The Girl on the Tube With Roses

These are the lovely roses I found waiting on my chair today when I got to the theatre. They were given to me by Tracy, the stage manager/light and sound op for the show. It was pretty fun riding home on the tube and seeing people glance at the roses, wondering where I got them.

I was also given a really nice card from the other actress in the show. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I can't believe how welcoming they've all been to a girl who popped up the day before they opened.

The reason I got these things was because tonight was closing night of the show. Sad :( But we ended with a bang- it was a great crowd tonight! Afterwards, I went with everyone to the pub next door, where the director insisted that he "owed me a drink." However, since I don't drink alcohol and I've given up soda for Lent he ended up getting me orange juice. That's how we non-drinkin' girls do it! :p I didn't stay for long- everyone was spread out talking to family and friends who had come to see the show and I didn't know any of them. But I'm truly grateful for this experience.

Earlier today, I went to the Evolving Language exhibit at the British Library, which was mostly awesome. the drawback was that there were so many people. The drawback that stems from that one is that they were all super-slow readers, which meant that it took forever to get through the displsays and I got so frustrated that I ended up skipping around. I did see most of it though, and it was really interesting. Because of my linguistics class, I actually knew a lot of the history already, but it was a tad different because it was told in the British point of view. They were casting a lot of words high on the wall all around the room, and some of these words were the foreign equivalent of British words... but since I don't know all of them, it wasn't always a translation for me.

There were some pretty cool things on display there- there's a letter from Jane Austen to her sister, as well as part of her hand-written manuscript of Persuasion, which held an alternate ending! There was also an original (printed) copy of Pygmalion with George Bernard Shaw's personal dialect notes in it! I geeked out over that a little bit.

The library's store was also a dangerous place for me to go- besides having souvenirs from the exhibit (I got a mini-poster and a few postcards), they also had a permanent book shop. I saw a ton of books I wanted to get, but held myself off and only bought some more postcards (only one of which I plan to send. All of the others are already on my wall.)

Speaking of books, on the tube ride home tonight, I finished The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. What a stunning, wonderful book. It's the best book I've read in awhile, one of those that you devour fast but wish you didn't because that means it has to end. I was so into it that I missed a lot of my history lecture yesterday because I was thinking about it and I seriously considered taking it out while waiting for the snail readers to finish up at the exhibit. It's just an amazing book and I am definitely buying it as soon as I can.

(Side note: I picked up the book because the cover looked interesting. Guess what it's about? A girl in the 40s who gets put into an asylum [and how it affects her family, immediately and generations later.] The author used the same source material I used for my essay, as well as other studies I've done in my history class. Either I was oblivious to how present this issue was or it's suddenly getting more popular, because now it's EVERYWHERE. And I'm glad- I've now been studying the subject, both independently and at school, for over a year now, and it's nice to see something I'm passionate about in other sources. It also made me smile because when the main character, Esme, finds out where her parents are sending her, she says the exact same thing that the main character in my play does when she gets the same news.)

Script Frenzy update: I'm a teensy bit ahead, though a lot of those pages were just edited today and not written. Tomorrow I start the real writing, as I've edited everything I had before. I'm really scared of this project and I don't know why. It's probably best that I'm going to a write-in tomorrow; no excuses!

Dans Chaque Fin, Il y a Debut

Indeed. Today is (or was- it's technically Saturday here. But really early on Saturday, so shhh...) a day of exciting beginnings and endings, which I will share with you: 1) CLASSES ARE OVER! Many people have exclaimed their jealousy/excitement/disbelief over this fact, and I am definitely not ashamed of gloating that my classes are finished for the term because, blog readers, it has been a hard month. A really, really hard academic month. My history paper nearly killed me (was I on crack when I decided to take a MEDICAL HISTORY course?!), my RT paper was just annoying (six sources for a 2000-word paper? That's called plagiarism), and I had rehearsals out the wazoo for Adaptations.

(Side note: We were really worried about the performance- our tech/dress was appalling, but you know what they say- bad dress equals good show, and it couldn't have been truer for us. Like I said, it went well and I think it really shows that our group worked well together in our presentation, and the audience really loved our piece, pronouncing it "fantastic" and "really clever"- oh, how I love that word! And my group. Feminist power forever :) )

My group: Me, Emily, Heidi, Jasmine, and Katherine

2) With the conclusion of classes, so ends my junior year. Sort of. I do have to take the stupid online Global Reflections class for Arcadia and I have my history exam in May, but still... classes are done. More disbelief was expressed over my advanced age- my favorite was my friend Danielle's (who is two years older than me), exclamation: "I'm pretty sure you were a freshman about five minutes ago. What is happening?!" It's really scary to think that this time next year (plus a few months), I will be expected to turn into a real person and live without a meal plan and with rent. 3) I plan to participate in BEDA (a.k.a Blog Every Day in April.) This is an event invented by one of my favorite authors, Maureen Johnson, and I've done it for the past two years. Don't worry- I won't write a novel every day. But I think it will be easy to at least post an observation/photo or two because... 4) Now that classes are over, exploration begins! For the next two weeks, I will be examining every corner of London, all the places I haven't gone yet. I made up a list of some destinations and it was added to by a few of my friends who are more experienced in London. I already tackled one of them today- the Peter Pan statue!

I was so excited to see it. I was told about a month ago that they recently erected a gate around it and no one over fifteen could actually go up to the statue. This killed my soul a little bit. But when my friend Jackie and I went to see it today, we found that this was just a rumor- you could go right up to it. FUN FACT: Jackie told me that J.M. Barrie had the statue almost literally "appear" where it still stands overnight. He had it made without telling anyone, then put a notice in the paper saying that there was a surprise for the children in Kensington Gardens. In the middle of the night, the statue was put in its place so that it seemed Peter really had simply landed there that day. The statue is also in the place where Peter is written to have first touched down in the beginning of the novel. My love of J.M. Barrie knows no bounds.

5) Today is also the start of Script Frenzy! I'll keep you updated on my progress throughout the month.

6) I started a great new book today called The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. It's so beautifully written and the story is so intriguing that I can't put it down. I started it this morning and I'm on page 155 right now. I definitely recommend it. Now I must go to bed- tomorrow's schedule includes meeting up with Jackie to visit the Evolving English exhibit at the British Library and closing night of the show!

"Rediscover Yourself."

This is what I was told by a lot of people before I came to England, or some variant of the phrase. My playwriting professor added at the end of his review of my final project, "There is so much to see and do in London. Explore, explore, explore. You will come back a different person."

I have been thinking about the idea that London will change me, and I realised that I still don't know what that means. What am I meant to be changing? Is it a conscious thing? Will it be? Should it? Am I supposed to be making my choices based on the fact that it might change me as a person? That sounds like it could be dangerous.

As I said, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be changing. I know I need to be braver in general. Coming here was a step in that direction I hope- I was as terrified as I was excited to come to England. But now that I'm here and in love with the city, am I changing? Am I rediscovering? Is settling into a routine bad? (Well, either way, I'll be fixing that in five days when school lets out.)

But I suppose change is not necessarily synonymous with rediscovery. To discover is "to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of something previously unseen or unknown." So... I have to do this? See, gain knowledge of, learn of, find, gain sight or knowledge of, myself?

I almost typed, "How will I know if I'm doing this right?" but then realised that there's probably not a right way to do this. Perhaps this is also a step up, being able to see the problem in that statement, as I'm generally always concerned with getting everything perfect. I don't think it's possible to rediscover perfectly.

I guess I just want to be able to tell if I'm doing what I was instructed to do. I don't want to go back to the people who told me this and have them say, "You haven't changed at all." Then again, there are parts of myself that I don't want to change. But that could be part of the problem, too, I guess. I hold on very tightly to things.

*sigh* This is what happens when I do analytical assignments late at night. I start to think. What are your thoughts on this? I would be interested to hear them (and I'm not necessarily talking about how they pertain to me. Just in general :) )

Adapting and Getting Uninvited

Dear blog readers, do not think it has escaped my notice that I have been writing about fewer and fewer observations as time goes on. I have, and I feel a bit bad about it.

But at the same time, it's not that I'm choosing not to. It's that, well... a lot of things aren't new to me anymore. It's funny how easily you adapt to life somewhere, and how quickly things become normal. As funny as I still find some things, like hitting what resembles a light switch to open a door, it's the first thing I look for if I have trouble with one. Nowadays, if the temperature is higher than forty degrees, I'm commenting on how warm it is. And even though if I were in school back home and wouldn't be done lessons (er... classes) for another two months, I am chomping at the bit for March to be over so I can basically start my summer.

I do have some observations for you, though! A few things I continue to notice:

Fire doors: On almost every door- literally every one, even if they're five feet away from each other- there is a small sign that looks like this:

When I came over here for London Preview in 2009, I didn't know what to do with these doors. In America, if you were to open a door that said this, an alarm would go off. So when Young Rachel, a girl of nineteen, was standing in the hallway of the hostel, she could not figure out how she was supposed to get to her room when all of the doors would alarm if she opened them. When she finally asked a worker at the hostel, they laughed at her.
Since then, I have learned that pretty much all doors say this and those with alarms are labeled as such. But it can still be very confusing.

Another thing regarding doors: The door handle is no indication as to how the door itself will be opened. For the most part, American doors have a handle if the door should be pulled and either a bar or a flat metal plate if it should be pushed. Not here. Here, they seem to place their doorknobs/plates/handles willy-nilly (and at very strange heights, too. Sometimes they're at waist height, other times, they're level with my shoulder), and so it's like a guessing game as to how a door will actually open. I don't understand it.

A phrase: Something "going pear-shaped" means that something's gone wrong.

A signature: A big thing with young British women (and perhaps guys, but I don't know) is signing anything they write with an "x" (yes, like a kiss.) This happens in text messages, Facebook everything, written notes, e-mails... everywhere. It's cute, but I also think it can be a little excessive.

Things At Different Times: Mother's Day is this month. Daylight Savings (I just found out from Emmie) happens on the 27th of this month.

Food: Ketchup is sweeter (and called tomato sauce, although the one I have from Sainbury's is in fact labeled "Tomato Ketchup"), but this is something I've stopped noticing. They don't refrigerate their eggs or, sometimes, their milk. Powdered milk is also a big thing. They label some cereals and "sweets" as "for adults." I don't like many of their cereals because I find some of them very bland. Digestives remain delicious and I am going to miss them so much when I go home.

Another phrase: "Hiya" is the sort of expression that, if someone said it to me at home, I would give them a look that said something along the lines of, "Are you five?" But here, everyone says it- kids, adult, students, teachers, friends, new acquaintances, shop keepers, security guards... everyone. And I really like it- it's a quick way to be very friendly, and I enjoy being greeted like that.

My own way of dressing: is slowly changing, influenced by London. Yesterday I wore a combination of colors that I would have never thought of wearing at home, but didn't stick out here at all. The difference between Londoners and Americans is that the latter wear a top and a bottom. Londoners have outfits, and they may be really crazy sometimes. Mine was not crazy... except in my own mind :p

And now for a story: the Monday after homestay, one of the coordinators met up with all of us individually to ask us how we were doing, how homestay was, etc. At this meeting, he also asked if we wanted to volunteer at the dinner for this year's preview students. I said sure- I can talk about my experience in London and eat their delicious free food. He took my name down and said he'd be sending the information out sometime in the future.
Jump to yesterday- the day of the dinner, or at least I thought so. We still hadn't been sent any information (two months later), so I couldn't be sure. I had tried to call the day before, but the office runs on London time or course, and so wasn't open. I called back around ten a.m. yesterday morning. I introduced myself and said that I was wondering if there was any info on the dinner, since no one had gotten any. "Oh," the man on the other end asked. "Are you a preview student?" "No, I volunteered to help out." "So you're staying here?" "Um... yes..." No, I just heard about the dinner walking down the street and thought I'd call...? "Uh, the dinner is tonight," he told me, with a little bit of an attitude. This annoyed me, since it was their job to send me the information. He went on to tell me that it was at seven at the same college I'd had dinner at twice, once for preview and once during orientation this year. He said he'd send me an e-mail with all of the info.
Okay, cool. So I kept my e-mail open as I chatted with my friend Lauren, who I know from my home school and who is visiting from her own studies in Italy. She wanted to get together that night and I told her that I couldn't- our school has dropped the ball and I had just found out that I was busy. About a half an hour later, I happened to glance at my e-mail, and there was a note from the London office: "There was an error in the event co-ordination, and therefore your attendance will no longer be required at this event."

Well... okay. I guess I was officially uninvited. I was really feeling the love. But at least I had a clue. Adrienne, who had also signed up, only knew all of this because I told her, and anyone else who didn't contact them is still hanging around, waiting to be told when to come to dinner. I'm not annoyed that they uninvited us to the event- after all, more Arcadia students come to London than any other place for preview, so I understand that they may not have had the room for us. But is it so hard to tell us this? They had to have known by at least last month, if not sooner, how many preview kids would be coming. *sigh*

BREAK! I Mean... Reading Week.

Yes, today at 3 pm, I had my last class for more than a week! Next week is what the English call Reading Week. At my home college, we have a reading day, where you're meant to study for your final exams, though people usually use it to sleep. Here, while it's the same general idea, it's a bit different. While you are supposed to use it to read material, start/work on/finish essays, etc, we don't have our final exams when we come back. In fact, we've got a month more of school before we're done for the term and then, after a month of complete freedom, we come back and take exams. I can't believe that I only have about four more sessions of each class before school is over.
Anyway, while studying and essay-doing are what Reading Week was technically invented for, people rarely use it for stuff like that. Usually, they travel, and it's so cool to hear where people are going, since it seems like when you're in Europe, every opportunity is at your disposal. Two of my friends left today to spend week in Paris. Adrienne and Laura leave for Scotland soon. Others I've heard are going to Prague, Morroco, Italy, and the like. During my history class, everyone was restless and ready to go home. Even though I'm staying at school, I couldn't stop twirling my pen around my fingers and we left ourf final seminar like the bell had rung on the first day of summer, even though we'll be back in a little over a week.

While the timing of these days off a little weird, I really think a few days off everyone once in awhile is good. My home school rarely gives us days off. We don't get a break in the fall like most of the colleges in the US- our first break of the school year is Thanksgiving- and everyone is really burnt out by that point. I've been known to respond to this by having some semblence of a mental breakdown, but most people handle themselves a little better than I. Even a few days off can be beneficial, and it's going to be great to hang out with my friend and not think about schoolwork until she has to go home (at which time I do actually have to buckle down and draft my essay[s].)

Two things before I go and get my room ready for Megan (who arrives at 8 am tomorrow!):

1) My darling sister (hi, Allie!) has made many remarks that my novel-length entries are, well, long. I do want to try to do a video blog or two, but at this moment, my computer refuses to read the videos from my camera and I'm not willing to use the webcam on my laptop to show you my campus. However, I've been trying to figure out a solution to this problem, and if I do, I will post a vlog!

2) The traffic feed over there has been showing me that visitors from a ton of different places- new locations in the US as well as other countries- have been stopping by. This makes me very happy. Hello, new readers! I hope you keep coming by (I hope my usual readers stick around, as well!) :)