Today was the BEST

Okay so. HERE are some promised pictures from a few (very few) highlights from this month.

My smokin' hot girlfriend.Duh.Luh luh luh LAUGHIN in le Park.Heh. (Stratford)From undahneath (paris).Inside the ODEON theatre.

The Sun Tavern. A place. For friends, lovers, and grown men who love Michael Jackson.

So, Annie is 21!!

Y'all. Today was probably the worst day I've had in London so far.

No need complaining about it. I'm just bein' super real.

We saw "As You Like It" tonight at the Old Vic, it was an absolute delight. It was directed by Sam Mendes, and it was very apparent that this was one of his creations. It was really, really, amazing though.

Annie is 21. That is the coolest thing ever. Annie is the coolest thing ever.

We leave for Edinburgh soon, then off to Glasgow!

Tomorrow's going to be wonderfullllllllllllllllllllll.

Missin' on you guys like crazy!

"JOSH IS THE MESSIAH"

Man, so much has happened since we last talked.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

took two classes from Royal Academy of the Dramatic Art folk.
stood under the Eiffel Tower.
Floated down the River Seine.
Went to the Victorian And Albert Museum. Saw a costume Elton John wore. Sweet.
Saw Monet's masterpieces.
Saw some amazing Picasso works.
Got to go inside the Odeon in Paris.
Touched costumes that both Cate Blanchett and Judy Dench wore.
Saw Billy Elliot.
Saw Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre (front row of standing room.)
Saw where the Rose Theatre once stood.
Went to Mass at Notre Dame.
Saw The Woman in Black (scariest play ever. Yes, frightening theatre exists).

PICTURES COMING!

I miss you guys a lot.

But this place is amazing.

Cheers!

July 5th [London--"Every theatre ever."]

Same spot. Surprise.

Okay, so check it. Today we had breakfast with Robin. After going over the syllabus she sent us on a wild, awesome, photographic scavenger hunt of a whole mess of theatres in London. The teams were, Annie&Chris(me), Josh&Mere, and Dare&Kim.

We were to find as many theatres on our map as we could in a 2 hour timespan.

Annie and I dominated. Entirely.

27 theatres in two hours.

BLADAOW!!!

We won.

Anyway, after that we found a lovely little pub named the Sun Tavern. After that we went to the ultra-mega-orientation meeting at the King's College Church across the River. Beautiful church. Amazing to be in. Had a few glasses of wine, and then the whole theatre group travelled down to The "White Hart".

My Mum has told me before to go to this pub, and we did. It was a delight.

Cheap, great service, super cool atmosphere. Had a blast.

After that we walked down the river to get ice cream. We were un-victorious.

Now we are here, with our second class looming over the horizon.

G'night!

-Cheers!

July 4th, 2010 [LONDON]

It's 12:19PM. I'm sitting a few seat down from where I was last night, sneakily (no food allowed in computer lab) munching on a "triple chicken" sandwich I bought from Sainsbury's on the way to the computer lab. I find myself thirsty now.

Alright. Today was amazing.

(soisannie)

It started in a less-than-awesome way. The bells from some church around our dorms were going off, and loudly, with no rhythmic value whatsoever. It was the worst. They just. wouldn't. stop.

Eventually they stopped.

Later in the afternoon I went on the "Abbey Road" tour. Which should realistically be renamed the "Human Frogger" tour. Every tourist ever wants to get that "Abbey Road" album cover photograph. And that's basically what this tour was about. Go do that. We arrived at the famous Zebra Crossing. Dozens of tourists were already there, all posing in the street.

Rule number 1: Never do this.

The locals literally would stop at the last second, going from 60 to 0 in about three feet, before barely sparing your stupid tourist life. They hate it. They hate it more than anything. And they want to run you over for even trying to mimic the Beatles. They will go out of their way to TRY to hit you.

Darren, Meredith, Josh and I all got the photo done though, like true American tourists on the Fourth of July.

So, after that we all went to dinner at "Gourmet Pizza" on Gabriel's Wharf. Robin, Kim, Darren, Annie, Josh, Meredith, and I were all there. It was great, and freaking delicious. After our post dinner fiasco of trying to divide the check, Josh, Mere, Dare, Annie, and I went for a walk down the Thames as dusk fell. We watched the most wonderful street performers do their thing, walked under the London Eye, saw the gorgeously lit Big Ben/Parliament, and sipped coffee.

You don't understand the enormity of the Eye until you stand beneath it. It is. Just. Beyond comprehension. SO COOL.

After a, quite frankly, chilly walk down the river, we decided to go "coozy up" (-Josh Thomas) in a pub. We found the DaVinci. Kati Marshall told us this place was awesome.

It was in fact. less than awesome.

One tiny Asian man stood behind the bar in an empty room smiling widely at us as loud early 90's Asian Dance/R&B music blared much too loudly in our ears. We were, basically, the only ones in there. It was the worst pub ever.

We were on our way back to the dorms, when we crossed a crosswalk. I saw a bus coming and hustled out of the way. Annie and Josh slowly (as usual) sauntered across the walk. Long story short, we're surprised Josh didn't get his slacks/sweat pants ripped off by the bus. Josh genuinely almost got hit by a bus.

Day 3. Still alive. Count it!

-Cheers.

July 3rd, 2010 [LONDON]

Right now it's 12:30. I'm across the street from our "apartments" with the whole gang. Josh, Merideth, Annie, and Darren. There are three other male students sitting in a row directly opposing us. It's as though we're in a mad, quiet, typing, clattering, Napoleonic, battle with them. (or maybe that's just me.) We're in the King's College Internet Lab. Took us much longer to find it than it should have, but to be fair both of the native Londoners gave us incorrect information. REGARDLESS, here we are. Today was amazing.

Woke up this morning and headed to Sainsbury's. Annie and I got some delicious groceries. We laughed at all of the adorable English-isms there. For instance, instead of baked potatoes, in Londontown they are referred to as "jacket potatoes".

Adorable.

Also, instead of "Yogurt", Darren purchased some "English Milk".

So cute.

After that we all joined together and got Fish and Chips! We hopped over to an.. interesting shop called, "Fishquotech". Heh. I know. The Cod and chips was enormous. Like, incredibly enormous. We all went and ate our grease-bags in a small park. Kim made the amazing choice to throw one (1) of the pigeons a french fry.

Hilarity ensued.

Of course flocks and flocks of pigeons gathered in, tossing this one bit of food around, then looking to us for more. It was like a pack of hungry rats staring us down. We gobbled down as much as we could stomach of our lunch and went on our LondonALIVE tours.

I went on the Photogenic London tour. It's exactly what you would expect. A walk down the river, taking faraway pictures of half-way showing buildings. But then, after the tour disbanded, I really was amazed. I found myself in front of St. Paul's Cathedral by myself. Tourists everywhere, but I was the only person I knew there. It was enormous. I decided to walk around and see what I could see.

Walking through these back alleys and gardens of London was so incredible. I saw things, statues, rocks, people, all kinds of wonderful things that you just won't find on a regular "tour". It was really, really exciting to be a little lost, but incredibly intrigued in the middle of London.

After all that Annie, Darren and I all went to the Stamford Arms to watch the World Cup match. The entire upstairs was reserved for "U.S.A.". The British Studies folks had reserved it for our group! It was so so so so so so much fun. (Viva Espana!)

We all trodged our way back to the dorms, now to the internet lab, and soon to bed.

I am having a blast.

Cheers!

July 2nd, 2010 [LONDON]

I'm in an internet cafe in London that is quaintly named, "INTERNET CAFE". For my normal body it'd be 7:30 in the morning, but here in London, the sun is in the middle of the sky, people are everywhere, and the clock reads 13:27. My body is running off of Red Bull, sheer excitement, and this Dr. Pepper I bought at the internet cafe so the nice Indian woman behind the counter wouldn't think I was a greedy American. (I've found myself increasingly worried about how people will perceive me because of my American accent.) We flew in at about 6:30A (London time) and we've been going non-stop ever since. Annie, Darren, Merideth, and I are all together in Trafalgar Square, all posting on our facebooks that we're alive so that our lovely and wonderful parents won't need to worry.

We love them deeply.

So far English people have been polite. Quick, but polite. I am quite pleased.

Cheers!