Week Five: London

Monday 27 September 2010
 
Today was simply classes. Or was it?!? We went to the Wicked box office to price out tickets and amazingness ensued. Julie asked about student discounts and he said that they had them! For example, tonight he could give us 90 pound seats for 25 pounds each. Would we be interested? Before we knew it Julie, Katy, and I all had tickets for that night. We attended Wicked. Wow. It was wonderful. I had only ever heard the soundtrack before, never knowing the story. That made it all the more wonderful. Just like with Les Miserables I was completely wrong and thrown for a loop. It turned out exactly as it should have, but not as I had previously expected. But I cannot say anymore lest I give it away to anyone else still holding out like I was.

In other news, Julie and I are going to Madrid for Thanksgiving! Three other girls from the program: Kaitlyn, Mandy, and Olivia, are going as well and I think it's going to be really excellent. We're also spending a day in Toledo. The trip was approved tonight and we're buying tickets tomorrow morning. It will be expensive, obviously because we're paying for it all on our own, but I think it will be really worth it. There are so many wonderful things to see in and around Madrid!

Tuesday 28 September 2010

The day after classes today I got caught up on almost all of my homework and then after an early dinner Katy, Julie, and I immediately set out for the Globe theater. Tonight, we were to be Groundlings during the Merry Wives of Windsor. Some other people on the program had already attended Henry IV part one at the Globe as groundlings and they wanted to get there really early. Well, Katy and I are competitive and we wanted to get there even earlier. So, right after dinner we booked it. So what if we were there an hour and a half before the theater doors open, which is a half hour before the play starts. We were the first three groundlings in line! We sat in line since we would be standing for almost three hours during the play.

Finally the doors were opened and we got prime real estate! I was right at the center of the stage and I'm just the right height to put my arms up on the stage and lean my head on them. Perfect! The actors would walk, or sit, or sing right there, directly to us. I didn't even notice that we were standing for that long! I credit my good walking shoes for that one. It did get a little more cramped as the play went on--people always pack together. But the play was wonderful and very very funny and I absolutely loved being a groundling! Totally better than sitting at the back. After the play we walked across the Millennium Bridge (Harry Potter) to get to the tube and we stopped and just looked over the Thames with the lights reflected in the water and the sky was purple. Really beautiful.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

In keeping with our Shakespeare theme this week our field trip today was for Stratford-upon-Avon and a town near it called Cotswolds. We saw four houses associated with Shakespeare. First his wife's (Anne Hathaway) childhood home (in Cotswolds) and Anne's family's farm, the birthplace of Shakespeare (with a video museum that had Shakespeare actors narrating--Patrick Stewart. Awesome.), the location of Shakespeare's retirement home (long since demolished), and the house of his oldest daughter and her husband. It was all pretty cool. At Anne Hathaway's house we get a discount in the shop because we come as such a big group so I bought an insult cup like the one that Audrey bought in Cedar City--I bought the love cup in Utah already--it's a bunch of quotes from Shakespeare that are insults. At the birthplace I bought two more little leather bound plays. The first time I went there I bought a leather Twelfth Night and to keep the tradition alive I bought Much Ado About Nothing and the Taming of the Shrew. I guess I'll just have to go back until I buy the rest.

After today I want to see more Shakespeare! I think the centre may have a movie of one of them. I forgot what a fan I am of the Bard. As we got back on the bus to head back to London Uncle Dave brought a drink to the back for Katy, Julie, Katilyn, and I to share. Butterbeer!! Woah. It was actually surprisingly good and addicting. It was served cold (though I think you can get it hot) and you could actually taste the butter! I could also taste citrus, carbonation, and some spice like cinnamon or ginger. It burned the back of my throat as it went down. It was so unlike anything else I have tasted before I wanted to drink more and more, just to wrap my head around what I was experiencing. Now I want another one! I can't believe it. I had butterbeer.

Thursday 30 September 2010

Homework. Homework. Homework. Homework! But I did make a lot of progress today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Friday 1 October 2010

Today our London study was at Kew Gardens. These are the largest gardens in the world. But, to me they were a lot like Longwood Gardens but not as good because it was cold and rainy. I love cold and rainy weather and gardens, but not in combination. It made me a bit homesick, thinking about running around Longwood Gardens with all the siblings, etc. But it was still neat. My favorite part was walking on the tree walk--up at the top of trees. Neat, but too short.

It misted all day today which I loved. Loved, loved, loved. I'm so tired, time for bed. But, I finished all my papers. Go me. :P

Saturday 2 October 2010

Today Katy, Julie, and I started our morning off by taking a tour of the Globe and viewing their exhibition on Shakespeare (like a mini museum). The tour was pretty much one long advertisement for the Globe but we did get to sit in the seats during it. I'd never done that--having only been a groundling before. We also got to take a look in a gentleman's box. These are on the side of the stage so that you can hear the best. In Shakespeare's day all the groundlings would be talking and people would be advertising among the groundlings, etc. That's why the phrase is to "hear a play." You sit where you can best hear, not where the best view is. This is where the Queen sits when she comes to the Globe--which apparently has happened.

To get around in the tube we have an oyster card. It's a card with my name and picture on it that I touch to a yellow reader at the side of the tube entrance gate thing. This way we don't have to buy a ticket every time we use the tube. It's a good deal, we just pay a monthly rate and then use it as often as we want. It's called an oyster card because the holder it comes in is a black plastic thing that folds up and opens like an oyster. The reason I'm telling you all this is because we saw the Merry Wives of Windsor. One of the ruffians in that play says "The World's Mine Oyster" and Katy found at the Globe gift shop a oyster card holder with that printed all over it. I bought one. Yeah, I'm cool.

For lunch we ate at Borough Market. The lamb burger place was closed, but I had a bratwurst with ketchup and mustard and sauerkraut. So good! Katy, Julie, and I also each got for 1 pound a caramel cream and for 2 pounds chocolate mousse. This mousse was HEAVEN on earth. It was astoundingly good. It was in a small glass jar but it was more than enough because it was so rich and lovely.

After lunch we did Monument. 312 steps to the top of a column built by Christopher Wren to commemorate the great fire of London in 1666. My thighs still aren't speaking to me. But don't worry, I'll whip them into shape. Then we went to Primark and I got a bunch of makeup for 50p for each item.

I then used that makeup to look nice for a concert we went to at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square. The main venue was the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. My favorite season was Winter--it sounded the most like the season to me. But, there was also a Vivaldi concerto with a recorder soloist, another Vivaldi concerto, a Mozart concerto that was written when he was 16, but my favorite was the first concerto--Bach Double Concerto for two Violins. I know both violin parts for the first movement so I loved listening to it with orchestral backing, and a real harpsichord. We had pretty cheap seats and so we couldn't really see anything, but we could see all the candlelight and the music was very good.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Today was very low key--reading my religion textbook. But Katy, Mandy, Claire, and I all walked across Hyde Park to the Hyde Park Chapel to watch the Sunday morning session of conference from 5pm to 7pm. It got really dark in the chapel and I had to smile every time a speaker mentioned another session that afternoon--9pm to 11pm for us. I'll be reading that session when it comes out on the internet in a few days. It's just past 8:30, but I'm so tired that I may just go to bed. I don't know if that means I'm responsible or just a killjoy. ;)