All the World is a Stage

Pretending to dip my foot in the Thames ;)

What does The Museum of London, Katy Perry, and William Shakespeare's hysterical, romantic comedy As You Like It all have in common?

Well, only that Michelle Holowach saw all three of these things in one day.

Yesterday certainly had its ups and downs, but I'm happy to say it ended on an extremely high note. The morning was one long, bumpy road as I dashed back to King's College through the rain after updating my blog, grabbed a granola bar from the vending machine and a cup of coffee with the last bit of coins I had, and went to class. Once more I loved sitting in a classroom to learn about and discuss beloved British children's literature but I'm not going to lie-- I was so hungry it was difficult to concentrate. Breakfast had found residence in my belly 3 hours before class started and, although I topped off with a granola bar and coffee, that did not keep me full for long. When we were dismissed for a 20 minute break at 10:30 I hunted down the cafeteria, but when I tried to buy a sandwich for 1 pound, 80 pence they told me my purchase had to be worth at least 3 pounds in order to use a card. Well that's like, 5 dollars, so I put the sandwich away and retreated back to the vending machines. After digging all the coins out of the bottom of my wallet and conjuring up 65 pence, I found one candy bar that I could get for that price and stuck my coins in...but they spit the one pence pieces back out at me so I wasn't able to get any food. Already running late for class I ran back to the classroom, feeling frustrated, hungry, and--I'll admit-- on the verge of tears, and sat down to let my empty stomach growl angrily at me for the next hour.

Bus ride!

Once class was out I made a mad dash for the grocery store and stocked up on cereal, yogurt, fruit, peanut butter soup, bread, and cheese-- I will never go hungry again! And, if I can help it, I won't spend anymore money on food this week. I retreated back to my room, cut up an apple and put it in a bowl with blueberries and a slice of cheese and smothered a wheat roll in peanut butter. Yummm...by 1:00 p.m. my belly was finally satisfied. 5 minutes later I was meeting my class in the courtyard for my first ride on a classic red, double decker London bus! We journeyed to the Museum of London and had 2 and a half hours to peruse the galleries. I started at the beginning, London before London, and let my class lose me as I meticulously went through all the displays. I learned about the Romans who originally settled London, built a wall around the city and constructed roads, I learned about their decline and the advance of the Medieval Ages as William the Conqueror was crowned in 1066 after the Norman Conquest, I learned about the Black Death, the great London Fire of 1666, and then ventured on through the Victorian Age, World Wars I and II, and onto modern day London. By the time I had made it to the Victorian Age I was beginning to panic because I only had an hour left so I more or less rushed through the last half of the museum. But it was fascinating to learn so much more about London history-- all I've ever known is what I've read in books, seen in movies, and the itsy bitsy little bit they cover in high school history class!

When we scattered from the museum at 4:30, I walked down the street to St. Paul's Cathedral with Jolene to see if there were any tickets left for the National English Ballet being performed there that night. A brochure Jamie and I had picked up on Sunday said tickets were available at the door and for as little as 5 pounds, but when Jolene and I asked we were told that the ballet had sold out 2 weeks after tickets went on sale-- back in April. So the rest of the night was complete improvisation, but as history has shown, this is truly when the most wonderful things happen!

KATY PERRY!!!! ...kinda ;)

After grabbing a dinner of soup, bread and cheese at the dorm, Jolene and I left to meet up with Jamie and her friend Sarah and Leicester Square where you can buy half-price theater tickets. While Jolene and I were waiting for Jamie and Sarah we heard a lot of screaming from down the street and saw dozens of cameras flashing. Realizing that someone famous was in close proximity we ran down the street to see who it was...and it was none other than pop sensation Katy Perry at the UK premiere of her new movie, Part of Me! Of course there was a fence in our way and crowds gathered around it, but by hoisting Jolene onto my shoulders and standing on my tiptoes we were both able to catch a small glimpse of the popular singer. Let me just take this moment to say....OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....Ok, thanks, that's all :) Well as Jolene and I were playing our own part as fanatic paparazzi I missed 3 calls from Jamie. By the time I finally checked my phone at 7:10 and called her back, she was telling me that she and Sarah had bought tickets to see a show in Covent Gardens, Shakespeare's As You Like It, and had reserved tickets for us at the table but we better run because the show started at 7:30! Of course Jolene and I are experts at taking the wrong turn and finding the longest possible way to get somewhere, so after going down several streets way too far we finally found the churchyard where the play was being performed, and ran in at 7:27 sweating and panting for breath.

I'll have you know this was by far one of the coolest experiences ever! To anyone who ever wants to go to London one day, PLEASE make sure you go to the open-air theater at St. Paul's Church-- which is known as the Actor's Church-- and see one of these outdoor performances. I guarantee you it doesn't matter what play is being performed, it is going to be positively fantastic! Having never read As You Like It I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I loved every minute of the evening and laughed nearly the whole way through. The audience started out seated on benches at the entrance of the garden where the actors barged in to perform the first act. At the conclusion of Act I a parade of actors, led by a drummer, came into the garden and beckoned us to follow them further to the next scene. This continued for the rest of the night with the audience moving from place to place with the actors as they stayed in character the whole time but still managed to interact with us, and it ended with all of us walking through a "cave" into the church to take part in four weddings!

There was singing, there was dancing, there were guitars and violins and flutes and pianos, and it was so much fun that by the end the four of us were laughing and clapping and couldn't believe our luck in discovering this fantastic way to spend an evening out in London!

By 10:30 the play had ended and we were crossing Waterloo Bridge to get back to our dorms, and I fell asleep with a smile still on my face feeling very pleased with the way the unpredictable once again proved to be a stupendous adventure.

At the play, during intermission!

In about 45 minutes I'll be boarding a ferry to spend the day in Greenwich with my class. We are going to see where Jim Hawkins set sail for Treasure Island, so stay tuned for more!