Hello fellow blog readers of mine! Yes, I am quite aware that it has been a long time and that this entry is long overdue! I have been quite busy learning, seeing amazing shows, and traveling! So you ready for the inside scoop? You think you can handle it? Ok here goes! Don’t read on if you have weak eyes because you will be captivated by the amazingness and you will not be able to stop yourself from reading this mother of all blogs which shall encapsulate the things that I have done in my life since my last blog... Be warned..........
So, I am going to have to do this is in sections. First off, France. What a freakin country. I loved it. I went to Paris for a weekend and saw so much awesome stuff I nearly fell over! Well I actually did fall over, but I’m not ready to jump ahead just yet! I took a tour with a group called international friends. This group put us on a bus and drove us through london, across the english channel on a ferry, into Paris and then continued to drive us everywhere else. This bus was the bane of my existence. The tour guide was great, Paris was great, but man... Screw that bus! I hated it! Most of the trip was spent on that damn thing. Anyway, when we did get out, we saw awesome stuff. I of course saw the eiffel tower, we didn’t go up though because we had three bottles of red wine and apparently that doesn’t sit well with the french... I guess I understand.
Well the first night was spent just exploring Paris, we went to a crappy restaurant walked back to the hotel, saw a parade of rollerbladers. It rocked. The rollerbladers apparently do this every Friday. They had a police escort which blocked the road and stopped traffic for them to cross and basically rollerbladed across Paris. It was awesome. I totally would’ve joined in if I had my blades, what an awesome experience. Another really cool thing about Paris is that surprisingly my four years of French in middle school and high school really did pay off. I was the only one in the tour besides the tour guide who could actually communicate successfully without speaking any English. By the way, it really annoyed me that they spoke English at all. Some totally didn’t understand a word of it, but that was rare. I was kind of upset about that. I wanted to get lost and have to speak only French. They really weren’t as stuck up as I thought they were. Unfortunate...
The next day, we went to Sacre Coeur (“Sacred Heart” reminder of second word’s translation is courtesy of Michelle Lynn Fechtor) I did actually know in the back of my mind what Coeur meant but I could not for the life of me just bring it back to my memory. Weird I know. Anyway, so that place was nice. A nice little square, where there were a bunch of artists and a famous church. I got a sketch drawn of me with my friend Brooke and it was freakin beautiful! He did it in like 3 minutes and it was awesome. I am going to have to get a new one though (And I am going to) because I lost it that night! I was so careful all day and then I left it on the train! AAAHHHHH!!! I was sooooo Pissed!
After Sacre Coeur we went to see the Moulin Rouge. Eh not that exciting. I didn’t know that it wasn’t closed during the German occupation though, that was interesting. Then we went to Versailles, wow big freakin palace! I can now say I understand why the French were so pissed and revolted. Wrong guy, but man they deserved some retribution. I got some awesome photos of that place but unfortunately Facebook sucks here and uploading photos is quite difficult.
That night we went to the Eiffel Tower, we also went with the aforementioned wonderful bottles of wine. We couldn’t go up, so... We got drunk instead! Now some might say that being drunk in Paris would have ruined the experience... Nope not at all. That was an awesome night. Granted I wasn’t like pissed but I definitely felt it. My two new friends and I met like 50 new people, got invited to a party which one of my friends got us kicked out of, and then we went to a latin dance club, which of course I loved but my friend didn’t like because it wasn’t her kind of dancing. We stayed out till like one and it was a great night.
The next day we went to the louvre, awesome sauce ladies and gentlemen. Huge, beautiful, that’s really all I can say. I can also comment on how stupid Dan Brown is. Getting to the Mona Lisa is no easy task, the painting is in like a bullet proof case! Bullshit, there is no way that guy was getting to that painting!
I am going to close this entry by just finishing up with France. The funny thing about Paris was that anywhere you went, even that crappy restaurant I mentioned, the food was amazing. In London however, it doesn’t matter where you go, the food is shit! Don’t get me wrong I adore this place, and I will be sad to leave, but god the food sucks! Anyway, stay tuned, way more to come!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Miss Julie, La Cage Aux Folles, Cymbeline and The Shawshank Redemption
London is the greatest place for theatre in the world! I can see a new show all the time, and this is wonderful. I have seen four shows in 2 weeks and I plan on breaking this record. I pay very little for my tickets and I get great seats.
The show I saw last Wednesday was Miss Julie by August Strindberg. This play was actually pretty awesome. Well, not awesome, good. Actually it sucked, it had the potential to be awesome, but the actors were absolutely atrocious. The guy who played the butler was the worst. This play was about the upper class mixing with the lower class, Miss Julie is in love with the Butler who is set to marry the cook/maid. Both the Butler and Miss Julie are complete idiots. These two have a completely lust filled attraction for one another. When lust is out of the picture, they really let the other one have it. They say and do horrible things to each other and basically it ends with a huge impulsive action wherein the butler convinces Miss Julie that killing herself is the answer to their problems. I am afraid I am not going to that in depth with this show because it was really bad. Had their been better actors and better direction I believe I could have loved this show. There was no sexual tension where there needed to be, the lines were flat and boring and it was incredibly slow paced. That's really all I have to say.
Now, La Cage Aux Folles. Oh my God this show was un-fuck-ing-be-lieve-able!! My parents came to london about a week and a half ago and we went to see this show on Monday. This show was hilarious! I loved every second of it! Normally I have trouble with musicals because they will get to a song and I'll be like, "AAAHHH just get to the funny lines!" but every time a song finished, I was loving it even more. They were all great, and some moments I was even cherishing. The song "Look over there" was just wonderful. I can't really use any other adjective, I just loved it. John Barrowman played "Albin" (For the uninitiated this was the equivalent of "Albert" in The Birdcage) and he was amazing, I got his autograph along with Simon Burke's who played his opposite and also the autographs of a couple of the smaller parts.
I really can't say enough about how perfect this show was. If I ever get to audition for this show, and I learn how to sing, I am going to shoot for and one day get Albin! I swear to God, I don't care about all the scary stuff that comes with it, that is a role worth playing! I was crying with my father I was laughing so hard. Some of the things they did were just too funny. This show is moving to New York soon and If you have the chance to see it, THEN YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE IT!!
Next was Cymbeline. This is one of Shakespeare's lesser known shows... And I now know why. This show... was awful. The lead actors were horrible, the smaller roles were wonderful. In a nutshell really. The daughter who was supposed to be beautiful was completely unattractive (That is putting it quite mildly). I know that isn't a nice thing to say, but really if you are going to have play wherein you have an irresistible woman, you should have a, at the very least, slightly attractive girl playing her. In opera you can get away with it, but not in a play. I totally pitied her, she wasn't even that good. She looked like a lost child and I just felt bad for her. The only redeeming quality of this play (not necessarily the show) was that it was basically a happier ending of Titus Andronicus. At the end instead of continuing the bloodshed, as was the case in Titus, Posthumus the husband of Imogen the daughter, takes the path of forgiveness rather than that of hatred. He is also the one whom has been wronged the most in this entire play. This was kind of a neat element to the story. Had it not had that, this entire play would have sucked bad.
Finally, the show I saw last night, The Shawshank Redemption. Good Show. I think it was pretty hard for that show to have been able to top the movie with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. This show was good but not that good. It was a pretty different take on the story and they really didn't hold back on anything, and they made it fun and really sad at certain parts. The way they killed Tommy was bold, I didn't think they were gonna show it at all, then there he was, pretty creepily hanging on a rope. The set for the entire show was just a huge jail cell which they actually pulled off really well. The gates moved, and they had upper levels, it was pretty neat. The guy who played Red was the balled black guy from The Mask and he was pretty great. I gotta say, up until his last monologue this show wasn't really doin it for me, then he said his last little speech and I was sold. It was a nice conclusion and it worked everything into its right place.
Anyway, Miss Julie sucked, Cymbeline was worse, Shawshank was good, and La Cage Aux Folles was amazing. If you have gotten this far in the blog, I praise your ability to read my crap. Hope you enjoyed it, until next time, see ya later!
The show I saw last Wednesday was Miss Julie by August Strindberg. This play was actually pretty awesome. Well, not awesome, good. Actually it sucked, it had the potential to be awesome, but the actors were absolutely atrocious. The guy who played the butler was the worst. This play was about the upper class mixing with the lower class, Miss Julie is in love with the Butler who is set to marry the cook/maid. Both the Butler and Miss Julie are complete idiots. These two have a completely lust filled attraction for one another. When lust is out of the picture, they really let the other one have it. They say and do horrible things to each other and basically it ends with a huge impulsive action wherein the butler convinces Miss Julie that killing herself is the answer to their problems. I am afraid I am not going to that in depth with this show because it was really bad. Had their been better actors and better direction I believe I could have loved this show. There was no sexual tension where there needed to be, the lines were flat and boring and it was incredibly slow paced. That's really all I have to say.
Now, La Cage Aux Folles.
I really can't say enough about how perfect this show was. If I ever get to audition for this show, and I learn how to sing, I am going to shoot for and one day get Albin! I swear to God, I don't care about all the scary stuff that comes with it, that is a role worth playing! I was crying with my father I was laughing so hard. Some of the things they did were just too funny. This show is moving to New York soon and If you have the chance to see it, THEN YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE IT!!
Next was Cymbeline. This is one of Shakespeare's lesser known shows... And I now know why. This show... was awful. The lead actors were horrible, the smaller roles were wonderful. In a nutshell really. The daughter who was supposed to be beautiful was completely unattractive (That is putting it quite mildly). I know that isn't a nice thing to say, but really if you are going to have play wherein you have an irresistible woman, you should have a, at the very least, slightly attractive girl playing her. In opera you can get away with it, but not in a play. I totally pitied her, she wasn't even that good. She looked like a lost child and I just felt bad for her. The only redeeming quality of this play (not necessarily the show) was that it was basically a happier ending of Titus Andronicus. At the end instead of continuing the bloodshed, as was the case in Titus, Posthumus the husband of Imogen the daughter, takes the path of forgiveness rather than that of hatred. He is also the one whom has been wronged the most in this entire play. This was kind of a neat element to the story. Had it not had that, this entire play would have sucked bad.
Finally, the show I saw last night, The Shawshank Redemption. Good Show. I think it was pretty hard for that show to have been able to top the movie with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. This show was good but not that good. It was a pretty different take on the story and they really didn't hold back on anything, and they made it fun and really sad at certain parts. The way they killed Tommy was bold, I didn't think they were gonna show it at all, then there he was, pretty creepily hanging on a rope. The set for the entire show was just a huge jail cell which they actually pulled off really well. The gates moved, and they had upper levels, it was pretty neat. The guy who played Red was the balled black guy from The Mask and he was pretty great. I gotta say, up until his last monologue this show wasn't really doin it for me, then he said his last little speech and I was sold. It was a nice conclusion and it worked everything into its right place.
Anyway, Miss Julie sucked, Cymbeline was worse, Shawshank was good, and La Cage Aux Folles was amazing. If you have gotten this far in the blog, I praise your ability to read my crap. Hope you enjoyed it, until next time, see ya later!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
First Week Of School!
Ok so this is really the first opportunity I have had to write in this thing. I love doing it, I just have to take time out of my day to do it and this past week I have had absolutely no time and it has been great! I have been running to different buildings, trying to get things signed, standing in Queues for over an hour when there were only 12 people in line...yeah very busy. I feel like I have accomplished so much and yet all I did was set up my semester and sign up for the gym.
The first day was probably the worst. I had a class at 10:30 or 11 I think it was, and that class was dance/movement skills A which I had three times a week for three hours. I woke up early because I didn't want to be late and got to school around 9:30. I was pretty nervous and pretty hungry so I made sure I knew how to get to class and went to get some breakfast. I ate for about 5 minutes before I remembered that I still needed to get my theatre class sorted. So, at 10:00 I went to the study abroad office and they informed me that I would either have to drop dance or my race racism and ethnicity class in order to take my theatre class. Now join in me in a journey of thought here, Dance/movement skills A is three hours three times a week, Race racism and ethnicity is only two hours once a week and it is an honors course... hmmmm tough decision right? Needless to say, I couldn't make up mind. So 2 seconds after I was asked which I would prefer to drop my reply was , "Lets drop dance!"
This was a blessing and a curse because as it turned out the class that I was now signing up to take met twice a week on Monday's and Thursdays and the Monday class was already an hour through. Naturally, I didn't want to be interrupt the class by being late on the first day, so I decided not to go. So I showed up 5 minutes later after scouring the building for the right room and completely humiliated myself as I slammed the doors open breathing hard and asked, "Is this theatre skills 1?" Anyway, she let me stay and watch which was really hard because I had to sit there for an hour while the entire class stared at me and made me feel like a complete lummox.
After class finally ended, I made some new friends from the class and had lunch with them, they were really nice and now I have been to two parties with them and have taken a real liking to all of them. Now that was my only class for the day, but I still had to sort out my classes because it turns out, since I dropped one I needed to pick a new one. That meeting lasted about an hour and I tried to figure out which classes would be best. So I told my advisor that I would look into the classes over the next day or so. She said that was fine but to hurry.
After that I went to the library and studied for about two hours and checked out a couple of books. One book in particular I started reading just for fun: Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy by Jay Sankey the magician. I love this man and I love his book. Really awesome if your job, profession or hobby involves a lot of interaction with people. It also complements what I am studying in Theatre, which is movement and action in collusion with Commedia Dell'Arte and Native American Masks and clowning (Which I LOVE by the way).
So at the end of Monday I think I just went home and tried to do more homework, that night I think I went out with my roomate and some friends and got some drinks. Not really that fun, but whatever I was in London! However, I did get a call from my advisor informing me that I might be able to get into a class that I really really wanted. This class was called theatre in London and basically what it is, is a class where we see shows and then talk about them and critique them. This class is awesome. I got in needless to say and It is on wednesdays.
On Tuesdays I have no classes but I had to find out whether or not I could take this class and get that sorted and then I had to get a gym membership and get some more books for classes and basically be prepared for the rest of the day. I also had to get a bank note which was ridiculous, That is the hour long queue with 12 people in it. Ridiculous. I did some magic though and that made time pass a little bit quicker. It really is amazing how many barriers magic breaks once you just start having fun with people. That night was one of my new friend's birthday parties and we went clubbing in Leicster square. I really hate clubbing, but we had fun. I drank a martini that I really liked. It is called a Milky Way and it is basically a chocolate martini and I have only had one that good before at a Casino in Connecticut when I went with Michelle and her family. Until that night I had not been able to have a martini like that since, and believe me I have looked. We danced for a while and then finally we went home. It was like 1:30 in the morning when we finally got back and I passed out. Really bad mistake.
On wednesday, ridiculous classes ensued, I only have two and these classes only meet once a week, but God were they long! Theatre in London started at 11 and ended at 1, we played games and talked about what we were going to do, lots of fun, but I was really hungry and tired from staying up late the previous night. Then I went to Critical Theory and Performance. I had like 5 minutes to get there and grab some M & M's or something, I was starving. Class starts from 1:15 and goes until 5 pm. That hurt. It was fascinating, but once again, I was so tired and it was really hard to concentrate, but I did meet some good people and I do plan on hanging out with them whenever I can. Unfortunately for me, wednesdays are only going to get harder for me because at 6 from here on out, I have to be at Waterloo station ready to see a show every wednesday. YAY! I don't think I did anything that night except pass out when I got home.
On Thursday I have Race Racism and Ethnicity at 10 until 12 and Theatre skills 1 again at 12:30 to 2:3o. Now on my schedule, my Racism class is stated to begin at 9 in the morning. I was prepared this time and got up early ready to go. I got to the main classes building on the North Campus with 20 minutes to find my class. Unfortunately... I couldn't find my class. Their number system is really hard. Even there own students can't find their classes. Anyway, So I had ten minutes left so I asked reception where my classroom was and I showed the lady the name. She looked at me and said, "Ok, you international kids need to scout your classes the day before! You have ten minutes till your class starts and a 20 minute walk ahead of you!" I told her she had to be kidding me and she shook her head and gave me directions. The building I actually needed to go to was called Ladbroke house and I had to go down the main road and turn left somewhere and turn right at a church or something, I actually didn't understand a word she said, so I ran all the way down the road (10 mins running) only to find that I had no idea where to go from there and apparently no one I asked had any idea either, not even the freaking post office! So I walked back, giving up and just planning on writing an apologetic e-mail to my professor.
On my way back though, I ran into my friend who had also gotten lost and was giving up. I told her my story and that I would help her find her class and in doing so I found out where mine was. I noticed that for my class there were actually two classes, a lecture and a seminar. I decided to try and make the seminar at 10:00. I mapped my route and got there in 11 minutes and 13 seconds, hustling. When I got there though, I discovered that the class had been bumped up an hour and that this would be permanent. What a stroke of luck! I hadn't missed a thing, and I wasn't going to!
That class was fun, I liked the teacher and we had a good first day with intelligent discussions about school policies and racism. Eventually, I had to duck out to get to my next class. This class rocked. All we did was try little theatre games, like simon says and introducing ourselves, but we did it in a way that was kind of freeing. I can't really explain it in a blog, it is really something that needs to be shown rather than read. But anyway it was totally awesome and I had a blast.
That class ended, I went home, studied, and then went to a british birthday party. I had fun, showed magic, drank a little bit and made some new friends, then I came home on the bus and slept. No classes friday, I just studied and went out with friends at night. We went to a club, it sucked, we danced, I got a little drunk, took a cab home, not very interesting. Then, yesterday I studied a lot, pretty much all day, got a haircut and went to another party which was a lot more fun. Made even more friends did some more magic and took like 3 buses to get home. So that was my week! If you read all of this, congratulations!!! It couldn't have been easy!
The first day was probably the worst. I had a class at 10:30 or 11 I think it was, and that class was dance/movement skills A which I had three times a week for three hours. I woke up early because I didn't want to be late and got to school around 9:30. I was pretty nervous and pretty hungry so I made sure I knew how to get to class and went to get some breakfast. I ate for about 5 minutes before I remembered that I still needed to get my theatre class sorted. So, at 10:00 I went to the study abroad office and they informed me that I would either have to drop dance or my race racism and ethnicity class in order to take my theatre class. Now join in me in a journey of thought here, Dance/movement skills A is three hours three times a week, Race racism and ethnicity is only two hours once a week and it is an honors course... hmmmm tough decision right? Needless to say, I couldn't make up mind. So 2 seconds after I was asked which I would prefer to drop my reply was , "Lets drop dance!"
This was a blessing and a curse because as it turned out the class that I was now signing up to take met twice a week on Monday's and Thursdays and the Monday class was already an hour through. Naturally, I didn't want to be interrupt the class by being late on the first day, so I decided not to go. So I showed up 5 minutes later after scouring the building for the right room and completely humiliated myself as I slammed the doors open breathing hard and asked, "Is this theatre skills 1?" Anyway, she let me stay and watch which was really hard because I had to sit there for an hour while the entire class stared at me and made me feel like a complete lummox.
After class finally ended, I made some new friends from the class and had lunch with them, they were really nice and now I have been to two parties with them and have taken a real liking to all of them. Now that was my only class for the day, but I still had to sort out my classes because it turns out, since I dropped one I needed to pick a new one. That meeting lasted about an hour and I tried to figure out which classes would be best. So I told my advisor that I would look into the classes over the next day or so. She said that was fine but to hurry.
After that I went to the library and studied for about two hours and checked out a couple of books. One book in particular I started reading just for fun: Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy by Jay Sankey the magician. I love this man and I love his book. Really awesome if your job, profession or hobby involves a lot of interaction with people. It also complements what I am studying in Theatre, which is movement and action in collusion with Commedia Dell'Arte and Native American Masks and clowning (Which I LOVE by the way).
So at the end of Monday I think I just went home and tried to do more homework, that night I think I went out with my roomate and some friends and got some drinks. Not really that fun, but whatever I was in London! However, I did get a call from my advisor informing me that I might be able to get into a class that I really really wanted. This class was called theatre in London and basically what it is, is a class where we see shows and then talk about them and critique them. This class is awesome. I got in needless to say and It is on wednesdays.
On Tuesdays I have no classes but I had to find out whether or not I could take this class and get that sorted and then I had to get a gym membership and get some more books for classes and basically be prepared for the rest of the day. I also had to get a bank note which was ridiculous, That is the hour long queue with 12 people in it. Ridiculous. I did some magic though and that made time pass a little bit quicker. It really is amazing how many barriers magic breaks once you just start having fun with people. That night was one of my new friend's birthday parties and we went clubbing in Leicster square. I really hate clubbing, but we had fun. I drank a martini that I really liked. It is called a Milky Way and it is basically a chocolate martini and I have only had one that good before at a Casino in Connecticut when I went with Michelle and her family. Until that night I had not been able to have a martini like that since, and believe me I have looked. We danced for a while and then finally we went home. It was like 1:30 in the morning when we finally got back and I passed out. Really bad mistake.
On wednesday, ridiculous classes ensued, I only have two and these classes only meet once a week, but God were they long! Theatre in London started at 11 and ended at 1, we played games and talked about what we were going to do, lots of fun, but I was really hungry and tired from staying up late the previous night. Then I went to Critical Theory and Performance. I had like 5 minutes to get there and grab some M & M's or something, I was starving. Class starts from 1:15 and goes until 5 pm. That hurt. It was fascinating, but once again, I was so tired and it was really hard to concentrate, but I did meet some good people and I do plan on hanging out with them whenever I can. Unfortunately for me, wednesdays are only going to get harder for me because at 6 from here on out, I have to be at Waterloo station ready to see a show every wednesday. YAY! I don't think I did anything that night except pass out when I got home.
On Thursday I have Race Racism and Ethnicity at 10 until 12 and Theatre skills 1 again at 12:30 to 2:3o. Now on my schedule, my Racism class is stated to begin at 9 in the morning. I was prepared this time and got up early ready to go. I got to the main classes building on the North Campus with 20 minutes to find my class. Unfortunately... I couldn't find my class. Their number system is really hard. Even there own students can't find their classes. Anyway, So I had ten minutes left so I asked reception where my classroom was and I showed the lady the name. She looked at me and said, "Ok, you international kids need to scout your classes the day before! You have ten minutes till your class starts and a 20 minute walk ahead of you!" I told her she had to be kidding me and she shook her head and gave me directions. The building I actually needed to go to was called Ladbroke house and I had to go down the main road and turn left somewhere and turn right at a church or something, I actually didn't understand a word she said, so I ran all the way down the road (10 mins running) only to find that I had no idea where to go from there and apparently no one I asked had any idea either, not even the freaking post office! So I walked back, giving up and just planning on writing an apologetic e-mail to my professor.
On my way back though, I ran into my friend who had also gotten lost and was giving up. I told her my story and that I would help her find her class and in doing so I found out where mine was. I noticed that for my class there were actually two classes, a lecture and a seminar. I decided to try and make the seminar at 10:00. I mapped my route and got there in 11 minutes and 13 seconds, hustling. When I got there though, I discovered that the class had been bumped up an hour and that this would be permanent. What a stroke of luck! I hadn't missed a thing, and I wasn't going to!
That class was fun, I liked the teacher and we had a good first day with intelligent discussions about school policies and racism. Eventually, I had to duck out to get to my next class. This class rocked. All we did was try little theatre games, like simon says and introducing ourselves, but we did it in a way that was kind of freeing. I can't really explain it in a blog, it is really something that needs to be shown rather than read. But anyway it was totally awesome and I had a blast.
That class ended, I went home, studied, and then went to a british birthday party. I had fun, showed magic, drank a little bit and made some new friends, then I came home on the bus and slept. No classes friday, I just studied and went out with friends at night. We went to a club, it sucked, we danced, I got a little drunk, took a cab home, not very interesting. Then, yesterday I studied a lot, pretty much all day, got a haircut and went to another party which was a lot more fun. Made even more friends did some more magic and took like 3 buses to get home. So that was my week! If you read all of this, congratulations!!! It couldn't have been easy!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Avenue Q and Familiar Faces
I have wanted to see Avenue Q for a while. A heck of a lot of my friends have raved about this show to me for quite some time, and they always make jokes about it, and now FINALLY, I get them too. Now I have to say, I did not wet my pants with laughter, nor did I laugh to the point of tears, but this could very well have been attributed to the fact that I am quite poorly (for the uninitiated, this means that I am sick). I did love it nonetheless. These puppets are insane.
We got the tickets for 27 quid each. There were four of us, Phil, Lauren, Beth and myself. I bought the tickets online at "lastminute.com" and they were great seats. I couldn't believe our seats, originally these tickets were worth about 66 pounds, which blew my mind that we were able to get them so cheap and to top it all off we bought them like 4 hours before the show actually began! Anyway, so we got there about 7:30 had some wine, and saw the show. I am jumping over some conversation time here, not terribly important.
The show started at 8:30 and it was just the kind of unexpected stuff that I was expecting. In other words I expected to not see a thing coming and I was correct in my prediction. A bed rocketed off into space, the puppets made love (to put it mildly), it even had some sad moments. At one point they appealed to the audience's charitable side and came out with hats to collect change. I gave them whatever change was in my pockets I think it was like 1 quid and 57 p or something. I was feeling pretty generous... the show ended on a happy note soon after that and we all went to the stage door with every intention of getting autographs. Unfortunately, it costed 10 quid to get a program and we all sort of decided that was a bit much for a program so as a result we had nothing for the actor's to sign when they came out... But then I remembered our tickets, I always keep my tickets from major awesome shows, and so we got out a couple of pens and got every actor's John Hancock except one but we didn't want his anyway, he sucked. The funny thing though was that they were all british. I mean, I heard it while they were onstage, it wasn't hard. And once again, I was trying to expect the unexpected but I guess that should have been expected given we are in London. Eh oh well.
So we left the theatre and came home. We played foozball for a bit and then slowly everyone went to bed. I, wanting to meet people, decided to stay up and meet people. Eventually, someone recognized me and asked me to do some more magic. Yeah, I know, but it is so much fun!! And for all of my acting friends, it is like performing everyday under ridiculous amounts of pressure and learning new ways to improv. I'm telling you I have learned so much by just listening to people. So anyway, 3 o'clock comes around and i've met like 4 new friends and I am still feeling poorly so I decide to go to bed. Remembering finally that I was supposed to meet an old friend the next morning (this morning) at ten o'clock. The next morning, that was too early so we bumped it to 11:30 and I took the train to Paddington Station to meet her. This place was cool huge station, sort of like a mall, with an underground and an international train station.
This friend is a long time friend that I have not seen in some time. Her name is Ksenia Kuznetsova. It was really awesome to see her. we had breakfast, and her boyfriend from Russia joined us and we just talked about how things have been going. then I started feeling crappy again and I grabbed some drugs, and we parted ways. It was a nice morning and probably going to be the highlight of my day, and now I am writing this blog and have to finish my laundry so, until next time!
We got the tickets for 27 quid each. There were four of us, Phil, Lauren, Beth and myself. I bought the tickets online at "lastminute.com" and they were great seats. I couldn't believe our seats, originally these tickets were worth about 66 pounds, which blew my mind that we were able to get them so cheap and to top it all off we bought them like 4 hours before the show actually began! Anyway, so we got there about 7:30 had some wine, and saw the show. I am jumping over some conversation time here, not terribly important.
The show started at 8:30 and it was just the kind of unexpected stuff that I was expecting. In other words I expected to not see a thing coming and I was correct in my prediction. A bed rocketed off into space, the puppets made love (to put it mildly), it even had some sad moments. At one point they appealed to the audience's charitable side and came out with hats to collect change. I gave them whatever change was in my pockets I think it was like 1 quid and 57 p or something. I was feeling pretty generous... the show ended on a happy note soon after that and we all went to the stage door with every intention of getting autographs. Unfortunately, it costed 10 quid to get a program and we all sort of decided that was a bit much for a program so as a result we had nothing for the actor's to sign when they came out... But then I remembered our tickets, I always keep my tickets from major awesome shows, and so we got out a couple of pens and got every actor's John Hancock except one but we didn't want his anyway, he sucked. The funny thing though was that they were all british. I mean, I heard it while they were onstage, it wasn't hard. And once again, I was trying to expect the unexpected but I guess that should have been expected given we are in London. Eh oh well.
So we left the theatre and came home. We played foozball for a bit and then slowly everyone went to bed. I, wanting to meet people, decided to stay up and meet people. Eventually, someone recognized me and asked me to do some more magic. Yeah, I know, but it is so much fun!! And for all of my acting friends, it is like performing everyday under ridiculous amounts of pressure and learning new ways to improv. I'm telling you I have learned so much by just listening to people. So anyway, 3 o'clock comes around and i've met like 4 new friends and I am still feeling poorly so I decide to go to bed. Remembering finally that I was supposed to meet an old friend the next morning (this morning) at ten o'clock. The next morning, that was too early so we bumped it to 11:30 and I took the train to Paddington Station to meet her. This place was cool huge station, sort of like a mall, with an underground and an international train station.
This friend is a long time friend that I have not seen in some time. Her name is Ksenia Kuznetsova. It was really awesome to see her. we had breakfast, and her boyfriend from Russia joined us and we just talked about how things have been going. then I started feeling crappy again and I grabbed some drugs, and we parted ways. It was a nice morning and probably going to be the highlight of my day, and now I am writing this blog and have to finish my laundry so, until next time!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Getting here and the first week
Ok so, if you are reading this you are aware that this trip has been a plan of mine for quite some time and it has now come to fruition. As of seven-forty Monday morning, the 28th London time to present, my place of residence has been in Nido student housing in Islington, London. I can't express in a blog how awesome it is to finally be here! Perhaps it is just that the grass is greener on the other side, or I haven't explored my home in D.C. enough, or maybe it might be that I have been attending a college in the middle of great smoky mountains of North Carolina, I have no idea! But, all that aside, I love it here!
In order to get here I packed a huge suitcase to its brim. I tried to keep that case to just clothes and I got it to be pretty heavy, about 68 pounds if memory serves. I also packed another smaller suitcase just for magic and to lighten the load of the larger one, unfortunately not by much though. Finally, I packed my backpack with my computer and external. So altogether 3 bags, not too horrible right? I was advised to take two huge suitcases by one of my slightly older families and i am very glad I didn't I told this person he was crazy and that I would probably be lugging this thing halfway across London and I was NOT going to be carrying for bags. (I was a little stubborn, but I was also right.)
I woke up at 8:30 on sunday the 27th of September pretty much packed and ready to go, still had to pack my computer and such, but no big deal. I had one last breakfast with my parents and we left for the airport about 10:15. I checked in and went through security with very little time elapsed. However, quick interlude, as I was going through security I must confess to some nervousness about my magic bag and it being searched. I tried very hard to make sure that absolutely nothing in that bag could be considered a weapon, but there are some strange things in there that they may have been suspicious of. Regardless I sent the bag through along with my backpack. Now I had taken my computer out, but I forgot about my external. They stopped me and said, "Sir, do you have another computer in your bag?" and like a complete dolt, I said, "Nope." and they told me they would have to search it. I said ok and then I realized what they were talking about and informed them it was my external. They said that was fine but they still needed to check it. I had no problem with that and told them that I had thought the other bag would need to be searched because of all the magic props in there. They laughed and asked if I could do any magic and I said yes and they asked to see a trick. I laughed and said, "Sure!" I vanished a handkerchief for them and they all gave me this dumbfounded look. Awesome moment. Also, behind the security lines, I could see my parents cracking up at this and shaking their heads. Talk about a relaxed and comfortable time through security!
Anyway, I said goodbye to my parents one more time and boarded the plane at around 11:45 AM. This was about a 3 hour flight to Houston which was ok. I started watching Arrested Development, which by the way is hilarious, with the guy next to me and we had a blast the whole flight. Then I had a short layover at the airport and the monster flight arrived which I boarded at about 3:45 pm Houston time, I think... This flight was 10 hours... I felt a repeat of that sentence was necessary. I watched two movies, Terminator Salvation and Star Trek. I also viewed a little bit more of Arrested Development. Thank God I had a whole row to myself. I couldn't sleep but at least I was comfortable. I tried really hard to sleep so that I could stay awake all day in London and beat the jet lag that I was sure to endure otherwise. Unfortunately though, I wasn't all that tired until I actually got to London, this was horrible! I get off the plane, get through customs, get my bag, and prepare to wait for the orientation bus or whatever. I was sooooooo tired!!
I looked everywhere for these guys, I asked information, they paged them, no one showed up. Eventually, I just gave up and took the Tube. This was ok. I lugged my bags downstairs met a nice woman named Samara. She helped me figure out where I needed to go. Actually, it was fairly easy, but she just sort of reassured me. A couple of stops after we got on though, my eyes started failing me. I was really not ok with being awake at that moment. Samara kept telling me just stay awake, whatever you do, do not go to sleep. I said that is the plan but I don't know if I can do it. She just laughed and said she knew how I felt. about a quarter of the way to King's Cross Station, the carriage filled with people. Loads of people just going to work. An ungodly amount of people just squeezing into the train. One woman got in between myself and Samara so it became quite difficult to talk to her. We asked her to move but she kind of just sneered at us and went on reading the paper. Very kind. Anyway, so Samara gave me her card and got off a couple stops before mine. I said goodbye and told her I'd call and see whatever parts of London she was willing to show me. Nice lady.
Then we finally get to King's Cross. Took about an hour from Heathrow. I get off and look for the exit to Pentonville Road. Not really very hard to find. I get up there and I start looking for which way to go. I have absolutely no clue. So... like any responsible, stubborn, American, Chafetz family male, I just start heading in a direction that I think is correct instead of asking for directions. Normally, I would have paid for this dearly, but I got lucky because I knew what the buildings of Nido looked like and I spotted them up the road in the exact direction I was heading! This was wonderful because I was still unbelievably tired, wearing my P-Coat because I didn't want to pack it, and lugging three bags, my backpack and the big and small suitcases which were attached to each other. I was sweating like a dog and my arm was getting tired. I finally got to Nido and pretty much shouted for joy outside the building. I lugged my bags, pretty much for the last time, up the massive stairs into the building and said to the front desk lady that I was ready to check in. She said I could stick my bags in the back but I couldn't check in until 2:00 and that I had to fill out some forms. I was ok with this because at least I would get to sit down and not worry about two of those bags. So I signed some forms ditched my bags for a bit, met some new people and ate a massive amount of McDonald's food.
I waited the few hours and finally checked in and went to my room. I unpacked everything and since it was packed so neatly it was really no problem. I got everything done and almost went to sleep. Instead, my higher will power kicked in and I went with some other people out to explore a bit. this helped to wake me up a bit and this is pretty much what I did for the rest of the day until I eventually went to a pub with about 20 people. Also, if I may say so, pubs are big here. I mean I knew that, but bigger than I even imagined. The Brits love their Pubs and so do I. Can't say I drank or drink much but I certainly enjoyed meeting like 50 new people. The good news though, was that when 9:20 came along. I said goodnight to everyone in the pub and bolted back to Nido. I got back about 9:30 brushed my teeth, took off my clothes, passed out before my head even hit the pillow. That was the greatest night's sleep that I have ever had in my entire life!!
The next day I had an audition at 2:30 to get into the higher level theatre classes and after that at about 4 o'clock I had orientation meetings. I had breakfast at a nice little cafe down the street from where I live with my roommate Max, pretty cool guy. Then, I put on my black suit, borrowed a tie from Max (because I don't know where mine are), and headed off to practice my monologue and do this audition. I did it for the head of the theatre department here and discussed what my options were. She liked my audition, lucky for me and told me that would be happy to put me in any class I wanted, and that if I did well this semester, I would be able to take part in the major production next semester. That sounded great to me and I readily accepted.
Then I had orientation which was important but still boring, and we all went out again for dinner. We explored more of London and saw a bunch of really cool restaurants and then eventually we all came back and went to sleep. I honestly can't remember much else from that night, I was still a little tired and Jet lagged from the first day.
On wednesday though, we had an early orientation and then another one at like 2 and then at like 4 I think we were free. On this day, we went to Westminster. Really really cool place. The first thing we saw when we got out of the underground was Big Ben! Then we walked around and saw Parliament and the Thames, the London Eye, a bunch of Museums. We walked really far around and through the Thames a bunch of times. Really awesome time and then we took the underground to some other place I can't remember the name of and watched the Manchester United game at a pub which after a time we also left. Then we came home and slept again. Awesome day, loads of fun!
Yesterday, I went to an orientation wherein I learned quite a lot about traveling even farther than England, for some brief stints and after my father reads all this and we perhaps have a slight chat... the Chafetz family might possibly, hopefully, god willing have a really amazingly unique christmas. Anyway, that is something I don't want to Jynx, so I'll save the juicy details for a later blog. So needless to say that was quite informative and I will definitely be looking into that further. After that though, I met even more new people and we hung out for that afternoon on our guided tour of westminster where we saw, the buckingham palace and the royal guards and many other awesome things. The tour eventually went from a bus tour to a boat tour and our tour guide, Andrew ended his narrations of England and turned it over to the competent boat crew. They were hilarious! Informing us of what all the buildings were and telling us their stories and experiences that occurred while on the boat giving this particular tour. Then we got off the boat and headed for King's Cross to get some food. We ate at some chinese restaurant near Nido and then went to a karaoke Bar. We drank a little and sang a little and I discovered that I should and will never sing in public again, especially while feeling under the weather and slightly tipsy. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was a readlly bad choice.
On a side note, involving that bar, I met someone very unexpectedly there. I was standing next to the bar watching some other nutter who couldn't sing try and sing some elvis or something and this short curly haired blond curl came out of the crowd and glanced at me. As we saw each other we locked eyes and immediate recognition occurred. We both shouted, "HEY DID YOU GO TO CHURCHILL!" and then of course subsequently, "YES! HOLY SHIT!" it turned out we knew each other from way back but couldn't remember how. She told me that Avenue Q would be playing tonight and that we should go see it and then hang out when we were sober so that we could figure out how the hell we knew each other! So we are probably gonna do that tonight. I cannot wait to see that show, it is supposed to be hilarious. So that is really all I got for this Blog today, I am going to go and read for a bit and buy those tickets!
In order to get here I packed a huge suitcase to its brim. I tried to keep that case to just clothes and I got it to be pretty heavy, about 68 pounds if memory serves. I also packed another smaller suitcase just for magic and to lighten the load of the larger one, unfortunately not by much though. Finally, I packed my backpack with my computer and external. So altogether 3 bags, not too horrible right? I was advised to take two huge suitcases by one of my slightly older families and i am very glad I didn't I told this person he was crazy and that I would probably be lugging this thing halfway across London and I was NOT going to be carrying for bags. (I was a little stubborn, but I was also right.)
I woke up at 8:30 on sunday the 27th of September pretty much packed and ready to go, still had to pack my computer and such, but no big deal. I had one last breakfast with my parents and we left for the airport about 10:15. I checked in and went through security with very little time elapsed. However, quick interlude, as I was going through security I must confess to some nervousness about my magic bag and it being searched. I tried very hard to make sure that absolutely nothing in that bag could be considered a weapon, but there are some strange things in there that they may have been suspicious of. Regardless I sent the bag through along with my backpack. Now I had taken my computer out, but I forgot about my external. They stopped me and said, "Sir, do you have another computer in your bag?" and like a complete dolt, I said, "Nope." and they told me they would have to search it. I said ok and then I realized what they were talking about and informed them it was my external. They said that was fine but they still needed to check it. I had no problem with that and told them that I had thought the other bag would need to be searched because of all the magic props in there. They laughed and asked if I could do any magic and I said yes and they asked to see a trick. I laughed and said, "Sure!" I vanished a handkerchief for them and they all gave me this dumbfounded look. Awesome moment. Also, behind the security lines, I could see my parents cracking up at this and shaking their heads. Talk about a relaxed and comfortable time through security!
Anyway, I said goodbye to my parents one more time and boarded the plane at around 11:45 AM. This was about a 3 hour flight to Houston which was ok. I started watching Arrested Development, which by the way is hilarious, with the guy next to me and we had a blast the whole flight. Then I had a short layover at the airport and the monster flight arrived which I boarded at about 3:45 pm Houston time, I think... This flight was 10 hours... I felt a repeat of that sentence was necessary. I watched two movies, Terminator Salvation and Star Trek. I also viewed a little bit more of Arrested Development. Thank God I had a whole row to myself. I couldn't sleep but at least I was comfortable. I tried really hard to sleep so that I could stay awake all day in London and beat the jet lag that I was sure to endure otherwise. Unfortunately though, I wasn't all that tired until I actually got to London, this was horrible! I get off the plane, get through customs, get my bag, and prepare to wait for the orientation bus or whatever. I was sooooooo tired!!
I looked everywhere for these guys, I asked information, they paged them, no one showed up. Eventually, I just gave up and took the Tube. This was ok. I lugged my bags downstairs met a nice woman named Samara. She helped me figure out where I needed to go. Actually, it was fairly easy, but she just sort of reassured me. A couple of stops after we got on though, my eyes started failing me. I was really not ok with being awake at that moment. Samara kept telling me just stay awake, whatever you do, do not go to sleep. I said that is the plan but I don't know if I can do it. She just laughed and said she knew how I felt. about a quarter of the way to King's Cross Station, the carriage filled with people. Loads of people just going to work. An ungodly amount of people just squeezing into the train. One woman got in between myself and Samara so it became quite difficult to talk to her. We asked her to move but she kind of just sneered at us and went on reading the paper. Very kind. Anyway, so Samara gave me her card and got off a couple stops before mine. I said goodbye and told her I'd call and see whatever parts of London she was willing to show me. Nice lady.
Then we finally get to King's Cross. Took about an hour from Heathrow. I get off and look for the exit to Pentonville Road. Not really very hard to find. I get up there and I start looking for which way to go. I have absolutely no clue. So... like any responsible, stubborn, American, Chafetz family male, I just start heading in a direction that I think is correct instead of asking for directions. Normally, I would have paid for this dearly, but I got lucky because I knew what the buildings of Nido looked like and I spotted them up the road in the exact direction I was heading! This was wonderful because I was still unbelievably tired, wearing my P-Coat because I didn't want to pack it, and lugging three bags, my backpack and the big and small suitcases which were attached to each other. I was sweating like a dog and my arm was getting tired. I finally got to Nido and pretty much shouted for joy outside the building. I lugged my bags, pretty much for the last time, up the massive stairs into the building and said to the front desk lady that I was ready to check in. She said I could stick my bags in the back but I couldn't check in until 2:00 and that I had to fill out some forms. I was ok with this because at least I would get to sit down and not worry about two of those bags. So I signed some forms ditched my bags for a bit, met some new people and ate a massive amount of McDonald's food.
I waited the few hours and finally checked in and went to my room. I unpacked everything and since it was packed so neatly it was really no problem. I got everything done and almost went to sleep. Instead, my higher will power kicked in and I went with some other people out to explore a bit. this helped to wake me up a bit and this is pretty much what I did for the rest of the day until I eventually went to a pub with about 20 people. Also, if I may say so, pubs are big here. I mean I knew that, but bigger than I even imagined. The Brits love their Pubs and so do I. Can't say I drank or drink much but I certainly enjoyed meeting like 50 new people. The good news though, was that when 9:20 came along. I said goodnight to everyone in the pub and bolted back to Nido. I got back about 9:30 brushed my teeth, took off my clothes, passed out before my head even hit the pillow. That was the greatest night's sleep that I have ever had in my entire life!!
The next day I had an audition at 2:30 to get into the higher level theatre classes and after that at about 4 o'clock I had orientation meetings. I had breakfast at a nice little cafe down the street from where I live with my roommate Max, pretty cool guy. Then, I put on my black suit, borrowed a tie from Max (because I don't know where mine are), and headed off to practice my monologue and do this audition. I did it for the head of the theatre department here and discussed what my options were. She liked my audition, lucky for me and told me that would be happy to put me in any class I wanted, and that if I did well this semester, I would be able to take part in the major production next semester. That sounded great to me and I readily accepted.
Then I had orientation which was important but still boring, and we all went out again for dinner. We explored more of London and saw a bunch of really cool restaurants and then eventually we all came back and went to sleep. I honestly can't remember much else from that night, I was still a little tired and Jet lagged from the first day.
On wednesday though, we had an early orientation and then another one at like 2 and then at like 4 I think we were free. On this day, we went to Westminster. Really really cool place. The first thing we saw when we got out of the underground was Big Ben! Then we walked around and saw Parliament and the Thames, the London Eye, a bunch of Museums. We walked really far around and through the Thames a bunch of times. Really awesome time and then we took the underground to some other place I can't remember the name of and watched the Manchester United game at a pub which after a time we also left. Then we came home and slept again. Awesome day, loads of fun!
Yesterday, I went to an orientation wherein I learned quite a lot about traveling even farther than England, for some brief stints and after my father reads all this and we perhaps have a slight chat... the Chafetz family might possibly, hopefully, god willing have a really amazingly unique christmas. Anyway, that is something I don't want to Jynx, so I'll save the juicy details for a later blog. So needless to say that was quite informative and I will definitely be looking into that further. After that though, I met even more new people and we hung out for that afternoon on our guided tour of westminster where we saw, the buckingham palace and the royal guards and many other awesome things. The tour eventually went from a bus tour to a boat tour and our tour guide, Andrew ended his narrations of England and turned it over to the competent boat crew. They were hilarious! Informing us of what all the buildings were and telling us their stories and experiences that occurred while on the boat giving this particular tour. Then we got off the boat and headed for King's Cross to get some food. We ate at some chinese restaurant near Nido and then went to a karaoke Bar. We drank a little and sang a little and I discovered that I should and will never sing in public again, especially while feeling under the weather and slightly tipsy. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was a readlly bad choice.
On a side note, involving that bar, I met someone very unexpectedly there. I was standing next to the bar watching some other nutter who couldn't sing try and sing some elvis or something and this short curly haired blond curl came out of the crowd and glanced at me. As we saw each other we locked eyes and immediate recognition occurred. We both shouted, "HEY DID YOU GO TO CHURCHILL!" and then of course subsequently, "YES! HOLY SHIT!" it turned out we knew each other from way back but couldn't remember how. She told me that Avenue Q would be playing tonight and that we should go see it and then hang out when we were sober so that we could figure out how the hell we knew each other! So we are probably gonna do that tonight. I cannot wait to see that show, it is supposed to be hilarious. So that is really all I got for this Blog today, I am going to go and read for a bit and buy those tickets!
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