29th to 30th...first full weekend!

Saturday, Britt and I attempted to go to the gym, but they closed it down because someone "got sick". Later, I went to this crazy English bargain store - "Primark", and it was a ZOO. I got a bunch of good stuff though...trying to live like a hermit for the next month and save money! Yes. When I got back, Britt and I got pizza at Pizza Express (it was amazing!), and we went to the "cinema". British movie theatres look like real theatres, and the seats are super comfortable. We saw "The Green Hornet", which was a lot better than I thought it would be, so that's good.

Sunday, we got up, went to Church (at the same Church as last week)...the cutest little old Irish man was sitting in front of us (European grandpa #2, after the cute little Italian priest). We joined a gym - yay!!! The YMCA on our way home from school. When we got home, everyone was getting ready for a potluck to welcome our 10th person to the group - Ashley! Ashley brought five of her friends (from Rutgers; they've already been here since September), and we made a ton of food. It was super delicious and really fun - everyone was nice, and we had a mini impromptu jam sesh (which made me miss you Franco).

i'm dumb...should i be holding a sword?

So yesterday, we had Shakespeare with Michael Winter in the morning, which was really interesting. We had a huge break (Britt and I watched Grey's)...then I realized that I accidentally locked my keys for my lock in my locker. Which is typical of me. And embarrassing. I went to the office, and this handyman came in with a GIANT saw and sawed it off. That's two really dumb things I've done in the past two days. The day before yesterday, I was going to lunch, and I looked down and said, "I didn't know my coat had this great belt!" I just buttoned the belt, kept going, went to lunch, put the coat back on, and started walking back. It was cold, so I was absentmindedly buttoning the buttons on my jacket when I realized...my jacket doesn't have buttons. Wow. So I just stole somebody's jacket without meaning to. Who's jacket was it? Justin's. I'm ridiculous.


Anyway, at three we had stage combat for the first time - I really like our teacher, Gordon. He seems fun - and he kept talking about British cows and cats (which is a mistake with our group, cause then we all just start mooing and meowing with British accents). Yeah... but it was really interesting stuff.


Finally, just came home and did some work...watched the Kennedy Center performance  http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4555 from Catholic : )  


Today, I'm heading to the gym first thing, maybe going to a market, and then possibly a movie? Hmmm. 

January 15- Now!

So I'm just gonna write about some of the highlights of the past week and a half, cause I'm super behind.

The first Saturday we were here, Michael Winter took us on another walking tour of Westminster. It was amazing coming off the tube and seeing Big Ben right away. Everything was so beautiful, and Michael knows EVERYTHING. I can't wait to go on the London Eye and see all the sights that way. We walked around and took lots of pictures...it was amazing, but pretty cold. Michael dropped us off at The National Portrait Gallery, where we saw an exhibit of Thomas Lawerence, an 18-19th century artist. I loved it - the way he paints different surfaces and textures was incredible - it all looked so tangible and real. It was honestly the first time I've seen an old painting of someone actually look like a real person. It was great.

At night, we went to see "Romeo and Juliet" (the ballet) at the Coliseum (they spell it weird), a really beautiful theatre in Westminster (the seats were really small and straight though). I know I'm a dancer, but I think even if I weren't, I would have loved it. Some of the stuff they were doing was unreal. Plus that score is incredible. The woman playing Juliet was wonderful - her expressions read so well - she was amazing actress, as well as technical dancer. The costumes were gorgeous, and the fight sequences were awesome. It was really enjoyable (though they made one or two odd choices with the end, and with some cloaked creatures that were supposed to represent death). We got home, and went straight back out to celebrate Ryan's birthday. After walking for awhile, we ended up in a club. I talked to some Australian dude, but most of the people were kinda sketchy. They played a lot of American remixes, and we danced for a bit. There was some drama, which sucked, but we all got back home safe. Ryan had a good time, so that was good : ) Sunday, Britt and I went to Mass at this Italian Church, with the cutest little Italian priest ever. But...the whole thing was in Italian. Then, we went to this nice, classy place for dinner all together, to celebrate Ryan's birthday.

Last week, we worked on Shakespeare's Sonnets and The Novel Project (we had to adapt a scene from Dickens' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" in groups). I had Richard Digby Day as my sonnet teacher - he's the artistic director, and he's had an amazing career - he apparently discovered Hugh Grant and Ralph Fiennes. Britt had Hugh Ross, who is in a movie with MERYL STREEP right now. Gah! The sonnet performance went really well - I was really happy with it, which is awesome because a few of our teachers came to watch. We also had an introduction to some of our movement classes (all these people have had amazing careers, and the classes seem awesome). During the week, I shopped a little (got some cheap boots), had lunch with Sami (who is really sweet, super down to earth), and tried to find a gym. Saturday, Britt and I tried out the Virgin Active for free (this INCREDIBLE, giant gym). It was amazing, but super expensive. We're probably going to try to head to the YMCA from now on - much cheaper. Saturday night, I went out for a bit, but didn't actually end up doing much. Sunday, Britt and I tried another little church (it was really small and kind of in the middle of nowhere, but really cute). We explored, and found this place called the Shakespeare. The people burned Britt's pizza, so it took awhile haha. But we had fun - the place was neat, and they have random Shakespeare trivia contests for good prizes, so we're gonna try to get everyone to go one night. We also found this cool place where we can play gigs, once we have enough material.

This week started off with our normal class schedule (pretty intense, most days are 9:30 to at least 5, followed by "cultural outings" at night). Monday we had historical dance (we wore corsettes, and I couldn't breathe, but she made Britt my partner, so yay! haha), movement (we learned some combinations), historical theatre (I thought it was super interesting; we watched clips of "The Doll's House"), and speech (our teacher is SO hilarious - she can do any type of accent. She was amazing). Then we worked on the Novel Project from 7-9. Tuesday we had Physical Theatre (played lots of games, got lots of exercise), Shakespeare (with Michael Winter! He's amazing), and finally performed the Novel Project. The staff seemed happy with the work we had done, which was great to hear. At night, we went to see the farce, "A Flea in Her Ear" at the Old Vic. The show was hysterical, and we had front row seats! Richard and Michael gave us a lot of the history of the theatre at intermission - apparently the woman who used to own the theatre would cook sausages during the performances in her box - she was an eccentric haha. It was really interesting to hear who had performed there (Michael Winter directed "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" there, one of my favorite musicals). Wednesday, we had Dramatic Literature (we're discussing the Duchess of Malfi, which I was in freshman year, so it sort of dragged). Then we had a Master Class with Freddie Fox, who was in "A Flea in Her Ear". He was really witty, comfortable, and helpful. He talked about his experiences in film and in the theatre - and at the end we found out he's 21! Crazy. I asked him about how he keeps his energy up that whole time on stage (he runs in and out the whole show), and he said, "You just sense the energy and ride it...like a surfer, really." Hahaha. Yeah...it was cute with the accent : )

Britt and I went to lunch at a pub, which was nice. We headed to our first acting class - mine was with Kathryn, who is super intense. She was amazing - I think she's going to be exactly what I need. We started off right away with games and exercises, then sat in a circle and talked about her career (she played Portia at the Globe!!!) and acting. We did a really interesting exercise called "The Life and Death" exercise. She seems like she's really going to push us, and I can't wait to start working on my character. At night, we went grocery shopping and then I headed off with my Sonnet group to see "The Invisible Man" at the Meinier Chocolate Factory (an intimate, dim-lit space with benches). I enjoyed the experience, and I think I learned a lot from watching, though  I felt like the show didn't work for some reason. The cast was made up of some talented individuals, but I felt that they lacked any chemistry. It was alright. The special effects were cool, and I'm glad I saw it. 

Today, we had our first day of individual lessons. We started off with voice (where we did a lot of group body awareness stuff). I had my first audition class with my "tutor," Allison, who is amazing. She said she liked my sonnet! And I'm working on a great play with her - I'm going to come back with a lot of audition pieces. She also said my British accent was good - so I feel super legite now. Haha : ) I had Alexander Technique with Dee, my "tutor", who is also really great. She is being really nice to me - I stink at Alexander because of my ridiculous dancer habits. But it's making my back feel better already. I've got a break now, and I'll be heading to my dialects class next (I'm really excited!)

I miss everyone so much. I promise this blog will get way more interesting when I start writing day by day - all the little details are mostly for my mom (hi mom!) cause she wants to hear them. Everybody keep e-mailing me when you can! It makes me super cheerful.

Monday-Friday...first week stuff

So...Britt and I ended up having lots of leg room on the plane, which was great. Plus they fed us three different times, and the food was actually pretty good. We sat next to this girl from Maryland (small world) who now lives in London, and she gave us lots of great tips about the markets here and hostel prices. We finally got to the Heathrow airport around 6 am on Monday morning, and we cleared customs in about 5 seconds (yay!) We stopped at a little cafe (I grabbed a smoothie, and Britt got a breakfast sandwich), and we waited for everyone to arrive. Around  8, I spotted Nora and Ryan in a corner...finally, we met up with the lady from Fordham. We found my roommate, Kristin (who seemed awesome...and she likes Harry Potter, so you know we're gonna get along) and met Sami (this sweet girl from Brown...yes, she knows Emma Watson)...two of the others got delayed, and one was coming in later that day. After taking a bus ride (and seeing lots of British cows!...and Nora saw a random naked dude in his window?), we got to our flats. AMAZING. I was so happy when I saw mine (I'm on the top floor with Kristin, Sami and Krista live in the room downstairs, and we have a basement kitchen and couch. Plus we have two bathrooms. Everybody else's flat was awesome too - really spacious and cool. Justin arrived (from Hawaii - almost a 22 hour flight I think : /). Everyone took some time settling in, and we headed out to find a place to eat...our waitress was awesome - she really liked us and was super welcoming. When we got back, we all drank a little and waited for Serita and Krista to get there (their flights got super delayed). We all got comfortable with each other really quickly (we're all outgoing, and we blamed anything awkward on jetlag hahaha), which was awesome : ) 

Tuesday, we got up, went to this random breakfast place called "Tiffin." (Any time is Tiffin time!) The waitress STRUGGLED with Nora's order. I had an awesome tuna sandwich thing. We all found a grocery store, Sainsbury's, which has really cheap groceries. Which is awesome. The cashier asked me if I was ok cause I was stupidly flustered by the system of checking out. At night, we went to Nora's flat, drank a bit, and left obnoxious videos on people's walls. We went to a pub called "Betsey Trotwood" (after the character in Dickens' "David Copperfield"), and I met a nice girl and a guy who looked JUST like Paul McCartney. Except with longer hair - I talked to him for awhile about acting - he's on some BBC tv shows : ) Also, two guys made fun of me for being American, and then called me racist for imitating their British accents. It was fun though; we ended up having a really good time. Britt and Ryan decided to head off in a different direction, and after trying to follow them, I got lost and caught up with the girls instead. We went into this sketchy fish and chips place, where a Turkish man hit on me (I look very Turkish, he told me) and tried to charge Nora seventy pounds for a water or something.

Wednesday, we all slept in pretty late. I can't really remember what we did actually. I'm pretty sure we went out at night to a pub (King John's Castle or something like that)...met some cool American guys from Notre Dame, but nobody British. It was a really nice atmosphere though, and we all just talked some more and had a good time.

Thursday was the start of orientation. We started by getting our Oyster Cards for the Tube (which I can't decide if I like better than the metro...everyone reads, nobody really says anything). We had about a 45 minute metro ride to Kensington Square, on High Street. It's an amazing area, with so many shops and beautiful, historic houses. The London Centre is a space rented out by Fordham from Heythrop College, in a sweet building next to an old chapel. We found this adorable French cafe our friends told us about (amazing hot chocolate!). Orientation started with lunch with the business school kids, who seemed taken aback that we were all so friendly. General Orientation was cool - the policeman that came in to talk about safety made me laugh a lot (don't worry Mom, I took his advice seriously). We met with some of our teachers at the end of the day, which was nice (except they had our passport photos to identify us, and mine's NASTY). But they told me I was better looking in person, which made me feel better. Haha. It was a bit awkward, but whatevs. Again, I can't really remember what we did that night. Something fun, I'm sure. Haha.

Friday was a rainy day. One of our "tutors", Michael Winters, gave us a walking tour of where we live. Clerkenwell is really historic, and Michael is literally (not figuratively, Andy) a walking encyclopedia. He knows EVERYTHING about the city. He explained how we could tell the age of the buildings based on the architecture, the building materials, and the color. We found out our flats used to be factories (which sounds kinda creepy, but it's actually awesome). We saw all the holes in buildings from bombs in WWII, which was crazy to think about. 

We headed over to the school for our first class, an introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets (Michael sat really far away from us on the tube haha - I think he was probably embarrassed cause of our loud, clueless Americanism). The class was about how Shakespeare probably wrote the sonnets for one of two men. It was like an endless love saga, but all of it was really interesting. I loved the class : ) 

Shakespeare apparently lived super close to our flats now at one point in his life...I feel so legite. Except it was in a brothel...classy. London rules. 

We're in London : )

So I'm starting this blog to keep everybody updated about what I'm doing abroad :) I miss everyone already, but I'm having an amazing time so far!