Week One--Done
Not the whole week of the workshop, technically, since we've not done a full seven days yet, and I've actually been here well over a week at this point--something like ten days I suppose, but I'm just too tired to think of a catchy title and it's Friday and our first week of coursework is over, so this fits sort of.
We had a Shakespeare Rally today which is absolutely nothing like it sounds--no cheering, no flags or the like. We had to go around London and look at various portraits and statues and likenesses of Shakespeare in public spaces and compare them. Or that was the plan, anyway. Since the bombings, they decided to change it to a walking tour instead of a tube tour and that made my day miserable. My group was all gung ho for the walk which meant we'd start at Southwark and then go to the cathedral, way over to Blackfriars, then all the way to Trafalgar Square, fanny around in there a bit, up to Carnaby Street and then all the way over to Holborn and THEN head back home to Southwark. I think that's about 134 kilometers by foot. It is every bit of seven hours of walking.
There was simply no way my knee was going to make that, so I walked as far as Blackfriars and then my group and I decided that I would meet them at The National Portrait Gallery. They had plotted their walking path and I was taking the underground. I knew their planned cross street, etc. I wasn't worried--how hard could this be? I left them at around 11:15. I arrived at the gallery at 11:40. A 3:00 I finally gave up and went back to Southwark alone. I never saw them. Somehow, and I still don't know how, they went in the National Gallery, came through several wrong doors, yada, yada. Anyway, I just had a leisurely afternoon sitting on a cement stump in the middle of London for three and half hours or so. I went through a full range of emotions, but in the end, I realized that I actually got the good end of the bargain because the rest was the best thing for me knee-wise and I didn't have to trudge around in the heat.
Tonight's event was a performance of The Tempest at the Globe. They performed it with only three actors and I felt gobsmackingly stupid through chunks of it because I hadn't read the play like I was supposed to. I had no clue who was who in parts, which I think would be a problem for the general viewing public. The production was really engaging, though, and I thought the actors were all brilliant--Mark Rylance was the lead. He's one the absolute top classic actors alive and this is his last season with The Globe. We were very lucky to get to see him in this show. The other two actors were also really quite good. Even when I was confused in the show, they kept me engnaged, mostly, which is always good, and I was never totally lost.
Tomorrow is our first free day. I'm heading to the British Museum and I'm not sure where else. I've got to get some stuff straightened up around here and some cleaning done. I'm also tired to the core and sort of discombobulated. I think I'm almost at the breaking point mentally from the tiredness, so it's important that I sleep, but it's sooooo hot. I'm going to have to break down and get a fan. I also realized today that by about Monday I will have been away from home longer than I ever have in my life except for college which doesn't really count since that became home in a sense. I think that's wearing on me a bit, too.
Send me some rain. It's been over a week. I'm melting.
We had a Shakespeare Rally today which is absolutely nothing like it sounds--no cheering, no flags or the like. We had to go around London and look at various portraits and statues and likenesses of Shakespeare in public spaces and compare them. Or that was the plan, anyway. Since the bombings, they decided to change it to a walking tour instead of a tube tour and that made my day miserable. My group was all gung ho for the walk which meant we'd start at Southwark and then go to the cathedral, way over to Blackfriars, then all the way to Trafalgar Square, fanny around in there a bit, up to Carnaby Street and then all the way over to Holborn and THEN head back home to Southwark. I think that's about 134 kilometers by foot. It is every bit of seven hours of walking.
There was simply no way my knee was going to make that, so I walked as far as Blackfriars and then my group and I decided that I would meet them at The National Portrait Gallery. They had plotted their walking path and I was taking the underground. I knew their planned cross street, etc. I wasn't worried--how hard could this be? I left them at around 11:15. I arrived at the gallery at 11:40. A 3:00 I finally gave up and went back to Southwark alone. I never saw them. Somehow, and I still don't know how, they went in the National Gallery, came through several wrong doors, yada, yada. Anyway, I just had a leisurely afternoon sitting on a cement stump in the middle of London for three and half hours or so. I went through a full range of emotions, but in the end, I realized that I actually got the good end of the bargain because the rest was the best thing for me knee-wise and I didn't have to trudge around in the heat.
Tonight's event was a performance of The Tempest at the Globe. They performed it with only three actors and I felt gobsmackingly stupid through chunks of it because I hadn't read the play like I was supposed to. I had no clue who was who in parts, which I think would be a problem for the general viewing public. The production was really engaging, though, and I thought the actors were all brilliant--Mark Rylance was the lead. He's one the absolute top classic actors alive and this is his last season with The Globe. We were very lucky to get to see him in this show. The other two actors were also really quite good. Even when I was confused in the show, they kept me engnaged, mostly, which is always good, and I was never totally lost.
Tomorrow is our first free day. I'm heading to the British Museum and I'm not sure where else. I've got to get some stuff straightened up around here and some cleaning done. I'm also tired to the core and sort of discombobulated. I think I'm almost at the breaking point mentally from the tiredness, so it's important that I sleep, but it's sooooo hot. I'm going to have to break down and get a fan. I also realized today that by about Monday I will have been away from home longer than I ever have in my life except for college which doesn't really count since that became home in a sense. I think that's wearing on me a bit, too.
Send me some rain. It's been over a week. I'm melting.
posted by Kimmah at
11:31 PM
2 Comments:
We are all living vicariously through your experiences! Appreciate it all while you're there. Wish we could send you some rain....have had a lot lately, although we needed it.
T.S.
By
Anonymous, at July 15, 2005 6:48 PM
Stop your p-ing & M-ing. I just spent 4 days in the wilds of WV in the pouring rain on a camping trip with your whole family including the dog. Talk about being tired. Try cooking three meals a day for 8 under a tarp with no running water. Talk about no a/c. The rain was the only thing to cool things off. Then you have a creek runing through your camp site. Talk about noise in the night, try racoons trying to get into metal garbage cans all night. So suck it up and enjoy your self. When you get home and and I get tired of spoiling the kids and I return them, then you will find out what tired really feels like.
yo mama
By
Anonymous, at July 16, 2005 12:40 PM
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