Goodbye London

I got home very late Saturday night but I have not talked about my last week in London so this will be my final post about Europe...for now!

Sunday I went with Katelyn & Ryan to finally get a full English breakfast. I wish I had gotten one earlier in the semester cuz it was quite yummy! Glad I experienced it though!! Katelyn & I then met up with Katie and headed to the Tate Modern. We first stopped at the Globe gift shop where I had a field day...love that place! hehe! Along the way I also took some last pictures of the South bank..I love that area! The Tate Modern was fun. It's a lot smaller than I thought but it was a cool place to visit. You could send videos via email there & Katelyn & I had fun doing that. Afterwards Katelyn & I went dessert shopping & then we had a group spaghetti dinner, mostly organized & made by Kevin.

Monday Katelyn & I met up with Ryan to get what we thought would be our last pancake a during Monday Madness t My Old Dutch. It was delicious of course. After that Katelyn & I practiced our scene for performance because we decided we were going to see shows that night only if we got some rehearsing in. We then took our Shakespeare final. We all got done pretty early & convinced each other to go to My Old Dutch again in the same day. We sat at the same table and the waitress recognized us. Hilarious & so delicious!!! Katelyn & Ryan were then heading to see Jersey Boys & I was convinced to go to see Wicked though it didn't take much convincing. The show was starting at 7:30 & I got there at 7 & got student concessions 10th row center! amazing!!! I am SO glad I decided to go! Of course Wicked is amazing & it's been years since I have seen it. So many people saw it during the semester & I just had to go. There wasn't too many things that were different in this production besides the British accents. It was so great to see the show again & "Defying Gravity" got me super pumped all over again!! Love it!!! I also could take pictures before the show of the curtain which was exciting! woo!!!!!

Tuesday we had our final scene for performance class. Katelyn & I rehearsed all morning & then headed to the final which went very well. A bit later we did the reading for the playwrighting class and a bunch of us went out for Thai afterwards, which was super yummy! After that we took a quite wacky, eventful bus ride home and watched The Sex in the City movie...super fun with super friends!!

Wednesday I had my last outside class though I left early to head to my final for Text & Performance class. After that final I finally headed to Hamleys, the toy store, with Katie, Craig & Steph. I have been dying to go & I was not disappointed! Toy stores ere the most fun thing ever & I felt like a little kid there. I played with stuffed animals & posed lots in the Narnia staircase!!!! Super fun times!!!! That night I basically hung out, packed up most of my stuff.

Thursday was a quite eventful day!! I woke up early to head to the National Theatre bookshop to get some plays. I then headed to Hackney to see the Panto I had bought a ticket for: Mother Goose. I now LOVE pantos. Pantos take well known, usually fairytale, stories and put twists on them. They then added cultural & pop references & well known songs. For example in mine they sang Beyonce. They are for the whole family, but when I went there were mostly all school groups. The kids love to interact with it as the boo the bad guy & cheer the heroes & basically talk through the whole thing, though that is totally acceptable. It was a true British experience & tons of fun! I am so glad I saw one, after hearing about them, & I wish I had time to see more!!

After the show I headed back to the res hall, stopping at Hummingbird on the way to get a delicious dozen of cupcakes for our little party that night(more to come later...). I then met up with Katelyn & headed to the Royal Court to see The Pride, a play we were SO excited to see & it definitely did not disappoint! It was SOOOO good! Definitely one of my favorite plays I saw in London. Lucky for us after the show they had a talkback with the actors & playwright!!!!!! We had all bought copies of the play & got him to sign it! It was quite exciting!!

We then headed back to the res hall, also with Catherine who got a ticket for the show last minute(hurray!!) & met up with our other friends for our little goodbye party, complete with cupcakes, lots of other junk food & drinks! Also cheesy 90's pop music we sang at the the top of our lungs! It was so nice to all be together being ridiculous for one last time!!

Friday, though tired, I woke up & headed to Kensington Palace because I knew I would regret it if I didn't go. I am so glad I went! The Palace is so lovely & since it is where Princess Diana lived, they have a whole section of some her dresses on display with videos of her dancing in the dresses & such. So lovely! There was also an exhibit on the last debutantes which were presented to the Queen in 1958. SO interesting! I also had never been in that area of London & it's so nice so I am glad I saw it before I left!!

I headed back to the res hall then, stopping at Ben's Cookies for the last time, though I bought cookies as a present, not for myself! hehe! Once back I got all ready to go to the Farewell tea. Our program had high tea for us at the Park Lane Hotel which is super fancy. It was lots of fun and a very nice way to say goodbye! Afterwards we went back to the res hall where everyone needed to continue packing. A few of us watched a bit of 10 Things I Hate About You but everyone needed to be checked out & finish packing & such. It was very weird to say goodbye to everyone....

The next morning I woke up to finish getting all my stuff together. I then left with Kinsey & Katelyn to head to Heathrow. It was very strange for my room to be so empty & that I was leaving!!! I was at the airport very early so I hung out with Katelyn for a bit & then once on my own & read tons. Finally, though time did pass quickly, I boarded my flight. It was very strange to think I was leaving especially since I had taken other flights this semester, but this one as definitely the longest. It was quite boring actually. I watched two movies & read tons & time still went so slow. After my layover in Washington DC though I finally landed in Philadelphia & met up with my daddy! It was so nice yet strange to be home!

I have been home for a bit now but it still feels weird. I haven't really been settled at home since I went to school Tuesday to Wednesday & I will be going to New York City tomorrow to Saturday but it is so nice to see people!!! I do love home & the people here, but I do miss London & the people there. It is a quite a conflict! My semester was amazing & I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!! It an awesome experience I am so glad I got to have! I also cannot wait til I can return to London & Europe again!!

Thanks for reading my blog! Perhaps it will continue one day when I return, as I just said!!!

"It's Just Me"

The title of the post will come later...

I feel like I have done TONS since I last updated!!(probs cuz I have!) Well Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was so strange to be in a country that does not celebrate it, obviously! It was so nice to have part of my family here though! I went to Buckingham Palace to meet them for the Changing of the Guard but waited for them forever. They missed most of it but I got to see it one more time before I leave(unless I go again..). We then ventured around a bit. I showed them the pretty view in St. James' Park & then we made our way to the London Eye. I went to class while they rode the Eye. I then met up with them again at Sloane Square and they got to walk around the area I live in. We were going to get fish and chips at the pub around the corner from me, a traditional British meal for Thanksgiving!, but it was closing early so we went across the street to another restaurant. Most of them were still able to get fish and chips! After dinner they got to see my tiny room and then we parted again seeing different shows. I went to see Edward Scissorhands the Ballet with my friends while they went to see A Little Night Music.
Edward Scissorhands the Ballet was in Wimbledon which is such a cute area! They were having a Christmas lighting celebration & me & Katelyn got light up bunny ears which are apparently for Christmastime? They are fun anyways! The show was so great!! It was nice to see something different & the guy playing Edward Scissorhands was fabulous. His curtain call was in character & so brillant. After the show we got pasties & we decided to get cake & wine, since it was Thanksgiving & therefore we needed to stuff our faces. Back at the res hall we gathered in a kitchen & ate our caterpillar cake while Katelyn & I wore our bunny ears. It was basically a 5 year old's birthday party. After hanging out for a while, I get a phone call from reception saying my family is here. Confused I go downstairs where my sisters are freaking out. Since they saw a preview of A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim was at the show!!!! & not only did they see him but they met him too!!! SOOO jealous!!! It was funny they had to come find me to tell me though, because they didn't have cell phones here. They then came up to the kitchen & partied with us a bit. The partying continued even after they left and into the next morning. Such a different yet fun Thanksgiving!!

The next day I waited for Mom, Gina, Maria, Lauren & Mrs. Cook to call me after they were done at the Tower of London. I ended up waiting forever for them. Finally we met up at Harrods to walk around for a bit. We then headed to the Georgian Restaurant in Harrods to have high tea!! It was super fancy but super fun! We got different kinds of teas as well as finger sandwiches, scones(which were delicious) & other little pastries. It was a nice experience.

After that we headed to the Rain Man theatre to try to get tickets and ended up getting 6 row seats from a guy who had extra tickets. The show was not amazing but Josh Harnett was so pretty & Adam Godly's performance was AMAZING!!! At intermission I went to the bathroom(or the toliets I should say) & standing three people in front of me was Rachel McAdams. At first i didn't recognize her but then realized it was her. I couldn't awkwardly say anything to her in the quiet bathroom, so I just went into the stall after her. I ran back to my seat to tell my sisters though & Maria freaked out & went & talked to her & got an autograph. She said she was nice which is always good to hear. That was my first random celebrity sighting here so that was fun!

The stage door after was a bit crazy but I managed to get pictures of Josh Harnett. We then met up with Mom & Mrs. Cook who told us of their adventures while we were in the show. The next day we woke up early to head to Portobello Market. Everyone really enjoyed that. It's always a fun place to walk & shop around!!!! After Portobello we began our epic tube journey, first stopping at King's Cross for Platform 9 &3/4, then Abbey Road(where we needed to take a bus due to underground work) & then St. Paul's area. We ended up staying in a pub around St. Paul's for a while missing our chance to go in, but it was fun. We then headed to the Dirty Dancing theatre so Gina could get a ticket. While she went to the show, we ventured to their hotel to put our things away and went back to Piccadilly Circus area to find an Indian Restaurant that ended up not existing. We then frantically met up with Gina because we were going to meet up with her at the restaurant & had no way to get a hold of her without meeting her. We then found somewhere to eat before heading back for the night.

The next morning I woke up early to say goodbye to them! It was a crazy, fast trip but I had fun with them and was glad they came! I went back to sleep after returning from their hotel and awoke later to work on papers & things. That night we then had a Love Actually viewing which was quite fab to watch during the Christmas season here in London...perfect!

Monday Katelyn & I attempted to work on our scene. We got a bit done before we headed out to Mountview to watch the first run-through of Carousel, the production our theatre teacher Marina is directing which we had seen a rehearsal of before. It was great to see the singing, dancing boys especially. They had come a long way from when we first saw a rehearsal!After the run through, Katelyn & I went to eat at a pub around the corner. We were some of the only females in the pub as well as about 30 years younger than everyone else. The old men were funny though. One thought we were twins and another was concerned that our food took so long and told us to go ask them about it and another man agreed. It was a fun night!

Tuesday was my last Tuesday of classes here!! We met early for our industry class to go observe a class at the Royal Ballet School. The girls we watched were 16-17 and were so good! It was also depressing to watch them as they are so little & so flexible. It was still cool to observe the class. The teacher was pretty fierce and fabulous!! After that, I had a little break & then went to the playwriting class to read through their play, which they are having a reading of Tuesday which I will be apart of. We then had our last performance class where we ran our scenes! I was then free that night and got a bit more work done...

Wednesday I had my outside class as normal & then my last Shakespeare class. Afterwards we had our normal after Shakespeare Ben's Cookies for the last time! sad! It was delicious though, as usual! I then decided to head to Leicester Square for the Twilight Premiere. I in no way care about Twilight, whether it is the book or the movie, but I love Robert Pattinson so I couldn't pass up the chance to see him. I got there & it was very crowded but I saw Valentina who is in my Shakespeare class. I waited around with her & quickly learned how crazy & terrifying Twilight fans are. They were screaming & pushing when cameras were taking footage well before the stars even came. I quickly got caught in the masses & couldn't move, where I was to stay for about 3 hours or so. Valentina & I kept making remarks on how crazy everyone was & I proudly kept stating how I knew nothing about Twilight. I thought the fans would hate me, but one of them found me amusing & we made friends among the crazies & mean fans. One kid standing next to us was dragged by his friends & had to hold their sign & watch their bags. He said he was only on chapter 3 & very lost. Another young girl was nice but said her mom wanted her home by 7 & it made us feel too old to be there! haha! Finally after waiting forever, Robert Pattinson came!!! I was really close to him because of all the pushing & heads in the way, I did not get very good pictures. I was still excited to see him & it was worth it, even though the experience besides that was pretty terrifying. I was so happy to walk to the tube & then home after not being able to move for so long & I spent the night doing work.

Thursday I had my very last IES class!! Our text & performance class combined with the intro theatre class & we had our own awards ceremony for the shows we saw which was fun. That night then, Katelyn, Katie, Catherine & I went to see August Osage County. I have been so excited to see this show since I heard most of the original cast was coming to London & it did not disappoint! We did not get to see Rondi Reed but everyone was so amazing especially Amy Morton & Deanna Dunagan! OMG! They were SOOO good! & the show is SOOO amazing! It is 3 hours & 20 minutes with two intermissions/intervals but it doesn't even feel that way because it keeps you engrossed the whole time! The story was so surprising & exciting & I don't even have enough words! It is definitely up there as one of the best shows I have seen in London!!!!

On our walk home shortly after we got out of the tube station, a man tapped me on the back & said what I thought was "It's just me" in a very friendly tone. I figured it was some guy we knew but turned aroudn to see a smiling stranger. It ended up being a lost French man with a thick accent who had probably said "excuse me" and not "It's just me" but that is what I heard & it's funnier that way. It was hard to communicate with him and I had no idea where he was trying to go so it was an awkward 5 minutes or so. It is quite amusing that things like this happen to me though!!

Friday I got some present shopping done, including my last trip to Harrods..i think! haha! I love that place! After that I went to the Natural History museum which is so cool & right up my alley! It has lots of animals & human biology stuff & it's interactive & just awesome! I am also obsessed with the building! SO pretty!! I then went to the science museum for a bit but I was so tired & museumed out that I only walked through the medical exhibit. A bit later I met up with Ryan & we had a lovely theatre date to see The 39 Steps. The show was absolutely ridiculous but really fun! Gotta love some great slapstick British humor!!

Today I woke up early to go to Portobello Market for the last time and pretty much finished my present shopping. It was crazy busy though! I wish I had woken up to go earlier. I then got a ticket for Joseph for the night(woo!) & met up with Katelyn & her friends for lunch. We finally got Indian food from the place across from our center. We've only passed it lots of 3 months now. They had a lunch buffet & it was so delicious!!!! We then headed to the Museum of Childhood which is SO fab! A big building basically filled with toys! LOVED IT! I took tons of pictures of cool things, including fond memories of my own childhood! love it! After walking about Leicester Square area for the second time this weekend(there is a fab winter fair there!), I parted with them & went to see Joseph which was lots of fun!!! How i love that corny show! My favorite part though was the curtain call where they performed the megamix & did like hardcore awesome dancing!! It was so so fun!! I couldn't stop smiling & clapping my hands! so so fun!

I have such little time left in London!! I am going to spend my time tomorrow out & about all day as I have been all weekend! I feel like there is still so much to do!! I can't believe how fast this has all gone! The next time I update it may be close to leaving, if not me back in the US! ahh!!!