"Can You Tell We're Americans?!" Days 1-4

How do I even begin this post? I am overwhelmed by the perfection of the past 4 days! Since arriving here in Stratford, its been clear that this small but culturally and historically rich town has much to offer to my eager classmates and me.

Stratford is the perfect town for our first stop in the UK. It's small enough that I don't feel overwhelmed by it, but it's also busy enough to be interesting. Plus, this is the city where Shakespeare grew up! 

I have so much to say and so many wonderful wonderful stories to tell.... But, for the sake of brevity, I'll limit the post to a few favorite events per day. So, highlights from days 1-4 are as follows: 

DAY ONE
Arriving in Stratford and moving into my house

• My house- Forget Me Not- is the cutest little home you've ever seen! Our house-mom is named Kate and she is precious. Of course everything she does is 100 times sweeter because of her accent and foreign colloquialisms. Kate has a husband, son, and dog- John, Jack, and Harry- which are the most British names I've ever heard, so that's adorable. 

Wandering Stratford 

• Clare, Kenzie, and I spent the afternoon exploring the town together. It was a beautiful day! We found a beautiful park, river, and outdoor market. It was lovely! (This is where the blog post title comes from... Precious Clare was causing a ruckus in the market and dropped that classic line. The locals didn't laugh nearly as hard as she did.) 

 DAY TWO

Mary Arden's Farm

• Mary Arden's Farm belonged to Shakespeare's mother and has been preserved to reflect life in the 16th century. There were musicians, jesters, and farm animals! I learned so much about the time period, and I especially enjoyed wandering the misty forests and fields with my friends.

 Dinner! 

• It sounds silly, but I love having dinner every night with my house. My house has 10 students and 1 professor, and Kate serves all of us dinner in her dining room every night. It is such a great blend of personalities and we've all bonded so much already! I just love sitting around and laughing with these people every night. 

DAY THREE

Shakespeare Centre

• Wah! How do I talk about the Shakespeare Centre? Its incredible. We'll be attending lectures and workshops here for the rest of our stay in Stratford. The classes today were incredible. The first was a general "here's what we do and here's why Shakespeare is a huge deal" talk... and it got me so pumped up. The second was on one of the plays we read this summer. It was fascinating! The next class was a workshop with the Royal Shakespeare Company "wiggy." She grabbed students and put them in wigs and costumes and taught us some tricks of the trade... It was so fun! I got to be a conspirator and stab Caesar! This may be morbid, but I absolutely love playing with stage blood. I had way too much fun stabbing my classmate. 

Claire lookin gorgeous in her Jack Sparrow wig/costume/facial hair

Shakespeare's Birthplace

• Shakespeare's Birthplace itself was not my favorite, but the visit was still a highlight because of the incredible performance taking place just outside the physical building. Two actors in Elizabethan garb had prepared scenes and monologues from all of Shakespeare's plays. At the viewers' requests, they would jump up and perform for all of us. It was such a treat! I loved their energy and the way they engaged with their audience. 

Arden of Faversham 

• This was the first play that we saw on our trip! It was funny and thought-provoking. And we got to see it in The Swan-- the small, beautiful offset of the Royal Shakespeare Company's main stage. 

DAY FOUR

Q&A with Arden of Faversham actor

• One of the actors from last night's performance came to our class and answered all of our questions about the show. So neat to get to chat with this legit actor and learn all of the behind-the-scenes secrets of the show as well as gain some insight on this actor's method and thoughts! 

Stage combat 

• I love stage combat! This is my second experience doing stage combat, and its always a lot of fun. I'm not a violent person in real life, but few things are more satisfying than being fake slapped in the face, grabbing your cheek, and wailing as your fellow classmates watch and shriek. The professional leading the class was a legit combat choreographer and performer, and it was a lot of fun working with him (especially when he used me as an example and I got to do some of my over-the-top reactions for all my peers). 

And that's it! These 4 days have been jam-packed with excitement and fun. I feel emotionally, intellectually, socially, spiritually, and creatively satisfied. I knew this trip would be a good time, but I can't believe how much I've already learned and how close I've already gotten to the other 23 people on this trip. Can't wait to see what else Stratford has in store! 

The Big One

Here it is, guys. I've blogged about my one week trip to Northern Ireland, I've blogged about my three week trip to Japan, but now it's time for... the big one. The big travel abroad experience I've been waiting for. For the next 100 days I will be exploring the glorious British Isles with fellow Furman students, studying theatre and literature! 

How blessed am I to be abroad for the third time in just a few months? I can hardly believe it! And I feel so loved to have friends following my journeys on this blog. Thank you.
This is going to be such an incredible adventure! I'll be seeing dozens of plays as I make my way through five countries in one semester.

I just arrived this morning at our first stop: Stratford.

As I write this, I'm in my bed, in a beautiful little house called "Forget Me Not" on a quaint street. I'm rooming with two of my best friends and fellow theatre majors- Kenzie and Clare- and I'm looking out our window (we got the room with the view!) at the bike riders and dog walkers enjoying the 60 degree, sunny day outside.

Our house-mom is named Kate, her husband is John, their son is James, and their friendly black lab is Harry... Does it get more British than that? We'll be staying in this adorable home in our perfect little room for 12 days, seeing Shakespeare's birthplace and attending performances at the theatre.

After our 12 days here, we move over to the Republic of Ireland where we'll camp out in Dublin for about a week. Then we'll make our way up Ireland into Northern Ireland, making shorter day-trip stops here and there, then we'll head through Northern Ireland over to Scotland, and back down through England, eventually landing in London for about 2 months. After all of that is complete, classes will end and it'll be free travel time; that's when Kenzie, Clare, and I will head over to France to enjoy a few days being tourists in Paris.

I can't wait to take in everything the British Isles has to offer... Time for me to get exploring!