Wimbledon

Look how close I could sit!

The Queue

I went to Wimbledon on Friday! A few classmates and our program administrators left Regent's College around 7AM to join the massive queue for ground ticket access to Wimbledon. The English don't f*** around when it comes to queues. We were in this massive field with painted lines and smartly dressed ushers. Each usher had an umbrella and they instructed us to get "comfortable but also close to each other". We were in this queue for about three hours but it was finally a sunny day so I didn't mind. I caught up on my journal and played cards. Children were playing soccer (football?) and some adults were drinking. I wish day-drinking were as acceptable in the United States as it is here. Alas.

We got into the grounds and grabbed some lunch (fish and chips for me). Then we tried to queue for center court for the ticket resales but instead chose to watch the lesser matches on the outside and not put all our eggs in one basket. I saw Lleyton Hewitt! I could've left after that and been totally satisfied. I feel like every break between games he'd look at me. :) I'll post my pictures here for you to enjoy the almost as much as I did in person.

Lleyton's ready

I went to the massive gift shop and spent way more money than should ever be spent on material goods but...it was Wimbledon. I probably won't be back. Who knows.

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the cold and rainy as it is apt to do here. Booo. The tennis youth people are so darn efficient at covering the courts, though! They ran that huge tarp out in record time. We grabbed some dinner and then moved to the hillside to watch Andy Murray play on Centre Court from the Jumbotron.

And guess who was there? Rupert Grint. He came to watch some tennis and my roommate and Rachel met him and took pictures. I'm told he's shorter than you think. He was also quiet. And why wasn't I there to meet him? Because my roommate and Rachel stopped to get scones and eat them on a bench while Katie and I went to watch a mixed doubles match. Oh, Fate. But that's ok, the last HP movie I saw was #5 and we're on like...part two of #7 now, right? The books are more my thang.

Stonehenge

Oh my goodness. Of all the crazy situations I've been in my short lifetime, Stonehenge takes the cake. While I was there, I seriously would have to take a few minutes to reflect on the fact that I was partying in an ancient ruin. Like, millennia have gone by since the mysterious stone circle was built and I spent last Monday night partying in it until the sun came up.

So I'll start from the top! I caught the 8:20 PM train to Salisbury. The train was full of people just like me and my classmates: young adults dressed for rain/spending a night outside. Towards the end of the ride, this young hippie couple walked along the aisle of the train asking who was going to the Summer Solstice. When we answered in the affirmative, the girl cheered and tried to get the attention of her boyfriend. They had both been drinking and here's how the exchange went down. Imagine it with an English accent: "Hey Sean! They're going to the solstice! Hey! Get that crusty hippie in the back!"

Quote of the night.

the "Illegal Substance Amnesty Bin"

After we arrived at Salisbury, we essentially took a party bus over to the field around 10:30. We made friends with two Spaniards ("Catelan!") sitting near us and they shared their cerveza while Bruno Mars played on the stereo. So much debauchery and we weren't even at Stonehenge yet.

We arrived and had to walk about 20 minutes in the dark. We reached the gate to the stones and I should have known what kind of night I was in for by this "Amnesty Bin" sitting at the entrance where you could ditch your drugs. Actually, I should have known from the old man who offered to sell my group "Stone cheese." I said no thanks, but he still felt like explaining that, "It's got weed! Stone cheese!"

We picked out a spot and then journeyed into the center of the circle. People were standing on the rocks, dancing, singing, chanting, and playing drums. There were laser beams. It was a rave. In Stonehenge. I was so confused but I loved every minute of it. I thought there would be more Druids but I only saw a few people with cloaks and staffs. It rained for about 20 minutes but I embraced the whole pagan/earthy atmosphere and let it fall on me. I was very cold later...

That man on the left was arrested shortly after this photo. No joke. 

I talked to so many people! It was such a friendly and international atmosphere. An Italian took a group picture for us, the Spaniards from the bus ride found us again later in the fields, and Australian was also on the bus, and we met a few Canadians. My American accent was marveled at and I debated the merits of bacon with a local 18 year-old rugby player named Gavin. I told him his bacon was weird because it's not the crispy strips of delight I'm used to and he countered that maybe it's actually my bacon that's weird. I said no because it's American so...yeah. Chew on that. Literally.

More dancing, more drumming. I saw a man get dragged off by security for dealing drugs. That was exciting. Also, just so much pot! The air was thick with it. I watched the sun rise around 4:30 and then my group had to book it out of there to catch a train back to London so we could make it to the tour of the Houses of Parliament by 9AM. That was rough. We caught the 5:45 AM train and the others slept while I wrote crazy sleep-deprived things in my journal such as "I partied in the most ancient puzzling stone structure of the British Isle. Who else can say that?". And my curse continues of not being able to sleep sitting up so I took creepy pictures of my sleeping classmates.

The sun started to rise between the stones

And yes, I wore that flower garland in my hair the whole night and the following morning. It felt appropriate. I was such a hot mess getting off the train, though. My hair was frizzy from the rain, my garland was skewed, and my clothes and shoes were quite muddy. Worth it!

5:45 AM

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Yesterday may have been my favorite day of the trip so far. Every day is a great day, but visiting Shakespeare's hometown was pretty spectacular.

My travel buddy was Zainab. On the train ride over, we worked on our journals and tried to read Mrs. Dalloway. Sadly, these two American women sitting in front of us were having a loud enough conversation to be annoying, but still soft enough that I couldn't justify saying something to them. Then water started dripping on me from the air conditioning unit or something so Zainab and I moved.

There were a lot of swans there. Here's a baby swan!

The train ride was about two hours. We ended up at this adorable little train station at the edge of a sleepy little town. Once we had consulted the map, we followed/blended in with some American high-schoolers (I was wearing my backpack) and walked to the Royal Shakespeare Company's Theater (Theatre?) where we purchased tickets for the matinee show of "The Merchant of Venice."

We spent the next hour exploring Stratford-Upon-Avon. A regatta was happening on the Avon. It looks like Crew is a youth sport here. There were so many swans as well. Zainab and I walked to the church where Shakespeare is buried. The church was beautiful with stunningly intricate stained glass. My favorite part was that the church had hired this old adorable man to talk about Shakespeare. Some memorable quotes: "There lies Shakespeare between the blue cord. To his left lies his wife. Her first gift to him was Susannah. You can do all the research you want of Susannah and John, but you will find nothing but happiness." All that was said in a proper English accent. He also twirled his cane as he spoke. I kid you not.

Then we went to the Theatre for showtime. Guess who played Shylock the Jew? Yeah, only PATRICK STEWART! Yes, I saw Professor Charles Xavier/Picard/Macbeth live. The production was great. I wasn't on board at first because they set the play in present-day Vegas, but it was so cleverly done and they captured how ambiguous, imperfect, even dark the ending is that I came around. An Asian girl with broken English approached me after the play and asked if Portia and Bassanio end up together. I had to break her heart and say that we don't know, but that it didn't look good for any of the couples, really.

Shakespeare's birthplace

To be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows-I'll stop now

After the play, Zainab and I got ice cream from a cute river boat and then took a bunch of awesome pictures around this memorial statue to Shakespeare. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I was nerding out.

This guy!

We hit up the Shakespeare gift shop where I purchased an eraser that reads "Out, damned spot!" (name that play!) and a really nerdy shirt that says "Will Power" with depictions of nine of the plays. Then we visited his birthplace. A group of tourists were taking pictures in front of the building. That's fine, but each of you gets one, maybe two pictures. NOT 7 EACH! Share the wealth.

Zainab's noble recitation

I got dinner from Snappy Pizza Express. It was fine until they turned on music right after the two of us walked in. We ate at the train station. Zainab recited/performed a Shakespeare sonnet for me and I tried to remember the St. Crispin's day speech I had memorized fall semester but could only get like 10 lines of it. So sad. On the way back from the town, the train stops at like every little hamlet in the country. The train ride took three hours and I didn't get back to Regents until 10:40. Long day. But worth it! And I also needed the reading time. I still have 100 pages left of Mrs. Dalloway.

Odds and Ends

Hello Readers! I'm sorry it's been a while, but my head is still spinning from all this activity. I spend maybe 8 hours per 24 in my room and most of that is spent sleeping. This is crazy!

One thing I miss very much about America is our beautiful tap water fortified with fluoride. Because of this, I assume that I can drink whatever comes out of a faucet. This is not true in London. At the Tate Modern, they have to instruct you that the water from the faucets is not meant for drinking. There are no water fountains anywhere! What is that about? It's all very puzzling. While we're on plumbing, I had to pay to use the bathroom at Paddington Station on Friday. It was a trivial amount of 30 pence, but that's not the point. I'm just offended on principle. If I have to pay to relieve my bladder, there damn well better be some sort of musical entertainment. Or the seats better be heated. Make my experience so fantastic that I won't take umbrage at the fact that you charged me. Frankly, that makes me really consider just skulking off to take care of my business anywhere I choose. But I am a lady so take your 30 pence, you thieves!

But we were at Paddington Station to travel to Bath for the day. Here's a picture of me with Paddington Bear.

Pinkies up!

Bath is amazing! I looked up from my reading on the train ride over, and all of a sudden the hills were lined with these gorgeous row-houses of matching limestone. It was really cool to walk around a structure from 70 AD (or so, the tour guide bored me so I just started snapping pictures. I mean, I get how a bath works by now. Olive oil, strigils, naked Romans). The highlight for me was tea in the famous Pump Room. So many characters in English novels flirt and go to Bath for its healing dimension. I'm a Jane Austen fan, and to be drinking tea in the same room where Catherine Morland and her stupid friend Isabella gossiped was pretty cool. I hammed it up with my tea because I'm not a tea drinker (or coffee...I'm such a child) so it felt a wee bit pretentious to me but I had fun. I also drank some pump water. It had a weird sulfuric and metallic tang to it. Awful. Why did people think it had a medicinal purpose?

I should also mention that I have seen the Queen. It was her birthday last Saturday so a few of my classmates and I went to the Pall Mall near Buckingham Palace around 10AM to watch the festivities. First a marching band of the Palace Guards marched by. Finally the Blues and Royals rolled in on their matching horses to pick up the Royal party from the palace. They looked so sharp! Their horses were all so elegant and the same dark chestnut color. The most helpful element of this expedition was that there was a man standing behind me explaining all the events to his young son perched atop his shoulders. I found out that the silly hats the guards wear used to be made of bear fur.

That's the Queen in the carriage in blue. As you can tell, I wasn't that close.

Speaking of silly hats, Camilla's was ridiculous! It was this peach atrocity that honestly looked like a wedding cake sitting on her head. Yikes.

I'll kill Dobby if this doesn't work

We went to King's Cross Station to get to Cambridge last Friday and guess what kind of photo-ops happened? That's right: HARRY POTTER! Soak up my awesome adventure. Try not to get too jealous. We staged a Harry, Ron, and Hermoine picture, and the group determined that I should be Hermoine. It made my day, if not week. I tried to assume a pensive, intellectually fierce look. I hope I pulled it off. The man playing Ron is one of our program administrators. And that's Cale playing Harry. Someone actually drew a lightning bolt scar on his forehead with pen. My classmates are awesome.

Wands at the ready!

But today was incredibly enjoyable. I'll devote a new blog post to it because I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Bard deserves a post of his own. In the meantime: Mom, Dad, I'm still alive. Sorry I haven't contacted you in like a week. Call me tomorrow through your magic internet phone ways?

The Globe

I WENT TO THE GLOBE THEATER AND SAW MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING! AHHHHH!

The Globe! Redesigned by an American,  Sam Wanamaker

Ok, so this was a top reason I applied for this trip. I love Shakespeare. I don't care who knows it. We read the play, Prof. Clare Kinney lectured on it, and then we saw it come to life in the space that people from Shakespeare's time would have seen it. I was nerding out. I don't know that you could have had Sangria in those days but I went with it. What I realized is that a lot of drama use spotlights and sounds to focus your attention to a certain action on the stage, but because the lights were up and there were no microphones, the actors had to work that much harder. The coolest thing was that it started to rain during the play and Dogberry, the comical dunce who leads the Citizens' Watch, actually reacted to the rain and stayed under the pavilion. I don't know...cool moment.

Other cool facts, the guy who played Geoffrey on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" was playing Leonato. Yeah, he was there. Also, the woman who played Mrs. Simpson, the American divorcee in "The King's Speech", was playing Beatrice.

I was told John Cleese paid extra to have Michael Palin's name spelled wrong.  Both of Monty Python

Then after the play, we got to go to this cool "Theater Talk" session where three of the actors answered questions from a small audience. The guy who plays Claudio shared that one time a group of school girls yelled out to him "It's not true!" when he was told Hero was with another man. The actor said he had to try hard not to laugh. Really cool audience interaction that you don't get anywhere else. Except the Blackfriar theater in Staunton. Who wants to go with me to plays in the fall? It's an hour away from Cville, tops.

Tomorrow I'm going to Cambridge. We're going to King's Cross Station where there's a place to take pictures at Platform 9 and 3/4. Oh yeah

End of first day/Monday

St. Paul's

So after flying into a foreign country overnight, riding the underground, walking around with all my luggage, walking around without my luggage but getting lost and walking further than anticipated and then eating dinner, I went to a pub (I know! Crazy, right?) with the program administrators and about 15 other students. It was nice cultural experience and it was strange not being carded at the entrance. I also got to be there for Rachel's first legal drink (the poor girl is 20), but I could not finish my own beer. I was definitely buzzing about halfway through my drink and decided to stop because I did not know these people very well. Jet lag's a bitch. *edit* So they use pints and half-pints to serve you beer here. 1 pint=16 oz.=more than one beer. I feel better now.

At the top of St. Paul's with the Millennium Bridge in the background

I went to bed around 9PM. I woke up around 3-4 AM or something. Not cool. I fell back asleep soon enough though and got up for my 10AM class. We were given a tour of the grounds, introductions blah blah blah but then we left for the city. I walked to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral! So beautiful. The inside was the biggest open interior space I've ever experienced and the ceiling was all gilded-mosaics that reminded me of the Library of Congress/Byzantine mosaics kinda thing. Because the City's ordained that you can't build anything higher than St. Paul's dome, you could see all of London from the top. Unfortunately, you have to scale 300+ stairs to get there. And they're all spiral staircases that make you dizzy. I couldn't stop thinking of Mary Poppins and that song about the bag lady feeding the birds.

Group shot with the Parliament building in the background

We walked around London afterwards and went past Parliament and 10 Downing Street. Then we went to Leicester Square to the Queen's Theater to get tickets for Les Miserables. MY FAVORITE MUSICAL! I'd seen it once before so I bought an "obstructed view" ticket for 15 pounds  (the cheapest available). Apparently we were in for a huge treat. The guy playing Jean Valjean was the same dude who did the 25th anniversary recording (Alfred Boe). I laughed. I cried. I still love the musical. I would go see it again tomorrow night and every night after if I could. The only downside was because I had bought the obstructed view ticket, everything that was super stage left wasn't visible. I couldn't see Fantine's solo, Eponine's death, or when Jean Valjean sings "Bring Him Home" about Marius. Oh well, musicals are more about hearing anyway. And "Bring Him Home" still brought me to tears. Whatever, I'm cool. The orchestra/pit was top notch. No midi/keyboard BS at all. A real harp, cello, violin, and viola! So good!

Interesting fact I've learned: there aren't many trashcans around London and there aren't any in the Tube. This is very inconvenient if you're carrying around an empty apple juice bottle. I learned that there are few trashcans because the IRA used to blow them up in terrorist acts during the 80s and 90s so they just never put them back.

I'm Tired

 Hello, assumed followers. I'm sitting on my extra-long twin bed typing to you while my roommate finishes up The Secret Agent. Everybody has struggled with reading that book. Many, like me, finished it on their flight over.

Speaking of my flight over. Leading up to my departure, I pondered the question of, if pulled aside for a random screening by the wonderful TSA, what enhanced screening technique I would choose: full-body scan versus pat-down. Well, turns out I didn't have to choose because I got to experience both! I kicked off my shoes, put my liquids in a separate container, removed my laptop and made my way to the metal detector. But no! I'm funneled towards the scanner and find myself facing a wall holding my hands behind my head while an agent tells me to stand really still. I'm then led to another pad with yellow footprints indicating where I should put my own feet and a female TSA agent points to her ear and says she's waiting to hear if I have anything on me...I guess from Big Brother. Then she asks if I'm wearing a belt. I say no and lift my shirt up a little to give her a visual aid. But that wasn't enough. She proceeds to feel around my waist before I'm released from the bowels of security hell.

The flight itself was fine. I was impressed with one lady who was already nodding off when I boarded the plane. Benadryl much? I finished my book and then watched "Unknown" in which Liam Neeson goes around kicking ass in Berlin. Not to be confused with "Taken" in which Liam Neeson goes around kicking ass in Paris. I got dinner and breakfast on that flight. It was so weird, I watched the sun slowly set in the middle of the flight and then it rose again by the end. The flight attendant made my day, though. He overheard Rachel and me talking about how we wish we were fluent in other languages. I said I knew some Spanish and he spoke to me in Spanish (albeit slowly so I could understand) the rest of the flight. The only downside was the sick and unhappy baby screaming for the whole descent. And the guy behind me kept inadvertently (or at least, I hope so) playing footsie with me. Dude! Respect the bar under my chair. You do not cross it.

Rachel and Sydney on the Tube

The next adventure was the Underground or the Tube or whatever Britain calls its Metro. There was a stop right at Heathrow so we jumped on with our all luggage in tow. The first ride on the Piccadilly line was no problem. It was transferring lines when the trains were semi-full that was the challenge.  I didn't make the cut. The door shut on my bag in front of me so I just yanked it out and waited alone for the next one. This was after we had dragged our bags up and down flights of stairs because their friggin' "lifts" were out of order. Stop trying to be the Metro, already. Oh, I also saw a lady fall down at the end of the escalator and people scrambling to push the emergency stop button. That wasn't good. But the first line I was on, the Piccadilly, had the craziest destination. It was "Cockfosters". I grinned everytime the announcer said it. Never got old.

The View from my dorm room

Finally got to Regent's College after walking around Regent's Park for a bit and getting turned around. The Park would have been more beautiful if I hadn't been dragging my stupid luggage around! But I also saw a gazillion scooters (ok, only a lot). Keith would fit in here. I had to carry my stupid luggage up two flights of stairs because this school doesn't even have lifts. grrrr. Then I wandered around Baker Street with a classmate. We both got sim cards. I'm trying to get used to paying for things in pounds and whatever the coins are called, but mostly I hand over some cash and hope for the best.

The accommodations. They only give us a duvet. It's like Mary Poppins

So this feels like the longest day ever. I want to take a nap but I know as soon as I fall asleep I won't wake up until tomorrow. I haven't slept since Friday night. It's Sunday afternoon here. Mindf***.