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Friday (Day 47): Celebrating with a West End Mystery
Thursday proved to be a less than exciting day. After leaving Macroeconomics early because I wasn’t feeling well, I promptly walked back to my flat to discover that both Libby and I had caught Krista’s stomach flu.
Note to all study abroad participants: overpack on your favorite meds for such conditions.
I spent the day alternating between sleeping, watching House, and other unfortunate things that need to be done when one has the stomach flu. Meanwhile, prayer that I would be better by the next day was high on my list, since I had a ticket to see the play 39 Steps.
I had heard about the show back at home. It had done well on Broadway in New York and I was intrigued. The show is a comedic reproduction of the Alfred Hitchcock movie by the same name, with a cast of four playing over 150 characters. It has been getting great reviews on this side of the pond, and I was looking forward to seeing it. Fortunately, my stomach stabilized just in the nick of time to catch the tube to Piccadilly Circus to see the show.
I was glad my seat was in the fourth row so that I could better see the brilliance of the actors on stage. Some occasionally played three or four characters in the same scene, even having dialogue with themselves! The only downside was the voluminous amounts of stage fog, which drifted out into the first six or seven rows of the audience, causing some to cough, and all of us to smell like of a bizarre combination of maple syrup and smoke.
The show was absolutely hilarious, and I particularly enjoyed the way the actors interacted with the audience, something rare in today’s popular shows. By the end, it felt as if we knew the actors on a personal level. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and a great way to celebrate the return of my health! Now I just have get going on my school work!
Wednesday (Day 45): Our First Big Assignment
This morning’s class had us all a little nervous. It was our first day of group presentations - the first time since being here that we actually had to submit an assignment. The project was no walk in the park; we had to create a two person skit depicting a sales pitch between a seller and a consumer. It was up to us to pick a product or service to sell. We had to write a script to hand in along with an oral presentation, explaining the data on which our skit was constructed.
My group decided that I would be the owner of a West End theater, pitching my facilities to Krista, who was the writer-producer of a new production Pride and Prejudice: The Musical. (This is what actually takes place at CPT)
Unfortunately, Krista had come down with the stomach flu the night before, so Ajay stood in for her. We were the last group to “perform,” so the bar had already been set pretty high. Still, Ajay and I pulled out all the stops to make our presentation great. While our professor did find some things we could have included in addition to what we had done, on the whole we were pleased with our presentation. Hopefully our professor was as well!
Sunday (Day 42): Last Day of Peace and Quiet
I woke up this morning to go to my favorite sung Mass in Latin at the Rectory. I realized that it was my last day of quiet and freedom, before classes started again, and the comfortable silence and solitude of the weekend would be broken by the return of VU-GCPers who had traveled to Amsterdam and Spain.
When I got back to the flat I worked ahead on some class assignments and took some time out to watch one of my favorite Alan Rickman movies, before cooking dinner and going to sleep. I was awakened at 2 AM to the sound of Krista getting back in from Barcelona. I was immediately wide awake, so we discussed our adventures of the weekend.
I was shocked to hear that a member of our group had her passport stolen, but other than that, I was glad to hear that the group had a good time. I remembered the good times I had myself in Barcelona with the members of Chester County Voices Abroad during my second tour with the group. We looked at each other’s pictures and shared stories for a while longer, before finally going to sleep, ready to face yet another week of classes in London!
