This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.
DAY 21 - June 9, 1:30 pm
               Got up, did laundry, and went to Covent Garden Market to watch the street performers. They had some pretty good ones there. This one guy, Spiky Will, was awesome. He cut his act short because there wasn't as big a crowd, but when he skipped to the finale, which involved a bed of nails, the crowd doubled. He ended up in nothing but his boxers and two heat-shaped nipple tassels.

               "Hey, I'm trying to worry my mother. Can you help?"
               "Sure! Let's take a picture and show her you met a nice English boy!"

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.
DAY 18- June 6
               Today started out with a quick trip to Leichster Square so everybody could get theatre tickets. I asked Liz and Rebecca if they'd like to see Much Ado with me, but they wanted to know the ticket prices. So I went over to the theatre to ask at the box office. Regular seats were too expensive, (and too sold out) but standing room was ₤16. I went back to tell them, and they told me to ask if I could reserve any for tomorrow.

               So I went back to the box office, but SRO tickets were only sold the day of the performance. And I then proceeded to go back and forth between box office and friends an absurd amount of times to ask questions, until they decided to skip the show. Even worse, Jacklyn and Linda, who are also Doctor Who fans and had agreed to go, suddenly decided that ₤16 was too expensive.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.
DAY 17- June 5
               Got to have a lie-in today. I only got up for breakfast, then I went right back and slept until noon. It felt great! At one we went to the British Museum. Here, our schedule suddenly changed so that we'll be going to Westminster Abby tomorrow. This sucks, because I was supposed to meet my pen pal tomorrow. Dr. Thompson said he could come with us, though, so I sent him an email about that the first chance I got. He hasn't responded yet. I hope he gets the message in time. I didn't come all this way to miss him!

               (I also didn't fly 4,000 miles to not see David Tennant and Catherine Tate live onstage.)

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 16- June 4
               So I should probably mention somewhere in here that although we've taken our final exam for Dr. Owen's class, we haven't yet taken our final for Dr. Thompson's class. We've managed to persuade her to put it off until we leave London. And once again, I feel like the odd woman out. I'd much rather have done that final yesterday, when everything I'd learned was fresh in my mind, but oh well...

               Got up at 6:30 this morning to catch a taxi at eight in order to catch a train that left sometime after that. The train was pretty cool. I ended up falling asleep sporadically throughout.

               Brianne randomly yelled "Harry Potter!" as the snack trolly came by. Donna told her to turn her music down, because I'm pretty sure the whole car heard her.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.
DAY 15- June 3
               Last day in Scotland. Frowny face! But the good news is that it was also our last day in class. We presented our skits and we did so well that we don't have to take a final! (For Owen's class at least. My teammates told me we needed more time and I needed to improvise. So I ended up quoting "Behind Blue Eyes" for no apparent reason.) After class, there was pretty much NOTHING to do at all. Just packing. So I did my laundry and went out with Joan and Clara.

               I was going to go with Liz and Rebecca, but they were planning on leaving sooner than I wanted, so I thought I was going with Amy and Sarah. Sarah needed to borrow my detergent. Due to a misunderstanding, she ended up using some she found in the laundry room that she thought was mine.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 14- June 2
               More class. Yeah, yeah...but we went to the Taste of Scotland Show. Best. Show. Ever. And I'll tell you why, but first here's the rest of the day. My group sat in the lobby for three hours after class, writing our sketch to present tomorrow. See, it's a part of our group projects and we're supposed to write a skit about one of the books we read for class. While we were downstairs, the cleaning ladies got onto us about the state of our rooms.

               Have I mentioned this yet? We're staying in a building on campus that seems to double as a hotel in the summer. In addition to our class, there's a lot of other people here for conferences and business things and stuff I don't know about. And they have people who come in to clean the rooms every day. It's making me antsy.

               See, I understand it for things like taking out the trash and restocking the tea. But they come in and vacuum, mop, straighten things, make the beds...it makes me feel weird. Mostly because I'd rather make my own bed and pick up after myself. And I've spend the last year and a half playing the clean-up fairy for my roommates. So every time the cleaning staff shows up while I'm in my room, I feel awkward. I started hiding my dirty clothes under my bed until I forgot where I put them and panicked.

               "Oh God! Aliens took my socks!"

This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.
DAY 13 - June 1
               I woke up this morning and remembered that last night, before I'd gone to bed, I'd sent a bunch of drunk Facebook messages to my high school theatre teacher. I checked my messages to see if she responded. She's very proud of her little bird girl.

               Okay, so we're going on another group trip today. A few of the girls noticed I'd run off last night.. This actually made my day because I found out that they really do care about what happens to me, and that's always a self-confidence booster. I had to promise not to do it again and if I did, tell them. Also, it turns out that a lot of people stayed out way later than I did. Landon fell asleep in class and Dr. Owens told him to get out.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 12- May 31
            Exam today! I have carpal tunnel now, I wrote so much. Shame we weren't allowed to type them, but we had to maintain some integrity. I think I did pretty well, although I may get points taken off for sarcasm. On an unrelated note, I've been watching a lot of BBC news when I'm in my room. Well, mostly because I like to have the TV on. I hear the voices and I think someone else is in the room. (Kind of like leaving the radio on for the dog.) I keep seeing these people I saw at the Scottish Parliament appearing on the news. Neat.

               Okay, so class happened and then we had to putter away until Pub Tour Time. Did I mention we were going on the Pub Tour? I ended up on a bus with all the guys and was apparently the only one who knew the way to the Beehive. Our tour began on what had to have been the third floor of this pub. This whole place was one of those pubs that felt really old, with lots of dark heavy woods, thick carpets and wood floors. And curtains. And upstairs was a tiny little room, barely big enough to seat twenty or so, with a stage that was almost as big as a floor mod. (3'6" x 3'6")

               This show is how I wish history class could be. I mean, at least once or twice a month as a way to reenforce what we've learned. Little comedy, little drinking...it's very conductive to education. It's two characters, Clart and McBrain, leading the audience from pub to pub while having a hilarious debate about the duality of famous Scottish writers. It was AWESOME. Did you know you can sing one of Robert Fergusson's poems to The Yellow Rose of Texas? Yeah, they asked where everyone was from, and when they found out how many of us were from Texas the guy said "Well, you're gonna love this!"

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 11- May 30
               So today turned out to be another boring Monday. I was up at the usual time for breakfast and then I started quietly panicking because nobody else was there and I thought that maybe class had started earlier today for some reason. Saw Dr. Owens and it turned out that class was postponed until one because we were trying to allow for anyone who had traveled over the weekend to return.

               Now I'm wide awake and looking for something to do. Everyone else was sleeping or whatever, but it's no good going into town because when you figure the time it takes to get there and back, you wouldn't have much time to do anything. I ended up getting some homework out of the way. Also: screwed around, and turned on CBBC again to see Mr. Sexy-Guy-With-Dog Puppet.

               Class as usual, nothing new to say. (Although I think I will end up writing about what I've learned on this trip at some point, along with rewriting most of this journal to make it more interesting. Bit pressed for time at the moment.) We have an exam in the morning, but Dr. Owens gave us the big essay question today so we would have time to prepare for it. The topic is to explain the evolution of the absolute monarchy to the Parliamentary democracy that they have today. That's gonna take some time.

               So we got out at around five. Bit late to go out, but I think a few might have done. I needed to study, and I borrowed a copy of the textbook I never got because life's full of surprises, and I spent an hour copying the necessary information. And, as per my study habits, I spent an hour taking a break.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 10- May 29
               I was so tired that I frittered away most of the morning with sleep. (Made it to breakfast, though, because that's the one free meal of the day.) After that, I spend some time napping and some time doing homework. Really, this isn't a lot of work for two courses but it's all compressed into two weeks, and we're also in freakin' Scotland, so that makes it a bit difficult.

               Anyway, I ended up going to church with some of the others at around four-ish.

               "Can I come to church with you guys?"
               "You know it's a Catholic service, right?"
               "Yeah."
               "Okay."

               We went to St Patrick's. It's been a while since I've been to a Catholic service, but it's not that much different from an Episcopalian one. The cadences were different but beautiful and we didn't sing very many songs. Most of the service was familiar to me and I didn't need to resort to the prayer book very often to know what to say when. I wasn't allowed to take Communion because I'm not Catholic. That felt weird. Once, when I was a kid, I acted up in church and my parents wouldn't let me take Communion. That memory came back to me again today, and while everyone was hitting the Christian Shot Glass, I felt like I was in trouble.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 9- May 28
               So some people went up to Inverness, but I wasn't able to find anyone to go with. I did want to go to this museum called Our Dynamic Earth. It looked like a science museum. So I asked Gene if he'd go with me, but he and Sally had plans. And then I asked Joan, and she sounded interested, but she and Clara were going to church. Then suddenly both groups said 'okay', and I was all “Whoa.”. Because now we have to coordinate our schedules, and I felt bad about it because I just wanted to go to a museum, not screw up everyone's plans.

               Well, it turned out all right. It was me, Gene, Sally and Tim, and we were going to meet up with Clara and Joan in town. And we would do stuff. Stuff we'd figure out once we got there.

               This woman on the bus, as she got off, looked directly at Sally and said “Shut up. Just shut up for five minutes.” and stormed off. Sally was surprised. She wasn't being particularly loud and all she was talking about was black pudding. She wasn't even saying anything bad about it, just explaining it to the rest of us. Now, maybe that woman's usually very nice and was just having a bad day at the time. I don't know. But I can't imagine saying something that way to a stranger. Hey, if we're being too loud just ask us to be quiet! Or send us your hatred through a telepathic link like the rest of us!

               A man and woman sitting behind us remarked about the first woman's rudeness and apologized. They assured us that we weren't being too loud and even told us about a few good places to eat nearby. I would have liked to talk to them some more, but our stop came up.

               Anyway, we went to the National Gallery. A few areas were closed, but there was still plenty to look at: lots of nice paintings, sculptures, furniture, other people...half the paintings I looked at seemed to jump right out at me as if they were painted in 3D. It was probably because of my glasses. I wore my contacts all day yesterday and my glasses are a newer prescription. Actually, it was probably the mushrooms I had for breakfast. The ones that the white rabbit gave me.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 8- May 27
               Okay, so today started with a lie-in, seeing as we had no classes. At about eleven Liz, Rebecca and I went to Edinburgh Castle. We were there until about four, so clearly this is an all-day trip. We walked up the Royal Mile for the umpteenth time to the gates of the palace. There's a moat in front of it. It has no water, which I think is a strategic advantage. Think about it: if someone tries to swim across, they'll only fall to the bottom and be stuck.

               We were just in time for a guided tour around the outdoor areas, and we followed a man in a kilt. There is no shortage of men in kilts here. Some of them play bagpipes. I've seen so many of them that I've stopped taking pictures because they're freakin' everywhere. I had to shoo one out of my shower the other day. So we saw the outside of the castle. It's a beautiful place, all stone and brick and historical. There's a great view from the top, too.

               The logical next step was to take a look inside. We started with the cafe to get Rebecca something hot to drink because her throat hurt. And then because we're morbid, we looked at the place where they kept prisoners of war. Interesting little place. I don't know what it is with old buildings, but the doors and hallways are always so small. I keep finding doors that are almost too short for me! We're all descended from midgets!

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 7 - May 26
               So the drug war has been going on for a while now. A memorable example was when the English got the Chinese addicted to opium so they could get silver from China to buy tea from China. I started reading a novella on my Kindle and I was skimming the prologue, when I came to the bit about opium and I thought “Hey, I learned that in class or somewhere!”

               I haven't watched much TV while I've been here. Partly because I haven't spent that much time in my room, and partly because I don't know any of these programs. Well, I've been able to find shows like American Dad, South Park and a few other American shows, and a couple of British programs that I already know. Sometimes I watch the shows I haven't seen. I found cartoons, old stuff, and reality TV.

               There was this one documentary thing about pregnant women with unhealthy habits. I saw another where this guy examined the heads of Apple addicts and found out that Apple products stimulate the same regions of the brain as religion. Also, there's Nanny 911, which makes me question the parenting skills of Americans. (Okay, if you don't want anyone telling your how to raise your kids, then why the hell did you go on Nanny 911 asking for help?!)

              What I've found odd so far is that these channels seem to only broadcast for a portion of the day. When they're not on-air, all you see is a blank screen saying when they'll be back. In the US, channels broadcast at all hours, but they air different shows depending on the day of the week and the time of the day. Time slots in which more people are likely to be watching TV get all the good, high-rated programs. When few people are watching, stations put on crappy filler stuff.

               For instance, some channels will broadcast infomercials from 1am-6am, or do reruns during school/work hours. And there's usually nothing new on Friday nights because lots of people go out then.

               Worked on our group projects today. I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to be doing. At least I recovered one chapter of the documents I lost. All I need to redo is Chapter One now, and that shouldn't take too long.

               Then we got to go visit the Scottish Parliament to watch them in action! It's a cool-looking building, don't know when it was built, and it's very modern. It's mostly stone, light wood, and glass. Mom would not feel claustrophobic. There was a polar bear outside (probably a robot) and a woman holding a sign, but I never got to see the sign. Going in, we had to send our jackets and bags through an x-ray machine just like at the airport and step through a metal detector. We did not have to take our shoes off, like at Heathrow. (Hint hint, American TSA.)

               I took a few pictures of the visitor's center, but none during the session because it's not allowed. They had some pretty strict rules. Well, not strict exactly, but strictly enforced. The rules were just basic, common sense things: no talking, no breaking stuff, no disrupting the proceedings, and if what you're thinking of doing would get you arrested at the airport, you're to assume you're not allowed to do it in Parliament. My high school graduation had more restrictions than that.

               [Note to all you UK people- keep in mind that this next bit is told from the perspective of an American from the Bible Belt with a cynical view of her own country's politics.]

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 5- May 24, 2:35 pm- Bus Stop
               Class again. This time, we talked about things like class systems and gun control, and this explains a lot about why things are the way they are here. We're currently at the bus stop waiting to go to the Rosslyn Chapel. It's still freakin' cold, and I wish I'd brought a jacket that did a better job of keeping the wind out. This Friday I think most of us are going to go tour the castle, something I'm looking forward to. And I want to get a teddy bear in a kilt. Seriously, all these tourist traps and souvenir shops, there's gotta be a bear in a kilt around here somewhere!

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 4- May 23
               Classes began today. Did I mention what we're studying? We're studying international business, economics, and politics. My worst subjects! Why the heck did I want to go on this trip? Because I wanted to travel. My plan has succeeded. We've had to read a few books before classes started, and according to the schedule it looks like we'll be going out to do some fun things.

               So far, I'm not having that much trouble paying attention. One of the things we covered was socialism and why it's more acceptable in the UK than back home. In the US, conservatives are trying their hardest to make 'socialism' synonymous with 'worse than Hitler'. Basically, working and living conditions were so bad for so long that they had to fix it. This is why things like their health care are the way they are. (They think our health care system is barbaric, by the way. I'm not surprised.) And I know that sounds like a really clumsily summary, but I promise it sounds much better in my notes. I'm not going to retype my notes here, though.

               Well, I took today as a much-needed study day and spent the afternoon reading and getting some work done. That's why this journal entry is so short and boring. We've got a three-day weekend coming up, so we're all planning what we want to do.

               I kind of want to go to Ireland, but currently all flights have been grounded because of the volcano. Maybe I'll go to Inverness instead. I don't know, because I'm not sure how I relate to everyone in this class.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 3- May 22
               Okay, so today we got up and had breakfast again. It was much simpler this time now that we knew what to do. Liz, Rebecca and I decided to get back on the green bus to try and climb the big hill. (Calton, I think it was.) It was raining, however, so we tried to find something else to do. We hung out at the mall for a bit, then decided to go on the tour again anyway. I mean, our ticket was good until two, so we might as well use that to our advantage.

               Our first rehearsal for The Tempest was last night. Actually, this technically could be part two of rehearsals, because before spring break we did character conferences. (A series of meetings when we met up with our dramaturge to discuss our characters, how they related to each other, what the text means, and how to pronounce words.)
               So we were supposed to be off-book today, but some of us weren't. Some people needed to read from the script, some had their script onstage, but didn't look at them, and some were able to do it without the script. I had mine, but didn't look. (Although I did need to call line a few times.) Then again, I do have a lot of lines. I'm Prospero, and he's very long-winded. But I was at least 85% off, and I earned a small round of applause. 
               We're six actors away from being an all-female cast. It's almost like traditional Shakespeare in reverse! And seeing as Miranda and Ferdinand are both played by women, we will probably get to see the grumpy church ladies leave in a huff again! That reminds me, I have to do a post about the grumpy church ladies sometime.
               It looks like it's going to be an interesting show, though. We've already got a soundtrack for it. And we've arranged the mod* for a thrust stage that goes so far out we might as well be doing this in the round. It rakes all the way down to a platform at the end. So now we get to learn to act in all directions and keep our balance!


(*The modular theatre. This is a type of theatre where we can re-arrange the walls and floors any way we like to suit any show. We can put doors anywhere we want them, raise or lower the floors, and shape the stage and house any possible way. Mod shifts are a pain, but it's worth it. It's like working in a space made of Legos!)

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France in 2011. This was originally written as part of our assignments, but it was also posted to a private blog for my parents to read. I wrote it out longhand and typed it up later. I've edited it to make it flow better, and changed the names of my teachers and classmates for privacy reasons.

DAY 1 - May 19, 1:00 pm- Starting City
                I've been up since six this morning because Mom and Dad wanted to have an early lunch with me. Also, we told Dad we needed to leave an hour earlier than we actually had to, because it takes forever to get out of the house if Dad's involved.