Last weeks in England :(

     So I last left you at the Globe.  We moved on to Surrey, England for our home stays.  Home stays were probably everyone's favorite time in relation to bed and bathroom accommodations as well as food... most of us had not had a home-cooked meal for over a month.We moved to house stays, since there were a limited amount of families, the range of students with one family went from 1 student to 4 students. 

Kristina our house 'mum'
(I was chewing my bagel in this pic...)

I shared a house mum, Kristina, with Rachel.  Kristina had a cat named Pansy who was the most adorable calico >^_^<.  She bought bagels for Rachel and I to eat for breakfast, but it was really adorable because she had never eaten a bagel before.  Rachel and I got to breakfast and she was all excited to show us that she bought bagels, but had never 'made a bagel before' so she asked us how to 'make' a bagel.  She popped them in the oven and toasted them for us and we had toasted bagels with peanut butter and honey :) while she stuck with her usual toast and tea in the morning.  I miss toast and tea :(

The Group in Surrey

While we were at house stays, during the day we were at Claremont, the English version of Principia lower to upper school.  Here we taught Shakespeare ( A Mid Summer Nights Dream) to 5th and 6th years.... which is the equivalent to I think 4th and 5th graders.  They were ADORABLE!!!  One girl told me that she loved my accent... I was taken aback and told her that I loved hers.  We were also asked multiple times if we would come back next week. :)

Working with Claremont Kids

Once we left house stays, we made our way to Stratford upon Avon and Shakespeare's birthplace.  Along with doing some more character research at the BT (Birthplace Trust) we had lectures and workshops about the seven different shows we would be seeing at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Swan theatres.  We even had talk backs with an actor from each play... Scott Handy, by far the coolest because he's been in movies like A Knights Tale and The Patrick Stewart version of Macbeth.  All of the shows we got to see there were pretty fantastic.  

We remained in Stratford, in the same place for 2 weeks!  YAY for getting to unpack a bit and not live out of a suitcase!  Since the group was so big, we were spread out in 3 different B and B's.  Stratford is an adorable small town, but definitely a tourist town; our B and B's were located among several other B and B's all on either side of one long street.  Mos having names like "Twelfth Night" "Cymbeline" and other Shakespearean topics.  I stayed in Anne Hathaway's B and B rooming with Lila, and sharing the rest of the B and B with 4 other abroad girls and Chrissy, our theatre teacher... we had the entire B and B to ourselves!!  We even could use the kitchen and laundry facilities!  

It became so natural to just walk around Stratford, finding really awesome places to eat and shop.  They had the best places to get cream tea, (a scone with clotted cream and jam, with a pot of tea) and Chinese food.  I miss cream tea :(  the scones in America suck compared to the ones you could get at the cheapest places in England. 

Hampton Court

Anyway, going to so many productions in the 2 week period, and having Sunday and Wednesday night church, we were wearing fancy clothes a lot... I bought the most awesome dress, skirt, and red wedges while staying in Stratford. 

Warwick Castle

While in Stratford and making our way to Stratford, we stopped at some really awesome and famous places, like Hampton Court, and Warwick Castle etc...  

We made our way back to London, staying very close to The British Library, and Kings Cross Station, which is where platform 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter is!! It was nice to go back to a familiar place right before we left.  Since I had finished all of my play reports in Stratford, the only thing I had to do the last 3 days was relax and get packed.  I watched a lot of tv... The Big Bang Theory is very popular over there, it made me REALLY happy!  

We were excited!

On that last Saturday in London, 3 of my friends surprised me with an early graduation present... tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!!  I died and Shakespearean died!!!  It was one of THE BEST SHOWS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!!  SO much better live!  :D

I was freaking out!

That Sunday I returned to the Globe with Dalton and Piper to take one more combat workshop before we left... I got a pretty awesome battle wound from being stabbed in the thigh by Dalton, complete accident of course; It left a gnarly bruise.  We learned a very awesome fight sequence where we disarmed each other then moved onto fist fighting.  I got kicked in the stomach and choked, while I got to kick someone in the stomach and smash his head in the ground, then finish him off with a dagger to the jugular and wiping the bloody blade on my victims back.  Don't mess with me, I'm awesome!  

On Monday we all departed London in the early morning and got back to St. Louis that evening.  It was almost a 24 hour day for most of us, with the time difference.  I crashed around 10:30pm/11pm which would have been about 5:30 or 6am in England and I was up at 7 am.... WOHOO!!!  

I stayed at my friend Rachel's house with Cam, our other friend. :)  It was SO NICE to sleep in a big bed and have home cooked meals again before returning to Prin campus on Tuesday evening and having classes on Wednesday.  

When we landed in D.C to get a connecting flight to St. Louis, I cried a bit.  It was an overwhelming feeling of joy to be home, but sad that I was no longer in England.  

Leaving England :(

We got right back into classes here at Prin, and had our first real work on Pericles, the play we are putting on in about 3 more weeks.  Most of us were anxious to finally get working on this play that we've been cast in since before the summer.  

Sorry this is long, but a lot has happened.  I'll update once more and let you know how Pericles went!  CANNOT wait for it.... I'm quadruple cast as a daughter to an incestuous father, a fisherman, a lady at Diana's temple, and a pitifully sodden  prostitute.... Haha!  Thank goodness I'm very comfortable with this group of people! 

<3 always, 

     Jodi