Upon Arrival, London

I arrived in London on Saturday morning at 7:35am London time (7hrs ahead of Utah time). My three schoolmates and I deplaned and caught up with a few other students who happened to also be on our flight. We made our way to the UK border where we had to present our Passports. It was an incredibly long line and there was no air conditioning but it was a sight to behold! People from all over the world, different faces, cultures, languages - I loved it - nothing like plain Utah. Don't get me wrong but we all know that our dear little Utah is behind on the diversity while the rest of the world lives it and loves it.

We stood in line for an hour and finally got through. I have my first stamp on my Passport! Exciting indeed for little me. Our Professor (playwright) Tim Slover waited for us with a University of Utah with our tube transportation oyster cards and student cards. We were all incredibly excited and you can tell that Professor Slover loves what he does as he instructed us, sent us on our way to the tube onto the Piccadilly Line headed to Gloucester Road where we would meet the lovely Jane England (our other professor).

We had to lug our luggage up way too many stairs for my taste. There was apparently no lift at this particular stop, which I found hard to believe because how do the disabled get up the stairs? Upon meeting Jane she gave us directions to our flat and as we waited for the bus my roommate Hasty and her friend Dana decided to walk to our flat. I tagged along thinking I could handle the ten minute walk. I did for about five minutes. The wheels on my old suitcase decided to go in their own direction. I was missing the handle to pull it with as well (I would later find it inside my suitcase). Somehow after dragging it down the sidewalks over the next 10 minutes or 15 minutes in my case, I finally arrived at my flat. Jane gave us our keys and we were off to our rooms unpacking and meeting our other roommates, "T" and Ali.

Once we were unpacked we decided to grab a bite to eat and wonder around. We found a deli called Jakobs on Gloucester Road and all of us ordered Escalope Chicken and tomato sandwiches. They were delicious. We then wondered into Kensington Gardens and then saw the Royal Albert Hall!

"The Royal Albert Hall was built to fulfill the vision of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's consort) of a 'Central Hall' that would be used to promote understanding and appreciation of the Arts and Sciences and would stand at the heart of the South Kensington estate, surrounded by museums and places of learning." - ROYAL ALBERT HALL WEB PAGE

It is enormous and beautiful! I am so impressed by the architecture around here it is incredible! Hasty and I kind of ditched the rest of the group and after exploring around the Hall (we weren't able to enter as there appeared to be an event going on) we walked to the Royal College of Music and watched talented musician after musician enter and exit. We were hoping to get a tour but the polite and proper gent at the entry informed us that the school was closed to the public due to some renovations they had going on. We then decided we would attempt to see Buckingham Palace. We got directions from some young men who 1-thought we were weird for asking how to get to Buckingham Palace and 2-didn't think we knew what kilometers where because we were Americans. It was pretty funny and he was right – I don’t know the kilometer conversion.

We decided to save our trip to the Palace for another day and returned to our flat where we slept for about 4 hours. We were tired and jet lagged and were told by a flat mate that Jane had ordered us to rest so we would be alert for the first Production we would be seeing that night at the Wyndham Theatre, the award winning Clybourne Park! Check out the link, it was an incredible and powerful production. 

After the production Hasty and I waited at the backstage door for the cast members who came out one by one and gave us their signatures, they were super nice. Sophie Thompson - who plays Bev, is Emma Thompson’s sister.  Once we had all the cast signatures we headed back to our flat but not before making a quick stop at a little food market so we could get some breakfast supplies. We learned quickly that they do not refrigerate eggs, do not have Mexican food and things have different names. All in all our first day in London was fantastic. However, I am super tired / jet lagged, I miss my momma's food and man there are so many stairs to up and down with the tube. My legs are super sore...I swear I better lose some weight with all this walking I’m doing...