The Shakespeare program, from start to finish, has been absolutely wonderful. Lacking both a computer and good source of Internet while traveling, my first blog post is being reported after the fact as a retrospect on the entire experience.

Highlights (in no particular order):

1. Open mike night at The Dirty Duck in Stratford. On one of our last nights in Stratford before returning to London, I went out (on the night before our exam) with some of the other students — Natalie, Megan, and Skandia — to see some live music. With Jojon (the actor who played Orlando in As You Like It) tap dancing to Mr. Bojangles and singing a song of admiration about Tom Cruise, actor Greg Hicks (who played Julius Caser) bringing his Mick Jagger persona to the harmonica, and the whole pub singing along to '90s classics, it was the highlight of Stratford (well, that and the RSC productions). We were sad to leave, but made our way back to The Duck the next night to hang out with our new friends — and, incidentally, become movie extras.

2. The Tube. The beauty of the Tube is that you can wander around London aimlessly for hours, get completely lost, and then get back to your original starting point in about 20 minutes. As soon as you see the Underground sign, you know you'll be fine because you can just take it back to your stop without any problems. The only real flaws in this system are a) swine flu, and b) not running 24 hour service.

3. My American accent. To my surprise, Brits love an American accent. They called us foreigners and when we asked them to do their best American accent, they'd say "I did not vote for George Bush." Meanwhile, my British accent is the quickest way to offend a resident, and Natalie evidently sounds like she's from the 1920s.

4. Museums. As part of our coursework, we were required to see the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery as well as the Whitehall Banqueting House. I ended up buying a book from the National Gallery just so I could have that picture of The Ambassadors at my fingertips because that trick with the skull blows my mind. The National Portrait Gallery was awesome as well. I was standing with my face about an inch away from some of these paintings because they were so brilliantly detailed. Not on the agenda but a definite must-see was the Tate Modern. Being a Dali fanatic, I was delighted to see his works well-represented as well as those of Picasso and Pollock.

5. British media. Around every Tube stop there are vendors handing out free newspapers. At first I looked at them like I look at anyone trying to hand me something on the street. It's a stern "don't touch me with that" look that lets them know I'm not interested (also utilized on Bruin Walk, the long walkway at UCLA where student groups are allowed to recruit members, solicit donations, advertise events, etc.). However, they made me curious. Why were all of these people on the streets and in the trains taking these? The answer came from one of my friends who lives there. He told me that people there are obsessed with being up to date on the news. They want to know what's going on in the world and turn to these print news outlets instead of television or Internet sources. I love that. They also have much less censorship, making late-night television ridiculous and fascinating.

More to come.

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