I got to sleep in! It was a miracle...and by sleeping in I mean 10am but hey it was better than nothing! The other group had class early in the morning and then we all took class with the Nazi jazz dance instructor, Keith. We ended up doing this one combination so many times and Becky and I happened to start the dance, therefore we had to do it a bajillion times. I have never sweat so much in my life EVER!
Then we had our weekly meeting with Shane, who was nice enough to make pesto pasta, a salad, fruit, cheese, and of course yummy baguettes! During the meeting we all picked out of a hat, what he called "Art Warrior Solo Adventures." Basically he is encouraging us to experience parts of the city on our own and if we complete an art task then we get a prize. Sounds like a bribe, I know! I happened to pull out "find David Beckham in the National Portrait Museum"...will do.
A group of us decided to try a wine bar for dinner attached to a hotel. It turned out to basically just be a restaurant with a lot of wine. BUT it was good none the less and cheap! I got the yummiest tomato, avocado, and mozzarella salad!
Afterwards we met Shane and headed a short ways outside of London to see a show called Motorshow. We got to see the Millennium Dome too...it was built at the turn of the Millennium and looked really cool, thats about all I know. Anyways. The show we saw was in an old backlot with a city sky scape in the background. Every audience member wore headphones and listened to a sound score developed by the directors of the show and went along with the action happening on the LARGE stage. It was the niftiest thing I have ever experienced. It was a mixture of cars, acting, dance, and really cool sound effects and music.
Bails and I in front of the Millennium Dome.
Got our headphones on!
The lot and background of the outdoor show - Motorshow
Tuesday, June 26:
I woke up super early to take a professional class at The Place. It was a little scary walking into a room with professional dancers, but according to Shane that is what we are now. So he thinks. The class and the dancers had a really different vibe than other classes where people are constantly competing against one another. I really enjoyed it!
Afterwards I decided to explore London on my own and accomplish my "Art Warrior Solo Adventure." Got a little lost finding the National Portrait Gallery but figured it out finally. IT WAS SO AWESOME. I got to see Queen Elizabeth II and all of the Royal family, including William and Harry (young and old). AND Princess Diana, love her. I saw a lot of old royal families too, which was pretty cool. I could go on for days but Alexander McQueen, the Editor of Vogue, tons of famous musicians. The list goes on and on. After a few hours looking at a bunch of peoples I decided to get some lunch at none other than Pret A Manger. Lucky for me I picked a prime location right outside Trafalgar Square, perfect for people watching.
When I got back it was time to go out to Greenwich and walk around before the show we were seeing. We bopped into a few really cute shops. I really love Greenwich because it is right on the water, super nice, reminds me of the Hamptons or something but way different. A bunch of us had been craving Mexican food so we found a cute little place called Desparados (one of my favorite drinks here, its a bottled beer with tequila in it. sounds gross but its so good). We finally got some Margaritas, nachos, and enchilada's! Only problem was at the end trying to figure out the check. Not being able to split checks here is such a pain!
Once we chowed down on some Mexican we went to see the show Crow. Oddly enough it was a puppet show mixed with dance and text. I was torn between wether I liked it or not, some parts were really interesting and others just weird. However, it was a great opportunity. I most likely will not see anything like it in my lifetime, so I appreciated it just the same!
Lesson of the day: Never get Mexican food in the UK, it was way better and cheaper in the US.
Pretty pictures of Greenwich.
Wednesday, June 27:
My group had its last dance session with Jamie :( We have had him for four classes now and he is easily one of my favorite teachers. We went out with a bang though! It was a great class of non-stop dancing. And he told us about this new artist that he uses for music in his classes, Emeli Sande, who is supposedly the up and coming "Adele" in London.
This afternoon Katy, Katelyn, and I went down to the British Library because it is like five minutes from our dorm and checked out a really cool exhibit. I GOT TO SEE THE COOLEST STUFF! They had a section on The Beatles...yeah The Beatles, so cool! They had original copies of several of the band members jotting down of lyrics for a song that would come to them on the most random scraps of paper they could find. Ringo wrote down the lyrics to Hard Days Night on the back of a birthday card he gave his son! My favorite part of the exhibit was the little bit about Paul McCartney's writing of Yesterday, maybe it is because I love the song so much but it is a cool story. He woke up one morning with the lyrics in his head and swore it was a song he had already heard, but wrote them down on scrap paper anyways. Turns out it was never a song, and suddenly then came Yesterday! I also saw the Magna Carta (yeah holy moley). And Jane Austen's writing desk and a journal from when she was a little girl! SO COOL.
Afterwards Shane left us on our own to meet him in East End London, the hipster Indian influenced area of London. Of course we got really lost, but made it right on time! We went to eat at this awesome Indian restaurant, Cinnamon, in the heart of what I call Little India. Can you say chicken curry and naan? We had a family style dinner and shared a bunch of dishes, it was some of the best Indian food I have ever had, and I have had some good Indian! We went to a super awesome music store with tons of albums and cd's, Rough Trade. Apparently it is ttthhhee store in London to get music. I listened to some awesome stuff but didn't end up buying anything! Of course we ended the night with ice cream and a basement hangout at CH, where else?!
At the Indian Restaurant Cinnamon.
Coolest music store ever!
Little India, thank you come again.
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