Last Week in London

As I said in my last post, I am so lucky to have my grandmother with me during my last week in London, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have been nearly so active in last-minute sightseeing. Therefore, we filled our last three days in London with fun. On Wednesday, we went out to lunch with my friend Abby and her mother. This was especially nice because I will not be seeing Abby until next Spring due to the fact that she lives across the country from me in the summer and was accepted into the NYU in Florence program for the Fall semester. So it was great to have a chance to talk and say goodbye. That night, Granna and I went to see Noises Off at the Novello. It was absolutely hilarious. The second act, which is largely free of dialogue, had me in stitches. It was my favorite show that we saw during the week.

The beautiful Safety Curtain at the Novello Theatre

The next day I took my grandmother to the Theatre and Performance exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There were some new arrivals to the collection, as well as an extended stage design section, that had been added since I visited there with my Theatre in London class a few months ago. Granna enjoyed seeing the exquisite costumes for plays like The Seagull and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as the clips from stage plays that we were able to watch and listen to with headphones. I simply had to take my favorite former-actress to this beautiful and detailed collection of theatre artifacts.

This is actually the set design for a show I saw: A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Lyric!

After the V&A Museum, we took a short bus ride to Harrod's where we had Afternoon Tea with all the trimmings: sandwiches, scones, and petite desserts. In honor of the occasion and despite the fact that I do not like tea, I ordered a Blackcurrant and Hibiscus fruit tea. Everything was absolutely delicious (even the tea!) and we had a perfectly lovely afternoon in the tea salon of the most famous department store in London.

Afternoon Tea at Harrod's

That night, I took my grandmother to see Billy Elliot, a musical I'd already seen in New York, but was confident that my grandmother would enjoy. She loves the film and I knew she'd think the dancing was amazing and the songs were beautiful. She did enjoy the musical and especially loved how the interspersed what was happening in the mining community with Billy's story. And of course, the dancing was magical.

Friday was our last full day in London. I went to my dorm to pack, which took me a surprisingly quick time. Then I headed over to Bedford Square to say my final goodbyes at the NYU End of the Semester Barbeque. The food was delicious and the park was a beautiful place to talk and reminisce about the months we'd spent in London. Two hours was not enough time to say farewell to all the great friends I'd made in London. Thank goodness I will see most of them at NYU in the Fall.

A few of the amazing people I met abroad. 

That night, Granna and I went to see our last show: The Mousetrap, the longest running play in the world. This performance was their 24,787th! Despite the fact that we were way up in the nosebleeds (or as the Brits say, "with the gods"), we enjoyed the show. The acting was all spot-on and it was a delicious mystery. I was a little disappointed to have guessed who the murderer was and also concluded  how other various characters were related to the crime, but I still had a great time. At the end, we were sworn to secrecy by the actors in their tradition. So don't ask me whodunnit, cause I can't tell you!

A sign in the lobby told us how many performances had been done. 

Well, that's all she wrote, folks. My blog of my experience in London is done. It's been an amazing semester and I am so grateful for all the opportunities it offered me. I loved traveling to Paris, Rome, and Scotland. I was so thankful to NYU for organizing trips to Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, and Brighton, giving me the chance to see England thoroughly. I would also like to express my gratitude to NYU and the HOST Program who allowed me to travel to Prudhoe, near Newcastle, and see what traditional British life was like with my wonderful Host family, the Davies. I am grateful to my academic teachers Ellis and Mandie for supplementing my acting training with informative knowledge about theatre and Shakespeare. And I would like to sincerely thank Mary Jane, Brooke, Geoff, Sally and all my teachers at RADA for giving me an unbelievably transformative studio experience this year. I feel like I've grown so much as an actress and also as a person based on the teaching I received at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I come out of this experience stronger, more confident, and also simply happier with myself as an actress. I can't wait to return to NYU and apply my new skills at Stonestreet in the Fall. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it was interesting and entertaining. Cheers!