What to do when you enter the Great Hall...

So, it has been an eventful week. I can't believe how fast time is flying! Seriously, I thought I updated my blog like 2 days ago, but it has practically been a week...or it has been a week exactly. :) Anyway, so major events:

I can't remember exactly what day it was, but I think on Tuesday I was trying to get tickets to the Royal Opera for Le Nozze de Figaro, but it ended up being La Boheme. I was totally fine with that, I would love to see either one, but unfortunately, the opera is sold out...forever. Or something like that. There were tickets for somewhere over 100 pounds, but that's definitely not in my price range. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to go to the opera, but some of the girls with me wanted to see if there were any other cool shows near where the opera was. The Lion King was only down the street, so we went to get tickets, but they were completely sold out too. Rats. However, they did offer us standing room only tickets for 13 pounds. Hmmm...standing through an entire musical. That sounds enjoyable. :) I wasn't too excited, but decided that I should just try it. When would I ever get the chance to see Lion King (the musical, I'm sure I'll watch the movie many more times in my life), standing or not. So, not too excitedly, I got standing tickets to the Lion King. But much to my great delight, it was AMAZING!!!! Seriously, it opens with this amazing African singing and then giraffes wander onstage with the trademark Lion King sunset in the background. The costumes and sets were sooooooooooooo cooooooool!!!! I can't even describe how amazing they are. And the singing was so great also. Really, I shouldn't describe the performances on my blog because I just say "it was great, it was amazing, it was awesome", but it was! And you can ask me in person if you want me to ramble off all the cool things that I loved. Oh! And after intermission, I was able to get a seat, so that added significantly to my joy.

Then, on Wednesday, our group toured the Globe theater, a replica of the original theater that Shakespeare's plays were performed in. Our guide was really funny and told us all we could want to know about the globe. She also got me really excited to see plays there, because aside from being really well done, the actors interact with the audience because there are a ton of audience members standing around the stage (groundling tickets are only 5 pounds). Our guide also told us that a lot of funny things happen because of it being open air and an interesting set up. One time 2 huge helicopters hovered over the theater for several minutes and it was impossible to hear the actor, so he started just dancing around, doing a little jig, then miming things, all completely random. So choice. Hopefully something weird will happen when we see King Lear.

Wednesday night, on my strange spurt of proactivity, I got two girls together and we got tickets to Wicked! It was also amazing. I loved Glinda, she was HILARIOUS! Perfect comedic timing. And Elfaba was great. I loved all of her songs, well, except the love song. I just have to say, what is that? Probably the least romantic love song I've heard in a musical recently...or ever. They are like belting at each other, and it isn't ballad-y at all. Oh well, just my humble opinion. And everything else was really great.

Thursday, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon, the place where Shakespeare was born and lived. It was really cool to take a tour of Ann Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife) cottage and Shakespeare's birthplace. Shakespeare's birthplace was neat, but there were definitely random actors walking around who would bust into Shakespeare randomly. At times it was truly awkward and I didn't know how to respond, but there was one couple who did a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream, that was really good. We also got to watch The Merchant of Venice at the theater there. It was really good, although, I have to admit, I did doze for a while, but against my will! I tried so hard to stay awake, and the play was really good, I just couldn't fight the weak flesh anymore. Also, my friend got spit on by stupid boys that were on the balcony above us. Charming.

And last but not least this week, I went to Oxford with some friends from the program. It was roughly an hour train ride away from London. We got to see the Great Hall from Harry Potter and we got to see the tree that is supposedly where the Chesire cat would appear (it was the garden that Lewis Carroll wrote about in Alice in Wonderland) and we got a nice British chap for a great tour guide in the cathedral at Christ Church college (where we visited the aforementioned other stuff). Alright, that is the summary of my week. Rather eventful, and I'm sorry that it is more like a grocery list than an entertaining account of my time in London. I'll try to be more comedic. :) Love you!