Caught in the rain without an umbrella

It's hard to believe that I've been here almost a month! Time is flying!

The last week has definitely been a good one! On Monday for my Musical Theatre class, me and a couple friends went to see Parade at the Southwark Playhouse. After we FINALLY found it about 10 minutes before showtime, everything went perfect. The place was sooo cool. There were maybe 200 seats, and in the middle was the stage, i.e. the floor. It was so intimate and just perfect. The show was amazing as well. It was set in the early 1900s in Atlanta, Georgia. It was about this Jewish man, Leo, who gets wrongfully convicted and hung for the murder/rape of a young girl who works at his factory. It was so sad and frustrating, but yet I left with a huge smile on my face. It was so well done, the music/dancing/performances were fantastic. I actually still had one of the songs stuck in my head this afternoon, if that tells you anything. I'm gonna love this class!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-23980065-parade-southwark-playhouse---review.do

On Thursday, me and my friends went out to a karaoke lounge! We had been talking about doing karaoke for a while and finally found a place. It was fun, although I ended up leaving early with one of my other friends so I didn't get to sing any songs. Oh well, I'm pretty sure we'll definitely be going back. The highlight of the night was someone singing Don't Stop Believin' by Journey and literally everyone in the entire place was singing along at the top of their lungs. It was so cool.

L-R Me, Eve, Lizzy, Mariah, Chels and MK

Then yesterday my friends and I got together and ordered some pizza (yes it was Domino's, but I lasted a whole month here without it so it's okay) and hashed out our details for all the trips we want to take, as well as the plans for our upcoming fall break that last a week and a half. We decided that we're going to spend it in Ireland. This makes me want to watch Leap Year. If the men in Ireland are really as charming as Declan in Leap Year, then this will be an enjoyable trip lol. We plan to fly into Cork, and hit Belfast, Galway, and Dublin as well. We also planned a plethora of other day/weekend trips. We're going to Brighton (which I am beyond excited for), the Scottish Highlands (Loch Ness!!), and I might go along to Cardiff, Wales. I am also planning a trip to Interlaken, Switzerland which is a quaint town right in the middle of the Swiss Alps. All this planning made me realize how little time we truly have here!

Today I made plans to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, mostly because I thought it would be awesome to see the film in London. My plans didn't go accordingly, but it worked out in its own way. I took the tube to Leicester Square, and was running late as it was and couldn't find the theatre! I wandered around a bit, after asking a lovely girl for directions and she didn't know, so I decided to get dinner and head back early. I must have took the wrong direction out of the tube station because I somehow managed to end up in Trafalgar Square, which is lovely. It's huge, with ornate fountains, a huge towering monument and many other monuments in the shapes of lions and a glass bottle. Of course by this point it was pouring and as it had been nice out when I left I didn't bring my umbrella. So I was caught in the rain without an umbrella, literally. But it was kind of nice, I have to say. At one point I looked to my left and had a perfect view of Big Ben. It was gorgeous and made up for me not making it to the movie. I ended up going to Spaghetti House for some well deserved pizza, looking wonderful I'm sure. I went in and the waiter asked me house I was, and answered 'Wet?' for me because I must have looked like a drowned rat. Then on my way back to the tube station, I stopped and got a delicious chocolate gelato milkshake. Now I plan to relax for the night, maybe just watch the 2nd HP online, watch some Glee and talk to my parents!

This view can make anything better

Next weekend I might be going to Stonehenge so I'll keep you posted!

Cheers!

Catching Up

     Sorry it's been so long without a post!

     My friends and I decided to check out this cool place called Edgar & Swan. It was a really neat little restaurant, because all the walls were made out of stacks of every kind of book you could imagine. And then the bathroom floor was made out of Scrabble pieces. It was super cozy and I know it'd be the perfect place to go to on a rainy day. And apparently I had bangers and mash? (Sausage and mashed potatoes, oh they were very delicious!)

Then recently during the weekend, my friends and I decided to take a visit to Westminster. I went on the Eye while the rest of the group toured Buckingham Palace. The Eye was soooo worth it since it was such a nice view, but the queue was RIDICULOUS! It was about an hour long wait for a 25 minute ride, and it was super expensive but whatevs. I also stood behind the most adorable little kids, so that made the wait a bit more bearable. The only thing that is rather terrifying about the Eye is that you have to get on and off the ride while it is moving, yeah no me gusta. Then that Sunday we went to Camden Market, and it was pretty nice. It was a gloomy day to start off with though as it was raining steadily during our 15 minute walk there, which was kind of a bummer. But I got tons of cool stuff, including a couple sweet posters, a leopard scarf!!, a cute cropped tee, an awesome lime green chunky knit beret and a beautiful locket clock necklace which I have been obsessed with and wearing pretty much every day. Thennn I stayed for dinner and got a delicious spicy chicken and cheese quesadilla and got to sit on an old motorbike and people watch over the Camden Lock. I adore that place.

Me on the Eye

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the Eye

 

 The awesome seating area in Camden Lock at Camden Market

     Anyway, I've had a really good past week and a half. My friends and I have been frequenting Oxford Street quite a lot, which is always fun. We took a night walk just to check things out about a week and a half ago. It's really pretty when it's all lit up at night. Then the following Wednesday, me and a couple friends decided to go shopping on Oxford Street because we didn't have enough ______ (fill in the blank). Haha I decided that I needed another cardigan and of course came home with a shirt as well as a sweater. Oh well, it's Primark's fault for being so cheap and cute. Then we went out to dinner at this nice place called Spaghetti House (where they do actually serve other things besides spaghetti. Shocking I know!) I got some yummy pizza (what's new?) Thennn we went to Ben's Cookies, WHICH IS THE BEST PLACE EVER! I got a chocolate milkshake and a dark chocolate chunk cookie, oh boy, so good. And we tried to go into Forever 21, which was lush as they say here, but we got kicked out (rather rudely) cuz we had drinks *eye roll*

     Then this weekend I went to Dagenham (about a hour outside of central London) to visit my cousin! It was so much fun! After a bit of confusion on the trains, I finally made it there and we decided to take the (double-decker!!) bus into Romford to do a little browsing and go to dinner. We went to Ciao Bella (which means Hello/Goodbye Beautiful in Italian) and it was SO good! I had pizza again lol. Then we went bowling with my cousin, her girlfriend, and a couple of her friends, it was a good time. I didn't break 100 either game even though we had the bumpers up but I am okay with this fact. On Saturday we just chilled and stayed inside to watch some movies as it was kind of gross outside. We watched Bridesmaids which was amazing! (''No one can get anywhere in 3 seconds!'') Then we later watched Buried (with Ryan Reynolds, which was very good but really heartbreaking). Then yesterday we decided to check out the Thames Festival. On our way we passed the Tower of London (which was amazing) and even more amazing was the Tower Bridge!! (And later on we even saw the Millennium Bridge which was the bridge they used in Harry Potter, and I was super excited about that.) The festival itself was pretty cool, there was live music, and a bunch of tents with lots of different food and crafts. I got a sausage sandwich, the best chips I've ever had, and later on some churros and chocolate. I however wanted to buy most of the stuff we passed. We originally were going to stay late to watch the fireworks, but it started raining and we just didn't feel like getting soaked so we called it a night. I had a great weekend though. And Danielle's friend even said they were thinking of going to visit Portabello Market in London in the next couple weeks, so I'll probably end up meeting up with them again soon! :) I surprised myself with how easy it was for me to be thrown into a new group of people and only knowing one person, and I fit in surprisingly well! I was really proud of myself.

It's the bridge that the Dementors destroyed in the Harry Potter films!!!

No big deal or anything, just walking on the Tower Bridge...

My classes are going really well! I'm in love with my acting class, it has us doing the silliest assignments, but it's wonderful. The other day I was a nerd who was bullied on the way home from school lol. And I'm also really excited about my Creative Writing class! We had to do a cool assignment where we sat in a public place and wrote about our sensory experience and then made up stories about two of the people we saw. I love people-watching (that makes me sound creepy) so it was fun anyway. And then tomorrow for my Musical Theatre class we're going to our first show, Parade. So I'll let you know how good or bad it was.

And lastly, my friends and I are planning to go to a karaoke place sometime this week, which will be lots of fun!