Fish, Chips and Big Ben

This has been a busy, busy week. Monday, I had my first elective class, Contemporary British Drama. I really like the professor, and he seems a bit more my style than my Understanding British Drama professor. It's a class of more "mainstream" kids as opposed to art kids like my core class is, which is kind of nice, it makes for a really good atmosphere of people who are genuinely interested in the subject matter. That night we went to see our first play called "Blasted" by Sarah Kayne. It was put on by a company called Graeae, that's entirely a handicapped company. My oyster card (student travel card) finally came in the mail, so I was able to use that finally to hop on the tube with two girls from my class, Caitlin and Ashley, and we quickly made our way to Picadilly. After a short dinner at Pizza Express (this chain restaurant/cafe thing all over London), we made our way to the Theatre. I can't say that I particularly liked the play--it was all about post-war Bosnia and made use of shock theatre, which basically is a technique that uses a lot of cursing and all things raunchy to shock the audience. The cast was really talented, one of the men didn't have any legs. The use of the handicapped cast made it really effective and powerful, but the play itself was incredibly intense--sort of looking at the soulful and soulessness of those involved in war. I stayed for a talk-back after the show, where panelists spoke on their experiences in war. We made our way home, back on the tube, and i came back and hung out with my roomates here.
Tuesday was more elective class, and then I went with Caitlin to the Sainsbury to pick up some more foodstuffs (of course we managed to get lost, but only a little bit). I then came back, made dinner, and saw Anne! We met at the local pub near me. It was so nice, once again it's the familiar face sort of deal, but even just to be able to swap stories with someone who knows you so well. She and I have a very similar outlook on being in the city, and it's even just nice to have the both of us in the same city as opposed to five hours apart.
On wednesday, I woke up early to go running, and then wanted to go watch changing of the guard at buckingham palace. It actually snowed here tuesday night! I have a feeling it was cancelled due to the weather, or else I actually managed to get lost. Oh well, instead I walked by some of the houses of parliament, saw one of the british guards, big ben, westminster, the london eye, the picasso to manet exhibit at the National Gallery, Covent Garden, and ate my first english fish and chips! I walked a ton that day, just in and out of streets, winding my way through the city eventually to meet my friend hannah to help her find her internship in Picadilly. We walked around for a while, and then went back to kensington to have a cup of tea. i made my way back to my flat (exhausted!) and then to covent garden to the royal opera house because i had tickets to see carmen that night! I wass honestly so tired though, that literally my whole body started throbbing at the opera. It was really beautiful, and i was amazed at how much it was just like a musical in another language, not the stuffy sort of thing one typically associates with opera. I also recognized a lot of the songs too, which i didn't realize i would have. At this point though, my body started throbbing and i just was about to fall asleep, so decided to leave at intermission. I am bummed that i didn't see the whole thing but had a busy and good day!
Thursday, today, I had class again, and we had a playwrite, Fin Kennedy come in and speak to us about his experiences which was both interesting, and fun because he was definitley easy on the eyes :-P I went to lunch afterwards and then to the gym. Tonight, I went to dinner at a restaurant called Med Kitchen with my friend Alexis, and am just finishing some stuff up right now before I go to bed and have class tomorrow (boooo...)
I booked tickets to go to Dublin in a few weeks, which I'm looking forward to, I always have wanted to see Ireland. Right now, I'm stressed out trying to figure out spring break stuff. I just want to see as much as possible, but really can't stay in a hostel myself. hopefully it will work out, but right now it is stressful.
becca