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Friday, April 28, 2006
Practically Perfect In Every Way
4/28/2006 01:22:00 PM Eeeeeee!!! Just typing the title of this post gets me all excited again. Aww, memories. So anyways, I think I just fufilled a dream of the child in me last night by going to watch Mary Poppins the Musical, in the West End here in London. It was AMAZING!!! It just started its second year here in London, where its been a sensation for the entire year (seriously, just try to go somewhere in the city, and not see some any adverts for it). Some of the best news I just found out that is going to take a run for it in the States, and will be on Broadway by October. I hope it is just as loved over there, because it seriously is one of those shows that just needs to be seen by everybody. And to think, I wasn't entirely sure I was going to go. Even at the halfprice ticket booths, the cheapest seats available were £35 (which is cheap by London standards, but not when translated to American currency). I figured that it would be good, but more like just a play, with maybe the Sherman brothers' score from the Disney movie. But it was SOOO worth it! When we got there and found our seats, before it even began, it was awesome. We were withing the first 15 rows, and fairly centered, up close in the stalls. Here are some pics of the theater (the Prince Edward). Yeah, that's right, I snuck my camera in.   (No.17 Cherry Tree Lane) One of the coolest things was the way they used screens for the production. Within the first 15 minutes I was in awe. Way to show the world how awesome theater can be with incorporation of modern technology! The sets were absolutely amazing. The house for No.17, was like looking into a giant dollhouse, with the different rooms, all open with the walls not extending fully toward us. The top of the house, the roof, was the exterior, and the kids would go up the stairs and come out onto the balcony on the roof, or peer through a window. But the coolest part, is that when Mary and the kids would go upstairs into the nursery, the main section of the house would slide back, and the nusery/top floor would drop down out of the roof/rectangle/box, and there they were, with us looking into the nusery part of the giant doll house.  The way they made use of all sorts of stage tricks was amazing too. Nothing is new these days because we are so spoiled as an audience, but the stuff they came up with was able to put just the right effect in just the right places without over-kill; the birds at St Paul Cathedral or the items coming out of Mary Poppins bags. She seriously took a lamp, a mirror, and a plant out of her carpet bag..after it was on a table that was away from the back of the set, and on top of a table--just like in the movie. She also pulled a sheet out of it, and then her and Jane flap it, or whatever it is you do, and then she just drops it down, and it takes the form of a bed (like while the sheet was stretched out for a split second, they shot up a bed from a trap door or something). They even fly kites! Not like, fake flying kites, where it's all stiff and obviously on a wire, these kites were fluttering about. Even though, you know, as grown people, that there are wires, and trap-doors to make stuff possible, there were just little things that made you feel like a little kid again, like it was magic! Her and the kids actually shoot up the chimeny and onto the roof, and they put a doll into a little doll house and suddenly there's a giant doll/person inside it. There's also a moment where during the Step-In-Time chimney sweep bit (which was freaking awesome cause they all tap-danced) where Burt continues his tap-movements as he climbs the stage-left side of the arch, then is suspended upside down from the ceiling tap-dancing upside down and finally descends by the stage-right arch....it was really cool. So already you got spectacular giant doll's house of a design, the mystifying magic effects and the stunningly inventive choreography, leaving you with your mout hanging open. And I haven't even gotten to the performances or the music yet. The show is based on both the book by P.L. Traver's and the play, so it has some different scenes from the movie. In the first outing, instead of popping into a chalk picture, they go to the park still, and a bunch of statues, including two Pans and even Queen Victoria, dance in the park.  Then in a rather scarey sequence, rag-dolls, hussars and other nursery toys come accusingly to life to punish naughty Jane and Michael.  OK, there are no cartoon penguins or pearly kings — but who cares when, say, the the sweeps swivel and tap so perfectly on the roofs of a night-time London?       There's also, instead of a "tidy up the nursery" scene, a scene where chaos controls the kitchen,and things start falling apart and breaking, cook's assisant, falls on the table breaking the legs of it, and everything sliding off onto the floor, but when Mary Poppins snaps her fingers, the table magnificently rights itself, and everything pops back on, it was crazy. Same thing happens similarly with a cabinet that breaks in half with dishes spilling out and breaking into the sink. The scene at the bank is also different, but awesome (seriously, to get someone like me who loves the movie so much, to actually LIKE the changes they make, and not be upset about them, you know they had to be awesome).  (Yeah, you see those little guys on the pillars? They move. The whole time, every single one of them is like dipping their quills in their little ink pots and etc.) And then there's this new character, the evil nanny/witch (who was Mr. Banks nanny as a child, which makes sense for how he turned out). And get this, her name is "Mrs. Andrews" heehee. So when they hire Mary Poppins, of course there's these side references about how, "we couldn't get Mrs. Andrews, she's too high of a caliber for us", which were funny. But this nanny is seriously evil, they even refer to her as 'the holy terror' and luckily Mary Poppins kinda destroys her (haha, I knew she had some mischief in her!)  Of course, part of the brilliance of the movie, was the music, and along with the marvelous original score by the Sherman brothers, some amazing new songs have been added and fit in perfectly. The "Chim chim cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" numbers are show stoppers, and had the audience standing up and clapping, joining in on the fun, and one of the best songs was a new one that closes the show, Anything Can Happen (If You Let It)  which fits the style of the original music so well, you'd never assume it was written seperately. The crowd also stood and clapped along to this one too, which turned into a crazy encore of Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious, and then a bit of this song again!! I have to say, the cast was brilliant. Some of the characters were re-cast when it picked up for the second year (including Mary Poppins) but Gavin Lee (who is like the Fred Astair of the West End) remains as the original Burt, and I have to say I think he was my favorite, along with Mrs. Banks (who has a much larger role than in the film, and also one of the great new songs "Being Mrs. Banks"). Even the kids suprised me by keeping up so amazingly, with great acting, even better singing, and dancing (I don't know how they kept up with the Superblahblahblah dance, that was insane!). Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention. Mary Poppins slides up the banister (which I was hoping for but didn't actually expect to get!)AND she really does fly!! In fact, she flew out directly over Erin and I at the end. It was amazing. (This picture is from the first time she flies--not the time she was by us)  It is a thoroughly professional show, and one that makes you feel like your in heaven. Or maybe for you just a really happy place, but to me a really happy mary poppins place, is practically heaven. It was so hard to leave the theater and calm down. Everyone was just on a high. Even Abby was raving about how amazing it was, and one of the best musicals ever, and she's usually more reserved with assigning things such powerful titles. Erin said she loved it even more than the Lion King, and it made us so sad to think that we'd never be able to describe how good it was or bring friends and family to a show to see it for themselves, but today when we all found out it was going to the states in October, everyone said they most definitely want to see it again. So either it better be a smash hit on Broadway and get to tour afterwards (more specifically hopefully somewhere near, like Chicago or St. Louis), because I am going again, and taking some of you with me. For a tiny taste, go here, and watch this video clip (which can I say makes me excited, thinking if they recorded it, there might be a dvd release in the future?): WATCH ME NOW! Friday, April 21, 2006
A Week After My Departure
4/21/2006 10:00:00 AM I'm here to report on my journey to the Emerald Isle (which is Ireland--you should maybe feel a little ashamed of yourself if you didn't know that). Anyways, where is better to start then at the beginning yes? Well, how 'bout the end, just briefly before I officially begin. I just want to apologize for it having taken me 4 days after I got back to get time to post this, but as you will learn there have been some hinderances to my mobility factor and henceforth the amount of times I make use of my mobile ability to indulge myself with unnecessary trips to the IT Labs. But more on that later. Okay, so last Thursday after all my classes were finished, the girls and I (the girls on this particular occassion being Becca and Erin) had time to grab some supper (and for me to blog the last entry before we left) and then took off for the airport. We managed to get there plenty early and stood in line for about an hour to get our boarding passes, and then stood in line for another hour to check in, and then sat in the boarding lounge for maybe another 30 mins, before we stood in line to board the plane. I have absolutely no idea why traveling by air here is so much slower than in the States. It's rather ridiculous. But, I digress. Flying in the evenings is decidedly still much better than early early mornings. So we board our mini plane to Dublin, Becca naps a little, Erin reads a little, and I take turns freaking them each out a little via reading the safety directions on the front of my seat and pondering extremely rare possibilities in which the measures provided would serve no real assistance of any use--or by scaring the crap out of them by being silent for lengthy periods of time, and then turning abruptly to yell in their ear "We're going to IRELAND!!". This really only worked on Erin. The most I got from Becca was an annoyed look which I think is safe to assume as meaning one of the following: "I know Steph", or "Really? I'm so glad you decided to inform me for the bazillionth time", or "If you keep it up I'm going to ____" and site the numerous ways I previously listed to how we could die on the way to Ireland) Suffice to say, we did not (obviously) and we landed in Dublin in fine time. Then it was off to the busses, to try and pretend that we knew which number would take us to our hostel we had booked for the evening. Luckily enough, some girls in front of us were discussing directions to the same place with a driver, and he said that his bus would take them, so we followed. Once we got to the last stop on that route, we hopped off and walked the remainder of the way, found our hostel, and checked in. I'm not gonna lie. It was a little sketchy. We were in a room with 8 beds, and somehow people were sleeping in 2 of the 3 beds that were supossed to be reserved for us. So the man upstairs, just switched us to some other unnoccupied beds. No biggie. Unfortch for us, (and by us, I mean Becca) not all these beds had been re-fitted with clean sheets and pillowcases since the previous occupant had left. After getting tired of waiting for new ones, she finally decided to just sleep on top of them anyways, so we all prepared for bed, and retired for the evening. Around 6:00am we woke up, got all our stuff ready, and went upstairs for the free breakfast--which was skimpy, but amazing simply for the fact that they had peanut butter (and jelly) for the toast. It was still bade fake imitation English (or Irish?) peanut butter but still, it was peanut butter all the same. The lack of which over the past 3 months has made us all reconsider exactly how deep our love for it runs, in an awkward and unsettling manner. Then as we gathered with the rest of the herd (apparently all the paddywagon tour groups meet at Paddy's Palace--the name of our not so royal hostel). We finally found the mass we were supposed to be traveling with, on 2 busses (well, one bus, one van/bus) for the 3-Day South Tour. Because we were in a group of 3, we were allowed on the big bus, which was actually very nice. I can imagine a little easier now what attracts elderly people to travel on these things in large numbers to odd locations around the country. It's actually quite quaint. Once we all had boarded, there seemed to be an instant bond between the group, as we all wondered simultaneously if our driver was drunk this fine morning, as he drove us crazily around the city of Dublin, whilst making odd remarks to himself (and others), strange noises, and sang to us. Luckily, he was not. In fact, the 3 of us in my mini-group, mutally came to the conclusion that he is simply an older, male, Irish, version of me. Only, kinda like a Steph on ADD. Which I guess is just Steph, if you've ever ridden with me in a car, or on long drives. If you haven't let me just state for my own defense, that talking to yourself or singing loudly whatever random song is stuck on replay in your mind, is not proof of insanity, it's simply a prevenatative measure to keep oneself from that horrid state known as 'boredom'. To continue: I loved this driver. Is it necessary to state that? I don't think so, but I wanted to all the same. Why? Cause that's how much I loved him. If he were not married with two kids, I may have just stayed in Ireland. Wouldn't that be sad for you. (Well, not really, you could come visit). Anyways, the first stop of the day (after leaving the city) was at this giant cross in the park (which is one of the largest 'parks' in the world--its really more just open land donated to the public, when the owner died). Oh yeah, at this point I should give you the link to my photobucket, in case you should feel more comfortable browsing the pictures as I talk about the sites. Ireland Pictures: Click Here! Okay, so you see that big cross on the mound? That's what I'm talking about. There wasn't a whole lot to see, minus some deer grazing nearby, so we were off again to our next stop. Which was a rest stop, so I'll skip that, and go the next one. We ended up driving through some bog lands where they kinda farm and cut peat--which a lot of Irish still use in their homes to burn in their fireplaces. Then we arrived at Clonmacnoise, which is the remnants of what was once an old Celtic village, and there still stands the walls of the churches and monks towers (though the roofs of those, and all the villagers homes were made of straw/hay/etc.) and of course some High Crosses which still are very prominent and important to Irish culture. Next we made our way through Ballinasloe to Galway (if your still keeping up with pictures and story at the same time, you may go to page 2 now). We stopped in the bay, to go around to some shops and get a bite to eat for lunch before going to the hostel. Which by the way was amazing. Seriously, this place was nicer than the dorms at Webster. And the dorms here for that matter. The had a large dinning area with loads of seats/room, and a kitchen, where you could make your meals should you decide to cook instead of go out, AND they had computers for the lonely traveller's internet access. It cost a Euro for 15mins and 3 for an hour, but still. It was available. We got together with another group of 3 girls who are studying in Scotland. Two of them are from Wisconsin and one is from Minnesota, which slightly annoyed Becca when it came to their accents. But whatever, she's from Jersey, so I just made an extra effort to make fun of her for that on the trip. The room was huge by the way. And if your looking at pics now, you'll also notice that it had a fun quality to it--structurally and otherwise. You can tell the nice warm colors and sheer cleanliness of the place brightened us up right away. We decided to walk around Galway, and get to know the city a bit. On the way to the hostel we noticed a market place, which we later found out is known as 'Shop Street', which actually sprawls along numerous streets. With all the bright colors and crowds of people we thought it would be fairly easy to find, and we were off. I don't actually have an picures from the Shop Street adventure, but it was extremely colorful, and as we walked through the city, we couldn't help but be slightly confused as to why it felt more like a Spanish city, or even slightly Italian, than...well...Irish. Reason we found out later makes much sense...during one of the many attempts to free themselves from the English, the Irish had sequestered help from Spain, who sent their ships into Galway, where there actually was success (however short-lived). There is actually still a monument in thanks to the Spanish there, the Spanish Arch, commemorating the good deed, and perhaps also offering a bit of explanation to the feel of the city. When you see my postcards you'll notice the atmosphere comparison. Anyways, Galway is a young vibrant city. Young, because apparently its University City Ireland. Most of their colleges are there, hence all the young minds of tommorrow live there and make up the majority of the population. Therefor the city is also one of the trendiest in the country as well. After we were done shopping, we decided to just walk around the city a little, and we ended up walking along the river to the Galway Cathedral, which I believe is St. Nicholas Church. It's probably the most modern cathedral I've seen so far, but I think it's also my favorite. Perhaps because it's so different (in its mondernism).The outside is designed alot like other cathedrals, but it's made from local limestone and marble, so the look of it, on the interior is vastly different. I love it. After that it was getting a little dark, so we found a place to grab a sandwich for dinner on the way back to the hostel, and then spent the rest of the evening there, showering early (in a hostel this nice we just had to, not knowing when the chance for better would come again), and reading a bit before calling it an early night. Our friends the Australians from the bus, however did not, haha. Oh yeah, a couple things to mention here quick. 1) This was Good Friday, so for the first night in Ireland on the Paddywagon tour, loads of people (namely the Aussies) wanted to go out and have an "Irish" night, however being Easter weekend, in an extremely religious country, no pubs were open. 2) I love the Australians. On the bus, when a good song would come on (ie. Bon Jovi - Living on A Prayer) the Aussies were the ones singing their hearts out along with the loud Americans traveling with us. And by Americans, I mean me. But seriously, all the great American songs, the Aussies knew (they were even demanding some Johnny Cash, which they later got) and then when stupid really really really bad British pop/techno songs would come on, we were the ones sitting back, quiet and confused. Anyways, so the Aussies wanted to drink. With no pub access available to aid them, the driver decided that he and the other driver would call up a buddy he has in Galway, and get some alchohol for them and they could have some Happy Days (a term used way too much on this trip..and now by me, here at Regents) back at the hostel. They ended up having a 'Crack' (Irish slang term #2 - it means have a good time) and maybe a bit too much fun, as noted by the silence and lethargy on the bus the next day. So, the next morning, Saturday, sad to depart our dear hostel, and nice room, we loaded on the bus, with the hungover group of Aussies (who were dissapointed with us, apparently we failed our reputations as Americans by not being out there partying with them) and set off again, Bingo Bango! (Irish Slang Term #3 - I don't really know what this means, the driver used it whenever he felt, and in whatever context. I definitely remember seperate incidents were it was a noun, an adverb, and an adjective. Although now it is also a term of endearment and a nickname, as Ering and I chose to add it to Becca's name. For the remainder of the weekend she was now, Bingo Bango Becca. On our first stop of the day, tragedy struck. We got out of the bus at the top of a hillside, to take our departing pictures of Galway Bay, and me being me, decided stupidly, that my pictures would be better off if taken from the other side of the road, which happened to be slightly steeply inclined, and so when I commenced taking advantage of the photo op, I turned to take a picture of Becca and Erin, and noted that they were heading back towards the bus. As you might notice in the pictures, this area tended to be a bit rocky...I saw a clumb of rocks embedded in the ground, in the path I was about to go down, to get back across the road, and then thinking sensibly, thought, don't go that way, you'll just get hurt. I scouted out a smoother portion of the terrain to my right, and decided to walk around that way, only as soon as I started in the direction and looked up to once again located my traveling buddies, before I knew it my ankle somehow folded beneath me (I heard it crack) and I rather rolled my way down the little hill to the roadside. Oh no. What an idiot. I hate myself. I just ruined my whole trip. Some of the first things that went through my head. Before the adrenaline which instantly shot to my ankle could wear off letting me feel the first stings of pain, I thought, "Hey, maybe its not as bad as I think." So I decided to try and stand up first before I let my doubts get the best of me, and to my surprise I was ablet to do so, without falling back down immediately. At least it's not broken. Erin and Becca had seen me sitting on the ground, so they came over and with their help I was able to hobble onto the bus. Within 5 mins of getting on, I could feel my foot completely swollen against the sides of my shoe, and started to swell over the top, so I decided I wasn't going to look at it untill we got to our next stop which was an hour away. I tightened my shoe, hoping to try and compress the swelling and propped my leg up for the rest of the ride. We made a short stop, and Erin took my camera for me while I stayed on the bus, and against my own advice I took off my shoe to look at the damage. It was more swollen than I had expected but it had already started discoloring itslef, which I took to be a good sign.I didn't think I'd need crutches at the next stop, which was an another hour away, so that was another good thing. However, the next stop was the Cilffs of Moher. Not something I could easily give up, but I got out when we arrived, and was able to put pressure on it decently, maybe thanks to the IB Profen on the bus earlier, and so off we went. Thankfully there was a guide rail up the path to the cliffs, so I made it as far as that ran, though I felt bad that Erin and Becca couldn't climb all the way to the top, or to the other side, since they would have felt guiltly leaving me. But I felt better later when I noticed that all the pictures on the postcards in the gift shop were taken pretty much from the location that we were at, so I thought, maybe we didn't miss anything short of getting blown off the mountain, by not going all the way up. We stopped in LaHinch, a little surftown touching the Atlantic Ocean, and then drove down through Tralee and ended up getting on a ferry to cross the River Shannon at its widest point. By the time we arrived at the next city, where we'd be staying for the night, I was fairly assured that my trip would not be completely spoiled, and that all I needed was some ice, elevation, and an ace bandage wrap. Once we arrived in Killarney, we were met with horse and cart carriages to take us around the national park (again just lots of land open to the public, however this land containing castles, and the like). The whole ride was awesome, we ended up paying 10 Euro a piece, but it was obvious that there was no way I was going to be walking through the park, and a ride by horseback was 15 Euro (though I'd have done that as well). We got to the hostel in the evening and all the pharmacy's around had closed, so no ace bandage wrap. We just took it easy in the room for a while, and then joined the group around the corner at 7:30pm for dinner at a local joint. The food was good, as was the company. Of course, you should be assuming right now that we sat with the Aussies. Which we did. Strangely enough a few of them had just moved to London, so we had plenty of stories to swap, and ended up finding out a few new locations that are supposedly a 'must' for us to check out before we leave for home. Even they were sad for us, that our trip is so nearly finished. While the rest of the group decided to go out to a cocktail bar, we went back to the hostel after a day of exhaustion. The whole night I slept with my leg resting on top of my backpack (on the bed) and in the morning the swelling was down by about half which really suprised me especially since we had found no ice. We checked the pharmacy around the corner in the morning, but it wasn't going to open untill 9:00, when we would be leaving half an hour earlier, so no ace bandage wrap for today either. Sunday morning we were off to the Blarney Castle, and on the way we passed through Cork city, which is where the Titanic set sail from in 1912 on April 10th, we were there on the 16th just 2 days after the anniversary of its sinking. Sadly, we didn't get to stop, or even drive by the harbor, but I've gotten over it by now. But believe me I was freaking out on the bus for those 15 mins that we drove through the city. We also passed numerous sites where parts of the film Braveheart were filmed (oddly enough, only about 20 mins of footage from the film is actually in Scotland). So, blah, blah, blah, we get to Blarney Castle, and it takes me about the whole hour we have to climb the stairs all the way up to the top, and then we get there and the Blarney Stone to my surprise, is actually part of the castle. It's just built right into it, and right over one of the parts of the top, were there is a giant gap (through which the soldiers would drop boiling pots of water or animal fat on their enemies attempting to storm the castle) so you have to lie down, and this guy helps scoot you on your back to where you can grab these safety poles and then kiss the stone upside down. Yeah, there was no way I was attempting that, especially with a bum leg. Next we travelled up to Tipperary, and stopped to tour the Cahir Castle (the gate of which was used for the sound effect of the gate used in Braveheart) and afterwards walked around and grabbed some fruit and sandwiches for a quick lunch. Then it was time to head back to Dublin. It was a long drive, so the driver let us watch Shrek (he had the dvd with him) to make it go by a little shorter. We got into town close to 5:00pm, so we checked into our hostel and decided to go find a pharmacy with an ace bandage for me, get some final touristy gifts, and supper before going back to the hostel for the evening. We didn't get to walk around the city as much as I would've liked (for obvious reasons) but one of the thing that I noticed I am really going to miss about cities over here (not just Ireland, but England, and all of Europe essentially) is how easy it is to get around. Nearly all of them are walkable (minus Paris, belive me, even though I didn't get to go, I heard the stories, it sprawls despite the illusion that you can walk the whole city--even the Aussies learned this the hard way). I mean, of course I can go home and walk around the entire city of Loup City, but back in St. Louis, or other cities I might visit like New York, or L.A. it is impossible to get around without a car, or some form of public transport. I also can't imagine myself not travelling anymore after this. The world just seems so much smaller now. It's done with the dreaming for me. Well, not necessarily done with the 'dreaming' factor, but more like, attach more 'doing' onto the end of it. To sum up the trip: I had a crack! I can't wait to Bingo Bango my way back, and maybe see Northern Ireland next time. Happy Days...
3 Comments:
Thursday, April 13, 2006
If At First You Don't Succeed...
4/13/2006 10:40:00 AM GET YOUR ASS TO THE AIRPORT EARLIER NEXT TIME!!! So today I will attempt Trip #2. Should I succeed, I will be touring around Southern Ireland for the next four days. For some reason (could be that I've been really sick the last 5 days) I haven't been able to get excited about this. Which is extremely odd since the whole time the only thing I've been able to look forward to was my trip to Ireland. Of course, after the dissapoint from missing my trip to Poland (which I only started to get excited about during the week leading up to supposed take-off date) maybe I'm just afraid to get my hopes up only to be let down again. Which I know shouldn't happen, because I'm traveling with Becca who is one of the most responsible people I've ever met in my life. Seriously. Oh, and Erin is going too, but if it were up to the two of us, we wouldn't be leaving for the airport at 4:30, when our plane leaves at 9:00. That's just how Becca does Airports all the time. I wish she had planned our trip to Poland Noel and Myself. Why did I just capitalize Myself? I think it has to do with habit of seeing the words MySpace...Anyways, Onwards... I loaded up on meds this morning, and took some DayQuil to wake me up, and then had 2 redbulls about an hour ago, so I'm hoping that will at least get me through the airport, even if its all just lies to my body telling me that I feel fine, if that's what I need to be fake excited, and feel the faux rush of exhilaration, then so be it. Or SoBe it...I wish they sold those here..I could really go for one right about now. I miss them. 1st thing appointed on my list of things to do when I get home, go on a SoBe run. Maggie you're presence is required. What was I supposed to be getting around to? Oh, right. Ireland. I just checked the weather, and its supposed to be cold, in the 50s the whole time....man, the fates are set on trying to ruin this trip for me, even if I make it, arent they. Regardless, I am deciding right now that it will be amazing. I will be Paddywacking (actually its a Paddywagon Tour, but my choice of words make it seem more fun and adventurous) my way through the green Mother Ireland, and I will love every minute of it. Even when I'm vomitting in Erin's lap, since I made the mistake of eating breakfast this morning. Why do I do it? I have no logic. Although Abby tells me that my problem isn't that I lack common sense, she believes I can be quite practical at a given moment in time, but that I choose to be non-sensical? And retire my good senses in sacrifice for the sake of entertainment--for which she appreciates me. This little speech made me laugh. I have yet to decide if I concur.
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Thursday, April 06, 2006
The stuff airport bombers are made of?
4/06/2006 01:56:00 PM So..... Here I am. Sitting in the IT Center. At Regent's. NOT in Poland. Why is this, you may be wondering. Well. The blame could be spread in many directions, but I am choosing to go with stupid European Airports. To start off, last night Noel and I were trying to figure out what time we needed to get to the airport before our flight. The plane was to leave at 5:50pm and if we left at 3:30pm after a 10min walk to Bakers St. Station, a 20 min tube ride, and another 30 min ride on the Stanstead Express to the airport would put us there around 4:30...roughly and hour and a half before the flight would leave. I got an e-mail last night from RyanAir about this new feature they just added, where you can check-in online, so I asked Noel if she wanted to run upstairs and get her passport number and we could just check in online at the moment, however we both agreed that we would have plenty of time tomorrow. Today I wake up early, even go down to breakfast (I don't eat breakfast. Its just something that doesn't work for me). Of course Abby scolded me telling me that I was gonna get sick later, but do I listen? No. Did I feel sick later? Yes. But the excitement for the upcoming journey to my "home-land" was still surging through my veins. I was so excited at lunch (didn't get anything cause I was still nauseous) that Becca wouldn't believe that I hadn't had any Red Bull yet today. (Of course I had bought three to stow in my luggage for Poland). Come 3:20, Noel and I leave, stop by the refectory to grab a bottle of water, and head out the doors. When we get to Baker St. the train was a little delayed in arriving, but it was fine we figured because we had plenty of time. Then once we got to Liverpool St. and got our tickets for the Stanstead Express (train directly to airport) we had to wait another 15 mins for that train to arrive. Again, no biggie we think, the train then halfway there, stops on the tracks for some reason unbenknownst to us for about 5 to 10 minutes, and we start to tense up a bit. Still we get to the airport at like 5:05, run to the check in, and get in line at 5:08. The sign says 'open' still. Then about two minutes later, all the sudden the check in for our flight closes. While we're still in line. We ask what we need to do, since we're here and need to check in and our flight doesn't leave for another 40 mins. They tell us to go talk to these guys in the blue, which we do, and they tell us that we have to book another flight, and there is one seat for Krakow open tommorrow morning, and another one the next evening. WHAT THE CRAP!! Ummm, we are there...no luggage to check, just carry-ons with 40 MINUTES BEFORE THE PLAN BOARDS!!! We even ditched them to go talk to some security guys, and try to get through departures with just our internet printed passes. They told us the same. So now, Noel is feeling guilty because of how excited I was and says I could take the seat in the morning and still go if I want...though that would mean paying another $80 to switch my ticket, and going back home and paying another $50 to get back on the Stanstead Express to get to the airport again, only to go to Poland where I have one day, practically no spending money since I had to spend it on the new flight, and no time to fully appreciate things, since I'm pissed about having no spending money and missing my flight the first time. We ended up just coming back and on the way home, I was suprised with how easily I came to terms with the fact that we weren't going to Poland. I guess a dream can't really be shattered if it was never fully realized in the first place...and it was all still seeming like it was too good to be true all day. All I can do now is tell myself I'll go one day, make sure I'm 3 hours early for my flight to Ireland, and maybe take Dad up on the riding horses through Hyde Park in London this weekend in exchange. Oh yeah...and maybe bomb RyanAir. (Joke...horrible thing to joke about, but seriously, I'm upset. If I hadn't been saving all my tears for Auschwitz, I'd probably be crying right now)
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Saturday, April 01, 2006
The Time Ignorant Student?
4/01/2006 11:15:00 AM A couple years ago I read this fantastic book The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger, and absolutely loved it (highly recommended). Last summer I had convinced Sam to read it, since she was badly needing a new book to read and losing faith in her own choosing ability, so I let her borrow one from my collection. The whole time she was reading it she would continuously talk about how great it was, and all that jazz, so I had told myself that I needed to re-read it soon.However, 'soon' apparently means nearly another year later? I think the book was just released here in London right before we arrived, cause I've been seeing it everywhere, and remembering what a great book it was, and telling everyone and their dogs to read it (my copy unfortunately remains in Nebraska), but then this Friday, while everyone was preparing for their weekend rendezvous in Paris, some of the girls found a copy of this particular book in the library, while they grabbed some reading for the train ride. Abby, my roomate, ended up checking out the book and brought it up to show me, but decided to leave it, and instead bring her other literary choice for the ride. Then, the book was just there...sitting on her desk...taunting me.... So, yesterday morning, with everyone gone, and me left alone and bored I decided to grab it and start re-reading it finally. And then at 4:00am I was done. Yeah, I spent the entire day Friday (minus about 2 hrs, checking up on the internet slash grabbing a sandwhich from the refectory, since food is necessary to function--and by function, I mean, finish reading) reading The Time Traveler's Wife. Which was even better than I remember, so I feel less guilty for pretty much wasting the entire day. But it was worth it. Besides, I have today and tommorrow to do any lame things (and by lame things, I mean homework) I was planning to do then. |
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im so jealous of you steph!!! i wanna go. however, i am very happy that you, the biggest mary poppins fand in the world, was able to attend such a fun event!! we should watch mary poppins this summer, cause after reading this post, i want to see it again.
soo...Julie Andrews was on the today show this morning advirtising her new book. I couldn't help but think of you...and smile.
Wow, okay so it's taken me this long to post becuase of the mere fact of having to set aside time to be able to read this entire thing : P. That looks like an awesome show!! And i'm sure for you it was especially incredible. Can't wait for you to be home! Later!
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