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From the heights of the balcony of the “Kit Kat Club” to the subterranean depths of Churchill’s War Rooms and the London subway system, we moved across and through the city today.
One highlight for us was to hear the students share a bit about what experiences they feel most grateful for having had on the trip. Many of them spoke about the connections and friendships they’d forged through our time together, and many spoke about wishes to return to various places we’ve been. Tomorrow it’s a (once again) quite early breakfast at 8 before taking the subway to Heathrow for our flight home; Zoe and Desmond said farewell to us this evening, and we will miss traveling with them. Looking forward to airport reunions tomorrow in Philly! We are happily ensconced in our hotel in London. We started the day at around 8 AM with a lovely breakfast at the hotel, and then we boarded the famous London tube for a trip from Paddington to Monument Station. We walked through a bit of the city, over London Bridge, through Borough Market, to our backstage tour of The Globe. The kids will tell you all about it, but it was extraordinary to see how a production comes together. We had lavish High Tea at The Swan, which is in the same complex as The Globe, and then took in the matinee performance of Much Ado About Nothing, which turned out to be quite something! Some students went for a ride on The Eye and others explored The Tate Modern briefly before closing out the day on the banks of the Thames, where we enjoyed even more food.
Tomorrow is going to be action packed: a red bus tour, Westminster Abbey, Churchill’s War Rooms, Covent Gardens (I’m gulping as I read this list of scheduled events), a wonderful dinner (again!), and then a meet and greet with the cast of Cabaret (!!!) before taking in a performance of the show. We are greatly enjoying spending time with this enthusiastic, witty, and resilient group of students. Many student alarms were set for 4:30 for an optional 5:15 hike, led by Jake, to the top of a giant hill, called Arthur’s Seat, which overlooks Edinburgh. Spectacular fun and pictures ensued.
We boarded our chartered bus at 7, and made good on our promise to visit some cows. They were not as excited to see us as we were to see them. Then, we began an odyssey of a bus trip from Scotland to London. The student blog will include more details, but needless to say, this was another exciting day on our trip. Tomorrow it’s back to the English Renaissance as we visit the Globe Theater for a tour, experience High Tea, and then take in Much Ado About Nothing as groundlings at The Globe. We’ve had an extravagantly wonderful day that a local remarked to us had been the best weather of this Edinburgh summer. This is a fantastic group of students. At breakfast, haggis and black pudding were gamely sampled in modest amounts by quite a few of us. We toured, had free time on the Royal Mile, toasted Coralie’s seventeenth birthday at our Sunday dinner, watched an amazing circus, and finally strolled home across a green park as the sun set over Arthur’s Seat.
Tomorrow will begin very early, with some hearty souls planning to hike Arthur’s Seat at sunrise. Then, we will all board a bus and travel to London, making a farm visit to look for Highland Cows followed by stops at Hadrian’s Wall, the Yorkshire Dells, and York. London, prepare for impact! A remarkable day, full of comings and goings.
We left Stratford early in the morning, our intellectual bellies full of Shakespeare language and lore, and took two trains to Edinburgh. We found our delightful housing, and had a short break before walking into the crowds of Fringe actors and audience members. We saw a hilarious performance—our first Fringe show—and walked briefly on The Royal Mile, arriving back at our dorms at 10:30 (!). All of the students have new roommates and will have an opportunity to enjoy getting one another even better. One student has a single, as has been the case in each locale. Tomorrow, we plan on a bus tour, a tour of Edinburgh Castle, some exploring in small groups, and another Fringe show, early in the evening. With Best Regards, Alex Today was a beautiful day in Stratford-upon-Avon. We ate a relaxed breakfast and met in the hotel’s beautiful garden area for our morning briefing. Next, we walked to Trinity Church, where we visited Shakespeare’s final resting place and caught a glance of the King James Bible from which Shakespeare would have sermonized and studied.
Our second day of workshops with The Royal Shakespeare company was full of scene work from Pericles, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Students staged their own magical versions of a scene of a visitation from a goddess that appears in Pericles. We thought their versions rivaled the versions in the RSC’s production! We enjoyed a private tour of RSC’s Mainstage Theater, and visited backstage, the costume shop, and a wonderful exhibition of costumes and props from previous years. We ended the day with delicious final meal at The Opposition, our restaurant of choice throughout our time in Stratford. Tonight is for packing and preparations for our train journey to Edinburgh early in the morning. Yours, Alex, Carol, and Jake It’s been another stimulating—and fun—day! We all rallied early for a wonderful hotel buffet breakfast, with full English breakfast as an option. A few hearty souls sampled the blood pudding.
We spent the whole morning working with the RSC education wing to prepare to understand Pericles through performance exploration. We met with the Associate Director of the production, and she spoke with us about how the director and cast collaborated on developing the show. In the afternoon we hiked through atmospheric mist along green pathways to Anne Hathaway’s cottage and learned about how the home evolved over the centuries. After a late day stop into the hotel to freshen up, we headed to dinner at the charming restaurant The Opposition and then walked to the theatre, excited to see Pericles after our day of study and performance exploration. It has been an action-packed couple of days full of delights, though we do aspire to have nap time tomorrow! Carol, Alex, & Jake Hello families & friends -
We are happy to report that a sleepy but very excited bunch are settled into the Hotel Indigo for our first night's sleep here in the United Kingdom. After a short delay on the tarmac, we enjoyed a lovely (& uneventful) flight to London, followed by a short bus ride into Stratford-upon-Avon. Not much sleep was had on the plane or shuttle...but all were full of energy and delight as we explored this lovely little medieval market town. Boat rides, ferris wheels, street treats, and a lovely dinner marked our first day together; it was an opportunity to manage the jet lag and still get to take in this town of Shakespeare's birth - as well as a chance to acclimate ourselves to some of these British ways (see: bubble & squeak). Today's programming included an orientation and overview, safety briefing, rules and protocol reminders, and the assigning of group 'jobs'. Please note that we are following the demonstrations popping up around the UK closely and are in touch with our travel partners (Envoys), as well as being registered with the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). We do not anticipate any issues, but will be monitoring the situation as we go. Tomorrow we begin our work with the Royal Shakespeare Company! In addition to daily student posts (which will surely be the highlight!), our traveling GFS Faculty (Jake, Carol, & Alex) will also be posting regularly to keep you up-to-date on the latest twists and turns of our UK Adventure!
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Faculty NotesThis page will be an opportunity for you to receive regular updates from Jake, Carol, & Alex. Surely not as fun as the Student Blog, but perhaps information you'll be glad to know! ArchivesCategories |
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