Getting back into the swing of things has been fairly difficult; I’ve been procrastinating a lot (it doesn’t help that some of the most boring reading was due the two weeks following spring break). But–mom, dad, grammy–don’t worry, I am getting my work done.
Last week was a double-whammy of theatre, with Richard II on tuesday and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other on wednesday. The former was pretty interesting in the scenography and the directorial choice to make Richard flamboyantly gay. The latter was intellectually interesting as an experiment, but not so interesting while watching it: one hour and forty minutes without a single utterance of coherent dialogue. What’s worse, some characters made babbling noises instead of speech. If you’re going to have a wordless play, do that, don’t create a non-language. I was pre-disposed to dislike the play anyway, as a lover of words, yes, but also because it reminded me of “Emotional Baggage,” Ocean Lake’s one-act play that beat mine at districts junior year. Yeah, I hold a grudge.
Thursday and Friday of last week were two of the most beautiful days I’ve experienced in London yet: warm weather, sun shining, spring! Friday I went running along the South Bank from Westminster to London Bridge then went shopping at the Borough food market near there. I’m such an easy target: bread, pastries, and the occasional delicious fruit/veg/smoothie. I, of course, ate all that I bought within two days . . . two delicious days. I also went to Regent’s Park to do some reading, laying in the grass (the secret garden was closed AGAIN), it was so lovely. Then the temperature dropped and it snowed fairly heavily two days later. It’s still cold, but it’s warming up a bit, sunny at least.
I kind of hibernated this weekend, but Saturday, Brittany and I reveled in our dorkdom and watched Doctor Who LIVE the first time it aired in the world. It was the first episode of the fourth season, and we had a blast watching it. I also re-watched almost the entire series of How I Met Your Mother this weekend, and Melissa kept hearing me laughing, decided she should watch this show, and now she’s hooked. To which I say: woot! It’s a great show with not enough viewership. So now I’ve done my part.
This morning, I played some football with three other guys (two of whom are the student life coordinators for the program). 2 v 2 is tough work, lots of running back to goal and forward to offense. But I kept up with the guys, even if we all had moments we thought we’d just drop. I’m pleasantly sore, bruised, and tired; I love it.
Oh, and I signed up for classes yesterday:
God since Cinema, Womens lives in myth and reality, ENGL 381, and Jewish American Fiction. I’ll also be taking my first Distinguished Majors Seminar next semester (2nd in the spring). And with these classes, I’ll just have to take my second Mod Stud seminar in the Spring (and aforementioned Distinguised Majors sem) to complete my major. woot. THough I also really wanted to take a Freud and Literature class from the German dept., but my advisor rightly thought that might be a bit too much to take on. Maybe I’ll audit it . . .
I’ll be going to Cornwall this weekend for my HOST visit (staying with a 65-year-old widow in Penzance, to experience some “real” life in England). I’m excited. Everyone who’s gone on a HOST visit has loved it. It’s going to be legen–wait for it, and I hope no one’s lactose intolerant because the next syllables are DAIRY. Legendary. (I had to get a HIMYM quote in here somewhere.)
