Lottieda's Blog

August 10

August 13, 2009 at 9:38 pm (Uncategorized)

So Monday was a highly eventful day. The day overall was a big win though. Since my train ticket was the only one that was the individual ticket, Celina and I went to the Mantell building at around 10am to meet with Lesley (the other girl in our class) to switch with her since she still hadn’t built enough stamina to walk with us all day since she was really sick. Once we met Lesley, we had to meet up with Sarah and Eileen in front of York House at 10:30. Well since we had to finish getting some stuff from upstairs, we hiked up the hill for a few minutes and then returned to the bottom to York House.

We all agreed to bring our lunches so as to save money, so I woke up extra early to make sandwiches and collect all that we would need to have a readily available lunch. The dilemma we all faced was what to wear. We were going into London for the day, but the whole point was to see “As You Like It” performed at the Globe. We had to find a way to balance the effectiveness of attire to walk around all day while still looking a little more dressed up for the theatre at night. Somehow we all found a balance and were well on our way to London.

We walked over to Falmer train station and as we were approaching, we saw the train we wanted approaching. We all of course hustle since we had to go up the stairs and over to the other platform to catch it. Since the conductor saw us running he held the train for us. So on our very first endeavor; I started to get Rainbow burn on the balls of my feet from the friction of my sandals. Once we got on the train, we sat at one of the tables that seated four. There wasn’t much of a trip to the Brighton Station, but once we got on the train going to Victoria Station we were set. The trip takes about 45 minutes to get there so we spent a good while talking. Sarah had brought the articles required for the next day in class to read on the train. Since none of the other girls had read either, we decided to read them aloud. The language in these articles was very strange. In the one we read going to London, the letters were a bit out of the ordinary. The letter S looked like an f so that made it difficult, etcetera was an odd sign. The letter C looked like the & sign. Above all else, we were reading a text that condemned the theatre with this overly Christian ideology. It was really funny to hear the absurdities some of the really early antitheatricalists. We each took turns reading sections of the article. By the time we arrive to our destination, we had gotten through one full required reading.

Once in London, there was one place I needed to go. I had to go to the Hard Rock Café gift shop to get a couple of souvenirs. Since our travel ticket was an all encompassing ticket, we were able to ride the tube free as well as the train. It was awesome. The other girls obliged me to run this one errand. We went into the vault since Eileen and Sarah had never been. Since it was lunch time, we took a minute and ate lunch in Hyde Park. It was a really nice day. It was typical London, overcast and cool.

Prior to our trip, we had all agreed that we wanted to go to the British Museum. When we finished eating lunch, we made our way back to the tube to go to the Museum. On our way out of Hyde park, the archway in which we passed though was a Princess Diana Memorial. It was really cool since I just happened to be looking down at the ground and saw the plaque embedded in the cement. The arch was a beautiful gateway, but I would have passed through it unknowingly had I not stopped and read it. That was a really neat find.

When we arrived to the tube station we needed to get to the museum we climbed out of the tube, for it was truly full of people, and started walking. As we emerged, we saw the street signs pointing us in the direction we needed to walk. After a little while of walking, we ceased to see the signs that were guiding us. Instead of continuing to walk in unfamiliar territory, we pulled ourselves to the side of the sidewalk against a building to look at our map. We literally pulled out the map and opened it when an old man came up to us and asked us if he could help us find something. It was pleasantly shocking that that quickly someone was willing to help us and point us in the right direction. After thanking the man many times we walked the direction he told us to walk. Once we came to an intersection we thought he led us the wrong way. We later found out that if we continued to walk the way we were we would have walked right up to the gat, but instead we turned right. We pulled out the map and decided to continue to walk right. We arrived at another landmark building and found that the museum was to our left now. We finally walked up to a gentleman and asked him where it was. We walked in a big circle, but we found it. The museum was huge. It was also free. That was a really nice perk. We took a picture in front and went inside. Since we did not have all the time in the world to look, we picked the major things we wanted to see and went for it.

Inside, we saw the Rosetta Stone, a really old primitive cutting tool (the oldest thing in the museum), we touched 200yr old dolphin teeth trading strings, a half a million year old cutting tool (not the same one as the aforementioned cutting tool but we touched the recently mentioned cutting tool), we saw mummies (blech), we saw parts of the Parthenon, and much more. There were so many things crammed into such a small place it is impossible to take it all in in one day. Since we were meeting Lesley at 5 for dinner, we had enough time to go to Westminster Abbey and Parliament really briefly so that Eileen could see them since she had not seen them yet. On our trip over there, we paid it forward and helped a woman on the tube. She needed to get to a specific location and wanted to know how to get there. She actually had to switch trains at the same place we needed to so Celina and Sarah pointed her in the right direction and told her that she needed to get off the line at the same place we were. Once we were there wall 5 of us got off and the woman went her way and we went ours.

After visiting the Abbey and seeing Parliament, we went over to The Globe gift shop to get the things we wanted to buy prior to the show. It was a good thing too since the gift shop closes at 7:30 and that is when our performance started. After looking and scrambling for what we wanted, we realized Lesley had texted us and we missed it. We had to head over to Gabriel’s Wharf quickly. It was father than we thought it was from the Globe, but still relatively close. A thing to remember: I still have rainbow bur from my sandals in the morning. We walked as briskly as we cold to retrieve Lesley so that we could sit and enjoy our dinner. As we were entering the wharf, we smelled amazing pizza. So once Lesley was retrieved, we returned to the pizza restaurant on the corner. We sat outside since the weather was still agreeable. After looking the menu over; I got the gorgonzola and beet pizza. It was really good. It had spinach, beets, gorgonzola, ham, red onions and red sauce.

After dinner we went to the Globe. Once we were within the gates, it became real. It was so awesome; We walked up and touched the stage. We all took a picture together and, of course, our individual ones in front of the stage. All of my Shakespeare classes became real. I was starting to envision the players that had been on the stage and the feel of seeing the many plays I have read. I was imagining the way they would seem performed there. We were in the aristocrats’ seats. Apparently the school had never bought seats that high before so it was a real honor to be seated in the highest rank possible in the theatre. Right before the performance, the air was a little misty. It was kind of bad since I was wishing that it would rain on the groundlings.

The play was well performed. I was completely enraptured instantaneously. I was consumed by the words spoken, the costuming, the other audience members, and the atmosphere of the place. I might have inscribed a great deal of the atmosphere, but the play is one of the lightest comedies and was so well played that I forgot I was listening to Shakespearian language. The play was well incorporated with the audience. Many entrances and exits were done from within the groundlings. The audience was really invited in to the performance. An as noted by our instructor that they don’t usually do that so it was a real treat.

When the play was over, we walked over to the nearest train station. There was a train going to Brighton so we took it. We were all so tired that we were giggly and talking. We were sharing our experiences of the play and what we liked about it. We had re-distributed the articles that needed to be read the next day and were attempting to read them while talking. Then came the joy-kill. There was a creepy man that walked on to the train. He tried to sit next to me since we were in the 4 people seats. Lesley and Eileen sat on the other side so that one person wouldn’t have to sit alone. Since there was a seat available next to me, I put my feet up and so did Sarah and Celina. He came over and tried to sit next to me when there was an entire car of free spaces. He saw that all of us had our feet up and sat in the seat that was behind me. The seats behind me were facing the same direction as I was. He proceeded to sit up and hang on to the seat in front of him. He was listening to our conversation and was sitting a little too close to me. He was ogling at us and listening to everything we were saying. If you didn’t catch it before I was sitting by myself with him hovering over my shoulder. I was well aware of this and all the girls were trying to get my attention to tell me. He noticed this and then started to talk to us. He asked us who was paying us to talk to each other. He was hinting that we were so entertaining that someone had to be paying us. He tried to find out where we were from. Lesley took one for the team. He started talking and we started reading. He said that it was funny that a drunk guy on the train starts talking to us and we suddenly become more studious.

Like I said, Lesley took one for the team. He was talking and she responded. He kept asking her where in the states she was from and she told him about 8 times that she was from Holland. She didn’t care. She talked to him in a subtly confrontational way. None of us could really read and were listening so that if Lesley needed help, we were there. I was just praying that he did not ride the train to Brighton or try to take my off the train by pulling my hair or something. He was really that creepy. He, at one point was sticking his tongue out and it was right by my head. I was watching him by looking in the windows that were next to me. Celina was watching too. I think everyone was. He got off the train at the first stop. The tension was relieved by a huge sigh. We were all so glad that he left.

When we got in to Brighton Station, of course, the last train had left. We decided that splitting the tab of taking a cab was the best option since none of us wanted to walk to the bus stop and the night bus cost a pound more to ride than the day. We all piled in to a 5 person cab and rode to Falmer station. Lesley lives at Stanmer Court which is right next to the train station. We walked Eileen to York since she is at the bottom of our huge hill and then we hiked up to Norwich. It was a full day and I was tired. Overall a great day in London. I called my Mom, Lauren and Jake on Skype since they were all in one place and told them all about my day. When I crawled into bed, I crashed good thing my homework was done.