In which I See Paris

I would say Paris was overall a great success. Our hostel was expensive, but we had our own bathroom, and no crazy roommates, plus there was free wifi.

We started our day nice and early Tuesday morning by hopping on the metro and going straight to the Arc de Triomphe, walking all the way around it to get to what we thought was the Champs Elysees, ending up on the wrong side and walking around it again to get to the Champs Elysees! Since it was only about 10 am, the streets weren't packed with tourists yet, and the weather was sunny with a light breeze, which made walking very nice. We walked all the way to Place de la Concorde, where King Louis XVI was put on the guillotine, the revolution was fought, and the german army set up camp in WWII, among other things. Not that big a deal.

We made our way past Place de la Concorde, and had to stop in at a pastry shop attached to a nice hotel where we swore to return to and stay at some point in the future. Further on down the road we ran into the Louvre. Because we were only in Paris for two days, we opted out of going inside, but took some pictures and hung out around the area, which is quite large, for a good amount of time. Once we started looking for a metro, we realized how big the Louvre is- it spans an entire block! We walked all the way from one end to another to get to the metro we needed, and finally, it took us to the Jardin du Luxembourg, a large public park that surrounds the Paris Senate. My favorite part of it is the statues of past queens and famous women of France, which line the center of the park.

On our way to get sandwiches, we ran across the illusive Pantheon, which we had tried to get to the previous day to no avail. I was pretty happy, since the Pantheon was my favorite part of Paris the last time I was there. We sucked it up and paid 5 euros, and spent an hour or so looking at the giant paintings on the walls, memorials to martyrs of the revolution, and the crypt below which houses famous philosophers and writers such as Victor Hugo, Jean Jacques Rousso, and John Paul Sartre.

After a siesta back at the hostel, we went over to the Eiffel Tower to meet my friends from BADA who were in paris as well; Jimmy, Lila, and Martin! We went to a grocery store nearby and cheese, baguettes, smoked salmon, some cheap rose, and chocolate mousse. Once we sat down to eat, it started raining, so we took shelter in a memorial that overlooked the tower, which was actually my favorite part of the day.

Took the metro over to where our friend Louisa was celebrating her birthday, got bullied into buying really expensive orangina and water by the waiter, but had a good time seeing my friends again. Soon after, Julie and I called it a night and went back to the hostel for our final night in Paris!

In Which I Parlez Francais

Hello from The Village Hostel in Montmarte, Paris!

Had a great last night at BADA- dancing, food, and merriment all around. Woke up at the ungodly hour of 8 am to finish packing up my room. Met up with my family and got on the road at 9 am, making our way to the motherland-Wales. I fell asleep the way there, and woke up on the road somewhere in the Welsh hills surrounded by sheep.

We stopped in Welshpool, and continued on to Llanerfyl, the tiny town my great-great grandparents are buried in, and made bricks. It was really special going to the church they attended (parts of it are from 400 AD!), and seeing their graves. Anne Bourne's (my g-g-grandmother) said:

Life's race well run

Life's crown well won

Life's work well done

Now comes rest.

We saw the house they lived in, and across the street there were bits of bricks every where that they had made!

Drove the long drive back to London, and got into our teeny tiny hotel room, where we slept for a few hours before leaving in the morning for....

Paris!

Julie and I got on the train (I had to chug my coffee very quickly since they didn't allow it past customs), and made our way into Paris, where we got our metro tickets and to our hostel without much more than a hitch. went to the Notre Dame, then went back and took a great nap. Woke up, took in Montmarte, and walked all the way to the opera house.

Tomorrow is a big day! We don't have long to get to every thing!

In Which I Say Goodbye and Hello

This is the last day of BADA! Tomorrow I leave for Wales with my family, who got into town today and got to see my final scene showings.

Wednesday Alan Rickman came and visited! I was pretty excited about it, to say the least. My favorite thing about him was how he stressed the importance of being a full and complete person when it comes to acting. When asked about his process, he said that it has much more to do with who he is as a person vs. him being an acting machine. Alan trained at RADA, and when asked about what he learned during his training years, he said that training includes being a person... staying informed in the world, reading good books, developing tastes. Essentially, putting something yourself into the world to get something out of it. He also said, "you can take no credit for your talent or you imagination. They were just put there with your arms and legs. You need to cultivate them so that they can thrive". It reminded me immediately of 1st Corinthians 1:31!

Thursday we had another amazing guest (or rather, guests). John Barton came back, this time with Jane Lapotaire. The two worked together in the series John Barton made, Playing Shakespeare, where he worked with Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, and other members of the Royal Shakespeare Compnay, including Jane. Jane was given five chorus pieces she had never worked on before, and John taught her while we watched. It was really great to see a seasoned veteran actor going through the same things young actors do... she even said to John Barton, "I feel in some way I'm not doing what you want me to do"! She was beautiful and incredible, and I thought it was really brave of her to go up in front of a bunch of young people and be directed in front of them.

Last scenes went well! I especially enjoyed my Richard III scene. We started the morning with a program-wide warm up in the pouring rain, which was actually quite nice. I've been on facebook and seen every one's statuses about heading back to Dallas, and I'm jealous! After being in a dorm at the top of a tower for a month, and gone for the whole summer, it would be really nice to be in my apartment with my old friends. But, not yet! Tonight is the final fancy dinner and dance, and I'll be so sad to say goodbye to my friends here! The good news is though, almost any where I go in the country I'll have someone to stay with, which I will be taking advantage of asap.

In other news, I've just started reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy at the behest of many people, and it is incredible. I really suggest you pick it up and read it at your earliest convenience.

As I said, tomorrow we leave for Wales! I'll probably be exhausted, but we have a long drive to sleep through. After that, Julie and I will rendezvous over to Paris for a few days and set that town on fire. Then, Spain! I'll keep updating this, so keep coming back!

In Which Friends from my Life Before Visit Me

Had a great weekend! My friend Sten stopped by Oxford for a few days, and I had a great time showing him and his friend Nathan around.

Friday night was the BADA Talent Show, and gosh, every one was so talented! I found two more girls that can do the "stuck in a closet" voice like me. I found this both great and slightly disappointing. After, we all made a huge exodus and trekked across town to Freud, a church that has been renovated into a restaurant/ bar.

We all woke up early Saturday morning to take a trip into Stratford Upon Avon to see the matinee of Julius Caesar. Met up with Sten and Nathan at 8 am at the train station, where we were told that the information was wrong and that it would take 3 hours and 20 pounds to get to Stratford. So we scrapped the train idea and went to the bus station. We waited for the bus that would take us there for about an hour before being told that the information posted was wrong, AGAIN. We finally got a bus into Chipping Norton, a tiny little town where we could catch a transfer to Stratford, which we found out was in 3 hours. We ended up just taking a cab, but we got 5 pound tickets for the show, so it was an alright trade off.

Julius Caesar was pretty good! Probably the best use of projections I have seen on stage. The Marc Antony was excellent, and I liked the idea of using a young man to play Brutus and an older one to play Antony, in terms of dynamic. Got back into Oxford, and ate some Thai, then went over to The Eagle and Child (where CS Lewis and Tolkien had their philosophical talks) since they had never been before, and called it a night.

Sunday I gave Sten and Nathan a tour of Oxford! The highlight was definitely Will and Lyra's bench in the Botanical Gardens. It was very pictaresque; the bells from Magdelen college were ringing the whole time since it was a Sunday, and the sun was shining. Had a Q and A session with Deborah Warner, a female director who started her own theatre company in London after graduation, and then went on to direct with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and on broadway. She’s done a lot with Fiona Shaw (Medea, Happy Days, Mother Courage), and I found it really inspiring to listen to her. I especially liked her story of a Beckett play she did that got shut down because of the blocking she put in.

After our lovely Q and A, met up with Sten and Nathan once again and the three of us plus Jimmy went to Nanzo for dinner. Apparently there is only one Nanzo in the USA, which Jimmy had been to, and every one there kept shaking his hand. We all then huddled up in the tv room with a bunch of people to watch The Room, the worst movie literally EVER made. I thoroughly recommend it if you want a good laugh.

In Which I Meet Great People

What a week it has been! Some of this I've already talked about, but oh wells!

We've had some amazing speakers the past few days. David Leveaux was absolutely incredible, and a really nice guy. He worked extensively with Harold Pinter while he was alive, and gave a lot of good advice on our Pinter scenes, as well as how far background stories can really only go. It is easy to get bogged down by what ahs happened to your character before they cam onstage, and in some ways knowing all that is helpful, but at the end of the day what matters in what is happening on stage at that moment, in the present-tense. some favorites quotes of his:

"The only reason you're all here is because you ignored someone's very good advice" > on choosing a career in the theatre

" Don't be afraid of strangeness. Theatre turns the conservative, normal and complacent on its' head".

That night BADA had its' punting and dancing night, where every one eats a nice dinner and goes punting on the Thames. Mary, Alex, Alex and I invited our movement and voice teachers Jackie and Linda on our boat with us, and we had a grand old time! After a great meal, we all danced the night away, despite a rather obnoxious dj who kept interrupting the songs to shout "BADA, 2010!" into the mike.

Woke up bright and early the next morning to take the bus into London! We snagged some great student tickets to The Old Vick's As You Like It, directed by Sam Mendes. It was a GREAT production. Ate some traditional fish and chips in a pub, and saw Habit of Art that night. I'm hoping to see Julius Caesar on Saturday!

Last night Henri Goodman did a masterclass with us. He won an Olivier for his performance as Shylock in Merchant of Venice, and was the original Roy Cohn in Angels in America. I can't imagine him being such cold characters- he was so warm! He had a ton of energy, and did a good job of keeping every one engaged and involved in the scenes we worked on.

My friend Jimmy and I have been doing mash-ups of songs... essentially, completely unalike songs that sounds great together. There will probably be a video to share fairly soon. We are quite a hit amongst the kids, if I do say so myself.

The coolest thing so far was probably doing a sonnet workshop with John Barton. He's really written the book on performing Shakespeare in the past 50 yrs, and I felt honored to be listening to him. A favorite quote...

"'They look into the beauty of thy mind?.... Now, THY mind is a bit of a problem". > on sonnet 69 and it being performed.

Some other good quotes from the week:

"You're wearing tights, shirtless. With a body of death." > on the importance of standing up straight onstage.

"Smile! You're playing an attidude! Just smile! What is the matter with you?!" > Joe Mydell on acting on the line.

In Which I get to the point

Pretty hectic week, with limited wifi! HIghlights from this week:

Going the The Eagle and Child, the pub where Tolkien, TS Eliott and CS Lewis met to have their philosophical discussions. The Lorca crew went together, and we had a good time making up songs on the way back.

Choosing to get a cheeseburger instead of going clubbing and met a girl in my program who was at the same All State Choir festival as me my junior year!

PLaying koosh ( a small rubber ball that you keep in the air) on the lawn, being told that that was a "ball game", which are not allowed, and using a seed pod to keep in the air instead.

Workshop with Fiona Shaw on Wednesday. She was so great!! I have an incredible exersize to do when working on scenes now.

Playing make-believe games in movement with my group. Lots of being the earth, being air, stuff like that. Then we skip around to music and freeze when the music turns off. Its' like a day at pre-school that is super applicable to theatre! Next week we start learning period dances! I'll be pretending I am in a Jane Austen movie for sure.

Evening festivities on Friday for the program. Went punting on the Thames with my movement and voice teachers, had a delicious dinner, then danced to some good 70s' music.

Woke up early Saturday morning and took the bus into London, where we saw As You Like It at the Old Vick, directed by sam Mendes. It was amazing! The actress who played Rosalind won an Obie for her performance, and the cast was a combination of english and american actors. After that we saw The Habit of Art, a new Alan Bennet play at The National Theatre. It was really funny, and reminded me of Noises Off.

Sunday: In which I eat a burger

SUNDAY

Sunday morning I was tired out by the past two nights, so I kept hitting “off” on my alarm until about 11:30, which annoyed me since I actually needed to get a lot of work done. Met with my scene partner again for lunch at Morton’s sandwiches and a rehearsal. We are doing the Richard/ Anne (Act I.ii) scene from Richard III, a really good scene that I’m pretty excited about.

While I was walking around campus I ran into some students playing koosh (a keep-in-the-air game with a small bouncy elastic ball) . This kept us entertained for awhile, and some kids and their parents even came to play with us for a bit. We ended the game when it was time for our Q and A session with Kelly Hunter and Greg Hix, the actors from the RSC who played Leontes and Hermione in the production we saw the night before. They gave some really good advice and insight into their work and Shakespeare’s plays. My favorite was when they talked about a child actor in the company who was so good at first, until he became embarrassed by his imagination. A lot of adult actors try so hard to get back to the ease that imagination comes to kids, and it was a good reminder to strive towards that.

Got dinner at a burger place nearby with my modern scene partner, Louisa, where we chatted and discussed our scene, New World Order by Harold Pinter. After that I took a walk around Oxford where I ran into Victoria and a few other people. We explored around Christ’s Church and played Pooh Sticks on a bridge.

Another rehearsal with Chris, and memorization before bed!

In Which A see a ring that "may have been" Shakespeare's

Woke up the next morning with about five hours of sleep under my belt, and opted for jeans and my hair up. We got on the bus that took us to Stratford Upon Avon, a place I really enjoyed, for the most part.

We wandered around a bit at first, and Mary and chatted up the woman who owns a pottery shop on the main road. She was really sweet, and told us what the best shows to see are. Eventually we made it over to Shakespeare’s birthplace, a stop I actually could have done without, but I guess I had to do it since I was there and all and you can’t just NOT go to Shakespeare’s birthplace when you’re there. Before entering the house we went through a video tour that reminded me a bit of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland. The lights in the room were timed just right to illuminate on things when the voice talked about it… a ring with WS on it found outside his church a few years after his death that “may well have been” Shakespeare’s, a desk that he may have sat in at school… etc. As corny and far-fetched as some of it was though, they showed a lot of clips from great Shakespearean performances that I really appreciated. His house was a good recreation of what an Elizabethan-period home would have looked like, and after climbing around it we were pretty tired and sat to watch some scenes being done outside the home. I got a mug with all the main Shakespearean characters to add to my mug collection. In his garden, Maria Louisa found some edible berries that we snacked on, and I got a bruise on my knee from trying to jump over a pile of rocks.

We got lunch at a place called “The food of love”, where I got a smoked salmon baguette sandwich that was scrumptious. We had a good time telling stories and laughing. After lunch, which lasted a lot longer than we meant it to, we took the hike over to Anne Hathaway’s (Shakespeare’s wife, not the actress) house, which is through a footpath lined with tudor houses. All of the houses have names; my favorite was the “Lavender House”.

Picture?

The best part of the day by far was the performance of The Winter’s Tale by the Royal Shakespeare Company that we saw. It was incredible! There was a realy creative design concept of books and paper that made up the set. I always find an act of gravity onstage really tangible, and at the end of the first act the two tall bookshelfs crashed on top of each other, spilling out the books to look like a winter land.Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays due to a stage direction, “exit, pursued by bear” regarding on the character’s exit. A huge polar bear made out of paper and operated by an actor was used, and it was amazing! On top of that, the performances were absolutely incredible, and a great example of how both technique and feeling have to be present in the theatre. For it to make an impact.

My scene partner Chris and I ran lines and did some scenework on the bus ride back, and were so fired up by the performance we saw that we decided to just go ahead and put the scene on its’ feet that night.

FRIDAY: In which I walk barefoot on London

FRIDAY

This was quite the weekend. Friday night me and some others took the bus out to London in hopes of seeing a show, but we ditched that idea when we made it into Picadilly Circus at 8:05 pm, on account of traffic, taking the Underground, and losing a member of our team for a while.

I made the mistake of wearing heels, and my feet were already hurting within thirty minutes. In my defense, I thought we would be sitting in a theatre, not walking around. We found an Indian restaurant where I tried Cardamum for the first time, and it was amazing. After that we went searching for a place we could dance the night away in. We found a ridiculous techno club where the walls consisted of broken mirrors, and all the furniture was white leather. Our group had a good time dancing ridiculously to the intense techno music. Around 1 am we left to get the bus back to Oxford (the last one leaves at 2 am). My feet hurt so badly I had the gallant members of our group carry me, and I eventually just took my shoes off and walked around London barefoot. We sat at our bus station for thirty minutes, and spent our time memorizing lines and singing “Hide and Seek”.

Got back to Oxford around 3 very tired and exhausted from a good night. I washed my feet off and fell into bed immediately.

In which I charge across the field

Yesterday was so fun! Julian Glover did a masterclass with us, and it was seriously some of the most fun I’ve had acting. We reenacted the big crowd scene in Julius Caeser (Act 3 Scene 2, “Brutus is an honourable man”), as well as the Cinna the Poet scene afterwards, and it was great! We used the huge courtyard at Balliol, created our own characters, got riled up together and swayed by Brutus and Antony’s speeches, which they made on a hilltop in the courtyard. At the end when the crowd rushes off to kill the conspirators we all ran across the courtyard together screaming. It was like a really huge, really intense game of make-believe, because we didn’t have any rehearsal beforehand. It also reminded me of how much I LOVE Julius Caesar, and how much I’d like to play Mark Antony, even though its’ impossible to. Mark down another role I’ll never play because I’m not a guy.

That evening the group I took classes with went out for some bonding, but I got so tired around 11pm that I checked out and went to bed. We had a great time, though!

Tomorrow a group of us is going into London right after classes end, getting last-minute tickets to a show and then going to a jazz club afterwards. Saturday morning we leave for Stratford Upon Avon for a day of merriment and A Winter’s Tale in the evening. I can’t believe the first week is almost over. Its’ all gone by so quickly, and I can’t imagine how fast this whole experience will go by.

July 12th: In which I Begin Classes

Last night we had the welcome dinner, which conveniently happened at the same time as the world cup. I had pledged my allegiance to the Netherlands a good two hours beforehand, so I was pretty torn up about it. We had a really good time naming the intense and really helpful waitress at Balliol the most appropriate name... we landed on "Wanda".

Once the dinner ended we all rushed to the common room to watch the last twenty minutes of the game. Everyone was super into it, and generally disappointed in the outcome. I went back to my dorm and immediately crashed.

MONDAY

Woke up on my own this morning and nearly had a heart attack because I'm used to being late for somewhere when I wake up on my own. It was actually 7:30 am, a good half hour before my alarm went off.

My first class was Shakespeare, and I got up and did my monologue. The class was really supportive and laughed at all the right places! Having the audience send the energy back to me helped a lot, and the teacher helped me out a lot with making sure the piece wasn't as one-note, and much simpler than I had been making it.

Voice and modern text were next, and I am SO excited to get working on Pinter! We're picking out scenes to work on. The last class of the day was movement, and I loved how vulnerable the teacher made us on the first day. I feel like I bonded with my group a lot more because of it.

After classes my friend Lily and I sat on the grounds reading a bit of Pinter before dinner.

Right now EMills, Mary and I are in a really cute pub listening to a man on guitar, drinking Pimms. We spent a good thirty minutes looking for wifi, so I sure hope you liked my blog!

July 10th/11th: In which I go in and out of my comfort zone

SATURDAY

I was so paranoid that my alarm wouldn’t go off and I would wake up late for my auditions (it was at 10 am) that I woke up by myself around 8 am. I wish I was a morning person, because I really like having time to start the day off right, but alas, I will never be that person, except on rare occasion. My voice teacher Jack would be proud of me, because I destructured on my floor, where I learned that a blonde person with very long hair stayed here before me. So, no more destructuring without a towel underneath me. Got a croissant and coffee from down the street, and visited with other students before my audition. I’m happy to say that after a full night’s rest, I am feeling a lot more social, and after my audition (I did Phebe from As You Like It) a large group of us sat in a circle on the lawn and chatted it up. People are all so friendly! Overall, a lot of wandering around with numerous groups of different people throughout the day.

The highlight was probably the Thai restaurant we ate at, Chiang Mai’s. We read later that it is among one of Oxford’s best restaurants that are hard to find (its’ located in an alley ad up a stairwell). Probably the best Thai food I’ve had. Its’ situated in an old Tudor building that used to be the Oxford police station, and they use a hand-operated pulley to move the food from the kitchen downstairs to the upstairs dining area. After that, we moved to a pub where we could watch the FIFA game for third place in the cup.

SUNDAY

I woke up at 6 am on my own this morning, and ficured I might as well start the day. Around 8 I got out of my room and walked around Oxford, saw the Botanic Garden, and took some pictures. It was really relaxing, and much easier for my directionally challenged self to figure out my way around town without the streets crowded. Of course, that didn’t stop me from getting turned around looking for the church I wanted to go to, and walking up and down George Street a few times. At 10:30 I attended the sung Eucharist at The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which I really enjoyed! The bishop who gave the sermon looked a lot like Phillip Seymour Hoffman with a british accent. After the service a nice older woman named Leslie took me to get lemonade and introduced me to her church friends.

Met up with Victoria and Maria Louisa to go to a great clothing store Victoria discovered. I told myself that if I bought any thing it would have to be outside of my regular green-brown-grey-blue earth tone and floral/plaid color palate that I seem to have found myself in. Sure enough though, I found a great plaid dress, a black sweater and a floral print scarf. So, no major wardrobe changes for me.

Right now I am at Starbucks taking advantage of the wifi with my new friend Michael. Brian Cox is doing a Q and A with us in about thirty minutes. He was in most of the Bourne Identity movies… maybe I’ll impress him with my family connection? Probably.

July 8th/9th: In which I arrive

I saw Ruined at the Intiman Theatre my last night with two of my dearest and oldest friends. It was a really excellent show (PLEASE go see it if you are in the Seattle area! Student tickets $10, adult $42. I would have paid full price to see it if I had to.), and made me so excited and ready to go do some theatre again, after a month and a half of missing it!

Got to SeaTac airport with my mother around 5:15 am, and caused a hubbub at security when I had the wrong boarding pass out and had to dig around my backpack for the right one, thus holding up the line. This was a bit embarrassing since I had just had a moment with the stressed out woman behind me where we rolled our eyes at how people were so unprepared when they get to the security checkpoint. I guess our newfound camaraderie was short-lived. Went through security and hit up the starbucks right away. With only two hours of sleep, I upgraded from my usual Tall to a Grande. Flight to Charlotte went off without a hitch, and I got another two hours of sleep in. My roommate Gracyn went to high school with a girl named Mary who is doing BADA as well, and we found out that we are on the same flight out of Charlotte! We met up at the gate, and I already know that I like her.

Got a smoothie from Jamba Juice for dinner. As a former Jamba employee, I can tell you that they forgot to add ice, and did not blend the granola in with the smoothie. That’s’ ok though, because I got a semi-decent pasta for dinner on the plane ride, which was made better by The Fantastic Mr. Fox on the little screen in front of me.

We landed, and spent the next hour going through customs along with hundreds of other people, in a non air-conditioned sub-basement. We got through, got our luggage, found an ATM, and were feeling pretty efficient by that point. Mary and I basically had a mantra of “we’re doing good.” “yeah, we’re on it, this is great!” to remind ourselves that lugging our heavy luggage wasn’t so bad. Took a pit stop in a restroom to brush our teeth, change, and make ourselves presentable to the world.

While in the bathroom (or “Toilet”), we had some nice exchanges with multiple british girls, and I felt a bit like I was in Spice World or Bend It Like Beckham with all the accents (the picture above if from that).

Had a rough time finding the correct bus to take, but once we got on it I was hesitant to sleep because I didn’t want to miss the scenery. Turns out, British highways are a lot like US high ways, and the view was reminiscent of a drive from Bothell to Duval, give or take an old church or two. Once we got into Oxford City though, Mary and I were jumping in our seats and screaming silently to each other. Every thing is so beautiful! There are old churches and colleges everywhere, and the further you get into town the older every thing gets. We found lots of good pub candidates for where to watch the world cup Sunday. I have no idea how I’m going to be able to see every thing here that I want too! Our shoulders and legs ached from carrying our luggage, and we finally made it to Balliol, after some searching.

I’ll be playing the part of Rapunzel this summer, because my room is at the very top of this tower, on the corner. My legs are going to be super strong by the end of the month, since I walk up 3 flights of a winding staircase. Because it was in the 80s today and I am at the top of the tower it is super hot in there, but I’ll take the trade, because my room is pretty big and convenient for people to hang out in.

Had an opening talk and drinks from the Dean, then ate dinner in the dining hall, which is like the one in Hogwarts but smaller, and without floating candles and house elfs, alas. I was far too jetlagged to be as social as I would have liked to have been, but Elizabeth, Victoria, Mary and I went with a larger group to a pub a british student led us to, and we stayed there a while before we went back to my room to run monologues. Those three girls are so good! Victoria commented on how amazing it was that we were helping each other on our Shakespeare monologues, in a college this old, where we could hear Oxford outside the window. Went to bed around eleven, completely exhausted and ready for auditions and exploring on Saturday!

I'll leave you with the view from my window!

Prologue

Well, it is t-30 hours or so until my flight leaves Thursday morning, and I’m about halfway through packing. I found rolling up my clothes as tightly as I could while listening to my itunes on shuffle (who can forget legendary hits such as Il Divo’s “Unbreak My Heart”?) to be a fairly relaxing experience, once I got around to it. I think I’ll manage to fit a quarter of my wardrobe in 1 ½ suitcases. I haven’t added shoes or sweaters yet though, so we shall see.

For those of you just tuning in, this is my travel blog. Note the travel-y background and the inspirational quote. I’ll be in Oxford at BADA’s Midsummer in Oxford Program from July 9^th-August 8^th, rendezvous over to Paris for a few days with my young, impressionable sister, take a trip over to Wales (the motherland), then down to Madrid and Granada in Spain with the rest of my family. Should be pretty fun!

Will YOU be a part of history with me?

And the list grows...

Put an end to throat managing and say hello to enunciation

Perform at the talent show. Preferably the PokeRap, or You've Got Trouble (from The Music Man)

BTW, if you want to write to me from July 8th-August 8th...

Name

c/o British American Drama Academy

Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ

Might as Well Start This Thing

Goals for the summer (to be revised at my discretion)

Have a foreign affair (s)*

pray in at least one church per city

Take some semi-artistic/decent photographs

Ride a double-decker bus

Make friends with someone significantly older and wiser than I, and take them out to dinner

Reenact a scene from harry potter at Christ's Church

Ride on the back of a Vespa

Complete my memorization of the PokeRap

visit Will and Lyra's bench in the Oxford Botanical Garden

Visit the Tower of London

Hear the Boy's Choir

See a show at the Globe Theatre

Take Addison's Walk

Try Escargot

Buy a beautiful dress

Put an end to throat management once and for all

*Foreign Affair: An intimate moment with someone or something foreign to myself