so no one told you it was gonna be that way...

Well, this is it! My last day in London. It's so strange, I've spent so long looking forward to tomorrow and counting down to it, and now that it's basically here I'm thinking "no, that's ok, I can wait a bit longer"! Maybe because of all the work I had, but still. I really do love this city, it's just so vast and amazing. Yesterday I went to the National Gallery with Liz and we talked art - it was SO great. Then Liz, Sarah, Nathan and I went to dinner on the embankment (Giraffe, so yummy!) and THEN Liz and I went to see Les Mis. The perfect London day folks, right there. Today I have no real clue what I'm doing. I think the plan right now is to go to St. Paul's with Blair and possibly Sarah and Nate, and then maybe (hopefully? finally!?) Hyde Park. I have to give my computer (Del) back today, and finish packing. And hopefully make my peace with leaving this wonderful city for an indeterminable amount of time. Maybe one day I'll come back.

So, to anyone out there who read this, or even skimmed it, thank you. I hope you enjoyed visiting London through my eyes, and, if I know you, I hope this blog helped me seem not so far away.

Ta!

deck the halls...

Well hello! My time here is almost at an end, I only have ten days left. It's starting to feel really wierd. I'm excited to go home and have Christmas and see my family and friends, but I'm also kind of nervous about it after being away for all this time. Things will be different, I will be different. They won't be the same as they were the last time I was there. That makes me kind of sad, and nervous for the homecoming.

This week was really really good. It was the last week of classes, and since we don't have exams over here it was the last week of everything pretty much. So there were a bunch of final things to see and do, and lots of photo taking at every oppotunity. Photos taken of every class and with most profs, and lots of fun photoshoots wherever we were because we knew our time together was short. It was really good though, the people here with me are pretty hilarious, and great to be around.

I went to a panto on Wednesday night at the Hackney Empire. BEST SHOW EVER!!! It was part looney tunes, part slapstick, part vaudeville, part Disney movie, and all fun! Tons of audience participation, tons of songs and laughter, a whole bunch of current and regional jokes added in, and two of the main characters were cross-dressed, including the main male hero who was played by a women. Amazing and hilarious! I wish I could see it again, I didn't stop smiling through the entire show, and I left feeling as giddy as a six year old. Pantos are where it's at.

OH! AND, Ian McKellen was in the audience! So we all had fun ogling him a bit. Good times. Brings my celebrity sightings up to two!

People have already started to go home. People already ARE home. It's such a weird feeling. I've still got a trip to Scotland and Chantelle coming to do/enjoy before I go home, and people are already there, reminicing about their time in the UK. I feel like I spent so much of my time over here waiting to go home, and when I get home I'm going to spend so much time and energy on thinking and missing London and this semester. Why is the grass always greener on the other side?

I should go, I leave for Scotland soon (eeeee! so excited!) and I haven't even packed yet!

out in the night, into the water...

So this week definitely picked up since I wrote. Thursday night was really busy. I saw Rachmaninov and Dvorak performed by the London Symphony Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall (my last concert for music, tear!) which was really amazing! Then a bunch of us went to ISH for what was one of our final stints at karaoke. It was a good time, typical of any time we our group gets together.

Friday was good. A little laid back I think, considering I can't remember it really. I think I worked. Oh, and I think I watched The Return of the King. Yep. Good times. lol

Saturday was busy busy! I was woken up at 9am by Erin to go to Covent Garden market because I hadn't been yet. So I was up, dressed, and out the door in about 10 mintues! The market was really cool, I think I especially liked that it has a permanent structure creating the market, unlike the other markets I've been to. Anyway, we ended up seeing a random line-up and joined it to get stand-by tickets to see Jewels at the Royal Opera House! It's a ballet based on the music of three different composers, and it has no plot, so it's pure unadulterated dance set to music. It was really good! I especially loved the middle part, Rubies. And then on my way back home after the show (with Erin, who came with) we ran into Dianne who told us that a bunch of people were going to the Canaidan bar, The Maple Leaf, so we quickly changed and headed there to meet up with everyone. So, long story short, I was in Covent Garden three times yesterday - so much! It was really good though.

Today I worked. Finished Walking Tours and Theatre - two courses done!! All I have left now is music and art. Here goes nothin'!

Also, 17 days 'till Canada! Weeeeeee!

under the blacklight...

So, I can't seem to go less than a week before updating. I'd love to update more, but the weekdays feel so jam packed that I either don't get a chance to or don't even think of it. Oh well, though, I'm not even sure anyone actually reads this, so it's probably just me writing to myself. Which I can do in my paper journal. Right. But I'm posting anyway! On the off chance one of you Canadian peeps are actually stopping to see what I'm up to.

So what have I been up to? WORK! This felt like my hell week, so much stress and so many things to do. I managed to get a good chunk of things done, and now I only have my four final projects due, which I guess is like having four exams, and they're mostly not due 'till December 5th, so I think I'm doing ok. I hope! I could wake up tomorrow and realize I forgot a bunch of stuff or underestimated the amount of work something will need. But right now it's ok.

This week I saw a play at the Soho theatre called Joe Guy. It was a really good play, basically about the main character, Joe, and how he felt he had to stop being himself in order to suceed in life, which he them failed at. It's also kind of about the tensions between African blacks and Afro-Carribean blacks in London (or Britain in general, I guess) so that was really interesting too. And, the best part in my opinion, it starred Abdul Salis from Love Actually! (That's who the picture is of) For those of you not familiar with this amazing movie, he plays the friend of a guy named Colin Frissell who, after being rejected one too many times by British girls, decides to move go to the US where he will become instantly irrestitable. Anyways, Abdul Salis was amaaaaaazing and I'm so glad to have seen him in that show. Very very cool.

Not much else happened this week, besides a lot of stressing over work. The roomies are gone again. They went to Spain on Tuesday and get back tomorrow. Oh, and I've been slowly falling more and more in love with Rilo Kiley as of late. I always had their album Take Offs and Landings, but I recently got Under the Blacklight and really started liking it. So then I went and got More Adventurous because it already had three songs I liked on it. So yeah. Lots of Jenny Lewis happening in my room right now!

I guess that's all. I'll try to update BEFORE next weekend.

Oh and PS - 26 days and this is all over! Not sure how I feel about that... I'll get back to you.

life keeps rolling on...

Yet another busy week. I swear, this one went by faster than the others! Probably because I only got back from my Reading Week adventures on Monday.

Classes this week were good, although it was hard to get back into the school mindset. I managed to though, by music on Wednesday I was back in the swing of things. Tuesday night I saw a play called Kebab at the Royal Court which was pretty good. It was a translation of a Romanian play about Romanian immigrants in Dublin. Specifically it's about three Romanians trying to make a life for themselves. And of course, it being a play, things go wrong. It was a pretty enjoyable play about immigration (something I can identify with, being a Canuck and all) but I felt a little left out because it was Romanians in Ireland, two cultures I don't know a whole lot about. I really liked the show anyway though, probably because there was a talk with the director and cast after the show. I always love hearing feedback from the people actually doing the show.

Last night for music I saw the London Philharmonic Orchestra (not the same orchestra as before!) doing Holst's Planets and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. Let me tell YOU. The Planets was AMAZING!!! Probably my favourite piece of music I've seen since I've been here. So big and so entertaining, and unlike a lot of other really structured classical music it wasn't trying to go awywhere or work toward something. Each movement was just a beautiful meditation on whatever Holst's inspiration was. Just amazing. I need to own it. Belshazzar's Feast was good too, it's a choral piece with singing and all that, and tells the story of the downfall of Babylon. I really like it, just not as much as the Holst. I think I'd like to own it too though.

Wednesday was Hallowe'en. The people at the other res (Vic League) hosted a party for everyone. It was such a good time! Oh man, some people had the most ridiculous costumes! My roomie Steph went as Charlie Chaplin with this creepy paper mask she bought in Amsterdam, and my friend Liz went as euro-trash, but it wasn't enough to go as that she needed to be male euro-trash. Oh man, I've never laughed so hard in my life, she was SO GOOD! She had a unibrow, and a gross goatee, and a fake package, and kept hitting on all the girls in this really indescriminate european accent. It was hysterical, the pictures still crack me up. Oh and another highlight? Jerrard (our prof) and his wife Diana coming to the party, complete with costumes!

So that's basically my week. Today I'm going to try to do work (mail that thing off to Australia, finally!), and watch Grey's. I might watch other things too depending on how much work I get done. I'm staying in London this weekend, and it's the first weekend in a while. I was really excited for it until I remembered why I don't like spending the weekend in London - I get so bored! Maybe I just need to go out walking more. Oh well. Adventure awaits?

WOW

So much has happened since I last wrote! I'm going to try to get it all in! So since I last wrote I've seen four plays and two concerts (holy crap, I know!), been out to celebrate two birthdays, welcomed two of my best friends to London and done a bunch of schoolwork. (Look Martin, I'm talking about school!) I saw two productions of The Merchant of Venice, one at The Globe (which was such a fun experience!) and a fringe production at a theatre in London's east end called The Arcola. The first one was really good because they really tried to take your back to what it would have been like seeing a show during Shakespeare's time. So we stood in the yard, and they simulated daylight, and it was generally a raucous good time. The other production wasn't as good. I liked some of the concepts that were introduced but on the whole I was frustrated by it because they opened a lot of doors and set up a lot of themes and bigger questions and then stopped addressing them. It just felt half-baked.

The other show I saw was Cabaret on the west end, it was really fun too! I don't really like Cabaret but I liked the dancing and the set design, and it was still a show on the west end (in Picadilly Circus!) and the cherry on top was having one of the characters come to our class the next day to talk with us a little about the show and about being an actor in London. He was really nice and it was a great treat to talk to someone in the business.

The latest play I saw was another one at the National Theatre called Rafta Rafta. It's set around an immigrant Indian family and is basically a family comedy-drama. It was a good slice of life for a family like that, and was pretty funny. I think our class liked it.

The two conerts were also good. I saw a lack-lustre concert on tango music (the music was good but the singing and dancing were corny and lame), and a concert by the London Philharmonia on Brahms and Strauss which was really great! The music was so well done and the pieces were moving, I only wished the piano soloist had had more emotion in his playing. But overall it was a great concert.

Last week was Steph's birthday and we went out last Wednesday (though her birthday was Friday) to ISH bar, which was a great time. Jerrrard (our prof) and his wife Diana came out, which was hilarious, and I was really glad that the group just all (or mostly all) came out and was in good spirits. We all had a good time chatting and all that. And then last night Steph, Dianne, Cara, Evan and I went out kind of for Dianne's birthday, which is on Thursday. We wanted to go to the Ice Bar but got there too late (we might try to go back later in the week, even though it had a £15 cover - eek!) and then ended up at a bar in Picadilly Circus called On Anon, which was pretty good. We stayed for a couple pints and then headed home.

Saturday marked the beginning of Cara's & Evan's visit to London! They got here around noon and we've been doing things non-stop since then, with the exception of class. We've been to Regent's Park (duh, it's basically our backyard), Harrod's, Primark, out to dinner, and Cara and Evan have also been to Fortnum and Mason's (a high end dept store like Harrod's), Hamley's Toy Store, and the London Eye. I think theyre having a good time, and it's really great having them here, even with having to share my tiny single bed. Oh, and we've been trading all sorts of gossip and drama, us telling about random things that happen here and them filling Dianne and I in on the drama happening in our group of friends right now.

So I suppose now you're (mostly) all caught up! Tonight we're seeing Carmen for music class (yay!) and this weekend Dianne and I are going to Brighton, and Dianne, Cara, Evan and I might go to Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit Cara's friend from high school. And Steph's off to Amsterdam this weekend for lots of fun and debauchery. We're always busy, now I just need to find time to do work!

city livin'...

I'm trying to update more so I don't forget things when I go to write about the last 489509238748 million things I did in the last little bit. I'm trying to do the same with my paper journal.

Anyways. When did I last update? Friday evening? So Saturday Dianne, Steph, and I went to Buckingham Palace to tour through the State Rooms. It was really nice, the rooms are really opulent and ornate and really interesting to walk through. We got a complimentary commentary to listen to which I really appreciated because it had a lot of history of the building. I learned about the palace's history, how it used to be a house and was then renovated and recreated into a palace, and then redecorated by King George IV and then finished by Queen Victoria. I especially liked listening about how the Queen's Garden's got bombed during WWII, and then the King and Queen took lunch in an air raid shelter and then went to East London to tour around, which was the part of London that got bombed the heaviest. Oh, and for future reference, Buckingham Palace staff are not allowed to take pictures for you. Go figure.

Saturday night was good. Dianne and I went to South London (Clapham, to be exact) to meet Dianne's friend of a friend, James. He was really nice! Typical British guy, likes soccer (football) and cricket (we had a good chat about how much I like cricket, despite having never actually seen a match), is from Northern England (Yorkshire) and works for HSBC bank in the city. The three of us went out to dinner, which James generously paid for (I tried to offer money, he wouldn't take it... oh well?), which was really nice of him (!) and then went to see his flat and watch some British tv, which ended up being us watching a couple episodes of Friends (lol) before heading home. All in all, it was a good evening. We invited him to ISH karaoke.

Sunday was boring because I didn't do anything or go anywhere, and have no computer or tv to occupy me. I did some work, but there really isn't all that much to do here. So I got a little homesick, and then got frustrated with being homesick and decided that from now on I need only devote half-days to schoolwork in hopes of staving off the homesickness.

Anyways. Yesterday was pretty good. Lots of class. We had a really lively discussion in Drama about the show we saw last week (Poe's Masque of the Red Death at Battersea Arts Centre). It was really really great to discuss some of what we all saw and did, and I was pretty disappointed when the prof had to cut off the discussion. After class we went to Shakespeare's Globe to see The Merchant of Venice, which was so good! It was definitely an experience standing in the yard for three hours and watching the show very much like I would watch a costume today. I had visions of Shakespeare in Love, it was pretty cool. I took as many pictures as I could, and will put them up on Facebook and Flickr for y'all to see. (I have a link to my Flickr account in the sidebar, by the way) The show was bawdy and funny and the crowd got a little raucous and it was just so enjoyable. Add onto that the fact that the acting was amazing and Bassanio was gorgeous and I'm sold. :)

So that's about it. Oh! Dianne and I went to the Victoria and Albert museum today to look at the fashion stuff they had. It's a really nice place, I'd like to go back there.

In other news, it's about two weeks until Cara and Evan get here, and I'm SO excited! And in other other news, I foolishly didn't bring my tan cord jacket and I'm regretting it huge. Oh well. I guess I'll just wear my trench more.

Ok! I'm back with more stories. Sorry I haven't posted pics yet, I'm not used to Blogger and haven't put the time in to figure it out yet. There are just so many other things to do!

So when I last left you I was talking about what... fireworks? Which brings us to the beginning of this week. Classes this week were good, we're starting to settle into a good groove which is relaxing. On Tuesday night we went to the Battersea Arts Centre in South London to see an adaptation of Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. Let me tell you, it was A-MAZING!!!! It was the best and most different play I've ever seen. Instead of having the play performed for us, we were totally incorporated into the performance of it. So instead of sitting in a theatre with the actors on the stage, we all got to take part in the play, walking through the building which was transformed into the world of the play. It was so crazy! You could be walking down a hallway and all of a sudden there is a actor walking toward you on their way somewhere. So you can stick in one room and see who comes and goes, or follow a specific cast member through the building, or just wander and take in the whole thing. There was even a saloon/cabaret room with a bar and band and people performing. It was just so crazy and amazing. If ever I doubted my love for theatre, this show just reaffirmed it.

So I guess it's obvious that that was the highlight of my week. Wednesday we went to the Tate Britain (an art gallery specifically for British art) for art class, and we looked at Victorian paintings and stuff, which was interesting. And last night the music class went to the theatre to see a show all about the Tango. So there was tons of great music and lots of dancing. It was a great show musically but the dancing was kind of lack-lustre. Nothing like So You Think You Can Dance!

Today we went to Portobello Market, which was really cool. It has a lot of antique shops and food and clothing stalls. I bought a couple scarves, a black one and a reddish stripey one like my other two. Oh, and Tuesday morning we went to Camden Market which is so cool and such a hippie place to be. It had tons of cool little handcrafted shops, and places to haggle and stuff. I got a bracelet and a pair of earrings for about £3. I can't wait to go back. :)

Tonight we're going out to dinner to a place called Giraffe. It'll be really nice to get away from the same old caf food for a night. I'll be SO looking forward to cooking and home-cooked food when I come home. And tomorrow the roomies and I are going to Buckingham Palace! We get to go into the rooms and stuff before it closes for the year, so I'm going to try to take some pictures.

I guess that's all. I'm off to watch Friends with Dianne and wait for everyone to get here so we can go to dinner. Thanks for commenting people! Keep 'em coming! :)

Just a quick post...

So, highlight of last week? Seeing three performances, that was pretty ridiculous! Saint Joan on Monday night, Albert Herring on Wednesday night, and then Dianne, Steph, Blair, Alannah and I saw The Boy Friend (a musical set in the 1920's on the French Riviera) at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park on Friday afternoon. Dianne and I had been exploring the park the day before and discovered that the theatre was in it's last days of performance for the summer so we hopped right on that!

Saturday was a looooong day. A bunch of us walked around the South Bank for the afternoon, taking in some sights. It was Doors Open London this weekend so we got to go in to a whole bunch of awesome places like The Rose theatre (Shakespeare in Love!) and the Lloyds of London building, which has some really great architecture. We tried to go into the Gherkin (the huge pretty glass, almost egg-shaped buidling) but even though it was taking part in DOL is was by booking only. But! The Thames Festival was also on so we enjoyed some of that. We walked across the Thames on Southark Bridge, which was so weird! Part of it was covered with sand, some with astroturf, and there were all these booths and tents set up. We all decorated gingerbread cookies, and some of us got some lovely organic ale at a beer tent (yum!) and then we got indian food for lunch and got to sit in an indian-style decorated tent complete with low tables, plush pillows, and islamic-style decorations - very cool.

Last night we returned to the festival and stood in front of the Oxo building to see the most amazing and best fireworks I've EVER SEEN! They were so amazing, and we all felt like little children watching them. And then we all made a human train and got pummeled and molested trying to get out of the throng of people. I get that's what we get for being in the middle of it all. It was worth it. :)

Ok, the roomies and I are going for dinner now so I'll head off. I hope to post some pictures tonight though!

I have no witty title to put here...

Mainly because I'm so tired! I've been going non-stop since I got here. I've been out every night except one since I got here, and I've been here almost a week! I need to take it easy or I'm going to get sick or crash really hard, neither of which are good prospects.

So! Classes have started, and I'm really enjoying them. I'm taking Music in London, Drama in London, English Art, and Designing a Walking Tour, all of which I've had already. I really like all of them, they're pretty engaging and interesting and are very London-centric. Also, the workload isn't too heavy so I'll still be able to explore the city and travel. But the best part is that through taking the drama and music courses Dianne, Steph, and I go to two performances a week! Monday we went to the National Theatre to see George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, about Joan of Arc. It was amazing!!! The set design was pretty symbolic and SO beautiful, and the production had this musical accompaniment that was just so so good. It had this amazing intensity in some scenes that was just overwhelming, I loved it! Anyways, tonight for music class we saw an opera by Benjamin Britton called Alfred Herring which I really enjoyed. And we're going to see Carmen in a couple weeks - my nan would be so proud!

Also, I've discovered my London vice, and it's name is Primark. It's a clothing store where things are really nice and really cheap. I found a purse for £6, a cashmere cardigan for £10 and a whole bunch of shirts for £4 or less. It's like Winners, only I only get one brand choice. Anyways, it's a marvelous store, and I'm trying not to go back there daily to check out their £6 jeans and £1 shirt racks.

Anyways, it's getting on to 1am here and my roomies are already in bed so I think I should go. I finished reading Le Petit Prince and now I'm onto a new one, I borrowed Midnight in the Garden of Good and evil from Dana. Mom, is it scary? I don't like reading scary things before bed! I'm lame, I know.

Leave comments! Love y'all!