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.
Archive for ‘ March 2012 ’
Day 4: Classes Start
- March 31, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
Day 3: Horrible History and Other Stuff
- March 26, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
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.
The tour hits a cul-de-sac at Our Dynamic Earth, a kind of museum about the history of the world, and noticed they had a film about astronomy narrated by David Tennant. (My inner fangirl went “eee!”) I doubt I'll get to go see it, though. That's fine. There's an awful lot to do here. Anyway, we got off the tour bus at the corner of Holyrood Road and St. Mary's Street. It began to rain, according to the rules of cosmic inconveniences, and it continued to rain for the duration of our walk.
We still had our maps of the tour, so it was easy to find our way. We went along Cowgate, under the South Bridge and the George IV bridge, turned past Greyfriar's Bobby, and went to the National Museum of Scotland. This was when the rain decided to stop.
Day 2: Exploring Edinburgh
- March 21, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
I could've sworn I got up at 6:30-ish today, but 7:00 rolled around and I'd been up for an hour already. Maybe I got caught in a time loop or something. I managed to open my third floor window without falling out of it. (There aren't any screens on the windows.) It's still cold out, but it might warm up later. Well, relatively speaking. I'm used to temperatures in the triple digits, Fahrenheit. I don't know what the people here do in the winter. I suspect they hibernate.
I forgot that the sun rises earlier here. I woke up thinking it was close to 9:00.
9:11 am
Had breakfast with Rebecca and Liz. We showed up at eight, but they weren't quite open, so we wandered around campus a little. Found out the library's closed on weekends, so study on weekdays! Breakfast was interesting, though. We've got these little cards to show the checkout lady and we're allowed to get four items every day. I still need to ask somebody about the procedures for this. Do we have to start at a specific point, or can we jump in anywhere? Don't cut in line, obviously. But if you want juice, do you have to stand in line at the muffins or can you just skip ahead? 'Cause in the cafeteria back home, if you just want a burrito it's okay to just cut ahead if you ask first.
I had beans, a fried egg, sausage, and something called a potato scone that tasted sort of like a sopapilla. I think later tonight, a few of us might get together and watch the new Doctor Who.
11:35 pm
Wow. Stuff happened fast. Never got around to watching TV and here's why:
Read more »
First Tempest Rehearsal
- March 20, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
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!)
Hug Time Wallpaper
- March 17, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
Day 1: Twenty-Four Hours of Kidney Abuse
- March 15, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
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.
We're starting our journey at the Airport/Bus Station. This is easily the smallest airport I've ever been in. There are only two gates, making it difficult to get lost in here, but it made finding a parking space so much easier. Once we arrived, we waited for the rest of the class to trickle in. This is when I remembered that I can't identify the faces of anyone in this class. During all of our pre-classes, I sat in the front row and never looked behind me. Okay, I know Jacklyn and Linda, but that's only because I see them in theatre all the time.
I've just been sitting here smiling at strangers, hoping one of them recognizes me and takes pity.
So I succeeded in making a fool of myself before we even started boarding. I noticed a lot of people lined up at the check-in and I went to ask our teacher if I needed to do that too. Then I managed to take two steps backwards and fall into the lap of some random army woman using her computer. She was very understanding about it, though.
The security check was mercifully short. I wish I'd worn some slip-on shoes, though. High-top Converse aren't made for quick removal. From there we went up an escalator and were right at our gate. Dr. Thompson, one of our teachers, passed out little laminated cards with the addresses of US embassies and bracelets with the school's phone number. On my bracelet, I added "If found unconscious, please return to-"
Before we got on the plane, some guy told us that there wasn't enough room for everyone's carry-on and he really wanted some peach cobbler, so we had to put a little red tag on our bags and have them checked so he could get to the break room faster. We were reluctant at first, but the man clearly wanted that cobbler, so we complied. As we boarded, I asked the other flight attendant if I should take my laptop out, which I ended up doing. I put it in the overhead compartment.
So I'm actually on the plane right now, and I've just met Cat, my alphabetical seatmate for the trip. She's nice. We made conversation.
Me: The skating rink in my hometown hasn't changed in years. They haven't even painted the walls!
Cat: ...you know I'm from there, right?
Me: No...
Cat: Oh. 'Cause you started talking and I thought you were some kind of creeper.
The Brigadier and Liz
- March 13, 2012
- By Lissy-Strata
