Low Bandwidth! :P

Not that it's any excuse, but the lack of posts this week is entirely due to my low bandwidth. You may remember my qualms with the internet here, well because they put limits on us sometimes it's difficult to do as much as we'd like. This week...well, lets just say i've been trying to get in the USA TV that i've missed here across the pond and used up some more bandwidth that usual, so i've got to limit myself so i have enough for the rest of the week. Egads.

Thus, i promise a full (picture heavy) description of our trip to Stamford this weekend! As well as last week and this week twednsday and lots more ;)

Today we had our Julius Caesar showing for the staff. We've been working on Caesar monologues with Michael in Shakespeare for the last few weeks. It was nice to get it over with (i was Cassius) and fun to do. Richard said we did...an ok job, with some good moments--but i guess i'll find out more of what he thought in our individual meeting thursday. He's meeting with all of us to talk about how we're doing. So...we'll see how that goes ;) But in the end I felt pretty good about it. Now we can focus our full Shakespeare attention to The Taming of the Shrew. We're working on doing the play (cut down a bit). It's really fun! I'm Katherine in 3 scenes, one of which is one i really wanted. It's going to be really interesting and i can't wait to see how it all works out.

Alright, i've already used up more today than i wanted to so i'll head off, but look for some big posts in the next few days!

Love, T

...Do As The Roman's Do, Duh!

Alright, so i left off with us collapsing onto the couch! After much relaxing Rachel and I started making dinner. It was her night to make dinner, and so we started dicing! She was making this kind of thai noodles! A curry type thing! It was delicious and lots of fun cutting up all the veggies. I know that sounds silly, but as you know i'm not really a veggie person, but i hate everything and it was super super yummy! :D

Then after dinner we raced off to the Roma International Film Festival! Now, it was FREEZING! Seriously, it was so cold. We were both shocked because it had been a nice day, but waiting for that bus was torture ;) But eventually we got on the bus and got to the Festival! There were so many people there and lots crowed around that Red Carpet! We obviously assumed we'd see lots of Italian Movie stars...and there were rumours that we'd see Meryl Streep (but alas we did not). So we were waiting and we saw this HUGE crowd of people enter and this woman with sort blonde hair (see picture below). She's in the LONG black dress. Now at the time we didn't really notice her.

We didn't recognize anyone so we decided to head over to the bookstore and then walked around a bit. Finally we made our way to the theatre. There were long glass windows that looked out into the main part of the red carpet and this woman in black was standing in the center getting her photo taken by a group of photographers. We stopped and watched for a while. Rachel turned to me and said,"Tierney...i think that's Helen Mirren..." And i just laughed and said "Rache, that's not Helen Mirren...she must be an Italian Actress we just don't know and looks a little like Helen Mirren!"

Fake Helen Mirren

Then she headed inside the doors (right by us) with her entourage! I thought it might be fun to go see and take some pictures of this "Fake Helen Mirren" and as we reached the crowd, she came in and everyone around us called out " 'Elen! 'Elen! Over here!"  I turned, shocked to Rachel and said " OMG Rachel, She's NOT fake! I think you're right, it's the real Helen Mirren!"

You can kind of tell, but this is the best shot i got.

So funny! So after our quick little shot of Helen, we headed off to the theatre! (Also, solidified our Helen Mirren hypothesis because her film was showing at the festival at that time!)

The theatre was HUGE and really comfy! Then we got to see Terry Gilliam and Lily Cole (the lead female in the film) walk RIGHT past us! How neat! And after a round of applause for Terry, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Lily Cole

...can't really tell but thats Terry Gilliam!

Terry Gillam again!

So the movie was crazy, but what else would you expect from Terry? But did like it! I really loved Heath, of course but i was most impressed with this young man named Andrew Garfield:

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He plays Anton and i really loved him. Not only is he adorable, but he's a great actor. I couldn't place HOW i knew him for the first 20 minutes of the film (it drove me INSANE) but then i got it. He was in the movie i saw at Cinestudio (Trinity's Movie theatre) called Boy A. I loved this film, i've very moving and he is brilliant. I remember seeing and thinking, i cannot wait to see what else this kid turns out. As we walked home all i could think of his how encouraging it is to see a young actor, doing so well! After doing a little research i found out he went to the Central School of Speech and Drama! (This is one of the most prostigous drama schools in London, and also the same school my beloved Sarah is studing at right now!) So that's pretty awesome!

It was a pretty exciting experience being at an International Film Festival! Lots of fun! And then, we took the long journey home. We were FREEZING! It was rather comic looking back on it, but at the time it was agony! We had to wait for two buses, and they took forever! We almost took a cab like 30 times...and when we got off the last time we ran to this little coffee shop that was still open and i snagged a warm hot coco, which was delicous. Then we finally trudged home, complaining about the bitter cold, wondering where the warmth had disappeared off too :(

The next morning Rachel and i headed back to Campo for some yummy breakfast. She had class from 11-1 so i decided to walk around myself. We had croissants and hot chocolate and then i began my walk about. First i went back to the Trevi fountain. There is a street full of vendors before you get to it, and as i walked along i bought some postcards, this beautiful glass beaded bracelet and some presents for people ;) Then i finally got to the fountain, It's just so beautiful! :)

Then i decided to walk over to the Pantheon again, and i went back in then got some Gelato and sat in the square. It such a warm and lovely day. I got the same caramel/Baileys combo from before. yum yum ;)

And last i went back to this big italian bookshop we walked past getting to Rachel's studio! It was huge, and really fun to look at all the italian books. I attempted to read some back covers but didn't get too far. Then i met rachel back at the studio and we got some panini's to go. (Actually panini is the the plural, you would say i got a panino. Oh us silly americans).

Then i hopped on the train, got a little lost finding my next train station and walked up a scary street, but i eventually found it and got on the train that took me to the airport. And after that it was smooth sailing! :D I flew home, customs was a breeze and then i finally got to relax.

I loved every minute of my Rome trip, and it was just so lovely to get to spend so much time with Rachel! She gave me the best tour, i got to see so much and we had a blast! But now I'm back into the full swing of things. This weekend we're heading up north to see...well i'm not sure what we're seeing but i'm sure it's going to be great. Although it's going to be FREEZING this weekend. We'll see how that goes. And i'll be sure to chat about my little trip to the National Portrait Gallery. It was so fun, i found it very inspiring!

Cheers, T

When In Roma...

Alright finally. I'm so sorry this has taken me an ice age but it's been busy few days of doing nothing. I'll tell you about my fantastic visit to the National Portrait Gallery later. As for now, we're off to ROME!

Alright, now i'm going to try...i have SO many pictures but i've picked out of the millions about half a million. So lets see how this works!

So the flight wasn't too bad. It was a bit late and they had some trouble playing the safety video so they had to do it out for us. That was certainly not comforting. But we landed and there was NO ONE in the airport when we arrived at midnight (rome time). Customs was a breeze, they didn't even say anything to me! And i finally reached Rachel (and her roommate Melissa). We took a cab back to her flat and after dropping everything off we headed out to see her friends. Most people in her HUGE apartment (4 to a room but like 12 kids living together) had gone out (it was a friday night after all). So i met most of her friends at this place in "campo." This is this HUGE square full little side streets that poor into this huge square. Along the side streets are shops, and then the square is surrounded by restruants and bars! It was lots of fun meeting her friends and seeing the city at night! It's so strange because everywhere you turn there are ruins!

The next morning i finally got to sleep in for the first time in forever! :) And we went back to campo which turns into a HUGE market during the day. It was lots of fun, we went shopping for veggie's and i even got some gifts for people (*cough* mom *cough*)

(the market)

The River we crossed a million times a day :)

Then we decided, because the weather was rather crappy, to go to the Biggest Mall...i think in Europe to coat hunt (which, i must say i would have DIED if i didn't find one because it was freezing!) Getting there was an adventure in itself. They kind of have a subway system, but there is like one line...and it's far way. So we had to walk to subway and then walk a million years from the subway to the mall. BUT, it was really fun because i got see so much as i walked :)

All the cars were covered in Graffiti. It was kinda neat.

This made me SO HAPPY. Every time you get ON and OFF the tube at home (London) they say "Mind the Gap between the train and the platform" I don't know why this was in the corridor of the Mall...but, it was there!

The mall was HUGE! It had 3 floors and so many shops! We went into a bunch of shops, all searching for coats. I had a feeling i wouldn't find anything because i'm SO PICKY. But, by chance i found this really cool jacket (which you'll notice in all the pictures of me). It's a dark green leather jacket. It's kinda short, but i wanted something i a) wouldn't get anywhere else and b) wasn't like something i could get at home c) wasn't a peacoat because i already have one.

I really love it, lets just hope it gets me through the chilly days. ;) So then we went back to the apartment to chill after a long walking journey home! :)  One thing i think is super great out their living situation is that they switch off making dinner for eachother! It's really cool. So that night their friend Josh made us this crazy pear soaked in wine/homemade ravioli thing. It was strange, but not terrible. The pears were really really good. THEN Rachel decided we need to go get some Gelato! I was game! ;)

Strawberry! Yummy!

Then after we decided to take it to Campo again with all the rest of her roomies!

Side Streets were all so beautiful!

That shakespeare, he's everywhere!

<3

After a little while we decided to go off on our own beacuse we we're diggin the scene. Rachel decided to take me to this pub/resturant called "Trinity College." Seriously. I couldn't get over it.

This is the menu!

I still think it's funny! It has no affiliation with my Trinity! What's even funnier is we have a Roma program. I think it MIGHT be affiliate with Trinity Dublin...but i don't know. Either way it was really funny. It was yummy though, we got nacho's and chatted for a while. Everything there is open wicked late because no one has dinner until 10pm. Then we headed home. While walking home Rachel showed me on of the little water fountains found throughout the city! The water is really clean and rather yummy ;)

Sunday was the busy day! We decided to tour basically the ENTIRE city because it was suppose to be a pretty day. In Rome while i was there the Roma International Film festival was happening. So our first stop was the auditorium to pick up some tix for that night. IT WAS SOO COOL! Some of her roomies had gone the night before and saw GEORGE CLOONEY! How cool? So we ended up getting tickets for the new Terry Gilliam film called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus! Then we walked around for a little bit, we even got to go on the red carpet!

The Red Carpet

Rachel Being a Star

Then Me

Just waving to some fans ;)

ACTUALLY, i was apologising to a news woman who actually needed to get there while i was just being a loser. But they were very nice. ;) So we scampered away with our pictures! It was really fun, and got us really pumped for seeing the movie that night.

Then our adventures continued. We took the little tram to...well im not sure where but we walked to this big main street with millions of shops. This leads to everywhere. SO we walked along, snagged some candy and eventually stopped at one of Rache's favourite pizza shops. The pizza was REALLY yummy and the coke cans are really skinny. It's super strange.

Then we headed to the Trevi Fountain! Which honestly, i was so excited for and it was beautiful! :)

So beautiful!

Me :D

Me and Rache

Then we decided to walk to the spanish steps! Right next to them is the Shelly/Keats museum which was sadly closed on sunday :( But we walked up the steps and then decided to keep walking along this road to the park we had been in earlier to get to the Auditorium! While we walking we reached the most beautiful look out!

Then we walked through this beautiful park and sat down on this silly low benches. :) Then as we continued our walk we saw this lovely pond! We noticed that people were rowing around in row boats. We decided to see how much it was, and it turned out to be only £3 for 1/2 an hour! PERFECT! So we passed over the dough and had the silliest time! There were DUCKS everywhere and it was so sunny and bright! It was lovely :D

Rache had a little trouble...

This duck tried to eat the paddle. SERIOUSLY.

I love this :D

Then we got out of the boats and continued our adventures. We walked out of the park and found the bus. We wanted to head back near to where we were so we could go visit the Pantheon. We hopped on this bus...which if i my digress is very silly. Rachel was explaining to me that none of the romans actually pay for the bus. and it's true. i didn't pay for ONE bus ride. Anyway, we hopped on this bus and headed back toward her studio.

this picture is me playing with my Whistle pop. Which was lots of fun, was strawberry and i could play hot cross buns with it. I win ;)

I got to see Rachel's studio where she does all her work and has classes! It was really cool and i got to see her model which was SO COOL! They have a loft and everything, it was a great space. Then we headed over to the Pantheon because her studio is RIGHT by it!

This is a picture from the night before, when i didn't get to go inside!

Here is the beautiful square outside the Pantheon

wooooooow!

It was so beautiful inside!

After the Pantheon we walked up a side street and got Gelato! IT WAS SO YUMMY! I got caramel cream and Baileys! It was DELICIOUS! :D Then we walked all the way (which isn't too far) to the Colosseum. It's a really great walk and we passed all these shops and street performers! I loved it! And eventually we reached it. It was unreal.

And that's when my camera died. Good timing right? Good thing i brought my charger. We had walked SO MUCH that day, and the prospect of walking home was horrifying. So we waited and waited and waited and finally the bus came and we hopped on and took it home. When we reached the house we simply collapsed into the couch. It was the best feeling i must say <3 We had the most amazing day.

NOW, there is a bit more to tell, but i'm exhausted and i've use so much bandwidth SO, i'm going to stop being lazy and do some work and continue this tomorrow. ;)

Cheers and love,

T xx

The Rockstar Diaries

Sometimes i just want to be her. Love.

Check out her blog. I seriously cannot stop reading it. It's so heartwarming and lovely.

Home and Alive!

Just a quick note letting you all know i'm HOME and ALIVE. ;)

Rome was amazing, Rachel and I did SO much and had so much fun! :D It's an amazing city, but i was starting to miss London a little bit. Especially the Underground System which Rome doesn't have. Although i never had to pay for a Bus ride which was rather nice ;) But we had a fantastic time and i promise to share lots of photos later today!

ALSO, getting back into the counrty was easy as pie. Seriously, i had been so worried about it but it went very well. The woman checking me in was very nice and understanding! So yay!!

It's freezing in London. Or at least it was last night, basically as cold as Rome, which was surprisingly cold. I was expecting a drastic change from home, but it was just as chilly. GOOD THING i bought a new jacket ;)

Alright, i promise an update later, right now i need to wake up.

Cheers,T

Whoops, i forgot Highgate! Oh, you know...Just hangin' with Karl Marx!

Sunday morning Sinead and i headed to Highgate semetary! It was so beautiful, we walked around the entire play exploring for an hour or so then found a bench nestled in the woods and ate lunch. It was rather lovely. Here are a bunch of pictures, it was so glorious!

Sinead

Karl Marx is buried here, too bad his grave is so subtle, we could hardly find it ;)

George Eliot is also buried here, cool huh?

Their grave says "dead." I wasn't sure how i felt about this

It was such a gorgeous place and the weather held right up until we left, then of course it started to sprinkle. <3