Two Weeks in Review

A sign in the woods at Anne Hathaway's house

Wow. All good things have to come to an end I guess. This has been an amazing trip. And, not even a trip. It started out as a trip, but now, I really do feel like I live here- because, well, I do. This is my home; a three month home, but a home none-the-less.

Well, I've been up to a bunch of stuff the past few weeks. I guess I'll start with the week before Thanksgiving. That Monday, I went to my first ballet here. It was Sleeping Beauty, at the Royal Opera House in Covent Gardens. It was beautiful. The whole time I was just amazed with how strong the dancers were. They were lifting their whole bodies up onto their tip-toes all night long! It was incredible.

Then, on Wednesday night I got to go to the long awaited, much anticipated War Horse, the play. It is closing soon, I think this December or something, so it was awesome that we got to go. We bought the tickets way in advance, like, at the end of September, so we had been waiting for this event virtually almost this whole semester.

Roasted chestnuts at a Christmas market!

War Horse is a play about a boy and his horse and their relationship. They love each other so much, but then the war (WWI) comes, and the horse, Joey, is taken by the military to use in the cavalry. There is nothing the boy can do to prevent it and he is heartbroken, thinking that he might never see his best friend again. So, the story follows the events that occur to bring the two together again. It is a fabulous storyline, but what is even more awesome is that the whole thing is done with puppets. All the animals, the horses, farm-creatures, birds, wildlife of any kind is all done by huge, life-size (or bigger) puppets. The horses have three men a-piece for each suit. There are two men who stand inside of the horse's torso/ribcage and work the back and front legs and the tail (yes, the tail even twitches and moves like a real horses! I think it's hydraulic powered or something and they squeeze a trigger and it swishes around very realistically).

Then there is one man who works the head. He stands outside the body and holds onto a rod which directs and moves the head and he has a trigger he can push that swivels and twitches the ears. The men working the legs also make the torso move up and down in breathing motions and the legs move just like real legs would bend and move, even when it's galloping around! It is sooo life-like and the whole play was choreographed extremely well! They had these scenes where they would do slow-motion action and it was just incredible what they could make you feel and see with just slowing down their motions and black and white lighting.

Anyway, it was the most amazing display of showmanship in a play I've ever seen. I loved it!

That Saturday, we went ice skating outside in Hyde Park. They have set up this little carnival with rides (feris wheel, mousetrap- like in Lagoon- and the rocket, a haunted house; Christmas style though), and tons of little sweets shops and little booths roasting chestnuts on a fire. It is awesome. And then there's the ice rink, the largest in the city that gets put up for the holidays (there are other carnivals just like this one all over the city, but the Hyde park one is the best). It is round and in the center is a little gazebo, lifted up from the ice, and there a live band (pianist and guitar and voice) played for us while we skated around under strings of lights in this winter wonderland (actually, I think that's the name of the carnival, Winter Wonderland), on Saturday night. It was enchanting. So much fun.

So, the week of Thanksgiving was chalk full of stuff as well. On Monday and Tuesday we went traveling. We drove to Stratford Upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. His wife, Anne Hathaway, lived here with their children while he was in London doing theatre for 26 years. Then, he came back home for good (he visited during his years away, but never for long), and this is where he died too.

It was a quaint little town- full of Tudor style houses, which were adorable. We went to his birthplace, Anne Hathaway's cottage, his grave, and visited the site where one of his houses used to be as well. Then, after exploring the city more, that night we got to go to a play, Measure for Measure, which is one of his plays. It was a little risque, but pretty fun- the Duke, the main character, was definitively the best acted part by far. He was a really funny character, but seriously powerful too. It was a comedy, luckily, so it all ended happily, which was good.

The great hall in Christ's Church College, also the hall used for Hogwarts in Harry Potter!

On Tuesday, we drove up to Oxford and went to the Ashmolean museum there. It is a very beautifully done museum, with tons of stuff. Lots of artifacts and things from lots of different time periods; I could have spent all day there.

Then, we got to explore the town; Lynne, Emily and I went on a tour of Christ's Church College, the place where they shot the Great Hall and other parts of Hogwarts in Harry Potter. That was fun. :D

Christ's Church College, Oxford

Then, later that night we went to Evensong at the college and then drove home.

Thanksgiving was way fun. The whole center pulled together to cook a feast for all 50 of us who attended. There were 24 pies, over a hundred rolls, and 5 turkeys. There were green beans, cranberry jelly, crackers and 20 homemade cheeseballs, fruit platters, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a whole ton of stuffing. There was also a vegetarian dish called rissoto or something for the Everetts (they are vegetarian). It was a really fun time. All day Wednesday we had classes and cooking, then Thursday morning was a football game and then more cooking, then eating, then sleeping, then skyping, then working on art projects. Then Friday was our Art Show Gallery opening which was way fun, and I finished all my art pieces for my 480 class just in time to put them in the show.

So yeah. It was a full week. And now we are on the Monday of our last week here. I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. But here it is. A week from now I will be getting packed to go, and then the next morning will be the longest day of my life, traveling almost 24 hours worth to finally get home to the Colorado Springs airport.

I just hope that, like some of my travels and trips, that this one doesn't turn into just a dream, like it never happened. I hope that I've learned things here and made friends and had valuable experiences enough that when I come back and enter the real world again, that I will bring these things with me, that I will be a changed person, for the good.

But, who knows. Maybe I'll just be the same. I don't think so though. :D