Many Markets

London is famous for all of its markets, probably the most famous of which is Portobello Road, so thats where I'll start!

Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill is one of the most popular markets in London and definitely a busy place to visit. Open on Saturdays and Sundays, the 4 blocks of Portobello Rd. that make up the market are always packed full of both locals and tourists. This is an especially great market if you're interested in finding silver, antiques or teacups! From here you can also see the Travel Bookshop, from Notting Hill and Hugh Grant's door.

Brick Lane Market at Shoreditch in East London is by far my favorite market. East London is a unique melting pot of cultures. The north end of Brick Lane is filled with lots of charity shops (aka thrift stores) and vintage shops, and the south end of the street is all curry restaurants. The market has a lot of antiques, music, and cheap trinkets and sunglasses. But my favorite part is the twenty-somethings that line the middle of the market selling their old clothes or things that they've collected. I got really awesome green heels from a girl moving to Australia for just £5 and a cream leather wallet from the late 60s/early 70s from a girl who collects 60s and 70s wallets. My friend Colleen also got a really great Louis Vuitton bag in one of the charity shops here too. Brick Lane is also filled with a very neat collection of people-you get a lot of asymmetrical haircuts and androgynously dressed people. This place definitely worth stopping by on a Sunday morning!

Camden Market is located in Camden Town which is a very cool neighborhood (mentioned in one of my first blog entries for the nightlife). Camden was the most liberal area of London during the 60s and where the Beatles and such used to hang out (Abbey Road is located just north of the neighborhood). Today it is very much a hipster area. You'll find lots of kebab stands in this area, as well as some very unique clothing stores (some weird goth ones too...). The daily market is relatively small and all of the vendors sell a lot of the same things. But this is a good place to pick up inexpensive band tee-shirts and trinkets and a fun neighborhood to visit. Make sure you don't confuse this market with it's much more posh neighbor Camden Passage Market, located just off the Angel Tube Station. The goods at Camden Passage are similar to those at Portabello Rd., but in an easier to navigate fashion.

I feel like the most appropriate word to describe Greenwich Market is "cute." Lot's of hand made artistic trinkety things.

(**picture to come!)

Sundays from 8 am to 2 pm on Columbia Road just north of Brick Lane you will find the most picturesque market in London. At the Columbia Road Flower Market can find just about any type of flower you desire, with bundles of beautiful sunflowers starting at just £3 and dozens of roses for just £5. I went here with my mom and she said that if we had a market like this near us, she'd go every week. Even if you are only here for a short while and are not interested in purchasing flowers, I'd highly recommend checking out the flower market if not because its so pretty, then for the adorable boutiques and vintage shops that line the road.

Greenwich!

Our Dartmouth group took a boat trip to Greenwich along the Thames River this morning and had the whole day to explore there. The boat left at 9:30 from Westminster and our driver had a strong cockney accent which was fun to listen to. He pointed out major sights as well as some entertaining things like where Cher used to live. We arrived in Greenwich at 10:30 and I was exhausted from Friday evening so I ducked into a noon 3D showing of Toy Story 3 before exploring, which was amazing! I definitely recommend seeing it.

Greenwich has many free touristy things to do, including traveling through time and space. The meridian runs through Greenwich marking the change from the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It is one hour ahead on the Eastern side, so you can travel back in time by crossing into the west-something I made a lot of corny jokes about. Not a bad place for a day trip, especially on Dartmouth's tab!

A nice view of the Eye from the boat!

Me, dying in the sun at 9:30 on a Saturday...

LAMDA: Halfway Point

I'm now more than halfway done with my stay in England and three-quarters of the way done with the school portion so I thought I'd blog a little bit about my classes. The focus of the classes that I'm taking is "Shakespeare and His Contemporaries." Every morning I have two different classes depending on what day of the week it is, but each afternoon is the same.

For the first five weeks in the afternoon we worked with director John Link to prepare Shakespeare scenes. My teacher is a very interesting guy: he left school at 14 and acted in London and also in LA before settling in to teaching and also paints portraits of Shakespeare's characters that appear in theatre galleries all over. I was given two scenes to prepare for our final performance. I was Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Celia in As You Like It.

Beginning this week and continuing for the last two weeks, we've moved from Shakespeare in the afternoon to his contemporaries and are working on Jacobean plays. Our new director is John Baxter and he's really awesome. He is supposed to be LAMDA's best director.

My morning classes change everyday, but are typically really fun.

I have seven sessions of Historic Dance which I think are really fun. My teacher, Diana Scrivener, choreographed the recent Robin Hood film, and also choreographed two Heath Ledger films. We've learned a variety of Medieval and English Country Dances.

I have Movement twice a week with Donna Berlin. This is one of my favorite classes because its basically just like Zumba or a Cardio-dance class. We do lots of straightening and coordination work and it kicks my butt for an hour and a half. Donna also plays lots of Michael Jackson, Prince and Queen, and made us learn the words to TLC's "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" to sing while she makes us work our abs!

We have four Improv and I'm sad its only four because I love improv. Its definitely one of the most useful classes in terms of my own life because I find it more interesting than theatre and would love to possibly do it at school.

I'm studying Stage Combat for the last three weeks which is pretty cool. Were working on hand combat and with rapier and dagger.

I have Singing either once or twice a week with either Gary Peacock or Jenny, an old English lady with bright dyed hair. I've actually learned a lot in this class, like how to match my voice to a note on the piano, which I didn't even know was necessary before... I still can't really sing, but I've definitely learned a lot from it.

I have six sessions of Physical Theatre with Mark Bell who is a very scary dude. Physical theatre is very popular in England, and there are tons of physical theatre companies working all over the UK. In practice, I think its theatre with a much heavier focus on movement and also often incorporates some modern dance. My teacher is just a very angry dude, jokingly, but still kind of scary, though his class is pretty fun.

John Baxter, who is directing our Jacobean scenes, also teaches Mask. He studied Comedia del Arte in Paris and is very funny. We haven't done much mask work in the morning sessions, but are incorporating some of the work into our Jacobean scenes.

I have Voice lessons twice a week which are all about breathing right and using your diaphragm and all that jazz. For the first four weeks I didn't really like this class cause my teacher, Ginny Avery, believed in herbal medicine and I think that's a load of crap. But now we have two teachers each week, George and Melanie Mehta, who are a lot more fun.

We have Alexander Technique once a week with Bethan Pugh which is a really weird class and I always fall asleep in it. What this class entails is laying down with your head on a book for twenty minutes with your eyes closed to help your posture. We're supposed to lay with our head on a book every day for fifteen minutes outside of class too-I never do...

Mostly school is just a lot of playing games which is fun. My classmates are from all over the world so I've definitely learned a lot from them. At the end of my program I'm going to visit one of them in Istanbul and another in Dublin. Overall, an interesting experience.

This is my Shakespeare Scenes group with our director John Link.

Billy Elliot & Sucker Punch

For Colleen and Charlie’s last night in London we went to see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre. The show is based off the movie and is a very dance heavy piece-it took 23 weeks for all the actors to prepare for the show. The entire cast was huge and included not only the stars, but an ensemble of neighbors, 12 different adults that played the miners and police and over a dozen little girls in the ballet class. There are 4 different boys that play Billy depending on the night, but all of them are either 12 or 13 years old and can do intense backflips and dance moves. The cast was full of talented kids and was very impressive.

Sucker Punch was an amazing show. This new play by Roy Williams premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square on June 11th and its run time has been extended because it has been so successful. Sucker Punch is set during London in the 1980s and addresses issues of racism through the story of a boxer named Leon. The stage is a boxing ring and the audience is seated like they're surrounding the fights. This marks show #14 and was definitely one of the best plays I've seen here.

Brighton Beach

I took the National Rail to Brighton on Sunday with Colleen and Charlie to soak up some rays for the first sunny day all week!! The Southern Line takes you from London Victoria to Brighton (the Southern Coast of England) in under an hour, so we just went for a day trip.

Brighton is a very cool sea side town with a unique history. King George IV visited Brighton in the 18th century and was so impressed by the town that he had the Royal Pavilion built. Brighton became the place for scandal and still is: Kemp Town or "Camp Town" is England's first nude beach and Brighton also arguably has the most active gay scene in England.

The beach itself in Brighton is pretty rocky but it was great to just be in the sun! Brighton Pier is what I think Coney Island would be like. The pier had lots of rides and games and was like a carnival over the water. I walked through the pier just to see it. The beach was full of seagulls, but I escaped their wrath. Colleen and Charlie were not quite as lucky (Charlie was fortunate enough to be shit on twice!).

Beyond the Horizon and Danton's Death

I went to two shows at the National this week and had very different experiences at them both. Beyond the Horizon by American playwright Eugene O'Neil was amazing. The show is closing this week, and I really wanted to see it before it finished so I went with a friend of mine from school Tuesday night. The show has been sold out all summer, but the National holds 20 tickets for students and releases them at 9:30 in the morning for that evenings performance for just £10. The show is set on a small town farm in the South and two LAMDA grads played the lead roles. I was extremely impressed by the quality of the productions. The actors were all amazing and their American accents weren't too shabby.

Danton's Death is an early 1800s play by Georg Buchner about the French Revolution. This is a play that we had to see for Dartmouth, but was not my favorite. Absolutely nothing happens in the play except in a few short scenes. Danton, the main character, is pitted against Robespierre and has been hailed by critics as the first modern hero, but I wasn't able to stay interested at all. Fortunately, the show was under two hours and allowed me to get out in time to celebrate with my two friends from home who arrived Wednesday night-Colleen Herrmann and Charlie Giger!!

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue is currently playing at the Vaudeville Theatre starring Academy Award winners Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl, Mel and Edna Edison (you would probably recognize Goldblum from Jurassic Park). The tickets were only £12 and definitely worth it. The American play set in New York City was very well done. The entire play took place in the Edison's apartment and over five scenes and followed Mel through his midlife crisis into a nervous breakdown after losing his job. Even though the subject doesn't sound like the most hilarious two hours, Goldblum's antics, annoying neighbors and ridiculous siblings kept the audience laughing out loud the entire way though. By far my favorite play yet!

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Our entire LAMDA group went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, Wednesday to Friday for a jam packed three days. I really liked Stratford and got to see pretty much all of it: you can go down every street in the entire town during one 30 minute run.

On Wednesday afternoon we went on a tour of The Courtyard Theatre, which is the Royal Shakespeare Company's temporary 1000 seat theatre. The RSC has been undergoing reconstruction for the past four years and is set to reopen their main location in November. Rather than close for four years, which would be devastating to a town that usually takes in £50 million in tourism each year, the company built a completely recyclable temporary theatre across the street.

This theatre is where we saw Morte D'Arthur and Romeo and Juliet. Morte D'Arthur is the story of the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. The play was very well done, but both incredibly busy and long (4 hours! 3 parts!). Guiltly, I only stayed for the first two... that is an awful long time to sit still. Romeo and Juliet, however, was absolutely amazing. Sam Troughton, who played Arthur the night before, was Romeo. The director had Romeo and Juliet in modern day clothing (Juliet in converses and skinny jeans, Romeo with head phones) and had the rest of the ensemble in traditional Tudor clothing. However, when Romeo and Juliet died, everyone switched and they were dressed in Tudor while the rest of the cast was in modern clothing. The woman who played the Nurse, Noma Dumezweni, is an Olivier Award winner. Her performance was extremely impressive and her humor was much more sophisticated than the typical little old English ladies that play her character.

While in Stratford, we attended a drama workshop with an RSC affiliate and our instructor was Arthur/Romeo's mother. I also went on a tour of Anne Hathway's House, Shakespeare's Birthplace and the town of Stratford. We went to a pub called "The Dirty Duck Pub" that serves all the RSC actors and my friends actually met some of the cast members.

On the way home Friday, we stopped by Warwick Castle, which is a medieval castle. The first grounds there were created in 714, but the stone castle as it stands now wasn't built till 1260. Now the castle has a princess tower, a joust tournament and a dungeon ride... It has basically been converted into a tourist trap, but the castle itself was very cool.

Stratford was filled with stores named after Shakespeare's characters, plays, etc. This particular store, Romeo and Juliet's is an adult store, filled with everything you'd expect to find in an adult store.

This is Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare's grave lies.

This picture is from the garden's at Anne Hathaway's house, Shakespeare's wife. The first part of the house was built in 1463.

This is Shakespeare's birthplace.

This picture is of me and some friends at Warwick Castle. In this picture, you can find an American, a Turk, a Mexican, and Irishman, a Frenchman, and a Brit!

Les Miserables featuring Nick Jonas

I went to see Les Mis this evening at the Queen's Theatre. Les Mis is an incredibly beautiful show, and this evenings performance did not disappoint. The show was directed by Trevor Nunn, who was the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford for almost twenty years and directed the very famous Ian McKellen-Judi Dench Macbeth. He has currently been directing Les Mis for 25 years.

Nick Jonas (one of the Jonas Brothers) played Maurice and delivered a surprisingly good performance, despite the large number of teeny boppers there to see him. Eponine, played by Samantha Barks, stole the show in my opinion. She sings "On My Own" which is my favorite song from Les Mis and delivered a very breathtaking performance. Barks is set to play the leading role in a Disney TV series set to be released in 2011 (quite a Disney Channel heavy cast). The only issue I had with the show was Cosette: Camilla Kerslake, who is relatively famous English singer played the role, and I thought her performance was rather vain. And she was a blonde-Cosette is almost always played by a brunette! Fortunately, after July 12, she is being replaced with Lucie Jones from the X Factor, who will hopefully much better. The tech for the show was great, and included slow motion movements for many of the battle scenes.

Nick Jonas came to sign autographs after the show. The younger brother-the bonus Jonas-was there with him.

Overall, I loved the performance (cried a little). Definitely one of my top five favorite musicals.

Grace Kelly: Style Icon

I went to visit the Grace Kelly exhibit at the Victoria and Albert museum this afternoon. The Victoria and Albert Museum itself was free, but the Grace Kelly exhibit cost £4 for students. Inside the exhibit, there were two movie reels playing clips from her films and original newsreels, a wide array of hats, dresses, jewelry, gloves, shoes and sunglasses, and originally magazine stories that followed her life.

Grace Kelly was in 11 films from 1951 to 1956 and helped pick out her wardrobe for many of them. She became an ambassador to the world for simple American fashions, like the shirtwaist dress and casual shirts. The exhibit contained a lot of clothing from her Hollywood days, including dresses from Rear Window, The Swan and High Society (MGM gave her all her dresses from High Society to keep). The exhibit also had the dress that she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards where she won Best Actress for Country Girl (pictured above).

Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier on a business trip to the South of France for the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. After they were married, she became a big supporter of the arts and brought back grand balls to Monaco. The exhibit had many of her ball gowns, including 8 designed by Marc Bohan for Christian Dior. She also had many dresses by Givenchy, Balenciaga and Coco Channel. The exhibit also contained the coat that she wore when she landed in Monaco in 1956 by Ben Zuckerman to be greeted by a crowd of 50,000.

The exhibit also had a Givenchy dress that Grace Kelly is wearing in this picture from a 1961 White House lunch.

Unfortunately, I wasnt able to photograph her clothing, but here's a picture of the V&A!

Top 10 Observations of weird things in London

So I've now been in london for a full two weeks and wanted to send out an update about some of the interesting things I've learned so here are my first 10 observations!

1. Pop (or soda, as many of you may call it) is called "fizzy drinks" and Frosted Flakes are called "Frosties". Cookies are called "digestables" which makes me not want to eat them. Soccer is called "football" and is the most important thing in the world. It is also, apparently, more manly than American football.

2. "Chips" mean "fries" and "crisps" mean "chips". Doritos are still called Doritos, but they taste different-slightly better I would say. Also, instead of Lays or Jays British people eat Walkers chips and they come in hamburger and steak flavor, but not in BBQ.

3. People drive on the wrong side of the road (get it: not the right, but the WRONG! side)!! HAHA! i keep thinking little children are driving but then remember that the driver sits on the right.

4. the bright red telephone booths you think of when you think of London are everywhere. And inside, are covered with ads for escorts and pictures of naked women.

5. The subway is called the Tube as said "Tyoobe" (as my voice teacher her taught me). A subway is a walkway under the street. Likewise, gas is called Petrol and is sold in liters.

6. Students think nothing of buying premade sandwiches at lunch from the gas station, the supermarket, etc. No one brings their lunch to school so most working people and students after age 15 buy these sandwiches daily.

7. There are no stopsigns. All places where we'd have stopsigns are roundabouts and scary. There are a lot of stoplights, and not only do lights turn yellow between green and red, but they also turn yellow when changing from red and green!

8. vegetarians are sometimes called "vegetablists" and veggie fish and chips = fried cheese.

9. England is filled with lots of Americans therefore the bakery on my block sold 4th of July cupcakes. England also has lots of American shops and food places under slightly different names, like "Tennessee Fried Chicken" and "T K Maxx"...

10. Big Ben is actually not that big so I don't really understand why they call it Big Ben. Baker tower might be as big as big ben.

Also for all my acapella friends!! I realized that I do sort of know how to sing. I never realized that we're supposed to sing notes like you play on a piano (I just thought the notes were like a scale for high and low), but now that I have made that discovery its like a whole new world!

Wireless Festival

I went to Saturday of the 3 day Wireless Music Festival in Hyde Park yesterday and had a blast. Artists I saw yesterday were Missy Elliott, New Young Pony Club, Snoop Dogg, and LCD Soundsystem. Missy Elliott was pretty good-she was earliest and wearing a sweatsuit in the hot sun and dancing pretty much as you'd expect. New Young Pony Club was really good. Their lead singer reminded me of Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and their keyboardist was very cool. Snoop Dogg was much better in London than he was in Chicago at Lollapalooza last year. He did a lot of his songs from the early 90s and put together a solid set. Interesting note: Snoop Dogg is only 38 years old (I guess drugs make you age more quickly cause he looks like he's at least 50). LCD Soundsystem was really disappointing and I was so upset! I'm not sure if its because they were last and the crowd was dead or if it was their performance... but they were almost boring. They didn't play "Someone Great" which is my favorite song by them.

I went to the concert with my friend Senam from Lamda. She is from Istanbul but has gone to college in London for the past year and is really awesome. We met up with one of her friends from Istanbul and his friends for the concert and it turned out all of his friends were American! I was hanging out with two Vanderbilt grads, a guy from New Jersey and a half French, half American girl for the concert. So even though some of the bands were not the best... it was a lot of fun!

Snoop Dogg playing "Gin and Juice"

LCD Soundsystem

Me and my friend Senam

Women Beware Women

I was back at the National again this evening (well, technically yesterday evening because its now 1:30!) with the entire LAMDA group to see Women Beware Women. The play was written by Thomas Middleton, one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and was very much the 16th century equivalent of Desperate Housewives: the love affairs of two 16 year olds, an uncle in love with his niece, a Duke who steals a peasants wife, and a mean, manipulative widow who causes the death of pretty much everyone in the play.

Rather than taking place in the 16th century, the director set the play in the 1950s. The costumes were all representative of '50s characters and during intense scenes, a band played slow jazz (sort of Godfather-esque). I thought the whole show was a bit corny, but I was surprised by how easily the show transfered to a modern time.