Another Busy Week

(Meant to be posted Saturday...(more to come on my BAFTA experience soon!)...)

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while but I literally have not had a moment to sit down and write until now. Where did I leave off? Oh, yes, the snow. The snow is long gone from London, but it is still bad further north in Wales and Scotland and such. Other than that it has been very cold in London, but the snow seems mainly gone for the moment.

This has been a busy week at work. Most people were still not at work on Tuesday so I was getting a lot of projects via instant messager. I did discover a very good restaurant that has American cocktails, so that was exciting. Wednesday we had our weekly field trip to Oxford. It was pretty fun, but very, very cold. We saw some of the college buildings and learned all about the very intense college system Europe uses, which is surprisingly more intense than the US’, or so it seems. We did go to a very neat pub for lunch called the Eagle and Child. It is apparently where C.S. Lewis (wrote Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R.R. Tolkin (wrote Lord of the Rings) hung out. It was cool to eat where they once did. We had traditional fish and chips and wandered around the city of Oxford so it was an okay day.

Thursday was a very busy day. I was assigned to do a gallery entitled Rugby Studs. Being a great authority on sports (yeah, right) and attractive men, this gallery was a bit challenging, especially since I know nothing more about rugby other than the fact that it is a sport. It is probably the most challenging assignment I’ve had so far, but it’s up on the website, so I guess it couldn’t have been that bad.

Thursday night I went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Despite the fact that we were in the very last row of the highest section, it was pretty good. It was definitely nosebleed seats, but I could still see, so it was fun to see. I figured I couldn’t really go to England and not see at least one Shakespeare play.

Earlier today, my flatmates and I went to the half-price ticket place and bought tickets to Chicago, which I have never seen live. Having now seen three theatre performances in a week in a half (saw Lion King about a week ago and seeing a fourth for my journalism class on Wednesday), I have noticed many differences between American and English theatre. The difference that makes me the angriest is that there is no complimentary playbill in England. You have to buy your own program. Also, the theatres are much more relaxed about food and drink. The past two theatres I’ve been to sell overpriced ice cream during intermission, and they have no problem with you eating it in the theatre. I personally think that’s a little strange, but I’m very much enjoying my London theatre experience. I’m definitely going to be a frequent visitor of the ticket place (TKTS in Leicester Square), so hopefully there are many more (hopefully reasonably priced) musicals in my future.

Earlier today, we decided to wake up early and head over to Notting Hill to go to Portobello Market again. We wanted the real market experience of bustling crowds and lots of vendors. Fortunately for us, we got just that. The place was packed and we wandered around before getting another delicious traditional English breakfast. We also went back to the cupcake bakery and got another cupcake, so today was a wonderful day—breakfast food, cupcake and theatre. What more could I ask for?

I suppose I have not mentioned the most crucial part of my week and weekend. I have been invited by my co-workers to take MSN’s press spot at the BAFTA Awards tomorrow night. I am so incredibly excited and nervous that I can barely contain myself. The award show fanatic inside of me has been screaming for 36 hours straight. I do not quite know what to expect, but at least I will be there in a pressroom getting to report, so I am over the moon. I will definitely be blogging about it on Monday!