London Day 6

Sometimes I sit down and wonder to myself, “Lord? Why do I have a busted foot right now?” (sometimes it isn’t a busted foot….okay…3 out of 5 times it’s a busted food, but…) “Lord?” And I get the feeling sometimes he laughs and responds. This time I think he said “Because even though your foot is busted…you get to see Billy Boyd sing from feet in front of you on a stage and then you get to see him to a Scottish jig!” When I felt that response come to me I just thought…”Thank you. I do appreciate that…..Still have a busted foot though…” And then the Lord shrugged and smiled and gave me that look of “All in due time”. Okay. In due time, ya’ll.

Before going to the play we went to a Greek place. It was a little bit of…a fail as far as the waiter is concerned, but it happens I suppose. It was dang delicious though! I got chicken!

SO YES! We went to see Macbeth at the Globe today! The highly anticipated moment!

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It was baaaaaaaad. So very baaaaaaaad. Macbeth, for those of you who don’t know, is a tragedy. People die. The women ALWAYS die. And yet, there was too much comedy. It couldn’t even hold a candle to The Tempest (and believe me, there were candles). That wasn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy parts of it. Like Billy Boyd’s Scottish accent in which I’m hearing myself type these words through his voice in my head. I swear, I’m not crazy…Don’t you, laugh. Right, so Billy Boyd, lovingly known as Pippin from Lord of the Rings.

Him

Looks like this most of the time though. :)

The opening had me excited. It was very upbeat with the whole cast beating drums and Billy was RIGHT THERE! All the Scottishness with bagpipes and things. Then the play starts and it’s just like…yeowch. Billy was fine, but his character didn’t really stand out too much. Macbeth was a little too much. All Lady Macbeth did was screech. Actually all they did was scream at each other all the time…the entire cast. It was a shouting match. The only great one was King Duncan in my opinion. Billy did good. Anyway, we were basically just waiting for it to end by intermission. My spirits lightened when Billy Boyd ended the intermission by singing on stage. I LOVE HIS VOICE. Ever since I heard him sing in the 3^rd LOTR movie, I loved it. I couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot. Then he got cut off and the play started again. Ugh. Anyway, Shakespeare’s plays always end with a jig (bet you didn’t know that!) so there was a really good and entertaining one at the end. Billy dancing was wonderful to watch b/c he makes me laugh no matter what he does.

Right so, that was basically it for today. Maybe some of us may go out for a drink tonight (in my case its always one and I just hang around for the company) or not. We’ll see. Tomorrow will be the Tower of London. Hoo boy…lots of walking…you know…

But, a nice highlight is that I tried walking normally for awhile and it worked for about…one minute before I had to tip-toe it again. Give it like…3 days as long as I get out of the mentality that I constantly need to limp. Like…at this point my foot has taken it as a habit to walk like that. I CAN stand now without pain searing through my foot. I have been standing like this for so long that my big toe is constantly numb. No, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong with my toe, but it is just numb…

Before I stop writing, let me also let you all in on another tale. We got back to the flat and go to the kitchen to find the window open and a bagel on the floor. Bagel on the floor? A London rat with wings (aka Pigeon) infiltrated our kitchen through the window and ate a bagel. It went on to not finish the bagel, but poop on it and ALL OVER THE FLOOR AND VOMIT ON THE WINDOWSILL before leaving. Rude creatures. They will literally fly into your head over here. I swear they believe they are the dominant species here in England.

By the way, if you ever come here and use the subway, expect black snot. The underground is dirty and you inhale it. Lots of the people on the trip of gotten allergies and I suspect it’s from that. I’ve coughed a bit and had a bit of a runny nose, but allergies haven’t attacked and hopefully they won’t. This place is also SUPER diverse. Like, ya’ll may think America is a melting pot? Come to London. ALL the languages. ALL the ethnicities. Why? Because travelling around this side of the country is really cheap. We’re all isolated in our little freedom area and we don’t get a taste of it. It’s a little weird to grasp, but…its true.

Ta-ta for now!

Macbeth Stage

P.S. I bought lots of chocolate b/c I was feeling sweet today. Kit-Kats and Ferrero Rochers...I'm my mom's daughter. Got the same sweet tooth.

London Day 5

Yesterday we had the day off so us girls went out to the London Bridge area. We ate at a Mediterranean place called Troia that was really good. I had the Feta Cheese Pasta. Yes, I ate the tomatoes like a big girl. There was so much cheese that it didn’t really matter, lol. Anyway, we then went around looking for a place where some of us could exchange our money. Took us forever but we found a place at Waterloo Station. From there we went to try and get on the London Eye but found out that would take forever. So after heading back in the direction of the London Bridge station area, Lorin and I parted from the group to head back as they were looking to find a place to at least get a drink since we’d come to the area and done nothing but eat. I don’t really like drinking before six. I just don’t. And my feet were tired from all the walking, so we went to head back. Of course…the Northern Line was off service, but we navigated our way through the Bakerloo I think it’s called and onto the Victoria to get to Warren St. I basically did nothing for the rest of the day. I finished my play review, but I had written most of it by that time so it took me about 2 minutes. Everyone was doing homework so I was sitting in my room with nothing to do. Taking a break, I guess, Andrew and Colin decided to get a drink so I went with them and tried Pimm’s on the recommendation of Katie Horton. Still a Kopparberg person, but it was good. If I can’t get my hands on what I want, it isn’t a sad second. And I get a little fruit to try and be healthy! Haha…yeah…no…a slice of orange and some strawberries isn’t going to cut it is it? Ah, well.

I also forgot to mention something funny in yesterday’s post. About the day before yesterday! I was walking out of the Pharmacy and waiting at the curb for the walking light to be green when I guy on a bike stops in the turn lane and just stares, smiling at me. You know how it is when it’s so awkward because you know they are looking so you HAVE to look at them? Yeah. So when I did, he smiles even wider and starts nodding and says “Hey, you’re beautiful”. I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing as I murmured a thanks and dashed (with a limp) across the street. Once I was away from him, I started laughing at it. It amazed me that at my lowest England moment he said that. I had worn my most lazy clothes. Black sweatpants, white tank top, black jacket, and grey/blue sneakers and I was limping and I got complimented. That was an Ego boost if there ever was one.

Anyway, today is the Macbeth play with Billy Boyd (from Lord of the Rings (he played Pippin) as Banquo so I am SUPER excited. I may pick up more souvenirs from The Globe tonight, but we shall see. I’m looking forward to tonight. Once again, there won’t be pictures because it isn’t allowed form inside the Globe, but here are some pictures from yesterday’s adventure. My favorite is the one of the Big Ben I got without the building getting in the way.

Review: The Tempest

It may be due to the fact that it was the first Shakespeare play that I had seen off of a high school stage, but it had such a huge effect on me. When you read the play, you do not grasp the full meaning of everything. These books were meant to be seen, something blaringly obvious when you sit down and watch them. The biggest difference between books lines being read and being performed? Timing. The timing of each line changed the entire meaning. Also, the facial expressions of those acting made the scenes much more intriguing. I never want to only read a Shakespeare play again. I want to see them, too.

The Tempest was much funnier than I had taken it to be when I read the book. This I attribute to the amazing actors who were in the play and the director for having them act the way they did. Roger Allam’s Prospero was phenomenal. His voice seemed perfectly strong and forceful which was how I imagined the character’s voice. I liked that Prospero was a caring father who not only seemed to care for his daughter, but was kind enough to look after Caliban despite his dislike of him. Despite using Ariel as a slave, I felt there was affection there to an extent like what one has for their pet when it does something remarkable. The line of Prospero’s that made how clear the difference was between reading the play and watching it was Act 1, Sc. 2, when Ferdinand meets Miranda and Prospero. When reading line 576, “Hence! Hang not on my garments”, I had read it as a relatively monotone line. When in the play, it was hilarious because he was struggling to free himself from her grasp and delivered the line through gritted teeth to just her alone. It made much more sense and gave the entire scene humor. Whenever he called her “Wench”, it has a funny tinge to it as well since he very clearly enunciated the word.

I always thought that Trinculo and Stephano’s sections of the book were ridiculous and unnecessary.  All they did was drink! It seemed useless, until I saw them in the play. They were incredibly funny and watching them made me think that they really did have more of a part in the story than I had originally thought. Another actor who, though in the book seemed very minor, appeared much better on stage was Ferdinand. His part in the scheme is very small, basically only to marry Miranda, but the actor they chose made the part seem much more fun and necessary. There is not much, I believe, one can do with Ferdinand’s lines, so this actor’s acting was superb. His facial expressions and body language made his entire character. It was adorable just how love struck he was by making the faces he did.

Another huge strength for this rendition of The Tempest was the music. I had not expected so much music especially since there were only a few songs by Trinculo and Stephano in the book. I really liked their idea to add music though. It sounded great and you could really get into it. Having a dance number for the final bows was incredibly entertaining. There was so little that I disliked about this play because everything was really good in my opinion. I felt that the director did a great job for the majority of the play.

While the majority of the play was absolutely amazing, the one big flaw for me was the scene where Ariel comes in as a harpy. Up until the banquet appears, you are completely engrossed in the play and then suddenly there is fire and Ariel in a harpy outfit with the weirdest wings in existence. It was incredibly distracting, the costume he was wearing. The metal footgear and the people carrying his wings were just too much. I also do not think that the scene was practiced or choreographed well enough. The actors were falling before the wings even moved, which bothered me extremely as someone who wants to be a director. I would not have liked that at all. And the fire was the only special effect in the entire play which made it quite jarring to the audience. And as much as I like Colin Morgan as an actor, I felt Ariel’s lines were not strong enough for the scene. It felt like he was just reciting them. The monologue from Act 3, Sc. 3 when read seems very biting, accusatory, and can be downright frightening. I do not think it was strong enough.

Overall, I had one of the best experiences of my life that I will hopefully remember for the rest of my life. It was so overwhelming to be there at first, but I got sucked into it. The interpretation of the play was far higher than the expectations I had. I cannot wait to see the next play there.

London Day 4

I’m not sure I did anything the night before last, but yesterday morning I went with my teacher to the doctors. They were fully booked and after thinking about it I was just like…give me some crutches to use and I will talk to a doctor when I’m back in Boone. So that was when I started my first adventure!

It was a very short adventure as I didn’t leave the street our dorm is on. I went to the officer and they had crutches for people who have a hard time walking, not under the shoulder crutches for those of us who need another leg entirely. I continued on to the pharmacy and they didn’t have any. They said only hospitals do. I was sad. I wanted to avoid sitting in an emergency room when it wasn’t an “emergency” just a problem. Well, on my sad trek back to the dorm, I noticed that RIGHT next door is a Health Center (South Camden Health Center). I walked past it before stopping myself and thinking “My mother would go in there” so I turned my butt back around with nothing else to lose and went in. There was a lady who had the company’s shirt on and a guy at a desk talking. The lady had been walking away, but she turned back when I got to the desk. I asked him if they had crutches and both at the same time said no and then the lady said that hospitals have crutches. I was like “At least I tried!” But then the lady asked me what the problem was, so I told her. She just shook her head and said “Crutches aren’t going to help you. It sounds like plantar fasciitis. You should just ice it and stay in your trainers (sneakers). Try and buy a heel pad.” Free advice that sounded legitimate. So taking her at her word, I decided to go back to the pharmacy. Of course they didn’t have inserts or heel pads. The Indian guy there must really like me for going in and buying something every day because instead I bought a Chiropody Felt thing that should provide pressure relief. It didn’t work for my foot but today I may use it on the one I put all my weight on.

Anyway, after we had class that afternoon, we went to eat before going to see The Alchemist at The Rose. We ate at Pizza Express (which wasn’t very express…) and then went to the play. It was really cool there because the audience is small because the room is small. You are basically in the middle of the play itself. It was a really great experience, but there is still something about being at The Globe that blew my mind more. After that we all made our way back to the dorm before getting ready to go out.

After walking for forever and a year after Colin and taking so many turns it was impossible to navigate where we were in my brain at least, we ended up at Club 49. It was fun and all, but sorry, ya’ll. I am NOT about to go into detail about what happened there. Why? Because a club is a club. I will on the other hand point out things I learned.

1)      I do not like strangers petting my head.

2)      Clubs= beer ALL over you even when it isn’t yours

3)      Sticky floors

4)      Drunk people

5)      Drunk people that don’t know how to dance

6)      Know when to stop dancing b/c your feet will kill you if you don’t rest

7)      Drink a LOT of water beforehand so you don’t get dehydrated

I can at least say my first club experience was fun for the most part, but there are just some things…*sigh* Yeah….

On the way back, I couldn’t walk because my feet were killing me (since adrenaline got me through the dancing). Lorin and I tried to take one of the bike dudes back to the dorm, but he got lost because he thought “Drummond” was “Dervish” when I specifically spelled it out for him. I was just like “Take us to Warren St.” On the way we ran into our group (most of them at least) and we just hopped out. 40 pounds for that ride. Geez… So I ended up using Lorin and Andrew as crutches. Wonderful people. When we got back, I crashed. I couldn’t be on my feet anymore no matter how much I wanted a shower. I barely fell asleep because my feet were in SO much pain and cramping like nobody’s business. I had to massage them out a little before I finally fell asleep. I am happy to say that they are relatively okay though. I can walk. And the bad foot? The front is stronger now so limping is easy. My other leg needs a break though but we plan on doing the touristy thing, so it won’t get much of one. Hopefully we will move slowly.

Blog 4: Adam Bell

In Act 1, Sc. 2, Face states “…I bring you no cheating Clim o’ the Cloughs or Claribels…” Since I had no idea what that meant, I looked to the footnote and was told that Clim o’ the Cloughs was an outlaw hero and that Claribels was a reference to a romance hero. Finding nothing on the later, I focused my attention on Clim. He is part of an outlaw trio and is not even the main character, ironically. The story of Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudsley was a popular tale (saga, even) in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. It came out around the same time as Robin Hood. The site I found, Jonson was not the only one to reference to poem called Adam Bell. Shakespeare apparently referenced Adam in Much Ado About Nothing. Davenant, an author I am not aware of, also references the story.

The story of Adam Bell goes like this. The three were outlawed for breaking the game-laws (which I assume is why Ben Jonson states “I bring you no cheating…”). They go to Inglewood and hide out there but William has a wife (and three children) whom he wants to see. Though Adam tells him not to, he goes anyway and meets with his family. An old woman who he took in out of charity seven years ago, sneaks out and tells the law. After getting paid for the information in the form of a scarlet dress, they head out to take him in. The Justice and the Sheriff get a crowd together and go to the house. Though William and his wife try to defend the house, it is set on fire. Using sheets, William lets his wife and children out of the house and uses a bow till its burnt and a sword and shield to defend against the attack. That fails once windows and doors get thrown on him. Tying him up they take him to be hanged. A young boy sneaks out of the city to tell Adam and Clim what is going on and they come to the city, show a fake letter to the porter by saying it has the King’s seal (which after some debate the porter is intimidated into letting them come in) and once in strangle the porter and take his keys. Readying their bows, the two outlaws save their friend by killing the justice and sheriff each and the crowd runs away in fear as William is loose, grabs an axe, and starts slashing at people. Though the mayor comes to take them in with a large force, they escape back to Inglewood.

Back in the forest, Alice, William’s wife, came to tell the sad news to the outlaws about William, but is happy to find him alive. They kill three deer and have them for supper, but they decide to go to the King and ask for grace since they killed deer on his land. William takes his oldest son along when they go. The King, when finding out their names, is ready to hang them but the Queen asks for their lives to be spared as the King owed her one Boon from when they first got married. After they go, the King learns that the three outlaws had killed all those men (the justice, sheriff, others, and even the mayor on their way out of the town). He is very sad and cannot eat.

Of course there is more to the story, but if you are interested you should look it up. I would really be interested to read this story in its original format (as it is a poem).

London Day 3

This may be one of the shorter blogs I have on this trip. Basically, I went to the pharmacist and got ibuprofen because the guy didn’t know the problem because I am pretty sure it isn’t my ankle but my foot. He suggested a doctor. I didn’t want to, but now I feel I have too. If the pain is too much for me to handle, doctor it is. So, basically today wasn’t much fun except for when it didn’t hurt which was…at Westminster Abbey. Sorry, pictures weren’t allowed, but you can have pics of the outside.

That was interesting with lots of historical background. I would go into more detail, but I’m really tired and my foot is freezing from icing it. At this point the pain feels like something is trying to go through the bottom right side of my right foot. But only when I walk and it never hurts when I press it with my fingers. It’s a mystery O_O. Walking to and from the dorms is the only real issue. If I have slept, I can limp/shuffle around the flat and the tour guide was slow enough at the Abbey that I was able to shuffle for most of the time. Though, maybe that was thanks to the ibuprofen kicking in an HOUR after it should have. Maybe is not stronger than Advil! Either way, walking sucked but my flat mates are wonderful b/c they picked up ice and tasty yogurt for me. Today is basically a bunch of schoolwork (which I have now finished). I would write my review, but I’m just done for now… Tomorrow we’re seeing another play, which I will talk about in my next blog.

Special thanks to Katie Horton who sent me SHINee music b/c SHINee was the only thing that could make me not feel like crying from the pain. And I am still hopeful that Minho will come along and carry me around London.

Blog 3: Westminster Abbey

Something that I found particularly interesting was the history the Westminster Abbey had when it came to Mary I and Elizabeth I. The entire conflict was religious; with Mary being a strong Catholic who wanted England to go back to Catholicism after her father Henry VIII changed it to Protestant so that he could have a divorce. Mary was his first child from his first marriage. Desperately wanting a boy because he felt that only a boy could become King after him, he went to the Catholic Church’s Pope looking to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Not wanting to upset other country’s monarchs, he said no. So Henry VIII proceeded to change everything around himself by going Protestant and making England do the same.

Once can see why Mary would dislike the Protestant religion at this point. First she was Catholic to begin with and then second, her father changed over just to divorce her mother. Henry failed to get what he wanted from his next marriage (which produced Elizabeth) and eventually he divorced and re-married enough to get his sickly son, Edward VI who was nine when he became King. Dying about six years later, Mary was put on the throne in 1553. During her reign, she turned England back to Catholicism. One thing she did was make sure that Westminster Abbey was Catholic during her rule. Those who were Protestants at the time who refused to go to worship at the Catholic Churches were murdered terribly. This is why she was eventually known as Bloody Mary who, even till today, people in Britain thing she was a crazy, psychopath.

Eventually, Elizabeth took the throne when Mary died in 1558. She was buried in, according to the Westminster Abbey site, in the north aisle of Henry VII's Lady Chapel. When Elizabeth took the throne, she switched things back to what they were before, but despite this big conflict (during which Elizabeth was locked up by her sister to keep her out of the way, I suppose) James I decided to bury Elizabeth on top of her sister in the Abbey. There is only a marker for Elizabeth, the site mentions, while Mary is only mentioned on an inscription. As it is not in English, it is translated to mean “Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of the Resurrection". Hopefully Mary did not turn over in her grave when this was decided, because that may have been a bit uncomfortable for Elizabeth. But I find it very interesting and kind of cool that graves of people in the Abbey can have super history behind them.

London Day 2

I really need to get my phone fixed because it still froze in the middle of the night. Luckily, Katie got up next door so I was able to know I needed to get up as well. Had a headache…which reminds me I should mention that last night we went to a bar. It was fun, but due to lack of sleep and a Strawberry Lime Kopparberg (recommendation of Katie Horton), I wound up tipsy for the first time. Okay, maybe not the first first, but more like TIPSY. Anyway, I was on a beeline back to the dorm b/c I knew I wasn’t going to last another one since my world was distorting. Thanks to Colin going with me, I made it back and after some laptop time, crashed. I woke up feeling like the comforter/bed cover thing was trying to kill me. It was warm too discomfort and very heavy, but I slept well. 

Making it to class on time, thanks to it being in our flat’s kitchen, we had breakfast and started our discussion despite our teacher not being there. We had a break at 10 while the guys went to find him. Upon returning, he led the class for another hour and then we got ready to go to The British Library. That was pretty cool. Lots of original manuscripts, one AWESOMELY being the original copy of Beowolf and a letter written by Charles Darwin.

Next after a break to post a blog about an artifact in the library (posted below this post if you are interested), we met up at 5 to ride the Underground to get to St. Paul. Guess what we went by, guys?! St. Paul’s Cathedral! Wow! How’d you guess? :P Anyway, we ate at a really good pizza place there and then right across from it we went to The Globe to watch The Tempest. It was INCREDIBLE. Now, reading the book was one thing. It was okay…you know. But then you see the play and suddenly it’s an entirely different story. You suddenly understand the comedy (plus lots of comedy was just added in). I never want to read a play again without seeing it live. Surprisingly to me, some of the actors have been in movies and television shows.  The lead (Prospero) was played by Roger Allam who was in Game of Thrones apparently. And three people, Sam Cox and Peter Hamilton Dyer and Colin Morgan, were on Doctor Who. And I will just have to say that Colin Morgan is a VERY attractive man. I mean….may I just fangirl squeal at the fact he played Merlin in Merlin?! Like…TAKE THAT BABOO! I SAW THE LEAD OF A SHOW YOU LIKE A LOT RIGHT ON STAGE. Watch, he’s just laughing at this post like…yeah…okay…that’s great, Gabs. I think I get to fangirl once a day so far….I doubt this will keep up. More about the play is that the guy who played Ferdinand made me laugh. I don't think I have ever seen anyone with better facial expressions. His acting was made through that. I really did just want a pocket version of him to make me laugh whenever I want. The actors for Trinculo and Stephano were both HILARIOUS. (Stephano was Sam Cox, btw). The play had a lot more music than expected and I LOVED it. Colin Morgan dancing femininely with a dude made me laugh so much as well as Sam Cox dancing like the drunken fool he was acting as).

Colin Morgan (He played Ariel...which was funny because he got kinda feminine while also being very, very nimble by climbing around (Something pretty masculine, imo)

Moving on, I got one souvenir from The Globe for a person, not going to disclose who, but I will mention I got a souvenir when I get one. So, HA! Lol So, after the fun we are now back here and I am attempting to read the article I have to read for tomorrow. (You could tell this was a distraction, can’t you? *sigh* Oh, well!)

Now for the best part of the entire day (I’m being super sarcastic, not that you’d know) because this whole day I’ve had a severe foot problem. I feel really bad about as well has it feels REALLY BAD. At first I thought it was just an ankle thing so I go and buy an ankle support to fix it. Yeah, no. Apparently, from walking so much yesterday, I did something to my foot which also affects my ankle so I don’t know what is going on with it. I’m going to the Pharmacy when I can tomorrow. The outside of my right foot kills if I stand with too much weight on it or if I walk. So I had to limp around London which is very, very painful because it causes a blister on the big toe and puts all your weight on the left foot. I need those wheeling things where you rest your knee on it and push or something like that. I’m joking, but then again…I’d feel less like I was slowing people down, but I’d feel more like an invalid. The pain is a sharp pain and when it hits the wrong way, I want to drop down and cry. It takes severe willpower not to cry out and disturb people. It’s very emotionally painful as well to feel like this when you come to a new country to learn and have fun and then feel like you can’t enjoy everything b/c your brain is split between paying attention and not falling onto the floor and giving up. Strangest thing is that I have to wear a sneaker to limp, but my foot feels worse in it than flip-flops. Like…I may try wrapping it to see if that’s the only thing I need to do, but…still, walking in London everywhere with flip-flops? Really? Does that even SOUND like a good idea? Especially when they are cheap and fraying on the bottoms? You may ask “Why did you bring those then?” B/c the wrap only fits with those flip-flops. L Unhappy, Gaby.

So, yes, today was blessed as well as cursed. I REALLY hope things get better, so…I’ll hopefully post again tomorrow about Westminister Abbey. Time to finish the article I’m ignoring. Here are some random pics for your enjoyment.