Word to the Wise:

When you meet Ethan Hawke, get a bloody picture!! So at our first Shakespeare performance on Monday night of The Winter's Tale, my friends and I were standing around talking after the performance and just happened to stand there so long that the actors started to emerge. I spotted Ethan Hawke who played Autolycus, the lovable thief, and pointed him out. One of the girls was brave enough to get a photo while Ethan politely said "Hey, how's it going?" to the rest of us. He was very polite but didn't seem like he wanted to stand around and chat so I didn't ask him for to take another. =(

On a side note, Shakespeare performed live is amazing. It was the first performance that I've seen of his live and I was kind of hit during the middle of the play by the realization that this play has been performed on stage for the last 400 years. The combination of the talented actors and live audience was extremely powerful. I can't wait to see more!

So class has started. Most days we have lecture for two hours and some days there is also an hour discussion section. Today we had a Shakespearian actor named Ben Crystal come in and work with us on our acting skills! You could tell he loved The Bard and his works. He was particularly adverse to modern academics making their own interpretations and prefered the Folio's created by the actors of Shakespeare's time.

I haven't had a ton of time to do much else besides school work but I have been to Westminster Abbey. It was awesome! The groundskeeper pointed out a Viking tomb and through the hole in the door you can see Henry VIII's tomb. I also went to the British Museum which has a lot of cool Egyptian artifacts. Tomorrow it will be Picadilly Circus which is the equivalent of Times Square and we will see a performance of As You Like It at The Globe Theatre!!