I had quite the exciting Thursday if I do say so myself! In our morning voice class, we had to get together with our assigned buddies and tell each other something we have discovered thus far in the class, how many siblings we have and where we are in the order of siblings, and something that not many people know about us. Once we had shared this information, we then all got into a big circle and took turns telling the group all of the fun facts about our partner. Once everyone had done this, we then threw around a small rubber ball and whoever you received the ball from, you had to try and remember their fun facts. It was amazing how some people's facts stuck out in my mind and were easy to remember, while other people's I couldn't remember anything. After the exercise, we talked about how the way a person had shared the fun facts directly affected how we remembered it. If someone emphasized a certain fact, made a joke out of something, or articulated it very clearly, it made it easier to remember.
In our second session of class on Thursday, we played Master and Servant once again, but the scenarios were just a little bit different. Antonio made all of the people who were insecure with having the power be the Masters. Of course, that was me. I don't like the idea of telling people what to do and I don't handle power very well. At the same time, I don't like being walked all over either. Obviously, I'm very paradoxical and still very unsure where I stand in terms of leadership and authority. One thing that struck Antonio; though, when it was my turn to be Master in front of the class was that I used my height to my advantage. He mentioned to me how when my 'servant' was not doing what I asked of them, as impossible as it may sound, I 'grew' taller to enforce my power over the servant. He went on to say how we all enforce power in different ways, some by size, gender, wealth, intelligence, etc. It was a pretty cool epiphany to realize that I make myself taller when I am trying to assert myself, without really trying. I knew this height came in handy somewhere! We also talked about women's empowerment and how most of the people who were insecure with power were girls in the class. In the United States, women are not encouraged as much as they should be to be leaders and be empowered, and that should change. Antonio made the point to say, "You are in London! This city is a monarchy run by a QUEEN! How much more women's empowerment could you get?" And he was right. We should all take an example from the Queen in that we can be just as powerful as men and accomplish just as much as them (if not more.) Sadly, this was Antonio's last class with us as he is heading home and we are getting a new teacher named Charles. As much as this class is whimsical and crazy and sometimes annoying, I was sad to say goodbye to Antonio. Even though I have only been here a week, I genuinely have noticed a difference in myself and I think that I owe that to him. He worked really hard to create a Dialogue that will leave a long-lasting impact on all of us.
Last night all of the girls on the Dialogue signed up to do a pub crawl in Camden Town which is a really hip area with a bunch of bars and live music pubs. We started off at The Wheelbarrow where they let a huge Husky named Albert just roam around while people petted him. There, we started talking to a group of guys who just so happened to also be from America! (Pretty sure almost everyone on this pub crawl ended up being from America.) Anyways, it turned out that two of them had just graduated from Arizona State and two had just graduated from Iowa state and they were beginning a backpack trip around Europe. (Personal Side-note: I now want to backpack around Europe when I graduate.) They were all extremely sweet and we ended up hanging out with them for most of the night and had the great time. I won't bore you with all of the details of the pub crawl but we went to The Wheelbarrow, Belushi's, Barfly, The Blues Kitchen, and Proud Camden which was a club. The pub crawl involved a lot of free shots and discounted drinks (Mom and Dad, I'm sorry but I was safe I promise!) When we arrived at Proud Camden, we got into the club only to learn that THE Calvin Harris was DJing that night! It was pretty awesome. Proud Camden also has all of these mini individual areas that are small dance floors and bars that originally were horse stables! We danced with the group of girls still remaining on the pub crawl, but they got tired pretty quickly and Maggie and I just weren't ready to leave yet. So we stayed for an hour or two after the last of our group left and then finally around 2am we headed home. WE WON THE BAR CRAWL. Yes, the babies who are not yet even 21, won the bar crawl. We were pretty proud and pretty happy when we returned to our apartment (not to mention relieved because we could finally go to bed.)
Although the pub crawl definitely took it's toll on us, we still managed to wake up bright and early and make our way over to Buckingham Palace for the traditional Changing of the Guard Ceremony. By some stroke of luck, Maggie and I got a prime spot right in front of the main gate entrance. Although the ceremony took longer than expected, it was extravagant and incredible. It is amazing how they do this ceremony everyday; all the security it takes, the preparations, and the talented guardsmen who not only have to wear those outfits but also are all musically talented and sounded like a professional symphony orchestra! It was a little frightening how many tourists come out to see this ceremony daily, and we were reminded multiple times to watch our bags because pickpockets look for the opportunity of when you're taking a picture to steal your wallet or purse. After the changing of the guard, we wandered along the outside fence of Buckingham Palace and then along some streets that I have no recollection of. We found our way back to Regent Street, where we visited Topshop, Superdry, and the most amazing Hamley's. Hamley's is like the FAO Schwartz of London. It had five floors of just pure childish fun. Maggie and I made sure to take a picture of every single Giraffe object in existence in the store, as well as photo ops with Will and Kate lego version, and Her Majesty the Queen, herself. It was a very productive morning and I couldn't help but smile at how productive we were being! London is beautiful and I don't understand why some of our classmates are just wasting their days watching movies and sleeping in.
Our afternoon session today was interrupted by a guest speaker, Bill Barclay, who is the Director of Music at Shakespeare's Globe here in London. He is one incredible guy. He is a man of so many talents and he has truly taken the saying "Live life to the fullest" to heart. It seems that although he had a rocky start as well as many bumps along the way, he has finally found where he belongs at the Globe. Bill is one of those people who is good as so many things, and had a hard time figuring out just where his passion really lied and what he wanted to do with his life. But, instead of settling on one passion, he chose the option of fitting them all into his life and career. I admire that, because although he may have an insanely busy life, he was able to keep everything he loved about his life involved. I can relate to Bill because I know that I myself have many passions and interests and oh how I WISH that there was a way I could incorporate all of them into a professional career. Anyways, after we heard Bill's whole entire life story up to his current age of 32, he then went into the entrepreneurial aspect of his life since after all, this Dialogue is, "Applied Theatre Training for the Global Entrepreneur." Things that stuck with me in his advice. 1. Follow your bliss. Follow your passions and your ambitions and just see where they take you. Don't take no for an answer and don't cross out any possibility. So many people have said this to me in my lifetime that I probably can't even count. But the way he said it, "Follow your bliss." Just do what makes you happy. Could it be any easier? 2. Be curious. When Bill graduated grad school, he took six months to hike from Mexico to Lake Tahoe. Sometimes all it takes is a change in scenery and a little exploration to realize what you really want to do with yourself. Sometimes getting lost is the best thing that could happen to you. We should all take things in stride instead of getting frustrated, and let the curiosity take over and lead us wherever it may want to. 3. There is a BIG difference between what you think you want and what you actually want. And sometimes (most of the time) it is really hard to know that difference. What we think we want is influenced by everyone around us; parents, teachers, friends, siblings, etc. We just want to make everyone happy. But, NO. We should want to make ourselves happy. That's something that I am going to work on. Figuring out what I want. Not what he wants or she wants or how what I do affects THEM, but how it affects ME. So thank you Mr. Bill Barclay for a very inspiring visit.
Ironically enough, I ended my day today going to Shakespeare's Globe to see The Tempest. Now, I'm not sure how many of you know exactly what Shakespeare's Globe is or how exactly it works. So basically, they rebuilt the original Shakespearean theatre in all of its forms. It is an open theatre, meaning there is no ceiling. It is all wooden and all very old. Surrounding the stage is a large open area, which is for standing room only. Fortunately (or more like unfortunately) that is where our tickets were for. So yes, on this forty degree night in London, we were expected to stand for three hours and watch The Tempest outside. Don't get me wrong, the first half of the play was amazing; the imagery was beautiful, the sound effects, the acting. It was all amazing. Even though I had a really hard time understanding the Shakespearean language, the story was intriguing and humorous. Sadly enough, by intermission we were all fed up with having no where to sit and with being so cold, so we left. I feel bad seeing that it was the historical Shakespeare's Globe and that the play was actually captivating, but I'll make sure to read up on the ending sometime soon.
And with that, I find myself sitting in bed rather early for a Friday night, but I am in no means complaining. I am going to take advantage of getting a few extra hours of sleep in and preparing for another full day of who knows what tomorrow.
Until then!!
Albert the Husky!
Babies won the bar crawl!
Hamley's!
No comments:
Post a Comment