OH MY GOODNESS! But more on that later.
I definitely woke up late today - oops. Thankfully Nicole and I both take fast showers so we still made it to class in plenty of time.
Today we talked about realism v naturalism in theatre class. Realism is when a play is realistic, Naturalism is when there is an attention paid to the details that makes it more poetic, almost a super-realism. We had a shorter class because we took the backstage tour later on. I got started on my paper - I'll work on it later today after I get some sleep.
The backstage tour was really neat. There are 3 auditoriums that make up the whole building of the National Theatre, so it's huge! There's 50-odd dressing rooms, plus these massive backstage areas and set building and props departments. Out front there's a book store and restaurants - it's like a mini city.
Then it was time to watch the Cherry Orchard. The play is set in Russia, so I was expecting them to have Russian accents, but I was glad they didn't - I tend to have a tough time interpreting what they're saying. The show was good - it was another uplifting but sad one. One of the main characters, Varya, looked really familiar to me, and it eventually clicked - she played Charlotte Lucas in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice! I was excited by that :D
Then Jory, Lanita and I were off to Leicester Aquare - super happy and turning giddy. I met up with Jasmine and KB (who I'd booked tickets with) and we talked as we waited to go inside. We're all huge Harry Potter nerds, so it was fun and we all were so bloody excited.
Then we got to go inside. We had assigned seats, and ours were in the fourth row - it was amazing to watch from there. We wanted the 3D glasses to be the Harry Potter glasses, but they weren't :[ We took a ton of pictures with IES people - Jasmine and I had wands so we were rather popular. The seats were animal print and really comfy - KB wanted to take hers home with her :]
There's a new Three Musketeers coming out that looks like it'll be really cool. Just a side note.
I won't go into the movie here so I don't give anything away - I'll just say that I loved it :D
And so, after the longest sustained adrenaline rush of my life, Harry Potter is done. Jasmine and I raised our wands and yelled 'Mischief Managed!' at the end, and then I started crying. I grew up with Harry Potter, and I can't help but feel like part of my childhood has died. I know there's my fanfiction and JKR's new Pottermore thing, but it's really weird to think that there's not going to be any more books or movies. It makes me sad.
When we got back to the res hall, Jasmine and I wanted to hang for a little while so I went to her room and we talked. I like Jasmine, we agreed that we need to hang out sometime.
And yeah, it;s 5.30a and the sun has risen - it's shining in my face. I'm going to sleep, maybe just till 1 this afternoon. Well, the people in central time still haven't seen the movie - ha! :D
Till then,
-Carly B
HARRY POTTER SPOILER ALERT!!
I know I said I wouldn't say anything, but I can't just finish this entry without talking about the movie, so if you don't want to know anything yet STOP READING NOW! Start reading again at tomorrow's (tonight's) post :D
OH MY GOODNESS! It was amazing! I want to see it again!
They changed a bunch of things, but I felt like they fit the movie well. For instance, Harry and Voldemort have this long, prolonged chase after Harry reveals that he's still alive - that doesn't happen in the book.
However, they did still have Mrs Weasley's 'Not my daughter, you bitch!' line. That was really well done - everyone cheered in the theatre :D They almost made it seem like Neville wouldn't kill Nagini - Ron and Hermione were trying, but then Neville comes swinging Gryffindor's Sword and it was so cool :D
Alan Rickman is a god. I really like him - and one of my favourite lines was amazing.
'After all this time?'
'Always.'
I love that line, and if they had cut it I might have had to kill someone.
Helena Bonham Carter was good too - she's one of my favourite actresses. It was fun to see her as Hermione impersonating Bellatrix - it was so different from how she normally is :]
God, I knew I was going to cry. When they showed the Weasleys crying over Fred's body, the tears started pooling. Then they cut to a shot of Remus and Tonks lying next to each other - their hands were reaching towards each other - and a few tears escaped. Then, as Harry was walking to his death, he was talking with his parents, Sirius and Remus. Lily's line 'You've been so brave' always tears at my heart, but then she said it and they just kept cutting to her face - the tears were flowing.
So, basically, the whole movie just teared out my heart, ripped it apart and started tap dancing on the pieces. I wouldn't have it any other way though :']
Oh, it was so cool to see the midnight release. Everyone was obviously fans, so the whole theatre was cheering for Neville killing Nagini, and when Ron and Hermione finally kiss. It was an amazing experience - and one I hope to remember forever.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Day at the Museum(s)
I actually wanted my blanket last night and didn't wake up dripping! It was exciting.
I didn't realise how light my hair had gotten (from being bleached when I dyed it red) - I was confused for a moment this morning, it looked like I was going blonde :] I liked the red streaks, maybe I'll do it again sometime.
Harry Potter comes out tomorrow night! And I'm going to see the midnight release, in London! Goodness, I'm so bloody excited! And I'm definitely wearing my Hufflepuff shirt tomorrow :D
The quiz in Living and Dying today wasn't too bad. I know I got one wrong - the Great Fire didn't start on 3 September, it started on 2 September at 3 in the morning (I knew there was a 3 in there somewhere...).
Then we went to the Foundling Museum. It was pretty cool to see. When mothers brought their babies in, they left tokens so they could reclaim their child if they could take care of it. Some of the tokens were on display, and some of them were rather interesting. I saw a fish, a ring and a miniature arm. We could also do the lottery thing that the mothers had to do to see if their baby would be admitted - I got the white ball, my baby was in! :D
Then I saw that Handel had been a Governor for the hospital - I went upstairs and saw the floor dedicated to him. It was really cool to see the original score for Messiah - I've played it often enough to be able to start singing the second violin part on cue and I was able to figure out where in the song the score was opened to :] Then I had the song stuck in my head until after lunch when I put my headphones in.
After I ate my lunch, I went to the British Museum. When looking online to make sure it would be open, I saw suggested plans for if you had one or three hours. I debated printing one off at the Centre, but decided to just wing it. I saw this cool room about the Enlightenment with things like astrolabes and a model of the Solar System, as well as an early mortgage written on a large brick. Next I came across a room of Native American things, based on the region of the tribe. That was really cool to see - I like learning about them. And then there was an Easter Island statue.
I wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, so I decided to get a map after all. I didn't really want to wander around all afternoon and not see it after all. When I looked, I saw that I was on the wrong side of the museum after all. Heh.
Then I made it to the room where the stone was, I didn't have to look long - there was a large group of people gathered around it. It was neat to see the Stone, but the people were kinda annoying so I moved on rather quickly.
When I did look around the room the stone was in, I got excited - it was full of ancient Egyptian sculptures and architecture and things. Ancient Egypt was always interesting to learn about for me, so I was probably smiling like a fool as I walked around. And I really don't care all that much :D
I was proud of myself - I remembered something before I read about it! I saw a large statue of a Pharoh and I remembered that his crown meant that he was leader of either Upper or Lower Egypt, I just couldn't rememebr which was which until I read the plaquard - the double crown was for Lower Egypt (which is actually to the North - it has to do with the fact that the Nile runs northwards) and the smooth singular crown was for Upper Egypt.
I looked at my map to see where I wanted to go next and saw Greece and Rome and said 'Ooh, I want to go there!'
I also really like learning about ancient Greece and Rome. Let's just say that I love history and leave it at that. So, basically, this is my perfect museum :D
The downstairs Greece rooms had sections of the Parthenon - those were really neat to look at. Then I went upstairs and found more Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome rooms! I really liked how many figurines there were of the Greek and Roman gods - I find ancient mythology absolutely fascinating. There were also a ton of heads of Roman emperors - Julius Caesar was missing half of his face and the bust of Agustus looked really creepy.
Next on my list was to go through all of the Europe rooms. First up was Medeival Europe, where my camera died. I decided to charge it up and return, rather than look at everything and not remember what I wanted pictures of later. So, I made my way back to my room and to upload my 120 pictures from the day :D Like I said, it's my perfect museum ;] I'm on part four of my Summer 2011 picture albums on facebook, I wonder how many I'll have total. I've still got 2 weeks of IES, a trip to Cornwall and my family joining me before I even get out of England. And then we're going to Scotland and Ireland. Good thing my memory card can hold 2500 pictures at a time :D
My next post will be after I've seen Harry Potter! Eep, I'm psyched!
Till then,
-Carly the Hufflepuff
(who is a particularly good FINDer)
(That's from A Very Potter Musical, don't worry if you don't get it.)
(Though, remember, killing people doesn't make them like you - it just makes them dead :D )
I didn't realise how light my hair had gotten (from being bleached when I dyed it red) - I was confused for a moment this morning, it looked like I was going blonde :] I liked the red streaks, maybe I'll do it again sometime.
Harry Potter comes out tomorrow night! And I'm going to see the midnight release, in London! Goodness, I'm so bloody excited! And I'm definitely wearing my Hufflepuff shirt tomorrow :D
The quiz in Living and Dying today wasn't too bad. I know I got one wrong - the Great Fire didn't start on 3 September, it started on 2 September at 3 in the morning (I knew there was a 3 in there somewhere...).
Then we went to the Foundling Museum. It was pretty cool to see. When mothers brought their babies in, they left tokens so they could reclaim their child if they could take care of it. Some of the tokens were on display, and some of them were rather interesting. I saw a fish, a ring and a miniature arm. We could also do the lottery thing that the mothers had to do to see if their baby would be admitted - I got the white ball, my baby was in! :D
Then I saw that Handel had been a Governor for the hospital - I went upstairs and saw the floor dedicated to him. It was really cool to see the original score for Messiah - I've played it often enough to be able to start singing the second violin part on cue and I was able to figure out where in the song the score was opened to :] Then I had the song stuck in my head until after lunch when I put my headphones in.
After I ate my lunch, I went to the British Museum. When looking online to make sure it would be open, I saw suggested plans for if you had one or three hours. I debated printing one off at the Centre, but decided to just wing it. I saw this cool room about the Enlightenment with things like astrolabes and a model of the Solar System, as well as an early mortgage written on a large brick. Next I came across a room of Native American things, based on the region of the tribe. That was really cool to see - I like learning about them. And then there was an Easter Island statue.
I wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, so I decided to get a map after all. I didn't really want to wander around all afternoon and not see it after all. When I looked, I saw that I was on the wrong side of the museum after all. Heh.
Then I made it to the room where the stone was, I didn't have to look long - there was a large group of people gathered around it. It was neat to see the Stone, but the people were kinda annoying so I moved on rather quickly.
When I did look around the room the stone was in, I got excited - it was full of ancient Egyptian sculptures and architecture and things. Ancient Egypt was always interesting to learn about for me, so I was probably smiling like a fool as I walked around. And I really don't care all that much :D
I was proud of myself - I remembered something before I read about it! I saw a large statue of a Pharoh and I remembered that his crown meant that he was leader of either Upper or Lower Egypt, I just couldn't rememebr which was which until I read the plaquard - the double crown was for Lower Egypt (which is actually to the North - it has to do with the fact that the Nile runs northwards) and the smooth singular crown was for Upper Egypt.
I looked at my map to see where I wanted to go next and saw Greece and Rome and said 'Ooh, I want to go there!'
I also really like learning about ancient Greece and Rome. Let's just say that I love history and leave it at that. So, basically, this is my perfect museum :D
The downstairs Greece rooms had sections of the Parthenon - those were really neat to look at. Then I went upstairs and found more Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome rooms! I really liked how many figurines there were of the Greek and Roman gods - I find ancient mythology absolutely fascinating. There were also a ton of heads of Roman emperors - Julius Caesar was missing half of his face and the bust of Agustus looked really creepy.
Next on my list was to go through all of the Europe rooms. First up was Medeival Europe, where my camera died. I decided to charge it up and return, rather than look at everything and not remember what I wanted pictures of later. So, I made my way back to my room and to upload my 120 pictures from the day :D Like I said, it's my perfect museum ;] I'm on part four of my Summer 2011 picture albums on facebook, I wonder how many I'll have total. I've still got 2 weeks of IES, a trip to Cornwall and my family joining me before I even get out of England. And then we're going to Scotland and Ireland. Good thing my memory card can hold 2500 pictures at a time :D
My next post will be after I've seen Harry Potter! Eep, I'm psyched!
Till then,
-Carly the Hufflepuff
(who is a particularly good FINDer)
(That's from A Very Potter Musical, don't worry if you don't get it.)
(Though, remember, killing people doesn't make them like you - it just makes them dead :D )
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Love is like a Stormtrooper: it usually misses.
Well, the Betty Blue Eyes presentation wasn't too bad, it felt like I held my own. Now I just need to figure out what I can write a 1300 word paper on. The thing that interested me most was the amount of instruments in the pit and all the interesting ones - there was a violin, cello, clarinet, those normal ones and then there was a mandolin, euphonium (a mini-tuba sort of thing), 3 kinds of horn and an accordian. Not your typical instruments for a pit. Maybe I can do something with that, or maybe something about how the pit was on the stage instead of up front.
When I got back to the room, I decided to let myself have 2 hours to relax and do whatever until I needed to get working on things.
Since I don't get twitter sent to my phone while I'm here, I checked it today to see if there were any interesting ones. I saw one from the Death Star PR department - 'Love is like a Stormtrooper: it usually misses.' I was laughing pretty good at that one :D
Then my time was up and I started getting my thoughts together for my Living and Dying research paper. I have my plan outlined and some cases picked out to reference - I just need to do a bit more research and I can start writing. It's a good thing I don't have anything going on this weekend - I want to write my theatre paper and get most of my research paper written because the next weekend I'll be in Cornwall and then I'm done. The nice thing about having a research paper is that I won't have a final :D I will have one for the theatre class though.
Tonight the student assistants organised a trip to another bar, but I didn't go. I'm hoping to save some money and I have class tomorrow. Instead, I found The Road to El Dorado! I love that movie - it's a rather underrated movie in my opinion. I didn't realise this before, but Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer all worked on the music/soundtrack. It's like the Lion King crew just transferred straight over! Maybe that's why I like the songs so much... :D
Well, like I said, I have class tomorrow and I've got a quiz in that class, so I want to try and get more sleep than normal (we'll see how well that works...).
Till then,
-Carly
PS - thank God for auto draft saves. I went to publish this post and something went wrong, and when I went back it was gone. I was not going to be happy.
But it's all good now! :D
When I got back to the room, I decided to let myself have 2 hours to relax and do whatever until I needed to get working on things.
Since I don't get twitter sent to my phone while I'm here, I checked it today to see if there were any interesting ones. I saw one from the Death Star PR department - 'Love is like a Stormtrooper: it usually misses.' I was laughing pretty good at that one :D
Then my time was up and I started getting my thoughts together for my Living and Dying research paper. I have my plan outlined and some cases picked out to reference - I just need to do a bit more research and I can start writing. It's a good thing I don't have anything going on this weekend - I want to write my theatre paper and get most of my research paper written because the next weekend I'll be in Cornwall and then I'm done. The nice thing about having a research paper is that I won't have a final :D I will have one for the theatre class though.
Tonight the student assistants organised a trip to another bar, but I didn't go. I'm hoping to save some money and I have class tomorrow. Instead, I found The Road to El Dorado! I love that movie - it's a rather underrated movie in my opinion. I didn't realise this before, but Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer all worked on the music/soundtrack. It's like the Lion King crew just transferred straight over! Maybe that's why I like the songs so much... :D
Well, like I said, I have class tomorrow and I've got a quiz in that class, so I want to try and get more sleep than normal (we'll see how well that works...).
Till then,
-Carly
PS - thank God for auto draft saves. I went to publish this post and something went wrong, and when I went back it was gone. I was not going to be happy.
But it's all good now! :D
Monday, July 11, 2011
There's a pig in the house...
Day 30, I've been here for a month. It feels like we got here a week ago, yet at the same time it feels like it's been a year and a half. And I don't want to leave :D
Today we talked about Thomas Coram in Living Dying. He was the founder of the Foundling Hospital - which took in babies whose mothers couldn't care for them. When it first opened, there were so many mothers that wanted to bring their babies in that the hospital had to set up criteria - and even if they passed that the mother's had a 1 in 3 chance of a guaranteed spot. The children who grew up in the hospital considered it to be their family. It's sad that so many mothers couldn't care for their children, but at least they were given a pseudo-family and a better chance at survival.
After class, Jory and I watched A Private Function - the movie that Betty Blue Eyes is based off of. We both agreed that the musical was better. The movie was extremely dry and not nearly as engaging, and there wasn't as much character development. It seemed like most of the character development in the musical was through song, so the movie was missing that. There was also a really funny scene in the musical where the two main characters are telling the wife's mother that there's a pig in the house but it has to be a secret - in the musical it's a drawn out scene with a song and it's really funny but in the movie it was more serious and shorter.
However, it did have Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon), so I enjoyed that :]
When I got back to my room, I organised my notes and everything for Jory and me leading the discussion tomorrow. Goodness, I'm nervous. I guess if nothing else I'll just make everyone else look good...
Nicole had a pizza in the freezer so we made that for dinner. We both like the margherita pizza that she gets from the store, and it's cheaper than going out, so it's a win-win :D
Today was £5 pancake day at the Dutch Oven (every Monday is) so we went over there for some dessert. Those pancakes are deceptively filling. British pancakes are more like crepes - thin and large - so they don't look like you'd eat half and be ready to burst, but that's what happens. I got an apple cinnamon with ice cream one - it was so yummy! Nicole got a banana and chocolate one, and neither of us could eat the whole thing. Very good though :D
I needed to go grocery shopping, so I went to Waitrose after dessert. I got some J2O, but didn't realise until I got back that I hadn't gotten the apple mango one. Oh well, orange passion fruit was very good as well ;]
Unfortunately, something I didn't find was this tomato and feta and pasta (or couscous) and lettuce salad thing that I like. I first had it at Wimbledon and I found it in Dover as well for lunch, but I didn't see it in Waitrose. I hope the Tesco has it, or that I can find a recipe online - that would be a good thing to be able to make for myself next year.
I think I'll go to sleep now - it's 11.11 (make a wish!) and I need to be functional tomorrow.
Till then,
-Carlito
Today we talked about Thomas Coram in Living Dying. He was the founder of the Foundling Hospital - which took in babies whose mothers couldn't care for them. When it first opened, there were so many mothers that wanted to bring their babies in that the hospital had to set up criteria - and even if they passed that the mother's had a 1 in 3 chance of a guaranteed spot. The children who grew up in the hospital considered it to be their family. It's sad that so many mothers couldn't care for their children, but at least they were given a pseudo-family and a better chance at survival.
After class, Jory and I watched A Private Function - the movie that Betty Blue Eyes is based off of. We both agreed that the musical was better. The movie was extremely dry and not nearly as engaging, and there wasn't as much character development. It seemed like most of the character development in the musical was through song, so the movie was missing that. There was also a really funny scene in the musical where the two main characters are telling the wife's mother that there's a pig in the house but it has to be a secret - in the musical it's a drawn out scene with a song and it's really funny but in the movie it was more serious and shorter.
However, it did have Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon), so I enjoyed that :]
When I got back to my room, I organised my notes and everything for Jory and me leading the discussion tomorrow. Goodness, I'm nervous. I guess if nothing else I'll just make everyone else look good...
Nicole had a pizza in the freezer so we made that for dinner. We both like the margherita pizza that she gets from the store, and it's cheaper than going out, so it's a win-win :D
Today was £5 pancake day at the Dutch Oven (every Monday is) so we went over there for some dessert. Those pancakes are deceptively filling. British pancakes are more like crepes - thin and large - so they don't look like you'd eat half and be ready to burst, but that's what happens. I got an apple cinnamon with ice cream one - it was so yummy! Nicole got a banana and chocolate one, and neither of us could eat the whole thing. Very good though :D
I needed to go grocery shopping, so I went to Waitrose after dessert. I got some J2O, but didn't realise until I got back that I hadn't gotten the apple mango one. Oh well, orange passion fruit was very good as well ;]
Unfortunately, something I didn't find was this tomato and feta and pasta (or couscous) and lettuce salad thing that I like. I first had it at Wimbledon and I found it in Dover as well for lunch, but I didn't see it in Waitrose. I hope the Tesco has it, or that I can find a recipe online - that would be a good thing to be able to make for myself next year.
I think I'll go to sleep now - it's 11.11 (make a wish!) and I need to be functional tomorrow.
Till then,
-Carlito
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Keep Calm, It's Gonna Be Totally Awesome
I woke up at 10 again today, but Nicole slept till 12 so I guess I was positively early ;D When I asked her how late she stayed up last night, she responded 'Um, let's not talk about that...' :]
So, once we were both up and showered and ready, it was adventure time!
First up was King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4. We walked to platforms 9 and 10, but there's no barrier between them. The train tracks are in the middle of the two. We were both commenting on this and decided to ask a worker. So Nicole says 'I have the biggest tourist question ever...' and the guy responded 'No problem, you just follow that walkway to the outside of the station and it's on your left.' We thanked him and laughed all the way out there. I wondered how many times they get asked that... However I think it got mived since there's some construction going on in the station.
Then we went to the M&M's World store in Leicester Square (pronounced Lester). Goodness, that place was huge! It had 4 floors and about a thousand people wandering around inside, it was a madhouse. It was fun to look at the things they had, though, and Nicole and I both got bags of MMs. I got the UK mix, red white and blue. There was also Champions mix (FC Barcelona colours), and the colours for Manchester United and Chelsea FC. It was cool to look at them all.
After that we went to a big gift shop because Nicole wanted to get some presents for people, and I got a Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake sticker - it's on my computer now. I like it :D There are so many parodies of the Keep Calm posters, I saw a Keep Calm and Drink a Beer poster, but unfortunately they didn't make those in shirts. I wanted to get ones for my uncles ;]
Next up was Abbey Road. Nicole went there with her class, which was nice because otherwise I'd've had no idea how to get there... Even though I didn't have 3 other people to walk across the zebra with, it was still fun to go there and walk across. Nicole showed me where the studio is - it's under construction right now. She signed the wall when she went there with her class and I signed today. It was fun. I also got an Abbey Road mug from the Beatles Coffee Shop right next to the tube station - I'm excited to use it :D
When we were done there, it was about 5.30 so we came back to the res hall and had some dinner. We both had schoolwork to do, so we've been working on that since dinner. I did laundry today, so it's exciting to have a lot of clean outfits to choose from again :D
Back to class tomorrow - ugh. I want it to stay the weekend...
Till then,
-Carly B
So, once we were both up and showered and ready, it was adventure time!
First up was King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4. We walked to platforms 9 and 10, but there's no barrier between them. The train tracks are in the middle of the two. We were both commenting on this and decided to ask a worker. So Nicole says 'I have the biggest tourist question ever...' and the guy responded 'No problem, you just follow that walkway to the outside of the station and it's on your left.' We thanked him and laughed all the way out there. I wondered how many times they get asked that... However I think it got mived since there's some construction going on in the station.
Then we went to the M&M's World store in Leicester Square (pronounced Lester). Goodness, that place was huge! It had 4 floors and about a thousand people wandering around inside, it was a madhouse. It was fun to look at the things they had, though, and Nicole and I both got bags of MMs. I got the UK mix, red white and blue. There was also Champions mix (FC Barcelona colours), and the colours for Manchester United and Chelsea FC. It was cool to look at them all.
After that we went to a big gift shop because Nicole wanted to get some presents for people, and I got a Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake sticker - it's on my computer now. I like it :D There are so many parodies of the Keep Calm posters, I saw a Keep Calm and Drink a Beer poster, but unfortunately they didn't make those in shirts. I wanted to get ones for my uncles ;]
Next up was Abbey Road. Nicole went there with her class, which was nice because otherwise I'd've had no idea how to get there... Even though I didn't have 3 other people to walk across the zebra with, it was still fun to go there and walk across. Nicole showed me where the studio is - it's under construction right now. She signed the wall when she went there with her class and I signed today. It was fun. I also got an Abbey Road mug from the Beatles Coffee Shop right next to the tube station - I'm excited to use it :D
When we were done there, it was about 5.30 so we came back to the res hall and had some dinner. We both had schoolwork to do, so we've been working on that since dinner. I did laundry today, so it's exciting to have a lot of clean outfits to choose from again :D
Back to class tomorrow - ugh. I want it to stay the weekend...
Till then,
-Carly B
Saturday, July 9, 2011
'Will you walk a little faster?' said a whiting to a snail.
Well, since I stayed up till 2 last night, I suppose my sleeping in till 10 this morning isn't really an objective measure of how tired I was. Oh well, it was worth it - I love reading :D
My calves are sore, but I was pretty lazy today. All I did was read and watch a movie. I finished the book and decided to watch Alice in Wonderland. In Dover, I went to a Poundland to get a snack for the coach ride back and got some fun socks and a movie along with my snack.
On Netflix one day, the 1999 live action version of Alice in Wonderland came up as a suggestion and I went ahead and watched it. I really like this version too - it stays the closest to the books of the three versions I've seen. There's a song Gene Wilder sings in it that I really like too - I have it on my iPod now :] In fact, it just came on. It's called the Lobster Quadrille :]
I skyped with my mom and dad again today - and Ricky was there too! I was honoured - he hasn't been to any of the skype dates yet, and they happen every weekend ;] I've made a possible revision to my planned tattoo, still thinking about it - nothing yet, and my dad laughed while my mom just rolled her eyes. I'm grateful for the support ;D
Man, I really was rather useless today, so this entry is probably the shortest (excepting the first one, and that was before I left). Oh well, it was a good day - nice and relaxing and full of reading, which always makes a day better :]
I definitely need to do some laundry tomorrow - I didn't realise how low I was until I went to get changed today. Good thing I don't have anything planned - just school work and maybe going to get a ticket to see Wicked again :]
Till then,
-Carlito
My calves are sore, but I was pretty lazy today. All I did was read and watch a movie. I finished the book and decided to watch Alice in Wonderland. In Dover, I went to a Poundland to get a snack for the coach ride back and got some fun socks and a movie along with my snack.
On Netflix one day, the 1999 live action version of Alice in Wonderland came up as a suggestion and I went ahead and watched it. I really like this version too - it stays the closest to the books of the three versions I've seen. There's a song Gene Wilder sings in it that I really like too - I have it on my iPod now :] In fact, it just came on. It's called the Lobster Quadrille :]
I skyped with my mom and dad again today - and Ricky was there too! I was honoured - he hasn't been to any of the skype dates yet, and they happen every weekend ;] I've made a possible revision to my planned tattoo, still thinking about it - nothing yet, and my dad laughed while my mom just rolled her eyes. I'm grateful for the support ;D
Man, I really was rather useless today, so this entry is probably the shortest (excepting the first one, and that was before I left). Oh well, it was a good day - nice and relaxing and full of reading, which always makes a day better :]
I definitely need to do some laundry tomorrow - I didn't realise how low I was until I went to get changed today. Good thing I don't have anything planned - just school work and maybe going to get a ticket to see Wicked again :]
Till then,
-Carlito
Friday, July 8, 2011
I'm just a swim away from France!
Yeah, I definitely want to go back to Dover. I need more time (story of my vacationing life).
It looked like it was going to be a gross day when I left the B&B, so I decided that the bus would be the better option. However, when I got to the marina, I couldn't find the ticket office. I found the place where the boats sailed from, but they didn't sell the tickets there. I looked around for a bit and got really confused, then looked across the road and saw a sign saying 'Tickets Sold Here.' Score one for Dover, zero for Carly.
When I did get there, I was told that they were already out on a different tour and wouldn't get back until 2.45. Since my coach was set to depart at 3.05, I elected to just walk. The lady at the booth was really helpful - just walk to the castle, then past it and you're there.
I was walking along the beach, so I took a detour. Unfortunately, those beaches were almost entirely made up of rocks so it was rather painful to walk to the water and back up. It was worth it though - I've been in the English Channel! :D It felt amazing to just stand with my deet in the water too - even if the tide seemed to rise as I stood there...
Then I set off for the Cliffs. The castle sits on top of a hill so I walked up only to find that I was going the wrong way - I needed to walk farther along the seafront to another hill to get to the Cliffs. Dover: 2, Carly: 0.
So I set off on my corrected course and had to climb a steeper hill and more stairs. After the walk to the castle, I stopped a few times on the way to the Cliffs. When I did stop, I kept telling myself 'It's gonna be worth it, it's gonna be worth it...'
And it totally was. The views from the top were beautiful - I was so justified in wanting to go to Dover for them alone. It was also crazy windy, but that was only a slight deterrant, and then only when I was standing closer to the edge. Just being there was extremely relaxing, I wish I could've stayed longer, if only to try and use my umbrella to pull a Mary Poppins...
I decidedx to take a lemonade break in the visitors centre before returning to the coach. I also bought a postcard and the lady at the till complimented me on my shirt - I was wearing my Finding Nemo seagulls shirt, Mine Mine Mine! She said they could probably sell them there - there are so many seagulls in Dover :]
It was looking nasty on my way to the ticket office, but on my way to the Cliffs it got steadily better until it was an absolutely beautiful day as I looked out from the top. It wasn't clear enough to see France though.
I got to the coach station early so I sat in a park nearby and read. It was bright and sunny and when I looked up, I was looking right at the castle. It's such a cool looking castle - it's more of a fortress. I wish I could've gone inside.
On the way back I saw a building dated 1403 (about 350 years before America is even thinking of independence...) and we drove through Greenwich - I want to go back there sometime to see the Prime Meridian. Having stayed awake this time, I can see why it took us an hour to get out of Greater London yesterday - the traffic was pretty crazy!
Once I got back to my room, I sat down and didn't want to get back up ever again. I did quite a bit of walking today - I'm thinking I'm going to be fairly sore tomorrow. However, I'm really glad I've got good Clarks sandals - it could've been so much worse...
After unpacking I decided to be lazy and just read. It was great :D
I don't have to get up for anything tomorrow, (Huzzah!) so I'm curious to see how late I'll sleep, Just watch, I'll be up and ready to go even earlier than normal, just to be annoying...
Till then,
-Carly
It looked like it was going to be a gross day when I left the B&B, so I decided that the bus would be the better option. However, when I got to the marina, I couldn't find the ticket office. I found the place where the boats sailed from, but they didn't sell the tickets there. I looked around for a bit and got really confused, then looked across the road and saw a sign saying 'Tickets Sold Here.' Score one for Dover, zero for Carly.
When I did get there, I was told that they were already out on a different tour and wouldn't get back until 2.45. Since my coach was set to depart at 3.05, I elected to just walk. The lady at the booth was really helpful - just walk to the castle, then past it and you're there.
I was walking along the beach, so I took a detour. Unfortunately, those beaches were almost entirely made up of rocks so it was rather painful to walk to the water and back up. It was worth it though - I've been in the English Channel! :D It felt amazing to just stand with my deet in the water too - even if the tide seemed to rise as I stood there...
Then I set off for the Cliffs. The castle sits on top of a hill so I walked up only to find that I was going the wrong way - I needed to walk farther along the seafront to another hill to get to the Cliffs. Dover: 2, Carly: 0.
So I set off on my corrected course and had to climb a steeper hill and more stairs. After the walk to the castle, I stopped a few times on the way to the Cliffs. When I did stop, I kept telling myself 'It's gonna be worth it, it's gonna be worth it...'
And it totally was. The views from the top were beautiful - I was so justified in wanting to go to Dover for them alone. It was also crazy windy, but that was only a slight deterrant, and then only when I was standing closer to the edge. Just being there was extremely relaxing, I wish I could've stayed longer, if only to try and use my umbrella to pull a Mary Poppins...
I decidedx to take a lemonade break in the visitors centre before returning to the coach. I also bought a postcard and the lady at the till complimented me on my shirt - I was wearing my Finding Nemo seagulls shirt, Mine Mine Mine! She said they could probably sell them there - there are so many seagulls in Dover :]
It was looking nasty on my way to the ticket office, but on my way to the Cliffs it got steadily better until it was an absolutely beautiful day as I looked out from the top. It wasn't clear enough to see France though.
I got to the coach station early so I sat in a park nearby and read. It was bright and sunny and when I looked up, I was looking right at the castle. It's such a cool looking castle - it's more of a fortress. I wish I could've gone inside.
On the way back I saw a building dated 1403 (about 350 years before America is even thinking of independence...) and we drove through Greenwich - I want to go back there sometime to see the Prime Meridian. Having stayed awake this time, I can see why it took us an hour to get out of Greater London yesterday - the traffic was pretty crazy!
Once I got back to my room, I sat down and didn't want to get back up ever again. I did quite a bit of walking today - I'm thinking I'm going to be fairly sore tomorrow. However, I'm really glad I've got good Clarks sandals - it could've been so much worse...
After unpacking I decided to be lazy and just read. It was great :D
I don't have to get up for anything tomorrow, (Huzzah!) so I'm curious to see how late I'll sleep, Just watch, I'll be up and ready to go even earlier than normal, just to be annoying...
Till then,
-Carly
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