Week Five: One Month In

Day 30 (14.10.13)

Today Katie turned 20! So naturally we spent the day shopping and hanging out.

While shopping, we discovered the upstairs to HMV, a movie, music, and videogame store in the city centre. We had been missing out!

Katie had been hoping to go out for sushi for her birthday, as it was tradition for her. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find any sushi places in Canterbury. We ended up at a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama. The main course was pretty good, but the dessert was fantastic. We ordered three different plates! Courtesy of Donna, Katie's awesome mom.

After dinner, I went to the first meeting with the cast of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Liley, the writer and director of the show, read us the tales that inspired the show. Her adaption includes three of the tales; "The Warlock's Hairy Heart", "The Fountain of Fair Fourtune", and the tale featured in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", "The Tale of Three Brothers". We haven't seen the script yet, but it sounds promising.

Some rather disturbing news surfaced that night. Apparently, there was a guy walking around Canterbury wearing a Guy Fawkes mask who was targeting female college students. No one had been harmed, but he had stalked a few women and grabbed one (she got away). Images surfaced of him on security cameras around campus, and it was reported that he was creeping around my neighborhood... Comforting.

Day 31 (15.10.13)

I have officially been living in England for a month. It feels longer...I think. My sense of time is all screwed up. Either way the fact is crazy.

The girls and I had dinner at my place and afterward we watched Bend It like Beckham. I bought it for Katie for her birthday as she hadn't seen it even though she loves soccer. Granted, she isn't a huge fan of Beckham or Manchester United, but still!

And my room is cold, I guess :P

Day 32 (16.10.13)

The newest Nancy Drew computer game came out the day after Katie's birthday, so we started playing it today. 

Max, Katie, Mariel, and I had dinner at the Student Union. There was a really weird show on TV, called The Chase. It's some kind of trivial game show. So we got sucked in...

Tonight the Drama Society had the first script reading of this year's production. The script followed true to the tales and Liley accurately channeled Rowling's style. It should be a really good show.

Day 34 (18.10.13)

Field Trip Friday! Today's destination was The Cabinet War Rooms and the National Gallery. 

The Cabinet War Rooms were neat, and I've always thought PM Winston Churchill to be a swell guy, but we spent too much time there that ended up taking away from our time at Trafalgar Square and the gallery.

For lunch, Katie, Max, Mariel, and I went to this Chipotle-like burrito place that was almost as tasty as Chipotle. Max told us it was refreshing to eat with girls who weren't afraid to eat. I suppose that's a compliment... Thanks for pointing out that we just go for it when we eat and don't care how ridiculous and not feminine we look, bud. ;)

The National Gallery is phenomenal. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to have seen such famous works of art by numerous fantastic artists, including Van Gogh, Monet, Gainsborough, Botticelli, da Cortona... I really wish I had already taken Art History so I could appreciate everything even more.

I really liked Saint Cecilia by Pietro da Cortona

Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh

And as a Whovian and Richard Curtis fan (as he wrote the episode, "Vincent and the Doctor"), it was even more amazing to see Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in person.

So many feels.

We weren't allowed to take photos, which was too bad. I plan on going back at least once before I head back to the U.S. 

Thanks for reading!