Hey again, blog-readers,

So, I’ve been slow about updating this regularly which is dangerous because life in London means I have loads of new stories every day and its overwhelming to sit down and try and remember everything. In addition to spending this past weekend in AMSTERDAM, I’ve been up to quite a bit. I’ll start posting a lot more regularly–lucky for you future London-goers, I’m going to make this as much like a guide as possible so you know all the best spots to check out.

Concisely, I saw an Alvin Ailey Dance Company performance, a Shakespeare play (Midsummer Night’s Dream), saw a hysterical musical called Avenue Q, went to the Absolut Ice Bar, discovered Mahiki–a club that Wills and Harry (the princes, obvi) like to hang out at, visited Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath, saw the Rosetta Stone, visited Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, went on the London Eye–a huge ferris wheel that is somehow Europe’s most popular tourist attraction (it WAS pretty cool), enjoyed myself a little too much at the Thames River Festival, glimpsed Orlando Bloom outside a play he was in (which I heard sucked but I mean, is he really known for his acting ability?-ask any 14 year old for the answer to that question), went to the Hard Rock Cafe London (the original… it was still pretty much the same as any other one I went to, except that I felt triumph in the fact that it was the 1st one) and visited the famous Harrod’s which made me feel sickeningly desirous of any and all objects in it (their purses made Coach purses look like fannypacks). Oh, and I kind of did some schoolwork–I wrote a review of the London Symphony Orchestra (which did an incredible performance of Mozart’s Requiem) for my class, The Art of Listening and Performance.

I like to think most of the learning I’ve been engaging in has been getting my street-smarts on. Here are a few of my favorite spots in this fabulous city so far.
Avenue Q
Noël Coward Theatre
85 St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4AA
Tickets: 25 pounds each with a group of 8
Nearest tube stop: Leicster Square
First, the musical. Avenue Q was hilarious. If you ever get a chance to see this musical on Broadway or anywhere else, you’ve got to go. It’s like Sesame Street meets Southpark. Wildly inappropriate but gloriously funny and just so, so well done. Some of the song titles were “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” “The Internet Was Made for Porn,” and “If You Were Gay.” My friends Tyler and Andy bought group tickets for 25 pounds each (don’t remind me what that is in dollars) and they were FOURTH ROW. It was great to be so close and I want to go to more musicals for sure.

Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath
Salisbury Cathedral
Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath were so beautiful. Pictures of Stonehenge do not do it justice. Those stones are really, really big. It pales a little when you consider the Egyptians were making pyramids during the same time, but it’s still incredible. The whole area is so beautiful. Later, the Salisbury Cathedral was stunning and I was able to see an original copy of the Magna Carta which was so nerdily exciting, I could barely stand it. It’s one thing to read about something in a history textbook but to actually see it before your eyes is almost magical. Of course, it was in Latin, so in addition to being magical, it was really confusing and made no sense, but I blocked that feeling out.

The ABSOLUT Icebar London
29-33 Heddon Street (off Regent Street)
Picadilly, London W1B 4BN
Nearest tube stop: Picadilly Circus or Oxford Circus
This is fresh in my mind so, the Ice Bar was a total tourist spot, but it was still awesome. We walked in and paid 12 pounds for a cape to wear while inside and an Absolut cocktail or a fruit juice (ahem.) They dressed us in total Merlin-like cloaks and we walked into a bar…made…of…SOLID ICE. Suffice it to say, it was 100% pretty cool. We looked like we had just stepped out of a Quidditch match but it was worth it. My drink was served in a glass of solid ice on a bar of solid ice by a guy made of solid ice…just kidding, the bartender was real. Of course, after a while, it got a little TOO cool and we had to peace out.

More to come very soon, I promise. Cheers!