It's Been a While, Hasn't It?

Hello family and friends!

I haven't forgotten you! or dropped off the face of the planet! or been whisked off to far away places without internet access! I am, in fact, just busy with school and friends and homework (surprise surprise).

Quick Update:

School: It's great right now, the workload is getting easier and easier as I get into my school groove and get everything figured out. I got to do a Juliet monologue in my acting class, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I just rekindled my love for acting, really. Emily Bruni (my teacher) is so amazing. Other than really disliking my directing class, academia remains as it always has to me - intriguing, stimulating, and challenging. I do miss Scripps a TON though.

Theatre: I've seen so many shows! The last few have been Judgement Day (Van Horvath), Vanya (Holcroft), All's Well That Ends Well (you-know-who-or-you-better-know-who), Love's Labour's Lost (see previous parenthetical author comment), and End Game (Beckett). The next few on my list are: Othello, The Author, Category B, and the The Sleeping Beauty Ballet. I absolutely love going to see so much wonderful art! I mean, even if it's not very good (cough cough All's Well), it's such a great learning and cultural experience!

Travel: I've got my fall break week all planned! I'm going to Paris saturday-tuesday and then Barcelona tuesday-friday! I am so excited to be traveling to these amazing places. I can't believe I'll get to go... I'm sure my update after that week will be really long!! :P

Other Anecdotes:

So, one day I said to myself, "I'm going to walk to school while practising my monologue! I've been here a month, I don't really need to pay attention to where I'm going, right? right!" So, feeling confidently local, I set off walking as I always do except without paying much attention to where I was going. About a half an hour in, when I should be ambling through Regent's Park, I look up to find myself next to a small church and day care center in the middle of a neighborhood. hmm. I look around again, and the only person I see is a little old lady. I walk up to her and ask her to point me in the direction of the park. She replies, "Crikey! You're miles away, you'll never get there on foot now! just call a cab, here let me show you where to get a cab... hehe oh my girl, what a mess you've made of the way!" or something like that. Although, she really did say crikey, which made me very happy. Did I mention it was raining this whole time? Well, it was. I hail a cab pretty easily, and the nice driver tells me I'm by Paddington Station, which is like the opposite way of where I wanted to go. How I got there, I have no idea, but get there I did. About half way through the ride, when I know we're getting close, I reach to get money from my wallet. My hand fails to find the soft leather wallet I make a point to NEVER forget, because things like this might happen! Well, of course, I realize instantly that the wallet (and my keys) are in my other purse sitting on my bed at home. Panic alarm goes off. I quickly informed the driver that he could just let me out and pint me the rest of the way or something, but he, very sweetly, agrees to drive me the rest of the way for free. Who knew london cabs were so good-hearted? Moral: Don't think you know where you are, even if you think you do. You don't. Especially in London!

A few nights ago, I was washing dishes in my flat alone while listening and singing along to The Carpenters (classy, I know). I had in my hand our sponge, and was cleaning the inside of this glass cup when all of a sudden, a piece of the cup broke off and totally attacked me! I had (have) a huge cut right above my knuckle on my right index finger, about on the joint and many other little nicks here and there from the glass. The cut was deep, and so there was blood everywhere. Being home alone, I relatively calmly grab a bunch of paper towels and remember to turn off the stove (I was boiling potatoes) and get my purse and go to the flat next door ... where I promptly started crying and finally panicking a little. One of the guys I know who lives there got up and called me a cab and got me over to the ER really quickly (Thanks Alex!) and made sure I was okay. After waiting for 3 hours in the ER, I saw a triage doctor and a real doctor, I got xrays done to make sure no glass was stuck in, and some "sani-strips" - which are like little strips of strong medical tape to hold the large gash closed, because stitches on a joint are kind of useless - especially when it's my right hand index finger and it gets used a lot. The wonderful thing: all this was free! Socialized medicine is a very nice thing when you're a student in a foreign country! It's all healing nicely, and now I'm out of dish duty for a good while! :P

That's all I can think of to tell you today, but I'll try and remember to post more often!

~Lindsey