Leaving London with a sigh....

Tomorrow we take the train to Paris. I am very sad to be leaving London. I love it so much here! Today we visited the French newspaper "Le Monde" so we are already in gear for French media. I am glad that I will be back in London in July though.

Over the weekend I went to Bath, which is west (I think) of London and explored the ancient Roman baths in the center of the city with my friends Zach and Justin. Everything in the city was so old and beautiful. I got to touch the hot spring water and light a candle in an incredibly old abbey next to the baths. The churches in England are breath-taking. After the baths I ordered an extremely interesting lunch that was basically sausage, eggs and bacon piled onto a hotdog bun. It is kind of funny because practically every meal here has bread, cheese and sausage. After Bath, we drove out to Stonehendge! It is really hard to describe how awesome it is. I thought that the mass amounts of tourists would ruin the experience, but everyone somehow knew to be quiet when they approached the stones. The best part was the rolling hills. After looking at the stones, we lay down in the grass and watched the clouds. It was so peaceful. I can't believe that I am able to say I have been there!

Tonight we are having a group dinner and then we are going to a taping of a British television comedy. Later we will probably go to a pub. I miss London already! Anyway, the internet cafe man is giving me the eye, so I better sign off. I miss you all and I wish I could take you to all of these amazing places! Love you!

Notting Hill...

Well the pea coat Mom sent me got here on Friday just in time for a beautiful 80-degree Saturday (haha), but I imagine I will need the coat some time during this trip so all is well. Today we wandered around Notting Hill looking at shops and eating fresh fruit and pastries. It was an amazing day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and the antique stores were so fun....plus I got some presents! Last night we celebrated our first finished week abroad at a party at the London School of Economics. The kids there had just finished their finals so everyone was in a social mood. I had a long conversation with an Austrian guy about how to imitate an American accent. He was not very good at it, but his attempts were hilarious. He said that my British accent was a hick version so we had some fun making fun of each other. I also met people from Ireland, Texas and Scotland. The mix of cultures was great. It is interesting to hear about how Americans are perceived in different parts of the world.

Today is Sean's 18th birthday!!!!! Happy birthday Sean! I love you and miss you so much! I hope you have fun celebrating! I'm thinking of you!

The London Eye!

Yay for internet cafes!!! I just got out of a meeting at Channel 4, one of the more artsy television stations in London and I am sitting outside of Victoria Station waiting for our next meeting with a London PR firm. Last night I got to see "Guys and Dolls" starring Ewan McGregor at the Picadilly Theatre!!!! We had to wait for a long time for back row tickets, but it was definitely worth it. I was a bit dirty though because I had spent literally the entire day getting lost in a random part of London and trying to get back to my flat. I was so proud of myself because I figured out the tube connections to get back to Crawford House (where I live), but when I got out of the station I accidentally got on the wrong coach and was taken all the way into the theatre district. At that point I had spent an hour trying to get home so I decided to catch a cab, but since my friend had been scammed by a cab guy earlier in the trip, I caught another coach and spent another hour doodling around on coaches. In the end I made it home though, so all was well. Tonight we are going on the London Eye, which is this huge ferris wheel in the middle of London.
Friday is high tea at Harrod's (bet you're jealous mom!) and hopefully I will get to see Regent's park like Dad suggested.

All the girls are pretty much getting along, though there is some clique stuff happening. We just don't even have enough time to get annoyed with each other, so that is good.

Anyway, I really hope you feel better soon Sean, it worries me that you are still sick. Sleep and rest and read blogs alllllll day to get better ok? Love you all! Cheerio!

Cheerio!

I made it to London! When I got to the terminal in Los Angeles, I could hardly sit still from excitement. The plane was HUGE....it had a staircase up to first class (they call it "upper class"), beds in the front and TV's for every seat. As I was walking onto the plane with one of the other girls from the program (Adrienne), I saw a police officer walking with a passenger and assumed he was some British rockstar. NOPE, he was a criminal. The cop handed an attendant information about how to manage a parolee or something.....it was quite amusing and a bit scary. The "rockstar" incident didn't stop me from being excited though and I ended up staying awake for the entire 10 hour flight despite numerous attempts to sleep...I experienced some serious jetlag the next day for that.

Anyway, London is amazing and I couldn't be happier. The weather here is a lot like it is in Seattle, so basically I am freezing. With all the walking that we have to do though, I have managed to keep pretty warm. Yesterday we visited Westminster Abbey and had lunch at a local pub where everyone was watching an intense football game (yes, yes, I mean soccer). The waiters seemed a bit annoyed that we were distracting them from the TV to get some food. I guess there are a ton of big football games going on right now.....? I am kind of clueless in that area. At night we walked to The Globe Theatre and saw an amazing production of Pericles.

Today has been pretty tame because I am still getting over being so sleepy. We went to Saint John's Cathedral this morning to watch the choir boys sing. The church is amazing, especially when the sun comes out for a moment and shines through the stained glass. After that we walked to Hyde Park to watch some people rant at Speaker's Corner where anyone can discuss issues and basically scream at each other in public. Lunch was a sausage-ish thing as usual and then we wandered around London looking for a coat for me.

Well, it seems my half hour at this internet cafe is up. I miss you Mom, Dad, Sean and Mike and I hope everything is going well! Kisses and hugs!

Today is the big day!

It is official. I am finally leaving! Yes, yes it is true. I toured around Whittier yesterday and said goodbye to my family. Sean played some guitar for me last night as I fell asleep. I love my brothers so much. I'll miss you too Mom and Dad!!! My flight is at 5:30pm today through Virgin Atlantic. We should be arriving in London at 11:45am so I better sleep on the plane (though I highly doubt I'll be able to). I have to memorize a Shakespeare sonnet on the flight because I am worried I won't have any other time to work on it before BADA starts on July 1st. I also have to make sure I know my monologue. On the first day of BADA we audition for the instructors again and they place us in either the advanced acting group or the beginning group. Man, I do NOT want to be in the beginning group.

We don't really have a meeting place at the airport today. I assume I am supposed to just go to the gate and find them. I'm sure it'll be fine. There are 11 girls, one guy and three professors going on the trip. Hopefully we'll all get along!!!

Alrighty, it is time for me to wrap up some odds and ends and annoy my mom...hehehe. I will miss all of you so much! Hope your summers go well! OH, also, if you would like to contact me while I am gone, my email address is dcahill@usc.edu. I won't have my laptop but there are plenty of internet cafes. You can also comment on this blog without a password now. Ok, I'm off!

A new blog!!!

Hi Mom, Dad, Sean, Mike and everyone else!

I made this blog so that when I am in Europe I can post pictures and blurbs and you guys can see what I am up to. I hope to take millions of pictures, so get ready! I'm going to miss you all so much!

This is me!

This is me!
Posted by: darbycahill.