Home Visit, The Globe, Chocolate, Waffles, Beer

Time for a weekly European Update!

Tuesday began yet another week of classes. I went to the Queen Mary library with headphones this time to watch my movie for class. I then headed to the IES center for a meeting about the upcoming Belgium trip & then class. After performance class, we all headed with Marina, our teacher, to her house for industry class. There we had tea & she made us dinner, while Kinsey led class discussion. After dinner we went through the hundreds of monologues Marina has, picked out some, and she told us our types and such. It was such a nice evening to be in a house with a home cooked meal, very nice of Marina!

Wednesday was my first real outside class. It's so interesting what we talk about I just kind of feel stupid when people talk. Hopefully it gets better & at least I love what they are talking about! haha! Shakespeare was then good, as usual, including the normal cookie stop on the way home(Ben's Cookies=delicious!)Wednesday night I then just hung out..nothing too exciting....

Thursday morning I was a bit productive, but ended up getting bored..haha! I have way too much time before class on those days. That night though we went to the Globe for class to see The Merry Wives of Windsor. It was so exciting being at the Globe though it was cold out! It was still such a neat experience & the play was so funny & has Falstaff in it(my fav Shakespeare character!) It was a joyous night with great people!

Friday morning I then had to wake up super early to go to Ieper, Belgium! It was a long ride but it wasn't that bad since I slept for a lot of it. We had a nice little break from driving too when we took a ferry over the channel from England to France. When we finally got to Belgium, we dropped our stuff off at the hostel & had free time to explore. Of course the first thing we did was get Belgium waffles, complete with ice cream & chocolate sauce...so good! Hot Chocolate too! We then went to the In Flanders Field Museum, which was a really cool museum. It was very interactive, with each of us getting the card of a person who lived during WWI and throughout the museum we could find out what happened to us during the war. I learned a lot in that museum and really got a feel for what we would be seeing during our trip.

After the museum, we all bought some chocolate(mandatory to do in Belgium) & 55,000 names of men who were lost and never found during the war. We had a tour guide, Dominick, tell us all about the Menin Gate. We then got to see the Last Post Ceremony which happens every day, honoring those lost soldiers. It's amazing that at 8pm everyday theythen went back to the hostel for a bit, then out for a group dinner. After the dinner we went to the Menin Gate, where there are over stop traffic for this ceremony. It's very touching. After the ceremony, we continued our tour with Dominick who took us more around Ieper telling us war history and showing us a few sites. The tour ended at a local pub called The 12 Apostles, where Dominick treated us all to our first Belgium beers. The beers were quite good and strong as Julian(the teacher leading the trip) had warned us. After hanging out at the pub for a while, we headed back to the hostel and hung out in the guys' room which ended up being quite a good time. We def laughed a lot & were only a bit tipsy, if at all! After leaving the guys, Katie, Katelyn (prob my two closest friends here) & I chatted for a bit longer, acting like we were at a sleepover. Was quite cosy & nice!

Saturday we woke up, had breakfast & headed to the Ieper Market in the main town square. It was a nice little market & I of course bought sweets(chocolate & waffles!) We then loaded on the bus & started our day with several tours of cemeteries, led by a native guide. At the first cemetery there was a Dressing Station where injured soldiers were taken and later after the war people lived in since the town was destroyed. It was hard to picture them ever in use, let alone lived in. Surprisingly while we were there, a couple of horse & buggies went by & it ended up being a Belgian Wedding! There were dressed so proper & it was so pretty!

After that cemetery we went to a restored trench, which was probably put things into perspective for me the most. It is strange because it is now surrounded by industrial buildings. I had always learned about trench warfare, but really seeing how it was first hand was just crazy.

The next cemetery we went to was a German cemetery. Here the headstones were flat on the ground. There was a beautiful statue in the middle of German soldiers mourning plus a beautiful flower patch. There were also Oak Trees all around, which the cemetery was named for.

The next and last cemetery we went to, Tyne Cot Cemetery, is the largest in the area with almost 12,000 graves. The lines and lines of graves at all the cemeteries is daunting to see, especially how many there were here. There was also a visitors center showing pictures of many of the men buried there.

We then traveled to Poperinge, another Belgian town, where we got the first taste of some good that came out of the war. We went to the Talbot House which was established to give soldiers a break from the war where they could rest and be entertained. Shows were put on there and there is a beautiful garden, as well as an attic Chapel. It was truly a beautiful place where you can still stay to this day. I would love to stay there!

We then finished the trip at a very chilling place. We went to the Poperinge Town Hall where they executed men during the war who were cowards, perhaps who attempted to run away. We saw where they were held before they were executed, which is filled with graffiti. It was interesting though because Julian, the teacher leading the trip, had researched this place and discovered the names of the people executed there.

Though the whole day was chilling, it really put things into perspective, always learning about WWI but never really understanding, it not occurring on US soil and the US entering the war very late. I gained a great appreciation being in that area.

We then began our journey back to London which ended up being epic. We were so excited to get on the earlier ferry, but then because of bad weather we were stuck on the ferry for an extra two hours and it was hard to walk with it rocking back and forth. Being so tired did not help at all. It was amusing though because several people, not with us, got very drunk & were singing Mamma Mia & later I walked by them when Bohemian Rhapsody came on. Quite an amusing experience. We were SO glad to get off the ferry though & continue the drive to London.

It was such a great trip though. I had fun, but learned a lot, which as I said put things in perspective to me. I am really glad I decided to go!

Sunday then, I was a lazy bum all morning, still tired, especially since when we got home the night before I did laundry instead of going to sleep right away. Instead of being a bum all day though, I went with Katelyn to see Brief Encounter. It was quite a theatrical experience. It was a movie about a love affair which they turned into a play & they transformed a movie theatre to a theatre for the show. It wasn't a musical per say but there was lots of singing. Most of the actors played several roles and at intermission interacted with the audience in character. Before the show they were also singing & entertaining in character. There were such happy cute moments, but the show ended up being heartbreaking. The performances by the actors were fabulous however, and I quite enjoyed myself. It also brings my show count up to 9! woo! After the show I was a bum a bit more then we had girls night watching Project Runway.

Today was a total day in doing work. It is so hard to be motivated here but I did get things done! I still have a few more things I would like to finish though before bed. Then tomorrow starts, yet again, a new week of classes!