2 more weeks!

I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks left in London. Crazy! I kinda wish I could come back here again on January 12th rather than going back to Muhlenberg...
I think it's been two weeks since last time I wrote, so it's kinda hard to remember what I've been up to. I know that I saw The Straits with London theatre the week before last, and went to Stratford upon Avon last Sunday. Other than that I know I worked on my papers quite a bit, and watched Elizabeth with Danielle. Don't know what else.
This past week my mom and sister were visiting, so that was really nice. I was in Stratford when they got here, so I didn't see them until Monday, when I met them for breakfast at their hotel EARLY in the morning! Over the course of the week we saw the Tower of London, Madame Toussaud's (sp?), Harrod's, the Tate Gallery, Covent Garden market (a LOT), Tell Me on a Sunday, The Pillowman (best theatre I've seen in London - so GOOD), Jerry Springer the Opera, and the movie Mystic River. Plus of course Leicester Square, Trafalger Square, Piccadilly, and they did some tour stuff while I was in class Tuesday morning and Wednesday. On Wednesday I saw Jumpers on the West End with London Theatre, but I wasn't overly impressed by it. Club Sandwich was reall fun that night though. Thursday was Thanksgiving, so mom's friend Linda came in from Birmingham to visit. Now that they're gone I'm SO tired; I seem to have a major sleep debt that I need to catch up on, and I've been doing so whenever possible. Last night Danielle finally saw The Matrix for the first time, and liked it, and tomorrow night we're going to see Mourning Becomes Electra at (where else?) the National Theatre. We need to make the most of our last two weeks here! We have Jeni's birthday, our last London Theatre play, a trip to the Theatre Museum, the London LOTR premiere, our two last Club Sadnwiches, and His Dark Materials planned... we'll see what else comes up!

the past week...

Hmm, let's see what's new.  On Friday I saw His Girl Friday with Jen and Phil which was really good and light fun - Zoe Wanamaker (Madam Hooch in HP1) was great, and so were most of the other actors.  And a good deal - we got to sit instead of doing standing room for only 5 quid ( we stood in the returns line).  On Sunday as I had mentioned Jen, Jeni and I went to see Matrix Revolutions, which I quite enjoyed, so don't listen to the reviews.  I'm not saying it's the best thing ever, but if you've seen the first one or two you should see how it ends.  Monday I don't really remember so I assume I did work all day - I have two papers and a big project due in the upcoming weeks, as well as a scene for Shakespeare - I'm sure I'll have one for Acting, as well.  So it's getting a bit more stressful.  The rest of the week was class and work and a trip to the theatre, of course (Loyal Women - v. good - wrote my London Theatre paper on it), as well as a trip with Shakespeare and out to dinner with Danielle's parents, at a very good Italian place called Galileo's.  I ate a lot.  Yum.  :)  On Friday I went to Covent Gardens to try and get some Xmas shopping done, but I wasn't very successful, and then went to Matrix again, but Tim treated so its okay, and then hung out various places at night.  Okay, Saturday.  I worked on my paper by day and watched Bend it Like Beckham for the first time by night.  Sunday.  More worky worky on papers, then to the Love Actually premiere at night, and then to see the movie itself.  The premiere was pretty cool.  We had nice close (but short) clear views of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, and also saw Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, and Simon Cowell as well.  Hugh Grant signed a lot of autographs, but unfortunately not ours - he paid the most attention to the fans though.  Today I've been working on my paper all day so this is what I like to call procrastination! 

a FEW pix from Florence, Italy

Group on the steps

...And on the bridge

Gelato on the bridge

It's Legal!

Fiesole by night

Team Berg

Relocation

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On Tuesday we left for Salzburg, where we stayed in a hostel that was much more like a B'n'B - very homey and nice, and we had eggs with our breakfast on Friday! We went on a Sound of Music tour, toured the fortress and the Residenz staterooms, saw a rock-ballet (GOOD but confusing), toured Mozart's home, and spent a lot of time just shopping and eating and doing all that touristy stuff. I love Salzburg.
Now I'm back in London. Last night Jen, Phil and I saw My Girl Friday with Zoe Wanamaker which was a great light play, and today Jen and I are seeing Matrix Revolutions. Go Keanu! In fact, it's time to get going for that. Mwah!

update-ness

Okay, umm, this seems to be a LOT to update... So let's see. Paris was wonderful and Danielle and I had a great time seeing everything (Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Pantheon, the Arc de Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, etc.,....we even passed by the Lapin Agile), and we especially enjoyed that whole eating thing ;) It was pretty col, especially when we were stuck on the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower for an eternity, but a great long weekend.
Back in London Tuesday through Saturday morning: saw an AWFUL production of Romeo + Juliet by an Icelandic company who apparently thought the show was a circus on Tuesday with my Shakespeare class, but on Thursday I saw an EXCELLENT prodoction of a Howard Barker play called 13 Objects with my London Theatre class. Club Sandwich was, as always, a good time, and on Friday night for Halloween I went to a party at Tim's (not Gross) with Danielle, Jeni, and Nick. Classes were good, although on Friday I was late for Shakespeare by accident and no one showd up to my Directing class except like, 4 of us. No one seemed to care though. Such is life (in London). Oh, and I registered for classes, so I'm taking History of Drama II, Shakespeare II, Women Writers, Classical Acting, and Beginning Jazz Dance. Cool.
Reading Week: On Saturday Jen and I set off for Austria! We started in Vienna, where our hostel was situated on a hill overlooking he city (great view), and right next to a 5 star hotel which we liked to joke was where we were staying. It was nice - we had a 4 person room all to ourselves... Ahh, the joys of traveling off-season! So we spent a lovely day with Liz and her family - they showed us around Baden bei Wien, then for the rest of our time in the city we saw an opera at the city opera for €4 (!!!) which was AMAZING, toured two castles and the opera itself, climbed to the top of Stephansdom, and saw all the other sights of the city, of course!

just another manic... Wednesday

I'm getting really excited for the trip of this weekend - Paris! Danielle and I FINALLY have our hostel booked - more expensive han I'd prefer, but a bed is a bed. Yesterday I saw a production of Midsummer Night's Dream with my Shakespeare class, and it was excellent and funny and we all enjoyed. Today is my day 'o class, but all I have left is London Theatre, so that's lovely. We're seeing a play tomorrow night for that, so tonight is free for Club Sandwich as it should be!
I feel much better this week (knock on wood), hooray for that! Tomorrow I don't have class, but I have a trip to go on with the Shakespeare class, and of course I'll need to pack and whatnot for Paris - we leave after class on Friday, and come back Monday NIGHT :)

the sickest bunny

This week was boring, mainly because I spent the majority of it in bed. Thursday and Friday especially, I just slept my life away and tried to not be sick anymore. I'm getting there, I guess. Yesterday I spent most of the day up and moving around and it wasn't a problem, and today I just have some congestion, no sore throat or fever or headache...
Anyway, Amy was here visiting this weekend, so that was cool. We went out for dinner on Friday night with two of Jen's friends who were also visiting - we coudn't find Wagamama's though, so we ended up going to an Italian place which wasn't half-bad. On Saturday we went to Portobello Market, which is HUGE, but I liked it. We couldn't decide whether to see a show or go eat or find Mel and Lesley, so we ended up eating at Garfunkel's, which WAS half-bad, then wandering and coming upon the Reduced Shakespeare Company just in time to see a show. I wasn't so keen on seeing it at first, but I laughed the whole time and enjoyed it (Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged). THEN we found Mel and Lesley, as well as Jen and her friends and Cynthia, so we headed back to eat cake and go to the Union. It was no Club Sandwich, but fun anyway. Afterwards Jen made us all go eat chips and Jeni made it off the waiting-list and is now accepted to Muhlenberg for finishing hers ;)
And today I slept in then came here. Good times.

I bet you thought I'd never get around to it...

But I did. Sorta.

PIX! --> http://photos.yahoo.com/rebl1231
WHEN I can get this computer to upload pictures to the internet....click on the Junior Year album to see selected pictures from Italy, London, and Scotland. Out of the 115 I took I'm putting about 50 online, but if you want to see some more of a specific place send me an e-mail saying so (ex. "Hey Becca, I want to see more of your Rome pictures" or "Hey Becca, I want to see more of your Jason visit pictures" or "Hey Becca, I want to see the pictures that turned out badly") I don't know why you would want to see that last bit, but whatever floats your boat I guess. So check out the pics as I slowly add them to my new album. :)

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This past weekend Danielle, Jeni (Danielle's flatmate - she's an adopted Berg student) and I went to Edinburgh, Scotland, which was a wonderful weekend trip. We left after class on Friday and got back around 1 (13:00, that is) today. The train ride was about 4 hours going and 5 hours coming back, so we got in Friday evening and dropped our stuff at the hostel, then found us some food and went to a pub called Shakespeare's to try some Scottish beer. We're not huge fans, but that's ok. On Saturday we spent a good part of the day at Edinburgh castle, which has some great views and we got a tur with the price of admission so that was cool. Afterwards we walked down the Royal Mile window shopping and stopping in some sights along the way (the chapel and the Children's museum (crack baby!)). Then we met Jeni's H.S. friend and her friends for dinner and nightlife. Sunday: Holyrood Palace, which is where the Queen stays when she goes to Edinburgh, and where we got an audio guide with the price of admission; The Queen's Gallery, where they had a Faberge exhibit going on; The National Gallery - free!; a Ghosts & Ghouls tour, where hey told some ghost stories and historical stuff and took us down into the vaults below the city - of course I was a bit spooked. Anyway, I highly reccommend it as a weekend trip,and the scenery on the trainride is breathtaking at points.
Today I need to find a hostel for Danielle and I when we go to Paris for a weekend and figure out some more Austria stuff for Jen and I when we go during Reading Week. It's a hard life...
Send me e-mails! I like e-mails.

update time

I'm sleepy. Now that I have that out of the way, I suppose I should update everyone on my life. Since last time I wrote, I've seen two plays for London Theatre. The first was called After Mrs. Rochester and was about the life of the author of Wide Sargasso Sea (a prequel to Jane Eyre). It was very interesting and well-done, and I liked. The second was called The Happiness Compartment, which was playing in a fringe theatre in Greenwich smaller than Theatre Outlet, but it had a nice restaurant/bar downstairs. The play was actually written by my London Theatre teacher, but I found it meh. I love the teacher though, and I also love my Shakespeare's London teacher. They're both opinionated and funny and seem to know some stuff; always a good thing.
On Friday Jason came and we had a WONDERFUL weekend and I miss him now. We walked around and saw some general London sights (including David Blaine and the London Eye), saw a great Lord of the Rings exhibit at the Science Museum, saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, walked through Greenwich, and had a really nice time. And then on Tuesday morning he left :( So that was last weekend. TBC.