London Part One: The Kween of England
Where do I even begin? I spent my Fall Break in London, England, so I was lucky enough to be there for an entire week. In this one week I did so much and also spent so much time relaxing on my own. My lovely friend Hannah, from middle and high school was my gracious host for the week, so cool to stay and be shown around by a local!
Monday: I got up after sleeping in a bit, walked around the corner to Costa Coffee for a latte and breakfast where I spent about an hour hanging out and observing the locals, this would quickly become my daily routine, pretty fabulous. After my coffee, I hopped on the bus to go meet my friend Laura in Swiss Cottage for lunch. I got there excessively early compared to the time we planned to meet because I wanted to allow time to get lost, but it wasn’t needed, so I found myself in another Costa Coffee observing more people, which is something I can do for hours, it’s very Italian. Once I met with Laura, we went out for a quick and lovely lunch. It was so nice to catch up with her and hear about her experience as a current grad student in London. The intensity of the programs in London seduce me, needless to say, I’ll be looking here for grad school! After lunch, Laura went back to school and I headed to Camden Town to explore a bit and then eventually meet Hannah and her boyfriend, Brian, at a pub for dinner. Lovely night in a cool area with fabulous people, great way to spend my first day in London!
Tuesday: My day began the same way, with a latte and breakfast at Costa Coffee, but this time I was joined by Hannah who was able to spend the day with me. We had our coffee and then hopped on the train to Southbank where we walked up and down the river. What an incredible area!!! Firstly, we stopped at The National Theatre Bookstore, where I could’ve spent hours but quickly moved through it, finding three fabulous new books that would never be casually found in the USA: It’s Not About How Good You Are, It’s About How Good You Want to Be, How to Run a Theatre, and The Secret Life of Plays. I can’t wait to crack them open! We then went to the Tate Modern and paid a little visit with my good friend Mark Rothko, it has been a dream to see his work in person ever since my production of RED a couple years back, unreal. After this, we indulged in Five Guys burgers and fries which was a delicious taste of America. That night, we went out to the Southwark Playhouse to see their production of Next Fall, stay tuned for my next London post, focused specifically on Theatre. After an exhausting, fabulous day, we headed home.
Wednesday: My Mom’s birthday!!! I started it by, you guessed, treating myself to a latte in Costa Coffee and some human observation. After my coffee, I jumped the train and headed straight to The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). Upon arrival, I got my ticket to see Women of Twilight and went on in. Once the intermission wrapped up, I recognized a very distinct voice behind me that I’d heard thousands of times, it was no other than Severus Snape, Alan Rickman. I turned around, saw him, turned back immediately to calm myself down. After the show I asked if he minded if we took a picture and he told me: “I do mind actually, I hate those things” (in reference to my iPhone). That was disappointing but still so cool to be sitting right in front of him casually, this was my first casual celebrity sighting. Couldn’t top that, so I headed home and called it an early evening.
Thursday: Coffee at Costa Coffee and then I went about my day to Oxford Street to get some shopping done. I had to get Burt’s Bees chapstick because they don’t sell it in Italy and I’m hooked, so I got a few of those. I bought my father and myself a t-shirt, a London Starbucks mug because, well, just because. After an afternoon of shopping, I was exhausted so I headed to a pub for a drink and lunch, there I took my time to just decompress since I had tons of time to kill anyways. After that, I headed to The New London Theatre to see Warhorse with Hannah. Stay tuned for my thoughts on that… After the show, Hannah and I headed home and called it a night.
Friday: Coffee out of the way, I traveled to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Took a fabulous tour of the theatre, it was absolutely stunning and overwhelming to be in that house. I gained a much better understanding for Shakespeare having toured his space and gained the insider scoop. After my tour, I left to meet my friend, Jordan from high school, for a drink at a pub. We sat out on a balcony, overlooking the river and the sunset beyond St. Peters. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t on wifi at all the past couple of hours, I forgot that I had the keys to Hannah’s flat, so she couldn’t get in her apartment after work, she just went to her boyfriend’s house for a few hours, but I still felt awful. It’s amazing how I can be so clumsy when I’m floored at the beauty around me. Once I realized my mistake, I headed home immediately, but it was lovely to see Jordan and catch up a bit. Once home, I stayed there for the evening.
Saturday: Last day, started with….. Coffee at Costa Coffee, love it, a routine I could get used to. Hannah wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home to rest and I ventured out on my own. I went to the Buckingham Palace, which was just too cool to see in person. I had my picture taken by some fabulous African-American ladies, whom I needed in my spirit. I posed for the picture and they all hit me with “YES EUROPEAN REALNESS!!!!!”. Made my day, they were too fabulous. I headed out for lunch and cider at a local pub, where I stayed for almost two hours just watching people go about their lives, it was lovely. Once, I got home, I FaceTimed with Megan for a bit and then headed out to a Chinese Buffet with Hannah and Brian. The food was delicious and the company was even better. However, my stomach has SHRUNK since being here so I could barely finish two plates, which was interesting. After eating our fill, we went home for my last night in London and just relaxed!
Such a fabulous week in London, what an incredible city! Thank you to my dear friend Hannah for being so accommodating, you were too generous! I will definitely be returning to London to work for a bit, who knows what the future may bring!!!