I GET TO SEE HAMLET TONIGHT!!!

AT THE RSC!!! WITH PATRICK STEWART AND DAVID TENNANT!!!

I am so amazingly lucky (and excited)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Few More Fun Pics Courtesy of Annie :-)

Happy Birthday Jules!
I finally found a Hume in Scotland!

Couldn't resist...

Jessie, Annie, me, and Ali

Getting settled in our hostel

Edinburgh: The Adventure Continues

The Edinburgh Backpackers Hostel turned out to be a great option considering its cheap price and fantastic location. The other people in our rooms turned out to be very nice (what little we got to know of them--we didn't spend much time there), but man, the nights are rough there. On Saturday night I think I finally fell asleep somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 a.m. in the midst of a man snoring in the bunk above me and a domestic fight on the street below. Needless to say, we were all pretty psyched to return to our super nice single rooms with bathrooms here at Lincoln last night.

We never got lunch on Friday because we thought the train would arrive earlier, so by the time we dropped our stuff at the hostel, it was 6 p.m. and we were starving. We grabbed a yummy dinner at an European chain called Bella Italia and then wandered our way down the Royal Mile to the Queen's palace and the tower where Mary, Queen of Scots was held for years. Pretty cool. We stopped for drinks at the Tolbooth Tavern (supposedly haunted), looped back near New Town for some pretty views of the skyline at night, and then hit the beds hard around 11:30.

On Saturday morning, we hiked up to Arthur's Seat. This is definitely THE thing to do in Edinburgh...simply stunning. I met a bunch of UVA students at the top, too--we did a little WahooWa cheer for good times sake. The only thing that made me a little sad is when they asked me what year I was; I answered "03." One of them said, in such a kind way, "Oh, that's way before our time." That and all of the drunken hen parties at 9 a.m. made me feel old-ha! Check out the video of us at the top:

We also ran into a Piper Tour Bus--no joke, a whole busload of bagpipers got off the coach and started playing Amazing Grace before we climbed the crag. We pinched ourselves because it was too perfect.

We headed to Sainbury's, our favorite local grocery store in the U.K., to grab some treats for a picnic lunch (hummus, anyone? we looove it!), which we enjoyed in a cute park in New Town. A walk around the upscale shopping district and lots more hens and stags rounded out our afternoon. We headed back to the hostel to shower and regroup for the evening.

Saturday night started with a scotch tasting. Lucky for us, we befriended a man at Whiskies who offered to pay for us if we took a picture with him. One picture turned into a whole photo shoot inside the bar, but hey, we got to try several types of scotch from around the country for free. We then tried to get a table at this swanky vegetarian restuarant in town, but the waiting list was days long (literally), so plan B was to check out The Outsider, which turned out to be PERFECT. We enjoyed a relaxing, delicious dinner in a beautiful restaurant in the heart of the city. The bread before dinner was also super yummy--a plus! After dinner we checked out Biblios, an adorable bar that looks like a library, and shared some Pimm's (the national drink) and then moved on to a couple of clubs with the intention of going dancing...but, once again, the stags and hens were out in full force. I have never seen so many dummy dolls, antlers, and pageant sashes before in my life. What cracked us up was the fact that these groups were mainly comprised of the bride's/groom's friends, parents, grandparents, and other older family friends. At one point, I turned around on the dance floor only to see a woman who must have been 60 chugging a beer and hiking up her skirt as she danced along to a 90's rap song. We laughed at it for awhile, but the heat in the clubs (they were packed) finally got to us and we headed home around 1 a.m. The grandmother was still going as I left...

Sunday was spent walking up to the Edinburgh Castle and then buying a few Scottish things: blankets, scarfs, kilts (just kidding--no one got a kilt). Another lunch in the park and we were back on the train to Oxford. This time we snagged a set of four seats around a table and thoroughly enjoyed our time together on the train, reading and laughing and sharing stories. I think that is what I will most remember about Edinburgh--not the sights, but the fantastic three women I shared the experience with who made me laugh and think and enjoy myself all weekend long. Bread Loaf is a long five years, but when you have some special friends to share it with, it can be a gift of a summer enrichment experience. Annie, Ali, Jessie, and I have been through BL together for the most part, so it seemed fitting to share this final adventure with them. Good times!

And we all converge on Edinburgh...

...That is, four Bread Loaf seniors and a LOT of hen and stag parties. Now, if you don't know what a stag or hen party is, BE THANKFUL. Annie, Ali, Jessie, and I certainly got to know more than our fair share this weekend in edenic Edinburgh.

Our first introduction to the tradition in the U.K. of throwing someone a stag (bachelor) or hen (bachelorette) party came on our 6 hour train...which turned into an 8+ hour train due to multiple delays along the route. We wouldn't have minded the delays if it weren't for the fact that we were literally surrounded by women in whoopie cushion costumes and men impersonating Elvis. Man, the Scots and Brits really know how to get the party started--and started they did at 10 a.m. on Friday morning. They were smashed from the get go and didn't stop drinking, singing, and dancing all weekend. The train was also overbooked--and because we bought our tickets so late, we didn't have reserved seats (and others did), so every stop along the way, we were weaving our way through these parties and the train cars hoping to find an empty seat. All in all, it was hilarious. But it was a loooooong ride.

We arrived in Edinburgh and promptly found our hostel...who couldn't find our reservation. No problem, the guy at the counter said to us, you probably are booked at the hostel down the street with the exact same name (same name? same street? different hostels? whatever). We arrive at the 2nd hostel only to hear that they did get our reservation, but somewhere between them "booking" us and our arrival in Scotland, they gave the 4 person room away. Sorry, they said, we're completely booked; we emailed you an hour ago to let you know...

Looking back on the moment we realized we had no place to stay and that every single place was probably going to be booked by that point, I have to laugh because the four of us kicked into overdrive. Jessie ran out the door looking for hostels on foot, Ali buried her nose in her tourbook, Annie grabbed a phone, and I tried to get online. Twenty frantic minutes later, we found a place who would take us in, and for cheaper (hooray!), but they couldn't promise we would be in the same room with each other and the rooms would house between 10-14 people, men and women. We looked at each other, reverted back to our college backpacking mindsets, and told them we would take the spots and we'd be there in 5 minutes. The adventure had begun.

And now, I must go to London to catch our showing of Twelfth Night tonight. I promise I will continue the Edinburgh saga when I return--lots more hens, stags, and laughs involved!

Clay's Visit

Wow. There is just too much to say here. I am sorry we didn’t catalogue it as we went along, but the combination of the beautiful weather and our desire to make the most of our time together here pulled us away from the computer for a good week. Thanks for sticking with the blog, though—I promise I will try to make it up to my faithful readers with several posts today and more to come!

Clay wrote so well about the beginning of his visit here, and I posted a scrapbook of the first half of the week, so I will try to pick up where those left off...

Friday: I had class until 11:30, and we thought we might try to make it to Bath, but didn’t really have enough time…so we went to the Tourist Info Center here and asked then what they thought we should do. Their answer: an Oxford Walking Tour. So we purchased the guidebook, grabbed our favorite Morton’s baguettes (yum!) and hit the road. We had so much fun. I learned a ton about Oxford and saw lots of places I had yet to find on my own. We toured Christ Church College and Cathedral (which are stunning) and wandered our way in as many of the colleges as we could find and would let us through the Porter’s Gate. Amazingly, every college seemed both unique and just as gorgeous as the others. Oxford definitely knows how to design a quad. Magdalen College even has a deer park—random but fun. We laughed, we explored, we took lots of pictures…it was great. Friday night we had dinner with my closest girlfriends here at Wagamama, a noodle bar right around the corner from Lincoln. Hit up the White Horse, the Turf Tavern, and King’s Arms before heading to bed.

Saturday: London! We grabbed a morning bus and arrived around 12:30into Victoria Station. After a few minutes of trying to orient ourselves, we found our way to our hotel (B&B Belgravia—it was perfect! And unlimited espresso included!) where we dropped our stuff and headed into the city. Again, perfect weather—Clay definitely brought it with him over here and I am so glad he did! We took the Underground up to St. Paul’s (check out the views of London we captured from the top of the Dome in the video below!) and marveled at how big and historical it was. Walking to the top of the Dome is a must: combination good workout and great way to see the city from a different perspective. It was awesome to do it as our first stop because we really felt like we were in London, you know? We are here—yay! We are together—YAY! We then walked down to Covent Garden and Neal’s Yard for a yummy lunch and then walked all over the city—Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, National Portrait Gallery…Clay, what am I forgetting? We finally made it back to our hotel around 7:30, where we showered and geared up for dinner in Soho. We picked out a neat-sounding Indian restaurant but couldn’t find it, but luckily there was a charming little Indian restaurant down a side street where we could sit outside and enjoy the evening—and some naan. We toured Soho a bit after dinner (Soho appeared to be combo of nightclubs and strip clubs, so we found our way into some funny situations) and had a yummy piece of coffee cake at a bakery right before they closed. Again, just so glad to be together.

Sunday: We went to church at Westminster Abbey (how cool is that??) where we were amazed at both how huge and intricate the interior space was and how sparsely attended the service was--maybe less than 300 people. But we felt lucky to be there and then walk out into another sunny day. We saw as much as we could of Parliament and then made our way to the Churchill War Rooms. I remember doing this with Mom and Dad a few years ago and loving it, and once again I was so impressed. They have added a HUGE and very smart Winston Churchill Museum to the tour, and Clay and I spent more time than we anticipated reading all of the displays and seeing the impressive collection of artifacts they have from his life and England during WWII. I was fascinated. Churchill was such an eloquent speaker, too, and they had some neat readings from his more famous war speeches to the nation. Dad, you would have loved it J. We then thought about going to the All England Club to see where Wimbledon is played, but we eventually decided we wouldn’t have enough time before it closed, so we wandered through Regent’s Park (where I saw R&J last night) and then down into Bloomsbury. We tried to find the plaque commemorating the Bloomsbury Writers, but no luck—but we did find Charles Dickens’s house, which was pretty cool. We decided to take a bus (as opposed to the Tube) back to our hotel so we could enjoy a few more sights of London and, after grabbing our backpack, headed to the Coach Station and caught the next bus back to Oxford. We loved London and felt like we really “did it.” With the exception of Wimbledon, we saw everything we had hoped to see and also enjoyed times when we just wandered around discovering things not in the guidebooks. Great memories of London.


Monday: Again, plans to go to Bath, but a wonderfully relaxing morning led to time in University Parks, Blackwell’s, lunch at Morton’s (so good!), and an hour rowing on the river! A drink at The Bear (for Clay) and a cone at McDonald’s (for me) rounded out the afternoon. This was perhaps my favorite day of Clay’s trip so far…we were just so relaxed and excited to do whatever we felt like doing. Monday night BL hosted Joe Dixon, who played Bottom in the RSC’s production of Midsummer that the entire program went to go see. He did Q&A with us for an hour before cocktails and high table. We loved Joe Dixon—he was so engaging and had years worth of theatre memories and insights to share with us. The more I learn about Shakespearean actors, the more I respect them. A ton of thought and effort goes into every production, and I find the choices they each make to be fascinating. I got to sit across from Joe at the High Table during dinner, too, so I got to hear more about his background and interests, which was fun. A bunch of us headed to All Bar One for drinks afterwards and got in a good, rousing game of Family. Awesome.

Tuesday: Clay’s last day in England. We went out for coffee in the a.m. before my class at 11, picking up some Oxford mementos for Clay and a Happy Anniversary banner for Jessie. She celebrated her second anniversary with Steele, s o we wanted to try to do something to make her smile since she wasn’t going to be with him that day (although it doesn’t take much to make sweet Jessie smile :-)). Clay did an awesome job decorating her door while we were in class—she loved it. Clay and I went to The Mission (looks exactly like Chipotle) for lunch, sharing delicious burritos. We briefly browsed through the Blackwell’s Art and Poster Shop before catching the bus for London. We took in part of the Tate Modern (including a giant, hanging electrical plug…hmmm) and then crossed the Thames on the Millennium Bridge for one last walk around the city. We grabbed dinner (and breakfast for Clay the next morning) at a grocery store and ate in front of the Globe right on the river. I don’t know about Clay, but I was trying to not think about the fact that was leaving early the next morning. I was pretty sad. It was hard being apart when we were dating, but being apart from him now that we are married just feels wrong. Anyways, we saw King Lear at the Globe (more on that in another post), got home around 12:30, woke up at 4:30 a.m. to walk to the bus station, and then he was gone. Good thing yesterday was my longest class day and we had a play; staying busy helped me not think about how much I already missed him.

Romeo and Juliet

Phew. Ok, sorry I lied about being able to write yesterday...it turned out to be a fairly busy day and before I knew it, I was back on the bus to London and without internet access. But today :-) is my blog day and I am going to try to do it up right.

Last night we saw Romeo and Juliet at the Regent's Park Theatre in London. Now, I have to tell you that I have never really loved this play for some reason. I taught it this past year to my 8th graders and honestly never felt inspired with it...so I was really hoping to have a new experience with it both in class and at the park. And I did. Hallelujah. Our class had a very stimulating discussion on this play yesterday, getting into its gorgeous language and wrestling with some of its harder passages. Queen Mab speech--what?? We also tried to think about the play's events from every character's perspective, which surprisingly opened things up for me. So many characters can go either way in this play, especially when it comes down to whether or not each has good intentions. R&J is unique in that there is no real villain--everyone means well. So then we talked about the role of fate vs. individual decisions that have very real consequences. Are these lovers really "star-crossed" or do they (and everyone around them) simply make tragic choices? At the end of our marathon 4 hour class, I had many pages of notes and hopeful expectations of the performance that evening. Please let it be good, I kept saying to myself. I want to love this play.

I loved the play. It was everything I could have hoped for and more--Romeo and Juliet were played by talented actors who, I felt, really captured the romance that you can read into the text. I believed their performances and I was sincerely sad at the end (spoil alert--haha) when they died. The performance opened with a very West Side Story look--all the actors on stage singing--and the costumes were from the 50's. However, we noted today that there seemed to be at least some commentary on the terrible knife fights that have been happening in London this summer--over 20 teens dead. Awful. All of the fight scenes used knives, but their actions suggested that the murders of Mercutio and Tybalt were accidental; the teens simply didn't know how to use knives.

There was a lot of rearranging of lines, a lot of cutting of lines, and several scenes which overlapped each other (3.2 and 3.3 for example) effectively. I had never noticed how much those scenes paralleled each other. Paris didn't die at the end, which was great because he was a nice guy in the play :-). The Capulets' marriage was a wreck; Lady Capulet loved Tybalt, which actually helps explain why she is so griefstriken over his death.

Without Paris or the Page or Friar Lawrence in the last scene at the Capulets' tomb, the ending very clearly focused on the deaths of the two lovers. Paris takes the vial with his back towards Juliet, and as he is drinking, she starts moving. She touches him as he drinks the last drop. This was PAINFUL to watch. I don't know if it was because I just said goodbye to Clay that morning or because these two actors did such a great job convincing me this was love and not lust, but I was really moved.

I have decided to focus on R&J for my final project in the course: a teaching unit in which I incorporate performance techniques and considerations. I will be watching several movie versions and reading several critical books on the play in the next week or so, and I am hoping that time will also increase my love and appreciation for the play. I am excited to teach it next year; hopefully this preparation will actually lead to more fruitful classes on this play.

England with Clay..

...was magical. I just got back from seeing him off at the bus station, and I couldn't help but look around me in the still, quiet morning and think, "Yes, it's beautiful, but it already doesn't feel as magical." Being with Clay in this place really was the best of both worlds. He's been gone now less than an hour, and I want nothing more than for him to stay and for us to head back to Chattanooga together in a few weeks. He is simply the best partner and friend I can imagine; I just love being with him. Everything is better with Clay.

But...he's hopefully at Heathrow by now and I thought I would take some time to reflect on our time together in jolly ol' England. So the next few posts might be a series of reflections of the past 8 days rather than an account of what's going on today. I will try to post as much as possible in the time alloted today--we have 2 classes this morning and then once again board the bus for London, this time for Romeo and Juliet at Regent's Park tonight. Lear last night at the Globe, R &J tonight under the stars. Life is pretty great. It's even better with Clay.

A posting from the other, less-fair Gahan

A new voice has infiltrated Sara's blog. She couldn't keep England to herself forever, and there are now two Gahans in Oxford. I arrived a bit bleary eyed Tuesday around lunch time, and have been having an absolute blast since then. It also seems that I brought a bit of the sunny South with me, and though today is a bit grey, overall the weather has been really beautiful since I arrived. Tuesday afternoon Sara and I took a walk around some of the colleges and between hugs and kisses given to me much missed wife, I stumbled around mouth agape admiring all of the regal beauty of Oxford. What a magical place to study for the summer; it is truly an amazing blend of romance, history, wisdom, and English charm in one place with just a little raucous college-town elements thrown in, too. I am excited to explore London, Bath, and other notable spots here in the U.K., but I am so glad to have Oxford as a home base and to have the opportunity to explore it thoroughly. Tuesday night, I got to enjoy my first high table. Really cool, I felt like Abrams in the opening scenes of Chariots of Fire, and though I am not sure I used the right fork all of the time, it was, to use some of the local, high brow vernacular, a sumptuous affair. Afterwards, Sara and I along with our mutual friends went down to the Lincoln College pub and I had my first pint (and then another). I got caught up with old friends, played a round of "Family"--a fun pub game, and then hit the hay like a ton of bricks. Sara and I got up yesterday and took a long walk along the Thames to a town called Iffley. We saw the colleges many boathouses, and in Iffley stumbled upon an immaculate old stone chapel from the late 1600's. After a baguette lunch, Sara went to class, and I killed a few hours looking more closely at some of the older colleges before I found a coffee shop where I could read the play we are going to see tonight, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Though the colleges are all fairly similar in their layouts, there are some variations in the appearances of their quads. Though, Lincoln is stunning, I think Jesus college is my favorite so far in terms of appearance. Anyway, Sara got back from class around supper time, and we decided to walk up to a more residential neighborhood for the evening called Jericho. I would describe it as being like the Brooklyn of Oxford. Less commercial than Oxford proper, but still very urban and hip. We had a awsome Indian supper, a nice walk, and ended up seeing a French movie called Priceless at a small picture house. The movie was romantic and funny, sort of like a edgier Julia Roberts romantic comedy set in Nice. All in all a perfect date night. We got up for a run this morning, running up a a hill south of town, which offered an awesome overlook of the colleges as we ran back. Later today we go to London to see a play at the Globe. I am very excited. All in all, I am being spoiled beyond belief. For those of you reading this who are going to make your way here in the near future, get fired up; it's wonderful. I should also add that I highly recommend going to Bread Loaf and not taking any classes; that's the way to do it!

The Taming of the Shrew

I know this picture is difficult to see, but I think you can open it in a new window to see a larger image...anyways, I wanted to include a picture from the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Taming of the Shrew because this production really is one that escapes mere description. Click here if you want to see a slideshow of other images from the production: http://www.rsc.org.uk/WhatsOn/6633.aspx#

I left the theatre last night absolutely inspired and completely drained. This was not an optimistic interpretation of Taming. While some of the slapstick humor elicited laughs in the first half of the play, the second half stunned the audience with its dark set, numerous pseudo-rape scenes, and a broken Kate. Even in the curtain call, she refused to smile. This was a haunting play.

The Taming of the Shrew is supposedly a comedy about the "taming" of a ruthless, mean wife (Kate) by Petruccio, a man who seems drawn more to the challenge of destroying Kate than loving her. Kate is difficult to understand...is she really just ruthless, or might she be a product of a household in which her younger sister got all of the attention, including her father's unabashed affection? Was she born this way--or made to be this way? What does she really want??

This production didn't care what Kate wanted...or needed. The scenes in Act 4 when Kate is denied food, clothing, and sleep in an effort to "tame" her were dark and dank and suggested she was either in a prison or a brothel. By the end, she did look more like a tamed animal than a human being, and somehow we are supposed to celebrate Bianca's marriage after witnessing how much marriage ruined Kate. But the play doesn't forget the shrew at the end; the longest speech of the play is the one she delivers in the final moments, and her instructions to Bianca and the widow (really the only other two women in this male-dominated play) about the importance of being an obedient wife to an honored husband stopped us all cold. If she was acting in this final scene (a possible reading of this play--she is even more shrewd than her husband), we sure didn't pick up on it. Rather, she was a woman with a broken body and broken spirit who made us all wonder what in the world Shakespeare was thinking or intending when he wrote this play.

A terrible play to consider, but an incredible performance once again by the RSC. The set was brilliant (red-light district bachelor party turned "civilized" Padua) and the actors were even better. It definitely illuminated this play for me.

On a brigter note, I am off to the train station to pick up my wonderful husband!! Next post will be by the two of us! HOORAY!

The First Folio

Having a backstage pass to the Shakespeare Library in Stratford has its advantages. #1 is getting to see one of the 200 (or so) surviving copies of The First Folio (Historians believe somewhere between 700 and 1000 were originally printed in 1623). We treated it like the Holy Grail--you should have see the 12 of us oohing and aahing over this delicate, beautiful book. Seeing it up close and personal was also a fairly big deal because of the recent excitement circulating the globe about the recovery of the Durham First Folio in Washington, D.C. Here's a link to the story if you aren't familiar :-) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7502893.stm. As our historian told us at the Library, "it's been SUCH an exciting weekend around here!" Gotta love it.

In all seriousness, the Shakespeare Library in Stratford is INCREDIBLE. Shakespeare lovers unite. They have a wealth of resources, performance pictures and programs, prop books, critical materials, play reviews...it goes on and on. In addition to getting to see The First Folio (which I have to say is a gorgeous book), we were able to see pictures of some of the most famous Shakespearean performances and actors, each described by both the resident historian and Miriam. Their enthusiasm over the Hamlet production of 1978 or The Taming of the Shrew set in 1997 couldn't help but make us fall in love with the Shakespeare magic. There is SUCH a tradition of innovative, thought-provoking performances that inspire audiences to reconsider the plays in new ways...it really did confirm both the genius of Shakespeare and his living tradition. Our visit will forever be one of my favorite memories.

After lunch, we had the priveledge of sitting down with Mark Hatfield, who played Puck in RSC's production of Midsummer a week ago. Our hour conversation with him included his vision of his character (a goblin who desperately wants there to be order in the universe simply because he wants to be the one to disorder it), the relationship between Oberon and Titania, the role he mosts wants to play (Richard III because he is the perfect combination of a comic and historic figure), and how the actors and directors initially decide what the production is going to look like. I loved how they did it this time: Everyone involved in the production sits around a table with the text in front of them. They go around the table, each speaking a line (not necessarily "his" or "her" own part) until a section of a scene has been covered. The director stops the reading and then initiates a conversation on what images, tones, and word meanings everyone envisioned in that particular section. They also reference multiple editions of the play to get different editors' interpretations. Hatfield said this process took 3 WEEKS for the Midsummer cast--they didn't really even get to practice their own parts until a month into rehearsals. I have so much respect for quality Shakespeare productions now. So much thought goes into every decision.

After our intimate discussion, a few of us headed to Holy Trinity Church in Stratford--Shakespeare's grave site. We saw his baptism and death documented in the church records, and we also got to see the gravesite of his wife, Anne, and his daughter, Susanna and her husband. We all wondered where Judith, his only other surviving child, was buried. Being there definitely made us want to know more about his familial history. Unfortunately, there are very few facts known about his personal life.

We then headed to Miriams's house for tea and class on Taming of the Shrew. Although we had a very revealing and challenging discussion on the play, it still didn't prepare us for what we were going to see that evening at the Courtyard. Wow. Again, it deserves a seperate posting. Very disturbing. Anyways, we discussed the play for a few hours and then headed to dinner (we ate WELL yesterday). Ali, Jesse, Terry, and I went to Hussein's for Indian food and it was delicious--it totally hit the spot. By the time 7:00 rolled around, we were on our way to the theatre for another incredible night.

For more pictures of the First Folio and our day in Stratford, check out the slideshow of Week 2's pictures.

The Cotswolds: Leaping for Joy!

Ok, so this is going to be a quick (and probably horribly written) post considering I have to catch a bus for Stratford in 3o minutes...but as I will be gone all day, I thought I might seize the opportunity to reflect on the weekend:

Friday night: Deep Hall Pub Quiz=Fantastic. Our stellar bartender, Simon, spent 15 hours gathering random trivia questions for us, and almost everyone here participated, so it got a little rowdy at times. Five rounds of 15 questions and several ciders later, our team came in 6th out of 12. Not bad.

Saturday: The Cotswolds! Terry, Ali, and Jessie and I took a train to Moreton-in-Marsh and then a bus to Chipping Norton, which was charming. We took a little walk along the Cotswold Way (where we saw the sheep in the pictures) and after getting rained on (story of our lives over here), the sun came out and Jessie and I ran down a road leaping for joy (hence that picture). Yay for us being in England! Yay for us being seniors! Yay for sunshine! But then...yes, the clouds rolled back in and we managed to find ourselves at Butty's for lunch right before the downpour. Nice. Had some yummy tomato basil and thyme soup (warm foods taste so good over here!) and then we walked around the cute, historic city centre before catching a bus back to Moreton-in-Marsh. Our bus arrived 5 minutes before the next train left for Oxford (and the next train after that would have been another 2.5 hours), so we sprinted through the rain across the town to the train station, where we jumped in the cars before it pulled away. Someone was definitely looking down on us that day--too many instances of perfect timing and good fortune (including the train ticket lady giving us four tickets for the price of 2--score!)


Saturday night and Sunday: My date with the Lincoln Library. I finished editing my Midsummer paper Sunday morning and then prepped all day for my Lear one. 9:30 p.m. rolled around last night and I had tons of notes and quotes, but no paper, and I really wanted to get a draft done before Clay gets here so that we aren't spending what little time he has over here in the stacks. Okay, Sara Jenney, power up. 5 hours later my draft was complete and I was thrilled. Imagine me doing a little dance in my room in the middle of the night. It still needs some work, but its a working draft, which for me is the hardest part. One advantage of being an English teacher is that I can edit rough drafts until the cows come home.

Today: Stratford. We leave at 10 this morning so we can have some time at the Shakespeare museum, where we get a private tour and even get to see a First Folio (are we all dorks for being so frickin' excited over this?). We have class (and tea--so civilized) at our professor's house and we might even get to visit Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's home before seeing Taming of the Shrew at the Courtyard tonight. It will be a full day, but a GREAT one, and if I can stay awake through it all, even better :-). And then...Clay comes tomorrow around lunch time. Ah, can life get any better than this?

P.S. LOTS more pictures from the Cotswolds--I promise to post those and a collection of Week 2's pictures when I get back! Cheers! (Love how much they use this word here!)

Sunshine!

I woke up Thursday to bright, sunny skies (!), so Terry and I went for a run before the weather even thought about changing :-). Lucky for us, we discovered the Oxford Canal Path, which is yet another great run in this city. We ran right along the water and the many houseboats into the more rural fields right outside the city proper, crossing adorable bridges and locks to stay on the path. We have decided there simply isn't a better way to start your day in this city than an early morning run before rush hour hits and soon thereafter, the tour buses. We got back in time for breakfast (bran flakes and yogurt--yum!) and then I got ready for our class discussion on RSC's production of Midsummer. We all admired the production, but we still managed to debate and describe various details of it for 2 hours. I left class still loving the production, excited about seeing The Globe's version, but still less than inspired about a topic for my paper due Monday.

Annie's awesome friend, Liz, has been in town this week, so we all met up for a picnic in University Parks in an effort to again take advantage of the sunshine. Saw some sweet boys in school uniforms buying lunch at the Crepes truck in the park and just had to take a picture :-)

2:30 rolled around quickly, and our class once again boarded the Bard bus. This time, however, we were headed to London and The Globe. Our bus driver took us straight through the city, so we actually enjoyed a fun tour of London before ever arriving on the South Bank of the Thames. Most of us headed to the Tate Modern before dinner to check out their huge collection. Dad, I saw some works by Picasso--pretty intriguing. Perhaps the most original piece I saw was a collection of different soaps (different colors, different widths) that were threaded through a stainless steel wire and hung from the ceiling. We all had fun trying to pick out which brands were which in the chain. Yes, we are about to graduate from graduate school-scary, huh?

Ali, Jessie, Lizzie, Terry, and I found a perfect cafe for dinner, where we enjoyed smoothies, pizzas, and calzones. My pizza had a super thin crust with lots of basil and fresh tomatoes, which took me back to my European Adventure Tour with Nina in 2001--I ate a lot of cheeseless Margarita pizzas back in the day. Good, good times.

We then headed to The Globe--my first time seeing it! I loved it. There is a fairly big entry space with a great giftshop (Brittany, I saw the posters you got for me a few years ago--thanks again!), but then you head back outside to go into the actual theatre, which is much smaller than I had pictured. It feels very intimate inside, actually, and I liked being able to see almost everyone else in the audience; it made the experience of watching the play feel much more communal. The open air ceiling was also incredible--we actually saw a few planes fly overhead during the performance, and I loved the clear tension between being transported back to Elizabethan England but also living in the 21st century. For this production, a huge white balloon was suspended in the middle of this open air space (to represent the moon), which somehow seemed to help bridge the gap between the two worlds (1600's/modern, outside/inside) for me. The space for the "groundlings" was also a brilliant part of Shakespeare's design--people were leaning on the stage and were in the midst of the action, especially when the actors ran down the voms and out the main theatre doors. It's just 5 pounds ($10) to buy a ticket for this standing section.

The play began with a little friendly drumming competition to get everyone's attention, and then Theseus and Hippolyta entered. From the very beginning of the play, I liked these two characters much more than I did in Stratford. I took lots of notes at the beginning and during all of the scenes with T & H in preparation for my paper, which I am definitely going to write on The Globe production. I especially loved seeing a production in which Theseus and Hippolyta double as Oberon and Titania, which I had heard was a popular way to stage the play but had never seen before. It definitely added another layer of meaning to the intersection of Athens and forest in this play. The colors in this production also stood out: all of the characters were wearing black at the beginning, then the forest was dominated with blues and hot pinks, and then the wedding scene at the end featured all of the characters (including the mechanicals) in pure white. Evolution of the play from a tragedy to a comedy, perhaps?

The rest of the play was fantastic--totally different than RSC's, but equally as impressive. It was not nearly as funny to me, but some of that may be because a lot of the jokes were performed in the same way and thus weren't as original and revealing to me. The entire staging seemed much more "authentic" to what the play probably originally looked like, so I appreciated seeing that, but in the end, RSC's production will probably stick with me more. It is simply hard to beat.

Returned home around 12:15 and, after writing down a few final thoughts, fell asleep.

Today is another sunny, gorgeous day (hurray!), and I enjoyed another great run and yoga routine this morning before class. We are now free from obligations until Monday morning, so it looks like this weekend is going to include: writing Midsummer paper (due Monday), drafting King Lear paper (due the next Monday, but Clay will be here--YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--so I want to get as much work done as possible beforehand), a hiking trip to the Cotswolds, and some reading. Clay gets here Tuesday, and I can't wait to see him and experience this gorgeous place with him.

Happy Weekend and Love to All!

Class Picture!

Here is our awesome Page to the Stage class at Miriam's house before seeing Midsummer last Monday evening. Georgiana Rich (aka Portia in Merchant) is to my right, and Miriam is to my left. We see The Globe's production of Midsummer tonight!

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!

The Weather Channel: English Style

Ok, so this post may mainly be for Mom, but as it has been raining here for the past three days, I couldn't help but check weather.com to see when we might have a reprieve...and Dad has been interested in distinctly British terminology, so when our director, Peter McCullough, emailed out the following, I thought I might pass it along to you:

British Weather Terminology

1.) ‘forecast’ -- there is no such thing here as a ‘weather report’. Weather-obsessives are well-catered for by the BBC Weather website, where you can track the various forms of rain on the up-to-the-minute satellite display: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/

2.) ‘sunshine and showers’ -- like yesterday (and the day before that, and the day before that, and . . . ). This is always said with optimism. It is not a bad forecast. It expresses that quintessential British ability to make the best of a bad situation (cf. Dunkirk). Learn to coo about how ‘fresh’ that occasional sprinkle makes things, how the garden sparkles, how the scent of roses hangs better in the air, and to appreciate the fact that the sky is more attractive given the beautiful contrast of clouds (what other nation could produce the paintings of John Constable?).

3.) ‘showers’ -- these are very different from ‘rain’ (the latter being continuous for more than a 30 minute period). Hence, ‘showers’ can be: ‘sharp,’ ‘thundery’ (isn’t that sweet? I love the understatement of the diminutive form), ‘broken’ (i.e., more or less continuous, but not quite), ‘bands of’ (organized version of ‘broken’), frequent,’ ‘occasional,’ ‘fading’ (optimism again), ‘squally’ (another adorable diminutive; hides the fact that these are nasty – heavy rain with high winds), ‘fast-moving’ (less poetic version of ‘squally’), ‘slow-moving’ (this is bad – on a day of ‘sunshine and showers’ you want it to rain only very quickly on your picnic / garden party / walk to the library), ‘beefy’ (a recent addition to the BBC Weather Centre vocabulary; you get really wet in these, and I think that it has something to do with the size of the drops involved) BUT ‘torrential’ is never used to modify ‘showers’; ‘torrential’ for some reason can only modify ‘rain’.

4.) Just in case we ever get to warm weather, what you want to see as a high temperature is 25C. This is hot enough (given the strength of the sun this far north) to make shorts a comfortable possibility. Anything over 28 becomes unbearable, usually because accompanied with humidity. BUT don’t use the word ‘humid’ – the term is ‘close’. This sounds vague, but it’s actually quite evocative and accurate since it captures the sense of foreboding, low black thunderclouds, haze, and oppressive temperature all-in-one. But come to think of it, that all sounds rather attractive at the moment.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hands down, this was the best Shakespeare production I have ever seen. RSC's Midsummer is a thrill to see. Our entire class left the theatre so starry-eyed and amazed at how they brought this play to life. Here are some of the details:
1. Bottom (played by Joe Dixon) was HILARIOUS. I couldn't stop laughing throughout the entire play. We mentioned in our class discussion yesterday morning that Shakspeare constructs the mechanicals in a way that we are supposed to root for them by the end, and root we did--they stole the show. To be honest, of the four plotlines (Theseus/Hippolyta, 4 lovers, Oberon/Titania, and the mechanials), I have always found the Pyramus and Thisbe troupe to be the least interesting. Not last night; I got excited everytime I saw their entourage approach the stage. The final scene in which the players entertain the three married couples, was HILARIOUS. The entire audience was laughing the entire time. They nailed Shakespeare's humor and incorporated so much body language to complement it. Bravo.
2. The four lovers nailed their parts, line after line. Demetrius was a preppy suck-up at the beginning, but I loved how he shed the fascade in the forest and he and Demetrius could really engage in a war of wits. The scene when Helena thinks she is being mocked by the other three was, again, perfect in my eyes. All four were on fire, and it totally worked. They played up the "girl fight" theme, too, which was funny--they made it clear that there are some words you just don't call your childhood best friend :-).
3. Puck was a sarcastic dark fairy who kept undermining himself--perfect. He would say words that he knew he weren't true ("If I am an honest Puck") and would shake his head or roll his eyes to play up how his "role" in the kingdom didn't really fit his character. He wore a black tutu throughout the entire play until the end, when he switched to white--and then couldn't stand wearing it.
4. The set was incredible--a huge orb of a moon that changed colors, loads of hanging lights that flicked with the fairies' command, players "flying" around stage, a huge bed in the shape of a moon that raised and lowered, a falafel truck as the mechanical's home base, lots of dolls...the whole theatre was magical. And that's just how it should be with A Midsummer Night's Dream.

A Perfect Day (Well, Almost)

There is something about Europe that has always energized and inspired me, and yesterday was one of those days when I was so aware of why it has that effect on me. Yesterday was an almost perfect day.

I got up at 6:30 to meet Terry for a run. I opened the curtains: sunshine. Brilliant. Threw on my clothes and rushed down to meet her. Step outside: slight drizzle. Not as brilliant, but okay. We enjoy a beautiful run across the Magdalen Bridge and up St. Clement's Street out to the Park and Ride on the edge of Oxford. By this point (yup, you guessed it): POURING. We were 30 minutes out, so there was no other option but to turn around and run straight into the windy, cold rain. We were fighting it for the first few minutes, but then one of those lovely tour buses (what is it with me and buses??) came along and yes, TOTALLY sprayed me with water. I was soaked before, but then I looked like a drowned rat. Terry took one look at me and burst out laughing and then we both started laughing--it was just so typical England! One moment it is beautiful outside and the next it is cold and raining. When you leave to go anywhere, you are foolish not to bring multiple layers and a rain jacket (which I forgot to pack--go me). We ran and laughed at ourselves the whole way home and ended up having a great time. I literally hand to wring out my clothes in the shower before jumping in myself when we got back. It was awesome.

Did a little yoga and read over my paper one more time before printing it out and heading to class from 11-1. Our class had another fantastic discussion on A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of my favorites to teach. We simply asked questions for the first hour (What is the real reason Oberon so upset with Titania? Why is Helena so unappealing at the beginning? Where is reality in this play? With the mechanicals? What is their relationship with each other? With Athens? Who is the Fool here? (Puck, Bottom, Act 5?) Are Lysander and Demetrius indistinguishable from each other? etc) and then we really got into the specific wording of the text for the second hour. Class=fantastic.

Went to lunch and then had an hour to kill, so I wandered my way through Blackwell's Bookstore. Wow, this place is HEAVEN for people who love books. Four stories of shelves and shelves of books, coffee shops, little reading nooks, poetry corners, and random staircases leading you into another magical section made this a true find. I am heading back today to read Taming of the Shrew there. I have a feeling I will be there a lot :-).



Met Jessie, Lizzie, and Terry in the courtyard for our Ben's Cookies treat. Adam Diehl wrote me about this cookie counter in the Covered Market, and his recommendation was heartily appreciated. These are amazing cookies, and they are served hot off the oven. I got an oatmeal raisin one that was to die for--I snacked on it for the rest of the day! Thank you, Adam!


We then headed down to Broad Street at 3:30 to catch our bus for A Midsummer Night's Dream. After an hour and twenty minutes, we pulled up in front of the Swan and met Miriam so she could lead us to her flat 10 minutes away. Now, this would have been a lovely walk if it hadn't started raining again--and if Sara had thought to pack closed-toe shoes. A lot of good five pairs of flip-flops are going to do you on a rainy, cold day. Oh well, rolled my pants up and huddled with Ali under the umbrella as we made our way to her cute home in Stratford. Poached salmon, homemade bread, salad, potato salad, and wine were waiting for us when we got in, and before long Portia (Georgina Rich) showed up to talk with us for about an hour. She was utterly charming and incredibly insightful both about her character and the RSC's production of Merchant. I loved hearing about how much creative license Shakespearean actors are usually given in England--she said they would play a scene 50 different ways before collectively deciding on what worked best in terms of the overall effect. She illuminated the reasoning behind the ice caskets and behind the seemingly random costume choices (the director wanted to resist specific labels in terms of setting and character motivation, which is what we had eventually assumed in class), and she fleshed out the psychology of Portia--what she thought had shaped Portia before and during the moments of the play. She was utterly delightful and eloquent; she definitely made me appreciate the collective thought that goes into staging a work of Shakespeare--as she said, there are just so many ways to interpret a play. Isn't that why we still read his works today? They are endlessly intriguing and enlightening. I never tire of Shakespeare.

We profusely thanked Georgina for her time and kindness before heading to the Courtyard for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I will save for the next post: it deserves its own. But when I finally turned off the light around 1 am this morning, I couldn't help but smile knowing that I have five more weeks to experience the beauty, intellectual stimulation, and charming spaces and people that Oxford has to offer.

So why was it almost perfect? The people reading this post aren't here with me!!

Roger v. Rafael

Wow. Just a little posting to say that this year's Wimbledon Final was one of the best ever. Watching it in our common room with a bunch of my classmates was also pretty amazing--we felt cool knowing that as soon as it started raining outside, the match would be suspended for a rain delay. We weren't THERE there, but being in England and watching a final of this caliber with British commentary is something to remember. British tennis commentary is also pretty funny...so civilized. The broadcasters kept saying things like, "Well, this is a fantastic match, isn't it?" and "That was quite a backhand." They showed John McEnroe a few times on the broadcast and we all chuckled that those comments probably weren't what was coming out of his mouth on NBC :-)

Our biking adventure!

Okay, if you have ever tried to ride bikes in England before, you know you are in for two things: 1.) a total treat. This landscape is so frickin' beautiful. 2.) a total adventure. I think I was close to dying at least 5 times.

So we decided to spend our first Saturday in Oxford riding bikes up to Woodstock, the home of Blenheim Palace. This palace is famous for two main reasons (that I know of): 1.) it was the childhood home of Winston Churchill (his family must have been RICH), and 2.) it was the palace featured in Kenneth Branaugh's movie version of Hamlet.




We rented bikes from CycleAnalysis, who are our new best friends. They were so nice to us. After basically signing away our lives and all of our possessions if anything happened to the bikes, we hit the road in search of the easiest and most scenic route to Woodstock. We took the gorgeous and pedestrian-friendly Thames Path to get through most of Oxford on the way out, but then the path ended and we were suddenly on the streets of Oxford, full of lots of cars going in a million different directions and huge tour buses leaving inches on the road for us to use to bike. Needless to say, we survived and charged on to Woodstock via the bike path along the highway (actually pretty darn scenic) and somehow navigated our 6 bikes around all of the roundabouts. After close to two hours, we were in front of Blenheim Palace. Wow. I have seen a lot of palaces in my time, and while they kind of all start to look the same (all hugely impressive and beyond any scope of perspective), this one still inspired me to take lots of pictures :-). We enjoyed a yummy sandwich lunch on the lawn (ah, fresh food!) and kept saying to each other, "Um, this is our grad school experience...Um, we're in ENGLAND...How did we get here??"






We toured the gardens for a little while before the ominous dark cloud that had been threatening us for a couple of hours finally opened up and we had to pause for our regular afternoon shower. A couple of minutes in the gift shop and the sun was back out again and we were back on our bikes, determined to make it back to the CycleAnalysis by our due date of 5:30. Somehow our ride back only took an hour (??) and after several more harrowing intersections with other bikes, cars, and buses, we turned in our bikes and walked the short path back to Lincoln College. A beautiful first weekend activity!

Tomorrow I am going to be sure to watch the Wimbledon Finals--my friend and Nina's bro, Nick Barker, gets to GO. Awesome. Go Roger!

Finally, a HUGE GIANT SUPER BIG shout out to Mary, who shared her time and insight with me so I can be sure to place pics where I want in this blog. Ironwoman Mary, you are, as always, so thoughtful and generous. THANK YOU!!!! Love to you and Jamie!