End of Homestay

We had our last day of homestay this morning and afternoon. Caroline made us an English breakfast- sausages, fried eggs, toast, bacon, tomatoes, and mushrooms (though I only had the first three.) Then we went to the bandstand for coffee/hot chocolate.



We were there for about an hour, then I went with Caroline to walk Beji and Adrienne stayed in. I'm glad I went on the walk, because I saw some gorgeous scenery:







After that, Caroline made us some delicious chicken and pasta and garlic bread. Once that was finished... it was time to go. Sad :( I really enjoyed Herne Bay and will definitely go back if I can.

Here are the pics I promised from Canterbury:







The nifty things I got while there:






And now for this weekend's random observations:

-Our host family really did have a cupboard under their stairs.

-Their bathroom was also carpeted.

-Pit bulls are illegal to own because they're only thought of as fighting dogs.

-Trailers (like the ones people live in) are called caravans, and even though there are collections of them, they're quite nice and are not considered trailer parks. It was apparently a fashionable way to live in the fifties.

-Their orange juice (or at least the kind we had) tasted like orange Kool-aid.

-No differentiation is made between Coke and Pepsi- it's all called Coke.

-The guy who makes crepes in the Canturbury shopping area makes them very well. Nutella and coconut... yummm.

-They don't have Groundhog Day here. Caroline was very entertained by our telling of what it was.

That's all for today, everyone!

Homestay in Herne Bay!

DAY ONE

First night of homestay was lovely and very relaxed. We left about 5:30 (wearing seatbelts on the coach… I can’t get over that) and arrived in Herne Bay two hours later.


A few things about Herne Bay- it’s given the name “one of the sunniest places in Britain,” not that we saw any of that tonight, as a) it was dark, obviously, and b) it had just finished raining (it was raining so hard back at university that it was going sideways.) Hopefully tomorrow, when we do some sightseeing and shopping, we’ll see this nickname put into play.



The town in located in north Kent on the coast- again, something we didn’t really get to see, but according to our host mother, Caroline, they’re just a three-minute walk from the beach. The town was founded by the Victorians (yay!) and smugglers used to use the beach and the nearby pub (conveniently called The Smuggler) to make trades. Pretty cool for a small-ish town where everyone knows everyone! As I said, we didn’t see much of the town, but what we did see was very nice.

I had eaten a bit of dinner very early in case we didn’t get any when we arrived- nothing worse than being a guest in someone’s home and being hungry but too shy to be like, “OMG FEED ME I’M ABOUT TO EAT MY OWN HAND!” (That generally gives a bad first impression; gluttony and all that.) But we did get dinner, some very yummy lasagna at about nine p.m., which is quite late, but I think late dining might be a European thing. Oh, and Caroline had some chocolate cake for us… mmmm. We played with the dog for awhile (Benji- soooo cute!) and then just hung out in the living room and watched this movie called St. Trinian’s 2- obviously a sequel, but we didn’t have trouble catching on. It was pretty much a typical teen girl movie, but I really liked it- it was very funny with a great cast (including David Tennant, Colin Firth, Talulah Riley,and Gemma Arterton) and I’m seriously considering seeing if I can get a copy of it that will play at home off of the internet.

The house is very small- I think the entire downstairs could almost fit in my living room back home- but it doesn’t really seem like it. There are three bedrooms and a good sized kitchen and bathroom, as well as a dining area and living room downstairs, and I think they’ve got a sun porch in the back. Plus, as Caroline was telling us, she’s redone a lot of it and it’s all really pretty. Caroline has two children- Hannah and Dominic, who both live at home, though they’re out of school. We only saw them briefly, and it seems like Caroline hosts people a lot, so they weren’t terribly excited by our presence :p

DAY TWO

Just as good, in fact better, since it was an actual whole day. Adrienne and I got up around 8:30… okay, I’m lying, we were supposed to get up at that time and ended up getting up more around nine-ish, got ready, and had cereal and toast and jam for breakfast. Caroline offered to make us a lunch to take with us on our trip that was scheduled, but since we weren’t sure when we would get to eat (and because I had no bag in which to carry said lunch), we said that we would get it at the location. She insisted we take some “crisps” (chips) with us and asked us if we would like chicken or beef and onion flavoring. Adrienne and I were very confused by these meat-flavored chips- what happened to plain old potato? I ended up choosing the beef and onion and they pretty much taste like mild barbeque chips.

We met up with the school group at ten and the bus headed off to Reculver Towers and Fort, which are Roman ruins about ten minutes away from Herne Bay. Basically, my reaction to this entire day was, “We just don’t have stuff like this in America!” I’ve always known our country is young compared to, well, everything else, but it’s only being in a country so much older for even this long that has proved that to me. Some pictures of the ruins:








As you can tell, it was really windy there, and very cold. I wore a dress and that was a very poor idea, considering the wind. Luckily, my coat was the exact right length to hold my skirt down! We only had about twenty minutes allotted to look/explore the ruins, and while they were cool, it was much too cold to stay there for much longer. I was very impressed by the sea, however. Mavbe it was how high above it we were, but I’ve never seen an ocean that big before.




After we left Reculver, we headed to our next destination, the Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum, and as we drove, we did actually see the sun! It didn’t last long, though- it started to rain by the time we got to the museum.
We only got about an hour at the museum, but that was enough time, as there were only two rooms. It was pretty cool, though- they had a lot of pictures and objects from WWII like gas masks, identification books, gramophones, guns, etc. Oh, and the two huge planes sitting in the middles of the rooms! I enjoyed it immensely, especially since a lot of the stuff were things I included in my WWII-era novel last year.

Once finished there, we headed off to Canterbury for some sightseeing and shopping. As soon as we got there, Adrienne, Laura, and our other friend Deanna got some lunch at the first café we saw, since we were starving. After we were fueled up, we checked out all the cute shops up and down the street.

Caroline had told us that the shops there had much better prices than in London, and she was right! I got a few things, but all for very low prices- I’ll post some pictures once I get back to school tomorrow.
Towards the end of the trip, we went into the Canterbury Cathedral. We had debated whether to go or not, since there was a service going on, which meant that a big part of the cathedral was closed off. In the end, though, we knew we would regret not going in, so we paid the entrance fee and did so. I’m really glad we did- it was beautiful inside and the crypt was suitably creepy (especially accompanied by all the choir music from the service happening above us.) The creepiest part of that room was the fact that there was one particular resting place that was surrounded by small statues: men praying, figures holding books and other random objects, and an angel floating above… and every single head of the smaller statues had been deliberately removed. Creepy.

(I'll post some pictures of this tomorrow when I get back- the internet is being very weird and I don't want to lose this whole entry.)

Once we were finished there, it was time to get back on the bus to head to Herne Bay. We officially met Caroline’s kids, who were very nice, and played a game with Caroline and her son before dinner with everyone. We had roast, Yorkshire pudding (which was not a dessert, despite the title; as it turns out, we had already had the dish on our first night at Queen Mary- the bread bowl type thing with the stuffing ball in the middle), and potatoes, and it was all very delicious with gravy. Oh, and some more of that chocolate cake.
Tomorrow there’s a gathering at the bandstand for us and the host families and we leave shortly after- so soon! It’s been really cool to see a completely different side of England- they try to make sure students do so during their homestay. Then once we go back, it’s time to dive into classes again!

To History, With Love

I had my third and final class of the week just now- Madness and Medicine in Modern Britain- and I'm ready to write love songs about it. Perhaps one day we will find our differences, but right now, it's true love between this class and myself. It's exactly what I thought it would be; it covers the treatment of mental illnesses beginning in the 19th century (that's modern for Britain, whereas in America, "modern" is 1980 ;p) and going until the mid twentieth century and I am so excited. A lot of our studies will be done about the Victorian period which, if you know me at all, you will be aware that I have been obsessed with this era since I was about seven years old.

Not only is this class catering to my obsessions, but we also have a specific "module" (which is both a term for a class and, apparently, a specific area of study within a class. These double-meanings are killing me) focusing on female hysteria, which is the mental illness I spent pretty much all of last semester researching; in the end, I wrote two research papers that were completely focused on that and a play that touched on it. I can't wait to learn even more about it, and Victorian treatment in general.

My professor is Greek, accent and all, but it didn't take long to get used to it. I like how he teaches so far, especially since he doesn't expect us to just sit there and listen during lectures- we're allowed to take part (which I did; hooray for knowledge of the Four Humors!) My seminar (which comes after the lecture and in which I am the solitary American) was awesome. We discussed things that used to be considered mental illnesses or causes of them and I talked for too long about the perception of the dangers of female education in the Victorian era leading to hysteria. The teacher was very interested in the fact that I'd done work on this already, although I think his and my definitions of research differ a bit. After I was done speeching, he was like, "Well, don't worry, we don't do that any more; you girls will get just as much work." :p I am completely and totally in love with this class, and as soon as it was over, I handed in my registration sheet that will permanently put me in all of my classes.

Last night, for my Adaptations class' "unsupervised rehearsal," we were supposed to watch the film version of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, so we gathered in one of the rehearsal rooms. While the classmate who brought the laptop looked for a version online (there are no copies in the school library), we were chatting. At this point, it was just a few of the girls in the class- the single guy in the class couldn't make it and two of the girls were pulled from the class due to scheduling issues. There was an interesting exchange of questions- the English girls asking the other American girl and me if certain things were still big in America anad if we watched any British TV, and we asked them the same questions about England. As is turns out, these English girls have seen about ten times more American television than I have. I've never seen Jersey Shore, 90210, Saved by the Bell, and had never even heard of this new show about brides getting extreme plastic surgery every week, though another girl did express her love for Gilmore Girls. It was kind of funny, especially since the British shows I do watch (My Family, Dr. Who) got wrinkled noses from all of them.

This weekend- in about forty-five minutes, actually- I am going on homestay in Herne Bay. I'm bringing my computer, but I don't know if I'll be able to update, so I guess you have either many long entries or one mile-long entry to look forward to ;p


My review of some of the candy in yesterday's picture:

Swizzels Matlow Refreshers (strawberry flavour): Exactly like our Laffy Taffy but less sweet, and all the better for it. I like candy that doesn't make my teeth hurt once I've finished it.

Swizzels Matlow Drumstick (original raspberry and milk flavour): Again, like Laffy Taffy, but this one was too hard to chew to be very enjoyable. The taste was fine, but a little strange; I think it's the added milk.

Cadbury Roses (chocolate and peanut, chocolate caramel, and chocolate orange creme): the first two were delicious, but the chocolate/orange combo is really big here and I still don't understand it. It's not that it tastes bad, really... it's just a really weird concept, and that makes it hard to eat. But I know that this does not deter all Americans (namely, Adrienne, who seems to love this combo.)

Cabury Eclairs: another thing that was too hard to eat; I was afraid I would crack my teeth and so stopped my attempts. Plus, it's almost completely caramel, and I'm not a caramel person.

Swizzels Matlow Snap and Crackle: Pretty much as the same as the Refresher, so I'm not sure why it's called a Snap and Crackle.

Bounty: the definition of deliciousness. Chocolate and coconut!

Rocky: more like a chocolate covered cookie (er... biscuit) than anything else, but still tasty.

Cadbury Dairy Milk: it had an oddly coffee-like aftertaste that I wasn't a fan of, but otherwise, pretty good.

Ontological Queasiness*

I've just gotten back from my second class of the week (one more tomorrow.) It was Adaptations, the one I was most scared of, since the description pointed toward things I wasn't sure I wanted to do. However, I've never dropped a class and didn't want to start now, so I went anyway. And just as with every othe class that I've initially been really scared of, it proved to be fine... great, in fact!

So far, I really love the class. The teacher is really cool, and not just because she's nice. I am constantly surprised and grateful at the amazing professors I get the opportunity to work with- and I'm not just talking about here, but at my home school, too. They all do such incredible things in addition to their teaching that I basically sit there all class period thinking, "I'd just like to be you, please." So what amazed me so much about this particular professor is that she once sat down with a huge pile of resources and wrote a play. That in itself is enough to get my attention, but then she went on to mention that, oh, she did this work with a few people, including Alan Rickman. And not only did she create this show with these people, but it went on the West End AND Broadway, as well as many places in between.

The class is very small- we only had nine today, but I think there will be twelve if everyone turns up. In this group, I'm one of only three Americans. The rest, save for one German girl, are English, and again I was struck by how similar we are as students (though there are some differences, which I'll touch on later.) All of my classmates are really nice and I'm happy that this is the group of people that I'll be creating a performance piece with.

I was worried that a four hour class would drag, but it didn't at all. We started off with a game and then read through the (again, very long) syllabus. Then we broke for "tea", which basically meant we were given about twenty minutes to go and get something to eat, but the teacher did tell us to "go and have a cup of tea," by way of dismissal. (I did not have some tea, if anyone's wondering, but I did last night, so I'm not a complete failure :p)

(Side note: the couple across the hall from me is arguing- or, as they would say here, "rowing" again. They really like to row. They do it pretty much every day- loudly.)

After tea, we reconvened and split up into groups to discuss adaptations as a whole- which we'd seen, why we liked/didn't like them, what made them worthy/unworthy, and if there's a line that can be crossed. We were told at orientation that the professors here like American students because we talk a lot and therefore contribute to the discussions, and I would say that I did observe that to be true, but I wouldn't say that the English student contributed any less than we did, either.

Something that I should have expected, I guess, but was still surprised at was my classmates' attitudes toward "Americanised" films/TV adaptations. I was in a group with two English classmates, and they kept saying, "No offence," to me as they spoke in disgust of the Americanised versions of different films. The other English classmates, too, wore looks of disgust as they spoke of them. However, something to keep in mind is that most likely, we all signed up for this class because we're adaptation snobs, so it may just be the way my classmates watch films. It didn't detract from the conversations we were able to have. In fact, the girl in my group, Alexandra, said to me, "We're sitting here complaining about America ruining our stories, but are there any American stories that we've made British?" I couldn't think of any off the top of my head, but if any of you know of some, I'm sure that information would be helpful for this class in general. It doesn't matter if the adaptation was good or bad- I'd just like to know!

Oh, also, I was chosen to write the things down as we were discussing them, and one of the things was "color." Without thinking, I wrote it down my usual way, and Alexandra jokingly sad, "What is this? What is this strange word?" For some reason, I was embarassed; it's not like I want to hide the fact that I'm American, but I do want to blend in with my fellow students. I will be watching my public spelling from now on :P

In the end, the class flew by. We had some really great discussions and I'm very excited about it.

Now for you (almost) daily dose of random observations:

Chloe asked a few days ago if people used the word "loo," and at that point, I hadn't heard anyone say it. But today, both my teacher and one of my classmates used it. Additionally, one of the orientation people said "jolly good," completely genuinely, which I didn't think people said anymore, either; I thought it was more of a stereotype at this point. Another one that we do sometimes say in the US: "Get cracking."

A phrase that completely throws me every time: "What program are you on?" To me, this seems like they're asking about medication or a diet or something, but what it really means is "What university are you going to?" or, if you're at your university, "What is your area of study?"

Diary = planner. My teacher today kept saying, "I'll give you the dates to put in your diary."

They LOVE essays. When I would read Harry Potter as I kid, I always noticed how many essays the students have to write, and now I know why; it's at least a huge part of the QMUL system. For the two classes I've had so far, we have to write at least two huge essays (although, to a WriMo, 2500 words is less than a day's writing, so it's not too daunting) and they're what make up most exams. And one of my teacher's tips today about creating our performance piece was, "Think of it as an essay."

My teacher forgot to print out the dates that said essays were due, and her response to this was, "Oh, how am I?" It's hard to explain how this is said, but basically, it's another way of saying, "How could I do that?" Emma Thompson says something similar in the Sense & Sensibility (1994) commentary when discussing her character's costume- she says, "Look at her, what does she look like?", basically just meaning, "Look at that costume." It's very odd, but I like it.

People (mainly younger women/girls) are either immune to the cold or just choosing fashion over comfort (a notion I am not a stranger to), going around in tank tops or dresses/skirts with tights on underneath. Today, it was just slightly warmer and people weren't wearing any coats! I guess you just get used to it.

A big difference I noticed in the students is that they seem quite a bit more cultured than American students. When my class was discussing adaptations, the English students and the teacher continually worked in references to poetry, pieces of art, articles I suppose they've read in other classes... we don't do that back home, really. We only reference what we've worked on in that particular class. Because university students don't do gen. ed.s, only the subject they've come to study, I think they go through each class at the same time, together, so they always know what another person is referencing.


Flatmate Emmie stopped by my room earlier to give me a piece of candy and she told me that they had something called the "Refresher's Fair." Basically, it's like my school's Activities Fair, where all of the clubs gather tables in one place and give people free stuff for signing up for their club. I don't know how to say no, so besides being in the theatre, newspaper, and film club, I also ended up in the art society and the volunteering club. Legally, I'm not allowed to volunteer, as my visa doesn't allow it, but the girl asking literally grabbed my elbow and steered me to the sign up sheet. So I won't be taking part in their activities, but they did giv me lots of candy and a mug :p



^I don't know what any of this is except the Bounty bar- those are delicous, like our candy Mounds. But I think I should try some of this now ;)

(*If you're wondering, this is a phrase I learned today in class, defined as "a cocktail of shame, neurosis, guilt, perversion and pleasure at the heart of theatre.")

London Audition!

I went on my first London audition last night; I won't go so far as to label it a London-style audition, as the company was founded and is run by two Americans. It was a long commute to get there- about a half hour to forty-five minutes by tube, then what was supposed to be a seven-minute walk. The walk was made much longer by the fact that, even with a map, I couldn't find the road and no one I asked knew where it was. Of course, I also tried to be choosy as to who I asked for directions, considering the fact that I was alone in dark London.

Eventually I made it to the theatre (late... I hate it when people are late, especially to auditions), was buzzed into the building and went up to the second floor (which, here, is technically the third; they count the ground floor as just that.) A guy handed me a form to fill out, but since I was late, I barely had time to fill it out before I was called in.

I was taken back to a rehearsal room and met the two casting directors, both of whom are American. We were just talking a bit and when they heard my accent, they asked, "Canadian or American?" I did my monologue, which was all right but nothing stunning, and then we talked a bit more after that. They were both really nice and seemed interested in any conflicts I might have with the rehearsal/performance schedule and kept saying how much they liked my monologue, so it was difficult for me to read the audition.

They said they'd let me know by last night if I had a callback or not, and unfortunately, I didn't get it. I'm disappointed, but it happens. I'm hoping this happened so maybe I can do something at school (we have a meeting about all things theatre in a week.) If I do get something at school, it will be my first actual college show, even though I've done shows while in school. Fingers crossed I can get something over here. I know that no one expects me to get a show while I'm here... but I do. Not because I think the London theatre community is waiting for me with open arms, but because I expect myself to work hard enough that I have a show at all times. This isn't always the case, though it was for many years, and because of those years, I go a little stir-crazy when I don't have a show of any kind (and my grades drop. The more shows I have, the higher my GPA.) So here's hoping I get something (anything) to keep me sane.

We got a free "dinner" tonight during one of the cafe's happy hours. We were meant to get a slice of pizza and a drink, but it wasn't really a meal... more like an appetizer- delicious, but very, very small. I also re-realised something that I already knew- they don't chill their drinks here. When you go up to a counter and ask for a drink, they just take it off the counter and hand it to you. I think they chll drinks more than they used to (I've noticed a lot of places like the school store have drinks in refrigerators and most restaurants give you ice), but you can't expect it.

Tomorrow I have seven hours of one class- ahhh! I'm already terrified of this class. I thought it was mostly a writing class, and while that is a large component, I know the parts that aren't writing are really going to push my boundaries... and I have it ALL DAY. The first session, the actual class, is from 9-1, and then we have an "unsupervised rehearsal" from 6-9. I know this class is worth 30 credits (a.k.a. around eight at my home school), but that's a whole lotta one class to have in a single day.

Today has mostly been spent doing homework- I have to read 'Tis Pity She's a Whore for class tomorrow, and it's a very weird play. John Ford, the playwright, seems to have been strongly influenced by Shakespeare; besides the fact that he references him a lot, the plot of this play is basically like a dirty, incestuous, less-money-focused version of The Merchant of Venice. He even comes dangerously close to copying a ton of lines from the play. Having done Merchant last summer, I keep marking the similarities in my notes- and there are a lot of similarities.

I'm not feeling extremely well tonight, hence why this post is free of the incredible wit with which I generally write my posts :p I started feeling really dizzy at dinner tonight and it hasn't gone away. I'm not sure what the cause is, but I hope it's not long-lasting. Perhaps I've just been eating too much Nutella and now I'm crashing from all the sugar.

I suppose I should get back to said homework... yay?

Rachel is Stupid: Episode One

Hello, and welcome to the premiere of our new show, where our star, Rachel, demonstrates just how foolish she can be. While it would be easy to give you a taste of this daily, we thought we'd just save episodes for special occasions. And what a special occasion today was, ladies and gentlemen, for Rachel seriously considered chaging her major to Stupid today... and it was only noon when she considered this! Let’s go into Rachel’s brain and hear things from her point of view.

First, we must flash back to a few days ago, when I told Adrienne that she could use my pots and pans to make some pasta, as her kitchen supplies had not yet arrived. I had already made my pasta and was halfway through my delicious Italian dish when Adrienne came into my room. The following conversation ensued:

ADRIENNE: Hey, what did you use to take he pot off of the stove?
ME: (is this a trick question?) My hand?
ADRIENNE: Well, I just thought that since the handle is metal, it might be really hot.
ME: Oh, yeah...

And now we come to today's instances. I had no classes so I decided that, before my appointment that night, I’d check some things off of my to-do list: do laundry, go to the library, check out the gym, buy some actual dinner food, etc. So I make to do the first on the list- laundry.

I had been very responsible. Though I have no laundry bag and cannot find one ANYWHERE to purchase, I’m a former Girl Scout, and therefore had been stashing my laundry in a sturdy cloth bag from Curves. I picked up this bag and also my wallet, because I thought maybe laundry wasn’t free to do here as it is at my home school. 'I am so prepared,' I thought. 'I am a laundry-doing wizard. I will go down in the history of laundry-doing. I am the Rudolph of laundry.'
So I made my way to the laundry building (no machines in the dorms) and when I got there, I couldn’t get in. I pulled on the door, but nothing happened. I pushed, because here, doors have handles and not flat metal panels when they want you to push them. Still, nothing happened. Then I noticed an electronic black box to the right of the door and waved my card in front of it- bingo! I went in with my laundry to find that thankfully, the machines were basically the same as at Arcadia. It did indeed cost money to do the laundry, which kind of sucks- guess I won’t be doing it every week like I do back home. So I loaded up the machine, fed in the coins, closed the door and tried to leave… and I couldn’t. The door was locked. There was a lock above the handle of the door- maybe if I twisted it… Nope. It just twirled around and around and wouldn’t let me out.

This was embarrassing. I was locked in the laundry room. How was I going to get out? Adrienne and Laura were in class, so I couldn’t even make a humiliating “LIBERATE ME FROM THE LAUNDRY ROOM!” call. I kept trying to get out, trying to look like I was just chilling by the door when people passed (because normal people just chill by doors.) Finally, I looked around desperately and noticed a few buttons that looked like light switches on the side. I contemplated what might happen if I pressed them. They might blow up the building. But then at least I’d be out. So I pressed one. And lo and behold, the door unlocked! I was free! But I still felt stupid for being stuck in there for so long (even though it was only about three minutes.)

While my wash was washing, I thought I’d go to the library, print out a receipt I needed and get a play I am supposed to read. As I mentioned, the library is kind of intimidatingly large. I went to a computer to try and log and it wouldn’t let me, so I found a librarian. “Could you tell me how to print out a receipt for a booklet I need for class?” I asked. They stared at me. “A book for class?” the woman asked. “Yes, a receipt for it. I heard we have to have it printed out in order to actually get it.” More staring. “We don’t deal with the books for the departments,” the man said. “You’ll have to speak to your head of department about that.” “Where did you buy it?” the woman asked. “On the e-shop,” I answered. “No, we don’t deal with that,” the man insisted. “We only have books and journals to check out, not to purchase.” “No,” I insisted. “It’s not a book, it’s a- a- a- a…” I couldn’t think of the word that they called it. I was creating a language barrier that didn’t exist. I had begun to use odd, jerky hand motions to try to represent a book that wasn’t a book but a collection of papers bound together by a wire. Obviously, I wasn’t doing it well, because they stared like it was their job. I was frustrated and therefore close to tears because crying is my response to everything.

I did not cry, though. Eventually, I got it across that I just needed to print something out, did so, and went in search of the play I needed. I followed the directions to the drama section with my call number, which began with PR. The last section was PN. Okay, it must be in the adjacent room. I entered and looked at the first shelf; PT.

WHAT?! The shelf I needed was the Grimmauld Place of shelves, except I wasn’t the Secret Keeper and so had no idea how to find it. Eventually I did and got a copy of the play with the proper editor and made my way to the checkout area.
Here’s the thing about checking out books at Queen Mary. There is not a person involved, save the student doing the checking out. It’s a machine. This was completely new to me. Basically, what you do is you scan the barcode on your i.d., punch in your PIN number, and then lay your book in this glowing blue box underneath the screen. I kind of expected it to be beamed somewhere, but then the machine spit out my receipt and bade me remove the book from the (non) beaming machine. Thus ended my adventure in the giant library.

But my day wasn’t over (nor is it now, as I wrote this.) Because I still had more on my to-do list. I needed to get some real food and so did Laura, so we headed off to Sainsbury’s. We decided to take the bus because it’s been kind of cold today. As you know, I just got my Oyster card yesterday, so I thought I was set… until the low, disapproving beep (as opposed to the high, “welcome on board!” beep) sounded when I pressed my card to the “touch in” button in the bus.

I didn’t know what to do, but I figured I’d ask the bus driver on the way back. I probably should have gotten off the bus; technically, I hadn’t paid. But I didn’t. And punishment for this was swift. Sainsbury’s is only a few stops from the school, and we were just one stop away from the one we needed. At this stop were literally twenty neon green-vested police officers, and it seemed that they were checking the buses for people with offended passes, a.k.a ME.

I tried to act nonchalant, but it’s like when you’re onstage (or anywhere, really) and you’re told to just act normally and you suddenly go, “…How do you do that?” Two policemen got on either end of the bus and started working toward the middle, where Laura and I were standing. The front policeman found that a man next to me was holding a problem card and kicked him off the bus, but before he got to me, he was distracted and went to the front of the bus again. The back policeman was still coming closer, and I knew that I was going to be kicked off. How humiliating. Their scary scanning was just like 1984, and I wondered, if they found out that I was a holder of an offending card, if I might be exposed to the rats. But just as the back policeman raised the scanner to look at my card, his colleague outside called the him, he got off the bus, and we pulled away. WHOA. Once I recovered, I was just annoyed with my card. I was not allowed on the bus on the way home; I have no idea what’s wrong with my card, but I have to find out before my appointment today so I can actually get there.

So there are all of my adventures before three p.m. today. When I got home, I engaged my drug of choice to help me calm down: Gilmore Girls. And after the theme song had played, I heard a knock on my door. A girl was standing there. “Hi,” she said in an English accent. “Are you watching Gilmore Girls?” “Er… yes,” I replied. “I thought so! I love that show, and when I heard the music, I thought that I wanted to meet the person watching it. Hi, I’m Emmie!” So I’ve finally met one of my flatmates. She’s very nice and invited me to hang out with the others in the flat, which is a relief, because everyone in the flat has basically been scurrying around Adrienne and me, the only two new people in the flat. Now maybe we can get to know them :)


Oh, and by the way, thanks for all of the comments, everyone! My inbox was filled with them when I got up this morning and it was wonderful to read all of your thoughts! Comments are love :) Check back where you wrote, because I'll be responding!

This Entry is As Long As My Class' Syllabus

This toast with jam that I am eating is deliciously carb-tastic. I just thought I'd share that with all of you :p

Today was my first day of classes, and though I use the plural, I only had one on this particular day. It started at two, so one would think that I would have the whole morning to relax and calmly do stuff. But no... because I am me. Since I had to go see a play tonight (more on that later), I decided that I couldn't put off getting my Oyster card anymore. So at ten, I walked down to the tube and took it to the proper stop. I did not look at a map because I knew the address and I had been to the office before. But (now, stop rolling your eyes, Mom :p), I kind of forgot that when I went to the office last time, we had had to get off at a different stop due to work being done on the line. So I got lost... three times. Thankfully, a woman in a hotel I kept walking past looked it up for me online, and it turns out that I just kept walking down the wrong end of the street on every road I went on.
Finally, I made it to the office and got my card (a LOT of people haven't picked theirs up yet). This means that I can stop buying day passes every time I want to go ONE place ONE time (though, thankfully, I usually end up getting my money's worth out of the day passes, since I tend to go a lot of places just for fun.) Unfortunately, being lost meant that it had taken me about forty five minutes to get to the office, so a lot of my free time was wasted.

I visited the school library to see if I could pick up a play I have to read before my Thursday class, but besides having problems with my card so that it took me forever to even get INTO the library, their system is not easily navigated and I had to get to class, so I didn't end up finding the play. The library is GINOURMOUS- it's got a lot of big sections just for studying (and, downstairs, for louder, general hanging out) and floors of journals and books and even a section full of pretty good DVDs. I will definitely be checking it out tomorrow when I have no classes.

My class today, Reading Theatre, was pretty good. I left early to get there, but I wasn't the first one there- surprising, but the girl who was is just as much of an overachiever as I am, but more outwardly so, if anyone can believe that. She's also very nice. People started trickling in and then this woman came in holding a big stack of papers. I say "woman," but truthfully, she looked young enough that if she had come in and sat among us, we never would have asked question. She asked us to arrange the rows of tables and chairs into an inward-facing square so we could all see each other (you know you're in a theatre class when...)
I was pleased to see how small my class is. People had made it sound like we were all going to be in classes of eighty or more, but my professor said that they hadn't even expected as many people as there are to be in the class. That said, there was another section of the class being given at the same time in a different building. I heard from my nice fellow overachiever that we're lucky to have gotten the professor we did; the guy has a reputation as being on the not-so-nice side.
My class is about fifty/fifty in its percentages of international and English students. We have seven Americans, nine English, one Irish, and one whose accent I couldn't place. Not too bad, and no one seemed to judge any one any way, which was cool.
It's funny to hear just how many English accents there are. It might seem like it's a bit late to be commenting on this, but besides the fact that for the first few days here, I was surrounded almost completely by Americans, and actually, London itself is so diverse that I hear way more foreign accents than English. In fact, I've heard more American voices on the tube than I have any other! So sitting in class today was really my first chance to hear a few different accents. One girl even commented on hers at one point: "You may not believe it with my accent, but I am actually middle class," was her statement. I don't think you'd ever hear a comment like that in the States.

In the class time, we went over the syllabus (thank God... I didn't think we were going to do this; I thought she'd just hand us the TWELVE PAGE SYLLABUS and say, "Work hard and enjoy!") and the professor gave us some finer details for the assignments. I don't have a sit-down exam at the end of this class- just two big pieces of writing due that will be huge percentages of our grade- the ONLY parts of our grade. That's one of the weirdest things about academics here- you don't get a participation grade and homework is just reading, so it can't be marked. It's especially shocking to a theatre student not to get a participation grade; that's pretty much our entire grade sometimes at home, along with the assignments we're given during the semester. It's a whole different world over here, academically. While I was getting a little worried, the girl who had been there before me was asking question after concerned question... which was great because she was basically asking everything I wanted to and I could look normal for once in my life.

Another thing about English students (or at least the ones in my class)- they're just like us. In everything I've read and with everything I've been told, I expected my English counterparts to basically already have all of the work done before the term even started- like that scene in Mona Lisa Smile when Katherine asks rhetorical, this-is-just-a-preview questions and it turns out the the girls know every single answer already. But thankfully, this wasn't the case. Some were just as overwhelmed by the reading list as we Americans were, a few complained about being asked to do extra work (and they did it loudly), and some tried their hardest to get out of doing said extra work. It was like... university. So there's one big worry off of my shoulders- I can just blend in (or look like an overachiever. But it's better than looking like a slacker.)

So one big surprise on the syllabus (though thankfully, I had found this out a day or two ago, previewing the document online) was that, even though today was the first day of class, we were supposed to go see a play tonight. As I said, I found out about this a little bit ago, but that didn't make it any less surprising that it was so soon. Some of my classmates didn't even know that we had to see a show tonight. But that wasn't the biggest problem for me; that was that I had been told to order my tickets for the show through the school e-shop. So I did... only to have our professor tell us that associate (a.k.a. international) students wouldn't be being included in the student tickets- we have to buy our own in whatever way we can. Okay... well, I couldn't un-buy my ticket. Unfortunately, my (and another American student's) buying a ticket online meant that I technically took a ticket away from a regular student. Oops...
After class, during which we brainstormed about what "how" and "where"s do to an audience's perception of a show, the other girl and I were asked to stay behind and speak to the professor. Great... my first day of class and I'm already in trouble. We weren't, though- she just wanted to make sure we weren't denied tickets once we got to the theatre. In the end, she just told us to get to the theatre super early to guarantee getting the ticket we had paid for. "If you bought one already, then you deserve the seat," she said.

So the situation slightly sucked- no only was I not guaranteed a seat I had paid for, but in order to hunt down said seat, I had to give up one I definitely had and had already paid for. I had signed up months ago to go on an orientation dinner cruise on the Thames tonight, and I really wanted to go. It had been a nice, clear day, Adrienne and Laura were going, and can you imagine the pictures?! But the show (Julius Caesar) isn't playing again until the 18th, and we're discussing it in a few hours before that night's show. It was a no-win situation, especially since it was Caesar, which is a play that doesn't exactly thrill me. I read it when I was fifteen and came away none too impressed and all too bored.

All the hall-talkiness of my first day of class and meeting Laura at the library afterward meant that, in order to get to the theatre early, I had to run back to my room, change into something acceptably evening theatre-going, and have "dinner" (bread and Nutella, anyone?) before going to the tube station. I made the commute with no trouble and the theatre was easy to find (thankfully, since I apparently never learn my lesson and hadn't brought a map.)

The theatre is called the Roundhouse, and the structure is in its title- it's a round house, although the house itself is not strictly "in the round"; it's more of a thrust. I got my ticket, bought my program (yeah, they're not free here, but they're totally worth the extra money- they have rehearsal photos, interviews, and lots of theatre-nerdy goodness inside) and spent the waiting time reading over the reviews we were supposed to read for class and then reading Going Bovine. As I was doing the latter, I heard a voice talking next to me and glanced up briefly... then did the most giant of double-takes and literally got a head rush that had me tightly gripping the wall. Because standing right next to me, talking into her cell phone was HARRIET WALTER!!!!

Excuse me, this merits some more punctuation: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HARRIET WALTER!!!!

If you don't know who she is, first of all, shame on you :p You can see all of the AMAZING stuff she's been in here, but though I love her movies and TV shows, I love her most for her incredible acting book that came out last summer, Other People's Shoes. It's the first non-fiction book that I've ever hovered over with a highlighter because of all of the amazing content. I've quoted it to my friends. I love that book.

Here's the version of the rest of the story I would like to tell: I said, very coolly, "Excuse me, but are you Harriet Walter? I'm Rachel and I think you're incredible." Ms. Walter said hello back and then we chatted like best friends and then we hung out and we are now inseparable.

Here's the version that actually happened: My brain tripped out, trying to figure out how it could be possible, or even if it was possible that it could be her, then accepted that I was in London, at a well-known theatre, and that I was, in fact, standing next to one of my favorite actors. Cue me almost fainting and then freezing like a deer in headlights while my brain screamed, "TALK TO HER, SHE'S STANDING RIGHT THERE!" until she figured out where her friend was and walked behind me toward the bar. Goodbye, Opportunity. It was cool freaking out while you passed. *sigh*

The show itself was actually really good, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I got WAY more out of it than I did five years ago, probably because I've actually had some Shakespeare experience since then. Which made me think... maybe I should be willing to read/see Shakespeare I've previously hated (*cough*KingLear*cough*)... maybe I'll actually like it. I did go in and out a bit during the second act, but it was a very well-done show, and it really made me think of my home school, as the theatre department's next show is Caesar and basically everyone I know is in it. I'm glad I went to see it tonight (mostly because I saw Harriet Walter, but it being a good show didn't hurt either.)


And now for some random observations of the day:

Uttered by my theatre teacher: "I'll hand you out the syllabus." I thought this ordering of words was a Lancaster county thing, but apparently it's not limited to my home county!

Instead of dimming the lights in the lobby when it's time for the audience to take their seats, they ring a big bell.

British actors' resumes are, in general, more extensive than any American ones I've seen. In America, theatre actors tend to have mostly done theatre, and film actors, film. Here, it seems like almost everyone dabbles equally in theatre, film, television, and radio.

At intermission, the audience clears out of the theatre so quickly and completely that for awhile, I thought I had just imagined that there was more to the play and it was over already.

When they do return from intermission, they bring food like candy and water ice, as well as open cups that hold beer, among other things.

I think I'm beginning to understand why, when the British try to imitate American accents, they automatically revert to exaggerated Southern American. It's easy to take the general extension of vowels just that little bit too far.

The tube is a bit scary at night when you're on your own...just sayin'


(Oh, and about comments- I've heard there's some trouble with those dumb twirly letters not being able to be typed... I'm working on fixing that!

A tip from my mom regarding this: when you can't see the box you're to type those dumb twirly letters in, click on where it says "word verification" [it won't look lik something you can click on; do it anyway.] That worked for my mom and me. :) )