This update isn't nearly as awesome/detailed as the last one...
...because I was really shit about keeping up with it this week. I hope you can forgive me.
Day 11 - I was woken up by the sound of a lot of voices on my floor. I was confused until I actually began listening to what they were saying. They were all carrying luggage and moving into rooms.
My heart stopped. And my brain went, "NOOOOOOOO." I thought it was bizarre that I never saw anyone on my floor, but I was also very happy with how I was always able to use the bathroom and kitchen whenever I wanted and they always stayed clean. Now I knew why that was. They were loud and ridiculous and I knew something was up when I heard the following conversation:
Girl 1: Guys! What do we do now? What time is it? Does anyone have a watch?? ......What do we do now?!??!
Girl 2: ...Unpack?
Girl 1: ........................OHMYGOD, UNPACK!!!!!!!!
I had to get up anyway because I was meeting the girls to do some sightseeing, so I got ready and then stepped foot into my hallway. I walked by one of the rooms that was open and could see a girl sitting there on her computer. She saw me and said, "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!" We talked a bit her room (her's is just like mine, but on the other side of the floor) and then she told me that pretty much everyone on the floor was together and they had all come from the University of Maryland.
Me: Oh, cool! :D I'm from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Robin: Sweet! What year are you?
Me: I'm a senior. *says this like it is the obvious answer*
Robin: Woooooow! We're all first semester freshmen!!
Me: O_O *horrified*
So yeahhhhhhhhhhh. That's been interesting. I don't see them that often, but there are certain times of day that I always hear them because there's usually a group congregated in the kitchen for a bit as they make dinner. I don't want to judge, but they all do sound so much like first semester freshmen. And sometimes they can be up really late and they're all very enthusiastic about drinking. At the end of the night, the clinking sound of glass and aluminum into the recycling bins is epic. O_O
I don't like feeling like a snob, but the whole first semester freshman thing.......I've been there, I've done that, and I'm so unbelievably over it. And I don't really have an interest in befriending people like that. ....Man, that's so snobby of me. :( Oh well. It's the truth. If it happens, that's fine, but I'm not going to go out of my way to hang out with these 17/18 year olds on a regular basis. :\
Anyway, I walked over to my friends' house because we were going to see the changing of the guard. We ran a bit late and by the time we got there, there were already SOOOOO many people and we couldn't see a thing. Here's a hint: don't go see the changing of the guard. It is just a bunch of pomp and circumstance and it is so crowded and you can hardly see anything and I don't think it's worth it. I mean, if you guys reeeeeeally feel like it's an experience you want, then of course I will take you there, but.....I really don't think you guys would like it at all.
Since that failed, and we had already picked up lunch that we were going to eat whilst watching the changing of the guard, we instead went to Hyde Park and had a picnic!!!! This was absolutely a MUCH BETTER decision. It was so pretty and the sky was so blue and they were practicing an Elvis Tribute concert that I guess they're having at the end of the month. When we were done eating, we decided to walk around the park, and we found this huuuuuge lake that we had no idea was there. Judging by how many other people were there, though, we were obviously the only ones who didn't know XD We walked along it, taking pictures, watching people practice their dance-rollerblading on the pedestrian walkway thing and being amused by people in paddle boats. Coolidge was terrified of all the geese/swans/ducks and kept saying, "WHY ARE THESE PARENTS LETTING THEIR CHILDREN FEED THE BIRDS?!? DON'T THEY KNOW THAT BIRDS ARE DANGEROUS?!?!?" I realized that she is rather OCD and terrified of doing a lot of things because we wants to be safe. That's really not the kind of attitude I have about things, so it can get annoying at times, but that's okay.
We kept walking and found a gazebo that we took pictures in. Then we continued on and stumbled upon one side of the park that has these absolutely BEAUTIFUL gardens and fountains. It was all very Roman in its architecture and just......just GORGEOUS. Of course, the battery on my camera had started to die because I was silly and forgot to charge it, so I only have a couple of pictures, but hopefully you'll be able to see what I mean. It was unbelievably gorgeous.
It was around 4pm now and we had plans to go to the Thames Festival later in the evening, so we went home to do some work for a couple of hours.
Then around 7:30pm, we went down to the South Bank and watched a parade that they had. I'm not entirely sure what the theme was, but there were about.....15 different sets of floats and dancers. It wasn't like there were HUUUGE floats or anything, but they were just quaint things that different schools and small organizations had put together. It was really great. They were all either playing music out of loudspeakers or had a marching band. There were a lot of children in the parade with their parents or schools. Each one had a different theme or a different culture. One was Egyptian and they had tall, thin pyramids with different gods on the top that they pushed along. There was a band that was playing a salsa-ish melody and their float was a sugar skull. One was very French, with a life-sized Napoleon statue. One of them was an underwater theme. Another was very Alice in Wonderland-esque. The dresses they wore looks like saucers and their hates looks like teacups. And then, of course, there was the zombie one, that had a float with a haunted house built on it that a real life zombie bride was coming out of. They were playing Thriller and would stop and do the dance. In conclusion: IT WAS COMPLETELY AWESOME. Tons and toooons of fun.
When the parade ended, we knew that there were fireworks coming up, but we had to wait about an hour and 15 minutes. We took our place along the river, a place that we thought we would have a good view since that's where the fireworks were going to go off. MAAAAAAN, I wish I had charged my battery for my camera, because the view was absolutely AMAZING. The Thames, which is normally a pretty disgusting brown-ish color, looked really dark blue and there were lights from office buildings and I could see a bunch of what looked like blue Christmas lights strung along the trees across from me. And gahhhhh, the architecture everywhere is so great, so when it's lit up at night, it's even better.
While I was wrapped up in that, the girls were like, "What are we going to do for an hour+ until the fireworks start?!?" And they decided that singing songs from musicals was a good idea.
*copy & paste from earlier*
Me: O_O *horrified*
I like musicals, I really do. I like music, I like theatre, and I think they can be really effective when done well. But this was just toooooo muchhhhhhhhhh.
So, for an hour, I sat and listened to the girls sing songs from Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd, Mamma Mia, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, and the Producers. Oof. It was painful.
BUUUUT, luckily, the fireworks were TOTALLY WORTH IT. I was telling my friends about how, when everyone else was going through their fireworks phase when they were 10, that I somehow missed the boat on that. So it wasn't until this past 4th of July that it suddenly hit me that FIREWORKS ARE TOTALLY AWESOME. I reeeeeeally enjoyed them. They were really beautiful and had really looks. (LOLOL LAURA, THAT'S THE SAME THING, WAY TO GO.) Anyway, the paaaaaiinnn of listening to them sing for an hour was well worth the fireworks. :)
Then we headed back home!
Day 12 - I don't thiiiink I did much during the day, but I went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe!
I met up with my friends at the tube station, and then we walked over a walking bridge across the Thames which was absolutely AMAZINGLY beautiful. We met my professor at a pub called the Founders Arms and I got cider and chips (I am still resistant to try the fish). It was a lot of fun, and we met some dudes in our class. One of them is ABSURDLY attractive. Like, scruffy, with a great jawline and dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. We all know how I feel about bright blue eyes with dark hair. XD So yeah, that was kinda ridiculous. His name is........Aaron? I think? And then there was another kinda cute guy whose name is Daniel. He watched Shakespeare in Love in order to prepare for the performance. Not gonna lie - I lol'd. I think they all said they were business majors, so they were excited, but kind of nervous about seeing the show. People can get very easily intimidated by Shakespeare sometimes.
Then we made our way to the Globe and I had a standing ticket so I stood up for the first half. It was a very interesting experience. I had a hard time seeing things half the time, but when I could see, it was really engaging to be so close to the actors. Really fascinating experience. Then for the second half, I traded tickets with a classmate who was sitting during the first act. Sitting was an interesting experience in and of itself. While I felt that I could overall see things better, the sound was muffled and I sort of had to force myself to focus, I think. Still, it was awesome. Gahhhhh, it's so wonderful and refreshing to have Shakespeare done by actors and directors who know what they're doing. :D *Totally not a slight to Richmond Shakes.................>.> <.<*
Day 13 - Had my second British Life and Cultures class. We watched This is England, which I saw 3/4 of when..........Amanda?/Kaila? rented it. Sorry I don't remember who it was. :\ But it makes so much more sense having seen the first like 20 minutes now. XD Also, it's really fascinating with the historical/cultural context.
Then I came home and did some homework for awhile.
Then I went to go meet up with the lovely _faeriequeen for coffee/dinner. We went to Caffe Nerro and got coffee and talked about theatre-y things and she gave me a lot of cool tips on stuff I should do. And she explained the English school system to me because that's something I've never understood. XD We then went to dinner at Wagamama, mostly because jai_faim suggested it. XD And it was delicious! And the big news:
I ATE FISH! :O :O :O
For those of you who don't know, I have a ~thing~ about fish, or really any seafood. I am terrified of things that live in water, because, HELLO THEY ARE BREATHING WATER THAT IS NOT NATURAL. So I hate it for that reason. Plus, I had a bad experience where I had a big fit of vomiting in the middle of night after I had had a meal that had shrimp in it. My mom INSISTS that I was sick before the throwing up-ness, butttttt I don't remember being sick soooo I'm going to trust my very faulty memory on this. XD
So yeah, I haven't had any sort of seafood since I was about........7? Something like that? So yeah. 14 years. Shizzzz.
Anyway, it was interesting. I'm not entirely sure what the white fish was, but it was pretty good. I still did not care for the shrimp, though. :\ And there was also chicken in it, which was absolutely YUMMY. So, if I end up going back there, I would like to have something that just has the chicken, because I could've just eaten that the entire time. XD Nom nom nommmmm.
So yeah, that was tons of fun, and it was nice knowing that I actually know someone who lives here and has all sorts of helpful knowledge and is nice enough to share that knowledge. :P It makes me feel much more ~legit~ if you will. XD
Day 14 - This was a day full of class and work. Shakespeare class. Theatre class. I learned cool stuff, but nothing that I feel the need to blog about or ~pass on to the world~. Except that there is this absurdly attractive guy in my theatre class. Like, really. I don't think he exists, that's how attractive he is. People are only this attractive in movies. As one would expect thusly, he doesn't seem to have a whole lot going on in the ol' brain, but that's okay. And maybe that's just me making assumptions about him. We'll see.
Day 15 - I signed up for some fun sightseeing activities. I'm doing a Beatles walking tour which I am SUUUPER excited about. And a boat trip to Greenwich, which leads to the planetarium and the Prime Meridian!!! Since I'm sort of into the universe/stars/etc now, I'm very very very excited for this.
When I went to sign up for these things, the lady who was running it asked me what school I was from as part of my contact info and such. When she found out I was the only one from VCU, she asked me how I was doing, meeting other people and such. I told her that it had been hard at first, but that I've met some people that I've been hanging out with a lot, so that's nice. She told me about another student who's here by herself.....I don't quite remember what her name is, but I think it's something like Kelly Fitzpatrick, so I'm going to try and keep an eye out for her. I'm sure we can share similar experiences. And then Katie (the lady who was signing me up for this stuff) started looking through all of the other events to see if there were any other ones that she thought I could meet cool people through. She said, "Ohhh, it looks like some rather nice people are going to the rugby game!" And I was like, "Oh, really?? I had been thinking about signing up for the rugby game, so maybe I'll look into that further." And she paused and just went, "Here, why don't I........just sign you up for it right now. You're only one person, you're the only one from your school, you don't have to pay for it." And my face went all: :O!!!! THANK YOUUUUU!!! So yeah, not this coming Saturday, but the Saturday after that I get to go to a rugby game!!!!! So exciteddddd!!! And there will apparently be nice people and there will be beer and it sounds like it's just going to be a jolly good time. XD
Then in the evening, I went to see War Horse. SPOILER-ISH ALERT: It's a play about a boy who gets a horse and then brings up said horse and gets really attached to the horse. Then, the drunk dad sells the horse off to the military for use in WWI because it got him a lot of money. The boy is heartbroken, but is assured by one of the soldiers that the horse will be taken care of. But then BOOM, the soldier dies and the boy finds out, so THE BOY GOES TO WAR JUST TO LOOK FOR HIS BLOODY HORSE AND MAKE SURE HE'S SAFE.
So yeah. That's the premise.
Let me start by saying, I have NEVER been a fan of horse stories. I just......I have never liked them. I think it's because horse stories always involve the owner getting super attached and describing the horse like it has human traits and it's just always bothered me because IT'S A HORSE. IT'S JUST A HORSE.
I know that the things I complain about horse stories are the exact same things that I do to my cat, but for some reason, it's a lot more believable to me that someone would feel this way about a dog or a cat, but not about a horse. And I SUPER don't believe that anyone would feel strongly enough about a horse to GO TO FUCKING WAR FOR IT. Idk, idk, the whole plot just seemed very shaky to me.
On the bright side, they had this extremely cool way of depicting the horse. It was essentially a life-sized puppet that 3 men controlled. Two were in the body of the horse and worked its legs and tail, while another man controlled the head and neck. The horse was made out of wood and you could see its entire structure and it was just really fucking cool. There were a couple of horses that were like this and it was all super cool.
Also, it had a pretty cool set and were very good and finding different ways of establishing the setting while keep it minimalistic.
But I just could not get into it at all. Because the story was so absurd to me. And the main character bugged me. He's supposed to be this farm boy, but his physicality made it seem like he was more a dancer than a hard laborer. He was very spritely and light and feathery and spastic and I just felt that they could've kept some of it to convey what a ~free spirit~ he is, but he really needed to be more grounded and earthy to be believable. Idk, he really took me out of the show sometimes.
So yeah, it wasn't as good as Clybourne Park, but it was still very well done and I can understand why people would like it. It just wasn't my cup of tea. HERE END ZE SPOILERS
Day 16 - Went out with Amanda to the International Student House bar. We bonded toooooons. It was ridiculous. Fun times. But then it became awkward when some guys came up to us and both of them were hitting on Amanda and I was just sitting there. And then we got up to dance, and one of the guys danced with Amanda and the other one went off with a friend of his. And near the end of the night, they both gave her their numbers. And Guy #1 kept dancing with Amanda, so I would just dance all by myself and yeah. Awkward 3rd wheel. That was me.
Still, it was a lot of fun and I finally used the bus system and I'm digging it. I'm gonna have to do more research to find more routes back to my place.
Day 17 - Went to a pub/club called O'Neills. Live music. FUCKING AWESOME. I need to try and go to more concerts while I'm here because I always forget how much fucking fun I have. Other girls got on my nerves a bittttt this night for a couple of reasons. One reason was that they kept on getting all butthurt when people would bump into them and stuff when we were watching the band play. It was essentially like being at any other rock concert ever and having people all around you and many are drunk and they're bumping into you or whatever. You just gotta go with it, unless it gets violent, which it wasn't. They just obviously haven't been to many or any rock concerts and that's not their fault, but for me, it was kinda like, "Come onnnnnn guyyyyyys. This shit is awesome. So raw and awesome. Can't you see that and stop complaining about the person who keeps on sort of leaning next to you the entire time?!??" And then the other instance involved my experiences a week ago with Mr. Ben at the club. So, one of the girls in my group - Rebecca - ended up dancing with this one particular guy for most of the night and we were all very happy for her because he seemed like a really nice guy and not sketch at all. They even exchanged numbers and were planning to get together for a for realsies date.
On our way home, we all wanted to know what happened. Rebecca said that he wanted to kiss her, but that she refused. And then Amanda said, "Yeah!!! You tell him!! You tell him that you're a lady and you don't just kiss random guys you've just met!!" And Rebecca was like, "Well, yeah, I told him that I'm not ~that kinda girl~." And Amanda said, "Of course you're not! You're a lady."
And I was like: *whistles and twiddles thumbs and stays quiet*
It was awkward. For me. They didn't even realize what they were saying. As I told Mrudula, they had no malice in saying it and if I had brought it up, they would've just felt really bad and apologized a million times. And I don't care about an apology, because I believe they would be apologizing for offending me, but not for what they said. They're Good Catholic Girls and Good Catholic Girls just don't participate in such actions as kissing strangers, because.....I guess it messes with your purity?!? Or something?!? Idk.
So yeah. Those were two instances last night that kinda switched on a lightbulb in my head that said, "They are lovely girls and I would love to stay friends with them......but I need to continue branching out." I need to continue trying to find people who I have stuff in common with. Especially people who have similar ideas about ~life~ and ~lifestyles~. So yeah. I have no idea where to find those kinds of people, but I'll figure something out. If worse comes to worst, Adrian is coming in a week (!!!!!!!) so I'll have someone who I can identify with on a deeper level. Huzzah!
Day 18 - Participated in the Open House....thing, where a bunch of buildings open up their doors to the public. We went to the Foreign and Commonwealth Relations building or something along those lines. Oh dear, I should remember what it was actually called. :\ Um, and then we tried going to part of the BBC, but it was closed to the public, so we went to the Daily Express and just walked into the lobby. It was a pretty swanky lobby, though.
Then I came home and had some ~lady problems~ that made me feel not so well. (LOLOLOL SEE, I AM A LADY SINCE I AM HAVING LADY PROBLEMS.) And then I updated all of this. Rather shittily, but oh well.
Day 11 - I was woken up by the sound of a lot of voices on my floor. I was confused until I actually began listening to what they were saying. They were all carrying luggage and moving into rooms.
My heart stopped. And my brain went, "NOOOOOOOO." I thought it was bizarre that I never saw anyone on my floor, but I was also very happy with how I was always able to use the bathroom and kitchen whenever I wanted and they always stayed clean. Now I knew why that was. They were loud and ridiculous and I knew something was up when I heard the following conversation:
Girl 1: Guys! What do we do now? What time is it? Does anyone have a watch?? ......What do we do now?!??!
Girl 2: ...Unpack?
Girl 1: ........................OHMYGOD, UNPACK!!!!!!!!
I had to get up anyway because I was meeting the girls to do some sightseeing, so I got ready and then stepped foot into my hallway. I walked by one of the rooms that was open and could see a girl sitting there on her computer. She saw me and said, "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!" We talked a bit her room (her's is just like mine, but on the other side of the floor) and then she told me that pretty much everyone on the floor was together and they had all come from the University of Maryland.
Me: Oh, cool! :D I'm from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Robin: Sweet! What year are you?
Me: I'm a senior. *says this like it is the obvious answer*
Robin: Woooooow! We're all first semester freshmen!!
Me: O_O *horrified*
So yeahhhhhhhhhhh. That's been interesting. I don't see them that often, but there are certain times of day that I always hear them because there's usually a group congregated in the kitchen for a bit as they make dinner. I don't want to judge, but they all do sound so much like first semester freshmen. And sometimes they can be up really late and they're all very enthusiastic about drinking. At the end of the night, the clinking sound of glass and aluminum into the recycling bins is epic. O_O
I don't like feeling like a snob, but the whole first semester freshman thing.......I've been there, I've done that, and I'm so unbelievably over it. And I don't really have an interest in befriending people like that. ....Man, that's so snobby of me. :( Oh well. It's the truth. If it happens, that's fine, but I'm not going to go out of my way to hang out with these 17/18 year olds on a regular basis. :\
Anyway, I walked over to my friends' house because we were going to see the changing of the guard. We ran a bit late and by the time we got there, there were already SOOOOO many people and we couldn't see a thing. Here's a hint: don't go see the changing of the guard. It is just a bunch of pomp and circumstance and it is so crowded and you can hardly see anything and I don't think it's worth it. I mean, if you guys reeeeeeally feel like it's an experience you want, then of course I will take you there, but.....I really don't think you guys would like it at all.
Since that failed, and we had already picked up lunch that we were going to eat whilst watching the changing of the guard, we instead went to Hyde Park and had a picnic!!!! This was absolutely a MUCH BETTER decision. It was so pretty and the sky was so blue and they were practicing an Elvis Tribute concert that I guess they're having at the end of the month. When we were done eating, we decided to walk around the park, and we found this huuuuuge lake that we had no idea was there. Judging by how many other people were there, though, we were obviously the only ones who didn't know XD We walked along it, taking pictures, watching people practice their dance-rollerblading on the pedestrian walkway thing and being amused by people in paddle boats. Coolidge was terrified of all the geese/swans/ducks and kept saying, "WHY ARE THESE PARENTS LETTING THEIR CHILDREN FEED THE BIRDS?!? DON'T THEY KNOW THAT BIRDS ARE DANGEROUS?!?!?" I realized that she is rather OCD and terrified of doing a lot of things because we wants to be safe. That's really not the kind of attitude I have about things, so it can get annoying at times, but that's okay.
We kept walking and found a gazebo that we took pictures in. Then we continued on and stumbled upon one side of the park that has these absolutely BEAUTIFUL gardens and fountains. It was all very Roman in its architecture and just......just GORGEOUS. Of course, the battery on my camera had started to die because I was silly and forgot to charge it, so I only have a couple of pictures, but hopefully you'll be able to see what I mean. It was unbelievably gorgeous.
It was around 4pm now and we had plans to go to the Thames Festival later in the evening, so we went home to do some work for a couple of hours.
Then around 7:30pm, we went down to the South Bank and watched a parade that they had. I'm not entirely sure what the theme was, but there were about.....15 different sets of floats and dancers. It wasn't like there were HUUUGE floats or anything, but they were just quaint things that different schools and small organizations had put together. It was really great. They were all either playing music out of loudspeakers or had a marching band. There were a lot of children in the parade with their parents or schools. Each one had a different theme or a different culture. One was Egyptian and they had tall, thin pyramids with different gods on the top that they pushed along. There was a band that was playing a salsa-ish melody and their float was a sugar skull. One was very French, with a life-sized Napoleon statue. One of them was an underwater theme. Another was very Alice in Wonderland-esque. The dresses they wore looks like saucers and their hates looks like teacups. And then, of course, there was the zombie one, that had a float with a haunted house built on it that a real life zombie bride was coming out of. They were playing Thriller and would stop and do the dance. In conclusion: IT WAS COMPLETELY AWESOME. Tons and toooons of fun.
When the parade ended, we knew that there were fireworks coming up, but we had to wait about an hour and 15 minutes. We took our place along the river, a place that we thought we would have a good view since that's where the fireworks were going to go off. MAAAAAAN, I wish I had charged my battery for my camera, because the view was absolutely AMAZING. The Thames, which is normally a pretty disgusting brown-ish color, looked really dark blue and there were lights from office buildings and I could see a bunch of what looked like blue Christmas lights strung along the trees across from me. And gahhhhh, the architecture everywhere is so great, so when it's lit up at night, it's even better.
While I was wrapped up in that, the girls were like, "What are we going to do for an hour+ until the fireworks start?!?" And they decided that singing songs from musicals was a good idea.
*copy & paste from earlier*
Me: O_O *horrified*
I like musicals, I really do. I like music, I like theatre, and I think they can be really effective when done well. But this was just toooooo muchhhhhhhhhh.
So, for an hour, I sat and listened to the girls sing songs from Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd, Mamma Mia, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, and the Producers. Oof. It was painful.
BUUUUT, luckily, the fireworks were TOTALLY WORTH IT. I was telling my friends about how, when everyone else was going through their fireworks phase when they were 10, that I somehow missed the boat on that. So it wasn't until this past 4th of July that it suddenly hit me that FIREWORKS ARE TOTALLY AWESOME. I reeeeeeally enjoyed them. They were really beautiful and had really looks. (LOLOL LAURA, THAT'S THE SAME THING, WAY TO GO.) Anyway, the paaaaaiinnn of listening to them sing for an hour was well worth the fireworks. :)
Then we headed back home!
Day 12 - I don't thiiiink I did much during the day, but I went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe!
I met up with my friends at the tube station, and then we walked over a walking bridge across the Thames which was absolutely AMAZINGLY beautiful. We met my professor at a pub called the Founders Arms and I got cider and chips (I am still resistant to try the fish). It was a lot of fun, and we met some dudes in our class. One of them is ABSURDLY attractive. Like, scruffy, with a great jawline and dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. We all know how I feel about bright blue eyes with dark hair. XD So yeah, that was kinda ridiculous. His name is........Aaron? I think? And then there was another kinda cute guy whose name is Daniel. He watched Shakespeare in Love in order to prepare for the performance. Not gonna lie - I lol'd. I think they all said they were business majors, so they were excited, but kind of nervous about seeing the show. People can get very easily intimidated by Shakespeare sometimes.
Then we made our way to the Globe and I had a standing ticket so I stood up for the first half. It was a very interesting experience. I had a hard time seeing things half the time, but when I could see, it was really engaging to be so close to the actors. Really fascinating experience. Then for the second half, I traded tickets with a classmate who was sitting during the first act. Sitting was an interesting experience in and of itself. While I felt that I could overall see things better, the sound was muffled and I sort of had to force myself to focus, I think. Still, it was awesome. Gahhhhh, it's so wonderful and refreshing to have Shakespeare done by actors and directors who know what they're doing. :D *Totally not a slight to Richmond Shakes.................>.> <.<*
Day 13 - Had my second British Life and Cultures class. We watched This is England, which I saw 3/4 of when..........Amanda?/Kaila? rented it. Sorry I don't remember who it was. :\ But it makes so much more sense having seen the first like 20 minutes now. XD Also, it's really fascinating with the historical/cultural context.
Then I came home and did some homework for awhile.
Then I went to go meet up with the lovely _faeriequeen for coffee/dinner. We went to Caffe Nerro and got coffee and talked about theatre-y things and she gave me a lot of cool tips on stuff I should do. And she explained the English school system to me because that's something I've never understood. XD We then went to dinner at Wagamama, mostly because jai_faim suggested it. XD And it was delicious! And the big news:
I ATE FISH! :O :O :O
For those of you who don't know, I have a ~thing~ about fish, or really any seafood. I am terrified of things that live in water, because, HELLO THEY ARE BREATHING WATER THAT IS NOT NATURAL. So I hate it for that reason. Plus, I had a bad experience where I had a big fit of vomiting in the middle of night after I had had a meal that had shrimp in it. My mom INSISTS that I was sick before the throwing up-ness, butttttt I don't remember being sick soooo I'm going to trust my very faulty memory on this. XD
So yeah, I haven't had any sort of seafood since I was about........7? Something like that? So yeah. 14 years. Shizzzz.
Anyway, it was interesting. I'm not entirely sure what the white fish was, but it was pretty good. I still did not care for the shrimp, though. :\ And there was also chicken in it, which was absolutely YUMMY. So, if I end up going back there, I would like to have something that just has the chicken, because I could've just eaten that the entire time. XD Nom nom nommmmm.
So yeah, that was tons of fun, and it was nice knowing that I actually know someone who lives here and has all sorts of helpful knowledge and is nice enough to share that knowledge. :P It makes me feel much more ~legit~ if you will. XD
Day 14 - This was a day full of class and work. Shakespeare class. Theatre class. I learned cool stuff, but nothing that I feel the need to blog about or ~pass on to the world~. Except that there is this absurdly attractive guy in my theatre class. Like, really. I don't think he exists, that's how attractive he is. People are only this attractive in movies. As one would expect thusly, he doesn't seem to have a whole lot going on in the ol' brain, but that's okay. And maybe that's just me making assumptions about him. We'll see.
Day 15 - I signed up for some fun sightseeing activities. I'm doing a Beatles walking tour which I am SUUUPER excited about. And a boat trip to Greenwich, which leads to the planetarium and the Prime Meridian!!! Since I'm sort of into the universe/stars/etc now, I'm very very very excited for this.
When I went to sign up for these things, the lady who was running it asked me what school I was from as part of my contact info and such. When she found out I was the only one from VCU, she asked me how I was doing, meeting other people and such. I told her that it had been hard at first, but that I've met some people that I've been hanging out with a lot, so that's nice. She told me about another student who's here by herself.....I don't quite remember what her name is, but I think it's something like Kelly Fitzpatrick, so I'm going to try and keep an eye out for her. I'm sure we can share similar experiences. And then Katie (the lady who was signing me up for this stuff) started looking through all of the other events to see if there were any other ones that she thought I could meet cool people through. She said, "Ohhh, it looks like some rather nice people are going to the rugby game!" And I was like, "Oh, really?? I had been thinking about signing up for the rugby game, so maybe I'll look into that further." And she paused and just went, "Here, why don't I........just sign you up for it right now. You're only one person, you're the only one from your school, you don't have to pay for it." And my face went all: :O!!!! THANK YOUUUUU!!! So yeah, not this coming Saturday, but the Saturday after that I get to go to a rugby game!!!!! So exciteddddd!!! And there will apparently be nice people and there will be beer and it sounds like it's just going to be a jolly good time. XD
Then in the evening, I went to see War Horse. SPOILER-ISH ALERT: It's a play about a boy who gets a horse and then brings up said horse and gets really attached to the horse. Then, the drunk dad sells the horse off to the military for use in WWI because it got him a lot of money. The boy is heartbroken, but is assured by one of the soldiers that the horse will be taken care of. But then BOOM, the soldier dies and the boy finds out, so THE BOY GOES TO WAR JUST TO LOOK FOR HIS BLOODY HORSE AND MAKE SURE HE'S SAFE.
So yeah. That's the premise.
Let me start by saying, I have NEVER been a fan of horse stories. I just......I have never liked them. I think it's because horse stories always involve the owner getting super attached and describing the horse like it has human traits and it's just always bothered me because IT'S A HORSE. IT'S JUST A HORSE.
I know that the things I complain about horse stories are the exact same things that I do to my cat, but for some reason, it's a lot more believable to me that someone would feel this way about a dog or a cat, but not about a horse. And I SUPER don't believe that anyone would feel strongly enough about a horse to GO TO FUCKING WAR FOR IT. Idk, idk, the whole plot just seemed very shaky to me.
On the bright side, they had this extremely cool way of depicting the horse. It was essentially a life-sized puppet that 3 men controlled. Two were in the body of the horse and worked its legs and tail, while another man controlled the head and neck. The horse was made out of wood and you could see its entire structure and it was just really fucking cool. There were a couple of horses that were like this and it was all super cool.
Also, it had a pretty cool set and were very good and finding different ways of establishing the setting while keep it minimalistic.
But I just could not get into it at all. Because the story was so absurd to me. And the main character bugged me. He's supposed to be this farm boy, but his physicality made it seem like he was more a dancer than a hard laborer. He was very spritely and light and feathery and spastic and I just felt that they could've kept some of it to convey what a ~free spirit~ he is, but he really needed to be more grounded and earthy to be believable. Idk, he really took me out of the show sometimes.
So yeah, it wasn't as good as Clybourne Park, but it was still very well done and I can understand why people would like it. It just wasn't my cup of tea. HERE END ZE SPOILERS
Day 16 - Went out with Amanda to the International Student House bar. We bonded toooooons. It was ridiculous. Fun times. But then it became awkward when some guys came up to us and both of them were hitting on Amanda and I was just sitting there. And then we got up to dance, and one of the guys danced with Amanda and the other one went off with a friend of his. And near the end of the night, they both gave her their numbers. And Guy #1 kept dancing with Amanda, so I would just dance all by myself and yeah. Awkward 3rd wheel. That was me.
Still, it was a lot of fun and I finally used the bus system and I'm digging it. I'm gonna have to do more research to find more routes back to my place.
Day 17 - Went to a pub/club called O'Neills. Live music. FUCKING AWESOME. I need to try and go to more concerts while I'm here because I always forget how much fucking fun I have. Other girls got on my nerves a bittttt this night for a couple of reasons. One reason was that they kept on getting all butthurt when people would bump into them and stuff when we were watching the band play. It was essentially like being at any other rock concert ever and having people all around you and many are drunk and they're bumping into you or whatever. You just gotta go with it, unless it gets violent, which it wasn't. They just obviously haven't been to many or any rock concerts and that's not their fault, but for me, it was kinda like, "Come onnnnnn guyyyyyys. This shit is awesome. So raw and awesome. Can't you see that and stop complaining about the person who keeps on sort of leaning next to you the entire time?!??" And then the other instance involved my experiences a week ago with Mr. Ben at the club. So, one of the girls in my group - Rebecca - ended up dancing with this one particular guy for most of the night and we were all very happy for her because he seemed like a really nice guy and not sketch at all. They even exchanged numbers and were planning to get together for a for realsies date.
On our way home, we all wanted to know what happened. Rebecca said that he wanted to kiss her, but that she refused. And then Amanda said, "Yeah!!! You tell him!! You tell him that you're a lady and you don't just kiss random guys you've just met!!" And Rebecca was like, "Well, yeah, I told him that I'm not ~that kinda girl~." And Amanda said, "Of course you're not! You're a lady."
And I was like: *whistles and twiddles thumbs and stays quiet*
It was awkward. For me. They didn't even realize what they were saying. As I told Mrudula, they had no malice in saying it and if I had brought it up, they would've just felt really bad and apologized a million times. And I don't care about an apology, because I believe they would be apologizing for offending me, but not for what they said. They're Good Catholic Girls and Good Catholic Girls just don't participate in such actions as kissing strangers, because.....I guess it messes with your purity?!? Or something?!? Idk.
So yeah. Those were two instances last night that kinda switched on a lightbulb in my head that said, "They are lovely girls and I would love to stay friends with them......but I need to continue branching out." I need to continue trying to find people who I have stuff in common with. Especially people who have similar ideas about ~life~ and ~lifestyles~. So yeah. I have no idea where to find those kinds of people, but I'll figure something out. If worse comes to worst, Adrian is coming in a week (!!!!!!!) so I'll have someone who I can identify with on a deeper level. Huzzah!
Day 18 - Participated in the Open House....thing, where a bunch of buildings open up their doors to the public. We went to the Foreign and Commonwealth Relations building or something along those lines. Oh dear, I should remember what it was actually called. :\ Um, and then we tried going to part of the BBC, but it was closed to the public, so we went to the Daily Express and just walked into the lobby. It was a pretty swanky lobby, though.
Then I came home and had some ~lady problems~ that made me feel not so well. (LOLOLOL SEE, I AM A LADY SINCE I AM HAVING LADY PROBLEMS.) And then I updated all of this. Rather shittily, but oh well.