Last week our entire program spent three days in Stratford-Upon-Avon... the town where Shakespeare lived. We saw three shows, all put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The first was Antony and Cleopatra, which, if I'm being honest, was kind of terrible. I know, who am I to judge the RSC, but I was just so bored. I just didn't think it was acted very well and the fact that the dress of the characters kept switching time periods confused the crap out of me. So, I was not expecting anything particularly wonderful when we saw Romeo and Juliet on the second night. It was fantastic!!!! They modernized the two main characters but left the rest traditional. The actors were ridiculously good, it was amazing to watch! This was the night, however, when catastrophe struck.
Okay, so you all remember the epic tale of that terrible phone that I got. Well, this night I have never hated that phone so much! So before the show, everyone is turning their phones off and I do the same. I even made a comment to one of the girls in my program about 'not being that girl' whose phone goes off in the middle of the production. So... about half way through the second act, the phone starts ringing. I just about fainted I was so mortified. I fumbled around in my bag and finally found it and hit as many buttons as I could get my hands on until it stopped ringing. About ten minutes later, it goes off again... of course. I shut if off again and put the phone under my thigh with my finger on the power button (for optimum shutting off speed). The show ended without the stupid thing going off again, and no one could really tell that it was mine, but I was still completely embarrassed and annoyed with myself for letting it happen. The next night, I took the battery out before the show... problem solved. The third day we saw the matinee of King Lear, which was alright. The acting was very good, impressive, but the show is three and a half hours long... and who can sit through that without wondering when the end will come.These first two pictures are from our trip, on the second day, to Anne Hathoway's Cottage (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress). It was English in idyllic in every sense of the word! The house was old and adorable and the gardens were absolutely beautiful, I had a really nice time!
Tonight we are sitting at dinner, a few housemates and I and a guy who one of them is seeing and I mention that I haven't gotten to drive a car. One of the goals that I made before coming to England was to get to drive a car... with the steering wheel on the wrong side! So the boy offered to let me drive his car after dinner! I was so excited... and I didn't even crash into anything! It was a little weird, because the stick shift was on the other side and my parking skills were a little off, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't trust myself enough, so I told him that I just wanted to drive around in a parking lot... but it was still wicked fun!!!
When we were walking home, the sun was setting and the Pultney Bridge looked so pretty, so I decided to take a picture of it. I love England and I'm really going to miss it, but I'm excited to see all of you when I get home!
Last week our entire program spent three days in Stratford-Upon-Avon... the town where Shakespeare lived. We saw three shows, all put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The first was Antony and Cleopatra, which, if I'm being honest, was kind of terrible. I know, who am I to judge the RSC, but I was just so bored. I just didn't think it was acted very well and the fact that the dress of the characters kept switching time periods confused the crap out of me. So, I was not expecting anything particularly wonderful when we saw Romeo and Juliet on the second night. It was fantastic!!!! They modernized the two main characters but left the rest traditional. The actors were ridiculously good, it was amazing to watch! This was the night, however, when catastrophe struck.
Okay, so you all remember the epic tale of that terrible phone that I got. Well, this night I have never hated that phone so much! So before the show, everyone is turning their phones off and I do the same. I even made a comment to one of the girls in my program about 'not being that girl' whose phone goes off in the middle of the production. So... about half way through the second act, the phone starts ringing. I just about fainted I was so mortified. I fumbled around in my bag and finally found it and hit as many buttons as I could get my hands on until it stopped ringing. About ten minutes later, it goes off again... of course. I shut if off again and put the phone under my thigh with my finger on the power button (for optimum shutting off speed). The show ended without the stupid thing going off again, and no one could really tell that it was mine, but I was still completely embarrassed and annoyed with myself for letting it happen. The next night, I took the battery out before the show... problem solved. The third day we saw the matinee of King Lear, which was alright. The acting was very good, impressive, but the show is three and a half hours long... and who can sit through that without wondering when the end will come.These first two pictures are from our trip, on the second day, to Anne Hathoway's Cottage (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress). It was English in idyllic in every sense of the word! The house was old and adorable and the gardens were absolutely beautiful, I had a really nice time!
Tonight we are sitting at dinner, a few housemates and I and a guy who one of them is seeing and I mention that I haven't gotten to drive a car. One of the goals that I made before coming to England was to get to drive a car... with the steering wheel on the wrong side! So the boy offered to let me drive his car after dinner! I was so excited... and I didn't even crash into anything! It was a little weird, because the stick shift was on the other side and my parking skills were a little off, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't trust myself enough, so I told him that I just wanted to drive around in a parking lot... but it was still wicked fun!!!
When we were walking home, the sun was setting and the Pultney Bridge looked so pretty, so I decided to take a picture of it. I love England and I'm really going to miss it, but I'm excited to see all of you when I get home!
