Welcome to Berlin!

Just wanted to make a quick post to say that we are safe and sound in Berlin and having a wonderful time. I can't wait to write a more detailed post about it. But, for now, this will have to do. I hope everyone at home is doing well. xo

Off to Berlin in the A.M.

We made it through the night in our new room. It was totally fine and it's actually kind of nice being right down the hall from the boys, but being in our own little area at the same time. It's a bit more quiet at night. Schiller is so awesome that the fire alarm goes off every Thursday morning at 8. So, that was fun. We had a long day of classes again today... we've already gotten through Troilus and Cressida, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a good chunk of Mrs. Warren's Profession. But, we picked scenes in acting today (Trevor, Nobe, Kurt, and I are doing the four lovers scene from Midsummer), so hopefully that will go by faster now. Not much else going on today. We're leaving Schiller at 4am to go to Berlin tomorrow, so we're staying in tonight. Totally stoked to go to Germany.

The Big Move

Yesterday was quite the day. We had class from 9-5:30 and all we did was read plays all day, so that got a little exhausting. Greta and I also found out that we had to move due to the two huge water stains and the waterfall in our room. We were uber upset about this. But, Sonal, the lady who deals with all of this stuff at Schiller, felt really bad that we had to move away from Mal and Noelle, so she gave us keys to two different rooms on the boys' floor so we could pick the one we liked best. After class, we grabbed food in the cafeteria, then some people went to see Avenue Q. Since Jared and I had already seen it a couple times, we decided to take the tube to the discount ticket booth. We had hoped to see Gone With the Wind, but we couldn't find cheap tickets. Instead, we ended up seeing God of Carnage with Ralph Fiennes (of Schindler's List, The Constant Gardener, and Harry Potter fame). It was fabulous. I have never really seen anything like it. It was about two couples who get together because one of the couple's child hit the other couple's child. Throughout the play, the two couples start acting more and more like the children they are discussing: throwing things, hitting one another, and yelling. Some of it was absolutely hilarious. Jared and I had a really great time. We got lost a little on our way to the theatre and even found a really great shopping area that I definitely intend to go back to. When we got back, Greta and I decided to make our move. Trevor, Ricky, Evan, and Mal helped us drag all of crap downstairs. As sad as we were to move away from the girls, our new room has a fridge, mirrors, and slightly comfier beds. We posted flyers for shows all over our walls and we feel a lot better about the whole situation now.

Raining in Our Room

Due the fact that there was a giant wet spot above my bed and rain started coming down our wall... Greta and I had to move tonight. We are now the only girls on an all boys floor and our room is in the stairwell all by itself... oh, and it's room number 13. Schiller is sweet... not.

More about this tomorrow.
I need to finish unpacking.

The Day Kurt Ate the Hard Rock

(Greta, Kurt, and Noelle at the Hard Rock)
(our new friend Luanna, Trevor, Me, and Mal)
(real food and some drinks)
(Noelle, Trevor, Jackie, Me and Amanda cozy on the couch at The Weillington)

Yesterday was the start of classes. Not too bad. We started reading Troilus and Cressida, which we just finished today and all really enjoyed, but we read and discussed it from noon to five yesterday and nine to two thirty today... very long. We're all really stoked to go and see it now (we are seeing the show in Stratford in a couple weeks). I spent most of the morning writing postcards after Kurt and Trevor woke me up at 8:45 to go to breakfast because Greta and I don't have an alarm clock. Breakfast is only served from 8-9, which stinks. We like our professor, Stacy, and reading the play was kind of fun. After class, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for the free "Welcome to Schiller" dinner. That was pretty fabulous. I'm pretty sure Kurt was in heaven, especially considering that a lot of people were giving him the food that they couldn't finish. Seven of us Niagara Theatre kids sat with a girl from Brazil named Leanna. It was neat chatting with her, but I don't know if we'll see her again because I think Trevor might have scared her away. After dinner we went to The Wellington again for drinks. Dr. Sharon and Prof Angus met us there after the show that Dr. Sharon saw. It was a great time. The owner of the pub started talking to Mal, Ricky, and I about how to pick up British boys and girls. He is this really big, loud guy named Mark and at one point he picked Mal up and sat her on the bar... really funny. He told us some different places to go for cheap food and drinks, which we're definitely going to check out. After drinks, Mal, Trevor, Jackie, Ricky, Amanda, Greta, Victoria, and I went to a club called Metra. It was a lot of fun... the club was really nice and Trevor was good at playing dad if any guys started getting close. We walked to the bus stop in the pouring rain and we all looked absolutely drenched and ridiculous when we got back. It was a successful evening.

Romeo, oh Romeo!

Today, we saw Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Opera House. We met Dr. Sharon downstairs in Schiller around 10:30 this morning and took the tube (because it was raining) to Covent Garden for a backstage tour before the show. We got to see the dance studios, the scene shops, and other groovy stuff. We saw the matinee of R+J at 1:30 and it was pretty amazing. We sat almost as high as you possibly could and I wasn't handling the whole height thing very well at first. The dancers were incredible... especially Romeo and Juliet. The sets completely changed for every scene and were absolutely unbelievable. The only downside was that it was really long and even had two intermissions. Mal dozed off a little during the first act and I'm pretty sure Trevor only saw some sword fighting in the beginning and the curtain call. And, I'm not gonna lie, they made the whole Juliet drinking the sleep potion thing a little too long and if it wasn't for the girls next to me giggling about how Trevor was sleeping, I probably would have snoozed a little too. Lucky us... we made it back to Schiller for dinner.

I also wanted to say thanks for the comments everyone is leaving on my blog!!! I'm glad you like it and I miss all you guys oodles. :)

When in the Roman baths...

(We were really happy about our long walk and the rain at 7am)
(Carrie, Preston, and I in front of the big bath)
(Romand Baths)
(Roomies @ Stonehenge)
(Stonehenge... duh)

So yesterday was an extremely fun and educational (and very exhausting) day. We got up super duper early in the morning to meet the bus for Bath on the London Bridge. Thinking we could take the tube, we all met downstairs at 6:50 to hop the tube and be there by 7:20. But, much to our surprise, the tube was closed. So the sixteen of us booked it from Schiller to London Bridge, which is a really good distance in the pouring rain. Lots of rain, lots of unhappy, wet, and hungry people, and no directions on where to exactly meet the bus made for an "exciting" start to our day. Most people fell asleep on the bus and were that way until our tour guide began speaking. Cool dude, did a great job with the tour, but he SCREAMED into the microphone. Needless to say, no one could hear themselves even think let alone even try and sleep. After a beautiful (and very stuffy) ride out of London and through the countryside, we arrived in Bath. We took a tour through the Roman baths, which was really neat. There's one huge bath in the middle... the water doesn't look real clean but it's pretty hot and there's was a fair amount of steam. We grabbed a delicious lunch (fresh sandwiches on a baguette and soup) and sat in this courtyard by the Bath Abbey. It was chilly and damp and the tomato soup was warm and deeeeelish. After that, Noelle, Carrie, and I walked around and window shopped a bit and grabbed some fudge. We got back on the bus and went to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was exactly what you would expect it to be. Big rocks. But, it's really cool and definitely something we needed to see. We didn't get much time to spend there. It's in the middle of the countryside and we really would of liked so more time just to lay in the grass, but we got back on the stuffy bus and slept all the way back to London (because the guide was done talking). We hopped back on the tube to Schiller, but missed Schiller dinner, so Kurt, Preston, Greta, and I grabbed some pasta at this organic food market at Waterloo Station. After dinner, Noelle, Kurt, and I booked our tickets to Amsterdam online. Woot! We're going from June 26-30. Later, Evan, Trevor, Mal, Ricky, Preston, Jared, and I watched The Mist in our room. We made fun of it the whole time. I don't recommend it.





Wanna send me mail? (wink wink, nudge nudge, Mom and Dad)
Schiller International University
51 Waterloo, Rd
London, UK SE1 8tx
(you also need to put Niagara University somewhere on the outside of the envelope)

"Nemo, I Found You!"

Today, we slept in. That was really awesome... especially because, due our haunted Schiller tour, we didn't end up going to sleep until after 4am. Greta and I got up around 11. Mal, Nobe, Greta, and I spent some time in the basement on our computers and we had brunch. We all took our time this morning... emailed and called home, showered, and just hung around. A bunch of us met at the Eye this afternoon, but because it was a Saturday it was far too crowded and we decided to go back another day. However, because it was a Saturday, there was a lot off stuff going on down by the Thames. There were all sorts of street performers and book sellers. Mal, Greta, Nobe and I got our picture taken with a Jack Sparrow impersonator. Then the four of us plus Jared, Kurt, and Preston got fish and chips for dinner because Schiller only does brunch on weekends. Fish and chips = soooooo delicious!!! We just sat on the side of a street and completely snarfed our meals. This is where the title of this blog comes from. Mal looked at her food and went, "Nemo, I found you!" Yeah, she's sick :) After that, we went to the Southwark Cathedral, which Richard had shown us on our tour the other day. Shakespeare's bro, Edmund, is buried there. It was really beautiful. There was this incredible altar with all different statues of saints. After that, we all slpit up. Nobe and I walked a bit more and bought some postcards and some delicious ice cream. We're just hanging out the rest of the night... putting some pjs on and watching a movie. We have an early start tomorrow for Stonehenge.

Mal's Bday and Creepy Schiller

(besties <3 and Mal's new hat)
(at The Wellington)

Birthday festivities were a blast! Dr. Sharon and Prof. Angus got Mal a 21st birthday hat to wear for the evening (seen above). We started out the night at The Wellington, which is a hotel about two blocks away. They have a nice bar downstairs where we (the theatre kids, Evan, Ricky, Carrie, Jess, Rachel, Dr. Sharon, and Prof. Angus) spent a couple hours. It was a lot of fun! The girls sat and talked with Dr. Sharon for a while and the guys stood up at the bar. There was an extremely intoxicated woman sitting near us who started talking to Greta, which was pretty funny. After a couple drinks and goodbyes to Dr. Sharon and Prof. Angus we made our way (a very very long way) on foot to a club called the Roxy. Kurt, Mal, Noelle, Trevor, Carrie, and I ended up going in the club and danced until about 2:00. They played great music: Oasis, Madonna, Beach Boys, Spice Girls, Hanson, Tiffany, Offspring... everything from oldies like "Twist and Shout" to a few crazy European techo songs. We had a really great time. Amanda and Jackie even ended up showing up. Kurt and Noelle made the long trek back to Schiller once we left, but Mal and Amanda were in heels so the rest of us took a bus back, but only after Trevor spent an hour trying to figure out the bus system (good thing... because we didn't get it at all) and a stop a McDonald's. We went on the computers when we got back and then decided to go on our own tour... of creepy Schiller International. The night before, Trevor and I had taken a walk around Schiller and got the crap scared out of us. There are little wooden staircases that lead to nowhere, weird noises, doors that are creepily left ajar, and at one point Trevor turned a corner and saw a door at the end of this dark hallway. There was a glass window on this door that had this smeared handprint that look like blood from a horror movie. We ended our walk after that. So last night we decided to take Kurt, Mal, Noelle, and Carrie with us to do another creepy Schiller walk. With Kurt in the lead, it wasn't as bad. We concluded that the smear was not blood and that at least one of the scary little staircases lead to the roof. Schiller used to be a hospital back in the day and the IT office in the basement, which we sit right outside of to use our laptops used to be the morgue. So, although our fears involving the creepy handprint were put to rest, we're still completely creeped out by this building.

Shakespeare's London

(the crazy American theatre kids in front of The Globe)
(random big green furniture outside the National Theatre)

(in front of Big Ben with Jared and Mal)
(Me, Trevor, Amanda, and Jackie on the boat tour)
(Shakespeare's New Globe)
(Trevor, Me, and Mal being scary outside the Clink Prison Museum)

Day Four started with all of the students from NU meeting Dr. Sharon and Professor Angus at the London Eye. Here, I saw something I thought I would never see in a bazillion years... Dr. Sharon in jeans and sneakers! :) We decided not to ride the Eye today because the weather was kind of icky. It never really started raining, but the cloudy threat was always there. We crossed the bridge and hung around Big Ben for a while and took some pictures. After that, we met our tour guide, Richard, for our walking tour of Shakepeare's London. We hopped on a boat that took us down the Thames to the South Bank. The boat ride was actually really nice. We passed all sorts of random neat building, but the best part was when the boat pulled up to Shakespeare's New Globe. It was really amazing to see something like that that we've spent the past however many years learning about. We got off the boat and started our walk around. We saw random things like this old school chair that these guys would sit to wait and row people to the other side of the Thames. We saw where The Rose and The Globe both stood originally. We walked through this great organic market, which we definately wanna walk back to. Richard showed us where to get the best fish and chips too. Oh, and let me tell you about Richard... he was awesome. He had these great, dramatic transition lines before we moved onto a new place. Greta and I kept laughing and waiting for him to disapear into a cloud of smoke with dramatic music or something. After we walked around, we made our way back to The Globe (which we are eventually going to go back to to see Merry Wives of Windsor and King Lear) and then continued all the way back to Schiller along the Thames. It was a great walk and I can't wait to do it again. At 8:00, we are going to meet Dr. Sharon and Prof. Angus and go out for drinks to celebrate Mal's 21st Birthday. Anyway, that's all for now... more to come after our outing tonight.

Oh what a night...

(Waterloo station)
(Jersey Boys... Frankie Valli is the dude in the suit)

We kicked off our day with orientation. Got a lot more papers and heard a lot of the same things that we did yesterday, but got the IT guy took hook up the wireless on our laptops... pretty sweet. Trevor, Nobe, and I are sitting in these big cushy chairs in this random corner in the basement of Schiller on our computers (the only place that gets a good signal)... I feel like this will be happening frequently. The only good thing about orientation was that we had to do something entertaining to introduce ourselves to everybody (everybody being all the NU kids who already know each other and 3 students from Thailand who couldn't really understand English). So, naturally, Mal and I did our infamous Kaitlin skit from SNL and Trevor and Greta sang Willy Wonka songs. Our NU Theatre training hard at work. :) Greta, Kurt, and I went exploring for a bit after lunch. We got our Oyster Cards for the tube and decided to give them a whirl. We went to the theatres where Billy Elliot and Wicked our playing to ask if they had student prices. Wicked does and they had great seats available, but we decided that we'd trek over there with the whole gang one day instead. We hopped back on the tube and went and got front row tickets for Jersey Boys. We walked back to Schiller (a bit of a hike) and had dinner with everyone (chicken nuggets... actually really decent, unlike the lunch I had earlier). Mal, Nobe, Preston, Trevor, and Jared ended up getting seats right next to us for the show... which was soooo much fun!! They sounded soooo similar to the Four Seasons. Daddy, you would love this show!! It was really cool sitting in the front row too. Our necks hurt a bit afterwards, but it was fun being smiled and winked at by the actors. We talked to some of them afterwards and one of them turned to the other and said, "See, I told you they were American." They had seen us dancing in the front row... heehee. One of the lead actors got sick during the show and a different actor when on for his role for the last two numbers... that was pretty funny... not that the guy got sick, but that the character shrank a half a foot in size and grew some more hair. It is now officially Mal's birthday, so we all sang to her a little while ago and Nobe and I gave her the charm bracelet (with a crown for London and a shamrock for Dublin) we started for her for our trip. I guess that's about it for now. I added some pictures to previous blogs as well as to Facebook.

Life is a Cabaret!

(the theatre kids at Cabaret)
(Mal and I on the bridge... Big Ben and London Eye behind us)

Day 2 in London was absolutely fabulous!! After our normal and yummy breakfast we had registration... that was not the fabulous part of the day. But, after two hours of filling out forms, the theatre crew hopped on the tube with Dr. Sharon and Valerie and made our way to the British Library. There, we saw an exhibit on the Ramayana. The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic that deals with groovy Hindu ideas like dharma (Dr. Levin would be proud). The exhibit contained hundreds of mini paintings that told the story of the 24,000 verses that make up the Ramayana and were uber impressive and intricate. The tour guide was really enthusiastic and had a wealth of information. After two hours or so at the library, we walked through the St. Pancras International Railway Station, which is where the Eurostar leaves from (what we will take when we go to Paris). This my sound silly, but everything is sooo clean here! I'd eat of the train station floors before I would eat off my dorm room floor at Schiller (Okay, eating off either would be gross, but I think I made my point). After the St. Pancras Station, we took the tube back to Waterloo Station from King's Cross. We hung out a rested a bit at Schiller then had a sort of decent dinner of ham and cheese quiche. Then a group of us (Amber, Kurt, Jared, Preston, Greta, Mallory, Noelle, Carrie, Jess, Rachel, and I) made our way to the West End to see Cabaret. We got 12th row seats for £20 an hour before the show... pretty sweet! We grabbed Starbucks (pricey, but desperately needed) and then went back to the theatre. Amanda and Jackie met us there and were able to get seats right next to us. The show was AMAZING! A lot darker and significantly more naked than Niagara's production. Cliff's American accent made us chuckle. It was exaggerated and his a's were really funny. The MC was especially good. He improvised a great deal, picking out specific people in the audience and making them stand up and apologize for not laughing at his jokes. The end of the show was really jarring when a number of the Kit Kat dancers removed their clothing and acted as though they were being gassed. It gave us all chills and made us all leave the theatre with tears. The walk back was fun. Everyone in the bars had their eyes glued to the television for the big football game. Lots of yelling and excitement. But now it's off to bed for us. We have orientation in the morning.

Breakfast was GOOD!!

Rice Krispies and English muffins (or just muffins now). Can't go wrong there... thank goodness.

Our First Night

(some of the gang)
(us after eating Schiller food)

We went exploring a bit this afternoon. We went to Waterloo Station and picked up phone cards and plug changer things. Ten of us (Mal, Nobe, Trevor, Kurt, Preston, Jared, Greta, Carrie, Dan and I) grabbed dinner in Schiller, which was, again, really nasty. And, much to our dissapointment, the hummus is absolutely horrible. It tastes like grindy, lemon, icky mush. (Candice and Lisa told us that the hummus was the one thing we could count on and eat all the time... yeah, not so much). After dinner we hung around outside for a bit, then crossed the bridge to grab a drink. We went to this nice pub, where Greta and I tried some strawberry beer... very interesting, but good. Trevor started making some new friends, or at least tried to. He succeded with one group who questioned him about his broken hand and then proceded to pick on him about it, asking him if he had secret superhero powers and random stuff. Preston, Jared, Trevor, and I stayed behind a little longer than the rest of the crew and talked to some more people then grabbed some food at a little market. On the way back over the bridge to Schiller, the London Eye and the National Theatre were all lit up and beautiful.

We're Here!

After hours in the airport, on the plane, and playing Catch Phrase, we finally made it! A send off from Adrienne, MB, and the Allens (and a great deal of delicious cookies courtesy of MB and Trevor's mom) provided to be a great start to our trip. We left Buffalo on time, but got to JFK a little late due to air traffic. Mal, Trevor, Kurt, Nobe, Preston, Jared, Greta and I grabbed our last American meal (pep. pizza and chicken fingers) and played a whole lot of Catch Phrase during the four hour layover. Our flight was supposed to take off at 8:55, but instead we sat on the runway for an hour and a half. The flight was okay... better than I thought, except I sat next to Greta and she changed positions every 52.8 seconds because she couln't fall asleep... which meant that I couldn't either. We got to London at about 10:00am (London time). No problems at customs and we didn't even need any of the paperwork we stressed about getting for a visa that doesn't actually seem to exist. All 21 of us Niagara U people hopped on a bus and drove to Schiller. We saw Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Thames... pretty frickin' awesome!!!!! The most difficult part of the trip was the next... the food at Schiller. I never thought I'd miss Clet dining. We had nasty cheesy noodle junk for lunch, which made our exhausted bodies feel real great. Then we finally got to settle down in our rooms, which are much better than expected!! Greta and I have a large room with a view of the London Eye and IMAX theatre (which is a really groovy building). I'll post pics once I figure out how to use the wireless. Noelle and Mal are right next door with a slightly smaller room, but it has a fridge. The boys are on the floor below us with much smaller rooms that look out onto a cramped alley. Oh, did I mention that the boys are on the fifth floor and we're on the sixth and a half? Yeah, getting our 50lb. suitcases up that was loads of fun, but we managed and now, after a shower, a little relaxing, and some packing, I'm good to go. We plan on doing some exploring if we all make it through dinner alive. Mom and Dad, I'll pick up a phone card then and give you guys a ring. Anyway, I am totally stoked for these next 7ish weeks!! We really have a wonderful group of people here. I've only been here a few hours and only in the airport, a bus, and Schiller... and I know we're going to love it.

And so it begins...

Hi family and friends! I created this blog as an easier way to keep in touch with everyone at home and to keep everyone updated on my summer. Some of it might get a little detailed and long because this blog is acting like a journal for me as well. Anyway, here it goes... I hope I'm not being too ambitious and actually keep up with this... :)