Monday 31 January 2011

one of the shoebox rooms

good energy...

today i was able to get a new orange mobile phone. hooray! they didn't use any of my top-up so that was grand. today was a great day filled with some great energy. i met a woman named, veronica who is the director of the playback theatre of london and boy oh boy did she welcome me to london. i met her at the london waterloo station. and she had the largest smile on her face. she was much shorter than me. about as tall as my nana, who is five feet. and she scooped me underneath her arms. as if i was her escort. haha.but i definitely needed to feel that love during these cold london winters. we traversed through the station and headed towards the london eye. which was beautifully lit with the sunrise beginning to seep back into its hiding space. she raced to show me the national theatre and the royal festival hall. i picked up the season brochures. and there was so much to be seen at these places. and i can't wait to return. we were able to chat over some tea and a blue raspberry sponge cake we obtained from the cafe inside the national theatre. it was really good chatting with her about her playback company and the opportunity for me to attend some of the rehearsals and see if i jive with the company. she is actually a half catonese.which I would have never guessed, but her spirit oozed of something delightful.
  after our chat she had to run to a business meeting so I was left in the national theatre listening to a folksy band and messing around with my new mobile phone. I proceeded to check out the various surroundings and I saw some interesting shops and exhibits. there was this children's exhibit where they made these little clay interiors of houses from shoeboxes. haha.they were delightful. nonetheless.
i was finally able to meet up with stanislav, from russia. kevin, my ballet teacher connected me with one of his local friends, so it was also a great time to get connected with another local. we were able to eat a japanese restaurant called wamabama..lol..i just walked downstairs to see the name of the restaurant on my to go bag. and i think i misspelled it.haha...and forgot all about it because on my way upstairs all i could think about was when stan pronounced nike as (nAIk). for all you ipa people out there. i believe that would be the proper way to say what he said.haha.cheers mate.
tomorrow is my first day of classes. and i am stoked. good energy is flowing. and  i hope good energy is flowing your way. until next time. muah.

Sunday 30 January 2011

pb and j day...

I wasn't able to get my phone back! what a shame...there was a girl who was standing in line who mentioned that I would never get my phone back...and I didn't believe her...but she may be right...I have one more day to see if I can get it back...but I think I'm just going to go back to the Orange Mobile company and see if we can work out something...I tried to go there today..but they were closed on Sundays

I found the banana muncher...the other members of the household!haha...

I feel weird saying this, but I am so READY for school to start at Kingston! I have been on one of the longest breaks of my college career! My course does not start until Tuesday...I am off every Monday! :)
Which is exciting, but man I feel a little like Jelly! So I have decided to take a ballet class in the morning at Pineapple Studios in Covent Garden! They have this day membership that you can acquire which is the equivalent to 3.18! So I will be able to take as many classes as I would like at their studio for $3! That is pretty exciting...to me...so I will try to get my body in order before classes start on Tuesday! Kingston has this great program called extracurricular courses that anyone within the dance program can sign up to take during the semester. They ranged from Contemporary dance techniques to ballet....and get this GLEE CHOIR is also one of the extracurricular courses you can sign up for!!! Haha...I will be able to keep up with my singing chops in the choir which is great!!Haha...but everyone on campus at Kingston said the choir is amazing! I wonder if they know of the show Glee...they have to know about the show! I wonder if we will have a Lady Gaga inspired week or something...hahaha...I doubt it.....BUT

The main courses I will be taking this semester are as follows:
Staging Posts (Theatre History)
Special Study-Choreography and Composition,
Hazards, Resources, and Society (Natural Science)
 Media Industries (Arts Management Course)
I will have a pretty jam packed semester with the extra technique courses I will be taking alongside theses courses, and I can't wait to be busy again....

I ate three PB and J sandwiches today....I didn't feel like cooking....

I can't wait to get my phone so I can have an alarm clock again! I wasn't able to go to church due to that very reason! I thought I would hear the family waking up, but that did not work out...and by the time I got in last night they were not awake... so I couldn't ask them to knock on my door in the morning...so I will be waking up with the sun tomorrow....but I will be there this Sunday for sure! The church doesn't have a service on Wednesdays which is a little odd...I wonder why...I have been in contact with this Church for a week and they are pretty excited about me coming to visit for a while...


I have also been in contact with a woman from a Playback Theatre in London...we were supposed to meet today too, but that didn't happen, but we will be meeting tomorrow after I take a few classes at Pineapple...we will be meeting at 4:30 for tea....that is her tea time...tea time is taken very seriously here...
She seems like a very genuine woman interested in making my London experience electrifying, so tomorrow shall be a grand day....


Life is good...England continues to surprise me everyday...tomorrow will be yet another adventure......

photos will be coming soon!

Saturday 29 January 2011

a bowl of cheerios..makes everything better

This entry may be hard to follow....I am at home now...eating a bowl of cheerios after one of the most eventful days! I don't know where to start, but I will start at the end and make my way to the morning and afternoon..I don't like periods...I feel like a blog should be a stream of consciousness..so this shall be a stream...flowing from the pits of my brain....I just left from spending a great deal of time with my friends in Kingston. It has been a day of losing and finding certain items. Earlier in the night when we were out...I was jumping...I love to jump...and my phone hopped from my pocket and landed onto the floor of the Kings Tun...Which is/and is becoming our favorite meeting place. As we left I realized my new mobile was gone and immediately headed back to find it...but I could not find it and I proceeded to join the group to our final destination.....I was informed that Sarah Elala called my phone and some interesting characters answered saying they had it and would meet us at Oceana at 11:10!!! So I was uber excited and we raced to Oceana to meet them, but 1 hour later no one came out with my phone! I was standing in the cold waiting for my mobile...asking several people to call it...one girl told me that I was a suspicious character and she would not call my mobile for me...lol...these London girls seriously think that someone is always trying to rob/take advantage of them, but I was honestly trying to find my phone. Even the security around me was not allowing me to make a call with their phone. It was very weird and disheartening, but nonetheless...I waited patiently for an hour and no one showed up...so I met back up with my friends told them the news and now I am hoping that I will be able to get in touch with those people who have my phone today...it was one of the weirdest things...I feel like there are a lot of sketchy people in this area so people are always on the defense when it comes to human to human interactions...one girl did call my phone...and I left a message...so we will see where it goes...I am hoping/praying that I will get a hold of them tomorrow...
But the earlier part of the day was magnificent. It started at 8:30am! I went downstairs to have a banana and some granola for breakfast and all three of my newly purchased bananas were gone. I need to speak to my landlady about this...because she was so quick to mention that I was on my own for buying groceries, but yet her children...or even "SHE" is devouring my bananas! Ha-ha...the banana muncher! I will find them soon...
I made my way to the bus stop and headed towards Perryhn road campus to be met by a touring bus that was taking the whole study abroad group to Brighton, England! Someone described it as being the "JERSEY SHORE" of England.  Brighton, England was a beautiful area that had a very enchanting beach...the water was crystal clear....the pebbles were...pebbles....one of the highlights of our tour occurred when we visited the Royal Pavilion. This structure was designed by John Nash, who also designed the Buckingham Palace...but the Royal Pavilion had a very different composition. The outside had a very Indian essence surrounding the whole structure while the inside of the palace oozed of "Chinese Disney"......which was spoken from the mouth of our tour guide.....hmmm...I am trying to remember the name of the royal person who would spend most of his time here...but I can only remember his description...as follows: he used this place to escape, which any visitor would realize if they were invited to his Royal Pavilion...the inside of the building seeped with 3D wallpaper that gave the illusion of things being deeper and wider...pushing the evidence of being pushed or sunken into a new space....he had many mistresses and illegitimate children...but he never had an heir to his throne...a ton of pedestrians would throw stones at his carriage because of all the pounds he used to make his getaway home....Grr...the name escapes me, but I will definitely be going back to the Pavilion in the summer time...because it would be so much nicer to walk around and investigate the narrow streets and corners of the town....which had so much character....there was a very bohemian or "alternative" section of Brighton...and there was also a very "Posh" section of Brighton with all of the chain shopping that you would expect in America....but the alternative section was a rich area to walk around, smell the great food, peek into the different shops, and marvel at the lifestyle...the energy....and the zest of the locals. Yes. There is a zest.
I am really excited about visiting a church tomorrow….I have been in contact with them for a few days, so this shall be fun. I don’t have an alarm since I don’t have my phone, but I usually hear the family waking up in the wee hours of the night, so I am sure I will wake up on time. The service starts at 10am. So I will have plenty of time.  I feel like a piece of me was lost today…”MY PHONE” but these manmade items are not a part of me...But I now feel a tiny disconnect from the new friends that I was starting to make…alas…I will finish this bowl of cheerios. Wake up. And it will all be better.
 P.S...Heather Burkeen would have loved the Architecture...I wonder if she knows John Nash...

Thursday 27 January 2011

I have arrived....been exposed


I am in a total frenzy as I sit here and type my first blog entry! I will provide you with a summary of the past few days!!I arrived in the Heathrow airport on Monday and I have been in London for 3 days!  Most of the houses are located on quaint zero lot lines with cars parked right in front of their houses.  Very minimalistic. I arrived at Kingston University to sit around and wait three hours for the taxi to arrive and take me to my homestead in New Malden. When I arrived, I was welcomed by a very skinny English woman. The house was once four flats, but they have been remodeling the house for the four years that they have been living here.  I stay in the very top of the house in a very large room with a soft twin sized bed!hehe! I feel like the room swallows the bed. The nights have been good here. I am still adjusting to the time-while experiencing jet-lag. 

Tuesday-I was able to get my oyster card and make my way to Central London. That was such an effort because I am definitely not used to using public transportation. Luckily, the London police were able to point me in the right directions. I was on my way to turn in my application for The Place (London School of Contemporary Dance.) My body was just ecstatic to see the building that I have heard, and learned so much about over my time in the states. I will be going on a tour next week. And I can't wait. The building is tucked away in the traditional English way, but the inside of the building is contemporary and gives off so much energy!!! Ok, I will stop with the energy talk....I digress
I was able to walk around the area a bit before it started to rain and so I headed back on the underground and made it home in time to buy some pretty cheap groceries and make my first meal of a Ham and Cheese Panini with apples.  I was unable to buy some fresh greens from the grocery store because my card would only work at this certain grocery store called Iceland’s.  Hopefully I will get some cash today and go finish my grocery shopping.

Wednesday- We had our orientation and finally received our timetables for our classes. I am still in the transition of selecting my classes, so that will be finalized soon. We start classes on the 31st. I feel like I have been on a never-ending break. My body needs a ballet barre. Hopefully I can remember Kevin's barre! After orientation I went on a walking tour of the Kingston campus and met a bunch of Swedish students who were studying law! Their names were Hampus, Sarah, Jolanda, and Leas! On the tour I was able to learn about how their government pays for their schooling, which I thought was very interesting.  And how no one in their country is allowed to carry guns! That is very different from Memphis! I feel like "everyone and their mama has a gun."  Our adventure continued to see the River Thames and the various shopping areas in Kingston! Jolanda spoke of a massive mall in central London in Convent Gardens that was "so posh!" haha! I love it! I can't wait to get all the English slang and share it with you guys! Haha! More to come! The adventure continued to a reception that Kingston University had for us in the KINGS TUN PUB. I found out a pub is a social meeting place. Not just a place for drinking. So there were tons of people sipping coffees or their favorite teas! The coffee here is considered "white coffee." I haven't been able to get an answer as to why people call it white coffee....but I think it is just referring to a certain type of coffee.  More knowledge will come over the next few days. The night ended with a visit to Oceana across the street where some friends and I went to check out their student night. This building was massive with four different levels to socialize and listen to great music! They had a very posh chandelier on the levels which made this floor very elegant. The highlight of the night was when they played songs by Jessie J! Haha...big shout to L-Boogie for the introduction to the Jessie J!
The night was concluded with a confusing journey to my home in New Malden. This was my first time taking the bus home so I was a little unsure of the right route. I got on the right bus, but got off entirely too early, so I had to walk a bit and hop onto the same K213! A local, Jared, was able to direct me to the right bus-stop! I made it home safely, had a bowl of cheerios and went to bed!