December 29, 2008
Well today is Monday and in a week and a day at 7 pm I will be at Newark airport sitting in a seat in an Air India plane flying off the London, England. Truthfully I can't believe I'm actually going to London yet. I mean I've wanted to study abroad since probably before high school even started. I've always heard people talk about it, and especially after going to France my senior year of high school, I've always wanted to go back to Europe. I can't believe I'm actually going back though, and in like a week! It's crazy! I have so much to do before I leave! I have to pack, I have to have an eye appointment and go to the regular doctor, and I have to see a bunch of my friends before I leave. (Seeing the friends of course is on the top of the list). I'm very excited to be going and I feel very lucky to have this opportunity, I am starting to realize that I am definitely going to miss people, though. When I was first applying to IES in September I didn't anticipate any sadness with leaving or really thinking I was going to miss anyone. But especially since I've gotten a lot closer with some people, I'm really going to miss them, so its kinda sad too. I think there's more excitement then sadness though :) . I'll only be gone four months, and I know I'll get to talk to my friends, and once I get there I'm will be so happy that I'm actually in Europe I'm sure I won't even remember that I miss them. I'm sure I'm going to come back with so many stories to last weeks! It's been so great talking to a bunch of people who have been to London and other parts of Europe before. I'm getting all these tips on where to go and what to see, and I'm going to try to see it all! Well I decided to do this blog because so many people asked me to do, and it seems like it will be a good idea. So I hope everyone enjoys it, and until next time, have a great day!
January 9, 2009
It's still hard to believe, but I actually am here in London, England. I've been here two days, and all I can say is it is AMAZING and I LOVE IT!!! I took my Air India flight 144 here, and let me tell you, yes Air India is cheep, but you get what you pay for. My seat was small and uncomfortable, and the seats were kinda dirty, and very old. It was a very large plane, I think it must have had at least 800 people on it, it was insane. And they don't have TVs on the back of every seat, they had maybe one of two small TVs attached to the ceiling, and a bunch of projectors projecting the TV stuff onto the wall. It was interesting. I got no sleep on the plane, so I was pretty jet lagged when I got into Heathrow. So when Mike (my roommate) and I got off the plane, we found Caitlin, our other friend from Wagner who is with us here in the UK, and we found our way to the res hall, dropped our bags, and went to sleep. So my first 6 or so hours in London I spent sleeping, and it was glorious. I was so tired i couldn't think of doing anything else at that time.
So after we woke up, Caitlin, Mike and I went out looking for phones, food, and some other stuff. So we went to the carphone warehouse and picked up cell phones. So we got cell phones, got some stuff at a pharmacy, and decided, since we are going to be cooking on a regular basis, might as well buy some food and cook dinner. So we found a grocery store, which we later found out was the most posh expensive grocery store in all of London...oops! It was the only one we could find, we could tell it was kinda expensive, but we were hungry. So we got some pasta (they only really sell fresh pasta here, it is almost impossible to find dried), so we got fresh pasta, fresh tomato sauce, and a caesar salad mix. I cooked dinner and it was great. By this time it was about 8 PM and we headed downstairs to what was suppose to be the start of orientation. It was basically just a big social thing with some snacks. I know we should have stayed and met people, but all three of us were tired, so we went upstairs, unpacked, and went to bed. That was day 1 of London.
I'll go through Day 2 a little faster.
1. Woke up
2. Tour of Chelsea (where I live) and directions to tube station
3. Lunch
4. IES Res Hall and Activities Orientation at University College London
5. Went to cheeper grocery store.
I'm gonna stop here for a second and tell a little more about this. First thing I'm noticing thats interesting about the grocery stores, they are very small and don't have a lot of stuff. For example, no eggs, almost no raw meat to cook (I'm talking like 2 chickens, 2 pieces of pork, and some meatballs was all they had, literally), and very little of other stuff. So I got a couple little like microwavable things. I decided to have microwavable meat pies. Well I think they were the ones from the meat pie shop in Sweeney Todd, because they really were the WORST pies in London.
6. Went to McDonalds to steal free WiFi since we didn't have internet yet.
More story time. This one is quick. Since I didn't like my meat pies, I didn't want to, but I bought something from McDonalds since I didn't really have dinner. McDonalds is so much cheeper here. 5 Chicken Selects with fries and an orange juice for 6 pounds. Interesting thing here - Ranch sauce, they don't know what that is. And non-soda beverages really don't exist. Ice tea and lemonade, not in McDonalds in the UK.
7. Went back to the room, tried to watch the Dark Knight, but fell alseep.
8. Went on an adventure walk at 11 PM, took the bus for fun, walked back to the res hall.
9. Bed
END OF DAY 2
Day 3...
We had more orientation, I found out I start my internship on Monday, then we came back here and I wrote this blog.
January 14, 2009
Academics and such
Well I've been here a week now, and guess what, I still love it here. I started classes on Tuesday, and I had Playwriting, Theater Performance, and the Theater Industry Inside and Out. All three of the classes are taught by the same professor, and I LOVE the professor and the classes. These three along with Theater Text and Performance which I have tomorrow are all linked together by shows that we go to see in London each week. Every Thursday night we go to see a show, and then we reference that show, in all four of the classes and use that show to learn about whatever we are doing in the classes. It's set up really well. I also started my internship on Monday, which as of today I resigned from. It was at the Kings Head Theatre. I resigned because it really wasn't what I was looking for. I was going to mostly be answering phones or doing busy work, and half the time I was there we weren't doing anything at all and literally just sitting around because there was nothing to be done. So I left the internship and now I'm taking the Architecture of London as well, which I'm also excited about. That class meets at the different sites around London, so basically the entire class is just a ton of field trips. So I should really get to know London through the class. So basically, except for the internship not working, this week has been going very well and the classes look great! I'm still planning on doing a pictorial blog on differences between London and the US, but I haven't gotten to it yet, but it will be coming soon. Also, I should be getting some pictures up soon...after I take them.
Oh and one other kinda cool thing...Hugh Grant is my neighbor, he lives in the next building over
January 21, 2009
United States vs. United Kingdom
So I promised a post with some differences between the US and the UK. It's not as glorious as I originally planned for it to be, no pictures, but here are 20 interesting differences:
1. You don't look for an EXIT sign, you look for a WAY OUT sign
2. You don't form lines, you form queues.
3. Pedestrians do not have the right of way unless you have a zebra crossing (stripped cross walk). At zebra crossings pedestrians always have the right of way. If you cross at a non-zebra crossing, you are at the mercy of the people on the road, and they WILL hit you.
4. The double yellow line does not divide the directions of the traffic, its on the side of the street by the side walk and I don't know what it means.
5. There are no stop signs in London, from what I hear there are stop signs in other parts of England, but they are not needed in London.
6. When you get to an area where you can cross the street, it is written on the road which way to look.
7. It is RUDE to tip the bartender. You just don't do it. Tipping is only done to people who are lower then you, so instead of tipping, you can buy the bartender a drink.
8. You pay more to eat your food in the restaurant then to take it out. The VAT (Value Added Tax, I think) is only applied to food that you eat inside the restaurant, so you pay more.
9. You don't go to college, you go to university, and they call in uni.
10. It's not a roommate, its a flatmate.
11. When you go to the theater they don't just give you a program, you have to buy it, and it costs 3 - 5 pounds, and they don't show you to your seat, you have to find it on your own.
12. The obvious one - the drive on the other side of the road!
13. Another obvious one - almost all the public buses are double decker buses, double decker buses are not only the tourist trap buses.
14. When your in class you always get a "tea break," and they drink the tea with milk, never with lemon.
15. It's not a professor or a teacher - its a tutor.
16. It's not a cell phone - its a mobile phone.
17. When you have any type of prepaid item, such as a prepaid mobile phone, when you are running low on credit, you arrange for a "top up" which means you can go into any store that has the "top up" logo and add more money to your mobile.
18. All the museums are free.
19. Universal health care - its also free (at least to some extent). And its called the NHS, and that doesn't mean National Honor Society, its the National Health Services.
20. It?s not axe (body spray), its called Lynx, but its the same thing. And its not Lays (potato chips), its Walker?s. Both are the exact same products, same logos, only a different name.
That's it for now!
January 31, 2009
London Theatre Reviews
So here are my reviews of the shows I have seen so far in the order I have seen them:
Blood Brothers -
Absolutely fantastic, one of the best shows I have ever seen. You can tell why it has been playing for over 20 years. It's such a great story, the actors were all very good, the music is really great, and it's overall just a really good production. It's simple as well, which I liked. The set was for the most part two unit sets, one for act 1, one for act 2, with a few things that fly in, but not too much. It lets you concentrate on the show, which is good. The actors were all very good. The blood brothers probably should have been played a little bit younger, but you got use to it after a few minutes so I don't think it was terrible. It's tough to find people that can play an age range of 8 - 40 in one show. But overall, great production, highly recommended.
In Blood: The Bacchae -
Saw this one for my theater studies classes. It was pretty bad. It was trying to adapt the Bacchae with is an Greek play into 1920s Brazil using capoeira. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial arts form combining martial arts, dancing, and music. The Capoeira was fantastic, the music was great, but they didn't link the Bacchae well into the rest of the show, which was kinda important since it is part of the title.
Cinderella -
This was part of the British tradition of pantomine. It was really an interesting experience. Pantomine is a type of children's theater where the children become part of the show. So they can scream at the actors at any time, and the actors respond most of the time. They also take popular music from now and inject it into the show. So they sung songs like Dancing through Life, Kiss the Girl, and a bunch of other songs. They also called two audience members up onto the stage, one of which was made into a human dummy. Overall it was a lot of fun, not something I would go to everyday, but I'm happy I got to take part in this British tradition.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane -
This was another one I saw for my classes. (We see a show once a week for class). I really liked this one. It was kinda disturbing though. The show was about this guy named Mr. Sloane who came to rent part of this ladies house. A lot of unexpected things happen while he is there, and part of it involves the woman who played Professor Umbridge in the latest Harry Potter movie being naked onstage while on top of Mr. Sloane saying that she would be his Mamma. In case of some people wanting to read the play, which is by Joe Orton, I won't give away what happens. Imelda Staunton who played Kath (Harry Potter movies) was fantastic, but Matthew Horne, who played Mr. Sloane was not as good, although he didn't bother me as much as he bothered other people. Overall I really enjoyed the show, and if your interested read it, its a play so its a quick read.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat -
This one I was really excited about seeing. I was in the show in high school and I love the show, and I thought it was going to be really good. The production was terrible. They rearragned a lot of the music, changing a lot of the harmonies and the melodies. The set was also really really bad. They were performing in what looked like a huge picture frame, and in the picture frame was a turntable, half hidden by a wall. The wall had little doors that would open and out would come the little set pieces, most of which just looked really bad. Most of the time the set pieces wouldn't even stay onstage, they would just rotate around, and then go straight back out the other door. It just was a really bad usage of a turntable. The other problem I had was with the narrator's second act costume. The narrator is suppose to be like the teacher figure in this CHRISTIAN play. She had on a very, very short, revealing, skirt that is not the kind of outfit a teacher would ever be allowed to wear while teaching young children. I just thought it was very inappropriate, as well as just really ugly. They also added dialogue in, and an extra song for the Pharaoh, which had nothing to do with the rest of the show and made no sense. So yeah, I was disappointed in this one.
Billy Elliot -
This one I saw completely randomly. Earlier in the day I was out visiting Durwich, and when I walked out of the train station to get onto the tube I was the theater. It was 7:25, the show started at 7:30, so I decided I would go see it. I didn't actually have a ticket until about 7:28 or 29. I love randomly seeing show. And I only paid like 20 pounds! The show was very, very good. The set and the lighting, especially the lighting was fantastic. This show really showed what magic you can make with lighting, they did so much, and it worked so well. And of course, this show just makes you jealous. Why is it that some 12 year old boy can be such an amazing dancer at such a young age?! The boy we had was just out of this world. He did this amazing tap dance at the end of the first act that just left you at wow how did he do that?? And then in the second act he does this ballet where he is actually flying through the air at parts. And he is like really high up in the air, with his body arched out, and its just really cool to see. The actors were all very good. The only downfall to it was that the whole play concentrated around the miners strike, and they didn't explain why the miner's strike was going on well enough. I would have liked some more background on that, I think it would have made me understand the play better. But overall, I was very impressed.
A View from the Bridge -
This week's play for my IES classes. This was one was also good. The set was very impressive. The show takes place both inside and outside of this apartment in Red Bank, Brooklyn. So in order to do this they had the two walls of the apartment just fly up every time they wanted to go inside the apartment, and the apartment was on an angle, so it came to a point at the downstage portion of the stage, so it looked really cool to see the whole outside of the apartment just fly up. The acting was also pretty good. The one thing I did not like was I didn't think the accents were where they should have been. They didn't sound American, or Brooklyn enough for me. But overall, I really enjoyed the production.
Dirty Dancing -
I hated this show. Thought it was absolutely terrible. It's coming to NY though, and a lot of people do like it, so you may not want to take my opinion, but let me tell you why. All they did was literally take the movie, and put EXACTLY the movie onstage. They changed barely anything. I don't think this works. So many people complain when they see either a play made into a movie or a movie made into a play that they change things. But you have to change things. If you don't change things, the show just doesn't work. Movies can change locations every 30 seconds, if you do this in a play it is very distracting. And this was exactly what they did. The set obviously cost millions upon millions of dollars, it was by far the largest set I have ever seen, and I thought it was one of the worst. Yes it was pretty, but they had a set change literally every 30 seconds, and I'm not even exaggerating. Things would fly in for 3 lines, then fly out. Bridges would come out of the floor for 10 seconds, then go back under the floor. A door would come out only long enough to walk through it and then it would disappear. It was very distracting. This was going on because they didn't change anything from the movie, so the show was literally a live version of the movie. So since the movie changes location every 30 seconds or so, they were having set changes every thirty seconds to keep up with the movie. They also had these like TV screens in the back to do this too, which worked sometimes, but the screens didn't totally line up all the time, so sometime it was just off and didn't look good. The performances, though, were very good. All of the actors did a great job, and with what they had to work with, they did great. The dancing was out of this world. If you want to literally just see the movie with live actors, then go see it. If you're looking for a musical, or an adaption of Dirty Dancing, don't go. In my opinion don't go see it either way, you can see the same exact thing on your TV screen and not have to pay 120 dollars for it.
February 2, 2009
The worst snow storm in the past 18 years hits London
From the London Paper:
"LONDON was brought to a standstill today by the heaviest snowfall in 18 years.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters were left stranded as up to 7 inches of snow fell in just a few hours. And with more snow on the way, the capital will receive its deepest covering since 1964.
Every bus was withdrawn from service for the first time in living memory, with experts predicting the icy blast will cost businesses millions of pounds.
The chaos wreaked by snow included:
-Trains on 10 of London's 11 tube lines canceled or suspended.
-All the city's 6,800 buses taken off roads
-Motorists told to stay at home as treacherous condition led to scores of accidents and heavy snowdrifts left roads impassable.
-More than 650 flights at Heathrow canceled. City Airport closed and Gatwick and Stansted badly hit by delays.
-Trains services severely disrupted.
-Hundreds of schools closed
-The ambulance service responding only to "life-threatening" 999 calls.
The blizzards are expected to continue for at least another day, with snow also forecast for Thursday and Friday.
Transport for London said it was working to reopen bus services for the evening commute. Many workers who made it into the office were sent home amid fears the snowfall later today would cause more chaos."
No this is not a joke or making fun of London. This is a real FRONT PAGE news story in the paper, and every single paper had a similar story to this one. When I heard school was canceled today I literally thought the person was joking. I looked outside and only saw like 6 inches of snow and I'm like, thats impossible, this is nothing, why are they canceling school. I found out later this was actually the first time in the history of IES that they ever had a snow day...and IES has been around for something like 70 years. I was literally told I should not leave the building today because of the severe weather conditions, and the newspapers urged people to wear something like 5 layers so that they don't "flirt with hypothermia," (yes thats a direct quote from the BBC). The temperature here is about 30 F. And they are worried people will get hypothermia from this. It's just so funny how much London completely freaks out and literally shut down an entire city for basically a little more then a dusting of snow. Back in the US...would they have even closed schools....maybe a delayed opening, but probably most people would just go about business as normal. It is being said now that if we get just another 6 inches of snow this snowstorm will go down as one of the worst snow storms in all of London history, and the worst in the last century. All I have to say is WOW.
February 2, 2009
Bored in the Apple Store
So I'm in the Apple Store on Regent Street, which is a big shopping street here in London. I'm trying to get my computer fixed. As of right now it has completely stopped working because there is too much saved on the hard drive. It's going so slow it took 8 hours to open iTunes. Now the problem I'm having is I have an external hard-drive, but I guess I have not correctly saved things onto it/deleted things off my computer, because I'm still having this problem. So as of right now I'm just waiting in the apple store. I got here at 6 pm and I could be here until 9 pm, and even after waiting 3 hours they may still not see it, it really sucks. But I have midterms next week and I need my computer because the stuff I need to study is saved on it, so I'm here waiting.
But enough about why I'm in the apple store. So this week I saw my favourite musical, Spring Awakening, 3 more times. This means I have now seen this show 20 times. Yeah I know, I have a problem. But I love it. Seeing it with a British cast is really different from an American cast. First of all they used British accents. I am very happy they did this. The show does not take place in the US, and it would be stupid to have them speak with American accents. Using the accent of the country your in brings the show closer to home, so I was happy about that. It sound so cute hearing the American rock songs sung with a British accent, they are better with an American accent, but its cute and different. As for the cast, they are pretty good. The first time I saw them I was very unimpressed, but they grew on me. Now having seen in 3 times with them, I decided I do like them. The one thing I really like about this cast is that they look much, much younger then the Broadway cast. This is great. These kids are suppose to be 15. When you have a 24 year old playing a 15 year old, no matter how incredible they may be, they don't come off as a 15 year old. I watched a video of the American cast last night, and although they are far, far more talented then the British cast, after seeing it with people who look the right age the older American cast actually seems very unbelievable. A sex scene with two kids that look 15 is just far more powerful, and it really shows the themes of the show more prevalently. Luckily for all of you in the US, the show is getting a West End transfer (right now it is in a Fringe theater). So it closes at the Lyric Hammersmith on March 16 (I think?) and opens about 5 days later on the West End at the Novello Theater. It is playing there open ended, for at least a year. So I'm excited. I'll probably leave here having seen the show at least 26 times, maybe more. The cool thing is I've been getting tickets for £15, which is like 22 dollars. It's awesome! I saw it onstage today, it was fun to see it onstage again after having not seen it onstage for quite some time.
Other then that not much else is new. I'm going to Rome on Tuesday. I'm excited about it, but I have a lot of work to do before then.
And, another bit of exciting news...starting tomorrow I am offically a West End Stage Manager. I am Stage Managing for Hillsong Church at the Dominion Theater, which is a West End Theater. The West End is the equivalent of Broadway, so thats really exciting. I have to leave at 6 AM to get there in time for load in tomorrow though, but hey, it's the West End, and of course it's all for God!
So that's all for the post from the Apple Store. Hopefully I'll get helped soon....
March 21, 2009
One month later...
So it's been exactly a month since I've updated this...I've been busy. A lot has happened this month, and it will be told to you in three wonderful installments, the first of which is this one right now. In the last month I have had the opportunity to visit the two countries of my heritage: Italy and Ireland! Let's start with Italy...
Before we go onto Italy, for those of you wondering from the last post - my computer did end up getting fixed. The hard drive and the operating system had failed and they had to completly replace the hard drive. They were able to save all my files though, but all the programs I had installed are gone, so hopefully I still have the disk at home...if not I lost several thousand dollars in software, so lets hope that didn't happen!
So that all happened the day before we left for Italy. The day I left for Italy I had my Architecture of London midterm (which I ended up getting a 65 on...which is an A-). Our flight to Italy was at 6:30 PM. We got to the airport and thought we had plently of time to eat, so there was this little New York style pizzeria and we were hungry so we went there to eat. When we tried to order pizza though, they said they had ran out. So we got hamburgers, which were terrible. Somehow though, about 5 minutes after we got our food they had gotten more pizzas and then had pizzas again...for the ten minutes when we wanted pizza though, they were all sold out! Since we sat down to eat though, we also misread the ticket. I thought the ticket said the gate opened at 5:50, but it actually closed at 5:50, and we left the restaurant at 5:54. Now the gate was a 10 minute walk from the restaurant, but somehow we still made it on the plane! Note to self: find the gate before getting dinner.
So we arrived in Rome (or Roma as the Italians say it) and our friend from school, Ryan Rhue, was waiting for us right at the airport to bring us to where we were staying. We took the bus and metro into the center of Rome and went to find our hostel. We walked to the address and all we saw was an apartment building. Some guy outside told us our hostel was on the 5th floor. So we walk upstairs and there's a small sign on the door that says "Two Ducks Hostel" and a guy outside the door smoking a cigarette. We go inside, get checked in, and then the guy says, ok I will show you how to get to your room. We then walk outside, to a different apartment building, up to the 3rd floor into a random flat with 12 beds in it. This was where we were staying. The first night we were by ourselves, then other people came the other nights. It was a little sketchy with no reception in the building, but everything ended up being ok. If anyone does end up going to Rome, do yourself a favor, and don't stay at Two Ducks Hostel. And don't book through STA Travel.
So that night after we got settled in and had some adult juice boxes, Ryan took us out to see some of the sights of the city (yes at 1 AM). This was of course after we got gelato (yummy!). Ryan took us to see Trevi Fountain at night, and the colosseum.
So after a night of walking around Rome, we went to bed, got up around noon or so, got some pizza and then went to see the Colosseum during the day. We took a tour of the Colosseum and then made our way to Saint John's Rome where Ryan is studying. When we got there we saw a bunch of other people we know from Wagner and Ryan made us a great dinner of Eggplant Parm. I had never tried Eggplant before and to be honest didn't really want to try it this night, but I had to, I couldn't be rude, so I did and it was really good! So I found another food I like now!
So the next day we got up, went to go see the Forum, which is this huge ruins that use to be Caesar's palace and then we met up with Ryan again. Ryan took us to see the Spanish Steps and this really cool view from a park of a piazza down below.
After this we went back to Saint John's again, and this time Mike and I cooked dinner. We called it an early night after this since the next day we were going to the Vatican, and then to Florence!
So the next morning we got up at 6 AM and met Ryan at this school at 7:15 to head off to the Vatican. We got to the Vatican Museum and had to wait outside for about 45 minutes until it was open. At the time we were told the only way to get into the country was to go through the museum, so we waited. It was worth while though. We went straight to the Sistine Chapel and saw it when it first opened with only about 5 other people in there with us. After seeing the Sistine Chapel we went up the cupola of Saint Peter's Basilica. We could look out on all of the Vatican and Rome from the top of it.
After going up to the top we walked all the way back down (did I mentioned we also walked all the way up to the top...the elevator was too expensive) and we went inside the Basilica. After this we went back to Saint John's and proceeded to board a train to Florence. So four hours later, we ended up in Florence.
Ryan had been to Florence once before and they had stayed in this great hostel called Plus Florence. Tip: If you ever go to Florence and want a hostel, stay in Plus Florence! It was cheep and we had our own room for the four of us which included a balcony. Along with this the hostel also had a restaurant, bar, pool, sauna, steam room, and a few other things. It was great. So we settled in and then we went out of see some of Florence. One of my favorite things we saw that night was this great view from a bridge.
After this we walked up to the top of Michaelangelo's mansion and looked out over the view of all of Florence. None of those pictures really turned out well though. The next day we got up and went out to see the David. So we walked to the museum, we were standing online, and then found out we were not online for the David, but rather for the Museum that has the Birth of Venus in it. Being that we were waiting in line, we went to see it anyways. After this though, we went to see the David. The David was incredible. I was just unbelievable how well it was done. Now unfortunately they did not allow us to take photos of the David. I, though, did not listen to them.
After this we went to the market and I bought an amazing leather jacket. I didn't get any pictures of it while in Italy, but in my next post, there will be a picture of me, the jacket, and a special surprise. The market took awhile, but after the market was done we got on the train and went to Pisa. I was surprised at how small Pisa was. We were really only there to see the leaning tower, so we walked straight there, and it's on the other side of town from the train station, but the walk still only took 15 or so minutes. Of course we had to take some pictures of us and the tower, I took two, one of me pushing it down and one of my holding it up. After we pushed down the tower, we went to go get some pizza. We were told Pisa has the best pizza in Italy, and I think they were correct!
After we finished the pizza we headed back to the train station to catch a train back to Rome. When we got there, though, there were no trains back to Rome, so we got a train back to Florence and then planned to get a train from Florence to Rome. That didn't work so well. When we got back to Florence there were no trains back to Rome, so we spent another night in Plus Florence! In the morning we took a train back to Rome, showered and met Ryan for our last night in Rome. We went out to the Piazza Navona and had some pasta. I had Pasta Bolognese. It was very good. After we finished this my parents told me I had to get tartufo before I left. My dad said the best was in the Piazza Navona. I looked around for it but couldn't find it, so I settled on some tartufo flavored gelato. As soon as I got the gelato I turned the corner, and there was a place that had tartufo! So of course I can't defy my parents, so I got the tartufo, and it was very good. Very expensive as well though...9 euro! We then proceeded to go back to the hostel and I woke up at 3 AM to catch my 6:30 AM flight back to London. It was a great trip though!
So check back again soon, the next installment of last month's catch-up will be coming up soon: Statford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. This will be followed by installment three, Dublin and the hills of Ireland. So until then, stay safe and keep reading!
May 6, 2009
Back in the United States
So I'd like to preface this by starting and saying thank you to all of you for reading my blog. This is going to be my last entry, since I am now back in the United States and my trip to Europe is over. But I hope everyone who read this enjoyed it, I know I enjoyed writing it.
So, the United States. Not gonna lie - I'm not really a fan of it right now.
I'll get to that later though - lets go back to London for a second. Picture it - May 4, 2009, 2:10 PM, Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 Virgin Atlantic check in counter. Brendan walks up to the counter with his luggage, puts the first bag on the counter, checks it, all is fine. Puts the second, larger bag up on the counter - it weights 40 kilograms. Due to health and safety laws they cannot allow this bag on the plane. Brendan then is forced to go the luggage store, purchase a new bag, and pay 125 pounds in fees. Brendan then gets stopped at security to have his carry on checked through. At 3:20 Brendan finishes at security - the plane leaves at 3:45, gate closes at 3:15. In a miraculous miracle the gate has not yet been closed, and Brendan makes it on as the last passenger on the plane.
Thats a true story - it was hell. I couldn't have dreamed up a nightmare as bad as it was. I made it back though. The flight was great - good food, comfortable, sat next to this nice lady I talked to, everything went well. Enough with the traveling.
So here's the deal. I got back, had dinner with my parents, moved some luggage around, and they dropped me off at Wagner. I'm basically homeless at Wagner. The first day I stayed in Emma's room, then I kinda freaked out because I couldn't find someplace else to stay, but then my awesome x-roommate from London found me a place, and then I got some more help and I'm set til I got back to Jersey on Monday. So thats one less stress.
So the United States. It's weird. I don't really like it. I think a lot of why I don't like it is because I came back and I'm in transition. I came back and rushed straight into auditions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I had nothing to do on Thursday, Friday I have stuff to do, Saturday I don't, and Sunday I have LIZAFEST auditions. So I don't really have a home at Wagner anymore, I'm busy half the time, and the other half I'm bored, don't have any place to be, and it just sucks. So the first few days when I didn't know where I was staying it was really bad, and I think thats part of why I hated the United States so much. Everything was so much easier in London. I had a bed (or a couch after Molly got back), I had a key to the flat (even if it didn't always work), and I had a place to be. I didn't need to walk around and find a different place to stay every night. Now I'm back in the US and I feel like I have no place to stay which furthers the I don't belong here idea. I got everything sorted with where to stay now, so I'm feeling better, but I still want London back.
I need to find an apartment on Staten Island, I looked at one yesterday, and I liked it. It's a small studio, but it's really close to the ferry - like 10 minutes walking. It would be very convenient. It's probably a little smaller then I wanted, but it would work without a problem. The really nice thing is that in 10 minutes I can walk to the ferry terminal where I can get the shuttle to Wagner, almost all the SI buses, the SI train, and the ferry to Manhattan. Being that I'm not driving anymore it's perfect transportation wise. The downside is that Saint George is a great area for transport, but for connivence of stores, such as a grocery store, it lacks. There is a deli and a Laundromat one block away, but everything else is not walking distance. So thats my decision, I can either chose connivence of transportation, or connivence of stores nearby. I can't really get both. Saint George is the only area with the connivence of all the transport, and no matter where I am in that area there is not a lot of stores. If I go for stores the best option would be the Silver Lakes area. That has Forest Ave right there with all the stores I could need - grocery, bank, gym, Laundromat, delis, pizza, other food, everything within walking distance. But - there is only one bus that goes up and down Forest Ave. So in order to even get to Wagner I would either have to walk 45 minutes, or take two buses and still walk 15 minutes, or get a ride, which would be a 3 or so minute drive. I don't know what's better. I'm thinking it's probably better to be close to the transport since I don't drive. It would be nice when I'm coming home from rehearsals in the city to be able to get off the ferry and not have to worry about getting on a bus, or a cab, or anything, just to be able to walk home. But that's only if I get that apartment. So, we'll see.
Well thats the United States for me. Jumping right back in, trying to find an apartment, a job, and get my life sorted. I miss London, but I am going to move back. I don't know when, but I hpe within the next couple months to set a more solid goal for myself. At the moment I'm saying within 7 years. It will probably be much earlier then that. The easiest way for me to get back in is to go to Grad School. Grad School is a year but I get a three year work visa. At the end of the three years I have to figure out how I can stay from there. So thats my next thing to figure out.
Well thank you all for reading this, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my travels, I've enjoyed writing about them. Now close this down, go to your favorite airline website, and book a flight to London. Go see it for yourself!
Love,
Brendan