Oh the places you'll go...

Oh the places I've been...
1. Kensington Gardens
2. Hereford Arms Pub
3. Victoria and Albert Museum
4. British Museum
5. Hampstead Theatre, London- "Hysteria"
6. Winston Churchill War Rooms
7. Greenwich- The Painted Hall in the Old Royal Navy College, Cutty Sark, The Queen's House, National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory
8. London Aquarium
9. Shaftesbury Theatre, London- "From Here to Eternity"
10. Canterbury- Norman Castle ruins, St. Augustine's Abby, Canterbury Cathedral
11. Dover- Dover Castle, Cliffs of Dover
12. Duchess Theatre, London- "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"
13. Stourhead Gardens and Mansion
14. Bath- Roman Baths, Jane Austen Centre, The Royal Cresent (building), Pulteney Bridge
15. Stonehenge
16. Westminster Abby
17. The Criterion Theatre, London- "The 39 Steps"
18. Royal Festival Hall (4 times throughout the 10 weeks)
19. St. Mary at Hill Church
20. St. Johns Smith Square (I performed here)
21. Arcola Theatre, London- "Macbeth Fire and Ice"
22. Oxford- Bodleian Library (I saw the outside), Blackwell's Books!!!!!, Oxford University
23. Foyles' Bookstore, London
24. The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge
25. Dublin- No. 29 Georgian House, Trinity College, Bru-na-boyne, The Hill of Tara, Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Belfast
26. Royal Albert Hall, London
27. London Eye
28. Royal College of Music Instrument Museum
29. Gate Picture House, London- "Richard II"
30. Imperial War Museum- Holocaust exhibit, Spies exhibit
31. Cardiff- National Museum Cardiff, Doctor Who Experience (!!!!!!), Cardiff Bay
32. Finborough Theatre, London- "Unscorched"
33. Scotland- Edinburgh Castle, Walter Scott Monument, Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh Castle, The Elephant House, Edinburgh Christmas Festival, Loch Lomund, Loch Lochy, Loch Ness, Glen Co, Inverlochy Castle, Fort Augustus (town on Loch Ness)
34. National Theatre (The Olivier), London- "Emil and the Detectives"
35. Kew Gardens
36. St. Paul's Cathedral, London
37. Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street
38. Abby Road
39. Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio
40. British Library
41. Hackney Empire Theatre, London- "Puss in Boots" Traditional English Pantomime
42. National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery

Oh the things I've seen...
I've seen bright red double-deckers, Big Ben in all its glory, mountains, burial mounds, views of London, London from a boat on the Thames, so many pubs (with really hilarious names), 11 plays (don't make me list them), 5 or 6 concerts, The Book of Mormon, the Rosetta Stone, works by Monet and Van Gogh, ancient musical manuscripts from the medieval times, The Book of Kells, Scotland's coast from Northern Ireland, the White Cliffs of Dover, the Long Room (library at Trinity College), the biggest room ever built for books, the cafe where Harry Potter was born, Platform 9 3/4, the real TARDIS set currently in use by the show, so many monuments and museums dedicated to World War II, Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary, some of the oldest churches and schools in the world, the actual telegram that declared VE-Day, the actual props and sets for all 8 Harry Potter movies, the beautiful English countryside, France from across the English Channel...And I'll add more things later as I remember them.

What have I learned: the sappy and the practical
1. Look RIGHT then left
2. I'm allowed to drink here
3. Things are old here.  Really old.
4. Quite a lot of London is rebuilt from the huge fire in 1666 by Christopher Wren, who was a beast
5. England is still recovering from the World Wars
6. Trains are nice and I like them
7. Starbucks is still good!!!
8. Everything closes super early!
9. Seriously, it doesn't rain THAT much
10. It's not even that cold
11. Don't go into clothing stores in Kensington.  Don't even breathe the air from those stores.  RESIST!
12. Taking a punting trip in Canterbury is really fun, especially when you get to sit with a hot water bottle and a cute little girl with her family
13. Netflix is different here- stuff that is on at home disappears from the list...it's very mysterious
14. British people are really very lovely, but you have to make the first move.  It's very rare that they will approach you.
15. It's ok for a woman to be walking alone before midnight on the streets...in fact, expect there to be a lot of people out and about
16. I like traveling by myself, getting to stroll around at my own pace and poke my nose into places without being questioned or holding up people.
17. With regard to my previous statement, you can't have a social life without people.
18. Salad rots very quickly, and so does bread.  Argh.
19. It is really REALLY hard to practice without a good place to do it in.  Really freaking hard.
20. I am physically capable of climbing over 800 feet of formidably muddy mountain
21. I have no idea what I'm doing
22. I let anxiety rule my life a lot.
23. I really love dogs and cats and coffee and music
24. You need to leave at least 40 minutes for getting anywhere in London or you're going to be late
25. $2000 is not enough, and I was skimping a bit (didn't skimp a ton, but I didn't fully go crazy with spending)
26. The music world is really small here, everyone knows everyone else
27. Londoners LOVE music, theatre, festivals!  They support their arts!

And there's lots more that I've forgotten about!  I can't believe that I'm leaving London behind.  I wish I could live in 2 places at once, part of me at home with friends and family and the rest of me in England with rolling hills, culture, and tea-drinking Brits.  The journey's not over quite- I've still got Sweden to go before going back to good ol' Indiana- but I feel like giving London a huge hug and then never letting go (if it were possible to hug a city, its culture and people, its mood, its music and adventure).  Now I have to go home, back to what I know, back to school and work and everything.  How do you measure how much you've changed?  I don't know if I'm a different person necessarily- I still have all of the battles that I'm fighting every day- but, at the same time, who knows?  I certainly hope that I'm different, more able to face the challenges ahead with more confidence and focus, but only time can really tell.  Changes of the soul happen slowly, so I would disagree that the study abroad experience has made me a different person- it's too short a time, and I think there are some aspects of "self" that we never can leave behind.  As for the smaller changes, we'll see how things go next term at Lawrence, whether I've found new focus and purpose or not.

But I'm really
Really
Really
Really
Glad I got to go.  What will I do when I have to leave on Sunday?