irish eyes are smiling :)

Hannah & I just booked walking tours for our weekend in Ireland October 7-9.!! So excited.!! We're staying in Dublin in a hostel yet to be determined..going on an all day tour to the Cliffs of Moher, Galway Bay & Limerick, a tour of Kilkenny, Glendalough & Wicklow Mountains, and a walking tour of Dublin too. I'm just excited to find some random fun irish music. I also hafta find Jen a leprechaun..or pot of gold. :) TOMORROW we're leaving for Stratford upon Avon- where we'll see A Midsummer Night's Dream, then go to Oxford, Bath, and Stonehenge.! Gonna be awesome weekend after awesome weekend.!!! Today was SO hot and sunny out- I read in the park for awhile before art class. Then we went to the National Gallery again, and got to see unfinished Michelangelo paintings among others, like the Allegory of Venus and Cupid..kind of disturbing and full of symbolism. There was a guy from Spain outside of the gallery playing the guitar who had piercing blue eyes, short curly brown hair in the front and an impressively long dredlocked ponytail..so a dredlock mullet kinda..think he maybe shoulda picked one or the other. There was also all these people making incredible chalk and charcoal drawings on the pavement- one of Bob Marley, Ghandi, Elvis, Jim Morrison..pretty sweet.

tickets.!

SO.! future events and happenings coming up are all AMAZING.! excepttt..just saw that Pelicanesis is going to break up (..?!???) AHhhh! O_o guess I'm doomed since they never saved me from the apocalypse even though I've trieddd. *sigh. well enough of that. in other news..Lindsay and I bought tickets to see the Martin Scorsese George Harrison documentary in the cinemas.! So I'm excited about that- and tickets to the play Backbeat, the beginning of the Beatles.! AND Hannah and I bought tickets to see the play The Tempest with Ray Fiennes- the actor who plays Voldemort.! So all of that is coming up soon! :) Yesterday, walking back from class, a random older man walked towards me and said "You're from America, aren't you?" and started telling me about how he studied in L.A. for 3 months. That was a really nice, random interaction; a reminder that not everyone in the city is super self absorbed and always in a hurry. I walked around for awhile because it was a nice day out. It's been really warm here lately. Went to theater class- our teacher picks a student to focus on and drill with questions for 15 minutes each time, and this class she picked Tom. He shaved his head over the weekend so she told him in this country you wouldn't know what you were going to get looking at him & that he either looked like a hipster or a Nazi. Last night, our flat had a progressive dinner. Each floor made a dish and we started in the basement with appetizers, then worked our way up the building. Soooo much food with so many people all crowded together and so many stairs.! A few of us had to watch the film Fallen Idol for class- I understand stylistically why so many people enjoy it..theoretically..but it was the most boring, lonnng movie...I couldn't pay attention at all and nobody made it all the way through it. O_o In Media & Society class today, a journalist came in to talk to us about differences between different London papers as well as compared to U.S. papers. We all went around Fleet Street, saw St. Bride's Church- one of the oldest in London. For our film tonight, we had to be at the BFI but Lindsay, Kat, Hannah & I took a wrong turn and just barely made it. Someone was sitting in my seat though and it's a small room, so I had to sit on the floor. I really enjoyed the movie a lot though- Days of Heaven with Richard Gere. It was very well written, and had really beautiful nature scenes. The main point of conflict is a bit of a stretch, but I bought in to all the reasoning behind different characters' perspectives.

contemplation

I just went running- I don't know why I talk myself out of it when walking, running, jogging, hiking, being outside always makes me feel 27x's better. Running countless squares around and around the path in Russell Square affirmed that I have found the talent of invisibility. Everyone's eyes constantly searching ahead, looking straight through you into the distance. It was nice to people watch though and contemplate; it's mind blowing that everyone has such unique, individualized personalities, struggles, situations, and realities. Then I thought about how many specific people I took notice of, as well as those that I glossed over and never truly saw, and how life is constantly that to different degrees. I wondered about stories..an old man in a suit with glasses sitting at one end of a bench, and a young girl with long, dark hair sitting at the other end. Her eyes are engulfed with over sized sunglasses although it's not particularly sunny, her arms are crossed, and they don't speak at all. They don't look related but just sit there, neither taking notice of the other. An old woman bending over to offer an acorn to a slow-gaited, trusting squirrel. A guy running the opposite direction, methodically lapping me, never wavering with his speed. An asian woman sitting alone with a pink balloon and three bouquets of flowers. A thin twenty-something sitting alone, his eyes closed, meditating beside his discarded bike, forgotten for the moment. He seems peaceful, and sits like that for at least 40 minutes. On my last lap, his eyes are open and he's smoking.

NINJA QUEEN.!

I totally forgot about the best part of Buckingham Palace- the Queen has a secret passageway..one that the audio guide points out to everyone touring..so maybe not so secret. But in one of the staterooms, she enters the room from a trapdoor behind a mirror and desk...I was picturing her slowly rising from the ground dramatically, sitting on a throne with dry ice everywhere- blasting espionage music with crazy lighting. the guide didn't specify that part though.

Geoffrey, scifi, and flippant unnecessities.!

We haven’t had the internet at all since Thursday- which is fine in a way, but also just another excuse to procrastinate- as if I need another one. Thursday morning, Hannah and I went to the British Library to check out their “Out of this world- science fiction but not as you know it” exhibit. It was pretty sweet. There were all these books displayed focusing on different subgenres of sci-fi, a flying saucer model, a screen where you could draw your own alien that was then displayed gigantically (you can bet Hannah & I had to do that, and also can guess what it looked like), and you could listen to all of these samplings of sci-fi based music.! That night, we all went to The Globe Theater (.!) to see Much Ado About Nothing. I was just really excited to see a play at the Globe. The theater’s an open-roofed replica, and though there are seats, we were all standing RIGHT in front of the stage, which was different but awesome. It became THAT much more awesome when who should walk out on stage but the man playing Leonato- Joseph Marcell- AKA Geoffrey from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.! EVERYONE went crazy.! It was really surreal and fun to unexpectedly spend the night with Geoffrey on stage 3 feet in front of me. Unfortunately all of the theater employees were camera Nazis, so I don’t have any pictorial evidence. O_o There was a super tall, friendly, attractive Austrian guy standing right by me and I had to explain to him why everyone was screaming and excited about Geoffrey on stage. He did a double take and said “Wait- is he the original actor? He’s the original?! Geoffrey!!!” During the intermission, Sara found out that after the show the actors sometimes hang out at an adjoining bar. The Austrian guy said he would find Geoffrey with us but after the show everyone was crowding out and he disappeared. So Sara and I ran to the bar, dragging along Hannah, Kat, and June. Lexi was already there with her Dad, who is from London. He bought us all drinks, and Sara and I kept nervously excitedly staring at the door and freaking out every time anyone walked in. Sadly, Geoffrey never showed up. We did talk to most of the other actors though- Sara told one of them that he was so good he should be a professional actor. YeahHhhh. We started talking to a group of German guys walking across the Millenium Bridge, back from the Globe. One of them was French so Sara wanted to speak French to him, but for some reason he wouldn’t talk to anyone. We yelled at Kat because she was Germanically connecting with one of the teenagers. Hah. Then, getting off the tube, Sara decided to slowly crawl up the escalator, hanging onto the side, SCREAMING the song “Forever young.” In order to fully envision this scene, note that the tube station was deserted other than a few people going down the escalator, one man in particular staring at Sara incredulously. That happened. Hahahaha. Then we all chilled in the basement for awhile. Apparently later that night Tom puked all over the girls’ bathroom, and then sat on Dan’s bed and peed off of it..no good..Anyways, glad I don’t live in the basement O_o. On Friday, Hannah and I went to visit Buckingham Palace. We got to tour the Royal Mews, the State Rooms, and the Queen’s Gallery. I sounded like such an idiot when I went to pick up my ticket. I haven’t set up my computer so I can use our collective printer yet, and the (super attractive, patient, nice British) guy working at the ticket counter couldn’t find me in the system. I couldn’t remember which phone number I’d put online, and he got a blank stare when he asked for my postal code. Anyways, it ended up okay. It took us about 3 ½ hours to see everything with an audio guide- hundreds of paintings and sculptures in the gallery. Of course all of the rooms that we saw were beautifully ornate, gigantic, and incredible. There’s 775 rooms in all, which is INSANE. Kate’s wedding dress was also on display still, as well as a replica wedding cake (made up of 17 cakes.!) which I appreciated stylistically. As Hannah and I stepped outside of Buckingham Palace, we enjoyed the varied wildlife found in the massive backyard gardens as our audio guide urged us to do. (Varied wildlife consisting of squirrels and pigeons.?) Later that night we all hung out downstairs and went to a nearby pub for a bit. It wasn’t too exciting though. Lexi ordered some nasty mixed nuts that tasted like ham, so Sara kept telling me I broke my vegetarianism. They were gross. O_o. Saturday, Hannah, Kat & I had a nice chill day shopping and walking around. We checked out Hamleys (a seven-floor toy store) because Hannah heard they had a Harry Potter section. They had hundreds of different wands you could buy, as each character has a unique one. They also had a Marauder’s Map, but I think it’d be a lot more impressive if it actually did anything. I got a blazer, cute red flats, and a few shirts from H&M, and bought a knit hat. We watched Bridget Jones’ Diary back at the flat, enjoyed some Colin Firth. J That night I didn’t feel like going out OUT because I felt kind of sick, so Hannah, Sara & I took the tube to Piccadilly and walked around. Sara and Hannah were hungry and Sara had to go to the bathroom so we went into a Pizza Hut- and that’s WHEN EVERYTHING WENT WRONG.! Hah. Granted, Europe is not typically excellent in the customer service department, but it’s always an ordeal when Hannah and I are anywhere together..always a story. Never boring though, so hey. Our waitress was more than awful though. After telling her we were ready to order, we still waited for half an hour with her just standing there doing nothing. All of this was even more amusing when we saw an Italian couple walk in and their orders taken literally before they sat down. Sara & Hannah ordered nachos to share and had to wait an obnoxious amount of time to get them, and when the nachos did come out, they were cold and pitiful looking. Basically chips topped with four little shreds of melted cheese and doused in an egg-based chive sauce (which Sara could tell since she’s allergic). They asked for more cheese, and 15 minutes later, the nachos had two more shreds of cheese on them. Then when the bill came, they were charged extra for sauce when they were told they wouldn’t be. Sara started to write a letter on the receipt about how “everything went wrong.” And that the waitress was “flippant and unnecessary.” The best part is that as she was writing this angrily, a nice waiter walked by and asked if he could do anything for us, and so Sara hid the receipt most inconspicuously. Haha. Hannah & I taped it in our sacred book because it’s so great. We walked around for awhile with sketchy happenings and had to wait a long time for a bus back..next time I don’t feel good, we should probably just hang out at the flat. Sunday morning we had to go to Speaker’s Corner for Media & Politics class. Speaker’s Corner is a section in Hyde Park that highlights the right of free speech- anyone can say WHATEVER they want. That includes one obnoxious, ignorant man who was repeatedly yelling “F*** America/ns,” calling all of us awful names, talking about the current(.?) draft in America, the Bush family, and told Sara to go back to Africa. Also, all natural disasters are America’s fault according to him, including the fact that Arizona has deserts and Chicago is “uncommonly cold.” Yes. Of course he wouldn’t take any response anyone yelled back at him, and as one British gentleman put it, “he obviously wasn’t educated.” On the other side of things, there was also a man speaking about the love of God and to love everyone. He was taking advantage of his cute little daughter though; she waved a British flag in his face the entire time as he held her. There was also a pair of Christian and Muslim speakers. After the Christian spoke, he let the Muslim have his turn, and as soon as he stepped on the box to speak, his foot went through it and it broke. Our professor was trying to figure out one of our hugely enigmatic nicknames for a girl in our class (TF). That’s all I’ll say. Oh Tancred. That night I went to Hillsong again with Hannah, June, Casey & Alex. I went upstairs on the balcony though because I just wanted to be alone- felt kinda smothered, yet alone in such a crowded place. It was good, I’m just full of a lot of anger..needed to be by myself. Walked around for awhile outside, then watched the original Fever Pitch (Ooh Colin Firth.!) with Hannah, Kat, Lindsay & Lexi. As we were watching it, we noticed a man standing in his lit window seemingly peering down at us from his building across the street. Then he got out a camera and was definitely taking pictures.. O_o Hannah got her camera and took a picture back. Not sure what he was actually taking pictures of..? but it was scary..and he stayed standing there so we closed the blinds. Definitely the stuff scary movies are made of.

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.!!!! :D

Today's been AWESOME.! before I get into that though, I forgot to say that yesterday when a few of us were walking back from class, 2 guys in sweat suits sitting together on one bike seat (on one bike..don't ask me how.) pedaled by and offered to sell us drugs. It was a little bizarre- esp since we had just been talking about how our professor was commenting on the Weasley twins' drug using appearance. ALSO, my professor's good friend was Rupert Grint's tutor on set when he was younger & apparentally all he ever ate was french fries and coca cola. So my class for today was canceled & it's beautiful out, so I leisurely walked around Neal's Yard- where I went yesterday, stopping in little hippie stores and bookstores to look around. I went to Forbidden Planet for awhile, and bought the book The Colour of Magic- I thought it'd be appropriate to get in London. I'm sure it's even more ridiculous than the movie, and that's saying a lot- I'm excited :) Then I got pumpkin soup and a basil muffin from a small cafe and ate it outside on a turquoise bench listening to two guys play incredible saxophone and piano, surrounded by all these colorful beautiful bright buildings, right beside a building that Monty Python lived in for 11 years. After that, I went on the 2 hr walking Magical Mystery Tour.! Our tourguide, Richard, was really awesome and knowledgeable. He owns the Beatles coffeeshop by St. John's Wood, by the Abbey Road crossing. He's been a fan since he was 12, wrote a book 'Guide to the Beatles' London' (which I bought and he signed for me), has done these tours for 20 years, has the title "the Beatles Brain of Britain", and has seen them several times.! We saw Paul McCartney's London office in Soho Square- MPL (McCartney Publishing Ltd), Trident Studios (David Bowie, Elton John, and Queen also recorded there among others), the Gentlemen toilet's sign by Broadwick Street where John Lennon appeared in a comedy sketch with Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Carnaby Street, The London Palladium (where Beatlemania "started," or was at least first time the national newspapers took notice), the building directly next door where John gave the infamous interview, Brian Epstein's offices, the former Apple Offices where the last live concert took place on the rooftop at 3 Savile Row (it'd be really hard to see them but they were definitely heard- unfortunately they were doing construction on the building, and it's going to be an abercrombie kids O_o at some point may turn into a restaurant with rooftop seating though.?! that'd be sweet.!), Mason's Yard which has the Scotch- where Jimi Hendrix first played when arriving in London, 45 years ago TODAY.! now called the Director's Lodge Club, and the Indica Gallery, which McCartney supported, and actually where John Lennon first met Yoko Ono when she was putting on an art exhibit. We finished the tour by the Abbey Road crosswalk, and saw the Abbey Road Studio. I'm going to have to go back with friends when it's less busy to get another picture crossing it- there's a 24 hour webcam pointed at the crosswalk that you can check out online.! http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/ Outside of the studios, fans have graffiti-ed and written all over the walls- it looks awesome, apparently the walls are painted white 6 times a year but keep getting filled up with signatures. I met a nice girl a few years older than me on the tour from West Australia- she was telling me about how much she loved recently visiting Liverpool and will only be here for a few more days before returning home. Later, Hannah, June, Casey & I went to a connection group from Hillsong- but there was probably 25 of us crammed into this tiny flat, and only 3 of them were guys- oh so attractive british guys. Everyone was super nice though and it was great to just go meet new people from all over.

walkin in the rain

For this morning's outing we walked around Covent Garden- saw a building where Brian Epstein worked, lots of sweet bookstores, vintage clothes shops, and walked in the Royal Opera House. My professor told us about how when he was younger he used to hide in the bathroom and sneak into performances. We saw an awesome view from the terrace, and Sara decided to hold a deranged pigeon that then wouldn't get off her arm. Our professor ended the tour at one of his favorite deli's called Gaby's- I got fresh carrot/orange juice which sounds like a weird combination but was really good, and pita, hummus and falafel :) For my film adaptations class, (after discussing the 3rd harry potter and it's themes of time and transformation) we walked to the BFI (British Film Institute) to see the British film Kes. First off, the theater building was huge and had a full bar with a lounge and nice, comfortable chairs full of people, and a bookstore in the corner. The room we were in though to watch the movie was very personal, only 6 rows of seats so less than 50 in all. It was hard to understand and follow everything in the film because everyone's accents were very pronounced. I liked it in a way, but it was upsetting. It's about a little boy who has to deal with being constantly picked on at school, by his brother, his oblivious mother, other awful adults, and the tediousness of working class life. He's a pitiable character who raises a hawk- his best friend and his only joy in life. *SPOILER ALERT* the hawk dies. his brother breaks it's neck. and then it ends. Awful, right? realistically tragic? It was kind of nice to walk back from the theater in the misting rain, lost in thoughts.

go see Top Girls

Also- the other night I gave Sara a haircut..so that was an interesting experience..This morning we toured Parliament. It's definitely a very massive, architecturally beautiful, intricate building. Extensively decorated gilded room after another though and it was a little overwhelming...Not just Parliament, but a lot of what I've been touring lately...I mean, artistically I appreciate it all, the aesthetics of the rooms and the buildings themselves. These buildings remind you how young the US really is. I understand on a level the tradition and decorum that 'must continue' but at the same time, all of the excessive show of wealth and power could be put to better, more productive use. I just think of people who have close to nothing versus people with multiple hundred room palaces. Sara and I yoga-ed in the park for awhile, then I had to go to Trafalgar Studios to see the show Top Girls. I really enjoyed it a lot- it was very strange and different, kinda creepy too but I think it was really well done. I was sitting literally 5 ft away from the stage- the play was broken up into 4 interrelated mini parts. I don't want to just summarize & give it away, but it started with a dinner party that brought together women from different time periods with different perspectives. Feminist differences, similarities, and struggles that transcend time were raised. The play focused on issues women face including sexism, independence, different relationships, elements of the glass ceiling, rights and responsibilities. I guess that doesn't sound super exciting but it was really interesting..pretty thought provoking and twisted in the end. Apparently one of the actresses was Mary in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. One of the actors in the musical I saw last week was in P&P too.

resta the weekendd

Also from the other night- Sara was telling everyone that she was Princess Kate and that they needed to bow to her..so that was pretty great :P Yesterday we went on a boat tour to Greenwich. Hung out at their market for awhile- Sara and I found this awesome printing store with different intricate band and movie posters, including a really sweet Flight of the Conchords one.! I bought a little leather bag from a Parisian man who made them. OH! then we all visited the banana stand..basically fruit on skewers drizzled in different kinds of chocolate..I got banana, strawberry and pineapple pieces covered with dark and milk chocolate, almonds and hazelnuts..and the guy that worked there and made it was SEXYYYY.! We talked awhile and he almost forgot I had to pay. adorable. We looked around a museum and church in Greenwich, and got to try on a heavy knight helmet randomly. Also looked around The Painted Hall- super incredible. At this point we decided to climb up a ridiculously steep hill to see the Royal Observatory. Also at this point, out of nowhere, it started POURING rain. Oh london. Last night a bunch of us went out to this 6 level bar called Waxy O'Connor's..All I remember is that there was a giant tree inside, lots of people, and we were going up and down lots of stairs over and over..it was pretty sweet though. Davey stole Hannah's scarf and was wearing it around then decided to return it an hour after she went up to bed..so she was not so happy about that. Today I feel like everyone had a really lazy bummed out day since it was our first day to just hang out. Hannah & I conquered the laundry machine..so that was our big victory and accomplishment of the day.! Apparently I now live 10 minutes away from Hillsong London, so a few of us checked that out tonight. There was only 13 band members on stage instead of the usual 54. It was neat, but I'll have to go back sometime- they said tonight wasn't a 'normal' service. I know they're pretty evangelical but it seemed kind of commercialized. I'm going to Liverpool in November.! & later Sara & I yoga-ed it up a bit. In other news, I'm not so much a fan of this whole homework deal.. O_o ALSO- not related to anything I've just said, but when I first got my european mobile, the contacts from the last person who had it were still in it..there was one labeled 'Joe Liverpool' so of course I hadta text him a few times..ahahhaa. Never figured out that whole story but was kinda fun.

tower, westminster, aussie oh my.!

:) what a great day.! Let's see..started off touring the tower of London..definitely an interesting place to be- I especially enjoyed all the graffiti that the prisoners etched onto the walls, some of which was pretty elaborate. The torture devices were neat to see too- the scavenger's daughter, the rack, and the manacles. O_o Then we toured the inside of Westminster Abbey, which was incredible and mind blowing...to think about how many people have been buried there, and how many years it's been standing, and how many people it took to fashion all of it's intricate details...pretty insane. The audio guides we used definitely had the voice of Scar from the Lion King. So I enjoyed my Scar-guided tour :) I especially appreciated the poet's corner- where lots of famous authors are either buried or memorialized, including Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Tennyson, Geoffrey Chaucer and more.! and Oliver Cromwell, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the unknown soldier...It's just almost unfathomable, the number of people buried there. Hannah and I both booked a flight to Ireland for our first free weekend, so I'm excited for that in October.! Later, a bunch of us went out to Camden- hung out, danced a lot..Went to a bar and Lindsay and I went crazy dancing to a really good live band, Regency. Then we went to another bar, The World's End, & hung out some more..had a lot of fun and met a verrry nice Australian guy from Sydney ;)

Camden Market

Also from last night: pink feather boa mustaches, and sara's lil montgomery. ;) Checked out Camden Market today.! It was gigantic and had row after row of interesting different items..wish I had a little more money and time there. I did buy a silver feather shaped ring that wraps around your finger and has a turquoise stone on it. Right after I bought a scarf from India, I walked out of that store and immediately found a much nicer slightly more expensive aqua/teal pashmina from kashmir..so I got that too..I hate that this sounds so materialistic, but Camden Market was a really neat place. Later, I walked around, browsed through different bookstores, and people watched in a few different parks. Took some random nature-filled pictures..mainly of roses and squirrels..since that's what was in the parks..

first london musical.!

OHMYGOSH.! HANNAH AND I HAVE FOUND OUR TRUE CALLING- and it IS THE VENUE THAT IS LONDON THEATER.! our highly originaltastic rock opera would fit perfectly.! We saw the musical Betty Blue Eyes tonight- and although perhaps unseemingly to the average viewer, much of it was related to material we've already written.. O_o I CARE NOT A FIG.! oh jeez..anyways, our musical's now even more in the works..and it's gonna be GREAT.! The musical tonight though was super eccentrically strangetastic, awesome, and had a pig with a singing voice of softspoken masculinity. I almost couldn't handle it all. It was pretty hilariously bizarre. I'm glad we finally made it to the theater, because Kat, Lindsay, Sara and I wandered around in the completely opposite direction for a long time and finally just had to catch a taxi. So I didn't have class this morning, but went to the outing with the history class anyways- to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was really interesting... it's a museum of art and design. There was this super sweet arrangement of blue and green blown glass dangling from the ceiling and one with a bunch of flattened band instruments hanging from strings. There was also a gigantic room of plaster copies of famous European statues that was pretty mindblowingly detailed. Then I had art history class in the afternoon, and we visited the National Gallery. Didn't do anything too different, but I think it'll be a fun class since we get to actually visit so much of the art we'll be talking about. Walking back from the gallery, we saw a man on a bike almost hit a guy jaywalking- the guy walking told the bicyclist to watch it, and the guy on the bike stopped in the middle of the street and SCREAMED "YOU WATCH IT! THIS IS A ROAD, NOT A PAVEMENT.!" it was so great.

class2

So today began with Media & Society class. Not sure how excited I am about the class and work and papers, but the professor seems like an awesome, knowledgeable guy. Had an interesting class discussion about connecting and relating to people versus analytically objectifying them... We had a quick outing at the British Museum, but I def needta go back and explore more sometime. We saw the Rosetta Stone- as my professor put it, "the first time we translated egyptian hieroglyphics, never mind that the Muslims had already done it, we seem to forget that part." Also saw the elgin marbles taken from the parthenon. That was really cool since I've been to the parthenon, and now have heard both sides of that dispute over which country has rightful ownership of them. In between classes, Hannah, Lindsay & I got caught in a sudden rainstorm- Lindsay and I pulled out umbrellas, and Hannah hid under a tree in an Australian wildlife exhibit outside of the museum. Then I had film adaptations class, which I'm really excited about.! As our outing, we went to this sweet little place called the cinema museum to have a private screening of Kind Hearts and Coronets. We were in a small room- the same room that Charlie Chaplin's mother used to live in. The movie was black and white, and excellent! I really enjoyed it a lot, really dark & twisted. Got some pumpkin soup for dinner (!pumpkin.! :P) so that was exciting.!..then Sara and I walked around outside for a long time. It was good to catch up and let out some angst..had a ginger beer which was really good, but I mainly bought because the label had a man on it with an obnoxiously oversized green bowtie on & says "we're having a dickie bow day" ..whatever that means. O_o The guy at the store looked at my driver's license intently and asked "whereabouts in VA I was from"... I told him, and turns out he's from there too.! so that was a pretty neat happenstance.

classes.!

Today was the first day of classes.! I had Media & Politics and then Theater- both were actually really interesting. I'm ready to feel like I'm actually living in London and to get settled in past visiting the same touristy things I saw less than a year ago. Both professors seemed really passionate and excited about the classes too, so I think it'll be really good. I'm definitely excited to see a play a week.! I don't particularly want to do any work though..I'd rather just explore. :P We visited the British Library as an outing for my first class, and that was super interesting. We saw the Magna Carta, Gutenburg Bible, Cantebury Tales, Shakespeare, Alice & Wonderland, all these decorative sacred texts, anddd rough draft Beatles lyrics scribbled down. It was pretty awesome. Then, we were eating outside at Brunswick Centre and saw a commercial being shot. I'm not exactly sure what was happening, but it was about healthcare in some way or another, and involved a baby, five people in white jumpsuits each wearing a different colored afro wig, and 'british'-looking extras who applauded a lot. But really. And then we saw them rehearse the actual commercial and it was kinda lame..not sure what was going on. O_o We got books today too for the semester..and I have a huge stack..of..17 books..! I know this semester's just started..but the fact that we lost a few weeks compared to JMU in VA, and that we have a nifty calendar with EVERYTHING written out in it..seems like it's all gonna go by super fast. Last weekend we walked around a lot- toured a bit of west and east london, and did a 'royal london walk' around buckingham palace, saw westminister abbey, big ben, and more.! When we were by the National Theater, Hannah & I sat on this giant green couch outside to take a picture together. There was an oversized furniture set just for fun I guess..Anyways, there was a very drunk bum sitting on the other side of Hannah. He sneezed probably 20 times in a row all over Hannah, mumbled incoherently to us, which was interrupted by obscenities and "BEATBOXING!" & after this went on for awhile, a policeman told him it was "time to move along mate". He told the policeman he would NOT move along and got really angry because he thought everyone was taking pictures of him. They weren't..but then of course I had to sneak a picture of the whole ordeal..not that you can really tell what's going on. We went to a festival by the Thames River the next night, which was pretty sweet- lots of different vendors. I ordered a falafel wrap from a greek foodtruck and definitely saw the guy put chicken on it, look down at it for a sec like 'oh shit!' and then take it off like 'hm..maybe she didn't see me'...hahaha. Later we went out to a bowling alley where no one was bowling, and danced to a bunch of '50's music. I'm just really grateful to be able to spend time and study and have fun here.

hullo london.!

Well I'm in london.! sitting in my flat..jet lagged and what not, unpacked for the most part. I started reading the book Radical Acceptance on the plane ride over here- I couldn't put it down. I think it's really exactly what I need to read right now in my life, so that's my resolution..to accept myself and others fully without judgement to the best of my ability. Ironically, positive true change can only occur after FULLY accepting ALL of oneself. I don't want to waste my life thinking I'm not good enough. As I was reading all these revelations, my plane was experiencing some serious turbulence- the worst I've ever been in by far O_o. Luckily all is well though, so even though problems won't go away just because I've changed location, hopefully London will be a nice 'reset' in some ways for me..