Seventh Week of Classes

It has been one whirlwind of a week! Thank goodness I had a busy day of sightseeing today. Otherwise, I wouldn't have much to share with you. The reason I've been so busy is because my group's performance of The Rape of Lucrece was on Friday, so the whole week was dedicated to preparing for that. We even had practice sessions where the cast got together outside of studio on Monday and Tuesday night to run lines and rehearse. Our dedication paid off, however. The performance was a success! Our director was proud and our classmates all agreed we did a great job. Our classmates performed an abridged version of Twelfth Night and it was very funny! I wish that we could have seen the whole thing. Everyone's characters were fully realized and the humor was fully brought out. It was a satisfying day for everyone and a great way to head into spring break!

Our weekly theatre visit this week was to see Purge, a play based on Sofi Oksanen's novel. The set was amazing, completely blending into the stone floor of the small theatre. It felt like we were in the rustic home of the main character, Aliide. The story was intricate and the plot twists were genuinely surprising. Overall, the acting was very impressive, especially the woman playing Young Aliide and the man playing Hans. The authentic feel is what made this performance truly unique. I loved the venue (the Arcola Theatre) and hope to go back there to see more shows (they are only £12!)

After such a long week, it was wonderful to have my boyfriend come and visit me for spring break. He was waiting for me outside RADA after my performance with yellow roses (that apparently, he had to walk all over London to find. I guess they're not big on flowers here...) That night we went out to dinner and then went out to the Marlborough to hang out with my classmates and unwind after such a stressful week.

Today was our big sightseeing day. I drew up a full schedule for us, because we only have two full days in London. So today we went to see Buckingham Palace, walking through Green Park to get there. It was a beautiful day: not too cold, with a crisp breeze and lots of light. After seeing the Palace we walked to the Serpentine Boating Lake and rented a paddleboat. We spent a half hour paddling around the lake, enjoying the weather.

The view from our paddleboat.

After that, we stopped by St. James' Tavern to have some lunch. Steve, insistent on trying British food got the Sausages and Mash (I don't know why it was called Bangers and Mash). He had Fish n' Chips yesterday, on my recommendation. Then we trekked over to the British Museum. We only had an hour and a half there, but here are some of the (many) things we got to see during that time.

The lobby itself is highly impressive.

The world-famous Rosetta Stone

The horsemen on the Parthenon frieze

An Aztec two-headed serpent

From the David Collection: porcelain vases from the Yuan Dynasty

The Head of Augustus

The famous Lewis chess pieces

It was a full and fun day. Right now we are about to have some dinner at home, pack for Paris and Rome (which I will update you on next week) and then I'm going to surprise Steve by taking him to a Stand-Up Comedy night. He loves stand-up and I'm sure he'd be interested to see how British humor differs from American. Be prepared for a lot of pictures and stories next week! Adieu and ciao!