Where the Devil are my Slippers?

15 minutes on a train, 1 hour and 45 minutes on the tube, 9 hours and 40 minutes on an airplane, and easy as that I'm back in Denver. For the last two days I have been wandering around in a bit of a haze, looking the wrong way when crossing streets, waking up at strange hours and experiencing, I suppose, what I have been warned about: REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK. It's true, I have scornfully noticed the number of giant SUVs, the huge portions of food, the lack of Cadbury chocolate, and the fact that American accents are everywhere, but I have also enjoyed the efficient washers and dryers, the variety and quality of the television shows, sleeping in my own bed, and seeing my family.

But, let me take you back to a time before all that, a wonderful time when I was still in London. My last few days in London were very relaxed and full of denial. I had a hard time imagining traveling back to the US after so long, and staying in a very nice house with my very nice friend made me a little reluctant to accept that fact. I managed to fit in a few more London-y experiences before I left. I made my first visit to Lewisham and visited my first 99p store (everything 99 pence or less!), went to an art show and a party with Goldsmiths art students hailing from around the world, wandered around the South Bank, and saw Big Ben on its 150th birthday. Although I'm glad to be home, I am already pining for London and my many London friends and adventures, but after this semester and how much I loved being there, I'm pretty sure London and I will be reunited sometime, somehow.

Here are a sampling of pictures from my Grand Tour of Europe:

Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna:


Wienerschnitzel:


Innsbruck:


Venice:


Well, you know...


Cannes during the Film Festival:


Paris:




Versailles:


Amsterdam:


If any of you would like another travel blog, I will be accepting donations to my travel fund, and suggestions of places to go.
Thank you for reading!

London Town Count Down

Well, I haven't been quite as successful at keeping this blog updated whilst traveling as I had hoped, but we must all remember that until just hours ago I was functioning on either hostel computers, friends' laptops or half and hour of internet cafe use (I hadn't watched a youtube video in WEEKS) so I won't judge too harshly. Now, where did we last leave off in the tale of the Grand Tour? Ah yes, in Cannes. Well...

After 3 days in Nice and Cannes, I took a magical 5 1/2 hour train ride to Paris. I say magical because after the first 2.5 hours we had only made it to Provence (Google maps tells me this is only 174km) and yet just 3 hours later, we were in Paris (762km away). The most boring, magical experience I have ever had by far. I think this is because I was so excited to get to Paris where I was meeting my friend Katie Davis who was ending her 2 week trip in Europe following her 5 month study abroad experience in India (for details see ). We stayed at a very swanky hostel in Montmatre and went on many delightful excursions including a trip to the Eiffel Tower my first night in Paris and the next day, deemed the Day of Decadence, we went to Versailles. After Versailles we ate at a cafe near our hostel and continued the decadence with literally two of the most delicious desserts I have ever tasted and an adorable bottle of wine. Thankfully, no french peasants noticed our indulgences and no one was guillotined. That night Katie took an overnight bus to Amsterdam and then a plane to America.

Being in Paris was very refreshing to me because, having lived in London with a very simple and reliable underground system, I find myself totally at home with other subways. It was lucky too to be in a city with such good public transportation because at this point in my trip, continuing even now, my left achilles tendon and subsequently my left ankle began to hurt and swell I think due to all the walking I've done in the last month. In any case, I hobbled my way through Notre Dame and the Louvre for a day, and then the next day before I left I hobbled to the Moulin Rouge and for one last glimpse of the Eiffel Tower before I made my way to Amsterdam.

This last part of my trip has been very different than the middle section; for a week and a half or so I was traveling totally alone, staying in hostels alone, eating alone, etc., but after Paris with Katie Davis I went to the city in Europe where I probably know the most people. I think there are something like 6 or 7 Occidental College students studying in Amsterdam this semester, and while I was there 4 other Oxy students, including myself, were there visiting. Because of this, I was constantly entertained. In my four days in Amsterdam I think I had a full sampling of the Amsterdam experience. I rode a bicycle, I rode on the back of a bicycle (side-saddle, the way the dutch do it), I saw canals, I saw legal prostitutes in the red-light district, saw some dutch painting, smelt the pervading smell of marijuana everywhere I went, and ate Indonesian food. On Monday the 25th I woke up at 5am to get on a train that would take me from Amsterdam to London, via Brussels and Lille.

I've been back in London since Monday. My first two nights here I stayed in a hostel over the Green Man pub in my old neighborhood where, though they didn't really advertise this fact on their website, they have triple bunk beds, which seemed very unsafe to me. Now I am staying just south of London in Brockley with my friend from my Whole Foods days, Alex Terry who is here at Goldsmiths University getting a graduate degree. Since being back in London I've been trying to squeeze in as many final London experiences as possible. I've already been to Primark (a wonderful, super cheap clothing store), Camden Market, Hyde Park, the National Gallery, eaten at Wagamama and "the french place" near LDA for the last time, saw All's Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre, I received some final words of wisdom from Richard Digby Day when I picked up the suitcase I had been storing at the school. I have a few more things I want to see and do, but it is definitely beginning to feel like it's time to go home. I'll be back in Denver on Monday, so if you want to see me silly and jet lagged, stop on by!

Cannes Do

As a bit of an introduction for those of you who haven't seen me for a few weeks/months, one of my most favorite new words/concepts is the "do", as in a noteworthy or interesting event. I like the idea of going to a do, having a do, watching a do, etc. So...

I have been in Nice in the south of France for a few days now, and it has been quite lovely (except for the actual getting here part where I was told mid-transit that the french railway workers were striking and that the train I needed to take would not be going to Nice that day. Thankfully I managed but it was a ridiculous and frustrating sort of day). Having been to California and Mexico at this time of the year, I realize that my genetics are just not made for that kind of sunshine. This sun, much much MUCH farther north is better for me. I've been outside for most of the last two days and not a part of me is sunburned! A miracle I can tell you

Today I decided to take the train to Cannes, about an hour away from Nice. The main thing that Cannes if famous for, of course, is the film festival, and fate would just so have it that the film festival is going on right now! I got off the train in Cannes and walked to the water, I started seeing more and more signs of the festival taking place until suddenly I turned a corner and thought to myself, this IS a do! Everything in the town was there to remind you that a world famous and important movie festival was going on. All the lampposts said "Cannes 62nd film Festival" and most of the restaurants had some sort of movie memorobilia displayed . There were also red carpets everywhere, different sizes and shapes for different venues, but all heavily guarded and off limits. Along the boardwalk, on the hotels facing the ocean were huge advertisments for some of the bigger films showing. On one corner was a giant robot for the new Transformers movie, and covering the whole front of one hotel was a snow-covered Christmas wonderland for a new version of a Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey coming out this winter.

As for the boardwalk at Cannes, I can't say if it is usually this busy or strange, but it was certainly full of tourists and locals and by far the best/weirdest street performer I have ever witnessed. I think we've all seen the living statue street performers who paint themselves some metalic color and then stand very still and occasionally dance around or something when an audience member gives them money. Well, imagine that concept, expect replace metalic statue with a man dressed as Mozart and painted white, add in really terrible muzak playing from a boom box, and most importantly, add in a white and a black cat. This Mozart statue man stood on a pedestal, holding the two very docile cats and slightly dancing to the music as tourists took pictures of him. Sometimes he would put one of the cats on his hat where it would appear to fall asleep and he would give the other cat stuffed animals to hold, and once, very cleverly indeed, he had the cat hold the box for people to put money in. I have never seen cats so calm for so long--I think he may have drugged them. I watched this occur for a good 10 minutes, but if I had stayed much longer he probably would have noticed me and insisted I pay him for his performance.

Though I saw no celebrities and was discovered by no bigshot movie producers, Cannes truly was a do. I've had a delightful time in the south of France, but tomorrow morning I hop a train to Paris where I shall meet again with my dear friend Katie Davis, where adventures shall be had, wine shall be drunk, crepes shall be eaten and sights shall be seen. Au revoir

Flaneuring About

Flaneur: A wanderer through a city (I learned this word from James McAvoy in the play Three Days of Rain)
This is a pretty apt description of the last few days for me, except that it doesn't mention the part where I am usually lost. Oh well, not all definitions can be complete.
I just wanted to let you all know that I am in fact alive. I am currently in a very swanky and beautiful hostel in Venice right on the Grand Canal but since I wrote you last, I also finished my stay in Austria with a night in Innsbruck. Yesterday I literally travelled from the Alps to the Ocean in some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Today I will explore Venice and eat more gelato, and tomorrow I'm off to Pisa!

,,When In Wien"

I've been in Wien, Österreich (Vienna, Austria) since Tuesday visiting my dear friend Christy Henderson who has been studying here since January. Tuesday was an interesting day for me-I very reluctantly left my flat in London, mainly because at some point during the day they would have actually forcibly removed me from the premises, made my way to Gatwick Airport and flew to a country where I spoke not a word of the language. (I still haven't really gotten over London--one of Christy's roommates has a large collection of DVDs, out of which I've chosen to watch pretty much only movies that are set in or have to do with England in some way, or the characters have british accents.)
Still, I'm very glad I'm here. I'm fairly certain that had Christy not studied here I would not have come to Vienna--I've never felt any particular curiosity or interest in Vienna or Austria, and of all the places in Europe I could visit, it was not high on my list--but since coming here I have realized what a wonderful city it is. It is still a little strange for me to be in a city where everyone is not speaking my language (thankfully it appears that EVERYONE speaks at least some English), and I have definitely almost been hit by at least 5 cars (they drive here on the wrong? right? American? side of the road), but I have found my way around pretty well. Austria, like so many cities in Europe, has a very long and interesting History, several palace, huge cathedrals, and a lot of Austrian pride. The Viennese are particularly proud of Mozart, despite the fact he was actually born in Salzburg, and in front of every music establishment, several museums, and many special candy stores (specializing in candy with Mozart on it) there are men dressed up as Mozart trying to sell you things. The best is to see these men when they are on their breaks, eating lunch and riding the Strassenbahn (part of Vienna public transport) in full Mozart gear.
So far of the main Vienna sights to see I have viewed St. Stephen's Cathedral, Karlskirche, the Opera, Naschmarkt, the Parliament, several Museums, historic U-Bahn (subway) stations, and Schönbrunn. On Wednesday I wen to Karlskirche, a baroque cathedral with a beautifully painted dome, which, due to renovations from a few years ago, has huge scaffolding inside going all the way up into the dome that tourists can ascend. Apparently the church continually says that they are about to take the scaffolding down since it sort of ruins the effect of the church, but the money it makes from tourists paying to have this fairly unique experience has convinced them to keep it there for the time being. It was amazing to see the painting, the architecture and the view from that height in a church, a sight that in most churches only those painting the fresco would ever see. It was also slightly terrifying to be so very high on years old scaffolding, swaying slightly as 20-30 tourists wandered up and down.
Though we did other things on Thursday, the most important part was going to get Sachertorte and Melange at the Sacher Cafe, Sachertorte is a kind of chocolate cake which was the center of a lawsuit for many years as to who had invented the original recipe, and melange is delicious, milky coffee. Both are wonderful, though perhaps not worth a lawsuit...
Yesterday I met Christy after her German class. We got lunch at the outdoor market, the Naschmarkt, and then went to Schönbrunn, the former summer palace of the Hapsburg family, now a public park and museum. Christy tells me that part of the idea behind Schönbrunn was to make it the Versailles of the East, and they seem to have done a pretty good job of it. I especially liked the fake roman statues and ruins, and the enormous fountains dotting the grounds. From the top of the hill behind the palace, where sits a building called the Gloriette, you can see a view of all of Vienna and the surrounding forests. After Schönbrunn, Christy took me back into town and we got in line for standing room tickets to the Opera. It was Wagner's Siegfried, the third of four opera's in Wagner's Ring Cycle. Not everyone knows quite how much I like the Rings Cycle (in fact, probably only Katie Davis knows how excited I was to see this performance) but even without this added Wagner excitement, the Opera and the performances where unbelievable. I happily stood for hours in a hot and sometimes smelly crowd watching this amazing production for 4 euro. Lovely.
I think the rest of my trip in Vienna is going to be filled with Christy trying to get me to eat as much traditional Viennese food and drink as much Viennese wine as possible, and on Monday I begin the epic train journey through Italy, France, Belgium and The Netherlands.
I don't have a way of uploading pictures until I get back to London on the 28th, but eventually i will have proof of some of these amazing sights.
Aufwiederzehn!

Satirical, Sarcastical, Tragical, Comical

I’ve just started my summer vacation, and I’ve never wanted to be on vacation any less. More school please! Or, at least more fun drama school. I’m working on a couple of plans to keep me in London somehow (these plans include being adopted by Richard Digby-Day and Michael Winter, finding a British citizen to marry, creating a false identity—most of these plans involve winning the lottery so I can support myself). Even this past week has not lessened my love of London, LDA and the ridiculous tasks they set and expectations they have for us. In the past 7 days I have had all of my final classes (each one sadder than the last with the exceptions of Dramatic Literature and Speech) and several final performances.
Last Monday we had our Movement, Historical Dance and Stage Combat finals. For Movement, we had to create a movement piece with a partner showing what we had learned in the semester and displaying Laban’s movement practices. The pieces ranged from dance-y pieces set to music, a vaudeville-style act, a Dr. Seuss inspired piece and finally mine, which was based around MONSTERS.
Our Historical Dance showing followed immediately afterwards and really turned out to be, as Richard Digby-Day apparently calls it when students aren’t around, hysterical dance. Some of the dances we all knew very well, some, just a few couples really and truly knew, and for the Gallop Finale, I think only 1 couple made it all the way through with no mistakes…Oh well, at least it was hysterical.
For Stage Combat, we all learned the Mercutio/Tybalt/Romeo fight scene from Romeo and Juliet and it was performed 6 times that afternoon so that everyone got a chance to do some combat. Let me tell you, I make a great Romeo (I especially liked the irony of my line “oh, sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate”). Even though I knew all of the choreography I was actually occasionally scared or surprised by the fighting and the rage behind it, So I think we did a pretty good job.
On Tuesday, I had one of the most terrifying experiences of all time: the LDA final review. This consists of each student, one by one, going into a room filled with all of the tutors (over 20 people), sitting in a chair facing all of them as, one by one, each tutor tells you what you are good at and what you are bad at and how hard you tried during the semester and what more you should have done and can do. I have rarely been so nervous, but my overall comments were very positive, constructive, and lovely. I never want to do that again though.
Until Friday I was free from finals, but Friday afternoon was the UBER-final, the Shakespeare showing. Here we performed speeches from Richard III, and scenes from Measure for Measure and All’s Well that Ends Well. Once again, almost all the tutors were in the same room, staring at me, but I felt a little more sure of myself and I wanted to prove to them all that the nice things they said about me were true. After the showing we had a party at school where I paid many a tearful goodbye to most of my tutors and sadly left for the last time. Tomorrow I fly to Vienna to begin a European adventure until I return to the states on June 1st. I will attempt some updates whilst I travel, but I will happily tell everyone everything about this semester when I see your lovely faces in person again.

P.S. We also took a day trip last weekend to Jane Austen’s house, Winchester and Stonehenge, and here are some pictures from that journey.

A Brief Updates With Pictures

BUSY!!!! This is essentially our last week of classes and next week we have a final performances in almost every class…hmmm, I should probably be working on those projects now. Anyway, hopefully after next week I can post many amazing pictures and videos of these projects for you to enjoy. But for now, here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks to assure you that I am alive and well in London town.

Easter Eggs


Fire of London Memorial


Remains of original Roman London


A Wagamama (just for Katie Davis)


Imelda Staunton and LDA