Pictures refuse to upload, and there is simply nothing we can do about it until we can get to a computer. That said, prepare for a lot of information.
A list of famous people we have seen: Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman, and we actually managed to get autographs from them. They were filming the 50th anniversary special, and while we missed the filming due to being in class, we got there in time to get autographs. They were both lovely. (Also, our homestay mother's youngest daughter is their agent, so that is pretty awesome. Even if she won't use her powers to set a real introduction up).
The day right after that we watched some filming of Sherlock season three outside "Baker Street" (actually North Gower street, the real deal is some ways away). We spent five and a half hours in the rain getting soaked, and although we didn't get any autographs due to Benedict Cumberbatch not wanting to be unfair. We had a great time watching them film, and getting very small glimpses of what they have planned. Benedict was at one point within reaching distance as he came out to thank everyone for being there, but we were decent and didn't do any reaching out, because that would be creepy and rude. Martin Freeman made faces at us across the road but was smart enough not to come over.
Then a week or two later we had the Iron Man 3 premiere, and so we saw Robert Downey Jr. in Leicester Square. However, everyone thought class was important that day, so none of us left it early to insure that we got decent spots, and so we all ended up at the very back, nowhere near where he was giving autographs. But we got to see him, which is the important thing.
Then two Tuesday's ago we were nonchalantly hanging out at Shakespeare's Globe, watching The Tempest for theatre class, when the guy playing Ariel struck me as incredibly familiar. Turns out Ariel was played by Colin Morgan. Not only that, but Prospero was played by Roger Allam, the voice of Douglas in Cabin Pressure. Tea and I both had our fangirl moments, and I even managed to get her a picture with Roger, which she was (and is) incredibly happy over. I didn't manage to get anything with Colin Morgan because he was talking to people at the bar and I didn't want to interrupt. (Tea in editing adds: if anyone wants to get Crumpet an autograph from Colin Morgan, there's a hand-drawn reward in it for you, Tea is an artist.)
Then this past Monday night we watched Peter and Alice for theatre class, which of course had Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench performing in it. I managed to get a pic of me and two of the other girls with Ben Whishaw, and an autograph from Judi Dench for the boyfriend, who is of course still back in the States.
For now, I think that's all there is to say about famous people, other than we feel sooooo bad for them now.
Now on to fun things we've done outside of school. As I said before, Tea was in Ireland for a few days and I was in Germany. We then met up and went to Scotland together (by bus. It was cheap, but oh my Lord it took as long as a plane ride from Washington to England. It was terrible.) And spent two days in Edinburgh. Which was incredible. The city is beautiful and the castle is full of so much history. We went to a fantastic bar called The Banshee Labyrinth, where they had a cinema room that happened to be playing The Crow as we arrived, so we sat and watched that while drinking various drinks. We watched street performers and climbed bits of volcano and had breakfast at a farmer's market where we met a nice girl who talked to us. We went shopping in a vintage shop, went into a hat shop that had great hats that simply weren't in our budget, ended up on some side streets that looked sketchy but turned out to have fantastic places, went on a ghost walk underneath a little bit of the city, and walked several miles while there instead of using buses. I also got pink tartan tights, so I was very happy about that.
We've been to several markets in London now, and they have a tendency to make money disappear and clothes/other things (often books) appear in our bags. Good news is that neither of us have been pick pocketed yet (Tea is, however, learning how to do it right now. The book claims to be for magicians, but I have my suspicions).
We went to see Wicked on our own, and Phantom of the Opera with two of our classmates. Tea went and saw War Horse (on stage) while I was still in Germany (Tea: It's fantastic, you should see it if given the chance, everybody. Sit close to the stage and marvel at the Handspring company's unique puppetwork!). We watched Iron Man 3 the day after it came out with our other roommate and a friend from class. We also watched Star Trek Into Darkness on the 10th, again the day after it came out (London gets movies before the U.S. in some cases. Yay for us!)
We wandered through a mall and found some fun stores with cool things that we can't buy we have no way to get them home. We went into a toy store with five or six floors, and will happily inform you that we spent a good few hours there, shopping for ourselves (and a little for others. But only a little). We have spent way too much time in bookstores, and have proof in the extremely heavy luggage we will now be carrying back (So. Many. Bookstores!) We have put a self-imposed ban on entering bookstores on ourselves. (But not before I got The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe: A Trilogy in Five Parts. I've read parts one through four, but never the fifth, and I haven't owned them until now). We found an amazing cyberpunk store where we had a wonderful time yesterday spending ludicrous amounts of money on very little clothes (mostly in quantity, but a little in coverage).
We went to the Tower of London with three of our classmates, and spent an entire day there (after some drinking and movie watching for a few of us the night before). We went to the National History Museum and didn't even manage to see everything and therefore at some point have to go back. Tea went on a Jack the Ripper walk while I sat in a beautiful park and made friends with a pigeon before happily wandering down creepy streets on my way to meet up with Tea (yes, in context of her Ripper walk, I realise it was wonderfully semi-ironic). I also went to the London Dungeon during an adults only night with some classmates, and Tea went in a ghost walk. Both of these were done while one of us was ill - Tea did her ghost walk while I was passed out from medicine in bed, and I went to the Dungeon a few days later when I was mostly better but Tea was home sick. Everyone is either sick right now, just got over being sick, or is getting sick again. We also have some seasonal allergies running rampant. (Tea: I don't think it's allergies. Everyone gets a plague, pick your favourite flavour.)
Class wise, we've also done some amazing things. For Theatre we've seen Quartermaine's Terms, The Hospital at The Time of the Revolution, Children of the Sun, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and of course The Tempest and Peter and Alice. We've been to Greenwich, Hampton Court Palace, Stonehenge, Stourhead, Avebury, St. Paul's Cathedral, Temple Church (the original round church of the Templar's), Middle Temple (where we even just this past Friday had a fancy three course lunch) (Tea: for those not up on it, middle temple is where the lawyers are. Some of them, anyway.), and various museums and galleries, though not nearly enough to sate our cultural appetites.
Over the course of being here, for classes and also not for classes, we've walked through Trafalgar Square a number of times, have a special relationship with Leicester Square (which continues to surprise and delight us), walked more times than we can count on Oxford Street, have walked through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus and Soho so many times we don't even actively look for a tube station anymore, we just point ourselves in the direction of the closest and walk while trying not to get in more financial trouble (and almost always failing. There are so many bookstores, guys, you have no idea!) We've been up and down Fleet Street so many times I hate the street now but Sweeney Todd automatically starts going through my head anytime I get near it. (Tea: It probably doesn't help that I start singing "have a little priest" from the soundtrack every single time.)
We know what line is what colour and if we were dropped anywhere in the non-suburban bits of London, we would find it hard to be lost and would not panic, because a few minutes in any direction will always get you to a tube stop and from there we can find our way anywhere with barely a glance at a map. We have finally gone about three weeks without someone tossing themselves in front of a train, which is nice because there was an eight day period where it happened four times and it was incredibly depressing. (Not from the program. Other people. It was just really sad).
(Unrelated, I am being attacked by sneezes right now. It may be a plot of nature to kill me. If I die, you all know why).
We have less than three weeks left now and will be going to Stratford-Upon-Avon on Wednesday for the night for a mixture of all of the classes. We'll see two plays while there and probably do a lot of walking, because we always do a lot walking.
It's wonderful and amazing here, a beautiful city with fantastic things to do and places to see, but we both wish we had several of our Americans here with us.
There are projects to be finished and shows to still see and science to look at, and almost no time left. Next weekend is the London MCM Expo, where we will being going in various outfits (Black Widow and River Song for me, Moriarty and possibly a cyberpunk for Tea). (Tea: Anyone want to be my Sebastian Moran?)
For now, we have to see how the heck we're going to get all of our things home, because somehow (read: books) we have bought too many things to fit in our suitcases. So adieu, lovely readers, and let us know if your postcards haven't come in yet, because they all should have by now!
