Dear Lord,
I AM TIRED. Yesterday's travels really put a damper on my energy---even despite a large glass of tea this morning! Really and truly not a lot happened today. Lots of laughs were involved during transit later this afternoon to Stratford to see The Royal Shakespeare Company's "King John". However, earlier, I just attended both my classes and again had really interesting conversations in both of them! I just love my professors they are so incredibly passionate about their jobs and it really shows. Dr. Ehlers is very much a history professor. He loves to read ungodly amounts of primary sources and approaches his thoughts about them in quirky and thought-provoking ways. For example, several clips of The Tudors have made their way into our class. As much as I love learning about the time period we are studying, I am not sure that I would be able to handle the lack of religious freedom the civilians of the time possessed---the idea of having complete subservience to a sovereign ruler's decisions really unsettles me. Dr. Dutton mirrors Dr. Ehlers but she is constantly exploding with a full-teethed smile, rather than the intellectual smirk that Dr. Ehlers usually sports. I just love her! She told me a couple of days ago that she interviewed Emma Watson (HERMIONE for those of you who do not like Harry Potter--Anna) for her semester at Oxford and skypes with her on a regular basis....I don't need to say any more do I?! So school is going well. I really feel that I'm learning a lot and it's nice not having the pressure to take quizzes and tests, but rather have discussions about anything pertaining to the subjects we are learning. Tonight's performance of King John was surprisingly more entertaining than I had thought it would be. First of all, the actor who played King John (Alex Waldermann) was just....wow. The play itself possessed a great deal of drama but at the same time maintained a happy go lucky modern atmosphere. Something we talked about today in my Shakespeare class was that what constitutes a "comedy" or a "tragedy" in Shakespeare is it's ending---not whether or not the content of the play is happy or sad. King John seemed random to me on my book list, so I opted not to read it, however I was surprised to see that I could actually understand the language on stage! All this Shakespeare reading has really been helpful! Also, as I think of producing, I really see failures in film...such as the inability to really and truly interact with an audience in the way that actors can on stage. Dr. Dutton has told me that I am allowed to write either a screenplay or stage directions for my 12 page final paper so I have really been focusing on the benefits of film in this way. Other than the things I have already mentioned, Cathy, Katie, and I went to dinner at the The Olde Town Tarvern in Stratford (I think that's what it was called? Again, I'm sleep deprived!) Here, we all had a nice steak, some wine, and lots of yummy dessert before the play! Tomorrow, our history class is off to walk around Oxford in the eyes of what it would've been like under the Tudors. We are doing the exact tour of where Elizabeth I went during her trip to Oxford, for example---in the exact order that she did them!!! Additionally, we are finally going into Christ's Church which I am really excited about! Anyway loves, the hour is late and my eyes are drooping! I should catch up on sleep because some of our Oxford friends are coming back into town on Thursday to go to dinner and out to a club with me, Katie, and Cathy!
Live in love & in London,
E.
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