It has come to my attention that it has been over a month since I last wrote a half-decent blog post and I apologize for not keeping a more regular account (though I'm only hurting myself in the end anyway).
I am currently working on my Art History essay on Bronzino's Allegory with Venus and Cupid. It is worth 50% of my term mark so I should be getting on to that but today is such a perfect day I thought I just had to try and capture this profound happiness and gratitude that I feel right now.
First, to tie up some loose ends:
The Globe Theatre was absolutely amazing. I thought my feet would get soar or I would be too tired to actually enjoy it but the performance was phenomenal. The cast captured my full attention and I spent hours pressed right up against the stage, completely enraptured. When intermission came all of us groundlings shared a common ear-to-ear beaming smile. Ashley ran to the gift shop to get the soundtrack and got back before they closed the stage. (and locked us in again - we were right up against the stage but a rounded walk-way arched behind us wear action also took place. Sorry for the poor description. - It was really impressive though. I never felt like any of the actors had their backs to me. Actually, I feel like we had a richer experience there than the rest of the audience got.)
Falstaff and the wives were hilarious! The women were such believable best-friends. They all performed so well. Especially Mr. Ford the jealous husband (method of acting inspired by Mr. Fawlty in Fawlty Towers). It was a shame that planes flying overhead sometimes made it hard to hear - but he played it up wonderfully! The costumes for the forest spirits they had were fascinating as well - especially the frog-like costumes they had for the children - made out of simple materials.
Ashley and I skipped all the way back to the bus the play had filled us with so much energy! It was perfect - this is the production I saw (same actors):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90HLnnDzRMQ On the way home we watched the first part of A Very Potter Musical which all of you must watch because it is wonderful. We (I suppose I could call us a group - pretty much all the people I've made friends with so far - Keybi, Jordan, Ashley, Chloe, Ross, Angela, Rachael, Rachael, Alex, Erin... more or less, I feel like I'm missing someone :( oops) randomly burst into song with it all the time! The guy playing Harry wrote it btw.
As for my next blogpost from the Institut Francais I was cut off because they had to close. The British museum was great but crowded and I really wasn't feeling well. Afterwards I tagged along with 2 girls who also had to navigate London to find the French Institute too even though they were going shopping because I had a voice nagging in the back of my head 'Don't do anything dangerous' and I thought wandering around London by myself, not knowing where I was going, and feeling under the weather might fall under the category of 'Dangerous'.
Eventually though I ended up doing just that because I was no fun as a shopping partner and needed to go at my own pace. So, I grabbed a hot chocolate at Starbucks, checked the map, and hopped on the tube and found the institute. The tube was really cool - The cars are smaller than the ones I've used in Toronto which surprised me for some reason. The one escalator I took back up had me tripping though - It was so long and steep I started to lose my centre of gravity - I kept having the urge to lean back so that I was perpendicular to the sides. I was all like 'Ooooh, we're in the future!' (inside joke with Ashley - said like Trav's 'future car')
I was SO happy when I was on my own - it's ridiculous! I mean, it's nice being shown around places but I just LOVE exploring (that's why I'll still open random doors I pass in the castle when I think so one's looking - So far, I've found some bathrooms and a broom closet... :P ) When I settled in at the library I had a nice study session after geeking out on the 2 stories and the ladders attached to the shelves on the second story so people could retrieve books.
After I was kicked off the computer I wandered outside briefly before retreating back in from the bitter cold. I didn't have money for dinner at the cafe but I had my packed lunch with me so I hid on the stairs and gobbled it down like a rat-person or something.
Inside and warm I grabbed a panflet, watched them set out the wine, and waited briefly for someone else to show up. When they did I was informed that they were from the Art History group as well and apparently the bus with the Spanish classes on it had broken down and they may not make it. Selfish as I am I just thought 'but how am I getting home? :( - they were staying in London for the weekend at a hostel) I went with them to a bar and chatted a bit but wasn't interested in drinking so went back to the institute to wait.
Everyone made it and after a bit of chaos we started the movie.
OMG - it was GOOD! I can't even say what it was about it exactly but I walked away thinking 'That's the best movie I've seen all year' (take that Avatar?). Seriously though, it's a tragedy and a little gory but I think Celda 211 is totally worth watching. You should all check it out. Everyone I talked with afterwards agreed with me. I think I mostly slept on the way back :P
The next weekend I went to The National Gallery - It totally blew me away. Laura (I think that was the name of Daphne's friend who gave us a tour) was excited to hear that I'd never seen any famous paintings in person - and she was right to be, there's just something about seeing the original in person that takes you aback.
I ate lunch with Chuan Ji and then spent 6 hours looking around at all of the paintings. When I stumbled upon the domed ceiling with towering Corinthian columns looking like red marble with gold capitals I felt like I could honestly faint. I'm not trying to be dramatic - I just felt like I was having a fine arts overload.
I left half an hour before I needed to be at Cleopatra's Needle and ducked into another Starbucks to have a hot drink and get out of the rain. The only seat left in the place was a big armchair. I sat there looking out on the London street, listening to the various accents of people around me, and feeling as though I was just absorbing the culture from the air around me.
I had dressed up a bit that day because I was sick of people taking pictures on field studies of me in my grubs looking half-awake but not a single person had. So I thought I should take a picture of myself since I went through the effort. That's the one I put as my profile pic and everyone was complimenting - I argue that it's a fluke and I must have absorbed the beauty through osmosis while being surrounded by so many beautiful paintings (like Moses :P ) Nah, It just looks nice because I was so happy!
I stopped in the street to take the picture and an old man walked by and said 'Oh! That'll be a good one!' Hahaha! - Reminds me off the Fisherman outside the Globe - to me and Ashley: 'Oh lok, she go't wet. Mind the wa'er! *chuckle* Mind the wa'er! I don't know why I'm laughing it isn't very funny is it? Hahaha!' and he continued down the street :P
The following weekend I caught one of the buses and met Bri. (I feel like a master at navigating the tube now) It was SO good to visit with her and Liam is SOOOOOO CUTE! Jon is very nice and so are their friends. I had got a third round of the Castle Plague, as we call it, and wasn't feeling my best, not to mention I had to do homework most of the time, so I probably wasn't the most interesting house guest but I still think we had lots of fun.
Their dogs are really cuddly and cute. Liam is obsessed with Handy Manny. Bri and Jon are watching through Glee together. Bri's first turkey turned out to be the most delicious turkey I've ever had (sorry Mom). We watched The Jones together, went shopping, went on base, etc. I took a bath both nights I was there - It felt SOOO GOOOD! I also called Jess McA because she refuses to get skype and talk to me that way - which is fine actually. It was really good to talk with her again.
Hillsong United Church is insane! It's awesome and intense and sincere! Check out the pictures on facebook of the concert-looking thing I was at. It was an awesome service - unfortunately I had to leave early to catch the train to get to Polegate. On the train - which is set up with tables like booths in a restaurant - I chatted with a man from Spain named Marco. He is working in London right now to improve his English but hopes to move back to Spain soon. A minibus came and picked me up at Polegate. The other person had cancelled so I was the only one. The driver was a very nice man though - we listened to Classical music all the way back and I made it in time for Supper.
I think last week was when Ashley held her meeting recruiting members for a Castle Quidditch Team. I went for moral support since she gave me puppy dog eyes but I've been hooked. I'm joining the Quidditch team. Our first game is this Saturday - I'm so excited!! :D
Last weekend we went to Canterbury. It was hands-down my favourite trip yet! It's just a wonderful town and I had a wonderful comrade to explore it with. After my Art History tour of the Cathedral, I met up with Ashley and she took me on a second tour around showing me things she knew about that my group didn't touch on. Then we wandered the streets, got thoroughly lost, then unlost, and then found ourselves outside a delightful little building where we decided to grab lunch.
It was the best meal I've ever had - The most fun I've ever had eating-out.
The Moat Tea Room was absolutely darling. The view was great, the service was great, the company was great, the cottage pie and hot chocolate were awesome. We signed the guest book and sung its praises :)
Then we went back to Canterbury Cathedral to see the crypt which was not open in the morning when we had our tours. We could not take pictures but I really enjoyed exploring it with Ashley. We reverently examined the 1000 year old wall paintings and the bizarre capitals (the smiling cat and mustached cat were particularly interesting) A choir was practicing down there - somewhere we couldn't see which was half-funny, half-eerie, half-inspiring (Yes, three halfs).
We met up with Ross for a bit afterwards. Marveled more at where we were and then I had to leave for my English Field Study of the Canterbury Tales. It was kinda creepy. Not bad but not phenomenal. I wouldn't have paid money to see it again.
Unfortunately I got very car-sick on the way home and almost threw-up :( And after most people got off the bus to go to dinner I was still sitting waiting for my stomach to settle. Out of no where my bus driver starts honking his horn and I look up in time to see one of the other buses slowly, as if deliberately, back into us. Our windshield cracked and looked like a spiderweb while the back of his bus now had a huge dent (people were still on our bus and the other bus was full because it hadn't stopped yet). It was the strangest thing. All I heard in explanation was 'yeah he seemed really old and deaf, poor guy's gonna pay for that'. Weird.
I went straight to my room to lie down and thought I'd skip out on Harry Potter Theme Night at the pub. Thankfully I felt well enough to go when the time came to head down otherwise I probably would have been lynched. It was a lot of fun! My roommate and her 2 best friends went all out and looked great. We danced and played card-golf which is a lot cooler than it sounds (Ross taught it to us). I had a butter-beer which was hands-down the best alcoholic drink I have ever had - It is Ambrosia! We had a lot of fun and of course went singing back to the dorm.
Yoga and Wing Tsun are awesome. I get beat up one day and work on spiritual healing the next - it's cool.
Other than that I've been working hard and school and socializing when I have the time.
Today Ross showed Ashley and I a few tricks - he tricked my hands into feeling like they were holding a giant bubble, he got me to temporarily paralyze my own hand, and read our palms. I showed them witchy-fingers. We were goofing off and having a lot of fun - they had me laughing so hard I was crying! Oh and we burst into Christmas songs as well :P
The last thing I did before writing this was mail the Thank-You letter to the man who organized the Nicol Scholarship.
Now Jessica is telling me about the various substances Gwen is excreting and their relative quantities.
It's a wonderful life.
Love you all and I'll try to write more regularly from now on for all our sakes!
Sincerely,
Cara Gosh-I-can't-believe-I-spent-three-hours-on-this-when-I-should-have-been-editing-my-essay Brandon
