Belgium...chocolate, chocolate, waffles, and more chocolate

I am SO full right now! I just got back from Brugge, Belgium. Probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Seriously, it was a gorgeous place! Today I went on a day trip to Belgium with 2 of my flatmates and one other friend from Clark. We went on a 2 hour bus ride to Dover then an hour and 15 minute ferry ride to Calais, France, then another hour long bus ride to Brugge. The ferry ride was amazing, we passed the Cliffs of Dover and sailed into France while on a giant Ferry with couches, shopping, and a food court. When we finally got into Belguim and got off the bus I couldn't believe it. It was really incredibly beautiful, I'm pretty sure I was speechless. There were little canals everywhere, and boat tours going through them, under bridges, and around the biggest swans I have ever seen. We only had about 3 and a half hours to walk around and explore the city, which wasn't enough time, but very worth the trip. We stopped at a little sandwich place where I had a baguette with salami and egg salad and some chocolate milk, and we ate outside on some benches. I'm so grateful that it was nice weather outside. After we ate we went to a tiny, little chocolate shop and bought some truffles, which were obviously amazing. I'm not surprised Belgium is known for it's chocolate. I also learned that Belgium is known for it's lace, and beer, and obviously waffles. We went to a classy homemade waffle shop to get some classic Belgian waffles. All I have to say was that this was the best thing I have ever decided to spend my money on. I only payed 3 euros, but I probably would have paid what ever the little waffle man asked because that waffle was seriously incredible. I had a waffle with chocolate and caramel drizzled on top, and my roommate had a waffle with whipped cream (which they actually call whipping cream in the UK) and strawberries. So good, really, so good. We spent some more time just walking around and going into little shops (every other shop was a chocolate shop) and taking pictures.
Apparently, there is this myth that in Brussels there once was a big fire in the city, and some little boy peed on the fire and put it out, and there is a statue of this boy in Brussels. So now they have this little boy's statues everywhere in Belgium. I just had to buy one. I also bought a kid's size t-shirt, and some postcards. Then we hopped back on the bus (thanks to Celina who found our way back without a map or any knowledge of the area) and went to a chocolate factory, which happened to be just a huge chocolate store called The Chocolate Factory rather than an actual chocolate factory. This is where we all loaded up on the chocolate. It was quite successful. We ended up getting back to our flat at exactly midnight (we left the flat at 5:30am) so it was quite the long day, but so incredibly worth it to take a 4 hour trip both ways to spend 3 and a half hours in Brugge. It really was amazing, and the coach bus was nice, and the ferry was nice, and Robin our tour guide was nice, and it was just so nice. I'm so glad we went, it was very much worth it, and I certainly want to go back to Belgium some day and spend slightly more time there.

L'Shana Tova from London!

Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, and being one of only 3 Jews on this International Internship Program I felt it fit to cook a semi-traditional Jewish dinner for the rest of the flat. Dane and I went on a trip to Waitrose (the huge supermarket) and bought almost 50 pounds worth of food to cook. We had some trouble getting chocolate chips to dip strawberries into; when we asked where they were they pointed us to the chip section. When we asked where the marshmallows were they had no idea what we were talking about, first they thought we were talking about melons, then they thought we were asking about a frozen food. We eventually found them, but unfortunately they didn't have just white, so we got white and pink. We had to weed out the pink ones because we were making sweet potato pie, and strawberry flavored marshmallows on top would not taste very good.
So cooking took about 3 hours. We made matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish, salmon, falafal, apples and honey, chicken, noodle kugel, sweet potato pie, and we bought bread that wasn't challah, but sort of looking like challah. We had 13 people and it was really good. It was nice to have a sort of substitute family for the holiday. The people that are on this program are so awesome, they are very welcoming and open to anything. I figure you have to be cool to choose to study abroad in London. I'm really lucky to be here with such great people to share the experience with.
Today I've stayed in my pajamas the entire day because it was "homework day." It has been tough to find time during the week to do homework so all of it was saved for Sunday. It was kind of like to relax and get things done. I also got some laundry done, though I had some trouble with our European washer/dryer and I washed my clothes 4 times because I couldn't figure out how to dry them. It was quite frustrating. All my clothes are hanging on every part of this flat. It's ridiculous.
Tomorrow I have work from 10 to 6, and later tonight one of my flatmates and I are going to Tesco (24 hour convenience store) to pick up some groceries for the week. I will hopefully post soon with some fun and interesting happenings in London!

What a busy shej-oo-wool I have!

Shej-oo-wool...that's the way they pronounce schedule here. I learned that today when I was at work at The Unicorn and I was punching the rehearsal and performance shej-oo-wools into the online computer office diary (calendar.) Today at work I also sat in on a meeting with a representative from the Shakespeare in Schools Festival. A number of different schools in the area are going to come to the Unicorn for Shakespeare workshops, and then for a final performance of a shortened Shakespeare play towards November. That should be exciting, and I'll get to see the whole process which is really going to be interesting. Monday was my first day of interning. After having a full tour of the beautiful and huge building I sat down and read the entire 32 page Unicorn Theatre staff handbook. Then I went with the assistant production manager, the technical director, and the wardrobe director to an event put on by the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA, for short.) It was a gigantic exhibition for techies to see new age lighting and sound techniques, fabrics, electric platforms, seat upholstery, rigging systems, and pretty much anything anyone can think of that can be used in a theatre or concert hall. It was BONKERS! Flashing lights, lasers, the works! It was really cool to get a taste of what is out there and available for theatres around England to use. Anyway, the greatest part about working at The Unicorn so far has been 11 o'clock tea time. Every day at 11 we stop what we're doing and go to the Green Room for tea. I love the British!
Anyway, other things I've been doing....hmmm, last Thursday we went on the London Eye. It was incredible to be in one of those huge cabins looking out on the entire city of London, and the day we went was absolutely gorgeous and clear. We also went on a bus tour of London. We made some stops where we got off the bus to take pictures and see the sites. We saw Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The London Bridge, The Tower Bridge, The Globe Theatre, The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral. It was insane! I've certainly seen every touristy place there is to see here. We went on a Shakespeare and Dickens walk of London where we saw some sites where inspired by Shakespeare and Dickens like where King Lear took place, and a Christmas Carol. It was really interesting. We've been to SoHo, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, it has been crazy! Last night I even got to see Sister Act the Musical, and that was really cool because it's not even playing in NY. Every thing's just been great, it's just that I feel so run down because I've been doing so much, what with classes, interning, homework, site seeing, not to mention food shopping, cooking, and laundry.
As far as things I've been noticing about Great Britain, I've been keeping a mental list so I will just run some things off:
-If someone asks "Are you on the queue?" they are asking if you are standing on line.
-Coffee shops ask you if you want white or black coffee with whole or skinny milk.
-British people are more reserved when it comes to pride in their country.
-Most Irish or Scottish people don't consider themselves British even though they too are part of the union.
-You have to pay for everything! Playbills at the theatre, bread at restaurants, soy sauce at sushi places, you even have to pay extra for sitting in Starbucks rather than taking your coffee away.
-High Schools are known as Colleges, and Colleges are known as Universities.
-A cable box is known as a digibox.
-People love to ride their bikes everywhere, and they rudely disobey stoplights or pedestrian crosswalks.
-You have to walk on the left side of the sidewalk.
-You have to stand on the right side of the escalator so those who are in a rush can walk past you on the left.
-Allison is never spelt with 2 L's.
-Dental care is not a high priority.
Those are just a few things I can think off the top of my head that I've noticed about Britain in the past week and a half. I learn something new every day, and the more I pay attention to the people around me the more differences I notice between here and The States. I'll keep my ears and eyes open for more, but as for now I have to finish my laundry, get some work done, and go to bed at a reasonable hour because tomorrow I have quite the busy shej-oo-wool.

Experiences thus far...

Yesterday was my first day of class. The commute to class is about 40 minutes on the tube. The tube is almost as hot and sticky as the Subway, and it's also hard to get a seat, so it makes that ride rather unpleasant. My first class was Intro to Creative Writing in the Oscar Wilde Room (all of the rooms at FIE are named after famous people that have lived in the Kensington/Chelsea area...there is even a Freddie Mercury Room!) I was surprised to see that there were only 8 students in the class, but it made it feel more homey. All of the students are American and from schools all over the country. The tutor (what the British call professors) is Indian-Britain. She was very nice and seemed to be very passionate about writing. We'll mainly be focusing on fiction writing, short stories and screenplays. I'm excited to see what this will be like because I've never taken a class like this before.
My second class was British Life and Cultures, and the tutor is American! I found this very strange, but he obviously knows a lot about Great Britian. In this class we'll be studying many aspects of the UK compared to the US, such as transportation, educaton systems, news, and the overall lifestyles. It should be very interesting I think. We are also taking a bunch of field trips to places around London like Parliment, the Tate Modern, and the one I'm most excited for, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I'm really looking forward to this class. Later today I have my Contemporary British Theatre class, and I will update more in a few days about how that is.
Anyway, yesterday my roommate, Celina, and I took a walk around the Bloomsbury area to check it out and to take pictures. There are 2 parks that are very close to us, and they are both beautiful. We took a lot of pictures of the park, and the buildings nearby, and mostly of the black cabs and red telephone booths (which are actually really gross and smelly inside and I would never want to make a phone call from one.) Once it started getting dark we went to eat dinner at a place called Pizza Express, and while it sounds like a casual pizza joint, it was actually a very nice restaurant. I had a personal sized pizza with the middle cut out and salad inside, very interesting. We also shared some gelato. Great!
Today I had my interview for my internship at the Unicorn Theatre. I wasn't nervous about the interview, but I was SO nervous about finding my way there. I had to get there on my own, and what with walking to the tube station, getting on the tube, transfering lines, getting out of the next tube station, then walking to the theatre I was afraid I would get lost. I left about an hour before I had to be there, and I got there in only 30 minutes, so I walked around the area, got some Starbucks, and read some pamphlets. Southwark, the area the Unicorn is in, is very touristy. There is the London Dungeon, the London Bridge, and a bunch of theatres, but it was really nice and I was so lucky that I found the theatre so easily and quickly. The interview went really well and I'll be working 20 hours a week on a bunch of different aspects of the productions. I really can't wait, I start on Monday.
As far as the past few days have been, the one thing that I am having the hardest time adjusting to (other than being 5 hours ahead) is walking on the left side of the sidewalk. I always feel like I'm obviously American because I walk on the right side. I've been trying to get used to it and who ever I'm walking with will always remind me. However, when on an escelator you have to remember to stay to the right side because there are always people rushing and they want to walk up instead, and they will just push you if you are in the way. There are also little things that I've been discovering, like it's not really common to ask for a doggy bag in a restaurant because it's rude not finish the food they gave you. There are all of these little cultural things that are different that I need to keep discovering and then getting used to for the next few months. Expecially the words they use like toilet for bathroom, cutlery for utensils, skinny milk for skim milk and queue for a line of people. You would think that it would be easy because everyone speaks English here, but it is still very different. It really is interesting. Well I'm about to go out with some of my flatmates to get more things for the flat, like soap, trashbags, hooks. I will update more soon (tomorrow we're going on the London Eye!) I can't wait.

I'm here!

Greetings from London!
I finally arrived safely in London after a long plane trip and getting slightly lost in Heathrow Airport. I really don't have much time to sit and write a full and informative blog entry because it's almost midnight here and I have to wake up around 7am because I have an early class tomorrow. I'm still really jet lagged, so that's not fun, but other than feeling a little out of it and tired I'm having a jolly time! London is just like I pictured it; it's so cute, classy, and quaint, especially Bloomsbury. My flat is HUGE, and my roommate and I have our own bathroom which is always a plus! All the other students here are very nice and friendly and looking to have a good time. I also love the girls I'm living with, we all clicked so well. Tonight we even had a nice bonding night over a lovely dinner that one of my flatmates and I cooked ourselves! I'm very proud, actually. Last night a bunch of us went out to a place called London Pub and we sat outside because it was such a nice night. It was fun, but I'm surprised I held up because I hadn't slept in 2 nights, nor had I had anything to eat since the breakfast they gave me on the plane (which they served at 9am, but 4am US time!) Sleep felt really good last night even if the beds here aren't that cozy. Anyway, I really should start getting ready for bed so I can get through 2 three hour classes tomorrow. I will certainly tell more about London soon! Goodnight!
Allie