Performing on the Globe stage was one of the most memorable nights of my life. Here are the videos of our groups scenes!
Macbeth - Act II, Scene iii
Directed by Jo Holwarth
Porter - Scott, Melinda, Tom
Macduff - Jesse
Lennox - Corinne
Macbeth - Ellen
Lady Macbeth - Melinda
Banquo - Tom
Malcolmbain - Scott
Macbeth - Act I, Scene v and Act I, Scene vii
Directed by Bill Buckhurst
Lady Macbeth - Christina, Tip, Tara, Pamela
Messenger - Richard
Messenger - Pete, Richard
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
GEA - Day 9 (new photos added)
July 22, 2010
The end is near for our time here at the Globe. Today we got to spend our first two hours with Glynn where she took us to the empty stage. There was no one in the theatre but us. We took pictures and learned a little more about the space, like the stage is on a slab foundation and somewhat floats. There are few pegs in the ground so it makes for a tricky place to walk sometimes.
After the stage, we walked down the way to the Park building (the other meeting spot for many sessions) to ask Glynn questions to expand on and clarify what she has taught us. We all really enjoyed our time with Glynn. The best word I can think to use to describe her is "magical." I'm sad that our sessions with her are completed, but I have taken away so much and I can't wait to share it with my students and colleagues. When I get home, I have to track down one of Glynn's books on the Alexander Technique.
For the rest of the day we worked with Chris. Before lunch, Chris had each of our performance groups share what activities our directors did with us so that the other group could have those tools. The time after lunch was spent figuring out how to chunk up Macbeth into 12 parts so we can each take a piece and teach our kids. This was no easy task, and we are still in progress. We will have our final sections tomorrow. We will need to edit our pieces into no more than five minute performances. Our work is definitely cut out for us. It'll give me something to do on my almost 11 hour flight home Saturday.
At lunchtime, Tip and I finally made it to the Burrough Market. The Burrough Market is an open-air produce, meat, and wine market and so much more. I have never seen anything like it.
There are several places where you can pick up a quick and delicious lunch as well. We had Thai Chicken Curry. YUM!
We are seeing The Comedy of Errors tonight. It'll be our last play since tomorrow is our last day. *sniffle*
The end is near for our time here at the Globe. Today we got to spend our first two hours with Glynn where she took us to the empty stage. There was no one in the theatre but us. We took pictures and learned a little more about the space, like the stage is on a slab foundation and somewhat floats. There are few pegs in the ground so it makes for a tricky place to walk sometimes.
For the rest of the day we worked with Chris. Before lunch, Chris had each of our performance groups share what activities our directors did with us so that the other group could have those tools. The time after lunch was spent figuring out how to chunk up Macbeth into 12 parts so we can each take a piece and teach our kids. This was no easy task, and we are still in progress. We will have our final sections tomorrow. We will need to edit our pieces into no more than five minute performances. Our work is definitely cut out for us. It'll give me something to do on my almost 11 hour flight home Saturday.
At lunchtime, Tip and I finally made it to the Burrough Market. The Burrough Market is an open-air produce, meat, and wine market and so much more. I have never seen anything like it.
There are several places where you can pick up a quick and delicious lunch as well. We had Thai Chicken Curry. YUM!
We are seeing The Comedy of Errors tonight. It'll be our last play since tomorrow is our last day. *sniffle*
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
GEA - Day 8
July 21, 2010
I have a little bit of a break right now so I thought I'd hop in to say HI! We got to sleep in again this morning due to our late night performance that most of us are still reeling from. I have to say, I could use a nap right now but we only have two sessions left and will be done at about 8:00 this evening. This morning we met with Chris to talk about some of the logistical things that we need to consider when selecting our students for the Mondavi performance as well as reviewed many of the exercises and activities we've learned so far. I was relieved to find out that we would be given a list of EVERYTHING we've done here. There's just so much and we don't always have time to take good notes or review.
After Chris, we met with Adam who will be coming to our schools in October to work with our students on their scenes for an hour or so. Adam has a lot of energy and I can see why he gets to be the one to come out to work with our students. He's a lot of fun. Well, everyone we've worked with has been amazing. I really can't say there was ever a session that left me feeling like it was a waste of time. In fact, most sessions we didn't want to end. I know that is going to be the case for the rest of our time here.
You know what's funny? As I'm typing and the words are being said in my brain, they are coming out with a British accent! A random thought, I know, but many of us are picking up on the accent and the dialect. We've noticed that swear words sound a lot more civilized when said with a British accent.
I need to wrap this up to get on to our next session with Chris again. Two times in one day! Lucky lucky!! After Chris, we will see Prof. Tony Howard to talk about Macbeth on Film. I'm not sure what to expect there, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
I have a little bit of a break right now so I thought I'd hop in to say HI! We got to sleep in again this morning due to our late night performance that most of us are still reeling from. I have to say, I could use a nap right now but we only have two sessions left and will be done at about 8:00 this evening. This morning we met with Chris to talk about some of the logistical things that we need to consider when selecting our students for the Mondavi performance as well as reviewed many of the exercises and activities we've learned so far. I was relieved to find out that we would be given a list of EVERYTHING we've done here. There's just so much and we don't always have time to take good notes or review.
After Chris, we met with Adam who will be coming to our schools in October to work with our students on their scenes for an hour or so. Adam has a lot of energy and I can see why he gets to be the one to come out to work with our students. He's a lot of fun. Well, everyone we've worked with has been amazing. I really can't say there was ever a session that left me feeling like it was a waste of time. In fact, most sessions we didn't want to end. I know that is going to be the case for the rest of our time here.
You know what's funny? As I'm typing and the words are being said in my brain, they are coming out with a British accent! A random thought, I know, but many of us are picking up on the accent and the dialect. We've noticed that swear words sound a lot more civilized when said with a British accent.
I need to wrap this up to get on to our next session with Chris again. Two times in one day! Lucky lucky!! After Chris, we will see Prof. Tony Howard to talk about Macbeth on Film. I'm not sure what to expect there, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
GEA - Day 7
July 20, 2010
I don't even know where to begin about today. We had a voice session with Stewart and a movement session with Glynn, part of which included watching a tech rehearsal of Anne Boleyn. After dinner we rehearsed for four hours and got ready for our midnight performance at The Globe. I will post videos of each of the groups when I get home because it looks like they will take a couple of hours to upload here. Everyone did such a great job in their scenes. I'm really proud of all of us.
Pictures from top to bottom: Whole group with our directors, Whole group with the $$$ Dr. Thelma Scott-Skillman - President, Folsom Lake College and Professor Harold Levine - Dean of School of Education UC, Davis, First group with their director Bill, My group with director Jo.
Even though I am a Drama teacher, I don't have much experience with performance. I am pretty good at bossing my students around on stage, but have only been the actor once during The Music Man my Senior year of high school. I took a couple of Theatre classes in college too, but I've always felt that I fell into the catagory of "Those who can't, teach!" I don't feel that way now because I know I can.
From this point, our sessions are going to focus on what we need to do to work with our students to bring them to perform at the Mondavi Center in November. Since I already have my own way of bringing performance out of students, I am very interested to learn what our practitioners have to say. Our show might be over, but we are certainly not done yet.
I don't even know where to begin about today. We had a voice session with Stewart and a movement session with Glynn, part of which included watching a tech rehearsal of Anne Boleyn. After dinner we rehearsed for four hours and got ready for our midnight performance at The Globe. I will post videos of each of the groups when I get home because it looks like they will take a couple of hours to upload here. Everyone did such a great job in their scenes. I'm really proud of all of us.
Even though I am a Drama teacher, I don't have much experience with performance. I am pretty good at bossing my students around on stage, but have only been the actor once during The Music Man my Senior year of high school. I took a couple of Theatre classes in college too, but I've always felt that I fell into the catagory of "Those who can't, teach!" I don't feel that way now because I know I can.
From this point, our sessions are going to focus on what we need to do to work with our students to bring them to perform at the Mondavi Center in November. Since I already have my own way of bringing performance out of students, I am very interested to learn what our practitioners have to say. Our show might be over, but we are certainly not done yet.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
GEA - Day 6 - Video added!!
July 19, 2010
The weather warmed up a bit today. It wasn’t quite as hot and humid as it was when I arrived last week, but it was pretty warm for London. I enjoyed it though, knowing that you’re all dealing with 100-degree weather. Last week the temp cooled as the week progressed. I just hope it doesn’t rain anymore. I like sunshine better.
Though this weekend was far from relaxing with all of the traveling I did, I felt refreshed and ready to begin the second week here at Shakespeare’s Globe. We were fortunate to have a later start time this morning of 11:00 AM since our rehearsals took many of us to 1:00 AM Tuesday. My group was lucky enough to be released at midnight, however.
Our first session this morning was a guided tour to The Rose Theatre excavation site. The Rose Theatre currently has a large building over it but there is space underneath the building for a small theatre where shows are performed just above the old Rose stage. The Rose site is under water and Plexiglas material at the moment in order to preserve everything so that an archeological team can uncover more at a later time. Under the water, there are strings of red lights that outline where we can part of the outer and inner walls of the Rose as well as part of the stage. The area is pretty dark though. Shakespeare’s first two plays were performed at The Rose.
Next, we had a short session with Chris to talk about what to expect this week. It was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow night is our scene performance of Macbeth, which means we have a lot of rehearsing to do. Most of tomorrow will consist of rehearsals. After our performances are over, the following days will detail how we are going to implement our newfound skills and activities in our classes so that our students can perform scenes from Macbeth.
We had a dance class with Huw Prall today as well. Yes, you heard it. I took a dance class. And I was actually successful… at least I feel I was. You can judge for yourself in our video.
This was a Historical Dance class. We learned some very simple “walking” dances that were of the time of the Renaissance. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to teach my students these dances. I think it will bring a very important element to whatever Shakespeare scene I do with them, even if that scene doesn’t need dance (which I doubt any of Macbeth does) because they will have a greater understanding of what the people of that time did for fun. Plus, the way kids dance today looks like spasms anyway, so it’ll be good for them. GEEZ, I sound so old!
Anywho… Dance was followed by text work with Giles Block. Giles has an extensive background with acting, directing, and studying Shakespeare and discussed with us ways to work through complex Shakespeare text.
After our dinner break we had a rehearsal marathon. I am happy to say that I learned all of my lines before today and was “off book” for rehearsal. It makes blocking a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about reading your lines. But as I said before, my rehearsal ran until midnight and it’s after 1:00 AM now, so I’m ready for bed. I’m excited about performing tomorrow.
The weather warmed up a bit today. It wasn’t quite as hot and humid as it was when I arrived last week, but it was pretty warm for London. I enjoyed it though, knowing that you’re all dealing with 100-degree weather. Last week the temp cooled as the week progressed. I just hope it doesn’t rain anymore. I like sunshine better.
Though this weekend was far from relaxing with all of the traveling I did, I felt refreshed and ready to begin the second week here at Shakespeare’s Globe. We were fortunate to have a later start time this morning of 11:00 AM since our rehearsals took many of us to 1:00 AM Tuesday. My group was lucky enough to be released at midnight, however.
Our first session this morning was a guided tour to The Rose Theatre excavation site. The Rose Theatre currently has a large building over it but there is space underneath the building for a small theatre where shows are performed just above the old Rose stage. The Rose site is under water and Plexiglas material at the moment in order to preserve everything so that an archeological team can uncover more at a later time. Under the water, there are strings of red lights that outline where we can part of the outer and inner walls of the Rose as well as part of the stage. The area is pretty dark though. Shakespeare’s first two plays were performed at The Rose.
Next, we had a short session with Chris to talk about what to expect this week. It was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow night is our scene performance of Macbeth, which means we have a lot of rehearsing to do. Most of tomorrow will consist of rehearsals. After our performances are over, the following days will detail how we are going to implement our newfound skills and activities in our classes so that our students can perform scenes from Macbeth.
We had a dance class with Huw Prall today as well. Yes, you heard it. I took a dance class. And I was actually successful… at least I feel I was. You can judge for yourself in our video.
This was a Historical Dance class. We learned some very simple “walking” dances that were of the time of the Renaissance. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to teach my students these dances. I think it will bring a very important element to whatever Shakespeare scene I do with them, even if that scene doesn’t need dance (which I doubt any of Macbeth does) because they will have a greater understanding of what the people of that time did for fun. Plus, the way kids dance today looks like spasms anyway, so it’ll be good for them. GEEZ, I sound so old!
Anywho… Dance was followed by text work with Giles Block. Giles has an extensive background with acting, directing, and studying Shakespeare and discussed with us ways to work through complex Shakespeare text.
After our dinner break we had a rehearsal marathon. I am happy to say that I learned all of my lines before today and was “off book” for rehearsal. It makes blocking a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about reading your lines. But as I said before, my rehearsal ran until midnight and it’s after 1:00 AM now, so I’m ready for bed. I’m excited about performing tomorrow.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Lacock, and Bath - (new photos)
I wanted to post a few pictures from each of the places I visited today, but the internet is moving very slowly tonight so you'll have to settle for just one...
INSANE!!!
I'm going to try to post more pictures to this blog post if I have time tomorrow.
G'night!!
Here's a few more shots of yesterday:
Windsor Castle - The Union flag was flying which means the Queen is not home.
It's impossible to take a picture of the whole castle. It's enormous!
The beautiful and very OLD village of Lacock. New cars of course. Some of these houses and buildings are 1,000 years old!
The Bath Abbey in Bath. The Roman Baths are right across the square from here. I didn't get a chance to go in either place though. The Abbey was closed and I didn't think I had enough time for the Baths.
There are angels climbing up ladders on the outside of this abbey because the king (can't remember which) that dreamed about building this place dreamed of angels climbing down ladders from Heaven. Some of the angels are climbing down head first.
I'm going to try to post more pictures to this blog post if I have time tomorrow.
G'night!!
Here's a few more shots of yesterday:
Windsor Castle - The Union flag was flying which means the Queen is not home.
It's impossible to take a picture of the whole castle. It's enormous!
The beautiful and very OLD village of Lacock. New cars of course. Some of these houses and buildings are 1,000 years old!
The Bath Abbey in Bath. The Roman Baths are right across the square from here. I didn't get a chance to go in either place though. The Abbey was closed and I didn't think I had enough time for the Baths.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Saturday in London
July 17, 2010
Here's some of what I saw this beautiful Saturday in London!
City of London statue:
Lion outside the National Gallery - In the National Gallery we saw original works of art by Monet, Renoit, VanGogh, and others.
This glass sculpture weighs 5 tons. Outside the National Gallery:
My reason for being... well, here anyway. I love the quote at which he's pointing.
Man playing a street cone for money. He wasn't bad!
The British Library - we saw a lot of really old books! :)
St Paul's Cathedral:
Here's some of what I saw this beautiful Saturday in London!
City of London statue:
Lion outside the National Gallery - In the National Gallery we saw original works of art by Monet, Renoit, VanGogh, and others.
This glass sculpture weighs 5 tons. Outside the National Gallery:
My reason for being... well, here anyway. I love the quote at which he's pointing.
Man playing a street cone for money. He wasn't bad!
The British Library - we saw a lot of really old books! :)
St Paul's Cathedral:
GEA - Day 5
July 16, 2010
4:00 PM
Holy moly the morning came early today. I was on the Globe stage for rehearsal at 7:00 this morning. So early, but it was such a cool experience. Our director, Jo had us exploring the space, doing different things with single words and speaking them with movement throughout the space and then using different lines. It’s strange how the theatre looks so much bigger than I expected from the seats, but on stage it looks so small. We realized how small it really is when the next rehearsal group showed up a little early for their session and were watching us from the edge of the stage. It’s a very intimate and somewhat intimidating space.
After our hour on the stage, we were able to grab some breakfast and then headed back over to the other rehearsal space at 9:00. There, we worked for two hours on the text and really tried to grasp what was being said and done and to whom. This time was really helpful for someone like me who hasn’t done a lot of acting and still finds some of Shakespeare’s work challenging. It seems that there could be so many different ways to interpret some of the lines that it really helps to discuss our ideas and decide what the words really mean.
At 11:30 we had our second movement session with Glynn who had us working on movement with our first lines for our scenes. We needed to have identified whether the character stood in an up or down position, was wide or narrow, and leaning back or forward. Subtle changes in these positions completely change the way one’s character is perceived and how one delivers lines. We also worked on the four elements or Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each element has a different position and is good for centering and loosening up. She also showed is “the arrow” which is used for direction and focus. Really cool stuff.
After movement, we met with Chris who has been working with us on the education practice part of the program (along with Yolanda) and we had a chance to reflect on the past week and all we’ve done and seen in this academy. There have been so many valuable experiences so far and our instructors are of such high caliber that we have all been really impressed with the program.
After our reflection, we were visited by Gwilym Jones. He gave us our Shakespeare Rally packets for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are being sent all around London in search of the Bard. We need to find up to nine different representations of THE MAN and be prepared to debate how realistic we think they are.
And now Tip, Christina, and I are sitting near the snack area and I’m blogging the day while I let Christina plan the map for tomorrow’s Shakespeare pilgrimage. We have one more session tonight called “Designing Imagined Worlds” with Jenny Tiramani, a theatre designer. I’m really looking forward to that. Afterward, I REALLY need to learn my lines because I want to stop stressing about them. I also need to attempt the laundry again.
----Later the same day (sort of)----
1:00 AM - Saturday morn
I really enjoyed seeing the costumes and set designs Jenny Tiramani. She has done some amazing things with PAPER costumes! I couldn’t believe the costumes in the pictures were made of paper, tape, and foil. Kind of gives me hope that costumes really CAN be done on the cheap!
So my plans for laundry and an early bedtime went COMPLETELY out the window tonight. It’s actually 1:00 AM Saturday morning now, and I just got in from dinner out with some great people that I get to call my colleagues and friends… even if they left me at Picadilly Circus… but I digress. (Don’t freak out Mom. I made it back in one piece. The Underground is really easy to travel and I actually made it back to Bankside before the rest of the crew! HAHA!) We had dinner at Shakespeare’s Head Pub, which is one of the stops on our Shakespeare Rally for Saturday so we killed two birds with one stone. The bust of Shakespeare peaking out the window was a little on the creepy side as he had a white face and dark hair. He kind of looked like I imagine he would look NOW, you know… if he were a zombie.
Dinner at the pub was great though. I had a steak and ale pie and chips.
So, now I’ve tried two of the three traditional English foods that I wanted to try, while here: Fish and Chips, and a meat pie. I still need to try Bangers and Mash.
The washing machine has about 15 minutes left. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I’ll be out most of the day tomorrow searching for Shakespeare and then a few of us are off to Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor Castle and Le Cock (one of the places Harry Potter was filmed, I think that’s how it’s spelled) on Sunday. What will you be doing?
And here's what the mall looks like! WHAT?!?!
4:00 PM
Holy moly the morning came early today. I was on the Globe stage for rehearsal at 7:00 this morning. So early, but it was such a cool experience. Our director, Jo had us exploring the space, doing different things with single words and speaking them with movement throughout the space and then using different lines. It’s strange how the theatre looks so much bigger than I expected from the seats, but on stage it looks so small. We realized how small it really is when the next rehearsal group showed up a little early for their session and were watching us from the edge of the stage. It’s a very intimate and somewhat intimidating space.
After our hour on the stage, we were able to grab some breakfast and then headed back over to the other rehearsal space at 9:00. There, we worked for two hours on the text and really tried to grasp what was being said and done and to whom. This time was really helpful for someone like me who hasn’t done a lot of acting and still finds some of Shakespeare’s work challenging. It seems that there could be so many different ways to interpret some of the lines that it really helps to discuss our ideas and decide what the words really mean.
At 11:30 we had our second movement session with Glynn who had us working on movement with our first lines for our scenes. We needed to have identified whether the character stood in an up or down position, was wide or narrow, and leaning back or forward. Subtle changes in these positions completely change the way one’s character is perceived and how one delivers lines. We also worked on the four elements or Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each element has a different position and is good for centering and loosening up. She also showed is “the arrow” which is used for direction and focus. Really cool stuff.
After movement, we met with Chris who has been working with us on the education practice part of the program (along with Yolanda) and we had a chance to reflect on the past week and all we’ve done and seen in this academy. There have been so many valuable experiences so far and our instructors are of such high caliber that we have all been really impressed with the program.
After our reflection, we were visited by Gwilym Jones. He gave us our Shakespeare Rally packets for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are being sent all around London in search of the Bard. We need to find up to nine different representations of THE MAN and be prepared to debate how realistic we think they are.
And now Tip, Christina, and I are sitting near the snack area and I’m blogging the day while I let Christina plan the map for tomorrow’s Shakespeare pilgrimage. We have one more session tonight called “Designing Imagined Worlds” with Jenny Tiramani, a theatre designer. I’m really looking forward to that. Afterward, I REALLY need to learn my lines because I want to stop stressing about them. I also need to attempt the laundry again.
----Later the same day (sort of)----
1:00 AM - Saturday morn
I really enjoyed seeing the costumes and set designs Jenny Tiramani. She has done some amazing things with PAPER costumes! I couldn’t believe the costumes in the pictures were made of paper, tape, and foil. Kind of gives me hope that costumes really CAN be done on the cheap!
So my plans for laundry and an early bedtime went COMPLETELY out the window tonight. It’s actually 1:00 AM Saturday morning now, and I just got in from dinner out with some great people that I get to call my colleagues and friends… even if they left me at Picadilly Circus… but I digress. (Don’t freak out Mom. I made it back in one piece. The Underground is really easy to travel and I actually made it back to Bankside before the rest of the crew! HAHA!) We had dinner at Shakespeare’s Head Pub, which is one of the stops on our Shakespeare Rally for Saturday so we killed two birds with one stone. The bust of Shakespeare peaking out the window was a little on the creepy side as he had a white face and dark hair. He kind of looked like I imagine he would look NOW, you know… if he were a zombie.
Dinner at the pub was great though. I had a steak and ale pie and chips.
So, now I’ve tried two of the three traditional English foods that I wanted to try, while here: Fish and Chips, and a meat pie. I still need to try Bangers and Mash.
The washing machine has about 15 minutes left. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I’ll be out most of the day tomorrow searching for Shakespeare and then a few of us are off to Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor Castle and Le Cock (one of the places Harry Potter was filmed, I think that’s how it’s spelled) on Sunday. What will you be doing?
And here's what the mall looks like! WHAT?!?!
Friday, July 16, 2010
GEA - Day 4
Friday, July 15, 2010
We went to Gosden House School today. Gosden House is in Surrey. Children with learning difficulties like Autism and Down Syndrome attend this school. The Globe and Gosden partner together to bring Shakespeare to students of all ages, year 1 on up (like Kindergarten or first grade). We walked the grounds, which are beautiful and watched year 3 and year 10 students perform Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, respectively. What an amazing thing. A lot of people assume that because children are, well, children and can't understand Shakespeare. These children have learning difficulties and not only do they get it, they perform it and love it. I was blown away. It was really an inspiring morning.
When we got back to London, Tara and I ran around all over the place. It think I need to leave that blog for later though. It's really Friday right now as I'm writing about Thursday and I have already been in rehearsal for three hours and now need to go to Movement with Glynn.
OH! And I just walked past Duff from Ace of Cakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally, he and I brushed arms walking past. HEHEHEHEHEHEEE!!!!!!!
Okay, on to Movement!
We went to Gosden House School today. Gosden House is in Surrey. Children with learning difficulties like Autism and Down Syndrome attend this school. The Globe and Gosden partner together to bring Shakespeare to students of all ages, year 1 on up (like Kindergarten or first grade). We walked the grounds, which are beautiful and watched year 3 and year 10 students perform Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, respectively. What an amazing thing. A lot of people assume that because children are, well, children and can't understand Shakespeare. These children have learning difficulties and not only do they get it, they perform it and love it. I was blown away. It was really an inspiring morning.
When we got back to London, Tara and I ran around all over the place. It think I need to leave that blog for later though. It's really Friday right now as I'm writing about Thursday and I have already been in rehearsal for three hours and now need to go to Movement with Glynn.
OH! And I just walked past Duff from Ace of Cakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally, he and I brushed arms walking past. HEHEHEHEHEHEEE!!!!!!!
Okay, on to Movement!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
GEA – Day 3
July 14, 2010
Well hello again! Today was kind of a lighter day, but still plenty to do. We met for about and hour and a half with Yolanda again to work on Globe Education Practice. Basically this time is to help us understand how to approach the work we will be doing with our students when we get back. There are some really creative and fun ways to show the students that they can and will understand what the Bard is saying in his plays. One exercise that I really like uses a short chunk of script between two characters (we used Demetrius and Helena from Midsummer Night’s Dream). When you read your part you point on every pronoun to the object of that pronoun. The next part is to take an important word from your partner’s line and repeat it before you say your own line and continue all the way through your text. Another way to explore the scene is to interrupt your partner when they have no more than three words left in their line and then begin your line. There are a few more examples, but I won’t go into them now. These sessions are so valuable!
After Yolanda, we got to meet with our directors again. Jo worked with my group to take apart our scene and identify what actions are taking place and what the characters are thinking. It was a two-hour session and went by way too fast. I am thankful that tomorrow, when we are on the coach to Gosden House (more on that later) we will have time to learn lines. I thinking I counted 24 lines for myself. Think I can manage that? I hope when we perform someone will be able to record it.
The afternoon and evening were filled with both Henry IV’s. Great plays. Great performances. Falstaff was unbelievable. We had tickets for “the yard” during the matinee performance, which made us “groundlings.” We got the full groundling experience too. The show started with a light drizzle of rain that came and went for a little while and turned into a downpour about 3/4 of the way through the play. If you know the Globe Theatre, you know it has no roof above the center of the playhouse. We got soaked. At least it’s not sweltering anymore. The view from the ground right under the actors was worth it though. I thought I might lose an eye during a sword fight because we were so close. It was awesome!
I’m hanging out in my room now, waiting for my laundry to get done. The laundry room isn’t cooperating very well tonight. The washers keep resetting themselves. I’m going back down right now to make sure it’s still running. Ky, Mom, Dad, and Linds I miss you! Pet my fur child for me!
Well hello again! Today was kind of a lighter day, but still plenty to do. We met for about and hour and a half with Yolanda again to work on Globe Education Practice. Basically this time is to help us understand how to approach the work we will be doing with our students when we get back. There are some really creative and fun ways to show the students that they can and will understand what the Bard is saying in his plays. One exercise that I really like uses a short chunk of script between two characters (we used Demetrius and Helena from Midsummer Night’s Dream). When you read your part you point on every pronoun to the object of that pronoun. The next part is to take an important word from your partner’s line and repeat it before you say your own line and continue all the way through your text. Another way to explore the scene is to interrupt your partner when they have no more than three words left in their line and then begin your line. There are a few more examples, but I won’t go into them now. These sessions are so valuable!
After Yolanda, we got to meet with our directors again. Jo worked with my group to take apart our scene and identify what actions are taking place and what the characters are thinking. It was a two-hour session and went by way too fast. I am thankful that tomorrow, when we are on the coach to Gosden House (more on that later) we will have time to learn lines. I thinking I counted 24 lines for myself. Think I can manage that? I hope when we perform someone will be able to record it.
The afternoon and evening were filled with both Henry IV’s. Great plays. Great performances. Falstaff was unbelievable. We had tickets for “the yard” during the matinee performance, which made us “groundlings.” We got the full groundling experience too. The show started with a light drizzle of rain that came and went for a little while and turned into a downpour about 3/4 of the way through the play. If you know the Globe Theatre, you know it has no roof above the center of the playhouse. We got soaked. At least it’s not sweltering anymore. The view from the ground right under the actors was worth it though. I thought I might lose an eye during a sword fight because we were so close. It was awesome!
I’m hanging out in my room now, waiting for my laundry to get done. The laundry room isn’t cooperating very well tonight. The washers keep resetting themselves. I’m going back down right now to make sure it’s still running. Ky, Mom, Dad, and Linds I miss you! Pet my fur child for me!
GEA - Day 2
July 13, 2010
Today was so much fun. I feel like I’m going to need to find more ways to say “Today was so much fun” because I think that’s the way every day is going to roll out. I have to admit, I woke up this morning and was draggin’ bootay most of the morning, but some of the afternoon activities remedied that. I’ll go into that in a bit.
First, we started with a From Heaven to Hell tour with our tour guide and Globe Stage Manager Bryan. Heaven in the Globe is the ceiling area above the stage. If something comes from there, it is supposed to be from Heaven. That means if something comes from below the stage, it’s supposed to be evil, or from Hell. This was a tour of the Globe backstage. We started in the piazza area where actors do quick changes. We made our way to the attic area where many props and set pieces are stored. A short trip to the next lower level is where “Heaven” is. More sets and props are stored backstage on this level, but we were able to walk around to the balcony area nearest to “Heaven.” It was really neat to stand here and look out at the audience area. The next level we saw was the stage. Being on the Globe stage was awesome!
The audience looks so close, and the groundlings are right underneath you. It must be pretty intimidating for some actors to see the whites of the eyes of your audience. Of course after Heaven, then the stage, comes Hell. Hell is the area below the stage. It can be accessed both through a steep staircase backstage and a trap door on stage. You have to hunch over to get around in Hell. From Heaven to Hell was a great tour!
After the tour we got to meet our much anticipated scene directors and find out the groups in which we will be working. My scene director is Jo Howarth and we will be performing the beginning of the “porter scene” from Macbeth. Jo has a very bubbly personality and lots of energy and I know I will learn a lot from working with her. I will be playing the part of Lennox with around 25 lines to learn for our Tuesday midnight performance.
Next we got to sit back in pairs and watch an actor/educator take students through the theatre and work with them on a part of a play. We saw a young actor named Tom lead Crofton School 12 and 13 year olds. These students are from Hampshire, England a middle class village, and about two weeks from their summer break. They were squirrely and lively and fun to listen to. It’s nice to see that it’s not just American students who have ants in their pants. They seemed to enjoy their experience and Tom did a great job keeping them engaged in learning. Shakespeare's Globe has fantastic has fantastic educational outreach programs for kids of all ages.
After lunch we met with Stewart Pearce who is the Head of Voice. He led us in a very interesting discussion on how sound is the core of creation and that we all have a signature note that is our true essence. I’m still working to wrap my head around all of that, but it was a fascinating discussion. He also worked us through the best relaxation exercise I have ever experienced. Up until this point I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to the end of the day. I was spent. After relaxation, I felt energized, refreshed, and centered. I feel like describing it will not do justice, but we basically lied on the floor focused on breathing and listened to beautiful music. It sounds so simple, but there really was a whole lot more to it. I hope we talk more about it when we meet with him again. I would love to bring that into my classroom.
The final session of the day was with Yolanda Vazquez, Globe Education Practitioner. Her job is to make sure that we know what we are doing when we leave and go back to reality with our students. We did some really cool scene work with cue scripts and revisited some activities we did with Chris Stafford at UC, Davis.
About nine of us decided we wanted to get out and have dinner together, so we went to a highly recommended Indian restaurant called The Mango House. Great food. I’d never had Indian before. Afterward we walked about an hour to Covent Garden where we visited the first pub established in London… in 1216. It was surreal being in a place that had been around for almost 800 years. Nothing like that in California, or the USA for that matter. Of course it had been refurbished, but it was still really cool.
I’m back in my room now, and it’s midnight. I’m ready to hit the sack. More work with Yolanda and Jo tomorrow and then Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Good night! (or good morning!)
Today was so much fun. I feel like I’m going to need to find more ways to say “Today was so much fun” because I think that’s the way every day is going to roll out. I have to admit, I woke up this morning and was draggin’ bootay most of the morning, but some of the afternoon activities remedied that. I’ll go into that in a bit.
First, we started with a From Heaven to Hell tour with our tour guide and Globe Stage Manager Bryan. Heaven in the Globe is the ceiling area above the stage. If something comes from there, it is supposed to be from Heaven. That means if something comes from below the stage, it’s supposed to be evil, or from Hell. This was a tour of the Globe backstage. We started in the piazza area where actors do quick changes. We made our way to the attic area where many props and set pieces are stored. A short trip to the next lower level is where “Heaven” is. More sets and props are stored backstage on this level, but we were able to walk around to the balcony area nearest to “Heaven.” It was really neat to stand here and look out at the audience area. The next level we saw was the stage. Being on the Globe stage was awesome!
After the tour we got to meet our much anticipated scene directors and find out the groups in which we will be working. My scene director is Jo Howarth and we will be performing the beginning of the “porter scene” from Macbeth. Jo has a very bubbly personality and lots of energy and I know I will learn a lot from working with her. I will be playing the part of Lennox with around 25 lines to learn for our Tuesday midnight performance.
Next we got to sit back in pairs and watch an actor/educator take students through the theatre and work with them on a part of a play. We saw a young actor named Tom lead Crofton School 12 and 13 year olds. These students are from Hampshire, England a middle class village, and about two weeks from their summer break. They were squirrely and lively and fun to listen to. It’s nice to see that it’s not just American students who have ants in their pants. They seemed to enjoy their experience and Tom did a great job keeping them engaged in learning. Shakespeare's Globe has fantastic has fantastic educational outreach programs for kids of all ages.
After lunch we met with Stewart Pearce who is the Head of Voice. He led us in a very interesting discussion on how sound is the core of creation and that we all have a signature note that is our true essence. I’m still working to wrap my head around all of that, but it was a fascinating discussion. He also worked us through the best relaxation exercise I have ever experienced. Up until this point I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to the end of the day. I was spent. After relaxation, I felt energized, refreshed, and centered. I feel like describing it will not do justice, but we basically lied on the floor focused on breathing and listened to beautiful music. It sounds so simple, but there really was a whole lot more to it. I hope we talk more about it when we meet with him again. I would love to bring that into my classroom.
The final session of the day was with Yolanda Vazquez, Globe Education Practitioner. Her job is to make sure that we know what we are doing when we leave and go back to reality with our students. We did some really cool scene work with cue scripts and revisited some activities we did with Chris Stafford at UC, Davis.
About nine of us decided we wanted to get out and have dinner together, so we went to a highly recommended Indian restaurant called The Mango House. Great food. I’d never had Indian before. Afterward we walked about an hour to Covent Garden where we visited the first pub established in London… in 1216. It was surreal being in a place that had been around for almost 800 years. Nothing like that in California, or the USA for that matter. Of course it had been refurbished, but it was still really cool.
I’m back in my room now, and it’s midnight. I’m ready to hit the sack. More work with Yolanda and Jo tomorrow and then Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Good night! (or good morning!)
Oh! And here's a picture of Shakespeare's Globe!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Globe Education Academy - Day 1 (part 2)
Yesterday after lunch we had the first of three opportunities to work with our movement coach, Glynn MacDonald. Everyone here has told us that we were really going to enjoy Glynn and man, where they right! Glynn's amazing! She is a wealth of knowledge and tells it like it is. Let's just say, if she doesn't think you're funny, she won't laugh. We did a lot of movement activities with the eyes, hands, knees, upper body, and um... other places. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting. The purpose of the eye work was to make us conscious of what we know. When we say "I see," it's to say that we know or understand, and seeing is done with the eyes, just like when we touch with our hands or are touched, we feel. As Glynn says, "You can't move someone if you can't move." We did a lot of movement to better understand how those movements connect to feelings and emotions. I can't wait to work with her again Thursday morning on the Globe stage. Apparently, we were pretty lucky to get such a choice spot to work at that time.
After Glynn, we met up with Patrick Spottiswoode again. Patrick is the Director of Globe Education and has been here since 1984, years before the Globe was built in 1997. He took us on a Globe Walkshop around the area close to the theatre to tell us a bit of the history of this Globe and the first Globe theatres. A few blocks away is where the original Globe was from 1598 to 1613. It's a bunch of residence buildings now but there is a marker on the ground where part of the wall would have been.
We also saw the office building that is built over the foundation of the Rose Playhouse, the Southwark Cathedral where Shakespeare "worshipped." Southwark is pronounced "suthuk" by the way, short "u" sounds. We a wall that was discovered upon demolition two warehouses that was part of Winchester Palace, the Clink Prison Museum, and what used to be London's first brothel. I've learned that brothels were very important to Londoners...
Anyway, our walk concluded back at the Bull Ring where we began that morning with an afternoon tea and champagne welcome reception. It was very nice. They offered us little cucumber, salmon, egg salad, or ham sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam (awesome!), teacakes (soooo good!), tea, and champagne.
We ended the day watching our first show at Shakespeare's Globe, a performance of Henry VIII. It was phenomenal. The actors have no microphones, nor do they need them, the costumes were beautiful, and the performances were wonderful. It had been a really long, full day and we were all exhausted, but watching the show was worth staying out late.
This is a photo of the curtain call. Please excuse the wooden post. This was my view from my seat, but since the theatre is an auditorium (auditory being the important part of that word) hearing is the most important part. The groundlings are standing in the yard in front of the stage, just like in Shakespeare's day. Also, the sun had gone down by this point and so lights are used today, but they would not have had an evening performance back in the day. Actually, the sky really had just gotten dark a little bit before the end of the show, 10:30 PM. The sun is out much later in England in the summer! Still bright out at 9:30 PM, pretty cool!
Once the show was over, Tara and I lingered a bit to use the internet, but on our way out we stumbled along Ian MacNeice, "the bishop" in the play. He signed my program and let me take a picture. You might recognize him from several movies like From Hell or Ace Venture 2 When Nature Calls and tons more.
Fantastic day!!!
After Glynn, we met up with Patrick Spottiswoode again. Patrick is the Director of Globe Education and has been here since 1984, years before the Globe was built in 1997. He took us on a Globe Walkshop around the area close to the theatre to tell us a bit of the history of this Globe and the first Globe theatres. A few blocks away is where the original Globe was from 1598 to 1613. It's a bunch of residence buildings now but there is a marker on the ground where part of the wall would have been.
We also saw the office building that is built over the foundation of the Rose Playhouse, the Southwark Cathedral where Shakespeare "worshipped." Southwark is pronounced "suthuk" by the way, short "u" sounds. We a wall that was discovered upon demolition two warehouses that was part of Winchester Palace, the Clink Prison Museum, and what used to be London's first brothel. I've learned that brothels were very important to Londoners...
Anyway, our walk concluded back at the Bull Ring where we began that morning with an afternoon tea and champagne welcome reception. It was very nice. They offered us little cucumber, salmon, egg salad, or ham sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam (awesome!), teacakes (soooo good!), tea, and champagne.
We ended the day watching our first show at Shakespeare's Globe, a performance of Henry VIII. It was phenomenal. The actors have no microphones, nor do they need them, the costumes were beautiful, and the performances were wonderful. It had been a really long, full day and we were all exhausted, but watching the show was worth staying out late.
This is a photo of the curtain call. Please excuse the wooden post. This was my view from my seat, but since the theatre is an auditorium (auditory being the important part of that word) hearing is the most important part. The groundlings are standing in the yard in front of the stage, just like in Shakespeare's day. Also, the sun had gone down by this point and so lights are used today, but they would not have had an evening performance back in the day. Actually, the sky really had just gotten dark a little bit before the end of the show, 10:30 PM. The sun is out much later in England in the summer! Still bright out at 9:30 PM, pretty cool!
Once the show was over, Tara and I lingered a bit to use the internet, but on our way out we stumbled along Ian MacNeice, "the bishop" in the play. He signed my program and let me take a picture. You might recognize him from several movies like From Hell or Ace Venture 2 When Nature Calls and tons more.
Fantastic day!!!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Globe Education Academy - Day 1
The first day of GEA was so great! We did so much yesterday. We started the morning with the twelve of us meeting for breakfast downstairs at Bankside House. We are able to choose six items for breakfast so many of us loaded up on protein and grabbed some fruit for later since this meal is free and nothing's cheap in England. The exchange rate was $1.75 per British Pound. EW! At any rate, breakfast was good and we were on our way to The Globe.
At 9:30 AM, we met with some of the folks who will be working with us and taking care of us, Patrick, Chris, Madeline, Cordelia, and Alex. They had coffee and tea waiting for us in the "Bull Ring", which is a round orange room in downstairs (they like round rooms here :)) and we had a little bit of time to meet and chat with each of them. Afterward, Patrick, Chris, and Madeline outlined our program as well as the others that are here at Shakespeare's Globe.
Next, Chris took us on a short walk to show us around the theater. Shakespeare's Globe was built as accurately as possible with whatever knowledge they had about what the Globe looked like 400 years ago. After our little tour, Chris took us to a space where we did some warm-up activities and talked more about our purpose here. We broke for an hour lunch where we discovered a grocery store, where food was much more affordable and there was a LOT of pre-made meals.
I have so much more to tell you about, but we have to get to our first session in a minute. I'll finish up later today.
Cheerio!
At 9:30 AM, we met with some of the folks who will be working with us and taking care of us, Patrick, Chris, Madeline, Cordelia, and Alex. They had coffee and tea waiting for us in the "Bull Ring", which is a round orange room in downstairs (they like round rooms here :)) and we had a little bit of time to meet and chat with each of them. Afterward, Patrick, Chris, and Madeline outlined our program as well as the others that are here at Shakespeare's Globe.
Next, Chris took us on a short walk to show us around the theater. Shakespeare's Globe was built as accurately as possible with whatever knowledge they had about what the Globe looked like 400 years ago. After our little tour, Chris took us to a space where we did some warm-up activities and talked more about our purpose here. We broke for an hour lunch where we discovered a grocery store, where food was much more affordable and there was a LOT of pre-made meals.
I have so much more to tell you about, but we have to get to our first session in a minute. I'll finish up later today.
Cheerio!
Good morning!
Good morning! This is my first live post. Right now, I am sitting at the Globe Theatre with some of my peeps. Richard says, "How goes the night boy?" He's been saying that over and over this morning as he reads Macbeth. We're waiting to get started at 9:30. We have lots to do today including seeing a performance of Henry VIII which is rarely performed.
I slept pretty well last night. There's a restaurant across the street downstairs that had some pretty ragin' night life, but I was out like a light. My bed was comfy enough. My roommate Tara is awesome. She is keeping me sane while I deal with being homesick. I didn't think I would be so sad to not be at home, but I'll be okay.
My electical converter stopped working this morning, so if I unplugged it hoping maybe tonight I can use it. In the meantime, I have no hairdryer so you'll have to forgive my fro in the pictures I post from here on out.
Here is a photo of the back of the Bulmers label. I hope you find it as amusing as I did. :)
Don't worry. It won't be ALL fun and games. We're starting our first workshop shortly. There will be some academic stuff soon. ;)
I slept pretty well last night. There's a restaurant across the street downstairs that had some pretty ragin' night life, but I was out like a light. My bed was comfy enough. My roommate Tara is awesome. She is keeping me sane while I deal with being homesick. I didn't think I would be so sad to not be at home, but I'll be okay.
My electical converter stopped working this morning, so if I unplugged it hoping maybe tonight I can use it. In the meantime, I have no hairdryer so you'll have to forgive my fro in the pictures I post from here on out.
Here is a photo of the back of the Bulmers label. I hope you find it as amusing as I did. :)
Don't worry. It won't be ALL fun and games. We're starting our first workshop shortly. There will be some academic stuff soon. ;)
Out on the Town
Evening of July 11th
Ah dorm life! I conked out shortly after I started reading this afternoon and was awakened around 7:00 pm by a fire alarm. I was hoping to sleep through till morning but nothing says fun like evacuating after you’ve been up for a whole day. I’m glad I got blasted out of bed though.
Outside at the gathering area across the street I met up with Tip, Richard, Tara, Christina, and Christina’s cousin James. We decided to head out for a walk to explore instead of waiting with hundreds of kids to be let back in.
The River Thames is right here, a very short walk. We walked across the Millenium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a beautiful building. From there we decided to check out a local pub where they had some really awesome Fish and Chips. I also tried what is probably as close to beer as I'm going to try out here - Bulmers Cider. It's pretty great.
It was a lot of fun getting to hang out and get to know some of the people with which we will be spending two weeks. We all feel really lucky to have this amazing opportunity. Plus, we’re all having fun working on the accent. It’s already starting to just come out on it’s own.
Oh, and did I mention I did all of this in my jammies? Lovin’ London!
Ah dorm life! I conked out shortly after I started reading this afternoon and was awakened around 7:00 pm by a fire alarm. I was hoping to sleep through till morning but nothing says fun like evacuating after you’ve been up for a whole day. I’m glad I got blasted out of bed though.
Outside at the gathering area across the street I met up with Tip, Richard, Tara, Christina, and Christina’s cousin James. We decided to head out for a walk to explore instead of waiting with hundreds of kids to be let back in.
The River Thames is right here, a very short walk. We walked across the Millenium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a beautiful building. From there we decided to check out a local pub where they had some really awesome Fish and Chips. I also tried what is probably as close to beer as I'm going to try out here - Bulmers Cider. It's pretty great.
It was a lot of fun getting to hang out and get to know some of the people with which we will be spending two weeks. We all feel really lucky to have this amazing opportunity. Plus, we’re all having fun working on the accent. It’s already starting to just come out on it’s own.
Oh, and did I mention I did all of this in my jammies? Lovin’ London!
Welcome to London!
July 11, 2010
It’s probably going to be the case that my blog posts will be written in Word first and pasted into my blog hours to maybe a day later. I have no Internet in my room, which is no big deal, but will have to get to the café up the street to snag some WiFi.
SO, welcome to London! This has definitely been an adventure so far. The flight after my last post was written turned into quite the ride. It was very shaky, lots of turbulence. I haven’t slept since about this time yesterday. It’s 4:15 p.m. here right now, which makes it 8:15 a.m. home time. I’m exhausted and very moody but it’s “too early” to go to bed yet. If I go to bed now, I’ll be up at midnight.
After we landed at Heathrow, I figured out the group I wanted to meet up with would be landing in a completely different terminal a few hours later so I decided to head out on my own (don’t freak out Mom, I’m fine) to find my way to the dorm. Yes, I said dorm.
Feels like college, but without air conditioning. :) It’s actually a pretty decent place and will be just fine once they can get our toilet to flush, hopefully in the morning. But I digress…
So after I was cleared to enter the country, (those passport guys don’t mess around! I felt like I had done something wrong or that they thought I was going to even though they only asked me how long I was staying, where I was going, and why I was here.) I grabbed my luggage and couldn’t find the one other person I thought was going to be on my flight, so I decide to make the trek from Heathrow to Paddington Station via the Heathrow Express. Once I finally found the Heathrow Express, it was a 15-minute ride to Paddington Station. Once I got to Paddington I ran into Jesse, another Globey :) and was so happy to see a familiar face that I almost cried. We made the rest of the journey together. We got lost a bit on our walk to the dorm, but we found it. Then we found the bar/hangout/WiFi spot and drank the best ice tea I’ve ever had.
I’m in my room now, trying to cool off. It might be 100 degrees in Oakley, but at least it’s a dry heat! I started sweating the minute I landed and haven’t stopped yet. It’s around 80 degrees here and like 800% humidity. Did I mention the no A/C part… anywhere?! Because this is ENGLAND and air conditioning is against their religion, or they don’t really need it much… something like that. :) I understand it’s supposed to cool down this week though.
I am really looking forward to my stay here and the work I am going to do. The English have been very friendly so far. You can stop just about anyone to ask a question and no one pretends to not hear you! :)
I think I’m going to try to finish the book I couldn’t read on the plane, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Hey! I’m going to be surrounded by Shakespeare for two weeks. I can read something fluffy!
It’s probably going to be the case that my blog posts will be written in Word first and pasted into my blog hours to maybe a day later. I have no Internet in my room, which is no big deal, but will have to get to the café up the street to snag some WiFi.
SO, welcome to London! This has definitely been an adventure so far. The flight after my last post was written turned into quite the ride. It was very shaky, lots of turbulence. I haven’t slept since about this time yesterday. It’s 4:15 p.m. here right now, which makes it 8:15 a.m. home time. I’m exhausted and very moody but it’s “too early” to go to bed yet. If I go to bed now, I’ll be up at midnight.
After we landed at Heathrow, I figured out the group I wanted to meet up with would be landing in a completely different terminal a few hours later so I decided to head out on my own (don’t freak out Mom, I’m fine) to find my way to the dorm. Yes, I said dorm.
Feels like college, but without air conditioning. :) It’s actually a pretty decent place and will be just fine once they can get our toilet to flush, hopefully in the morning. But I digress…
So after I was cleared to enter the country, (those passport guys don’t mess around! I felt like I had done something wrong or that they thought I was going to even though they only asked me how long I was staying, where I was going, and why I was here.) I grabbed my luggage and couldn’t find the one other person I thought was going to be on my flight, so I decide to make the trek from Heathrow to Paddington Station via the Heathrow Express. Once I finally found the Heathrow Express, it was a 15-minute ride to Paddington Station. Once I got to Paddington I ran into Jesse, another Globey :) and was so happy to see a familiar face that I almost cried. We made the rest of the journey together. We got lost a bit on our walk to the dorm, but we found it. Then we found the bar/hangout/WiFi spot and drank the best ice tea I’ve ever had.
I’m in my room now, trying to cool off. It might be 100 degrees in Oakley, but at least it’s a dry heat! I started sweating the minute I landed and haven’t stopped yet. It’s around 80 degrees here and like 800% humidity. Did I mention the no A/C part… anywhere?! Because this is ENGLAND and air conditioning is against their religion, or they don’t really need it much… something like that. :) I understand it’s supposed to cool down this week though.
I am really looking forward to my stay here and the work I am going to do. The English have been very friendly so far. You can stop just about anyone to ask a question and no one pretends to not hear you! :)
I think I’m going to try to finish the book I couldn’t read on the plane, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Hey! I’m going to be surrounded by Shakespeare for two weeks. I can read something fluffy!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Leaving in TWO Days!!!
I'm flying off to London in two days and I can't wait. I'm so excited! I really feel like I should start packing already, but I have to get the laundry done first. I'm including my schedule for the next two weeks. You can click on the images to enlarge. Read, and be jealous! :)
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