up-dates!

Just checking in to say hi! No, really- I survived the weekend and all of the papers and exams, and everything is pretty much over, which is great. Note to self: never try writing 2,000 words about the inner meanings of curtain calls ever again. It's harder than you think. Oh, and don't try to explain "the future of internet journalism" in less than 800. It takes more than that.

In other news, Julie and I spent Valentines Day getting our hair cut, which was uber-expensive but totally worth it. I think my hair is shorter than it's ever been, but it's pretty cute! Excellent! Other highlights of the weekend included a whole lot of shopping on Oxford St, a long night at the Imperial College student union, and doing my laundry. Oh, and the discovery of the most magical bathroom in London: it was like entering a fun house at a carnival, but with disco balls. I didn't have my camera on me, but when I go back I will take some pictures.

This was a short entry, but what else is there to say? I'm off to spend the rest of the day finalizing travel plans for tomorrow and celebrating the beginning of our only break. Time passes so quickly; I can't believe I've been here so long already! 

I feel like I've been kind of off all week. I keep thinking it's one day ahead of where we are... shouldn't today be Saturday? No? Okay then.

Anyways, this week has been our last week of session A classes, so most of our time has been spent actually getting some work done, for once. I had a big presentation Tuesday, a short paper Wednesday, and a long paper Thursday. Our exams and final papers are on Monday ad Tuesday, so that seems to be the focus of the weekend. 

It's been a fun week, though; we've been having a lot of group dinners and doing a lot of general hanging-out while we procrastinate. Hopefully we'll make it out tonight or tomorrow to do something exciting; it is Valentines Day weekend, after all.

Oh, and more importantly- because of exams, they've lengthened our internet restrictions (on video streaming, file uploading, etc) to a 24-hour restriction... so all of you will have to wait for any kind of post with photos until after exams. I'm a little upset about it because a lot of BU students have developed a work-around the restriction using their VPN networks from home, something that Wellesley doesn't have. I swear, we would never stand for this at school- there would be a campus outrage. There would at least be a FirstClass outrage, anyways.

On a funnier note, BU has offered us money to write stories for their newsletter or to send them blog links they can feature in the newsletter. Ten quid is appealing, but if I was being featured in the newsletter I couldn't be quite so critical of things, and who wants that?

Last but not least, travel update! We'll be flying to Rome on Wednesday, taking a train to Florence on Friday, and flying back on Sunday. We also booked flights to Amsterdam for a weekend in March... it's all coming together!

Photo post, as promised:

Shots of Cardiff:

(weird vegetable/spices public art)

typical street


our hostel room, as taken from my bed


cardiff castle's neon signs, at night

italian restaurant


our hostel, purple dragon mascot and all






castle during the daytime


inside the castle walls is the older castle fortress




view from the top


















snowfall when we finally made it home!

problematic

So it's extremely problematic that I haven't posted in around a week and a half because it's very daunting to start posting again. I'll try to recap some of the highlights now, so that I can get back on the horse with this posting thing.

1. Cardiff. It was a fun (well, funny) place to be for about 48 hours, but I'm glad we didn't stay any longer. The "city" is really very small, and there's not a whole lot to do. At first, it just seemed very sad- the buildings were all kind of old and all the people looked sort of angry with their life. (As if they were looking around and saying, "oh, damn! I still live in Cardiff! Crap!") At any rate, we slept in a lot, had a lot of entertaining meals, went to the castle (the one real sight-seeing must-see), and made a few friends. In the end, the people there were all very nice and super entertaining!

2. Snow. When we were on our bus trip back from Cardiff, it started to really snow. Hard. The last half hour of our bus trip should have been five minutes long, but in the end, we did make it back in time to pick up some takeout and get inside our building before the weather got too bad. (A few of our friends were not so lucky and got stranded in Ireland for two days, but if you want more on that you'll have to ask later.) The snow was really picturesque and a lot of  fun, but we weren't sure how much we would get. Lo and behold, by the next day there was eight inches and our classes had been cancelled! (We're making up the lost time today and tomorrow. Oh well.) A few of us ventured out into Hyde Park with some British guys that we know to have a bit of a snowball fight and to make a GIANT snowman (all slowed by the fact that the guys didn't own gloves). It was an excellent time, and what's even better is that by the next day, the snow was on it's way to melting. Two days later, you could hardly tell it had snowed. No gross slush or black ice? Excellent.

3. The rest of this week (post-snow) we went on some other adventures... let me think. Wednesday night we (Julie, Steph, Scott, and I) went to see the Sound of Music in the West End (very serious production) and it wasn't great. To me, it all seemed very sad: the production was set up to be amazing, with the most perfect design/tech/etc, not to mention over 500 lighting fixtures. In the end, though, the acting was just pretty terrible. We sat through it, but realized that no one can really compare to Julie Andrews in the film version. Afterwards, we went over to meet the rest of our friends at a club in Notting Hill (yes, like the movie) where we met Robert Pattinson. (Yes, we're obnoxious and asked him to take a picture with us.) This is vaguely exciting for me, but a few people were over the moon about the whole thing. I guess he's in town for the BAFTAs (awards show that was last night). Crazy!

4. Thursday I went to see another show, On the Waterfront, adapted from the Marlon Brando film, for our theatre class. We were supposed to have gone on Monday, but it was cancelled due to snow. The show was also pretty bad... there were some high points, but it was disappointing overall. I'm actually looking forward to discussing it in class today and seeing what our professor has to say about it. His opinions are always interesting, to say the least. Tonight we're heading to see our last show as a class (considering this is the last week of session one classes). Here's what we know: it's in a VERY small space. It's a dance show. It's erotic. It's interactive. ... I'm a little worried, but it should make a good story.

5. This weekend we opted not to travel anywhere- partly because those of us that got stuck in Ireland last weekend never want to travel again and partly because we all have a ton of work to do. Instead, we made our own fun in London: we made up our own kind of pub crawl on Friday night and went out to dinner before coming back here for drinks on Saturday night. We've actually spent the weekend half working and half coming up with travel plans for the next month. Planning is not our strong suit (maybe because there are so many of us) so it takes a bit of effort. Current plans revolve around our post-exams break (next week!) being spent in Rome/Florence/Pisa, but we have a few weekend in March planned for Edinburgh and Amsterdam. Should be exciting!

6. I think that's all. My memory for things like this isn't the best, but I think I've covered all my bases. Just in time, too, because I have a meeting about a class project/presentation in twenty minutes and I have to get ready for class. Wish me luck on my presentation and all my papers this week!

7. Oh, and since I'm updating in the morning, I can't access my photos right now. (Internet blocks all file-sharing sites except for after 11PM.) Photo post will come tonight! Let me see if I can get just one to work for now...

Excellent. Gotta love the sunset view of the Natural History Museum. More to come!

pre-cardiff

I've decided to split my recent escapades up into three posts (pre-Cardiff, Cardiff, and post-Cardiff). Let's see if I can remember all the way back to last week.

^ the movie theater closest to us- about a 25 minute walk or 5 minute tube ride.

Well. The theme of the week was certainly going to the movies- I've never seen so many films in theaters in one week. On Wednesday our whole journalism class went to see Frost/Nixon, which I thought was fairly captivating (especially the last hour, which I consider the most crucial part). While the whole class seemed to like it, our professor was less than impressed; I think that having lived through the actual period that the film covers makes him a little more critical. Apparently Michael Sheen wasn't enough like David Frost for his taste- having never seen or heard David Frost, I really couldn't have an opinion. 

Following the idea of films, Natasha, Julie and I stopped by the theater just before I left for Cardiff to see Revolutionary Road, which I've been thinking about seeing for a long time. I've read a portion of the Yates novel and loved it, but I'm glad I didn't know the ending of the story when I saw the film. For me, the movie was such an intense experience without being very intense; in traditional Sam Mendes form (which I love- American Beauty, anyone?) it was fairly understated, relying on a quiet kind of imagery, moments of silence, and repetitive orchestrations to convey a point. It was one of those films that really stays with you for the rest of the week, one of those films that really gets inside of you and doesn't let go. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, but I'll suffice to say that it had a huge impact on me. It was like a later version of American Beauty that I could actually relate to. Also important: I think because I've never seen Titanic (I know, I know, I'm a disgrace to our generation, etc. etc.) I was really able to focus on the story and the filmmaking without thinking about how epic it was to see Kate and Leo together again. Maybe it's a movie I won't be able to make myself live through for another year, but it's one of my new favorites.

Moving out of the timeline a little bit, Liz and I also saw Seven Pounds while in Cardiff. (Our tickets were only 4 pounds 70- cheapest movie ticket I've EVER bought, anywhere.) There's not much to say other than the film is beautifully done- confusing at the beginning and truly sad at the end. I cried. Not as much as when we saw RENT, but nothing could top that. Will Smith and Rosario Dawson are both great; a good Netflix movie, as we would say at home. The one downside for me was the epic car accident scene, because they don't just describe an accident, they really show it. All of it. Generally speaking, I try to avoid that kind of thing... it's the sound of it that really gets to me. 

Anyways, what else has happened? I'm not even sure if I can remember. This only updating after 11PM thing is getting old and making things difficult. More to come.

fast times in the big city

Today I realized how nice it really is to be living here. I decided to walk from my interview (more on that later) to the Tate Modern (for class- more on that later too) and it took me about an hour, all through the city. It's really an incredibly beautiful place, and the differences between neighborhoods are brilliant. I feel like I'm repeating our orientation lecture when I say things like this, but the dichotomy of the old, old architecture with the newer structures is great. Really great. Like, I walked an hour in heels and a dress and got lost multiple times and was still happy. It helps that it was beautiful outside, I suppose. I'm loving the lack of rain (knock on wood).

Anyways, my interview. I have a lot of problems blogging about work situations (for many reasons), so it'll have to suffice to say that I had an interview for my formal placement and it went pretty well. The women I interviewed with seem nice, and they were really pleased that I know how to use Flash and Photoshop, etc. I think there's a lot of potential for working on projects bigger than just my day-to-day duties, which is one of the perks of working somewhere so new (the site I'll be working on just launched last fall). I made it clear (I hope) that I really want to be involved in the whole team and everything going on, and they said that they always have interns and always give them a lot of responsibility and a lot of opportunity, so that sounds good. 

One of the big highlights for me is the location of the office- it's right on the edge of Covent Garden and the theatre district (apparently called Theatreland, which I thought was a joke, but that's what it's called on maps and street signs). The surrounding neighborhood is filled with amazing shops and restaurants and beautiful architecture. The building I'm working in isn't as fabulous as the Boston Mag building, but it'll do. (It's under construction currently, so maybe that will change.) All in all, I feel both very old and very very young all at the same time, which is kind of what always happens to me at interviews.

^tate modern

^ I love this sign. Temporary Eyesore. Only in the UK.

The afternoon was spent at the Tate with my theatre class, touring the permanent galleries to observe the "performance" of the artwork. (Don't ask.) It was nice to be back there because I've always loved the converted warehouse space. Plus, they have a great little bookshop (as my professor would say) and a lot of interesting things to see. There are also a lot of things that are so not up my alley, so our discussion of the galleries next Monday should be interesting.

^ love this painting... i think it's the typography. Albert Oehlen's Loa.



^ this proves the judy black theorem: "bigger is always better."

Last night our class went to see Duet for One at the Almeida Theater with Juliet Stevenson. (I had to look at the program to see what she's been in- I recognized her but couldn't place the face, and it was driving me crazy. If you're wondering, she was the gay professor in Mona Lisa Smile and Keira Knightley's mom in Bend it Like Beckham.) The theater is a converted church, and an incredibly beautiful space. Of course, we walked in on a beautiful set and fantastic lighting, so I was predisposed to like the show from the start. Everyone else seemed to dislike it, but I generally enjoyed myself... maybe because I tend to base only part of my judgement on the acting. Great tech could take me through almost any show.

Etc. etc. etc... we've formally booked our tickets for Wales this weekend, so I'll be in Cardiff for Saturday and Sunday. Should be fun! It'll be good to start off the travelling with somewhere close by.

exhaustion

Well, we're certainly nearing that point of exhaustion, where I just can't force myself to get up from my desk. 

The last few days have been eventful, but not too crazy, I'd like to think. Recap:

Thursday wrapped up our week of classes (love this schedule!) with a ridiculous journalism class. We discussed the uses of the internet, as planned, but then we were lectured for two hours on the duties of the Queen. Relevant? Not really. Interesting? Marginally. We finally escaped to go food shopping and head home. Went out to dinner at an adorable and very... intense Italian restaurant down the street with Natasha and Julie, then hopped a few stops over on the Tube to meet some LAMDA students for drinks. Always a good time.

A few shots from our [wet and rainy] walk home from class:

Friday was Julie's birthday, and we were set on a mission to make every moment special. (Yes, those were our words.) Natasha came over early, and the three of us grabbed Scott (from down the hall) and went to brunch, where Julie had amazing-looking Belgian waffles and I had a goat cheese/red pepper/sundried tomato sandwich... everyone was happy. We moved on to one of the top destinations of the day, Harrods- the one place in London that Julie had been "waiting 21 years to visit." It was insane- both monstrous and extremely beautiful. It's completely different from any kind of large department store in the States; it was divided into many smaller rooms instead of just spreading across one long room. I didn't take a lot of photos inside for fear of losing my dignity or being attacked by security, but it's certainly something to see. Afterwards, we shopped around a little bit in Knightsbridge before heading to the Orangery for tea. After Gabby and I had such a good time there years ago, I thought it would be the perfect place for birthday tea, and I was so right. It's walking distance from us, in an old building next to Kensington Palace, inside Kensington Gardens. It's the kind of place that feels very royal and exclusive until you're pleasantly surprised that tea is only three pounds. Excellent.

Harrods:

Orangery:

ONE guy, feeding all the swans in Kensington Gardens:

After a dramatic adventure (we were lost AND late) from tea to the Tube, Julie and I picked up some birthday cake and "champagne" (cheap but TERRIBLE sparkling wine) and joined everyone back at Sorbonne for a pre-dinner party. After much deliberation, a group of us headed to a Lebanese restaurant (Julie's favorite) in Piccadilly Circus, where I had perhaps the best food since I've been here. We all shared their homemade garlic hummus, and it really was the best. Ever. Anyways, we met up with the rest of everyone, who had been celebrating someone else's birthday, at Tiger, Tiger, a nearby club for the rest of the night. Long day, but a good birthday, I think.

Today we slept in before heading to Oxford St to go shopping, forgetting that Saturday afternoon is the worst time to be stuck in the crowds there. To make matter worse, much of the subway system is closed this weekend, so the line we did make it onto was packed. We both ended up buying things we needed/wanted (t-shirts, webcam, necklace, etc) but collapsed from exhaustion when we got back. I just made some chicken that I had been marinating for a little longer than planned (we just kept going out for dinner! oops.) and now we're sitting around, tired as ever. Oh, we also had lunch at this restaurant that clearly was trying to imitate some kind of American place- very like Fridays, which was a little disturbing - but they didn't get the memo about imitating the kind of service in American restaurants, because we were clearly ignored by our waitress for most of the time we were there. Even funnier was that I had a wrap that was extremely similar to the veggie wraps in the Wang Center (any Wellesley people reading this totally know what I'm talking about). Weird experience.

We are trying to make some upcoming travel plans, including Wales (Cardiff) next weekend. I'm hoping to make it to Ireland to visit Gabby the following weekend, but I'm not sure yet that the travel is possible. It's something to finalize tomorrow, I suppose. I'm also off to another play for class on Monday night, and I have my interview with Bauer Media on Tuesday morning. Oh, and a class tour of the Tate Modern with our professor on Tuesday afternoon; plus, our Wednesday class is going to see Frost/Nixon. Should be a good week! Even better, the end of this week means that it's no longer our week to clean the kitchen- maybe I'll feel a little less like everyone's mother when I'm not washing the kitchen's entire dish collection every day!