hey look!

another post!

so my host family has wireless, so i get to use it when i want! here is another quick (hopefully) update about the last couple of days. where did i leave off...?

well, yesterday, we woke up, had breakfast, and met up with our group outside Tesco (like a wal-mart). everyone had great things to say about their host family. it was good to hear. then we made our way to stratford-upon-avon: the hometown of william shakespeare. we got to see his birthplace, grave, and the site where his house used to be. it is a really cute, smallish town, we walked everywhere. everything seems to be named after shakespeare, or his plays, or characters, and their are quotes everywhere! lots of beautiful gardens, the cathedral is gorgeous.

it rained a couple of times, but it was still glorious weather. sometimes even sunny. we all broke off into small groups and went our own ways. some of us made it to the canal and saw the lock system, learned about that from a couple going through it. Ended up having tea at a pub called The Black Swan (aka The Dirty Duck) near the theatre.

Midsummer Night's Dream, was INCREDIBLE! loved it. it was on a modern production on a thrust stage, and we were really close. the lighting design was really cool- a hundred lightbulbs hanging from the cats, each with lots of tiny lights inside. it didn't look like there were any (or many) downlights, but there were so many places to put lights, it didn't make much difference. it was beautiful. there was a huge hanging ball to be the moon/sun and it was moving across the stage periodically to show time, and it was always lit with a different color. they had clear revolving squares in the floor that people came up out of, too. we all nerdgasmed at that point. they had soap bubbles and smoke bubbles fall from the cats, too. very cool. we all loved the faeries! they were kind of goth punk and had great interaction you don't get just reading the play. Lysander and Demetrius were great together, too. but by far the best was Bottom- he was so appropriately obnoxious, so funny. the play within a play at the end was hilarious. NWC would never allow it, let's just say.

that was yesterday...here's today. it should be shorter.

today (and tomorrow) was (and will be) spent with our host families. Sue, Christy (the father- he's Irish), Sam, Charlotte, Johanna (the girl from Hong Kong also staying with the family), Bekah, and I all walked around Gloucester. Went to Gloucester Cathedral, where a lot of Harry Potter was filmed, and the next Christmas special for Doctor Who. beautiful stained glass, beautiful romanesque and gothic architecture. we got tour up into the tower and down into the crypt. very cool. had a very english tea at the coffee shop- tea, scones and jam and clotted cream. very tastey. then went to the folk museum, walked around some more, and came home- on a double decker bus!

supper was amazing, because the Hartnett's invited over some friends of their's: Liz and Colm (pronounced like column). they are also Irish but have lived in england over 30 years. they are SO funny! liz has a story for almost everything. colm can make a joke about almost anything. i interviewed them for that part of my classwork, and they are so interesting. growing up catholic in ireland during the segregation- they told me frightening stories of bombs and bullets. we talked for a long time after supper, a long time after "the interview" actually ended. sue and christy interjected a lot, too, and sue told us about here past. she ran away from home when she was 10 and lived on the streets of london for 18 months. after she was found, she was put in foster care until she was 16, worked very very hard to do well on her exams, and made a life for herself. she is bold as brass and so sweet!

it was a really good day. Sam and Charlotte (lottie) are so wonderful girls. they make me laugh, always help us out, explain things to us. Bekah and i get along great. we saw some of our friends from the trip in gloucester, too, and everything is good with them, as well. it was a good day. probably won't post again until london, unless something really good happens tomorrow. it's supposed to be rainy, though. monday we meet again w/ our group and go to Ludlow Castle, and that's the last day of our homestay. sorry this was so much longer than i'd promised. hope you enjoyed it though!

now it is again time for bed...