You know, I hoped it wouldn't come to this. But I think it has. I regret to say (even though not really) that for the duration of my stay in England, I will most likely not post another blog. (Pause to anticipate the shocked and appalled gasp from my mother). Sorry Mum, still love you. My hours here are dwindling and I intend to use them well. If it makes you feel any better the list of things I won't be doing for the next few days includes the following:
1. Sleeping
2. Blogging
3. Hair (I will promise to wash it, just not much else)
4. Other things that waste time.... (very specific, I know)
Just a few things I WILL be doing:
1. Gino's
2. Gino's
3. Writing a talk
4. Preparing a lesson
5. Preparing a musical number
6. Putting into action 3, 4, & 5
7. Finishing up my last assignments (not that I haven't done those already, of course I didn't procrastinate...)
8. Gino's? (I mean I do have a punch card to fill up! So much pressure!)
9. Packing (that should be super fun, especially since I haven't purchased much- just kidding I'm just havin a laugh)
10. Last minute acquirements (a few Boost bars for the road, perhaps?)
11. Italy.
So now having said that, you won't be expecting anything from me and if I do put anything on the blog it is like me going above and beyond.
Keep calm and carry on. If I were less of a slacker you would know about my personal relationship with that phrase, but you don't, because I'm not. If I were less of a slacker you would also know that a phrase I love maybe even more than that is "You're havin a laugh." It can also be adapted to different situations, "They're havin a laugh" or "He's havin a laugh" etc etc. In American terms it is similar to the expression "You're kidding, right? There's no way THAT is happening." Love it.
But again, I wish you all the best and hope that you all keep calm and carry on.
Longfellow
"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tara Crossley-Holland
Ok, I promise, it is not what you think. I did not fall in love with someone with the last name of Crossley-Holland and I have not resorted to testing out my name with his. It is not like that.
To preface, in art I gave a presentation on the Rococo period a few weeks ago. I think I mentioned that briefly, but I may not have mentioned that I gave almost the entire presentation in a fake french (ish) accent. Or that I had an entirely original (at least I would imagine) pronunciation of the term "rococo." That being said, the class seemed to enjoy the presentation to some extent. I also showed a clip from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and obviously that alone would make it the best presentation ever because who doesn't love Percy?!
Now to the real story. In English, I had a presentation on YA lit author Kevin Crossley-Holland. In preparing for this, I was feeling some pressure to give a delivery like I did for the Rococo presentation. I could not think of a single clever or humorous thing to do. What was I to do in such a predicament? Such a dilemma. But I finally decided to just go with the tried and trusted presentation tactic of "dress up like the person you are presenting as and have them come as a guest." So that is what I did, more or less. Without a Savers or DI close by, I did the best I could. Which involved large amount of baby powder. To whiten my hair, of course.
I whitened my hair, pulled it back in a bun, introduced myself as Kevin Crossley-Holland and gave a brief synopsis of my (his) life, all in accent of course. It took me a minute to work into a natural British accent with a hint of northern England. It got even trickier when I read an excerpt from my (his) book, The Bracelet of Bones, and had to be a British man reading the part of a Viking man. Things were getting complicated. It was a relief to turn the time back over to "Tara" for the remainder of the presentation.
Though, perhaps not quite "rococo" I think that I still managed not to disgrace myself entirely. Well, I guess that depends on your definition of "disgrace." In this instance it means, "to not give an entirely boring presentation on a boring author all while speaking in an accent." My Professor then later referred to me as "Tara Crossley-Holland." So at least he remembered who my author was!
To preface, in art I gave a presentation on the Rococo period a few weeks ago. I think I mentioned that briefly, but I may not have mentioned that I gave almost the entire presentation in a fake french (ish) accent. Or that I had an entirely original (at least I would imagine) pronunciation of the term "rococo." That being said, the class seemed to enjoy the presentation to some extent. I also showed a clip from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and obviously that alone would make it the best presentation ever because who doesn't love Percy?!
Now to the real story. In English, I had a presentation on YA lit author Kevin Crossley-Holland. In preparing for this, I was feeling some pressure to give a delivery like I did for the Rococo presentation. I could not think of a single clever or humorous thing to do. What was I to do in such a predicament? Such a dilemma. But I finally decided to just go with the tried and trusted presentation tactic of "dress up like the person you are presenting as and have them come as a guest." So that is what I did, more or less. Without a Savers or DI close by, I did the best I could. Which involved large amount of baby powder. To whiten my hair, of course.
I whitened my hair, pulled it back in a bun, introduced myself as Kevin Crossley-Holland and gave a brief synopsis of my (his) life, all in accent of course. It took me a minute to work into a natural British accent with a hint of northern England. It got even trickier when I read an excerpt from my (his) book, The Bracelet of Bones, and had to be a British man reading the part of a Viking man. Things were getting complicated. It was a relief to turn the time back over to "Tara" for the remainder of the presentation.
Though, perhaps not quite "rococo" I think that I still managed not to disgrace myself entirely. Well, I guess that depends on your definition of "disgrace." In this instance it means, "to not give an entirely boring presentation on a boring author all while speaking in an accent." My Professor then later referred to me as "Tara Crossley-Holland." So at least he remembered who my author was!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dahncing Through Life
Nothing like having a holiday from your holiday! This weekend (free travel weekend) was awthum. We kicked it off by seeing "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Globe, which I mentioned in my last post. Did I mention I met Benedick? Ok, fine, I know I mentioned that, I'm still just really excited about that.
Thursday was Brighton Beach day. When I was running that morning I was getting pretty sweaty due to the heat, so we definitely picked a great beach day. Brighton is about an hour via train, so not too bad. But we got out of the train station and there is a really long street and you can see straight to the beach. As you might imagine we (Amy, Hannah, Emily, Jessica, Sarah and I) were all giggling like the schoolgirls we are.
The beach is not made up of sand, but of rocks. We were excited about the prospect of not having sand in everything! Obviously we took care of business first and rented our cute, legit, blue-striped beach chairs and then made a dash to test the water. FREEZING. So we decided we would wait to take the plunge. When we finally got to that point it was a pretty comical affair, some squeals were heard.
After spending some time laying out and enjoying the sun and The Graveyard Book, my then-current read for English, we decided to head over to the pier. But on the way over a few of us pitched in 50p to try some "jellied eel." An interesting experience. And by "interesting" I really mean "utterly repulsive." I may or may not have lost my jellied eel all over the beach. Right in front of an eating area. Bahahaha.
The pier was totally like you see in the movies! Apart from a creepy encounter with a henna-dude, it was an awesome experience. I went on this ride that takes you up super high and then swings you down and up again- it was super fun. Most importantly, I got a tan. So for all of you who were telling me I was going to come back super white... just kidding! I'm still going to come home super white.
Then Friday we got up bright and early and headed to the British Library. The tube was packed and let me just ask the question, is there a better way to start off the day? packed tube? Yes, please! Actually, packed tube isn't always a bad thing. At least, Friday it wasn't a bad thing. I had no where to hold on to because I was squished right in the center, so at one point I started to wobble a little, and this dreamy guy took it upon himself to help me keep my balance. Tehehe. The British Library was sweet. They have some treasures there. I got a kick out of the Beatles section, because they had like song lyrics written on the back of birthday cards and directions to a house and stuff.
From the Library we headed to Wimbledon. We got our strawberries and cream and took a quick look around. To see most of it you have to pay and we were content with seeing what we saw without paying. Then we went to the Rajdoot in Wimbledon Village and had the best Indian food ever. On the way home we stopped at the Natural History Musuem and did the Butterfly Exhibit. I was under the impression that the exhibit was cool because you could touch butterflies, so I was a little surprised when we got chastised for encouraging the butterflies to land on us. Still laughing about that one. We paralleled it to a petting zoo and being told that we can only pet the animal if it comes over and starts nuzzling. We retaliated by stamping ourselves with butterflies at the different stations. They felt the sting.
Did I mention that the weather all weekend was pretty dang hot? Seriously though.
After the butterflies, we ate some leftover at the Centre and then headed out the door to go and try to get discounted tickets to Wicked. We had success and we got great seats too! The Theatre was set up very well. I got a kick out of listening to Wicked with accents. "Dahncing Through Life" was a personal favorite. Elpheba was incredible. I seriously couldn't even breathe during "Defying Gravity" because she was just on fire. Fiyero looked like Prince Charming, which was awesome. Even the ensemble was on fire. They were seriously intense. Loved it. I loved it so much that when we got back to the Centre I attempted to reinact by jumping on the table in the servery and try to defy gravity, it didn't really work though.
So, I'm not the most spontaneous person. Actually, my spontaneity is like nonexistent. So being in London has been interesting, because usually plans fail, no matter how hard you try. Things just come up and things don't work out, but then better things happen and in the end everything comes out all right. This is just something I have gotten used to. But let me just say that I spent so long on the tube on Saturday that I finished an entire 200 page book. Who knew that closing the Victoria line and the District/Circle line could be so disastrous?
We intended to be at the British Museum when it opened, but then on the way there Shelisa's debit card got eaten by the machine and they told us to stay close by because they would get it out in the next hour or so. So we went over to Portobello for a bit, but then headed back to the bank. They then told us that they wouldn't be able to get it out until Monday. So at this point we didn't really have enough time to get to the Museum because we were meeting Hannah at Camden Town at noon. So we tried (and failed) to do a few other things in the hour that we had.
Camden was fun and pretty crazy. The tube was insane getting there and back. There was a football match that day too so all the Manchester United fans were out in force. A lot of chanting and Ole-ing was happening. Other people were sweating on me and stuff.
Earlier this week I discovered that there was a Summer Festival at John Keat's House. So I booked for the "Closing Readings and Concert" and I was pumped up about this. It was happening Saturday at five thirty. So we got back to the Centre from Camden and had like fifteen minutes to get ready to head back out. So we get to Hampstead and head to the house (we also received the best directions to date- "it's the sixth left and first right"). I seriously had butterflies as we approached the house, until we got there and realized that the Closing Readings were actually happening on Sunday and there was a "Three voices" reading happening on Saturday. Oopsie. So we kept our fingers crossed and put our (Amy, Shelisa, and I) names on the waiting list. We explored the grounds of Keat's house in the meantime. We read "To Autumn" and "When I have fears" while passing the time. Then, luckily, they managed to squeeze us in!
So don't even worry, we just listened to a poetry reading at John Keat's house!!!! And we got a little break between readings, so we got to explore the house and we weren't sure if we were allowed to take pictures or not- so we were sneaking around getting pictures. Many phrases like "Clear!" or "Cover me" were heard during this time. We did stop short at jumping into John's bed though. We were tempted. We also might have attempted to kiss his death mask had it not been behind glass. It was magical. And though it was not the original plum tree, because plum trees do not generally have very long lives, we saw the fake plum tree, where John would sit and write poetry.
On the way back from Hampstead we did our usual Saturday activity of Gino's and Trafalgar Square. By this time most of our fellow Londoners were returning from their travels elsewhere. It was fun to hear about their experiences.
Sunday was, as per usual, wonderful. I love my Sunday school class. They are awesome. The lesson was about "Preparing for the Second Coming" and I used the talk by Elder Andersen about "Preparing the World for the Second Coming" and we had a good discussion about missionary work and my class is mostly males. One of the boys told me he could see me serving my mission in South Africa, because he went there once and I look like I could be South African. Hahaha. I also had the very big surprise of seeing Reed Peterson! He used to be in my home ward and his wife was my Sunday school teacher at one point. He was there on business and just happened to be at the Peckham Ward! It was a lovely surprise.
After church I took the tube straight to the British Museum. Luckily, museums are Sunday-approved activities. Rick had a good tour of the place (Rick Steve's) and he took care of me. I also learned some interesting things about the mummification and the extraction of internal organs. I had heard about the method of using a metal rod to pull the organs out through the nose, but that wasn't the only way. There is a different way, that apparently was less expensive. I'm just going to leave it at that.
The rest of Sunday was interesting. And once again, I'm just going to leave it at that.
Thursday was Brighton Beach day. When I was running that morning I was getting pretty sweaty due to the heat, so we definitely picked a great beach day. Brighton is about an hour via train, so not too bad. But we got out of the train station and there is a really long street and you can see straight to the beach. As you might imagine we (Amy, Hannah, Emily, Jessica, Sarah and I) were all giggling like the schoolgirls we are.
The beach is not made up of sand, but of rocks. We were excited about the prospect of not having sand in everything! Obviously we took care of business first and rented our cute, legit, blue-striped beach chairs and then made a dash to test the water. FREEZING. So we decided we would wait to take the plunge. When we finally got to that point it was a pretty comical affair, some squeals were heard.
After spending some time laying out and enjoying the sun and The Graveyard Book, my then-current read for English, we decided to head over to the pier. But on the way over a few of us pitched in 50p to try some "jellied eel." An interesting experience. And by "interesting" I really mean "utterly repulsive." I may or may not have lost my jellied eel all over the beach. Right in front of an eating area. Bahahaha.
The pier was totally like you see in the movies! Apart from a creepy encounter with a henna-dude, it was an awesome experience. I went on this ride that takes you up super high and then swings you down and up again- it was super fun. Most importantly, I got a tan. So for all of you who were telling me I was going to come back super white... just kidding! I'm still going to come home super white.
Then Friday we got up bright and early and headed to the British Library. The tube was packed and let me just ask the question, is there a better way to start off the day? packed tube? Yes, please! Actually, packed tube isn't always a bad thing. At least, Friday it wasn't a bad thing. I had no where to hold on to because I was squished right in the center, so at one point I started to wobble a little, and this dreamy guy took it upon himself to help me keep my balance. Tehehe. The British Library was sweet. They have some treasures there. I got a kick out of the Beatles section, because they had like song lyrics written on the back of birthday cards and directions to a house and stuff.
From the Library we headed to Wimbledon. We got our strawberries and cream and took a quick look around. To see most of it you have to pay and we were content with seeing what we saw without paying. Then we went to the Rajdoot in Wimbledon Village and had the best Indian food ever. On the way home we stopped at the Natural History Musuem and did the Butterfly Exhibit. I was under the impression that the exhibit was cool because you could touch butterflies, so I was a little surprised when we got chastised for encouraging the butterflies to land on us. Still laughing about that one. We paralleled it to a petting zoo and being told that we can only pet the animal if it comes over and starts nuzzling. We retaliated by stamping ourselves with butterflies at the different stations. They felt the sting.
Did I mention that the weather all weekend was pretty dang hot? Seriously though.
After the butterflies, we ate some leftover at the Centre and then headed out the door to go and try to get discounted tickets to Wicked. We had success and we got great seats too! The Theatre was set up very well. I got a kick out of listening to Wicked with accents. "Dahncing Through Life" was a personal favorite. Elpheba was incredible. I seriously couldn't even breathe during "Defying Gravity" because she was just on fire. Fiyero looked like Prince Charming, which was awesome. Even the ensemble was on fire. They were seriously intense. Loved it. I loved it so much that when we got back to the Centre I attempted to reinact by jumping on the table in the servery and try to defy gravity, it didn't really work though.
So, I'm not the most spontaneous person. Actually, my spontaneity is like nonexistent. So being in London has been interesting, because usually plans fail, no matter how hard you try. Things just come up and things don't work out, but then better things happen and in the end everything comes out all right. This is just something I have gotten used to. But let me just say that I spent so long on the tube on Saturday that I finished an entire 200 page book. Who knew that closing the Victoria line and the District/Circle line could be so disastrous?
We intended to be at the British Museum when it opened, but then on the way there Shelisa's debit card got eaten by the machine and they told us to stay close by because they would get it out in the next hour or so. So we went over to Portobello for a bit, but then headed back to the bank. They then told us that they wouldn't be able to get it out until Monday. So at this point we didn't really have enough time to get to the Museum because we were meeting Hannah at Camden Town at noon. So we tried (and failed) to do a few other things in the hour that we had.
Camden was fun and pretty crazy. The tube was insane getting there and back. There was a football match that day too so all the Manchester United fans were out in force. A lot of chanting and Ole-ing was happening. Other people were sweating on me and stuff.
Earlier this week I discovered that there was a Summer Festival at John Keat's House. So I booked for the "Closing Readings and Concert" and I was pumped up about this. It was happening Saturday at five thirty. So we got back to the Centre from Camden and had like fifteen minutes to get ready to head back out. So we get to Hampstead and head to the house (we also received the best directions to date- "it's the sixth left and first right"). I seriously had butterflies as we approached the house, until we got there and realized that the Closing Readings were actually happening on Sunday and there was a "Three voices" reading happening on Saturday. Oopsie. So we kept our fingers crossed and put our (Amy, Shelisa, and I) names on the waiting list. We explored the grounds of Keat's house in the meantime. We read "To Autumn" and "When I have fears" while passing the time. Then, luckily, they managed to squeeze us in!
So don't even worry, we just listened to a poetry reading at John Keat's house!!!! And we got a little break between readings, so we got to explore the house and we weren't sure if we were allowed to take pictures or not- so we were sneaking around getting pictures. Many phrases like "Clear!" or "Cover me" were heard during this time. We did stop short at jumping into John's bed though. We were tempted. We also might have attempted to kiss his death mask had it not been behind glass. It was magical. And though it was not the original plum tree, because plum trees do not generally have very long lives, we saw the fake plum tree, where John would sit and write poetry.
On the way back from Hampstead we did our usual Saturday activity of Gino's and Trafalgar Square. By this time most of our fellow Londoners were returning from their travels elsewhere. It was fun to hear about their experiences.
Sunday was, as per usual, wonderful. I love my Sunday school class. They are awesome. The lesson was about "Preparing for the Second Coming" and I used the talk by Elder Andersen about "Preparing the World for the Second Coming" and we had a good discussion about missionary work and my class is mostly males. One of the boys told me he could see me serving my mission in South Africa, because he went there once and I look like I could be South African. Hahaha. I also had the very big surprise of seeing Reed Peterson! He used to be in my home ward and his wife was my Sunday school teacher at one point. He was there on business and just happened to be at the Peckham Ward! It was a lovely surprise.
After church I took the tube straight to the British Museum. Luckily, museums are Sunday-approved activities. Rick had a good tour of the place (Rick Steve's) and he took care of me. I also learned some interesting things about the mummification and the extraction of internal organs. I had heard about the method of using a metal rod to pull the organs out through the nose, but that wasn't the only way. There is a different way, that apparently was less expensive. I'm just going to leave it at that.
The rest of Sunday was interesting. And once again, I'm just going to leave it at that.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The World Must Be Peopled
Ok, so here is the deal. The internet wasn't working for awhile at the Centre, and before that I was travelling. Then I even went to a pub to try and get some good internet, but I couldn't get it to work there. So I typed up a little posty-post about the "North Trip" on a Word document, but then the internet started working, but I couldn't get the whole copy-paste deal to work from the word document to the blog. So just know that the North trip was super cool and I'm now really great at Scottish dancing and have got a nice Scottish brogue going on.
We arrived back in London late Friday night and Saturday was our "Harry Potter Day." Basically we (Amy, Shelisa, and I) went around to all the spots from the films. It was exciting. Saturday night we took a bike ride through some different parks and it was amazingly beautiful. It has been awhile since I have ridden a bike, and this was the perfect time to do it. Best thing ever. We followed the bike ride up with a little trip to Trafalgar Square. A perfect Saturday evening.
Sunday we did the "Sung Eucharist" at Westminster. I got a blessing from the Preacher-man. It was very interesting to watch and stuff. I got a little drowsy during the Sermon, but the dude did mention Shakespeare, so points to him. We also enjoyed the whole thing whilst sitting next to John Dryden (or at least his remains). The rest of my Sunday night is a blur, so I probably was at the local pub or something. Jokes. Just joking...
Also, from Saturday to Monday I visited the Tate Britain, the Tate Modern, and the Saatchi Gallery. The Tate Britain had a whole wing of Romantic paintings by Turner, Constable, and even some Blake stuff. My favorite from that wing was probably "Hero and Leander." They also had THE painting of "The Lady of Shalott" and THE painting of Ophelia. So awthum. I was not as pumped up about the Tate Modern and the Saatchi. Just sayin...
Then Tuesday we went to Windsor Castle. Don't even worry, they just have the bullet that killed Admiral Nelson. WHAA????!!!! For reals. They had the bullet. Just hanging out there. The rest of the stuff was pretty cool too, I guess. Ok, but really. The place was sweet and in the gift shop they were playing the Royal Wedding Dvd and we ended up being in there for like ten minutes just watcing. The ladies working there were making fun of us, but one of them commented on Prince William's jaw during the kiss, "of course, just as a motherly figure." True story.
Then we just went and saw Phantom of the Opera. No big deal. Except it was a big deal. It was awesome. Christine had a rough start, she was an understudy, but by the second half she was rocking it. The Phantom was stellar, as was Raoul. Pretty much it was super awesome. The chandelier drop was a little pathetic though. And by a little pathetic, I mean really pathetic. But hey, still really great.
And today. Today makes the top five chart for me. We had class in the morning and then we went over to the Globe Theatre and got in the queue for the ground seats for Much Ado About Nothing. We were right up next to the stage and front and center. The play changed my life forever. But really. And I met Benedick after the show. I'm in love. Beatrice was in the movie The King's Speech. She was unreal. Another highlight- Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-air was totally Leonato. Just in case you couldn't quite tell, I was pretty much loving everything about this. Even the guy next to me who brayed like a donkey as a form of laughter added to the event. Did I mention that I'm in love? AH! I have never heard such thunderous applause and just pure enjoyment from an audience before. It was really great to be a part of that and I am just going to go hang out at the Globe every day for the rest of my life. So if you need me, look for me there. (one of the funniest lines from the play was "the world must be peopled!").
This weekend is the free travel weekend and there are only a few of us who stayed behind and I'm kind of digging the Centre being quiet. Bowchickawowow.
We arrived back in London late Friday night and Saturday was our "Harry Potter Day." Basically we (Amy, Shelisa, and I) went around to all the spots from the films. It was exciting. Saturday night we took a bike ride through some different parks and it was amazingly beautiful. It has been awhile since I have ridden a bike, and this was the perfect time to do it. Best thing ever. We followed the bike ride up with a little trip to Trafalgar Square. A perfect Saturday evening.
Sunday we did the "Sung Eucharist" at Westminster. I got a blessing from the Preacher-man. It was very interesting to watch and stuff. I got a little drowsy during the Sermon, but the dude did mention Shakespeare, so points to him. We also enjoyed the whole thing whilst sitting next to John Dryden (or at least his remains). The rest of my Sunday night is a blur, so I probably was at the local pub or something. Jokes. Just joking...
Also, from Saturday to Monday I visited the Tate Britain, the Tate Modern, and the Saatchi Gallery. The Tate Britain had a whole wing of Romantic paintings by Turner, Constable, and even some Blake stuff. My favorite from that wing was probably "Hero and Leander." They also had THE painting of "The Lady of Shalott" and THE painting of Ophelia. So awthum. I was not as pumped up about the Tate Modern and the Saatchi. Just sayin...
Then Tuesday we went to Windsor Castle. Don't even worry, they just have the bullet that killed Admiral Nelson. WHAA????!!!! For reals. They had the bullet. Just hanging out there. The rest of the stuff was pretty cool too, I guess. Ok, but really. The place was sweet and in the gift shop they were playing the Royal Wedding Dvd and we ended up being in there for like ten minutes just watcing. The ladies working there were making fun of us, but one of them commented on Prince William's jaw during the kiss, "of course, just as a motherly figure." True story.
Then we just went and saw Phantom of the Opera. No big deal. Except it was a big deal. It was awesome. Christine had a rough start, she was an understudy, but by the second half she was rocking it. The Phantom was stellar, as was Raoul. Pretty much it was super awesome. The chandelier drop was a little pathetic though. And by a little pathetic, I mean really pathetic. But hey, still really great.
And today. Today makes the top five chart for me. We had class in the morning and then we went over to the Globe Theatre and got in the queue for the ground seats for Much Ado About Nothing. We were right up next to the stage and front and center. The play changed my life forever. But really. And I met Benedick after the show. I'm in love. Beatrice was in the movie The King's Speech. She was unreal. Another highlight- Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-air was totally Leonato. Just in case you couldn't quite tell, I was pretty much loving everything about this. Even the guy next to me who brayed like a donkey as a form of laughter added to the event. Did I mention that I'm in love? AH! I have never heard such thunderous applause and just pure enjoyment from an audience before. It was really great to be a part of that and I am just going to go hang out at the Globe every day for the rest of my life. So if you need me, look for me there. (one of the funniest lines from the play was "the world must be peopled!").
This weekend is the free travel weekend and there are only a few of us who stayed behind and I'm kind of digging the Centre being quiet. Bowchickawowow.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Not Friday... SUNDAY!!!
Today was the first Sunday where I recognized all of the songs we sang in Sacrament meeting. True story. We sing the most obscure hymns. (If you are curious, look up hymns 275, 217, & 229). I was sort of singing with the "pick a note, any note strategy." I think the lady picks obscure hymns on purpose though because she will sing the first verse out loud to us before so we know how it goes. Today it was a different lady that liked to pick what I like to refer to as "normal hymns." Just sayin.
Another highlight- I stopped to look at the pictures people were selling on Bayswater on the way home and an old man asked if I was Spanish and when I said no he said, "Greek?" "No" "Italian?" "Nope. American." Wanted to kiss old man. Made my day.
Had a fireside with Dean and Kathy Hughes tonight and it was really great. They were very encouraging and inspiring and they are such kind people.
Also, I love most things about London, but here are some I find odd. Or absolutely hate.
1.EVERYBODY smokes. Seriously. It is disgusting. Having people blow their smoke in my face, not my favorite and it happens at least once a day.
2. The faucets. Don't hate, but definitely don't understand. Instead of having the normal, one place where water comes out deal, they have two spout things. One for hot water to come out, one for cold water to come out. So if you want "warm" water you can't actually have it. So get over it. So pretty much you just choose hot or cold. Don't understand that. It is continuously perplexing to me. I even asked an American Cambridge student her opinion on it and she said it was the dumbest thing ever. But people are used to it here...
I know I will have more to add to this list, but there is a good starting point.
Going to Scotland for the next few days! Don't even worry, I will find an awesome kilt. ("It's not a dress, it's a kilt- Sicko!" Name that movie!)
Another highlight- I stopped to look at the pictures people were selling on Bayswater on the way home and an old man asked if I was Spanish and when I said no he said, "Greek?" "No" "Italian?" "Nope. American." Wanted to kiss old man. Made my day.
Had a fireside with Dean and Kathy Hughes tonight and it was really great. They were very encouraging and inspiring and they are such kind people.
Also, I love most things about London, but here are some I find odd. Or absolutely hate.
1.EVERYBODY smokes. Seriously. It is disgusting. Having people blow their smoke in my face, not my favorite and it happens at least once a day.
2. The faucets. Don't hate, but definitely don't understand. Instead of having the normal, one place where water comes out deal, they have two spout things. One for hot water to come out, one for cold water to come out. So if you want "warm" water you can't actually have it. So get over it. So pretty much you just choose hot or cold. Don't understand that. It is continuously perplexing to me. I even asked an American Cambridge student her opinion on it and she said it was the dumbest thing ever. But people are used to it here...
I know I will have more to add to this list, but there is a good starting point.
Going to Scotland for the next few days! Don't even worry, I will find an awesome kilt. ("It's not a dress, it's a kilt- Sicko!" Name that movie!)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Hogwarts... or the next best thing
The last few days have been pretty packed, so I will attempt to recollect the highlights.
Wednesday- Cambridge
- took the train from King's Cross Station to Hogwarts... ok, fine, just Cambridge
- snuck into the grounds of Pembroke College and tried to fit in
- went to the Wren library and saw some cool stuff
- punted on the cam, pretty much the coolest thing ever, you get in a little flat-bottomed boat and use a pole thingy to push it, we struggled a bit at the end and got laughed at by the workers. A lot. Punting is a common activity in Cambridge, so we were practically locals.
- Brother and Sister Tanner were there (THE Sister Tanner) and they hung out with us, ok well not me specifically, but they were with our group.
- we visited a really cool chapel deal, but i don't remember the name (as one of my roommates would say, "Another flippin' Cathedral)
Thursday&Friday- Globe Theatre
- went and saw As You Like It at the Globe. Seriously one of THE coolest things of my life. I absolutely loved it.
- returned the next day to do a tour and saw rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing, which we purchased tickets for! Woot Woot (also, the butler, Jeffrey, from Fresh Prince is in the play!)
- realized that teaching Shakespeare will never be the same for me after seeing it done at the Globe. For real though.
- did two of our walks for class
- visited the bookstores on Charing Cross Road
- Had some Gino's Gelato (the best gelato place EVER) and danced to the music at Trafalgar Square (the best hangout place EVER)
- missed our tube stop by a few stops because we were laughing and got distracted
*I would just like to say that on Friday I spent half of my day on the tube. It was ridiculous but pretty funny, we looked at the tube map at the end of the day and we had ridden almost every line and we rode the entire circle line. Ridiculous.
Saturday- Oxford
- we had a little lecture from Dean Hughes, the author of The Children of the Promise series and many others, he is visiting to research for a new book
- went to Oxford and loved it
- ate at The Eagle and Child Pub where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis had little meetings about their books they were writing, called themselves "the Inklings" (and naturally we all discussed what we would write about)
- Went to a library that I don't remember how to spell it, but they filmed some Harry Potter stuff there
- climbed to the top of a chapel and saw an awesome view. It was pretty treacherous, but I didn't die.
- sprinted to see the Great Hall and we were a minute late and they wouldn't let us in, but I think the guy realized we were a little distraught so he gave us the encouraging news that it wasn't actually filmed there, just used for inspiration, and he gave us little brochures.
- Fell asleep on the train home and my leg was sort of out in the aisle accidentally and I woke up to a guy with a cart bumping his cart into my foot repeatedly trying to get by. Oopsie.
* You all might be wondering about the Cambridge versus Oxford, which is better debate... I must say I preferred Oxford. Just my opinion!
Now a bunch of us Centre girls are crowded in the classroom watching North and South. Perfect end to the week, but I do still need to plan a Sunday School lesson...
I feel that I should include a randomly funny encounters segment, cuz I had a few this week:
1. Heard man humming "In the Jungle" while walking across the Tower Bridge and so, naturally, sang along- then I was afraid the man would start following us
2. After Les Miserables there was a guy playing some drums and it was pretty catchy, so I started dancing and a bunch of Middle Eastern men all followed me onto the dance floor (don't worry Mother, I was in a group and perfectly safe and smart and stuff)
3. At the Globe there was a rather dashing young man leaning up against the stage and pretty much all of the girls in our section noticed him, so I got elected to go and try to talk to him, I was pretty dang sneaky, pretended I wanted a picture of the stage (one of my better moments) and then when he didn't have an accent, I had the perfect opportunity to ask where he was from. The girls in the group recorded from afar.
4. Some guy at The Eagle and Child was at the table next to us and had me record him giving a little spiel about the pub. Interesting. We later saw him at the train station.
5. I think I might be missing one, but it eludes me at the moment.
Wednesday- Cambridge
- took the train from King's Cross Station to Hogwarts... ok, fine, just Cambridge
- snuck into the grounds of Pembroke College and tried to fit in
- went to the Wren library and saw some cool stuff
- punted on the cam, pretty much the coolest thing ever, you get in a little flat-bottomed boat and use a pole thingy to push it, we struggled a bit at the end and got laughed at by the workers. A lot. Punting is a common activity in Cambridge, so we were practically locals.
- Brother and Sister Tanner were there (THE Sister Tanner) and they hung out with us, ok well not me specifically, but they were with our group.
- we visited a really cool chapel deal, but i don't remember the name (as one of my roommates would say, "Another flippin' Cathedral)
Thursday&Friday- Globe Theatre
- went and saw As You Like It at the Globe. Seriously one of THE coolest things of my life. I absolutely loved it.
- returned the next day to do a tour and saw rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing, which we purchased tickets for! Woot Woot (also, the butler, Jeffrey, from Fresh Prince is in the play!)
- realized that teaching Shakespeare will never be the same for me after seeing it done at the Globe. For real though.
- did two of our walks for class
- visited the bookstores on Charing Cross Road
- Had some Gino's Gelato (the best gelato place EVER) and danced to the music at Trafalgar Square (the best hangout place EVER)
- missed our tube stop by a few stops because we were laughing and got distracted
*I would just like to say that on Friday I spent half of my day on the tube. It was ridiculous but pretty funny, we looked at the tube map at the end of the day and we had ridden almost every line and we rode the entire circle line. Ridiculous.
Saturday- Oxford
- we had a little lecture from Dean Hughes, the author of The Children of the Promise series and many others, he is visiting to research for a new book
- went to Oxford and loved it
- ate at The Eagle and Child Pub where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis had little meetings about their books they were writing, called themselves "the Inklings" (and naturally we all discussed what we would write about)
- Went to a library that I don't remember how to spell it, but they filmed some Harry Potter stuff there
- climbed to the top of a chapel and saw an awesome view. It was pretty treacherous, but I didn't die.
- sprinted to see the Great Hall and we were a minute late and they wouldn't let us in, but I think the guy realized we were a little distraught so he gave us the encouraging news that it wasn't actually filmed there, just used for inspiration, and he gave us little brochures.
- Fell asleep on the train home and my leg was sort of out in the aisle accidentally and I woke up to a guy with a cart bumping his cart into my foot repeatedly trying to get by. Oopsie.
* You all might be wondering about the Cambridge versus Oxford, which is better debate... I must say I preferred Oxford. Just my opinion!
Now a bunch of us Centre girls are crowded in the classroom watching North and South. Perfect end to the week, but I do still need to plan a Sunday School lesson...
I feel that I should include a randomly funny encounters segment, cuz I had a few this week:
1. Heard man humming "In the Jungle" while walking across the Tower Bridge and so, naturally, sang along- then I was afraid the man would start following us
2. After Les Miserables there was a guy playing some drums and it was pretty catchy, so I started dancing and a bunch of Middle Eastern men all followed me onto the dance floor (don't worry Mother, I was in a group and perfectly safe and smart and stuff)
3. At the Globe there was a rather dashing young man leaning up against the stage and pretty much all of the girls in our section noticed him, so I got elected to go and try to talk to him, I was pretty dang sneaky, pretended I wanted a picture of the stage (one of my better moments) and then when he didn't have an accent, I had the perfect opportunity to ask where he was from. The girls in the group recorded from afar.
4. Some guy at The Eagle and Child was at the table next to us and had me record him giving a little spiel about the pub. Interesting. We later saw him at the train station.
5. I think I might be missing one, but it eludes me at the moment.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Billowing Robes
So apparently I am most apt to blog when I am avoiding some other assignment. Last time it was a sunday school lesson, this time it is a paper. Oopsie. But just to give an update of the last few days, in typical fashion of course:
- Taught Sunday School and it went pretty well, we had fun (or at least I did)
- Saw Les Miserables (!!!!!!!!!!). It was incredible, though I will admit, wasn't too impressed with Fantine
- Went to Hampton Court. Super cool and they hand out robes for people to wear whilst they are wandering the court and they weren't going to let us have them because we were in such a big group, but I snuck one. I chose Tudor Green. At one point, they billowed behind me as I walked in the courtyard. Truly one of the most exciting moments of my life.
- Visited the stuffed animal collection of Darwin- and not the "stuffed" you would want to cuddle with. Like science experiment stuffed. Yummy. But really cool to see Down House, because for our class we just read a book about Charles and Emma.
- Sketched at the Courtauld Gallery, wasn't my favorite musuem, but still cool.
- Sketched at the National Gallery, and no, all of this sketching isn't making my skill any better, I am still just as bad as I ever was, still get a good chuckle out of my sketches though- always good for a laugh (name that movie!)
- Watched the new "Emma" and I am never watching the Gwnyeth version again. This one was seriously so much better, and Mr. Knightley was a winner (girls- Emma party when I get back? Yes? k, cool!)
- Still wishing I had my billowy green robe to wear around
You probably have noticed, but I have just sort of given up on the whole picture thing, so.. yeah... over and out.
- Taught Sunday School and it went pretty well, we had fun (or at least I did)
- Saw Les Miserables (!!!!!!!!!!). It was incredible, though I will admit, wasn't too impressed with Fantine
- Went to Hampton Court. Super cool and they hand out robes for people to wear whilst they are wandering the court and they weren't going to let us have them because we were in such a big group, but I snuck one. I chose Tudor Green. At one point, they billowed behind me as I walked in the courtyard. Truly one of the most exciting moments of my life.
- Visited the stuffed animal collection of Darwin- and not the "stuffed" you would want to cuddle with. Like science experiment stuffed. Yummy. But really cool to see Down House, because for our class we just read a book about Charles and Emma.
- Sketched at the Courtauld Gallery, wasn't my favorite musuem, but still cool.
- Sketched at the National Gallery, and no, all of this sketching isn't making my skill any better, I am still just as bad as I ever was, still get a good chuckle out of my sketches though- always good for a laugh (name that movie!)
- Watched the new "Emma" and I am never watching the Gwnyeth version again. This one was seriously so much better, and Mr. Knightley was a winner (girls- Emma party when I get back? Yes? k, cool!)
- Still wishing I had my billowy green robe to wear around
You probably have noticed, but I have just sort of given up on the whole picture thing, so.. yeah... over and out.
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