Now that Spring Break (or, as it's called here, "Easter Holiday"...I think. It's Easter something for sure) is almost over, I thought another update might be in order. It's been a pretty low key break. I don't have the money to travel so I just stayed in London. I don't mind that though, as I traveled around extensively last time I studied here. It's nice to have a chance to just lounge around a bit. Plus, most of my friends have been here the whole time too, so I got to see them a lot. One of the most exciting things I did this month by far was the giant pillow fight in Trafalgar Square. Amy and I went together.
This is us before the excitement started:
Before all hell broke loose, you might say.
This is Amy in the middle of the fray:


And us at the end: As you can tell, it was a bit chaotic but incredibly fun.
 Afterwards we had to clean up a bit and then we headed out to a speakeasy. Though most speakeasies in this city (which there are plenty of) are well established if you know where to find them, this particular one apparently moves around the city, so it was good fun to try and hunt it down. The entire thing was lit by candles, there was a jazz band playing, all of the drinks were 20s themed, they really ran with the theme nicely. None of the drinks were too impressive frankly (except for one that was mint and watermelon--it was glorious) but I had a good time none the less.
 Next week we're going to a masquerade, which I'm excited about. I've already got a mask since I got one from the Globe when I saw Merchant of Venice, but I've no idea what I'm going to wear. Other then that, all I've really been doing is theatre related stuff. I took a few free producing courses courtesy of IdeasTap (not sure who introduced me to that, but wow is it a great resource for theatre folk)and I went to press night (which is this country's version of opening night) of A Small Family Business at the National Theatre, which I wuite enjoyed. I also had to write a theatre manifesto for one of my classes. I'm not sure how it's going to be received since my thesis is that technology and commercialism are ruining the theatre and one of my teachers is super into using technology in the theatre, but we'll see I guess.
 For Easter all I did was write my manifesto and eat chocolate, but I am totally okay with that. I was never a big fan of the holiday, so as far as I'm concerned eating chocolate is really the only important part. I do miss eating peeps though. They are so hard to find in this country, it's upsetting. I'm going to see if I can't find some today as I know a few places that might be selling them, but it's a slim chance I'll find them. Oh well.
 Anyway, I start working on my dissertation next week, which is super terrifying. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in the library for it, which I'm not looking forward to. I've already started a little bit of research, but I still need to do a ton more. I'm writing a play so you'd think I wouldn't have to do as much research as I'm going to have to do. Kind of a bummer, but it's an interesting subject (how mental illness is represented in the theatre) so it should be intriguing at least.

I apologize for being gone for so long, it has been a busy term. Most of you probably follow me on one of the many other platforms I post on, so I'm you've been updated about my life to some extent, but here's an entry about life just in case: January saw one of my dearest friends, Caitlin (aka CV Peterson) come visit for a month. She had never been to London, or even Europe, before so it was certainly all very exciting to have her! We spent a great deal of time wandering around and experiencing many of the incredible things that London has to offer:
Here she is in front of the Blue Rooster statue in Trafalgar Square

We of course explored the area down by the river a bit (this is her walking across the Millennium Bridge--you can see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in the background) Because we both appreciate the macabre things in life, we went on a Jack the Ripper Walking tour (also pictured: our friend Amy whom Caitlin met while living in Japan)
And of course, one of our nights was spent hanging out with Amy and Sean and doing karaoke, which was immensely fun! I always enjoy a good round of karaoke. February was mostly just school, with a few notable exceptions that I'll post about below. School this term was okay, there were certainly classes that I enjoyed more than others. My directing class was particularly useful I think. It's all over now which is weird to think about. I've just got my dissertation left this summer and then I'm all done with my degree! One year doesn't really seem like enough time to get a Master's degree, it seems like all of this just started! I've enjoyed it though. I've met some good people and I feel like I've learned quite a bit and am more reassured in myself as a theatre maker. So that's lovely, I suppose. Anyway, on to more photos: I got sick earlier in the term and missed my friend Kaci's birthday. So to make it up to her I took her out for ice cream at bar Caffe Ciao, which is this incredible gelato shop down by Leicester Square. You'd think because of the location (right off of Charing Cross Road, just behind the National Portrait Gallery) it would be super touristy and expensive, but it's actually not at all. Plus they serve ice cream (yes, that's ice cream in that photo) that looks like food. It's great. Shoutout to my Uncle Sean for introducing that place to me a million years ago. My mom then sent me a massive box filled with some of the foods that I miss most from home. My flatmate was the one who got it from the postman, so it was so nice to come home and find that big box leaning against my door. This does not properly show the amount of Skittles that were in that box, it was bananas! For the record, while I can get Skittles here but some of the flavours are all messed up (for instance the purple ones are blackcurrant flavoured! Blech) so it's nice to have such a large supply of the ones that actually taste good. :) For St. Patrick's Day this year my friend Kaci and I went down to Trafalgar Square because London was haivng a huge fstival there. It was actually really fun! We went to the parade, listened to music, explored some of the shops (where I found a lovely Irish bakery that sold gluten free lemon poppyseed cookies! I had been craving them, so it was lovely!), and when we were sitting down to the side of the festival we were suddenly confronted by this giant, dancing chicken! It was such a fun time, though I admit that I was surprised by all of the American accents I heard. I know there are many of us in this city, but sometimes I feel like I just can't escape them! Anyway, these past few weeks have predominantly been me in rehearsals for a few shows (one of which there is talk to taking to a festival in France this August, so that's exciting! Not sure how it's going to pan out though) and writing essays. I have to say one thing I dislike about school over here is that there are essays due during the breaks. I don't remember that ever happening in the States, but I might also be remembering it wrong. I've still got one more essay due on the 20th even though I'm one Spring Break right now, but it's all manageable. I've also got tickets to see several plays and lectures in the next few months, which I am extremely excited about. I can't remember what all they are, but I know for sure I'm seeing the new Tim Crouch play and will be going to Press Night (aka "opening night") for A Small Family Business at the National Theatre. I will also be going to see Mark Ravenhill, who is my favourite playwright, give a talk about it in May. Dissertation time starts up in May as well, I'm writing a play though, so at least I won't have to worry about being in rehearsal all the time. That's nice. These next few months are going to be so exciting but also so stressful.

Back to School

Time for another update
I had a very lovely, low key Christmas.
On the 24th I went out to dinner with some friends at a restaurant in North London called Belgo Nord. It's apparently well known for its beer selection. I'm not a beer drinker by a long shot, but my friend who is liked it. Plus we were all impressed that every single beer is served in a different glass. Honestly I liked the restaurant I guess, but I mostly enjoyed the company (duh) and the restaurant's decorations:

Yeah, that says "blowhard" and "assface". Insults were carved into the wall along with food related words. It was pretty funny. Especially since there were Christmas decorations everywhere too, so it was both cheerful and offensive.
 Christmas itself was low key. I skyped with my parents in the afternoon and unwrapped presents. I made myself a lovely dinner of beef stroganoff with chocolate Christmas pudding for desert. My roommate was out of the flat for the week so I had the entire place to myself.
The next day ("Boxing Day"--which is a shopping day on par with Black Friday here) I met up with my friend Sara and her friend Suri and Suri's boyfriend to go see Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland. It's essentially a huge fair with lots of local vendors and delicious food and rides and music and whatnot. I had been there earlier when Hildegunn came to visit me, but I hadn't spent a great deal of time there so it was nice to walk around with them and really see the place. Sara and I decided to go on some rides since they looked incredibly fun. She likes upside down rides and roller coasters at least as much as I do, if not more, so it was nice to have someone to go on the big rides with.
We went ice skating too. I only made it for about half an hour (the entire session lasted an hour) since I'm an atrocious skater and the skates hurt like hell. But I did it! With Sara's coaxing (and hand holding) I even made it off the wall a few times. So overall I wasn't a complete failure.
The rest of the break was pretty boring. I had to write an essay on whether catharsis is possible today, which was a terrible way to end the break frankly, but whatever. I got it turned in. It's done. Moving on.
I also managed to see both American Psycho the musical  (yes, they turned American Psycho into a musical) and Tori Amos' new musical 'The Light Princess'. Monday night I also saw Richard II by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
I wasn't particularly impressed by any of them, frankly. The only one I truly HATED was The Light Princess though, thankfully. I don't think I could handle three shows in a row that I loathed! The next one I'm seeing is Midsummer Night's Dream. It's created by the same people who did War Horse, and it looks like it's almost all puppets (and one of my favourite Shakespeare plays), so I have high hopes for it.
Classes started last week and they've been going fine. I've got two directing courses, a movement class, and one that I'm not really sure how to describe other than theatre theory. Not really sure what to say about them other than they're happening and I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to enjoy them or not. We'll see, I guess.
Anyway, one of my very best friends from home, Caitlin "Owen", is in town now. She's staying with another friend until  Sunday when she's coming to stay with me for a few days. I'm so excited to see her! We're going to meet up on Saturday night for some karaoke in Soho. It's going to be glorious.

The Holidays Begin

So it's been a while.
Feels like tradition to start posts with something along those lines.
School is over for the term, so I've actually got time to update now.
If I were to write about everything I've done over the past month this entry would just drag on and on, so instead I'm going to post pictures. Hopefully that will make this entry more entertaining. Here you go: Some folks from my course and the NYU contingency studying at RADA got together at a lovely house in south London for Thanksgiving (the weekend before though, as we had class on the day). You can't see it, but there were about 20-30 people there. It was such a lovely, international thanksgiving. I love sharing Thanksgiving with people from other countries, so obviously I had a great time.

  The weekend after Thanksgiving, I hosted yet another Thanksgiving party for some of the wonderful folks I met at Birkbeck's International Orientation. This one was much smaller (only 10 people) and far more traditional, but still international (3 countries represented). It's not a group I get to hang out with often since my course is incredibly demanding (more on that later) so it's always nice when I get to see them!


The following few weeks after Thanksgiving were absolutely INSANE. I had a 4000 word essay, a 4000-6000 word portfolio, and one hour devised performance all due within one week of each other. It doesn't sound too bad until you consider that because of how close together these assignments were due I was regularly spending 12+ hours a day in at school either researching, rehearsing, or in class. Everyday for two weeks. I don't think I slept more than four or five hours a night generally...and that was only on a good day. 

The sole exception to this is when I was given a free ticket to a show with a 100% sold out run. I had wanted to see it since it's at one of the best theatres in London and is based on one of my favourite movies, so when the chance came (luckily on one of my few free nights), I jumped on it.
It was Let The Right One In at the Royal Court Theatre. It's a play about vampires. It wasn't bloody enough for my tastes (I mean, people get beheaded in the movie, but they didn't do that here) but other then that it was quite good. And it was free, so I'm not going to complain. :)

 After that was just nothing but working and performing. I'd post pictures from the show I worked on (it was a reaction/adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II) but since all the photos we have from it were taken inside RADA and they are very big on copyright, I can't. If you really want to see some, ask me in person and I'll happily share. I just can't put them online.

 Anyway, once school ended on the 13th I took a few days of much needed rest and relaxation before finally jumping back into real life on Wednesday.

And by "real life" I mean I went to a tea party and played dress up. Don't we look lovely?

 It was for my friend Irina's birthday party and it was so much fun!

They even had gluten free foods for me! I mean, I paid extra for it, but the fact that they even offered it was pretty damn cool. Plus, they gave me all the same things as everyone else, just the gluten free version. Not all places do that, so it was nice that I never felt left out :)

 After that we went to a drag show at a place called Freedom Bar. I'd post pictures from that, but Irina specifically told me to make sure they never get posted anywhere, so I'm honoring her wishes.

 I ended up not sleeping that night because I decided to rush a show called Coriolanus. It stars Tom Hiddleston, so of course it means that rushing the show (aka trying to tickets that are only sold from the box office the day the you want to see the show) would be insane.
 I decided to do it on a Thursday because it's a two show day, so twice as many ticket would be available. I got there far earlier than I'd like to admit (sometime before 5am) and waited until the box office opened at 10am. Luckily I'm good at making friends with people who are in line with me, or I would have been absurdly bored.

 I ended up getting tickets to the evening show and it was SPECTACULAR. Seriously, if you're in London you need to try and get tickets because it's truly spectacular. I will admit that I found the sound editing to be very strange at times, but the other elements of the show fit together perfectly.

 Today my friend Hildegunn came to town from Norway (whom I met while she lived in Kansas), so I spent a few hours with her, wandering around London, eating, and taking photos for my dad's class's Flat Stanley project. Here we are in a phone booth in front of Big Ben (aka this is the most typical "London tourist" photo I'm ever going to take):

 It was a really fun day and it was so nice to see a friend from home. I think I needed that :)

It's Been a While...

Sorry for the long hiatus. School is definitely getting the better of me. Even as I write this I should be working on an essay that's due next week. But it's more or less about Aristotle and I kind of really hate him, so I'm putting off the work.
Oh well.
These past few weeks have been really fun.
Halloween I spent with some international friends at a screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show at this wonderful cinema called the Prince Charles Cinema. It's fairly small, but it's absolutely wonderful.
The screening itself was excellent, of course. I've not been to one in years, so it was nice to return to it. One of the group was a Rocky Horror Virgin, so I was especially excited for her. I was disappointed that they didn't do a virgin sacrifice before the show (Google it if you're curious), but maybe that's not as common here? I don't know. Also curious was that all the call backs were done predominantly by Americans. I heard British people yelling every once in a while, but it was rare. The loudest yeller was this American guy in front of us. I was glad he was there for my friend's first time--Rocky Horror just isn't the same without the yelling.
For what it's worth, my mother asked me to show her pictures from the night and, while they do exist, I will not be posting them. Sorry to disappoint, but that's a bit beyond my comfort zone.
The past few weeks have mostly been a blur of homework, class, and rehearsal, honestly. This week was supposed to be reading week for all the students at my school, but as I technically go to two different schools and coordinating is beyond everyone at both of them, I am off from one school this week but still attending class at the other. The other happens to be where most of my classes are located, so while I didn't have two classes this week, I still had (or will have, since there are some today) the other five.
Not much of a break, frankly.
As a result, I've not done much at all this week, except on Wednesday.
Wednesday some of us on my course decided we were going to try ad get day tickets for this play by Jez Butterworth (an exellent playwright, highly recommend looking him up if you're unfamiliar) called Mojo.


It's a fairly star studded cast, so we figured we'd have to get there early. We spoke to the people at the box office and they suggested we arrive at 6am to be sure we got in.

So of course lo and behold we get there at 6am and there's no one else there. It's just the six of us waiting until about 7am when other people started trickling down.
Doors didn't open until 10am, so for four hours we sat outside in the cold, eating food and entertaining ourselves.


Look how much fun we were having.

It was worth it though, since we ended up having seats that were front row center!
The show was excellent. Even the weakest actor in the show was still great.
And Daniel Mays. Good lord Daniel Mays.
I went into the show expecting to be blown away by Ben Whishaw (RADA grad! HAAAIIII) because I'm a massive fan, but it was Daniel Mays who kept my attention. He is INCREDIBLE in this show. Seriously. Just absolutely stunning.

Overall it was a long day, but I got to spend it with some absolutely lovely folks and saw an incredible show for a very low price, totally worth it.

The End of Week Three, I Think

I wrote a nice long entry here about what I've been doing this past week and then, naturally, it all somehow got deleted. So now I am starting from scratch. I can't guarantee how long this entry will or won't be. It will be easiest to document my week on a day by day basis. Forward we go. Last Saturday, this happened:
It was the start (for me, anyway) of the BFI London Film Festival. I, in my infinite wisdom (haha), bought tickets about a month ago. So I have tickets to nine different movies. I saw move movies in this past week than I have in probably two years. It was awesome. First up, The Double (yes, it's based on the Dostoevsky story). It was made by this man:
  Richard Ayoade

 And stars these two:

  Mia Wasikowska

  Jesse Eisenberg

 If you don't know who these three people are, I highly recommend looking up their work because they are all wildly talented and wonderful.

 Anyway, I got to the film early and didn't have my ticket. Much to my surprise, it was a red carpet event with onlookers, paparazzi, security, the whole thing. Being my ever confusing but hopefully somewhat pleasant self, I spoke with the security guys who were guarding the red carpet so no one without permission would be allowed on, and asked where to pick up my tickets at. They were every bit as confused as me, so after I showed them that I did indeed have a purchase confirmation they directed me to the theatre box office. Which I could only get to by walking the red carpet. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I walked a red carpet. Paparazzi took my picture. Fans yelled a bit but then stopped when they figured out that I'm not famous. It was a moment of fleeting glamour. Upon securing my tickets, I waited inside with members of the staff and media. I ate ice cream (because the cinema had a Ben and Jerry's inside of it. Awesome) and perched by the door and watched the celebrities roll in. The celebrities being Jesse, Richard, and Michael Fucking Caine.

  Yep. Him.

 The movie itself was quite good. It reminded me a lot of Fight Club, but with Jesse playing both characters. 

Sunday I spent the morning at a one pound sale at my favourite thrift store, East End Thrift Store. I got a coat, some sweaters, and a shirt for fourteen pounds total. It was worth it. I spent the afternoon kicking myself for forgetting I had tickets to see a film called Ilo Ilo that day. That night I saw the film that I liked the best of everything I saw last week: As I Lay Dying. It's James Franco's new film based on Faulkner's book and frankly, I loved it. It has stuck with me for a week now, which isn't something I can say about many films. There were some interesting editing choices that I loved. Plus I found it interesting (and admirable, frankly) that Franco chose to use full frontal male nudity in a scene that didn't need it at all, but then used no female nudity even though there are multiple sex scenes. I don't know that many filmmakers would make that choice, so props to him--it was kind of refreshing, honestly.

 Throughout the week I saw more films. Vic and Flo Saw a Bear was Monday. I's a French Canadian film and while it's wonderful, it's also devastating. Tuesday I didn't see anything (damn classes getting in the way) but I did have a performance in my Edward II class (which is all about Christopher Marlowe's 16th century play). Lots of food was thrown about in the room, which I think upset my teacher as RADA has a very strict NO FOOD IN THE ROOMS policy. I think that he then took it out on the other group who performed, so to them I apologize. Wednesday a friend and I went to see Night Moves (yet another Jesse Eisenberg film). It's about environmental extremists who blow up a dam, but then end up accidentally killing a guy. It's a great film, but wow is it unsettling. Thursday I saw Don Jon which is a comedy and thankfully broke the trend of me only seeing depressing films where everyone dies and/or gets horribly mangled. I recommend it--it's a cute film. Friday I didn't see anything. I had three hours of class and then nothing. It was a much needed day of rest.

I'm going to save Saturday for last, so I will just say that today (Sunday) I saw Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, which is a documentary about the Broadway goddess herself and was every bit as good as you would expect (that woman is 87 years old and a total firecracker. I hope I'm as sassy and no nonsense as she is someday). 

AND THEN THERE WAS SATURDAY. The morning started normally. I had a nice long rehearsal for my Edward II(I think those are going to become a regular thing, unfortunately) then a few hours off before I attended the UK premiere of this:
 
If you don't know that I went to this premiere I'm going to assume that you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. In which case, I'm not sure how you got the link to this blog, but welcome pilgrim. And if you do follow me on those sites, I apologize for spamming you about this so much. Bear with me here for another round of it. Or don't. That's okay too.

 ANYWAY, this film stars some of my favourite actors of the day:
Mia Wasikowska (whose photo I already showed you, so scroll up if you forgot what she looks like),
 
The ever fabulous Tilda Swinton

 
John Hurt, who along with being an incredible actor (AND PLAYING THE UNDEAD VERSION OF THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE IN THIS FILM) is also a graduate of my current institution. Which is fucking awesome.

 And of course, another graduate of my current institution and also someone on whom I have a MASSIVE crush...
Tom Hiddleston. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I got to walk the red carpet at an event which Tom Hiddleston was attending.

If you don't know who he is, I'm assuming you are not a human being under the age of 30. Or maybe you live under a rock. Or maybe you just don't care about pop culture. Regardless, he's wonderful and you should look him up. Not only did I get to see Tom, but I walked the red carpet at the same time he was walking it. By the way, hearing his fangirls scream (because there were a ton of them there) is kind of terrifying.

I then got to spend the next three hours in a dark room with him watching a movie about vampires (and not the shitty Twilight kind). And there were people giving away free chocolate. Ignoring the 400 other people in there, it was almost like a dream. Of course, if it had been a dream Tom would have professed his undying love for me before presenting me with a Tony Award and then whisking me off on an around the world trip in a private jet, but still-baby steps.

The First Week

So I've completed my first week of classes and also I'm trying to put off my homework (even though it's 1 am and I should definitely be working on it) so guess what that means? New blog post! Yay?
Everything is going pretty well. I've got my first bit of homework due tomorrow in my Scene Study class--we're focusing on Christopher Marlowe's Edward II and my homework is to write what happens in scenes 12-25 (or whatever scene the play ends on) from the perspective of one of the characters. I'm interpreting that as meaning I should just write a monologue that's just devoid of motion. I'm probably wrong, but whatever-monologue it is!
Honestly I'm loving it here and I'm loving my course so far. It's really great to be surrounded by a group of people who will go from fawning over Marina Abramovic one second to discussing Tom Stoppard the next. I've not had that happen in a long while, so I'm cherishing now that it's happening. Plus some of the people I've met here are willing to go see Madame Butterfly and Die Fledermaus with me, which is wonderful! I've not been to the opera in far too long.
It's interesting too that some of the things I've been learning are very similar to what I learned at Gustavus. Especially cool is that our work in my Acting and Voice classes thus far overlaps a great deal with things Henry taught me in my acting classes at GAC. So props to Henry (and GAC in general) for that!
As for what I've been doing here aside from classes, I must say I've had quite a fun time. I went to a street food fair in Shoreditch with some friends I met at International Orientation and managed to mind some real KC Barbeque! The guy who made it was even from Kansas City and went to school in Lawrence! It was all very exciting and delicious. Unfortunately it was served on a bun and either I accidentally ate some of the bun or the sauce had gluten in it because I ended up waking up at 6am the next morning having a terrible gluten reaction. Not as bad as I've had before (THANK GOODNESS) but still not a pleasant morning for me. After the food fair, some of us went to meet up with a few of the lovely kids from my course at a pub. I enjoy it when we all go for drinks together--it's nice to get to know my classmates in a non academic setting.
Sunday was then spent recovering from both the previous night and from my gluten reaction, thus I got nothing done. Today was far more productive though--I set up TWO new bank accounts so now I can easily access my money over here, I got my homework done (well, I will before I go to bed), AND I booked a ticket to see the American Psycho musical in December (which reminds me, if anyone knows of a person with spare tickets please let me know--I've a friend who would appreciate it!).
I'm excited for this upcoming week--one of lectures this week is going to be lead by the Senior Reader at the Royal Court Theatre and our homework was to come up with two questions for her. One of mine is going to be "Will you please give me a job?"
I may even come prepared with my CV just in case. Who knows.