Settled In

So I've now been here over a week, and I think I'm settling into a routine. I have now had the majority of my classes, and it seems like this is exactly what I'm looking for: sampler plate that tells me if I want to act for a living, giving me a taste of everything I'll be doing if I pursue this further. And so far, I must say, it does not disappoint. It's weird to think that this is my new courseload. None of my classes are Grinnell-class academic, which I think is fine. I'm here for the application, which the vast majority of my classes focus on.

That said, I suspect I will be very tired this semester. 13 classes is a lot to balance, and a few of them (just two right now, but I suspect a couple more will join them) of them require a lot of physical exertion. I was hesitant about Period Dance, because I find English Country Dance overly structured with no opportunities to engage with the dance or your partner, but we're starting off with dances involving lots of jumping. Which is a lot of fun but also requires a lot of exertion. Not to blow my own horn, but I think I will soon move to the forefront of that class, thanks to my not insignificant folk dance background. In the words of my friends, "It's not a competition, but if it was, I'd win." Not that it matters at all--everyone has their own talents and training, each of which is equally valid and will be equally useful.

The other exhausting class right now is Movement. Our professor is from South Africa, and is absolutely crazy. She calls us poppits and I'm pretty sure could beat me up, despite being probably three times my age. We're jumping right in with this course--our first session entailed us rocking forward, then using the momentum to rock backward onto our shoulders/head and touch our feet to the floor. We did this for about 5 minutes before we started jumping in between rocks to create the serial-killer-cousin of the burpie, which we did for another 5 minutes, and we didn't slow down for the rest of the class. Everyone was sore after that class, but we all agree it's going to be one of the most enjoyable, if one of the most masochistic.

I've seen my friend Abby a lot, actually. The Tube is great. Museums are free. What's not to like? So far we've been to the Natural History Museum (which has, among other things, a fantastic dinosaur section, a cross-section of a giant sequoia, a first-edition Origin of Species, and rocks from Mars), the Victoria & Albert Museum (which has, among other things, a medieval spiral staircase, several Raphaels, and approximately three miles of silver and gold and porcelain). It also has a plaster cast of the Trajan Column. There's a picture below, but it doesn't nearly communicate the awesome scale of this incredible achievement. I think the last thing that took my breath away was the Grand Canyon, but this had the same effect that 16-mile-wide monument to the power of nature. It was awesome in every sense of the word. They had to split the cast in half to get it into the museum. Each piece is 60 feet high and every inch is carved. I couldn't get everything in the picture (which I took from about 30 feet away), so the picture is of the bottom. You can see a bit of the other half in the background.

Today we hit up the British Museum, which was a huge collection of things that the British have taken from other people. Stuff from the Parthenon, and about half of Egypt were some of the coolest stuff, but we also saw pottery that was 6000 years old. Literally. The sheer amount of talent that has passed over this Earth staggers the mind, and both the British Museum and the V&A (mainly the V&A) are testaments to the creativity and tenacity of the human race. Refreshing, really.

I know I've gone off topic a bit, but hey. It's my blog. I do what I want. Long story short, I'm having a fantastic time. I love my program, the people in my program, and London as a whole. Where cities like Chicago have a definite center of activity that's constantly bustling, London is much more spread out. It arose from a collection of villages that grew together, so there really is no center. You can hop on the Tube, travel wherever, hop off, and still be awestruck by the beauty and history of this amazing city. I'll definitely be coming back.

Finally Touched Down in London Town

So after a long and fretful travel experience, I have finally arrived in London. And believe me, when I saw long and fretful, I mean long and fretful.

It all started on Monday. (Kentucky Monday, not England Monday. Unless they're the same Monday. Time is confusing.) I had been feeling a little under the weather for a couple of days (and by 'under the weather' I mean headache, sore throat, chills, and a fever of 102), and Mom decided to take me to get it checked out on that Monday. Just pick the one that best fits your world view. After an ironically long wait at the 'Urgent' Care Clinic (sarcastic apostrophes added by me), I was diagnosed with strep throat. Yaaaaaaaaaaay my life. I got medication for it and that was that. I would just have to deal with it until it stopped. Unfortunately, this meant I also had to deal with it during my 19-hour happy travel fun time.

I flew out of Lexington on a very uneventful flight to Dallas/Fort Worth, fully armed with anti-strep horse pills, anti-dizziness ear drops, and a full bottle of ibuprofen. Once there, I realized just how big airports can be. When it takes your plane 5 minutes after landing to taxi around to the correct gate, you know you're in a biiiiiiiiiiiiiig airport. The ibuprofen I had taken earlier was beginning to wear off, and my symptoms were returning. Shivering the whole way, I took the tram to my departure terminal (DFW is spread out over, like, 5 different buildings, connected with a tram system) and ordered some Popeye's chicken nuggets, shivering all the way. As it turns out, chicken nuggets aren't the best thing to eat when your throat is sore. Too hard and crusty and poky on my poor soft fleshy esophagus. Oh well, lesson learned for next time. I was able to access the WiFi there and Netflixed it up during my 4-hour layover.

My flight to England was on a really big plane. Like, really big. Like, 10-seats-in-a-row big. Although big and comfortable don't necessarily go together. Which was a bummer, because I had planned to sleep the whole way. By getting sleep on the plane and starting my first day in London rested, I foresaw the evils of jet lag flying by me, my body already adjusting to the new time zone. I was able to get some rest, but it was a long and fitful flight. My chills returned a couple times, and although I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed, I don't know exactly how much I slept. I do know how long 8 hours can be at the moment when you realize it's only been 4.

In any case, I landed in London's Heathrow Airport ready to go. I left the airplane and then walked approximately three and a half thousand miles to find a sign that didn't tell me to just keep on going where I'm going. Like I said, big airports are BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG. I went through customs just fine, which surprised me. I had heard that they would require me to shill out my passport, student confirmation letter, bank statements, proof of a flight back, and my first through third children, each with an apple in his/her/zir mouth and each holding one of my limbs. But the woman just asked me for my passport, my student confirmation letter, asked me some information I had forgotten to fill out on my landing card, and then stamped me in and I was good to go. It was simple. I like simple.

I grabbed my checked suitcase and wandered out into the lobby to find the LDA shuttle. Sure enough, there was an older British man holding a notebook on which he had penciled "Fordham LDA." Well, that's me! I walked up and they already knew my name (which shows that they're devoted to their students, not that they're creepy) and his younger female partner walked me over to where several other LDA students were waiting. We introduced each other and had a fine time, waiting for the others to arrive. Finally they did, and we departed on our 45-minute bus journey to Kensington, the neighborhood in London where we're staying.

I had heard Kensington was one of London's nicer districts, and boy were they right. Most of the buildings are straight out of a Dickens novel, entire streets of tall brick masterpieces crowned with cast iron or of towering alabaster flats with columned stoops. There are no vents spewing the noxious contents of the city's underbelly onto street level. Instead, the streets are lined with flowering trees, many of which are already starting to bloom. One does smell exhaust, admittedly (it's a city of 8,000,000 people--of course you do), but with every other breath you inhale the sweet scent of whatever blossom you happen to be passing by. Everywhere you look, there is a cobblestone ally winding its way off of the main highway into the beautiful antique facades. I am staying at Heythrop College, located at the end of one such ally.

While the area is very visually appealing, I do have some issues with how Heythrop runs its operation (most of which, I'm sure, are due to my underexposure to actual problems). For instance, we got Heythrop student IDs which only let us on to our floor, the doors lock strangely and don't stay open, and you have to push a button to unlock the door from the inside. I ask you, WHAT IS WRONG WITH JUST LEAVING? Anyway. They also told me to bring sheets and a towel, which I begrudgingly did, and then provided me with sheets and a towel. In case you don't believe me, I present:

EXHIBIT A:

Great. Glad I took up all that space in my suitcase.

But these are small complaints. The city is absolutely stunning, and the people seem really great. I'm excited to start classes next Monday (this one had better be an England Monday), so I can report back on the real reason I'm here. But more on that later.

Until next time,
Ian

5 Days...

5 days until I leave. It still hasn't hit that I'm leaving for London for a whole semester, and it probably won't until I'm there. This is my first time traveling alone to an alien place, and while exciting, such prospects also spawn butterflies in the pit of my stomach, but for now I'm just looking the other way and pretending they don't exist.

Today I made a list of everything to pack. It's a rather intimidating list, but many of the things are small in stature and will be easily squeezed in where space permits. So that makes me feel a little better, but the size of the list is still a little scary, especially when I don't know anything about where I'm going (something I should also remedy before leaving).

I guess I'll include a little bit about where I'm going. This semester I applied and got accepted to the London Dramatic Academy, a conservatory acting program accredited through Fordham University in New York. I'll be living in London at Heythrop College, a few minutes walk from the Fordham University Centre, which houses all the Fordham programs in London. I will not have a roommate and may or may not have a meal plan (if I do, it will only be partial). The number of students has yet to be revealed, but I understand it's a fairly small number, all in class together from 9-5 every day. Speaking of classes, I'll have 13. Here they are, from the LDA's website:

ACTING: Acting, Acting Shakespeare, Audition Tutorials
THEATRE HISTORY, LITERATURE & CRITICISM: Space, Place & Text, Dramatic Criticism
PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR ACTORS: Movement, Physical Theatre, Stage Combat, Period Dance, Alexander Technique
VOICE TRAINING FOR ACTORS: Voice, Speech/Dialect

I probably won't post again before I leave, unless something drastic happens (let's hope it won't). See you all on the other side!