100 Things I will miss about London....

(in no particular order and some are favorite memories from London...) 100. Seeing Big Ben and a ferris wheel as the "skyline" 99. The texaco station outside my window 98. Standing on the right side of the escalator...or walking up the left side. 97. Deciding what show to go to based on the adverts lining the escalators in the tube...and seeing at least one a week! 96. Sitting in Hyde Park soaking up the rare and beautiful sunshine. 95. Running through Hyde Park all the way down through and past Kensington Gardens and feeling refreshed. 94. Playing basketball with the guys in my house 93. Not worrying about keeping my phone close or starring at it a lot because out of the 15 or so numbers I have collected, only about 5 are likely to call or text often. 92. The Bagel Nash: Yogurt and granola Parfaits 91. Making itineraries for myself everyday 90. Taking artsy photos everywhere I go like it's my job 89. Getting lost and ending up somewhere fantastic or beautiful 88. Getting lost and sighing with relief at the sight of a tube stop 87. The homeless man with the german shepherd puppy who always sits at Old Street Station. 86. "Everybody stop liiikkking Herrrr!!!!" ~Ros trying to have an American accent 85. 'rush hour traffic' on the stairs during the last few scenes 84. People asking me "y'a'right?" instead of the american "how are you?" (although the two are often paired together in the same sentence. 83. Writing in and referring to my little black book (my london moleskine) and taking it everywhere I go to jot down addresses and look at maps without looking like a tourist. 82. Being proud of myself for getting somewhere without using a map 81. Tucking Leanne (or Charlotte) into bed and running offstage saying "goodnight!" right before the show starts. 80. Doing Emma's themes for dancing backstage to the second chorus You Can't Stop the Beat. Ex. Drunk, stiff joints, feet stuck to floor, cheerleader, indians, pirate. 81. Sex and the City soundtrack at warm-ups day!... and seeing Mykl's Vinsen's excitement about it! 80. Ave Marias, Red Leather Yellow Leather, Unique New York, and the occasional "ahhhh" one note warm up that makes very little sense..... 79. Running up and down thousands of stairs and escalators everyday..mostly at the Shaftesbury 78. The graffiti art site at an old tube stop...graffiti heaven 77. Feeling educated by taking myself to museums 76. The Eagle, O'Neill's...bars near home that I like 75. The White Hart...sitting at the tables that say "reserved for Hairspray" 74. Standing in Matt's doorway and chatting 73. Coming home from work, and immediately changing into little shorts, grabbing a snack (times two) and taking it upstairs to visit Seth (yeah more stairs!) 72. Drawing open the huge curtains on the huge windows in my room to see bright sunshine in the morning. 73. Those few days when my hair is not frizzed in London. 72. Watching football with Tom on the dressing room computer at tea time. 71. Putting in a pound for the saturday night Hairspray lotteries...even though I never won...oh well! 70. Taking a train to somewhere like Greenwich without being completely sure if it is the right one, but faith of getting there anyway. 69. Skinny lattes and skinny raspberry apricot muffins 68. Chocolate muffins, an apple and water in a brown bag when I go to class. 67. The way it sounds when english people say my name 66. The sound of the word "you" when english people say "thank you" 65. Anyone british saying "good" sounds like a short version of "goodt" 64. Meeting a drug dealer name Jack on our second night in London at the pub...shady. 63. Drag queens walking around outside Old Street 62. Historical reinactments at tourist sites like the Tower of London 61. Feeling great to arrive at the gift shop of any museum or tourist site I have just completed. (gift shops are the best part!) 60. My London Encounter Lonely Planet guide 59. Seeing random acts of kindness: 58. A lady offering the Old Street homeless man a box of Krispy Kremes 57. A guy picking up two newspapers while riding the tube--and offering me one. 56. Someone at work bringing a someone else at work flowers because she had a rough week the week prior. 55. A man giving an elderly lady his seat on the bus and the fact that she didn't stop thanking him the rest of the ride. 54. Having time to keep my room clean. 53. Being free to wake up whenever I want, but choosing to wake up at a decent hour anyway. 52. Little kids with British accents running around this city. 51. Eating meat pies on fleet street. 50. Paperchase- the most wonderful stationary and art store I have ever been inside...and three stories of it! 49. Looking the right way to cross the street. (makes me feel like I live here!) 48. The man at the shop (convienience store) by Shaftesbury telling me "it's nice to see you again" everytime I come in, even though all I get is Evian every time. 47. Getting tricked into when to page the curtain during Welcome to the 60s. 46. Going to bars and clubs legally 45. Fish and chips 44. Testing everyone's microphone before the show and people laughing at an American counting to ten. 43. "Cool Magic"...actually called Magicool, Leanne's cooling spray...it really is magic. 42. The little adventure to front of house stairwell with Ros when I do stage right and using the nicer-than-backstage front of house toilets. 41. Hearing LX and Auto cues in my ear over cans (headset) and knowing when they are coming. 40. Saying "standing byyyy" over cans 39. Reeling in the "rats on the street, they'll dance round my feet" 38. Following orange lamp posts to the Tate modern 37. Being slightly grossed out but thinking all the blood and gore in King Lear was kind of cool...i mean A LOT of gore...and standing at the very foot of the stage to watch it the whole time! 36. Getting away with taking pictures in beautiful, should-be-photographable areas. 35. Blogging. 34. Getting really excited to talk to someone on facebook who I havent heard from or seen in two months or more (anyone from SC or PSU really) 33. video chatting with my puppy Mia. 32. Grocery shopping at Sainsbury's and feeling like a grownup. 31. The awesome ready-made meals they have at M & S and such. 30. Pret. 29. Iced Mocha Lattes from the cafe in the Aveda hair salon across from the Shaftesbury 28. Being greeted by Harry at the stage door. 27. Evian water. 26. The smiling faces of literally everyone at work literally almost all the time. 25. Setting up the Har Dee Har hut and then getting applause when it all goes. 24. Sitting on the floor of the stage waiting for Act II beginners and doodling on the attendance clipboard. 23. STILL getting lost in the Shaftesbury...and Sarah attempting to be tackful in asking me why I'm going that way... :) 22. Walking onstage during Welcome to the 60s and ducking behind the rowhouses 23. Using my new hot pink maglite. 22. Sitting on the Miss Teenage Hairspray Throne 21. Practicing riffles and double shuffles or tapping while sitting during "Big Dollhouse" 20. Cravings for McFlurries even though I hate McDonald's...the cravings are only because it is outside my window... 19. Scottish Shortbread Fingers with squeezable strawberry jelly on top 18. The sound the door makes when you come home (the alarm thing it goes buh leep when you turn the key) 17. Asking random friendly-looking people to take my picture when I'm travelling solo and am at a photo op. 16. Shopping with Ros!!!!! (shopaholics, the both of us....) 15. The Design Museum 14. Telling people I'm from Pennsylvania when they ask about my accent...my favorite was the one guy who thought my accent was french... 13. Learning new words to add to my blog 12. Using the new words I've used and still pulling it off ok. 11. Deciding on a random tube stop to get off at and just exploring what is there. 10. Harrods. Designer Shoes. And all that jazz. 9. Walks to the Holborn station with Ros and Rachel after work. 8. Bra shopping with Sarah and Ros even though i hate bra shopping it was still fun with them 7. Doing laundry myself and only ruining one item! (never done my own laundry more than twice a year in my life) 6. Watching out for celebrities who come see Hairspray (I saw Henry Winkler from the Fonz and Ronnie Colbert)...or hearing about celebs elsewhere in London 5. Spending almost 55 shows (I calculated) total on the West End, whether watching or backstage...about 12 of those are the traditional: from audience, had ticket. 4. Cafe Nero. 3. Mastering the tube system. (...almost.) 2. Spending an average of 7 shows a week working on Hairspray and looking forward to "work" everyday I've been here. 1. Living, working, walking, taking random boats, horse and buggies, trains, buses, and loving London and all the wonderful people I've met here. I am so blessed.

You Can't Stop [to Breathe]

In case you dont get it...it's like You Can't stop the Beat...except not...HAHA i mean i didn't make it up but i thought it was cute cos i havent stopped to breathe...well the past two months, BUT especially the past few days, as I've been trying to do the last few things I haven't done--I've gotten to see a lot of London, with daytimes free and all!!! 

On Monday I chilled out at home in the morning, then decided to go say one last goodbye to Westministe

r Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye...all that touristy juice.  Got some footage and stuff so that was good.  Then I went up to Bond Street (on oxford street, where Ros and I shop, it's farther down tho from work) and walked around waiting for her to call me and say when we were gonna meet up to go shopping.  I hadn't seen her since the tuesday past because of working Never Forget and Dirty Dancing and her working auditions during the one show i did work...so i was excited to see her!  We did some shopping, she's going to Ibiza on holiday with a bunch of her girlfriends for two weeks, two days after I fly out so of course that calls for new outfits!!  So we just had fun shopping like always and just barely made it back in time for work because of all the foot traffic.  The funniest moment (you had to be there so sorry if it's not funny, but I'll remember it if i write it haha that's what half this blog is anyway) was when we were getting so frustrated with people not walking fast enough and Ros turns to me and goes "I put on my mean face and then people get out of my way" and it was hilarious cos she's just a little thing with kind of a baby face and not intimidating at all so I still laugh when I think of the face she made.  I did stage left with Tom (he is back from Spain after 2 weeks!) since Ros was on book and Sarah was doing the stage manag

ement plot (Hesky left not feeling well).  So that was fun although it's funny cos when I do it with Sarah she tells me everything but he really doesn't say much at all to me about what to do, I kind of just do the jobs I usually do and he checks up on it or is ready to do it if I don't.  Which makes it a lot less stressful, but I think I end up doing slightly less...haha or maybe just thinking less cos I do what is second nature to do which mostly it is now minus some things that I do when I follow some people and not others so I'll sometimes forget or get order mixed up on that stuff.  

Tuesday was time to 

go to Greenwich!  Although everyone has off work this week, I didn't have a travel buddy so I went by myself, and funny cos I didn't really know where I was going but the people who work at the trains help you so that is nice.  It was gorgeous there although a little gray in the morning.  And best of all everything was free!  I went to the Maritime Museum, saw the 0 degrees longitude, 0 degrees latitude line (stood with one foot on each side!) and watched the time ball drop at 1pm!  I also saw the Queen's House designed by Inigo Jones, one of the earliest set designers!  And the lady who gave the 20 minute (that's my limit haha) tour I went on told me all kinds of ghost stories about the place after!!!!  I had lunch at the Tea House, a fantastic caesar salad and some bread pudding.  Then after walking around a bit more and finding a great little shop that I made a few purchases at, I went by train back to London.  I took the tube from there to Marble Arch, which has a pedestrian subway to Hyde Park.  So I went there and sat out in the sun and studied for my exa

m for about an hour, before doing a little shopping on Oxford Street (yeah it's basically all one fabulous street leading to work--perfection) and then taking the tube the rest of the way cos I was too far down and it was getting too late.  Then I went to work and did stage right with Ros which was of course fun.  And guess who came to see Hairspray?!!!!  Erin, my roommate at PSU has been in London for weeks, lives literally around the corner, but because of my weird schedule, we haven't met up yet!  So while I was trying to get some merch in the lobby (haha leaving it to the last min of course) I saw her -knew she was coming tho!-it was exciting!  And her and her flatmates loved the show and I'm so glad someone from home/PSU got to see exactly what I've been doing the past two months and it meant a lot to me that she wanted to come!  So yeah and it was bloody hot onstage again (have i mentioned how hot and sweaty it is every night?  well it is!  no air conditioning here!!!) but ok anyway.  

Today I got up early again to go to Hampton Court Palace!  It was beautiful there as well!!!  A lot to do!  There is just so much to look through, and then the maze and the gardens and all that!  Plus I had a 

specific house in the area to find as a favor to take a picture, which was not an easy task and I probably ended up walking a few miles in the total process, but I found it!  Also spent a bit over lunch studying for my exam I had tonight (we had essay questions in advance, had to prepare two, 750ish word essays and not use notes) so of course i pick the ones from the only two classes I went to...yay!  it went well.  But anyway, headed to the train station about 15.15, and although Ros and I were gonna shop more, we've decided Friday would be better since she would get into town late today and anyway I had an exam and wasn't going to work.  So I just went back home did a little studying and laundry and such, went to the exam and came back and have been doing some packing (I feel like I'm going on vacation, from London...that's how much I feel like it's my home here now...) and other little things I must do to say thank you to all the wonderful and brilliant people I am going to have to say bye to on Friday!!!  (If you know me, you know that even tho I brought zero card making materials-I have like a TON of materials, it's kind of my thing haha-that I had a hayday at Paperchase, the stationary/art store I talked about earlier and bought stuff to make fairly good little gifts although I still miss my sharpies and prismacolors (amazing colored pencils that cost about $2 per pencil and i have a 120 set...love them to death)!  

So yes I am up to all that.  Tomorrow I have an oral evaluation of my paper and my internship and then go to work at 13.00.  Two show day yay!  Oh no my last two show day!!!!  :'(  I hate "lasts."  Anyway.  As you can tell I am so devastated to leave in a short three days!  I love london.

Cheers to making the most of the last few days in my favorite new home with some of my favorite new people,

Sam