England or So Cal?

Every Wednesday we take a day trip to somewhere around England. As if coming to London isn't great enough we actually get to spend a lot of time going elsewhere to see the beauty of the United Kingdom. This week was amazing! We've done a lot of overnight trips, which have all been great, and even though this day trip was just s short one day trip, it was definitely one of my favorites.

We went to the Royal Pavilion, which was really interesting to see. It's basically a palace, and on the outside it really looks like one, though not one from England. It almost looks Middle Eastern. It looked so exotic especially next to the traditional English buildings I've grown so accustomed to. After the initial shock of seeing the outside, we went inside, and that surprised me even more.

It's this massive building that doesn't look like all the other palaces we've seen so far. It felt more like a home and not a place that is decorated for the pleasure of visitors. It had rooms that felt like rooms a real person would actually stay in. Not that it wasn't grand: on the contrary. In one of the dining rooms there's this massive chandelier above the table that as you continue looking up, seems to blend in with the ceiling picture above. The whole thing on top are these massive dragons that looked so real. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and completely unexpected in the Royal Pavilion. A dragon? Let alone a really big one above the dining room table? It was incredible. The chandelier at the bottom where the actual lights were had all these little dragon heads on it. It was amazing and definitely my favorite thing about the whole building.

I also loved the decorum because it was so varied through out the whole place. Some of them were full of gold like the traditional palace decorum. They felt rich. But others had a less expensive Asian look. It almost looked how a lot of people today would decorate their front room. It was so fascinating to see how each room changed in its decoration.

After the pavilion we, which is in Brighton, we walked to the pier. Yes, there's a pier! Next to the water!!! I love that concept! I was not expecting Brighton to look like it does. It looks like any beach city in Southern California! I thought I had walked in to a dream or something. The major difference besides the much warmer climate of So Cal? No sand here. Nope. They have little pebble beaches. Looks cool, but I think I'd rather take the sand. But for the time it was great and I loved it. On this particular beach it was like going to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. There were a bunch of roller coasters and carnival games. There were also ice cream and hot dog stands and a large arcade. It was so fun to walk around and go on the rides. We walked around and enjoyed the scenery and the city of Brighton. It made me smile so much!

I am Shakespeare

Ok. So I know I've talked about Shakespeare before, but seriously! Life just gets better! I have always liked Shakespeare, but my appreciation has grown tremendously since I've been here. So with this new love, when we took an overnight trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, I thought I might pass out from excitement.

We went to so many places I think I took a few hundred pictures. We went to the home of Shakespeare's mother. It was this farm, but actually a few farms all connected. Like a little farm community where everyone on the land shared the same land. There were people living there who still worked the land and dressed as people of the time would have. We were given the opportunity to do some of the same activities as the farmhands. One of the girls on the program got to chop wood, and it was very funny! She did a good job though. :)

We also went to Anne Hathaway's house, who later became Shakespeare's wife. It was so cool! It's preserved to look like it did at the time and some of it is the original furniture. I possibly sat on the same chair as William Shakespeare! Finally we actually made it into Stratford and had the chance to just walk around the town and see what we wanted. It's a quaint little town on the river and was quite peaceful. We saw the elementary school he went to and had a tour of his birthplace. Guides told us about his life growing up and the story of his father. He had a lot of money from a prosperous job but lost it all. That was sad, but cool to hear how the family came back from that. We topped it off by going to the church where he is buried. He has his name over the spot he is buried and there's a monument of his torso on the wall.

After experiencing all that we ended the day by seeing The Tempest done by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Oh incredible! It was an amazing experience that I really appreciated. They took some liberties with the play but I felt the choices the director and the production team made really worked and was supported by the text. I love to see great theatre! Especially Shakespeare productions done by the RSC in Stratford. There's just something magical about that...

Scottish and Irish Accents are Different

This program has given me the opportunity to see many places. We go to a lot of places as a group, and are given the chance to go to places on our own. Last weekend I went to Liverpool with some people, and also immediately after coming back to London took off for my next destination with friends: Scotland. We took a long train ride up to Edinburgh to relish in the Scottish culture, which I came to discover, is quite unique. We stayed in a hostel in the middle of Edinburgh, which looked a little wary on the outside, but was actually quite safe and clean and run by some very nice people. We had an adventure there to start us off. There were 13 of us who had come together on this little trip, and were booked to stay in a room with 14 beds. We were stoked to have our own room. But wouldn't you know that that one extra bed happened to be occupied??? We were a little nervous at first but they turned out to be a great roommate for the weekend and even played cards with us! We instantly made a new friend in Scotland, though they were French. Even better! We learned about two cultures at once.

Our first stop in the wee hours of the morning was going to the Edinburgh Castle. It's this massive castle on top of the hill overlooking the city. Boy was that a sight! We went in and walked around. At 11 there was a little show of a woman dressed in clothes of the day who told the story of one of the castle's famous inhabitants. Later on at 1 there was also a gun show, when the canon was shot. That was loud but really neat to see so up close. There was also a museum in the castle showing equipment and uniforms of Scottish soldiers through the ages. That was fascinating, which related to something awesome!! There was a guy walking around the streets of Edinburgh dressed in a traditional Scottish highlander! It was great! He looked straight out of the movie Braveheart!

We took some time to go out of the actual city and go hiking. There's a ridge called Arthur's Seat that's walking distance from the castle. Actually, we only did things we could walk to... But it was a really nice hike. Pretty steep in some places and we had to stop for some breaths, but the payoff was definitely worth it. The view was incredible!!! You could turn all the away around and see so far. You could see the whole city on one side, more countryside on another, and a little bay on the other. It was amazing. It was also so windy I thought I was literally going to blow off! But that made for some awesome pictures...

On another day we took a three hour walking tour, which seems like a long time, but that was actually one of my favorite things we did. We were given historical information and saw a lot of the city, but we also saw a lot of contemporary places that hold interest in popular culture. For example, we went by the cafe where JK Rowling first wrote Harry Potter on some napkins. We were able to see what she was looking at while in the cafe so we could see her inspiration. It was fascinating. And a little culture tidbit to not look like a tourist. There's an area with a heart engraved in the ground. Because of its history it has become a spot where the locals spit into everytime they walk by. You can always tell a tourist because they walk through it! Not knowing it's where everyone spits. There was a man even who brought his girlfriend there, and not knowing its history, knelt inside and proposed! He thought the heart in the ground was really romantic. Any other heart probably would have been...

And if you ever go to Scotland, you will come back saying, "Highland coo." You will. Trust me.

Liverpool: Passage to the World

Yep! I went to Liverpool! And it was nothing like I imagined it would be. I have always heard about Liverpool and had this idealized vision of this beautiful quaint city on the coast where people from other countries arrived to make their British dreams come true. After all, Liverpool is the birthplace of the Beatles. It couldn't be anything but magical right? Close...

Liverpool is foremost a port town, and I didn't quite realize what that meant till I got there. It's a bit rougher than London is and not near as clean. It's much more of a place where people live and work rather than a place just to come visit for a few days. But don't worry: tourism is still alive and prosperous. Albert Dock is where most of this takes place. It's a small area where the old famous dock was. Actually it's still there but ships no longer come here, though you can take a river tour from here. But the dock has an amazing view of the Mercy River and of the city across it. Albert Dock is quite clean and beautiful and actually peaceful. It was very relaxing to just walk along the dock and look over the river. There are also a number of museums to see, as well as a Beatles museum. From here we took the Magical Mystery Tour, which is a bus tour that takes you to all the Beatles sites around Liverpool, which, surprisingly (not), are not in the clean tourist areas of the city.

If you want to see the real Liverpool I would suggest going on a Beatles bus tour of some kind. This tour really gave me a new appreciation for the Beatles and the environment from which they emerged. We got to see Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and the homes in which they grew up in. It was easy to see how where they lived affected their music. After going there I wanted to listen to the Beatles and nothing else!

Another thing we did that is one of the best experiences I've had so far is going to a soccer game. We went to the Everton soccer game in Liverpool. You know I thought after being here this long that I'd gotten a good sense of who the British people are. I was wrong. You want to know what the common people are really life? Go to a soccer game and be prepared for the time of your life. I've never seen so many people completely focused on something before. It was amazing! Nobody turned their eyes away from the field the whole game, nobody left during half time to get food until the players had left the field, and nobody left the game until the very last second had transpired. There were three of us who had gone, three girls, and we were definitely a minority there. This was guy time. But we had a blast and we saw a live soccer game in England! Go Everton!!!

My Liverpool experience was also fun and a great learning experience in a different way. There were only three of us, and for the first time we were completely on our own, as this trip wasn't planned by the program and we didn't have any professors with us. We took the train from London to Liverpool, each of us bringing only a backpack because we had to carry it around with us. When we arrived we walked out of the station, which is on a slight hill, and looked over Liverpool. It was quite a sight. And then we said, "OK. Now what?" We didn't know where to go or how to get there. We were on our own. So we just started walking. It was so freeing! We didn't have a schedule to keep or any plans to adjust. We just walked and experienced what we came across. I realized I could be dropped anywhere is England and be just fine. Who needs a car or plans??? Not us!

Besides the siteseeing and the football, we also came to Liverpool with a purpose. The two people I was with were cousins who had ancestors from this part of the country. So we went to the Liverpool library and got information there. One day we also went to Wales, which is just next door basically and saw the place where some of their ancestors lived. It was such a great experience. It wasn't even my ancestors we were researching but they were excited and I knew it. It also made me think of my own ancestors. So we all learned a lot.

Liverpool was just fun. We spent a lot of time on the dock and had a great time. But the highlight was definitely the Everton game. If you go to England, go to a soccer game and cheer your heart out, even if you don't know either team! Believe me, we didn't.

Shakespeare. 'Nough Said

I am a theatre major. And as such I have a specific canon I study from in school, from which part of my soul has become attached to. As one can guess the famous William Shakespeare is at the top of this prestigious list. And for those who don't know, he is from England. And most of his works were performed at a famous theater in London called The Globe. And WE went there!!!!! I'm not sure I've ever been that excited in my life. Everyone at the centre thought I was on something I was so giddy on our way there. But once it was all done, many people said that was their favorite thing we've done so far, because it was so informative and our guide made the information so interesting. Theatre is amazing!

So the Globe is a big white roundish building with brown wood trim and it has a thatched roof. It's an open air theater with three tiers for seating, and a big area in the middle to stand and watch the performance. And really rich people use to sit on the balcony on the stage. Three sides of the stage are surrounded by spectators. It doesn't look like it, but back then they would fit about 2000 people in this small theater. Incredible!!! We sat in the stands on the first tier for awhile and our guide talked about performing there and the history of the building and a little bit about Shakespeare. And they said they have to get special permission to have a thatched roof on the building, because it's actually illegal to have a thatched roof in London. I did not know this. As you can image, it's a major fire hazard and London has not had the best of luck with fires. But in the interest of the preservation of history the Globe is allowed to have one. So the entire building looks like how it would have back in the good old days.

After checking the actual theater out and taking pictures we descended into this lecture room in the building next door. There we had more discussion from our guide. Here he talked a lot more about actually performing and I learned so much about how and what Shakespeare wrote that it made me want to go and study every play he's ever written! But some of the fascinating things were about the actors. Each play would only be performed like twice, so every few days the actors were putting on a new show that they had only just received the script for. And the entire cast only had one day to rehearse. A morning in fact. They would show up around 9 or 10, because that's early for a theatre person, rehearse, break for lunch, more rehearse, show at 2. Everyday. And for a show that's three hours long, many of them with fight scenes that need to be rehearsed over and over again, it meant that you could perform a show you just learned and have large chunks of it you've never rehearsed before! And even better, no one in the cast was given the full script, for copyright purposes believe it or not. So each actor was only given their "role," which was literally on a rolled up scroll. And on it would be the last three words of your cue and then your lines. So you memorized what you said but had no idea what you were supposed to be doing while you said it, and had no idea what was actually going on!!! Talk about improvisation. I thought it was fascinating!!!

After that experience my day was pretty much complete. My week was complete... But I just loved it more than anything else we had done so far because Shakespeare is something I have studied for years. But I learned more about him, his work, and the times in which he was writing in those two hours than I have my entire life! I got so excited and motivated about performing and reading Shakespeare. I feel like I can be a much better theatre practitioner now that I've been there and actually seen where he worked and the conditions he was writing for. There are so many double meanings in the words of his plays it's incredible. I love Shakespeare!! If you ever go to London, make the Globe Theater one of your stops! It's worth it!!!

Enter: Wales

Yep. This past week we left England and experienced the wonderful country of Wales. For those who do not know, Wales is on the west side of England, and is a proud little country of their heritage and culture. Kind of like Texas. Except that Wales is a lot prettier than Texas. Anyway we took a very long coach ride to get there, and for some reason I was awake the whole time. But that was ok because I got reading for class done. Yes, I still do work here. We do have class. Anyway, in Wales on the first day we went to this place called St. Fagan's, which is a recreated Celtic village. It was so cool! There are people walking around dressed in period clothes and they talk about the stuff and explain things. It was so fun and I loved it. I love Celtic history and this made it so real! And there were a bunch of school groups there, so we took pictures with some Welsh kids! Getting to know the culture, you know.

Next on our list was a visit to Castell Coch, which is this little castle on the side of a hill close to the border. It was a little smaller than I expected a castle, but quite cozy because of it. And, I got one of the coolest things ever in the gift shop: the necklace that Robin uses in "Robin Hood," with Kevin Costner!! That's one of my favorite movies ever, and when I saw that necklace I just had to have it! I was so excited and it's way cool.

Then that night we stayed in Cardiff in this hostel. My first hostel experience. It actually wasn't that bad. It's just a bunch of rooms with a bunch of beds smashed together. And thankfully humanity is catching up to the hostel world and is requiring cleaner living conditions. So now when you go to your bed there's this little plastic sealed package full of bed that you rip open and make your bed with. Sounds perfect doesn't it? Things are coming along in the cleanliness department, but there's still a little ways to go... I felt ok about my bedding for the most part, there were just a few things stuck on my pillowcase that I didn't think should be there... and didn't know what they were... or wanted to know for that matter. But turning my pillowcase inside out solved that little problem! But a hostel isn't all bad! There was a TV room! The TV didn't work, but the room still existed! So that's a step in the right direction. We ate dinner and breakfst there as well. Not as bad as you'd think actually. Have I enticed you yet to stay at a hostel?

The next day we drove from the bottom of Wales to the very top to Beaumaris. The drive took quite awhile but is was so beautiful! I love Wales. In Beaumaris we saw the castle, which was massive! In the chapel area a bunch of people from our group sang hymns for awhile and it echoed through out the castle, giving it living breath again. It was so beautiful. That night we stayed in this hotel. Yes, an actual hotel that was completely clean and lovely in everyway! That was so great to stay in a hotel and it was right on the beach so the view was incredible. In the evening after settling in we walkled out onto the dock and enjoyed the sights. It was extremely cold, but worth it. Though the next day out coach driver told us that about a year before a bunch of tourists died there because of quick-mud on the beach. You know quick-sand? Yeah, quick-mud is a hundred times worse! I wish he'd warned us about that before we walked out there... So if you go to the Wales beach, don't walk on the mud!

On our last day we drove to Chester, which is actually in England. We were given free rein to explore the city. There were some ancient Roman ruins, a church, and a number of other things. One of our favorite things was the Wishing Steps. It's a bunch of stairs next to the river. You start at the bottom, make a wish, hold your breath, and run up and down the stairs twice without taking a breath. It's pretty intense. But hopefully your wish comes true! After Chester we stopped in Shrewsbury and saw the cathedral there. It has some of the original stones from 1083! Talk about preserved. It was really cool there. Then we drove on to Coventry to visit, you guessed it, another cathedral! But this one has a cool history. The original one was basically destroyed during WWII. But a lot of it is still there. But instead of rebuilding it, they decided to build a brand new one right next to it. But this new one is way different. It's really modern looking, with an oldtime cathedral feeling. It's very interesting to visit because it's like this clash between the very old and the new.

So my introduction to Wales was 3 days and it was awesome! I would love to go backpacking through Wales just because it's so beautiful. Amazing!