"Sat-ur-day in the Par--Trafalgar Square"

We had a slow start this morning, but once we finally got up and going, we spent the day exploring Trafalgar Square, the National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery, and Piccadilly Circus. It was ca-hooooooold, but we didn't let the freezing temperatures bring down our fun! I forgot how much I love museums. Gosh, I'm a nerd.

This is my suite-mate, Connor, and me in front of the National Portrait Gallery. (Mom those gloves have been keeping me warm!) We mostly looked at the modern stuff (because, how many 18th century english portraits can you really look at and still find something interesting?) There was this really interesting photography exhibition called "The British in New York City." The photographer, of course I forget his name, did this collection of photos on successful British people who now live in New York. With each photo, the person was quoted on some comparison of life in England vs America / London vs NYC. It was really cool. There are a lot of very successful British people in the Big Apple: Kate Winslet, head writers at vogue and vanity fair, president of Sothebys, playwrights, Sting, etc. The photos, all black and white, were great, all taken of the subject in his/her element. For example, there was a model turned shoe designer, who was photographed along a sweeping staircase with stiletto shoes piled high on each step. What was most fascinating to me, though, was what each person had to say about living away from home.  That really is what the exhibition is about, people living and thriving in an environment unfamiliar to them and making a new place feel like home. It obviously struck me, because I can identify with the concept. It was funny though, all these people were talking about how they come to New York because there is this American sentiment of "I can do it" and a feeling of hope and optimistic pursue of success because America is the land of opportunity, and here I am, walking around the National Portrait Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, surrounded by all this amazing British culture and history, and I'm thinking all those same things, but about London.

This is the view of Big Ben and Westminster, standing in Trafalgar Square. Not bad.

A Classic equestrian statue, like all the ones we studied in Art History.

Look at how HUGE it is

This was so weird to me. Everyone climbs up the statues and sits on the lions to take a picture. It felt like I was touching a painting in a museum and the guards didn't care -- I don't know, it's weird to me that everyone touches and sits on these old, amazing statues! But, you know, everyone was doing it....

This man has strong abs and good balance! But look at how HUGE the lions are. huge Huge HUge HUGe HUGE, (Teny, I know you will apply the appropriate voice when saying that).

There is it. The National Gallery. My new favorite place.

This is what you see right before you walk up the steps of the beautiful, Neoclassical building. "Explore & Reflect." That's why we all come to museums, isn't it? And at the National Gallery, there was SO much of that to do! First of all, the museum is gigantic. Very, very large. There is this great front porch area, and between the columns is an amazing view of Big Ben and Westminster. Ah I just LOVE London. You walk into the National Gallery and the foyer is this incredible embellished interior, with columns lining the walls, leading up to a beautiful gold dome. There are these different wings, with the art organized by date and location. It was interesting because the interior changed so suit the art, for example, 1500s Italian Religious paintings were in these grand rooms with high ceilings and gold details

First Week of Classes

It has been a very long, busy (and chilly) week! It was also the first week of classes, so I have a lot to report on! (academic pun intended) On Monday I had one of my electives, Theatre in London. The first hour of class we played "two truths and a lie" to get to know our classmates better. It was a very successful icebreaker, I learned about one guy's career in the circus, someone else's 8 pet catfish, and Katy Perry's cousin. Just kidding. That was a lie. I'm really excited for this class: we see a show every Wednesday night and then discuss it next week in class. This week, we saw a play called 'Greenland' at the National Theatre.  It was an interesting experience. The script was written by three or four different playwrights, and the result was a non-cohesive storyline. It was all about the environment and global warming, which is a provocative issue, but not an interesting play. The characters didn't really have any connection to one another, so I didn't really care about any of them. Technically, it was a really cool show. They had a lot of special effects: it rained on stage, snowed (they used small pieces of white tissue paper), they flew in a shopping cart, and really cool projections of text and images. Other than that though, I wouldn't really recommend seeing it. Not that any of you reading this blog are considering flying to England to see Greenland, but anyway....

Tuesday I had my other elective: Arts in London. I'll say what I told Teny on Tuesday night, that I forget how much I love history. It's basically an Art History class, but about every piece that is in a museum in England. We go to a new museum each week, having prepared individual mini presentations about a few pieces in the museum, which we share with the class when we come to our assigned piece of art. Over the course of the semester, we are going to the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, etc. I'm so excited to see everything! On Tuesday, we did a run-through of History, a big overview of different time periods and political/social details of each. Teny, I felt like we were studying for the Art History A.P., making a timeline of history, and discussing the art associated with each. My class is small, only about 8 people, and I am the only student who has taken an art history class. I just can't wait to re-learn and discuss it all again! If acting fails, I might follow in your footsteps, Mikes. Those McDonnell children, we just love art! (Because you always dragged us through museums when we were little, Mom and Dad!)

Wednesday, the real work began. My first day of RADA classes. I was really nervous, because I didn't know what our schedule (pronounced shedule) was going to be like, or what to expect. All 9 of us had prepared monologues, which we were going to present in front of our peers and all the RADA faculty. Only slightly intimidating. I had prepared the "I would not be thy executioner..." monologue by Pheobe from As You Like It. We just dove right in with the monologues. There were about 15 teachers, all sitting in a straight line, and we stood up, one by one, and "showed them some acting." Afterwards, we got immediate feedback. It was all a little sugar-coated, things like, "very brave choices," "this is a really hard thing to do," "you all must be very nervous, and jet-lagged" (I don't think that teacher was impressed), and then a not so sugar coated response: "you guys made choices and decisions, but they were down the wrong path." Alrighty then...

The head of the program, Jeff...I forget his last name (typical, Mom I wonder where I get that from) gave us an introduction speech, about how they're not there to be our friends, we're all there to get better and become serious actors, and the teachers are here to help make that happen, etc. It reminded me of our Cherubs intro, except it was like Cherubs on crack. (excuse my crudeness..) like Cherubs on Steroids. We have class Wednesday through Friday from 9 AM to 7 PM. Each class usually runs about 2 hours, except on Fridays, when we have fewer classes, and they run about 3 1/2 hours. We have one 1 hour break for lunch. I wanted intense. I think I found it.

We dove right in. Literally, 5 minutes after we finished our monologues we were walking to our first class, which was Clowning. This class REALLY reminded me of cherubs, we did a lot of  ensemble work, which was a good way to start to really get to know the 8 people I'm going to be with three days a week for the next four months. Then we had a Monologues class, where we reworked the monologues we had performed earlier, and got more one-on-one feedback from the director of the program, who is also one of our teachers. He has a great sense of humor, I really enjoyed his class and I think I'm really going to enjoy working with him. I felt that way about all my teachers this first week (I'm going to wind this down because I want to go have a sandwich), how lucky I am to be here and to have the opportunity to learn from them and work with them. Mom and Dad, I am so thankful that I am here, in this program, with all these amazing opportunities. I was so nervous before I left, I think I forgot to say that.

London Tour Bus!

Today we went a tour of the whole city -- in a bus! Not your traditional red double decker, which my roommates and I all expected (I'm not going to pretend like I wasn't really disappointed when it was a regular old bus). It was called the Anderson, which was weird when I was the only one that thought "Like the city!" We boarded our "coach," as the Brits call it,  and began our 3 hour tour. our 3 hour tour... Just kidding. Okay look at the pictures from it!

This was our first stop -- Saint Paul's Cathedral. Obviously I got very excited  because I remembered all that Ms. Walker Oakes taught us in Art History about Sir Christopher Wren and how his first two designs for the cathedral were rejected because they were too "modern," even though the commissioners had requested a modern design. Really, they had just wanted something traditional. So Crafty Sir Christopher Wren showed then a more traditional plan, got it approved, then built really big walls around the perimeter of the site, and built the design he had always wanted. It's a beautiful baroque structure! It felt surreal, because I knew what it was supposed to look like from my Art History books and London guidebooks, but it was so much more exciting in person. That sounds like a silly conclusion, because, obviously the real thing will be more exciting than a picture in a book, but I guess I didn't realize just how much I would enjoy getting to see all these historical sights I have read about and studied in school.

Look at all the beautiful Baroque detail! The engravings along the walls (reliefs, maybe? Mikes, you would know.) Just SO COOL!

This is the statue in front of the cathedral. And you can kind of see, on the left hand side, a bride who was posing with her husband on the steps of the cathedral. Wonder how much it costs to get married there... The whole time that we got out and were walking around, the bells were playing, like a soundtrack to our tour, adding excitement with every chime.

We got back in our coach. Tom, I think was our bus-driver's name, made all of us sitting in the front very nervous with his driving. Every single time we stopped behind a car, I swear I thought we were going to rear-end it. But somehow, we didn't. Every turn it seemed like we were going to plow through the pavement (which is what the Brits call a sidewalk). We did in fact almost run over a biker (I wish I was kidding). Our tour guide was mid-sentence telling us about how they used to perform executions in the gardens outside of the London Tower, and then gasped and screamed because she, too, thought we were going to kill someone. We also got partially side-swiped by a truck as it passed us; it only hit the front side mirror, but it was quite alarming. Obviously, we were buckled in the whole time, since apparently we were on Mr. Tom's Wild Ride.

London Bridge! And YES, it was as cold as it looks. This stop was exciting because we could not only see London Bridge, but also the London Tower, the Tate Modern, and The Globe Theatre.

My roommates and some new friends in front of the Bridge

Westminster. The British used to call a church a "minster" which is why this church, in the west area of the city is known as Westminster. This is probably the most historic area of London, because you have Westminster, Parliament, and Big Ben all so close, in one area. Soon this will be the site of the Royal Wedding!

My friend, Nathanie, and me in front of Big Ben.

My suite-mate, Conner, and me in front of Buckingham Palace

Cool statue

Looks cool, huh?

My friends, Nathanie, Tristan, and me outside the Palace, before getting back on the coach!

I really liked getting to see the whole city, in a warm bus with the heat on! It made me excited to go out and explore on my own. I better get to bed, because we have our first day of classes tomorrow! I've had pretty awful jet lag the last few nights, lying awake until about 5:00 AM. On a brighter note, I used that time very well, and finished the fourth season of Mad Men...and O-M-G it was so good. SO crazzzy. The season finale was so crazy! But no more episodes to watch; I'm hoping that will inspire me to actually fall sleep at a reasonable hour tonight.

Covent Garden

Today we explored Covent Garden, which is this cute area near the West End, full of restaurants and shops. We took the tube to get there (using our Oyster cards, just like all the locals!). It was our first time this trip using the tube. Turns out we could have just taken a bus and it would have been a lot cheaper. But it's all about the adventure! We figured out what Line we wanted and what direction -- we even got off at the right stop! The tube is my new favorite place in London -- FILLED with locals and their accents! On the way there, I heard all about these teenage girls lives. How their weird friend wouldn't stop commenting on their facebook statuses (pronounced "state-us-is" of course) and how Bridget and Nathan's relationship was on the rocks. When we got off the tube, we had to take a lift (elevator, c'mon get with the British lingo!) to the ground level. There was a HUGE mass of people waiting in a queue (not a "line," don't be a tourist!) for the elevator, so we decided we would take the stairs. There was a very large red sign as we began our ascent, which said something along the lines of, ("what's that sign say? / no bare feet / not that one, what's the other one say?! / no fighting / what's it mean? / no fighting" McDonnell family and Teny you should know what thats from. But really, the sign said...) "Warning. There are 193 stairs. Only use in an emergency." Kay..... well there are a lot of other people taking the stairs. And the line is so long! How bad could it be?? O. M. G. 193 is not a small number. At all. Next time, waiting for the lift.

We got lunch at this pub called "The Globe." My roommates and I have decided that this semester abroad may as well be the gigantic search for the best fish n chips in all of London. And we began that scavenger hunt for greasy food, today. The Globe was so-so. They cost about 10 quid. I think we can do better. More authentic. The atmosphere didn't seem dirty enough for the deep fried, basically crappy white fish to be authentic enough. It was a five level building, tall and narrow, with too much sunlight to feel like a good old-fashioned British pub.

The rest of the day we just explored the shopping area. There were so many people doing outside entertainment. A man and woman singing opera on a staircase in front of an Italian cafe, those weird people who paint themselves all one color and stand really still like a statue until you get close enough so that when they bark and jump out at you, you nearly fall over from fright, a magician who did his whole act whilst standing on his head, and a very short, very hairy man playing some type of flute. Pretty odd.

The streets were jam packed with people. I guess the British like to come out shopping on Saturdays (Mom, like a certain other group at the glendale galleria on saturdays). It just really made me realize, "Todo, we're not in Clemson anymore." It's exciting, being in such a bustling city. Kept my eye out for Gwyneth or Jude or someone who looked familiar. Too crowded though, so no spottings. I'll have to keep looking.

In Recent News...

The past few days I have been very busy. During the day we had various orientation meetings, with the general NYU London program, and then specifically with TISCH RADA. There are 10 people in the RADA program this semester, and 15 more people doing screenwriting and BBC. We start classes on Monday! Monday and Tuesdays are my easy days; I have one class on each day, both electives. Art in London will mostly be field trips and visits to museums/historic sights around London, while Theatre in London is a class where we see a show every Wednesday evening, then discuss and write about our experiences. One of our reviews must be in the style of a London newspaper review, which apparently is a very different and unique format and style. I'm very excited for my electives.

Wednesday through Friday are CORE days, where we complete our courses in the RADA track. They haven't really gone into detail on this yet; we have official orientation at the RADA facilities and with the staff on Wednesday, which is when we also perform a monologue from Shakespeare for the students and faculty. A little nervous about that...my peers and I were informed that we could not recycle our audition monologues, which I think at least 9/10 people, including myself, were planning on doing. Should have known better: this program is going to make us work hard the whole time.

Between orientations, NYU had organized many different events for all the students. We got a tour of the University of London, which I think is where a lot of NYU London students take their general classes. Because of this, we all have membership to the student union there. It's about a block away from the RADA building, so it will be nice to go in and grab lunch and a pint. Because, oh yeah, the student union is a bar. I don't know about you, but I don't know many other universities that have that on their campus. It was in the Student Union a few days ago where we participated in the Pub Trivia Quiz, where we learned a lot of random facts about London culture. After the Quiz, we went out to our first pub: The Perseverance. It was between the University and our apartment building, so it was full of students. The food looked really good, so we may have to go back for a burger another time.

Last night, NYU offered this "club night" at a club down by the river, called The Bowery. It was a weird four story building. We entered on the ground level (they call it that, instead of lobby), and we had to take the lift (not elevator) up to the fourth floor. The lifts had a maximum capacity, and when too many hungry, eager students crammed into it, it starts beeping at you until the weight goes down. Like a nightmare scale or something. When we got into the club, it was bumping. Well the music was. Everyone was in line for food instead of the dance floor. (But some migrated there after their feast, and it was like a middle school dance..so maybe they should have just stayed in the food line). The top floor had the most AMAZING view of London. We looked across the river to the Parliament building, the London Eye, Big Ben, and a whole city-scape of London. It was a clear night, so we could see everything. Really quite breathe-taking. Actually met a lot of people at the university-forced mixer, and we all went out to a pub, and then a club, and later for a sub. (Not actually, I just wanted to keep the rhyme) Most people are from NYU, three of which are in the RADA program with me. Very fun, very nice group. 

I had been nervous that maybe NYU students were coming with all their friends, but it seems that they are eager to meet new people and make friends, just like the students from other schools. You know, like all the students from Clemson, SC. That reminds me. The day of RADA orientation, the director of the program, who just might be my favorite of all the people I have met in the past few days (will elaborate later) made a point to introduce the 2 out of 25 students who were coming from other Universities. (the other goes to PACE -- upstate NY? Ten, I know you know. You are the expert of the college game) Anyway, she asked me where I was from, and since she had just mentioned universities, I said, Clemson, SC. So this girl comes up to me later, and we're talking about classes etc. She interrupts and asks me why I don't have an accent. She thought I was from the South. Oh, no...I'm from California, I just go to school in South Carolina. Which now has led to the recurring "why did you go to school all the way down there???" At school, at home, in London! I just can't get away from that question. 

Also a very weird thing! In London, they don't brew coffee at very many coffee shops! They have americanos, mochas, tea, caffe latte, and espresso. The first day, I ordered a black coffee and the woman was confused. 

I said, "Just plain coffee, please."

"Like espresso?" she asked. 

Maybe the British call coffee espresso? "Sure," I said. "Large, please."

Lesson learned. Espresso. Is. Espresso. In. England. NOT COFFEE. I thought I was going to have a heart attack it was beating so fast. I cannot handle that much caffeine. You all know I'm always wired enough as it is.

My Flat!

 Elizabeth and my room! (my bed is the one next to the window, with the red snuggie on it) The two drawers and two shelves under the bed is basically all our folding space.) Check out that big window!

 This is all our closet space. They weren't kidding when they said it was limited!

 This is my side of the room: bed, wardrobe, desk.

 The view from our window, the Eastman Dental Clinic. So if I need anything with my teeth, help is close-by!

 Our kitchen!

 Our dining room

 Our very small shower

 Our toilet and sink

 Our street view from both sides, and a little bit of the park

Our front door

Move-In Day

Yesterday was move-in day. A very sassy British man named Neil helped me with my luggage when I arrived at Byron Court. My home for the next four months. It's a nice residential area, across the street from a nice big park, where locals are often seen playing futbol. My flat is on the first floor, which apparently has the biggest rooms. It is nice and spacious. We have a nice kitchen with a round table and four chairs (the dining room), a bathroom, and two bedrooms. The bedrooms are roomy, with big windows! that open! We don't really have a view of anything, since we are on the first floor. But we get a lot of sunlight through the window, which is good. I've come to appreciate natural sunlight and windows ever since Freshman year when I lived in a bathroom. But actually...

One of my three roommates was already there when I arrived. Her name is Sarah and she actually knows two of my Clemson friends from her hometown! Very small world. She goes to Colgate, too, (Prep friends, remember when I was obsessed with Colgate? And Kel and Mikes, remember when you told me I couldn't go to a toothpaste school!? Always supportive.) We unpacked a little and then made our way to the Brunswick center, about five blocks away, just on the other side of the park. It's a great outdoor mall center, with a nice big market, hardware store, restaurants, clothing stores, and phone store. After we stocked up on necessary groceries, like Mr. Chicken (Mom and Mr. Brown), eggs (Ten, I know you're proud), bread (obvi), and "loo rolls" (I think you can figure out what those are), I went to Vodafone and got a cell phone. It's very weird not having my Blackberry. I guess you don't realize how often you are on your phone, until it's gone! But I guess it's a good thing, because none of us have them and we're forced to meet new people and make friends!

After our errands, we met our two other roommates. NYU supplied hangers for us, but since we all had more than 6 items of clothing to hang, we set our on another field trip to find more hangers. We went to this store called Argos, which was supposed to have "anything you could ever need." We walked into the store and all kind of stopped and looked at each other. It was really small. Like really small. There must be an upstairs, we thought. So we walked around, about 7 steps ahead. Nope, no stairs. Okay... Well there is another Argos about 10 blocks away. Maybe THAT'S the one that has anything we could ever need. So I ask the salesperson. "No," he says, "the other store has just as much as we  have here." Hmm. Okay. We start to walk out, when we realize that every other customer is lining the walls , all looking at these big books on counters. Wow. Culture shock. Well, kind of. This is how Argos works. You look through the catalogue, an 900+ page book of every piece of merchandise, fill out a card with the call number, and give it to the salesperson. Then you wait while they go behind this mysterious back door, which I can only assumed goes downstairs to what must be the biggest basement warehouse ever, and then return with your item. Very weird.  No hangers in this catalogue. Also, apparently the only type of blankets in London are electric blankets, which cost 90 quid. So that was a failed attempt, too. Not very impressed with the store that was supposed to have everything.

One of my roommates has a few friends that live in London. Her friend, Ben helped her move in, showed us all around Bloomsbury a bit, and then accompanied us for dinner at this great, cheap Indian place. Ben would say, "We went for an Indian," instead of "we went to an Indian restaurant." Thought that was funny. I'm pretty sure that statement would get a very different reaction if said in the U.S. It was my first experience with Indian food, and with Ben's help to avoid the really spicy food, I quite enjoyed my salmon and spinach. Toasted to our first night together in London with a bottle of Cabernet.

First Day

I got off the plane and suddenly my mind was flooded with thoughts and plans and "the Checklist" (Dad). First thing I was supposed to do, was go through Immigration. I was helped by a friendly British Bloke named Blake. Everything cleared, I showed him all my paper work, and then he said,
"Right then. Now, are you aware that you have travelled illegally into this country?"
Oh God. They're going to send me back to America. But wait, I did everything on the checklist!
"You didn't sign your passport."
Seriously? Oh my God, PHEW.
"It's not valid until it's signed."
Not a funny joke from the bloke named Blake. Lesson learned. My passport is now signed.

I got my two bags, weighing exactly 50 lbs and 50.5 lbs (very proud of that, and no, was not charged for the extra .5 lb) and got in a black taxi, headed for the Strand Palace hotel. I tried not to be a gigantic American tourist, in an I <3 NY t-shirt, jeans, running shoes, and fanny-pack, head whipping around in the cab to see all the sights. The American Tourist Costume was missing, but I am guilty of the other description. It honestly could not have been a prettier day in London. I wanted to go exploring, take in the city. I couldn't wait to check into my hotel, drop off my bags, and get outside. Maybe I'd take a quick nap first, though.

So I woke up 6 1/2 hours later. Oops. It was 6:45 PM. (I guess I'd forgotten your advice, Mikes) I showered and got ready because I was meeting Teny's friend from NYU for dinner at 8:00. Dad had said, "better safe than sorry" and that I should take a taxi, even though we were meeting close to my hotel, outside the Covent Garden tube stop. I was a little embarrassed when the taxi driver turned one corner and drove down one street, and then we arrived at the Covent Garden tube stop. I'm almost certain he muttered, "Stupid American" as I handed him some pounds.

We went to this restaurant in the West End area (I'm guessing) called Average Joe's. The first drink of my London adventure was a Lychee Martini (shout-out to you, Kel.) Very good. Very strong. Dad, you'll be happy to know that the budget might be upheld, if I only need one drink each night! The food was really good. I had chicken fajitas (I know, typical me. London's well known for their Mexican food, though...right?). In Europe, apparently, you don't get any food for free. Whereas in America, you get chips and salsa complimentary at a restaurant, in England, you have to order it. (Not so good for budget, Dad) Also, if you don't specify tap water, they will bring you bottled and charge you for it. Good to know. Don't worry, I didn't make the mistake. A great dinner, and great first night.

10 hours later...

I'm here! The 10-hour plane flight was not as bad as I had feared; it actually went by rather quickly with the help of Mad Men, The Town, and the Social Network. I sat next to a man who only spoke German. The first thing he did after he sat down was take his shoes off, and I enjoyed smelling his foot odor for the following 10+ hours. We got really close. (Literally, because our seats were touching). The British flight attendant came over the speaker at about 11:00 AM London time (don't ask me what time that is in CA / East Coast...you know I'm no good with numbers.) She said, in her cockney accent, that the people on the right side of the aircraft should look out their windows. Thanks to you, Daddio, I was on the right side of the plane, in a window-seat (Really, thank you. My german friend, I can only assume his name was Franz, was very jealous of my seat next to the window, which I inferred when he tried to use me as a wall to sleep against. Thankfully, I could cozy up to the actual wall that was next to me. But I digress...) I opened up the "airplane window treatment," you know the slidey thing that keeps sunlight out, and had an AMAZING view of London Tower, Big Ben, and basically every other landmark that makes the British skyline famous. It was incredible. Most notably, however, was the sunlight which lit up the entire city. No clouds! No rain! It was spectacular. All my fears left me in that one moment as I stared out the window at my new city. I felt a rush of excitement; my adventure was actually beginning. 

"All my bags are packed..."

-- Wishful thinking! I leave for London TOMORROW and so far I have one 15-pound space bag packed. My room is a disaster (naturally) and I have so much to do before I leave! Typical me, leaving packing to the last minute. But, instead of spending my last day inside, folding clothes and ziplocking shampoo bottles, I'm going to take advantage of the California sunshine and go on a bike ride!