Update from London Town

        Unfortunately, there hasn’t been one large event to blog about since Scotland, but for the past two weeks I have been able to experience a string of different events that end up quite exciting.  Actually that's a lie.  After coming back from London, my life sort of hit a lull.  With only three weeks left in Europe, I can definitely see how this would happen.  Having an adventure every day, or even every week is virtually impossible.  Still, I tend to manage, plus it was kind of nice having a week with very little excitement.  I kind of like not having a lot going on because it gives me the chance to enjoy London in a totally different way.  I've been on a lot of walks lately.  Last Tuesday I decided to walk the 5 miles from the CAPA center back to my Camden flat.  Yes, I had to walk through some pretty boring areas, but I still got to stroll through half of Hyde Park and a portion of Regent's Park that I don't get to see very often.  It's so odd to me that London is just this MASSIVE city, yet, if you want to put forth the effort, you can really walk quite a lot of it.  It may take you a few hours but in the end it's totally worth it.  

   After a week of uneventfulness, I decided to actually mix it up a bit.  I hate being idle and that's what is was starting to feel like.  I head to Leicester Square because I had the idea of buying tickets to see Once the Musical.  Instead, I walked by the Prince of Wales Theater where The Book of Mormon was playing, and say people queuing for the lottery drawing.  Being a Tuesday night, I decided to join in and try my luck.  Pretty much what happens is two and half hours before the show, people can fill out a card and check for one ticket or two and then they are entered into a drawing for front row £20 tickets to that night's performance.  I was standing in the line about to fill out my card when the next to me asked if I was filling it out for one ticket.  I said yes, and he suggested that we both put down two tickets in order to double our chances.  After about 150 people showed up, it seemed that there was no prayer in either of our names being called.  When the guy drew each card he announced where each winner was from.  I held my breath when he announced the next winner was from the Netherlands, and low and behold my wonderful Dutch friend had won, and I was set to see The Book of Mormon, front row, or £20. Since this was only my first try in the lottery, and this was his second, I would like to credit myself for some of the luck he had that night.

      Anyway, The Book of Mormon was AMAZING!  In it's nature, it had the opportunity to get really dark and sad really fast, but thanks to Trey Parker, everything stayed light and positive. And by positive, I also mean hugely offensive to just about every demographic, but especially the Mormons.  I still had a marvelous time laughing until I cried.  It was odd though, seeing such and American musical in the UK.  I just don't think they appreciated the line, "I believe that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri!" as much as I did.  No matter, everyone was roaring the entire night.  If you are not easily offended, make an effort to see the show.  The music is catchy and funny, and it's ridiculousness is actually incredibly unique.  Despite me fears, I did not feel like I was watching a South Park episode the whole time.

     That was the only thing really worth talking about, everything else has been pretty low key. With the end of the semester approaching, we are all worried about final projects and wrapping up work.  I'm in Starbuck's trying to do research for my final paper, but who am I kidding?  It probably won't get done until the night before.  I had a running list of advice, and UK comments I wanted to put in this post but of course my mind is drawing a blank.  My hope is for one of my next posts, putting an entire list of restaurants, shops, and general attractions that are worth seeing in London, in my own opinion.  I also want to compile all my travel tips and findings.  Hopefully my mind won't be drawing a blank then.

     In the mean time, I FINALLY was able to get Nicole to send me the video from my performance at Roadhouse.  Due to the long music break in the center, she took it in two videos.  It was really hard to hear myself on stage, so I feel like I'm screaming, so don't make fun of me too much. And here is my London stage debut and well....finale as well....

I pray these videos actually work....