The Faith Machine

{The Faith Machine at the Royal Court}

I love all my classes here in London, but I am really enjoying my theatre class.  Tonight we went to our third show and saw “The Faith Machine” by Alexi Kaye Campbell at the Royal Court Theatre and it was AMAZING, completely brilliant.  I literally just got back from the show and it was by far my favorite play that we have read/seen/talked about so far. The Royal Court Theatre opened in 1955 and has been called the most important theatre in Europe because they are dedicated to showing new work by innovative writers from all over the world.  “The Faith Machine” is no exception; this is its first run with its last performance on Saturday.  The play challenges so many controversial issues of faith, religion, rights, and love.  It was relatively long (2hr 40min) with two 15-minute intermissions, and at each one my friend Chanté and I could not stop talking about the show.  I left the theatre just wanting to sit down and discuss everything it addresses (hence probably why I immediately wrote this post).  The show really gets you to think about what it is you believe in it and why you do.  It uses gay rights, Christianity and capitalism all worked into love to challenge you into answering why do you feel the way you do and what are you going to do about it? Because that defines who you are, and that’s the fundamental question. It discusses the evolution of our ideas and ideals, how we live in this world, should we give a damn about others or just try to make a living for ourselves? Why believe in one thing over the other, what pushes us to choose one over the other?  That makes us answer the fundamental question which shapes and changes this world we have to live in,

Who are you?

On a side note, today I have been here a month. A MONTH. I have mixed feelings about that, but I’m loving everything.

Happy Birthday Grandmom!

{When she was slightly younger}

I want to wish a very happy 84^th birthday to one of the people I admire most in this world, my Grandmom. She’s had such a big impact on my life, and I could only hope to be as wonderful as she is. And she might even see this post, because my grandpop and her are surprisingly pretty tech savvy (Even if they only got LSD last year. Woops, I mean DSL). Happy Birthday!

Celebrations

{Birthday morning mimosas}

On Tuesday all of my fellow Drexel students made my birthday very special, I will definitely remember it.  My only class of the day was our Drexel class and everyone sang to me when I walked in the door, which was probably my favorite part of the day.  Everyone continued to celebrate with me throughout the day, which was so very nice considering these people have only known me for three weeks.  To continue my celebrations of being twenty I’ve been up to a lot this week, here are some pictures of the past few days. Tomorrow I’m off to Greenwich Market and I fully intend on buying myself a birthday present :)

{Birthday lunch}

{These lovely girls went out to a pub with me}

{London Eye}

{View from the London Eye}

{Front row seats at London Fashion Weekend. My favorite look from the catwalk}

{Arsenal game-SO much fun}

P.S. Happy 21st Birthday to my friend Analis who's currently at Oktoberfest!

Birthday Wishes

{Six year old me, my grandpop, my sister}

Today is my birthday; I'm twenty on the twentieth.  It's hard to believe everything that I've been through these past twenty years.  Between all the good and bad I'm truly thankful for all my wonderful friends and family.  Now, I love birthdays, just not mine.  But I'm in London this year and I figure that alone beats everything I've ever done for my birthday.  So my flatmates and I are starting the day off right with mimosas before our 8:30am class that we have to give presentations in.  Then I'm going to see where this brilliant city takes me. Cheers to a beautifully buzzed London birthday!

{Me, my cousin Becca and my sister Eliza}

{My wonderful friends}

{Eliza and me on my 19th birthday}

Disclaimer: Last year I had a truly wonderful birthday thanks to a few people who I love.

The First of Many Travels

{Sheep in the countryside}

Last Saturday FIE sponsored free trips for us to see Stonehenge and the city of Bath, our first travel outside of London. Watching the English countryside roll by as we traveled there was beautiful.  Stonehenge was definitely something I wanted to see myself but it was freezing and windy and there really isn’t much to see so we made that stop quick.  Our tour guide told us about an excavation National Geographic did near Stonehenge that sounded more intriguing than Stonehenge. Click the link to learn more. The city of Bath was gorgeous and it happened to be Jane Austen day so there were many people running around dressed up for it. The Roman baths were very cool to see, the roman engineering was impressing.  I wish we could have spent more time there because I didn’t really get the opportunity to walk around and explore its treasures, perhaps I’ll get to go back!

{Group of us at Stonehenge}

{Stonehenge}

{Bath Abbey}

{The Roman Baths}

 

{The Great Bath}

{The wishing well. People have been making wishes here for hundreds of years-I hope mine comes true}

{People dressed up for Jane Austen Day}

{Pretty park with a band playing}

{English countryside; the blue gray in the distance is Wales}

Shakespeare's London

{The Globe Theatre}

I have been doing so much in London, that I can’t possibly talk about it all now.  My favorite thing from that past week is getting acquainted with Shakespeare’s London.  For my Shakespeare and Elizabethan Literature class we went on a walking tour and saw places where Shakespeare lived, worshiped, worked, and went.  Also, we saw things that were there when he lived that would have affected his life.  Then on Friday we ended the week by seeing a play at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre.  This is a recreation of the theatre, but an exact recreation.  We saw the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe; Marlowe lived around the same time of Shakespeare and was very influential on him.  The Globe was gorgeous and a extremely cool experience, the acting was wonderful, I felt like I was in a different world.  It reminded me of the renaissance fair, it made me want to eat a turkey leg and go watch the mud fights.  If you’ve never been to the renaissance fair and don’t know what I’m talking about check out the Pennsylvania or Maryland Renaissance fair, it is a lot of fun.  Everyone should try to experience seeing a play at the Globe if they can, and I suggest standing, not sitting.  I am so happy I got to see a play there and my class is going back to see Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare in a few weeks!

{The oldest thing in London, from the bridge that was around in Shakespeare's time. My teacher made us all touch it.}

{The church that Shakespeare would of had to attend or risk persecution.}

{Cross Bones Graveyard, extremely sad and creepy.}

{This was found recently by accident; it was never included on any maps.}

{The only remnants of the real globe.}

{Dr. Faustus!}

{Crazy globe hats people were wearing.}

{Beautiful}

A Walk Through the Park

{Welcome to Kensington Gardens}

The weather feels like early autumn here and there were a couple of nice days in the low 70s recently so I took advantage of it and took a long walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park regardless of the pile of homework awaiting me. Both parks are gorgeous and add such a nice quality to the city.  I love how much green there is here even though it is a large city.  We were told they act as everyone’s backyard because their houses don’t actually have them and they really do. Take a stroll through the park with me, You and I will enjoy it..

{Flower Walk}

{Round pond in Kensington Gardens}

{Seven swans a-swimming...and sleeping}

{Dogs do not have to be on leads}

{Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park}

{These bicycle docks are all over the city. As long as you dock them at any dock within 30 minutes they are free to use! Just dock and take a different one.}

On a side note, I'm currently obsessed with this song:

The Royal and the Rain

{Buckingham Palace}

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Buckingham Palace.  We intended on seeing the changing of the guard but got there too late for a good viewing spot. (We were all out late Friday night. We had a wonderful time at a local pub, and I had my first negroni* which was delicious.) I’m going to go back to actually see the changing of the guard. We did however tour the Royal Mews and the state rooms in the palace.  Everything was gorgeous and I got to see Duchess Catherine’s wedding dress, which was even more beautiful in person.  Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside the palace so you will just have to make the trip yourselves to see it.  I also went to the Thames festival, but unfortunately it was raining when I got there and it is hard to walk in a crowd with an umbrella.  There was a market, I got a present for one of my best friends, and I ate a Venezuelan cornbread sandwich, an arepa. Albeit the rain, we managed to have a good time.  There was a parade as well that I can only describe as being a mix of the Mummers parade and Mardi Gras.  It was extremely fun and festival, I hope everyone had just a good weekend.

{Little girl admiring a coach at the Royal Mews}

{The Coach William and Kate rode in at their wedding}

{The Gold State Coach}

{Unbelievable in person. It takes 8 horses to pull it and even then it only moves at walking pace}

{Me in front of Buckingham Palace}

{The Royal Gardens at the Palace}

{The London Eye}

{Big Ben}

{A stall at the festival market}

{This is only a small portion of the large amount of beautiful graffiti under a bridge that ran along the festival}

{Hair pieces at the market}

{Venezuelan arepas}

{Thames river at night}

{Festival Carnival (parade)}

{Dancers in the carnival}

{Shot of the Thames at night. Picture courtesy of Alex}

*Words of the wise, don’t order this unless you can take strong drinks.