On My Way

Somehow, unbeknownst to me, we've reached the mid-semester point. When did that happen? I mean, really.
This week has been kinda funny, because it feels like there was nothing to do after the paper stress of last week. Unfortunately, that is not true. Yes, the homework load was significantly lighter, but because I had spent the last couple of weeks working on my papers, plus squeezing planning for Paris and then actually going to Paris, there hasn't been any time to plan for my mid-semester break. Flights and hostels were booked, but as to what to actually do? Not a clue. Meaning that this was another week of cramming.
There has been some lighter stuff too, like my Monday night excursion to London to see Sondre! Then Tuesday night ASE had a Fame night where a group of us dressed up in 80s gear and went to see the new movie. We definitely got lots of funny looks walking around the city (even though you always see people dressed up because the Brits love their fancy dress parties), so it was a good thing I was walking to the theatre with my roommate. The movie wasn't great, but it was a lot of fun to hang out with the group and be all dressed up.
Now, I'm hurrying to be as prepared as possible for this weekend and next week. My roommate April and I are leaving for London tonight and then Friday morning we're hoping on our plane. Where are we going? A grand Scandinavian tour, with stops in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm!!!! I'll be back in a little over a week with lots of stories and pictures and everything :)

Hearbeat Radio

In my humble opinion, there can never be too much Sondre Lerche in anyone's life. Which is a good thing, since after going to the Sondre/Mountain Goats concert about a week and a half ago, my roommate April and I went to a second Sondre Lerche concert last night! Only, instead of opening the show, this was Sondre's solo concert. Yes please.
I had heard about this Monday night solo concert a couple weeks ago, but I didn't think that I would be able to get anyone to come into London with me on a weeknight. But after Sondre mentioned this concert at the previous concert a week and a half ago, April immediately said "I wanna go!" So we decided to go. In addition to the excitement of the concert, it was so neat to go into London on a Monday night. Because we could and we wanted to. And that was awesome.
The concert itself was beyond amazing. It was at The Slaughtered Lamb - a pub slash concert venue. First of all, I love the name of the place (when Sondre came out to perform, he said he was going to start out with some of his black death metal music to match the name of the venue). And it was such a neat space because it was so small. Sondre hadn't been kidding when he called it an intimate concert. There couldn't have been more than a hundred people there (probably more around 70-80) and since we got there early, we grabbed a nice comfy couch center stage.
The opening act was amazing. I feel so bad because I can't remember her name and I can't find her name online. But she was fantastic. She was kinda Ingrid Michaelson-ish, except she was absolutely hysterical. Throughout the course of her set, she played the guitar, the maracas, her chair as a drum, and finally the slide whistle. It was such a good start to the night.
Then, Sondre time!!! He was fantastic in the huge hall a week and a half ago, but he was absolutely brilliant in this smaller space. It felt like we were just hanging out with him and he was playing his music just for fun. He was so adorable and funny and Norwegian. He even shared this Norwegian proverb - never sell the skin of the bear before you've shot the bear. (After he shared that, he figured he should throw out his "skin" patter for the night - ha!) It was so great to just hang out with him, and then the music. It's a given that I love his music, but the music is even better live because he takes such liberty with his songs and keeps the music alive. I could rave on and on (and probably not interest anyone), but the point is that it was so incredibly fantastic and brilliant and everything!
The one downside was that we hadn't realized that Sondre didn't start performing until 9:30. And our train left Paddington Station at 11:30 to go back to Bath (because that's the last train of the night). So we had to sneak out during the final encore (which was a sing-along to "Modern Nature") to be sure we that we caught our train and didn't end up stranded in London for the night. We were sad because this meant we didn't get to see Sondre again after the show and I had really been looking forward to singing along to "Modern Nature". But on the plus side, we have something to look forward to the next time we see him in concert.
So the point is, going to a Sondre concert in London on a Monday night is always a good idea. Too bad it can't happen more often.

Paris Hold the Key To Your Heart

I just had one of the best weekends of my life - in Paris!!! The funny thing is, while I was really looking forward to this trip, I wasn't necessarily really excited to see the city. I knew it would be pretty and all that stuff, but the biggest reason that I was excited for this weekend is that I would get to see Angela (my Gettysburg fatty/roomie last year). I had no clue that I would fall in love with Paris the way I did.
I guess, though, I should start with the beginning of the trip. Last week was insane because I had three papers due, two of which were due on Thursday before I left for the weekend. So while I got some research done, I didn't get as much "prep work" done as I would have liked. And I was racing to look up important information and pack up to the last minute so I wouldn't miss my train. But I caught my train in Bath, made it to Paddington station in London and took the Underground to St Pancras with no problems.
Now instead of flying to Paris, I took the Eurostar. And after being so used to airplane travel, Eurostar travel was like a dream. I only had to check in a half hour before the flight, and check in only consisted of going through security since you don't need to check baggage and I was able to print off my ticket online. So much easier than getting on a plane! (Plus, the station was really gorgeous.) The one downside of my Eurostar experience, though, was that I was sitting next to an Indian couple with two little kids. Now I'm sure they were very nice kids, but after getting only a bare minimum amount of sleep the whole week because of my papers, I simply wasn't in the mood to deal with rowdy kids, especially since they were sharing seats with their parents instead of in their own seats. (I guess I don't know the official Eurostar policy on this...) Even with this problem, though, the Eurostar was still fantastic.
I arrived at Gare du Nord, which was only a couple of Metro stops away from the hostel I was staying at. Now, I had realized that I was arriving in Paris late at night (11:30 ish), by myself, without any friends to meet me (since Angela wasn't able to get to Paris until noon on Friday) and needed to check into a hostel for the first time, all while not speaking the native language and not being familiar with the city. I had realized all of these facts individually as I was planning this trip, but it was only on the train ride that I finally put all of these pieces of the puzzle together. I had made sure to figure out detailed directions about how to get to the hostel and all that I could do then was hope. I should have known that there would have been at least one snaffu, and that happened trying to get on the Metro (thankfully, I was inside and in a busy public space). Since I arrived in Paris late enough, I figured that the ticket windows for the Metro wouldn't be open so I waited to use an automated machine to get my ticket. I could use the machine in English, but when I tried to use my credit card to purchase a single ticket (since I only had Euros as bills, not coins like the machine asked for), it wouldn't accept my card. The guy waiting behind me in line informed me that these machines would only take French (EU?) cards, not American cards. So he took me over to another kiosk, asked me how long I was in the city, and proceeded to purchase me a metro card that should last me for my entire trip. I was rather dazed through the whole experience, otherwise I would have said he only needed to buy a single ticket, but I was so tired that I was simply thankful for the help. He then asked me where I was headed to and led me over to the correct metro platform (obviously assuming I was a silly American girl - which I am). He then asked for the money to pay for the ticket he had bought me, but as I was unable to tell him earlier, I only had 20 euros in cash on me (I figured that would be enough to start me out and then I could make a stop at the bank) while the ticket had cost him 38 euros. He sighed and accepted what I had and left. Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, the ticket he bought for me ended up only working that one time. When we tried to ask the ticket counter why the ticket wouldn't work a second time, even though I saw him purchase the ticket and that it was supposed to be a multi-day ticket, we didn't get a real answer. So I ended up paying 20 (slash 38) euros for one metro trip. But it got me where I needed to go late at night and I'm still very grateful to that French man, whoever he was.
It was actually really easy to get to the hostel from the metro station - thank goodness. I checked in without an problems and then made my way up to my room. It was around midnight by now so I popped my head in as quietly as I could, but it didn't look like there was anyone actually in the beds, so I decided I could turn the lights on and get ready to bed as quick as possible. Only, as soon as I turned the lights on, I saw two girls start stirring in bed. Stupid. I apoligized as profusely (and quietly) as possible and then hurried to get ready for bed. Thankfully, there was only a minimal amount of agonizing and stressing out before I finally fell asleep.
I woke up around 9 the next morning. The hostel served a free breakfast (read: baguettes, coffee/tea/orange juice) until 9:30 and then I had to check out of my room by 10:30 since I had made a separate reservation for the next two nights so I would be in the same room as my friend. The other two girls in the room had just gotten back from breakfast by the time I woke, so I had another chance to apoligize to them for the night before. They were so sweet about it and we had a small opportunity to talk before they left for the day. They were two German girls in Paris for the week and I wish I had had more time to get to talk to them. So I got breakfast, got dressed for the day, packed up, and checked out only to check back in again.
The hostel closed all of its rooms from 10:30-2 to clean the rooms, so I decided I could spend this time before Angela arrived to wander around the area. As I was leaving the hostel, this guy standing by the door made some comment to himself in French, and since I was really sensitive to my lack of French knowledge, my instinct was to say "I'm sorry?" in hopes that I wouldn't be rude. Turns out, this guy was born in France but has spent the last couple of years in London and had just come back to Paris to get his masters, but was currently looking for a place to stay in Paris, so he would spend the week going to classes and staying at the hostel while looking for a place to live and then going back to London on the weekends. (Don't ask me how that actually works.) We were both heading in the same direction - he was going to the subway and I was looking for the bank - so we had a nice walk together. It felt like one of those classic hostel stories.
After stopping at the bank, I just wandered off on my own. The metro stop nearest the hostel was based around this huge monument, so with that as a landmark I just struck off on various streets, decided to get a good view of Paris as the city, the way its inhabitants might see it. I saw all of these cool things, including a giant street market, and got to see all of these gorgeous buildings. After wandering for a while, I headed back to a park right next to the hostel and then the hostel lobby itself to wait for Angela.
I had tried calling Angela to see if she had gotten into the city and was on her way, but even though we had exchanged phone numbers, I couldn't get ahold of her. (Turns out, we had both entered the other's phone number wrong - something about zeros and international calls.) So I was sitting in the hostel lobby looking at some pamphlets about the city when I hear this squeal "ROOMIE!!!!!" Given the dramatic nature of our reunion, I felt a little bad for the other people in the area, but I don't really care. It was so incredibly exciting to see Angela after all this time. Her friend Sarah had come with her (she's also from Gettysburg and is studying in France, but we haven't spent much time together), so they dropped off their stuff and we trotted off to find lunch, ironically enough, at a pizza place. Since the two of them are so used to French cuisine, they were craving a hamburger and pizza. It seemed a fitting meal for a couple of American students.
(I feel like I've spent so much time detailing these few hours and am going to comparatively breeze through the rest of my weekend. I guess it's that this part was so unique to my experiece while the rest of it is the touristy stuff. Not to devaule the rest of my trip, because I had an absolutely fantastic time, but I guess this part is easier for people to fill in the blanks.)
After lunch, we got set up in the room and Sarah decided to wait around, since she was meeting up with her friend from home and she wanted to be at the hostel when her friend showed up. So Angela and I headed off on our Parisian adventures. Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe at one end of the Champs Elysees. It's funny because it's just this giant monument to Napoleon, and Napoleon always make me giggle. After checking out this epic landmark (and spying the Eiffel Tower in the process), we headed down the Champs Elysees. Now since every Parisian movie ever includes a moment on the Champs Elysees and the street itself looks like it came right out of a movie, I decided we needed to create our own "montage" moments walking down the street. Silliness ensued, but there were also all of these beautiful views, plus even a Disney store! (Somehow, Disney and Disneyland Paris kept following us everywhere, which I guess is only fair considering our shared Disney obsession.)
We walked all the way down the Champs Elysees until we arrived at Place de la Concorde, then Jardin des Tuileries, then finally made our way to the Louvre. Now one of the best things about the Louvre is that on Friday nights at 6 pm, admission is free for those 26 and under. I love going to an iconic museum and seeing iconic works of art (like Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory) for free. Life is good. (What am I going to do when I get older?) Sarah met up with us at this point, so we wandered around the museum, taking in the works of the art and the museum itself, which is gorgeous.
After we left the Louvre, Sarah's friend had said she would meet us over at the Moulin Rouge. Now we weren't too smart in planning this, because we figured out what metro station to go to based on guesstimates, instead of figuring out where the Moulin Rouge actually is. Thankfully, even though we went to the wrong metro station, it was a fairly easy to walk to get to the Moulin Rouge. But, we had to walk through a lot of the Parisian sex district to get there. At least we were traveling in a group, and hey, it was certainly an experience. And even though the Moulin Rouge isn't that fancy looking from the outside, it does have a windmill!
Once we met up with Sarah's friend, we decided we would finish the night by heading up to Sacré Coeur. The two are really close to each other and since Sacré Coeur is on top of a big hill, it offers a great view of the city. It was definitely walk up all of those steps, but after we had wheezed our way up, it was definitely worth it. And as we stood up at Sacré Coeur taking in the view, it started to drizzle o-so-slightly. I had been a little disappointed that there wasn't any rain Thursday night because whenever I think of Paris, I think of Sabrina's rule that you have to have rain on your first night in Paris and you can't carry an umbrella. But this was my first full night in Paris and I wasn't carrying an umbrella, period, so I think she would have approved.
After this was bed time, then morning/breakfast time, and then we were off on our Saturday adventures. Our first stop of the day was the Opera Garnier. Both Sarah and Angela are music majors, so they were majorly nerding out at the opera house. Both the outside and the inside were so stunningly gorgeous, it really wasn't fair. The one downside is that there was a rehearsal going on in the actual theatre, so we weren't able to see the theatre itself, but at least we were able to listen to some pretty music. Our next quick pit stop was at the Comédie Française and then we made the trek to the Eiffel Tower. We thought it was a really good idea to walk, especially since we would walk along the Seine (another nerdy movie thought - I kept secretly hoping to run into Gene Kelly selling in paintings on the street, and I could have told him that my dad thinks he would be much more sucessful if he was a dancer instead of a painter, but I knew that wasn't going to happen). Only the walk was a little longer than we though, plus it started raining out of nowhere. It would rain on and off and the funny thing was that it still felt sunny as it was raining. I guess it's that Parisian magic or something. So we got a little wet, but made it in one piece.
Now the lines at the Eiffel Tower are long, but we had already determined that we would wait in the shortest line, which is the line to climb the stairs up the tower instead of taking the lift. It's so much cheaper to climb, but I feel like it also offers a greater sense of accomplishment. But that's just me. One way or another, we made it to both lower platforms (you have to take a lift now to get to the final floor). And the view was gorgeous. It's one of those things where pictures can't do it justice. It's just so stunning and the landscap of Paris itself is so magnificant that it becomes even more beautiful. Angela and I only did the first two levels because of the money thing, but some day I'll come back and head all the way to the top.
Our next stop was the Musee d'Orsay. The museum is housed in another old and gorgeous railway station and is made up of almost exclusively Impressionism pieces. And I love Impressionism. There were so many gorgeous paintings and it was so pretty to wander around. After all of this walking, Angela and I decided we should take a quick crepes (and tea for me) break, so we found a little cafe to sit down at and be quite French.
The final "big thing" on our list was Notre Dame. The outside is absolutely gorgeous, but the inside itself didn't feel any more impressive than any of the other churches I've seen since I've been there. I'm sure my impression of Notre Dame wasn't helped by the fact that a service was going on while we were in the cathedral. I don't quite understand why they would decide to have the church open to visitors while a service was going on, but that's just me. Also, I was slightly turned off by the fact that there were a couple of souvenir vending machines scattered around the sides, selling things like CDs and prayers. But I was a big fan of the outside of Notre Dame. It's just so impressive looking and I love gargoyles.
The rest of the night was fairly low-key. We wanderd around the Latin Quarter, just taking in the sights and looking at all the stores, and what-not, and then we stopped at Shakespeare and Co, an English language bookshop across the river from Notre Dame. This bookstore had such a neat, comfortable, old feel and it was so easy to get lost, wandering around and looking at all the books. (Not to mention that it was a great place for picture taking.)
We decided we would head back past the Louvre and finish up around Champs Elysees for my "last moment" in the heart of Paris. As we were walking through the grounds of the Louvre, we heard this gorgeous chamber music echoing in the corridors outside. It turns out there were these two guys (they must have been music students) putting on a street concert with oboe and cello. And it was gorgeous and atmospheric and perfect.
So with that, we went to the hostel, went to bed, and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6:15 to catch my train back to London at 8:07. And now I'm back.
Words can't really describe how amazing of a weekend this was. I absolutely fell in love with Paris. And even though we saw all of the big sights and experienced all of these things, it still doesn't quite feel like I was actually in Paris. At times it felt more like I was at a movie set of Paris, simply because all of these places are so iconic and stamped in my mind. But even with all of its quirky and unexpected moments, it was still perfect. It was perfect reward after a couple weeks of crazy paper stress. The best part, though, was undoubtedly the fact that I was doing all of this with Angela. I obviously knew that I had missed her, but I hadn't realized quite how much until I saw her and then had to say goodbye again after such a short period of time. And as much as I love all of the amazing friends that I've made in Bath, it's still not the same. It was just amazing to share this magical experience with someone I love lots and lots (and will even put up with me calling her "fatty"). Paris and Angela is definitely a good combination.

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

Nor is it easy to have three papers due in the same week (let alone conducive to physical and mental health). But here we are. (I am?) One (plus a presentation for the same class) is already done, so that leaves just two for tomorrow. The first one is actually in really good shape. The second? Well, I'd rather not talk about it.
So needless to say it hasn't been a great week. It's had its good moments and I could definitely be in a lot worse shape, paper-wise, I guess it's not all bad. Ish. Apart from papers, there's been classes and internship stuff as usual.
The paper stress I'm under isn't helped by the fact that I've been hit by home-sickness this week. Technically, Gettysburg-home-sickness. (Not that I don't miss my California home, I'm just used to not being there by now.) There have been moments of G-h-s the whole time I've been there, but nothing too bad. And this isn't a crippling sickness. It's just been rough knowing that this upcoming weekend is alumni weekend/theatre reunion as well as the opening weekend for the fall show. Especially seeing everyone's plans to see each other while I'm stuck here on the other side of the ocean. The stress of the week hasn't helped this G-h-s either. But I know I'll get through and it will be ok.
The one glorious thing on the immediate horizon, though, is that I'm going to Paris this weekend and get to see my dear friend/fatty/roomie-last-year Angela!! I cannot wait and the timing worked out perfectly that we'll get to see each other while everyone else will be seeing each other at the Gettysburg reunion. The only downside, though, is that planning and all that stuff has been one more thing hanging over my head this week to stress me out. But I know by the time I get on that train tomorow it'll all be worth it. I just need to make it through these next couple of hours....

No Place Like London

Yesterday, after being in England for 6 weeks, I finally went to London. I feel a little silly that it's taken me so long to get to this place that I've always dreamed of going to and that is only an hour and a half train ride away, but I guess that I've been doing enough other thing and traveling other places that I shouldn't feel too bad about it.
But the point is, on Saturday I finally hopped on that train to London. Unfortunately, we didn't leave until 1:13. We're still in the middle of paper time, so my friend Connie that I was traveling with had to get some more work done before we left. It would have been nice we could have left earlier, but I guess homework and papers are important, since we are studying while we're abroad and all that stuff. The point was, we were still going to London. And we got really lucky with the train. We got to the station just a couple minutes before the train was supposed to leave, so raced up the stairs only to find the train door closed. Thankfully, the train-station-man who had just closed the doors saw how rushed and slightly distraught we were so he let us hop on the train. If that hadn't happened, we would have had to wait another half hour for the train. So thank you train-station-man for taking pity on us American girls!
We had a nice train ride, even making a stop in Swindon, and then we finally arrived in London. The best part? We arrived in Paddington Station! Like the bear! Naturally, they had a Paddington Bear station to make the most of this situation. Then, we set out. Since we didn't have lots of time in the city, we had picked out a few places we wanted to visit and decided that we would walk there. Taking the underground would have gotten us to more places and would have been faster, but we felt we would see more of London itself (not just its landmarks) if we walked. So our first stop was Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes. They have a cute little museum (which, unfortunately, we didn't have time to go in), a cute little shop, and even a big statue of the man. My friend Connie is a big Sherlock Holmes fan and was super excited. Next we made our way over to the British Museum. (I love museums in England because so many of them are free!) Again, we didn't have too much time but we were able to see lots of stuff, including the Rosetta Stone and all of the things the Brits have stolen from the Parthenon (so cool). Surprisingly, we had no trouble finding both of these places, despite the Brits' annoying habit of not making street signs very clear, as in hiding them somewhere in the corner. So I guess it was only fair that we got a little turned around on our way to our next stop - Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It didn't help that we map we wasn't very clear on street names in this area, so we just started heading out in the general direction. We figured that eventually we would find a landmark signpost that would help point us more specifically in the direction we want to go. (Even town I've been to in England, including Bath, has these cute little signposts and I love them.) We got turned around a little bit, but it wasn't all bad because we ended up wandering through a bit of the theatre district and got to see Trafalgar Square. And we did get to see Big Ben. It really is quite big, especially since I always think of Big Ben in terms of the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland where you get to fly over London (which is actually the biggest reason why I wanted to see Big Ben).
At this point, we were running low on time so we decided we would take the tube to our next stop - Kensington Gardens, where we would also meet up with my friend Jasmine from home. And we got so lucky as to have the worst subway experience ever. The car was packed and we were squished next to a traveling group of Spanish teenagers. They were soo loud and have a different idea of personal space, so it was nice to finally get to our stop. Kensington Gardens is so huge and gorgeous and I really wish we had had more time to just wander around. We met Jasmine in front of the Prince Albert memorial, which is this huge gaudy thing, so pretty much the perfect place to meet because you can't miss it. It was really great to see Jasmine and super exciting to see the Peter Pan statue in the Gardens!! ( Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, anyone?) And thankfully, being an adopted Londoner, Jasmine was able to direct us on our way. Connie was heading off to Heathrow Airport to meet her family that was flying in to London that night and I was off to a concert.
I met up with my friends Jess, Claire, and April (my roommate), who had been in London that day for a study trip for class, to go to a Mountain Goats and Sondre Lerche concert!! I had never heard of the Mountain Goats before (they were the main act and Sondre was opening), but I was so excited to finally see Sondre live. (Funny story - Claire, April, and I had been looking for tickets, but by the time we actually got around to ordering, the concert was sold out. When we called to make sure there were no more tickets, the guy recommended we keep checking back in case any tickets opened up. None of us did that, figuring it was a lost cause. But earlier this week, Jess, who's a big Mountain Goats fan, found four tickets that had opened up and just happened to mention this fact to Claire as they were both working in the study center. And then we got tickets. Crazy.) The bad thing was, I was running a little late and then the underground was running slow, so I arrived at my station at 7:30, when the concert (and Sondre) started. Then, we had difficulty finding each other to meet up and then head over to the concert (silly tube stations with their multiple exits), so when we finally made it to the venue, we were about ten minutes late. And naturally, I was freaking out just a little bit about being late and missing Sondre.
But we finally made it. And in spite of being late and missing stuff, what we saw was amazing (obviously). I was soooo ecsatic to finally see Sondre, my favorite, live. And then the Mountain Goats (slash singular Goat because only the main guy of the duo was there) were really great as well. I'm excited to get some of their music. The actual highlight, though, was probably after the show when I got to meet Sondre Lerche and have him sign my CD and tour tshirt!!!!! Again, I was kinda freaking out waiting to talk to him because I love him so much, but he was so sweet and cute. (My favorite part of our conversation was I was telling him where I was from slash what I was doing in England and I told him I was from Southern California. His response? "I could tell") My friends were similarly awestruck, even though only my roommate had known some of his stuff before that night and the other two had never heard of him before. Now they all love him. I was a silly fan girl, but it was so worth it.
On our way back to the tube station, we had a couple impromptu photo shoots with the London Eye (and Big Ben!) in the background, because we're silly abroad girls. Then we spent the tube ride talking about Sondre. Then I got on the train and came home to Bath. It wasn't the perfect day, but everything somehow worked out and it was an amazing day. And I really can't wait to come back to London.

What Do We Do It For?

This has been a long week. And the worst part? Next week will be longer because that's when my papers are actually due. So needless to say, this week has been filled with stress and too much procrastination, but thankfully there's some stuff to look forward to too.
But first - looking back. My week actually got off to a pretty amazing star because I skyped with my mom on Saturday, with Anna on Sunday, and then Erica on Monday. Sometimes, I really truly love the internet. As for class stuff, I tried really hard actually start my papers early instead of, like, the day before they're due, especially since I have three papers due all next week. Surprisingly, I didn't do a horrible job getting ahead. I had hoped I would get more work done, but all things considered, things could be so much worse. I even made my first trip to the ASE library to do secondary research. My first thought is what kind of silly person does secondary research for a lit paper, but they like that kind of thing in our classes here. Still, I was proud of myself for starting that extra work. Naturally, I like to reward my productiveness with TV watching, which kinda is a step backwards, but hey, it's something....right?
In other news, my internship keeps gaining speed. I'm starting to have some specific and concrete things to do during my day in the office. I'm in charge of getting all the stuff together for the show's program, which is kinda intimidating and cool. Then Tuesday I got to go to the White Card Model production meeting (where the set designer presents her first scale model of the set design), which made me feel awfully theatrical. I had the intern-y job of taking minutes, but I actually really enjoyed myself. Then I visited my rehearsal for the week. There's still not lots for me to do at rehearsals at the moment, but I'm such a nerd that I simply enjoy being in a rehearsal setting. What can I say.
One of the highlights of the week, though, has definitely been the general crazy pervading our program the whole week. Each class has a paper due either this week or next week, so everyone has to cram four (of three, for the intern students) papers into two weeks. Needless to say, everyone's overly stressed. So there have been plenty of fun moments where a group of us break out into the giggles for a prolonged period of time. I love the giggles.
My other nerdy highlight of the week has been reading Pride and Prejudice. It's nice when you have to read stuff for class that you really love. I decided that the perfect thing to listen to while reading this Austen novel is the musical I Love You Because (the show's actually inspired by Pride and Prejudice and it's one of my favourite shows that I've been in). The combination of Austen and musicals makes for a good day for me.
So I guess in spite of everything crazy going on, things haven't been all bad. And if I do need to ask myself what I do it for, the easy answer right now is my upcoming travel adventures! Saturday I'm making a day trip to London and then seeing Sondre Lerche and the Mountain Goats in concert (!!!) and then next weekend I'm heading down to Paris to see my friend Angela from school. (Funny Kirsten story - yesterday I went to the train station to buy my tickets to London for these two trips [next weekend I'm then taking the train from London to Paris]. I probably spent about 10 minutes talking to the guy at the counter with all my questions and my concerns that I got the best and cheapest tickets. Only today, I decided that I should head back to Bath after the concert Saturday night instead of crashing at acquaintances' apartments and then heading home Sunday morning. I thought that the ticket I bought would allow to return Saturday night as well as Sunday morning, but I wanted to make sure before it was too late. So I made the quick trip to the train station to find out the answer to my silly question. Naturally, I ended up at the window of the same guy whose time I had eaten up yesterday. Also naturally, I apologized profusely for being a silly American girl.) It's nice to know that after all the stress, I have a pretty awesome reward waiting for me.

Brush Up Your Shakespeare

(So I probably should be doing something productive like reading or paper writing right now, but blogging can be productive right? Thanks for enabling me. Anyways, I'd rather do this than homework right now.)
Yesterday, I went to Stratford. That's right, the Stratford, as in Stratford-upon-Avon, as in Shakespeare's hometown. Now I know I'm huge nerd, with a specialty in Shakespeare, but it was soo exciting and soo much fun. I went on a field trip (don't you miss those?) with my Shakespeare in Performance class. We didn't do any of the traditional sightseeing, but just being in the town and seeing all the old black and white buildings was enough for me. Plus, who can't love a town with a Fool statue in the middle of one of the main squares and has cafes called "Food of Love" and "As You Like It". Nerd heaven. (I can't wait until ASE comes back to Stratford for a couple days.)
Our class went to visit the Shakespeare archives and see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Julius Caesar, which we just read in class. We didn't get to go to the official archives - instead the archives were brought to us. We spent two hours in this little room that had photos, programs, prompt books, and review clippings from previous RSC productions of Julius Caesar. It was really fascinating to see the different approaches productions have taken over the years and it was really nerdily awesome to see the old prompt books. The one not-so-exciting part - we had to wear silly gloves so as not to ruin anything. Ha.
After looking at all the old stuff, we stopped for tea (yes!) and then got a brief tour of the town. Then it was dinner time (fish and chips) and then we went to the theatre. We spent a good chunk of time in the gift shop, which had so much awesome Shakespeare stuff that you don't really need but is really cool. This design is one of my new favorite things of all time. (Oh, Shakespeare humor.)
Finally, the show started. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Julius Caesar. I was excited to simply see a show in Stratford, but I wasn't necessarily excited about this show. But I ended up really enjoying the production. I didn't love it, and there were things I didn't agree with, but they made some really interesting and unexpected choices that made watching the show fun. I won't bore you with all of the details, but I'll share two of the highlights for me. The first was the opening. As we came into the theatre, we saw these two bloody and bruised boys crouched on the stage. They started fighting each other, grappling and even biting each other, like animals. It was Romulus and Remus. My words can't even do justice to how unnerving this was, to watch these two boys attack each other in this horribly brutish and animalistic manner. It set the tone for the rest of the show and really emphasized the degeneracy of the Roman people in the show. Another favorite part was Marc Antony. I personally always picture Antony as this "perfect Roman" with that famous line "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." But this March Antony was kinda a fat alcoholic. Again, I can't quite describe why it worked so well, but it was so unexpected and was also an entirely plausible interpretation. I love choices like that.
And then, we went home on our little mini-bus. And I started thinking about how truly happy I am being in England right now. It just kinda dawned on me, since I wasn't worrying about the next thing I had to do or stressing about my homework and papers, that I'm so lucky to have all of these opportunities. And just this flood of gratefulness washed over me. I even felt this rush of productivness building up inside me (hopefully that will carry over the next couple of days...) And the best part? As I was sitting with my eyes closed, I started thinking about how it, surprisingly, hasn't really rained since we've been here. When I opened my eyes, this perfect light drizzle was coming down. I love England.

Don't Stop

Things are getting serious now. Namely, I have three papers due two weeks from now. And the worst part is, this whole paper and homework business takes away from that precious play time. But I just have to keep going...cause there will definitely be more adventures to follow.
Thankfully, I was able to squeeze in one extra day of play. On Sunday, I hopped on the train with a couple of friends from my house and went to Cardiff. Cardiff is the capital of Wales, but is conviently only a 1 hour 15 minute train ride from Bath, so it's pretty much the perfect day trip. And to make the trip even btter, we found out on Friday, after we had already decided we were going to Cardiff on Sunday, that there was a Cheese Festival going on in Cardiff this weekend!! And to make it even better, the Cheese Festival took place at Cardiff Castle!! Cheese and a castle?! How can life get any better?! So on Sunday we tasted lots of delicious cheeses, watched a cheese toss, and then got to explore and take pictures of castle like things. Only in Europe, guys.
Monday, in addition to the start of the school week, was the birthday of our hired-British-friend Ian. To celebrate his birthday he had a pub crawl, so just stopping in all these different pubs in town and trying not to die as his friends force him to drink more alcohol. Some friends and I wanted to stop by and say happy birthday, but not stay too late because of all of our homework, and we weren't ready to head out until after the " crawl" had started for the night. We called one friend who told us which pub she thought the group was at, but by the time we got there Ian and crew were nowhere to be found. So instead of calling someone else to meet up with the group, we decided it would be fun to go on " an explore" and hopefully we would find them eventually. We went hunting for Ian in different pubs and various places (and by hunting, I really just mean poking our heads in, taking pictures of the places where we've "searched", and running away giggling at our foolishness). Thankfully, we ended up running into a friend who had just left the pub-hopping group to head home and was able to tell us where everybody was. Without that, we probably would have been wandering and giggling all night. But that's ok, because it was an adventure.
Wednesday I went to a real rehearsal for "Beasts and Beauties" at the egg - the children's theatre show I'm helping out with. Again, I didn't do much. But that's alright. It was fun to sit and watch, play theatre games, and talk to the director and the designer about the show. The highlight of the night? I spent 5 hours in the theatre yesterday. Somehow, that feels like a return to normal life.
Now this weekend is kinda exciting because, ignoring all of the productive-ness I have to accomplish this weekend, I get to see two shows for free. That's right - free. I love class trips. We're seeing "Shakers" at the Theatre Royal Bath tonight from my 20h Century British Drama class and then tomorrow I'm going to Stratford (!!) to explore the Royal Shakespeare Company archives and see "Julius Caesar". So even with the homework, life isn't all bad.