Sorry I haven't posted in a while. There hasn't been really anything exciting to report and I'm sure you don't care what times I woke up the past few days and that I just hung out around the Vandon House. Monday I had my first day of classes and my theatre class sounds like it will be the most interesting class that I'm taking. On Tuesday I did go to a karoke bar and sang Summer Days from Grease, we weren't that good. Yesterday, I went to two open air markets one that people were trying to get you to buy stuff down every aisle and there were stranger people and things to buy like hemp. I felt a little uncomfortable there and there was also a guy that talked to the group of us that went for a few minutes, he was kind of funny but a little creepy. He offered to give us rides to different places around the UK, don't worry we declined. Then we went to another market where the people were more laid back. We visited this small little puppet theatre store on our way out of the market. There was also a guy who was singing opera songs on the street. He was really good and there was also people doing magic tricks on the street as well, that was cool to watch. On our way back to the Vandon House we stopped at the King's Cross train station and checked out platform 9 3/4. Later that night we went to go see a play called Spring Awakening at the Lyric Theatre for class. A play review will be up sometime soon. Today I started my internship. It sounds like it will be fun, I get to research mainly about women refugees and find local support groups. The people seemed nice but they didn't really talk to me since it was my first day and they didn't really know me. Tomorrow we leave for York, so I don't know what sort of access to the internet I'll have but I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Blood Brothers by Willy Russell

Last night our study abroad group went to go see the show Blood Brothers written by Willy Russell in the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End. Our seats were in the balcony, but I was only three rows from the front and almost all the way to one side of the theatre, I thought the seats were decent and I really only couldn't see one side of the stage which had two levels, but apparently the only thing up top of the second level was the band, so I didn't miss anything visually. My overall critique of the show was that it was well done. There were a couple parts where the actors spoke a little fast or where they could have spoken up and there were a few times when the band over powered the actors who were singing. The set created the mood. Part of the story takes place in a slum town, and the stage definitely fit that feel. There were a few times where, from where I was sitting, the actors missed their light and there were a few scenes which I thought the lighting didn't match the tone of the song or mood of the story. The costume designer did a good job putting the cast in time period clothing and then decided to put the narrator, which I interpreted throughout the play to be the devil, in a tuxedo making him obviously different and more noticeable on stage. The director put the narrator on the stage, wether leaning against a wall, door frame, or looking out a window as if observing the events taking place on stage, for every scene which I liked but there were a few times in which his different outfit drew eyes away from the scene and towards him to observe what he was doing. The character who played Mickey for last night's show, Karl Greenwood, reminded me a lot of Tucker in the children's show. The narrator for the show, Craig Price, sort of became this creepy guy and in a lot of ways reminded me of Brady's Reddin in Gone to Earth. The narrator also had a very powerful and captivating voice which drew the audience into what he was saying and the story itself. Overall, crew did a great job and the cast was well picked. The cast was good at keeping the audience drawn in by using humor and pauses in the right places. I think everyone did a great job producing and performing Blood Brothers, it's definitely one I would recommend to others.

Inauguration Day in London

I went with a group of others from my program to go see the Inauguration of Obama at T.G.I. Friday's here in London and the place was packed with people, mostly Londoners who were excited about Obama and chanting and cheering. It was a really cool experience and our group was one of the few American groups there so everyone kept asking us what we thought about Obama and wanting to know how we voted. When we left T.G.I. Fridays there were people on the streets handing out free newspapers about the Inauguration so I grabbed some different ones. Most newspapers had at least a two page spread about the inauguration if not more. One of the Londoners that I talked to at Fridays told me that this was the most coverage a U.S. Inauguration has recieved in London. He told us that when Clinton and W. were both elected they didn't even show the inaugural address on tv and simply talked about it on the evening news briefly. I thought that was interesting.

I'm in London. I made it just fine. My flight was delayed because of a noise curfew here in London and our plane would have arrived before the curfew ended. We then got stuck waiting to land in London for a half hour. The guy in front of me kept adjusting his seat every two minutes, so I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on the plane. The plane was really cool everyone had their own personal screen on the front of the seat and you could pick from about 30 movies from all different genres. I watched The Notebook and part of Cars. My roommate, Anna, was on the same flight as me, so we made sure we went through customs and stuff together. Our shuttle driver who took us to Vandon house was really funny. He told us when we were passing some place important (Harrod's and the Natural History Museum with a skating rink out front) and gave us some advice (if we want to get somewhere fast, take the underground, if we want see more of London, take the bus). We are in a really great location--Buckingham Palace is literally our backyard. Westminister Abbey and Parliament are just a little ways down the road, Anna and I explored the area already. The architecture is so amazing here that we were both just in awe of our surroundings. The area in which we live is one of the safest areas of London--Scotland Yard is just up the road. Meet some of the other Central Abroad students, they all seem really nice.

My First Blog Ever

I'd like to thank all of you for coming out and visiting my blog site. Hopefully, you keep reading throughout the months.