4th Week

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged in over a week! I didn't mean to wait so long, there has been a lot going on. I will catch you up. Sites we saw in Andrew's class from Valentine's Day until now: National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Banqueting Hall, St. Paul's Cathedral. Plays we saw with Natania: The Trial of Ubu and The Comedy of Errors.

So last Wednesday night, me and the girls on my floor decided to celebrate belated Valentine's Day. So we bought wine, chocolate, made brownies, and watched Notting Hill together. It was quite fantastic. The rest of that week wasn't too exciting, a lot of time was spent on homework because we had a midterm due for Andrew's class the next week, as well as a presentation I had to give. I had a cold over the weekend, so I stayed in the flat to get better. It was kind of nice to be lazy though.

So this week, much more active, which was good. After staying in all weekend, I felt bad for wasting time. Monday we went to the Banqueting House, which was where receptions and parties were held for the Kings and Queens. It's also where Charles I was executed, so that was a little sad to think about. Tuesday we went to St. Paul's and I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow pictures. Since we were a large group, we got headphones and then Andrew was given a small microphone and he talked to us as we walked around. It was really funny because he didn't know how to handle the technology and would hum into the microphone. He was entertaining that afternoon. We got to go up into the dome of St. Paul's, after climbing 257 stairs. It was very tiring, but worth it. It is called the whispering gallery because you can sit on one side of the dome and whisper basically into the wall and up and the sound will travel up and over to the other side. It actually works! Some of our group went to the other side and we all started saying each others names. My friend Charlotte jokingly asked me to marry her in a whisper and I heard it, so I said yes back. She wanted to know if it would work because she thought that would be the most adorable way for a guy to propose.

Wednesday night we saw Comedy of Errors in the National Theatre. It is a Shakespeare play, and I actually thought it was really funny. I always appreciate Shakespeare, but rarely understand it fully. But I did this time! The stage was interesting and the set was great. They recreated a city, with large buildings to look like stores and an aparment building. They rolled them around how they needed to, it was impressive. And, really cool fact: The woman who played the wife, Adriana, is the actress who was Charlotte Lucas in Pride & Prejudice! She is Keira Knightley's best friend in the movie, her real name is Claudie Blakley if you want to look her up. My friend Charlotte is the one who told me that was her, and I was really excited.

Thursday we had class in a hostel in Russell Square. We got to meet this actor Jonathan, who talked to us about his experience in the business over the last 27 years, and taught us about Shakespearian verse. He was very animated and nice, it was fun listening to him. He also had us go out to the square with him and act out the sonnet. He wanted us to understand the language, so we yelled, ran around the park, and even acted like birds (larks). I wasn't very good at it, and ended up laughing basically the whole time, but it was fun. Our teacher, Natania took a video of us being so crazy, people in the park were staring at us. But I can't blame them, I would stare too. The rest of the day on Thursday was free, so we came back to the flat to eat lunch and then ventured off to Regent's Park. It was Charlotte, Jenna and I who went, we wanted to enjoy the wonderful weather. It was 60 degrees and sunny! Regent's Park is beautiful also. So peaceful, with a lot of people to watch, as well as dogs, birds and babies. It was great. We wandered around, and ended up sitting on a picnic table to journal.

Okay, I'm finally caught up to myself. So today, Friday, was a free day. Jenna, Rachel, Lizzie and I went to Tower Bridge and then walked along the riverside. After that, we decided to go to Camden Town, which has a market that is really large, and fun! It was interesting, so many souvenir shops, but also clothes, shoes, and anything you could want. It had so much food too, and smelled like a fair. If anyone wanted to get a tattoo or body piercing, this would be the place to go. We got handed at least two flyers about tattoo places. Oh, and we were judged in this goth store by a woman dressed in a cape and dramatic black makeup. She essentially looked like a vampire, but once she heard our accents, began asking us where we were from. After we told her, she commented that she hadn't seen our "style" for years. Then she proceeded to look us all up and down. She told Rachel she looked sporty, told Lizzie she had a hippie look, and then looked at me and said, "I don't know what that is". Excuse me, I don't dress badly! Plus, I'm not going to take an insult from a vampire woman anyway. So I left that store. Ugh. Funny story though I suppose :) Overall, Camden Market was really neat though, I would recommend it, a different view of London for sure.

After our afternoon adventure, Rachel, Jenna and I went out for fish and chips at a pub down the street. For the rest of the night, we are going to Trafalgar Square. Apparently the fountains are lit up at night, which will be pretty.

The agenda for tomorrow is: Leicester Square for possible theatre tickets, Abbey Road, maybe a market, and then who knows? We will see where the day takes us.