So first of all, Colin (if you read my summer blog you know Colin) came to visit me this evening. He wanted a shout out... so here it is.

Below are a bunch of pictures of Regent's Park. I walk through there every day to get to school. The leaves are starting to change and it's pretty!

I'm taking this one class with only 5 people total and our teacher is epic. Today she emailed us and said class was going to start at 3 instead of 2 because she was running late. Then she emailed us again at 3:40 (we were all in the classroom waiting for her), and told us to call her. So we called her and she said to meet her outside. We did... and then she took us to her favorite pub and bought us drinks. And that was class. #goodtimes

It's Monday which is the worst day of the week. Especially when by the end of the week you'll be in Barcelona. 

I saw the musical "Wicked" on Saturday night. Some wonderful friends waited in line to get day seats (that's what they call rush tickets here). So we paid just under 30 pounds for front row seats. I'd only ever seen the show once before on the first US tour a few years back, so I was excited. It's not my favorite show in the world... but the orchestrations are amazing. If you just sit back and listen to the music itself you would be amazed. Also my seat was near the end so I could see backstage and, since I'm a total geek, I spent some key moments watching the fly crew rig the monkeys off stage right in the wings. Also, Fiyero was absolutely DREADFUL. Everything about him screamed he didn't care which is just disrespectful to the audience. I actually felt disrespected by him and his laziness. It was obvious in everything he did. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why he was cast. He had sleeves of tattoos and a pretty non-traditional look plus he used to be in a pop rock band, and all I can think is that he was cast because it puts a new twist on the character. But if you're going to be a badass you better be a badass... he wasn't.

Wicked.

On Sunday, Amanda and I saw "Flashmob" -- a dance show. If you've talked to me in the past few months, you know I'm obsessed with the TV show All The Right Moves which focuses on Travis Wall who won some season of So You Think You Can Dance and now choreographs for the show. He's now choreographing "Bare" off-Broadway which I'm seeing in December, but that's another story. Anyway I love this TV show and the dancing is just unreal (it's about Wall's dance company that he created with his best friends). So I went to this dance show... it was people who have won different dance competitions... for example the woman in the middle won the UK version of SYTYCD, and the group on the right won America's Best Dance Crew. I can't dance to save my life and it was insane to watch these people. It was contemporary, hip-hop, Latin, tap, and Irish step dancing. SUPER good. I'm so glad I went. It's these kinds of shows that you just have to say "yes" to and you'll be amazed. I was. The audience was pretty interesting... lots of families but then the guy in front of us was definitely on hardcore drugs because at the end he was dancing in a way that was literally dangerous to the people around him. Oh people.

Flashmob

Writing papers is gross. Especially when you're in London and you don't want to be doing homework. One more to go and I'll be home free for a few weeks. 

The first picture below is of the package my mommy and daddy sent me. Whippets are my absolute favorite thing in the entire world. Also the fact that my mother remembered to ONLY send me dark chocolate made me the happiest person in the universe. And dad sent me a copy of the new Mumford and Sons album, which I love.

The package my parents sent me. CHOCOLATE!

For school we went to see "The Enquirer" which was promenade style so the audience moved from place to place to watch the action. While it was sponsored by the Barbican, it was a site specific show in an abandoned warehouse kind of thing. It was all around a good show, but we moved too much and they let WAY to many people in as the audience -- so it was stressful because we couldn't move fast enough to get a good spot to stand. The show was kind of like a documentary... actors acting out anecdotes that came from real interviews from reporters. It was a little soap box-y because in the end it was all about how everything is going digital and the newspaper industry is dying, but it was enjoyable. And they gave us this FREE program/newspaper thing... so a free program gets an A+ in my book.

The Enquirer 

Saw my first Hitchcock film tonight (Friday, October 19). Silent film. Black and white. Everything I don't normally like in a movie, but there was a live orchestra playing music that was composed just for the premiere of the restored version we saw tonight. Very cool. We got to dress up too...

The Manxman

Heyyyoooo.

So since last Saturday I've seen one show. For school we saw Shakespeare's "King Lear" with Jonathan Pryce (the Governor in "Pirates of the Caribbean") as Lear. I had never read the play or seen it so I was going into this show blind. Act I was 2 hours long and Act II was a little over 50 minutes, but not once did I feel like I was going to fall asleep. There were moments when I spaced out because let's face it, you can't care about every single moment in every single play. Overall the show was great. The set was incredible as was the lighting, sound, and effects. The production value was just so high that I enjoyed every minute because there was always something interesting going on in terms of tech.

King Lear

Now I'm writing a paper. I have two big papers due next week (midterms). Fun times. Not really. I was supposed to go see Les Mis again tonight but when I got to the box office this morning it was sold out! I refuse to be sad about it though because it's just too impressive that a show that's been running for 25ish years can sell out two shows on a Saturday.

Nothing else is new. I'm in the midst of planning my vacation in November. So far it's Fri-Mon in Barcelona, Tues-Fri in Stratford Upon-Avon (for school), Sat-Wed in Rome, Thurs-Fri in Florence, and Sat-Sun in Venice. Lots of traveling in a 2 week span. Can I handle it? Who knows. We shall see.

Today I got to spend all day with the wonderful Tori Biondo. She's studying abroad in Rome but came to London for the weekend to visit a family friend.

We met up at St. Paul's Cathedral and then went to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte (yes). Then we walked across the river and the bridge brought us to where the Globe Theatre is. We then walked across the river towards Festival Pier. Remember that amazing ravioli I had the first week I was here? Well we went to that food fair and had pasta from that station and it was yummy.

After lunch we walked towards Westminster Bridge but it was insanely crowded so we got in a cab and went to SoHo.  There we went to Kettner's -- a champagne bar -- and all had a glass of champagne. We stayed there and chatted. The place was what you would consider "posh" -- so it was very pretty. From there we went to another restaurant, Pix. Here we had... more champagne... and small plates of food. Tori and her friend were off to see a musical so we parted ways at the tube station and now I am home and preparing to write some essays before a big day tomorrow!

Pictures of my day are below.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

THE GLOBE

TORI

THE EYE

KETTNER'S

KETTNER'S

CLASSY

This week I saw 3 shows. 

Wednesday night I saw "Our Boys" at the Duchess Theatre (West End). Great show overall. Amazing acting -- all 6 actors were just really great. Neville Longbottom (real name: Matthew Lewis) from Harry Potter was in the show and although I'm not a HP fan it was fun to meet him after the show at the stage door. "Our Boys" focuses on 6 military men in a hospital recovering from various injuries. The script lacks a real conflict, but the show is about character development... and the internal struggles that plague each character run the show. 

OUR BOYS

Thursday night I saw "The Last Session" at the Tristan Bates Theatre (Fringe). Really interesting musical. It's American and was written in 1997, the year after "Rent" came out. There were a lot of similarities, but it was a lot smaller of a production. The show is about a man with AIDS who plans to kill himself the day after he records his last album. So you can guess that a series of events lead to him deciding not to kill himself... typical. But the singing was really great, and some strong acting.

THE LAST SESSION

Friday night I saw "Choir Boy" at the Royal Court Theatre/Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. The author of this show came to talk to us at BADA for a master class a few weeks ago and I absolutely adored him. I connected with him on an emotional level -- I might've written about it earlier. So I knew that I would love this show even if it sucked because I had such a high level of respect for the author. The show did not disappoint. It opens at MTC in NYC in June... so you should all go. It was a beautiful show fueled by Gospel music and really raw, beautiful, fresh voices. If you want to know more about the show ask to read my journal. 

CHOIR BOY

Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park

Me & my Jujamcyn umbrella in Hyde Park.

Italian Fountain in Hyde Park.

Statue of some dude named Albert.

Royal Albert Hall.

Proof that Mormons do exist in London.

Harrods.

A cute puppy.

Harrods.

Truffles from Harrods.