Billy Elliot

Hi Everyone,

So I went to see "Billy Elliot" It was a good show, but I didn't come out singing any songs and I really don't feel the need to go out and buy the CD. The story was a good one and I enjoyed it overall, but the songs well....they just didn't really do it for me.

Usually I am singing the songs in the car (just ask the poor people who have to sit next to me while I do it) and this time, nothing. I am finding it hard to get over the fact that the story-line was better then the music. Usually the songs are what string together the story. In this case I was kind of wanting to get back to the story.

Maybe there is more to musicals then music. Who would have thought?

Anyway getting that ticket was a story in itself.

So I had checked the day before to see if there were half price tickets at TKTS in Leicester Square and I had also checked a few weeks before that, and there were tickets. So making sure that I got to TKTS before it opened at ten, I woke up at eight fifteen and headed out the door to brave the line.

I get there at 9:40 and there was already a line. But I thought to myself, nothing to worry about. I'll get a ticket. And then realizing I hadn't checked the board before I got in line, I asked the couple behind me if they would save my spot. They kindly agreed and I ran over to the board. And guess what I saw! Not Billy Elliot. Like everything but Billy Elliot.

I knew that the matinee didn't start until 2:30 so I ran over to another ticket agency and I stood in line there. And got the very last matinee ticket they had and paid a bundle in service fees. I then went back to my room and ate lunch before I went to the show.

So was Billy Elliot worth it.....debatable. I kind of really wanted to fall in love with it and I didn't. But it was still good. But I said that already.

Sorry if this was a boring post, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

Working Girl

Hey Everyone,

So last we left our intrepid traveler she was home and ready to begin her life as an intern. Well she has started her internship, in fact she is about to start her fourth week.

The company I work for is called Culture Shock Media and it is, in essence, a multimedia company. They publish and write for different magazines (the V&A being one of them), books and have worked with different television companies. They also have different websites under their umbrella and I work on one of them. It's called "Funky Venues" and it is a website that has different profiles of funky venues, caterers, entertainment, etc. I also work on "Funky Wedding Venues which is the same thing, but with weddings.

I don't do much writing, mostly editing the profiles that get sent in and any news pieces that the subscribers (the people who own the venues) send to us. It may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but I am enjoying myself and developing my website and photoshop skills.

I did not think the cultural difference would be that big of a deal and it really hasn't been, except for one instance. I was asked to get "nice biscuits" for I believe, potential clients that were coming in for a meeting. Now for those who don't know , biscuits are cookies. The thing is, I was not sure what a nice cookie was. So I turned to my supervisor and was like, "would you like me to get a packet of McVitties? Her replay was, "I think something a little nicer than that." The only time I have felt like the dumb American. I think I lasted pretty long.

There is nothing much else to report. I went to the grandparents this past weekend and tried oysters for the first time. My grandfather was extremely pleased that I liked them.

I will report back with more when anything interesting happens!

So I went traveling....

Hey there,

So we last left our narrator about to board a train, but the questions is, to where? Well if you couldn't tell by the (very) obvious picture I was headed to Paris and Scotland (ok the Scotland picture maybe not be as obvious, but the Paris picture should have been a piece of cake).

The first train I took was the Eurostar to Paris. Yes the train was fine and we managed to get there without any issues. And by there I mean the train station in Paris. From there....well lets skip that part because I am not at the point where I can a) laugh or b) just shrug my shoulders and say "what can you do?" As my family knows I am not the world's best traveler by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it makes me down right cranky and after a two and half hour train ride in which I could not even understand the engineer in English, I was miserable (please keep in mind it was midnight when we got into the station) and all I wanted to do was get to the hostel. Which we did....eventually. We weren't sure what exit out of the Metro station we should use and the map wasn't really helping. However, we got there all in one piece and thank goodness my two roommates can speak at least high school French. If they hadn't I just would have sat down and stayed at the train station until morning. But lets move on to more interesting things, shall we?

I spent about five days in Paris and each day was jammed packed. The first day we went to Notre Dame and walked to the Louvre and took pictures outside. We then went to the Eiffel Tower, but then realized that we could not go all the way to the top because it was too windy.

So we decided to save it for another day. I know that may not sound like much, but let me tell you that was a lot of walking. By the time we got back to the hostel it was six and we were all wiped out.

Notre Dame from the outside.

This is outside of the Louvre

There is water flowing from fountains by the triangular domes.

One of the triangular domes.

The next day we went to the Eiffel tower during the day and the Louvre at night.

The Eiffel Tower was....tall. Yeah that about sums it up. We went all the way to the top and well, I am not the biggest fan of heights (if you haven't gotten that hint like a hundred times before). So I was a little freaked out. But I went to the top and that is all that matters. Even if I was cowering the whole time. But I did managed to get pictures of it.

So after that we went to Louvre at night. Which was pretty cool if only for the fact that I got to see the "Mona Lisa." Oh, I'm sorry, Mona. We're best friends now so she asked me to call her that. I know you are all jealous. Here is a picture of my dear friend Mona.

The next day we went to an art museum that was not the Louvre and then we went the Basilica and climbed up nine flights of steps and Esther did some math and it was over 200 steps. So yeah I got a ton of exercise in Paris. No doubt about that.

We did some other stuff as well, such as walk along the Champ Elysees and just a bunch of different small stuff. And then we packed up and headed back to London for a day to refuel and rest up.

After London it was off to King's Cross to board a train to Edinburgh. Which took even longer than the train to Paris. This train was a four and half hour ride. But I was a little better this time because I could understand what the engineers were saying and I really appreciated that.

Instead of arriving at night like we had in Paris, we got there in the afternoon leaving us a full afternoon to explore.

We could not get into our room right away so we stopped for lunch and saw a bunch of school kids (the uniforms were kind of a tip off) eating there. And we all had the same thought. What are kids doing out of school at one o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon? We just shrugged and figured they were given a lunch hour and ate our own lunches.

We headed back to the hostel and unpacked and decided to do some exploring.

The first stop was the Writer's Museum which displayed artifacts from some famous Scottish authors, Robert Burns (Auld Lang Syne), Walter Scott (Ivanhoe), and Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island).

The museum was neat and had some desks and canes etc. from these authors. And that is about it. Nothing to out of the ordinary. I think my expectations were a bit higher than they should have been.

After we left the Writer's Museum we went to the library, which was really cool. First, the library was beautiful. Secondly, they had exhibits you could walk through. The first exhibit was about Scottish theatre and they displayed some of the costumes used for some famous productions. The other exhibition we went to was about famous people from the United Kingdom. They had artifacts from different time periods and had an interactive computer display that explained what everything in the display case was. It was neat and a good way to pass the time.

That night we decided to go to The Elephant House, the restaurant where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. The food was so good. In fact we ate there three times. And we where there for four days. You do the math.

The next day we went on a free walking tour of Edinburgh and had the best tour guide ever! Her name is Kate and she was just so funny. She would reenact things and just crack tons of jokes. And I learned. Big plus. The tour was three and half hours and I was entertained the whole time.

That night Esther and I went on a ghost tour and Kate was our tour guide again. I went into a graveyard at night and went into one of the mausoleums. The only real scary part was walking up this giant hill in the dark and trying to walk down "Jacob's Ladder" a winding staircase that does not have the same two steps. Seriously, no one step is identical, some were long, others were short, and some just weren't there. But it was a fun tour that ended with Esther and I going to a pub (the price of the tour included a drink).

We had to wake up early the next morning because we were going on a tour of the Highlands. It was beautiful. The bus ride was long, but so worth it.

We stopped by Loch Ness on the tour and I tried calling for Nessie (the monster) in a Scottish accent. But she didn't come. My mom thinks the accent scared her away. I think she's camera shy.

We were so tired when we got back that we all went to bed early.

We had agreed that Saturday would be a catch up day and we would do whatever we hadn't managed to get to. So we went to the Castle and we went down High Street and bought gifts. Sadly I did not get a kilt. I really wanted one, but it just didn't work out. But I did get a scarf and that was good.

Me storming the Castle like Robert the Bruce did.

And so the next morning we packed up and headed out.

Both locations were great, but I have to say that Scotland captured my heart. I loved it. I want to move there, but I have a feeling that some people might have a few reservations. And I totally understand , but we can all dream.

I am sorry that I didn't post more pictures, but there were so many that it would just take forever.

Join us next time where our narrator tackles a new challenge. An internship abroad. I know you are on the edge of your seats.

Its Been A While

Hello all,

Ok so I definitely know it has been a while since I have written. Classes and life in general have been keeping me pretty busy as of late and there was of course the matter of me traveling for the past week. So though I would love to write about my trip and everything that happened during my week traveling in Europe I think that I may just leave you guys hanging a little bit longer. What might be best would be to update you all on what went on the weeks before the trip took place. Sound good? Great lets dive in.

A few Fridays ago we all managed to get up and out the door by 9:00 (ok so we have gotten up and out earlier than that before, just not on a Friday)to get a good spot at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. And get a good spot we found, right up against the Palace gates. As we got there way in advance we had some time to kill. The three of us were determined to keep our spot though and so we stood there until 11:30 when the changing of the guard actually happens.

I have to say while I certainly enjoyed having such a great view, I did not appreciate having my spine break in two. Well, at least that's what it felt like.

The best way to explain the changing of the guard is that its like a battle of the bands. The outgoing band plays and the incoming marching play against each other. And then they change and march.

What was funny about the whole situation is that when we got there we see these music stands and did not know what they were doing lying out like that. And the band came marching in and walked over to the music stands. Right in front of us. Needless to say our question was answered.

The next day I went to see the grandparents. We went to Cambridge and had delicious tapas at a restaurant called La Tasca. After we were done dinner we went back to the house and watched Duplicity (Julia Roberts spy movie) and after we watched a detective show in which both my grandfather and I were fooled. Not the guy who we thought did it. In fact, not a guy at all but a woman.

Since I can't remember everything that went on between then and now I think I will just go over the highlights. That just seems to be the best for everyone.

So two weeks ago I went on an interview for my internship. It went well and I have been officially hired! The company is called Culture Shock Media. It publishes and provides content for a few magazines, books, television, and has started in the web market. I met with my supervisor Rachel and she was so nice. We talked about what my job would be and then really we just talked about my life here in London and America.

The office is a converted town house and is very chic. The first floor is just an open office with computers and tables and the second floor is offices and conference rooms.

Rachel told me that when I first get there I am just going to be working with her and doing some research for their advertisements and marketing portion of the company. I will then move on to writing news letters and working on the websites they publish. I am excited to start work on Wednesday!

After my interview I did laundry and then hurried back to my flat to get ready for the show I needed to see for class that night. It was my last show for class and it was a long one. It was called Jerusalem and it had three acts.

The plot is a little too odd to explain, but in its utter simplicity it is about Britain and what being British means. I enjoyed it, but I had a long day before the show even started and to sit through three acts was a bit tough. Also, I didn't understand all the jokes because, well, I'm not British and it was (apparently) very British humor.

The next week was the last week before break. On Wednesday of that week Rocio and I went to see Wicked . Rocio had never seen the musical before, but I had. Although it was good, I did prefer the New York production. I think the accents threw me off.

The next day was my last day of the theatre class and the day I left for holiday. So I took my final exam and then packed my bags!

And that is where I am leaving you. Just picture me on the train and heading toward.....well you'll just have to stay tuned to this station to find out won't you? Here's a sneak peak of what's coming up.

and wait for it.....

The One in Which I Do Lots of Stuff

So when we last left off I bid you all a fond farewell and left you for the countryside. Well I am back from a lovely weekend with the grandparents where I was spoiled rotten. I was taken to Next (a clothing store that I absolutely love that is only found in the UK) in Cambridge and got a new sweater, dress, and jeans for my birthday. Then we went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. It was a great weekend and I also got to see how my aunt and uncle's new house is coming along. I went up a ladder! That was a big accomplishment seeing as I hate going up ladders. But I did it! So it was a nice family visit.

Now it is a week later and so much has gone on this past week. To make it easier on everyone (myself included, it has been such a busy week!) why don't I just do this post in sections.

The BBC

On Tuesday I went on a tour of the BBC with my Media in Britain class. It was so cool. I got to peer into the news hub and there were computers and televisions everywhere. After the news hub we went to see the television studio. We didn't actually get to go into the studio we saw the studio from what can be described as an operating theatre (the place where doctors can watch surgeries taking place) and saw how the studio is set up and checked before they tape the program.

From there we went to one of the BBC's green rooms for the celebrities that come through. It was a huge room, but the tour guide Roz said that it was one of the smaller ones. She then proceeded to tell us the story of "Jenny from the block" a.k.a. Jennifer Lopez and how she was a diva when she went came to the BBC. Apparently the green room she was given was not big enough and so they gave her a conference room and then proceeded to redecorate the entire room. Not at the BBC's expense though, that was a point that Roz wanted us to be clear on.

After sitting in the enormous green room, which was apparently not that big, we were taken into a "mock" studio where a few from our group were asked to participate. The concept was we were doing a newscast and then heading into a game show after the news. Well my friend Leah was chosen to do the behind the scenes work such as the narrating and picking the television program. Then Steve was the newscaster and introduced the game show program coming up.

And guess what the show was.

The Weakest Link.

And guess who was on that show.

Yep, yours truly.

And guess who won!

Not me.

Technically I tied for second place.

Out of three.

So am I the weakest link?

Please say no.

Anyway it was a mock up anyway so....no biggie. Right?

Anyway that was the BBC. It was fun and great to do. My roommates and I are going to a taping of a radio show at the BBC. It should be fun.

After that Rocio and I went to Harrods for their once a year sale. It was great and not crowded at all. I bought some souvenirs for people, but nothing for myself sadly. But still the sweets section, AWSOME. Candy galore and ready to fall off the shelves. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. No kidding, wanted to swim around in all that candy.

Parliament

On Friday morning my I took a tour of Parliament. We had this fantastic tour guide who was just this old adorable British man. He just seemed to love doing these tours.

Parliament is incredible. The building is very old and beautiful. Prince Albert had all this artwork brought in and he also ordered wooden engravings of King Arthur and the Round Table. History just surrounds you when you go into Parliament. Sadly I do not have many pictures because you can't take photos when you go in. You can only take photos of Westminster Hall. Which I did and I will post them here.

Day Trip to Stonehenge and Bath

So F.I.E. (Foundation for International Education the place where I am studying) sponsored a free day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. So we got up and got on the bus at eight o'clock in the morning which would have been fine except that our tour guide would not stop talking. I was interested for the first five minutes, but then all I wanted to do was sleep and she wouldn't let me. She kept promising us that we would be able to, but out of the hour and a half bus ride, I do believe we were only able to sleep for about twenty minutes/half an hour. The only time she stopped talking was the bus ride home. If she was more of an entertaining speaker then maybe I would not feel this way or maybe if her facts were more substantial I would tend to be more interested. But random facts that did not pertain to what we were seeing had no place at eight o'clock in the morning. Where the Coca Cola company is has nothing to do with Stonehenge. Please keep it short and sweet. I do not like being talked at especially in the morning.

Anyway besides that it was a nice day trip. Stonehenge was neat just in the fact that its Stonehenge and well yeah. That pretty much sums it up. Rocks. Would you like to see pictures of these rocks? I knew you would!

So I figured by this point you might want to see something else besides rocks. So pretty grass? Nice countryside good for all of you?

So yeah back to rocks. But they're cool rocks. And that is the end of Stonehenge. Onward we go.

After we left Stonehenge we went to Bath. Bath is a very pretty little city. If people want to tape a historical film, they go to Bath. Ever seen Vanity Fair? Yeah some scenes were filmed there. The reason why directors like to film there is because it has kept its historical integrity. Bath hasn't changed at all. All the crew needs to do is get the cars and people out of the street and that's it.

But that is not what Bath is known for. The city is known for the Roman baths that people used to flock to for the alleged "healing" qualities. The baths are still there, you just can't use them anymore. The waters are about one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit and just standing by the steam warms you up. I got a face-full of steam and it felt quite pleasant. I did however, feel sorry for a little boy who got dragged through the water by his grandmother (there was some water just flowing through like a steam and the woman just didn't look).

After we toured the baths Rocio, Esther, and I headed over the Jane Austin museum (she lived in Bath at one point) and we went to the gift shop. We wanted to do the tour, but we did not have enough time.

It was a good day trip and I am glad that I did it. I am posting even more photos to end this entry with. Have a good week everyone and keep a look out for future posts!

What most housing looks like in Bath. The houses are all in rows.

The white spots are the steam. This was taken from the inside looking out from the Baths.

This is the "Great Bath" There were two other smaller baths besides this big one.

This is the remains of Minerva's temple. The Roman's dedicated the baths to her and they set up a special temple for her.

The water is green because it is sulfurous. The sulfur is what makes the water healing.

The white part is steam. I just bent over the water to get a picture and so the steam was taken as well.

Bench people used to sit on if they wanted to just look and gaze at the bath or if they were waiting their turn.

Go See 39 Steps

Last night was "39 Steps" and it was fabulous. The show is based on the film by Alfred Hitchcock and it was hysterical. The play is a murder mystery and is done with three actors and one actress. They all play multiple parts and the cast just really got into it. Making each character they played different from every other character they had to play. If you have the time it is a show worth seeing.

Today I went to the National Art Gallery. It is a huge place and we only made it to one out of three floors and we had spent at least two hours there. I saw Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and some really great French Impressionism. They had a few of Renoir's dancers too. Nothing is as thrilling as seeing paintings that you have only heard about in art class up close. What is nice about going with a group of friends is that we had no one to check in with. There was no teacher hurrying us along or parent telling us it was time to go. We were able to just walk along at our own pace, sit down and chat if we wanted to (and trust me we wanted to and did just that). There is something gratifying in being able to go and check out a museum with my group of friends.

Ok yes I do have the capability to do this back home. I do live in D.C. home to the Smithsonian. But I think I figured out the difference between there and here. When I started at AU I knew that I had four years to do all those museums and see all those sites. Here in England though, I don't have four years I only have four months. So I am trying to make the most of my time here.

This weekend I am visiting my grandparents and so it is off to the countryside. Have a good weekend everyone!

Welcome and Beginnings

Hi all!

I wanted to start this blog as a way to keep you updated on my comings and goings over here and also use it as a place to keep memories of my big adventure. A week has already past and so much has happened from arriving here to my first day of class. I will try and catch you all up to what has been going on. So hold on to your hats and enjoy the ride across the pond to a jolly old place called England.

Getting there

So lets start at the beginning which would be the plane ride over here. Scratch that. The beginning would probably be all the false starts that happened before I even got on the plane. I was supposed to leave on Wednesday January 6th. That was the plan. Unfortunately Mother Nature was having a, how do I put this, a temper tantrum of epic proportions. There was a snowstorm in England and basically all the British Airway flights were either cancelled or delayed. So my flight was delayed an hour no big deal. It seemed as if the snow was going to stop. Then it picked back up again and the weather report said it would probably snow another fifteen inches. Fifteen freaking inches. As the British are not use to that type of snow you can bet that my flight was going to be delayed again. And it was. Twice.

Yes folks my flight was delayed until 1:45 a.m. and then again until 2:15 a.m. So I officially did not leave the country until Thursday January 7th at 2:15 a.m. Let me just say at that point I was so stressed out and tired that I was ready to call it quits right then and there.

The Airport

So yes I did finally manage to get to the airport. But then the toughest part of all came. Saying goodbye to my parents. Saying goodbye was really hard. I won't lie about that. Sorry if its sounds cheesy or like I'm a dork, but it's true. This will be the longest time I will go without seeing my parents. The longest it had been was two months and this time it is going to be four. The walk to security felt like the longest walk ever because once I got there, I would have to go through all by myself. So with tears, hugs, and I love you's, I walked through security all by myself and left my parents on the other side.

Arrival and Move In

After a pretty uneventful flight (crappy food, turbulence, but tons of movie choices) I arrived in England. I was pretty proud of myself as I went through Immigration by myself and managed to maneuver both my fifty pound bags on to a trolly cart and go through customs. My Aunt Su and cousin Ben met me on the other side of customs. Su took the cart from me and we got to the car park and Su got me to where I needed to be.

So Su takes me to pick up my keys and then we drive to my my residence. We get there and wait for it....there is no elevator and I live on the fourth floor. Yeah if I wasn't already doubting my choice to come here before I left I was certainly rethinking it once I saw the stairs.

So Su, Ben, and I dragged my bags up four flights of stairs and to the very last door on the hall. My roommates Esther and Rocio had already got there so I said hi to them and good bye to Su and Ben.

The room is very tiny. There is a bunk bed and one single bed. There was a dresser that didn't work, but we pulled off the great dresser hist of 2010 (we switched the working dresser outside in the hall for our broken one) and so we now have a working dresser. Our closet is broken though. We can't do much about that.

Anyway that night we unpacked and then passed out right after.

Orientation

Like all good school programs F.I.E loaded us up on orientation after orientation. The most interesting thing I learned at orientation is not to act overly enthusiastic at our internships because the British are a cool, calm and collected people while we Americans tend to be a bit overwhelming in our enthusiasm. I promise to keep my cartwheels to a minimum.

Touring the City

We went on bus and walking tours and got to explore the city which was neat. Esther, Rocio, and I went off on our own during some spare time we had and explored Leicester Square, Trafelgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. The city was bursting with light and the sun had already set. There were huge signs all over the place lit up by artificial light and there was buses and cars all over the place.

A few hours before we went into the city we had gone to Kensington Park which happens to be right across the street from us (seriously walk out the front door and you can see the park) to look for the Peter Pan statue. Sad to report that we did not find him. There was only one sign to the statue and we could not decipher what direction it wanted us to go. I guess we will just have to wait until it is night then we will take the second star to the right and straight on till morning. Or we could just wait until it gets warmer and then it won't be such a big deal taking a while to find him.

I must say though, the squirrels are awfully friendly here in England. One came up and tapped on Esther's shoe while another fell in love with me. I was getting a little freaked out by how close it kept getting and so I kept running around in a circle trying to get away from it. But it kept following me. I had to break it to him that I wasn't interested in an inter-species relationship.

Class

I started classes on Tuesday. My first class was Media in Britain. My Professor Christopher Cook wants us to call him Chris because "we are equals, we are peers." Ok....not exactly what we believe in America but I can work with it. So Chris it is. He is taking us to the BBC on Tuesday and I am really excited about that.

My afternoon class on Tuesday was my British Life and Cultures Class (BLC) and Professor Ridgers was cool as well. He really wanted to know what we thought of the country so far and what stereotypes we knew about when coming into the country. We ended the class talking about national healthcare and how it worked in England and would it work over in America.

On Wednesday I had Contemporary British Theatre with Matthew Morrison (yeah not the star from Glee, don't I wish) who gave us a brief overview of British theatre (note: not all theatre takes place in the West End. Who knew?). Our class is seeing a show every Thursday for the next seven weeks. Matthew (yes Matthew) also wants to do play-writing and directing workshops.

This should make for an interesting semester. Each class offers me something different and I like that.

Today

Tonight I am seeing the show "39 Steps" and before that I am taking a tour of the National Theatre. It should be fun. I'll let you know how it turns out!