Life
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Meetups, lines and movies
I have some lines to memorize, some scene work to do and should probably be getting to bed to prepare for my early start tomorrow, but instead, I am writing this post to let you know what has been going on with me. Selfless determination or semi-productive procrastination, you be the judge. In acting/ text, we are working on points of concentration. For instance, we had to do simple tasks, but Debbie would come and whisper some kind of information to us. Sometimes it was environmental, like the time of day, the weather and general atmosphere of where you are. Other times, it was more emotional, like she would tell…
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Afternoon Tea at Brown's Hotel
The afternoon tea at Brown’s Hotel not only looked spectacular during my research, it was also the one place that was consistently recommended to me, no matter who I talked to. Lucky for Molly and me, it did not disappoint 🙂 I got there early and was brought to our table to wait. I didn’t even have to ask for the comfy chairs by the fireplace, to warm my hands and bones until I could order my tea. I ordered the Brown’s Morning Blend, and it was delicious. At the end of the meal, we also got a little package each to take home 🙂 When the food trays arrived,…
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Windsor: Teas, a Castle and Goals
Last weekend, I ventured from the city and off to Windsor with Molly. I knew this town was intricately linked to the royal family, and most of the blogs I read from people abroad in London raved about it, so I absolutely had to go. Molly and I got there at 9, when the admissions office was still closed, so we walked along the main street and found a little place to have some tea and breakfast! Once we were done, we headed straight to the castle. I had spent a lot of time trying to figure out when to go, since a lot of the areas are closed at…
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Adieu French King
I can’t believe today is the last day of January. I am already done my fourth week in London, which is crazy! On Monday, Debbie had us working on our monologues, and she saw me standing there with my arms crossed, so she told me to stand more open, and to take up more space. Harder said than done for someone who tries to take up the least amount of space and go unnoticed most of the time, but I was determined to try. In stage combat, after we spent most of the class practicing what we had learnt and adding more things to it, we were asked to do…
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Kensington Palace & Orangery
On Sunday, I decided to cross two items off of my list for London; the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and Afternoon Tea at the Orangery. Although I had excellent intentions to be at the Palace an hour before it started so I would get a prime spot, I found myself meandering to previously unvisited places in Hyde Park, as well as getting stopped to talk to a boy on a bench overlooking the pond with the swans. Luckily, people weren’t lining up to the side gates, only at the front ones, so I got a prime spot for all of the action. The whole thing at the…
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Greenwich
For my first excursion out of Central London (and school and Notting Hill) I opted for Greenwich, since it is but a tube ride away, and I had friends who were willing to come with me 🙂 We started off with the Painted Hall, which was actually pretty cool, and had displays, including a list of all of the movies that were filmed at the Royal Naval College. Next, we ventured to the Royal Observatory, which is at the top of the hill, to see the Meridian Line, and learn a lot about time. It was slightly underwhelming for one of the lines that divides the world in two, but…
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Now we’re talkin’
Although this is technically our second week of the program, it is really our first week of actual classes. It is starting to feel like Montreal was forever ago, but London and school are still new and exciting. This week I will tell you a little bit about all of my classes, so that in the future I will just mention them if something scary or amazing happened 😉 Mondays, my little group will generally have Voice, then Acting, before finishing off in Stage Combat. For Voice, we went over a monologue that was luckily from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, so I knew what was going on. This is the…
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Meandering to the Barbican
This weekend, I had all kinds of plans, but I ended up just going with the flow. Which was slightly nerve-wracking at times, but turned out to be pretty awesome. On Saturday, I started off by walking through Portobello Road Market, which is really close to where we are staying. The shops were just setting up as I got there, and they had everything. Clothes, food, china, antiques, cameras, books…you name it, they probably have a shop that sells it. I saw all kinds of beautiful things, but decided I would come back and buy them once my day was done, so I wouldn’t have to carry them around with…
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First Week and the Tower :)
For our first week in the program, the teachers really took it easy on us. After a first day of mostly games, and a second spent visiting Hampton Court Palace, the rest of the week was very relaxed as well. On Wednesday, we started late with Debbie, who had us moving a lot. The best way I could think to describe it was that we were seeing how certain imaginary circumstances affect us physically (but also emotionally). For instance, we divided into pairs, and it was super easy for my partner to bend my arm when I was forcing it to stay straight. It was less easy when I relaxed…
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1st Day & Hampton Court Palace
Yesterday was my first day at LAMDA 🙂 We mostly just went over the schedule, had the basics explained to us and our questions answered. Until the afternoon. That’s when we played a bunch of games to possibly get rid of some shyness, and to have everyone get to know each other. Which continued during welcome snacks and drinks in the evening. Even with yesterday and all of my prior research, I am not sure what to expect from the course, but I am pretty sure that I am going to have an amazing time studying with all of these people 🙂 Today we didn’t have classes, but a school…