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.