snowflakes. I went out with the Californians and we had a snowball fight and made a little snowman, no bigger than a foot tall. We named him Yorrick and snuck him on the elevator, and after showing him off to all the BADA flats, we dumped him out the window, a hero’s death. Some of the BADA kids are bussing tomorrow because they’re afraid it will be too cold with the snow, I just laughed. As I write this, I can hear people out on the streets running and playing, and just now there was a little bagpiping. It makes me smile, I’d forgotten how much snow cheers me up.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Practice makes Permanant
I saw "A Midsummer's Night Dream" last night, pretty decent for five pounds. They had cool fairy "puppets" with heads detached from their bodies but held together with string. I kinda want one. I also want Titania's dress, very similar to the Blue Fairy of Pinnochio, only somehow more badass. The fairies in general were very punk, which made for cool costumes. Anyways, watching it brought back memories from jr. high, which was very funny. Turns out that's actually going to be one of our two end of term productions. That and something that I'm assuming will be an all female cast, due to our shortage of males (only six).
Today in Modern Physical I had to declare my love for a classmate going through what's known as the seven layers of tension. The sixth level is akin to a bomb explosion, Mic said treat it like you've been up for a week straight trying to figure out how best to tell this person you love them. I'm not even sure half of what I said, but he never told me to "be crazier" like he did the others. About halfway through, though, he tells me Jen (she who I am declaring undying devotion) doesn't love me, I've been making a fool out of myself. So as I'm freaking out, what ends up coming out of my mouth is "I'm gonna bake you into a pie, then who's the fool?" and cackling like mad. It was all good fun, though.
Success in Stage Combat, too. Well, partial success. Natalie still thinks our class is too wimpy, but I'm apparently the toughest one there. Ha, yay! I'm practicing a lot at home with a fork and a serving spoon as my rapier and dagger, hopefully that'll help.
Today in Modern Physical I had to declare my love for a classmate going through what's known as the seven layers of tension. The sixth level is akin to a bomb explosion, Mic said treat it like you've been up for a week straight trying to figure out how best to tell this person you love them. I'm not even sure half of what I said, but he never told me to "be crazier" like he did the others. About halfway through, though, he tells me Jen (she who I am declaring undying devotion) doesn't love me, I've been making a fool out of myself. So as I'm freaking out, what ends up coming out of my mouth is "I'm gonna bake you into a pie, then who's the fool?" and cackling like mad. It was all good fun, though.
Success in Stage Combat, too. Well, partial success. Natalie still thinks our class is too wimpy, but I'm apparently the toughest one there. Ha, yay! I'm practicing a lot at home with a fork and a serving spoon as my rapier and dagger, hopefully that'll help.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
getting it on with the Swan of Avon
Yesterday we took an amazing trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of Mr. Shakespeare. Where he's burried, too, actually. And inspired by this post, I'm gonna do a show and tell.
So we got on the bus Saturday morning at around noon, which was a struggle for some of us, (like roomates who stay up till 4 am...), and then proceeded to drive two hours. Actually, we stopped halfway up to use the bathroom at what's called a "Welcome Break" which is about the size of a soocer field where you can buy snack foods, scarves, coats and KFC. very odd. Anyways, hopped back on the bus and drove for another hour until we got here,
This is Anne Hathaway's house- wifey to Shakespeare, and in my opinion, one of the first famous-because-I married-someone-famous celebrities out there. Anyways, it was a lovely cottage, but you had to pay to go in, and since we only had 30 min, we crossed the street (as Ian is doing here), to the little green.
Complete with ducks. And even though there were no leaves on the trees (illusive as it may seem, it is still winter here), everything was still really green, so it was really pretty. And the town was lovely too, with it's little houses and narrow roads. (I seriously thought we were gonna run someone over everytime we turned a courner, but the other cars were so obliging, they just drove up on the sidewalk for us, without so much as a honk. We continued driving until we got into the town of Stratford.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it's really a sweet little town. A cross between the Old Quebec City and Whistler BC. There are lots of little shops and everyone bustles about, but somehow it's not as hectic as London.
Once we got off the bus, I went straight to the church were Shakespeare was burried– I wanted to get there before the sun went down.
It's a little outside of the town, though not by much in an old church next to the river, Avon. It a really beautiful old building. It's not very tall but manages to really make an impression on you, (my kind of church!).
Although the door looks huge from here, it's actually a very short enterance, one even I had to bend down to go through. Inside it's full of lovely stain glass windows and beautifully polished wood. The front part I believe is still used for service- not sure though- and the back is as close as you can get to a shrine dedicated to a man as you can get in the house of God. It's really moving though. My flatmate Leanna said she saw this guy fall down on his knees and start weeping in front of it, which is a but much for me, but I'm glad I went.
What's almost as cool though, was the cemetary outside. This is really unusual that I like it, because ordinarily I hate cemetaries, and anything to do with them. But there was something about these tombstones that was so stately and serene, I felt really peaceful here. The picture is my attempt at something artsy, but really it was really beautiful. And with all the thick trees, I felt like I was in a small forrest, which was a nice change of pace from the grey business that it London.
After we saw the church, people wanted to eat, but I was still interested in walking around. I explored the town a little bit, and started on a scavenger hunt to find all the shops that incorporated a Shakespearian characters's name. Here's a selection.
If you do go eat there though, this is the place to do so. It's a little restaurant frequented by the majority of the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Co) theater people. And actually, I believe it's owned by Judi Dench... not sure about that though. The kick is, the other side of the sign reads The Black Swan- so it looks a bit more respectable coming from that side. I was really amused by that. Takes you back to HC Anderson's story, doesn't it?
Then after, it was dark which meant showtime! We saw Romeo and Juliet, which at first I was a little dubious about, having seen it so much it gets kind of cliché. But in the end I was not disspointed. Actually, I changed my mind within the first three lines of the show. Basically the director wanted to remind audiences that balcony scenes aside, the play is really a life or death matter. He also set it in pre WWII Verona, which meant switchblades and fedoras galore. Incidentally it also meant several hot men, which pleased my and my friend Anna, (left) greatly.
And that really is it. After the show, we pilled on the bus, stopped again at Welcome Break, and got home at one a.m. where I promptly fell asleep. The End.
And because I can't resist:
It's the Swan of Avon!!
and I just thought this was funny...
So we got on the bus Saturday morning at around noon, which was a struggle for some of us, (like roomates who stay up till 4 am...), and then proceeded to drive two hours. Actually, we stopped halfway up to use the bathroom at what's called a "Welcome Break" which is about the size of a soocer field where you can buy snack foods, scarves, coats and KFC. very odd. Anyways, hopped back on the bus and drove for another hour until we got here,
This is Anne Hathaway's house- wifey to Shakespeare, and in my opinion, one of the first famous-because-I married-someone-famous celebrities out there. Anyways, it was a lovely cottage, but you had to pay to go in, and since we only had 30 min, we crossed the street (as Ian is doing here), to the little green.
Complete with ducks. And even though there were no leaves on the trees (illusive as it may seem, it is still winter here), everything was still really green, so it was really pretty. And the town was lovely too, with it's little houses and narrow roads. (I seriously thought we were gonna run someone over everytime we turned a courner, but the other cars were so obliging, they just drove up on the sidewalk for us, without so much as a honk. We continued driving until we got into the town of Stratford.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it's really a sweet little town. A cross between the Old Quebec City and Whistler BC. There are lots of little shops and everyone bustles about, but somehow it's not as hectic as London.
Once we got off the bus, I went straight to the church were Shakespeare was burried– I wanted to get there before the sun went down.
It's a little outside of the town, though not by much in an old church next to the river, Avon. It a really beautiful old building. It's not very tall but manages to really make an impression on you, (my kind of church!).Although the door looks huge from here, it's actually a very short enterance, one even I had to bend down to go through. Inside it's full of lovely stain glass windows and beautifully polished wood. The front part I believe is still used for service- not sure though- and the back is as close as you can get to a shrine dedicated to a man as you can get in the house of God. It's really moving though. My flatmate Leanna said she saw this guy fall down on his knees and start weeping in front of it, which is a but much for me, but I'm glad I went.
What's almost as cool though, was the cemetary outside. This is really unusual that I like it, because ordinarily I hate cemetaries, and anything to do with them. But there was something about these tombstones that was so stately and serene, I felt really peaceful here. The picture is my attempt at something artsy, but really it was really beautiful. And with all the thick trees, I felt like I was in a small forrest, which was a nice change of pace from the grey business that it London.
After we saw the church, people wanted to eat, but I was still interested in walking around. I explored the town a little bit, and started on a scavenger hunt to find all the shops that incorporated a Shakespearian characters's name. Here's a selection.
If you do go eat there though, this is the place to do so. It's a little restaurant frequented by the majority of the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Co) theater people. And actually, I believe it's owned by Judi Dench... not sure about that though. The kick is, the other side of the sign reads The Black Swan- so it looks a bit more respectable coming from that side. I was really amused by that. Takes you back to HC Anderson's story, doesn't it?
Then after, it was dark which meant showtime! We saw Romeo and Juliet, which at first I was a little dubious about, having seen it so much it gets kind of cliché. But in the end I was not disspointed. Actually, I changed my mind within the first three lines of the show. Basically the director wanted to remind audiences that balcony scenes aside, the play is really a life or death matter. He also set it in pre WWII Verona, which meant switchblades and fedoras galore. Incidentally it also meant several hot men, which pleased my and my friend Anna, (left) greatly.
And that really is it. After the show, we pilled on the bus, stopped again at Welcome Break, and got home at one a.m. where I promptly fell asleep. The End.
And because I can't resist:
It's the Swan of Avon!!and I just thought this was funny...
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