Bliss in the City

So I have not written in a few days but I have been having a fabulous time.  There is a lot to share about my internship and just about my placements.  First, I guess I should start with my first full day in London on Wednesday.  We had some orientation speakers and then I had a meeting one on one with David, who is the one who got me the placement.  He told me I had an interview at 2:00 with Pete Goodman and that I was to go to the stage door of the Shaftesbury Theater and ask for him.  I did so, turns out like David said, he was a little surprised to see me after David had set up the interview a month or so ago.  However, he still met with me.  I had to wait awhile in a crammed little foyer like thing behind the stage door and watched all the actors walk past me as they were running different numbers onstage, I gathered.  I think even Micheal Ball walked by and smiled.  :)  When I met with Pete and Dan, another staff member, they explained to me that since there were certain equity laws, etc. that I would not be able to do certain things or be in certain areas of the theater, so they asked me to make sure David did not have a placement lined up for me that was closer to my areas of study.  Although they told me they could "see my little face drop,"  I tried not to and totally understood what they were saying.  I was a bit worried, but they told me they would not leave me high and dry.  Just this morning, I spoke with David, who said that they were impressed by me and really wanted to do everything in their power to help me out.  I am going to be working under a man who has won Olivier awards for Dirty Dancing and for Hairspray (not sure how to spell his name so I will save it for later) and according to David, I will be "going where no intern has ever gone before in the theater, so I really hit the jackpot with this one."  That kind of made me glow a little.  So on Monday at 6pm, I am to report to the stage door to see Christopher, and my first assignment will be to watch the show, free of charge to see how it all works.  After the show I will meet with Chris and find out what exactly I will be doing and when.  My hours may be intense, but I am so thrilled with the opportunity...much more than I ever expected.

In the meantime, I have been enjoying my time in London.... getting to my interview (by myself of course) was also my first experience ever with the London transportation system.  I was given instructions by my Graduate Resident Jose, but not on how to get back to the house from there.  After taking the bus there, and walking around and somehow getting lost after my interview, I decided that since i was not on a time schedule, to just go with it.  I ended up in Trafalgar Square, and finding several awesome stores and beautiful places.  Eventually I found a tube stop (underground) and found my way (somehow) back to the Euston station, where I had to transfer trains to get back to my stop, Angel, which is about 6 or 7 blocks from my house.  I was proud that I made it and happy to have gotten lost...no one in the whole town could tell me which bus to get on to go back to Angel, a commonly known section of Islington in London.

Later on, we went to a pub to watch the big 'football' game between England and America.  Not too exciting of a game--England won 2-0, neither team was impressive.  But we had fun in this pub really close to our house called the offside.  It's totally green on the outside.  We met some interesting people there...including a British guy named Jack, who, when asked what he does, says he "sells stuff, ...pies."  Obviously not, but we were amused by his jokes...but not naive, so we stayed safe and I thought he was rather annoying and obnoxious, as did several other people, so we kind of stayed out of it anyway.  I had a good time with my new friends there and so many Americans ended up going to this pub that the ratio was actually much more Americans than British, which was funny, especially considering the game.  

Yesterday I saw the Sex and the City movie!!!!  Still before the states :) and it was FABULOUS.  I was a little confused to still be in London when I came out of it though.  I got these chocolates called Minstrels in a little bucket, and they became my dinner since Jamie and I had to basically run to the theater since the movie was over at 7 and we were seeing 39 steps over in Piccadilly Circus at 8!  We made it though and the show was great.  Not a visual spectacle, per say, and a very small stage, but the acting was fantastic...four people playing a farce and playing many different roles with a simple set stage and entertaining and fast paced plot.  It was a great night of English Theatre.  Now I am going to go grocery shopping and to Fleet Street...we watched Sweeney Todd last night after the show so we want to go test out the meat pies there!  More later....thanks for reading!

~Sam~

Hello London!

As I expected, today was extremely long but SO exciting.  I can't believe I am sitting here in a different country across the ocean from where I was only earlier today.  It was wonderful spending the weekend with my parents and my grandparents in New Jersey.  We took the bus from Princeton into the city and then got off at Port Authority (what a beautiful day in New York it was, today, by the way!) and hopped on a bus to JFK airport where I waited several hours and boarded my plane on time, waited a little on the runway, and actually arrived a few minutes early to Heathrow in London!  Don't ask me how that is possible but it was great!  I met up with two other girls from PSU who were on my flight and are doing the same program as me (in different areas of interest for their internships) and found the sign for Arcadia after getting all our luggage when we landed in London.  The day seemed to work like clockwork...amazing.  Even the bus driver who seemed to fit through posts and cars just by inches got us safely to our house, where I am with about 30 others in my program.  I'm not sure if this is because of my level of driving skill (...) but it is not as odd as I expected to see cars driving on the "wrong" side of the road.  The craziest part is when you see a car coming with no one sitting in the "driver's seat!"  

I've grown to like where I'm living.  There are two other residential areas for people taking classes or doing the internship program through Arcadia.  At first I was disappointed that our housing seems to be in a quiet area, and that my first floor room looks straight out onto a Texaco station and a McDonald's, but after walking with my roommate Jamie from Maryland, we found that our area has a lot of character and it only takes a couple blocks to find the hustle and bustle of London...and we are the only housing group who can walk to our class at City University.  My roommate is an engineering major and it's great-- we both share a love of shopping and singing and the TV show "Greek," which we watched online while we set up our new electronics.  We were able to explore the area, called Angel (the name of the tube stop), buy cell phones, sheets, internet cables, and we even found some free hairdryers and straighteners in a tub in the hallway of our building to use!  And it turns out that the Texaco station has the most fabulous Lite Strawberry yogurt...and I'm not usually a yogurt person.  

After an orientation meeting with pizza and soda in the basement lounge of our house and some more errands on a walk guided by our "RA" Jose, me and five of my new friends decided to go to a nearby pub called the Eagle later on.  It was very chill inside and not too crowded.  We thought it was a good sign that it seemed to be all locals there.  The ironic and rather funny thing was that techno music occasionally played, despite the casual and quiet atmosphere.  Did I mention that what I love about London pubs is that they are all non-smoking?!  Anyway, we shared appetizers and I had the most fabulous Americano.  The bartender was surprised to hear someone ordering coffee at 9:30 at night, though!  It was a great way to spend my first night and I'm so glad I've made some great new fast friends.  It's funny how people are already splitting off into smaller groups even though we have barely been here a day!  The weather here is not gorgeous yet, but not bad...just kind of cloudy and in the fifties.  I'm a little tired, but I slept well on the plane after watching "27 Dresses," but I don't feel too jet-lagged.  I can't wait for orientation this week...I dont start my internship until next week, but have a meeting with whoever will be in charge of me at the Shaftesbury this week!  And we will be having introductory lectures and meetings, going to see a show called "39 steps" (supposed to be very good!) paid for by the program, and tomorrow we have a free night, so me and a couple of my new girlfriends including my roommate are going to try to go see Sex and the City the movie...hopefully at the Orion where it premiered!  I'm excited to see what the week has in store as I learn more and more about my newest city home!  More later!

~Sam~

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Welcome to my blog!  It's my first one ever so I hope you enjoy it.  I wanted to try a post before I leave the states!  

So on Monday I will leave for London.  Tomorrow morning I'm waking up early to drive with my parents to New Jersey, where we will spend the day and stay overnight with my grandparents in Princeton.  Monday mid-morning we will drive to JFK airport, where my flight leaves that evening.  Everything is still so surreal to me...I can't even begin to imagine what experiences I will have, people I will meet, and changes I will encounter.  Most of all I'm looking forward to that feeling of getting off the plane and out of the airport only to realize that I am in a completely new and beautiful place.  I am looking forward to calling London "home" for a couple months, and although State College can be wonderful, I have never left it for more than 3 and a half weeks straight in my life, so I am extremely excited to embark on this journey, let alone the fact that living and working in a city ...one that revolves around the theatre world nonetheless... will pretty much be heaven for me.  I would say bon voyage but I don't think that's what you say when you're the one leaving ....so Cheerio, mates!  (Ohhh gosh they're going to love that over there!...)

~Sam~