Today was the first day of classes. I hadn’t gotten quite as much sleep as I would have liked, so I was a bit tired in the morning. I got up and made scrambled eggs with onions for breakfast, and later a precious American peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I didn’t have anything scheduled till 2pm, so I spent the morning cooking and chatting and looking up all the places I want to see. I can’t wait to start traveling.
At 2, we had another orientation, this time a “cultural orientation.” Some of it was interesting, but honestly, I had to fight to stay awake. The room was WAY too warm, and though the British liaison people did have some valuable cultural information for us, most of what they said was just a repeat of other orientations, or we had already figured out. I guess they didn’t realize that 4 days was plenty of time for us to discover that most Brits aren’t too keen on large groups of American students. We did get some helpful hints though, including suggestions to go out in smaller groups or pairs to meet people, and that the English buy rounds of drinks versus placing individual orders. Disappointingly, they informed us that our free Fridays weren’t as free as we had previously thought. Many have scheduled activities that we need to be at and even get graded for attending. For many of us, this was really a shock, as we had already been making plans for 3 or even 4 day travel to other cities and countries. Looks like I won’t be doing nearly as much travel as I had hoped. I really wish they had given us this information earlier.
After the orientation (finally) ended, my first class started, London Theater. The professor seems very knowledgeable and excited and I’m looking forward to this class. Basically, it sounds like we’ll be going to and reading plays outside of class, then discussing them in class. The professor gave us some background on some of the shows we will be seeing, so I’m extremely excited about this class and the plays we will be seeing.
After dinner, we all made our way to the Gloucester Road Tube Station, and took the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus. There, we came out of the station just under the statue of Pan, right next to the Criterion Theater, where we had tickets to see “The 39 Steps.” The play is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock’s old horror movie, which is in turn a recreation of someone else’s novel. The production was really incredible. 4 actors played over a hundred characters, so there was plenty of comedic effect just with the constant changing of characters. The play has a lot of wonderful, classic slapstick humor as well. The lead actor, who only has one character, was incredible (he sort of looked and acted similar to a young Cary Elwes, like in "Men in Tights"). The leading lady, who plays 3 characters, was also amazing, and switched seamlessly from Russian spy to country bumpkin to blonde heroine. The remaining two actors each played literally dozens of characters, and were really truly phenomenal. I especially loved the parts when one man would play 2 or 3 roles, talking to himself and switching hats or props to convey different characters. Memorizing lines and blocking must have been quite a feat.
After the show, we all returned to the flat and I was so hungry I just had to make some pasta. I spent some time chatting with friends before bed. Some of the girls in my flat are becoming quite close friends, and I am beginning to truly value their company, and I’m excited to get to know them more. Time now to drug myself with Tylenol PM and get to bed! Two classes tomorrow!
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