Um...Waiting for Godot, I Guess...

This was the basement with the amphitheater ruins. 

Started off the day with our classes (I only tell you this so you won’t think I’m just partying in London all the time). Afterwards they took us to the Guildhall library where they had an original copy of Shakespeare’s first folio, which was pretty cool. We also saw the foundation of an old Roman amphitheater in the basement of the Guildhall art gallery.

Then we came home and ate lunch because class and the Guildhall stuff took 5 hours, so we were starving. I had pasta and a cheese sandwich (in case you were wondering). One of the girls in our group really wanted to go shopping at Marks and Spencer and there just so happens to be one right down the street on the way to the tube stop. So, we went in there and walked around for a bit. I didn’t buy anything, but they had so many one-piece swimsuits. I literally stopped in my tracks and stared for a minute. I have never seen so many modest swimsuits in one location before.

Anyway, after that we headed to the town where our play was going to be performed. The play didn’t start until 7:30, but we had heard that there were some nice places to shop around the theater, so we headed down early. When we walked out of the tube station, the first thing I noticed was the smell of McDonald’s French fries. I stopped and said something like, “Where’s the McDonald’s?” Of course, no one else could smell them, but when we walked down the street for about half a block, sure enough there was a McDonald’s.

Just past the McDonald’s we found the shopping center. It had lots of stalls down the middle of the walkways. I have never seen so much gaudy jewelry/accessories. It was crazy. As we walked through the mall I discovered that I don’t particularly like the employees in the stores here. They either approach you instantly and won’t leave you alone (one of the male employees in a shop wouldn’t leave us alone. He was quite creepy. We left real fast.) or they just stand there and glare at you, as if to say “get out of my store.” It’s really interesting.

After we finished shopping (I didn’t buy anything), and after much deliberation we decided to go to McDonald’s, partly because it was our only option for food. I had a Quarter Pounder with cheese and French fries. J And with our student discount cards they will give you a free McFlurry. I love being a student in London. J

Then we ran to the theater so we wouldn’t miss our show, Waiting for Godot. When we read it I didn’t like it. I couldn’t follow it, but I really liked the performance. So, before I can tell the funny story that happened during the play I’ll have to give some background. Ok, the set was filthy. It was designed that way because the two characters were basically homeless. There were pools of filthy stagnant water and everything was dusty. The two actors were filthy too and they were covered in nasty makeup that made them look like they had cuts and scabs, etc. So, they were pretty nasty-looking. There were three of us sitting in the second row and the actors weren’t on an elevated stage, the seats were basically on the stage.  There were two girls on my right and a guy with his date on my left. So, part way through the second act one of these filthy actors climbs over the first row of seats and settles himself between the two girls on my right. He patted their knees, talked to them, and of course they were disgusted because he was filthy. I was kind of glad it wasn’t me. I was just shoved into the guy next to me, which was weird since he was clearly on a date. Oh well, it was a 

funny experience.

And that’s pretty much it for today.  

The prettiest building at Guildhall
(we didn't go in this one though...)

The Guildhall Library

The Guildhall Art Gallery