Summer Lovin' in Provo

Although I still miss London terribly, Summer term in Provo has been great. Im glad classes are over but I absolutely love it here. I took three classes which kept me pretty busy, and I spent a lot of time getting a head start on a film and play that I am working on in the Fall.

My roommate and I moved into a new apartment, literally right across the street from campus. we pride ourselves in the fact that we pretty much live as close as you could possibly get to campus. our room is a little small, but other than that we really love the apartment, and the ward is amazing. Everyone is so fun, and we have made some great friends. although the summer has been busy, we have been able to have a lot of fun. Ive managed to find some time to go camping, see some plays and movie, go to a rooftop concert and watch all of Sherlock with my roommate in two days.



the other day I went and saw Ephriam's Rescue in theaters and saw my name in the credits of a movie for the first time! A friend and I worked on that set as production interns for one day last December so it was so fun to see stuff that we were there for when we were filming. Some of the actors were BYU students too, so it was cool to see people we knew. After seeing the movie we set up my brand new IMDB page. My stuff for this film still hasn't shown up, but my credits for Adopting Trouble are there! they are still in the midst of post production for that film, but I did get my paycheck in the mail last week. first paycheck for doing costumes! definitely a good feeling.

And that's about it for my current life. Im spending a lot of time on a film and play at the moment. which involves a lot of meetings and emails, but it looks like this fall is going to be the best semester yet!

My time in London

Well here it is! My last post from London. I'm sitting in Heathrow airport with a little bit of extra time and reflecting on the past 6 weeks. I'll try to keep this at least a little bit organized but we'll see...

First off let me say that I have loved living in London. This city is beautiful. Full of history, art, theater, and food. This is a gorgeous country full of amazing people. Living here for the past 6 weeks has been a life changing experience and I have learned so much.

My favorite things I did in England

It's hard to narrow it down but here it is:

• seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company. Those two shows were pretty freaking far up there on the list of best theater I have ever seen. I have come to love this organization, and I feel like As You Like It and Hamlet-the two shows we saw there have reshaped my view of theater and my love of design and it's importance.

•the globe theater. Again, I just love Shakespeare, and this trip has made me love his plays 100 times more. The globe very well might be my favorite place in London.

• being outside in England, whether it was walking around the country side, exploring an old castle, or going to one of London's many parks, I just can't get over no gorgeous this country is. I love it!

• crepes. Nuff' said.

• the markets, cool antique shops, used book stores and vintage clothing stores that are everywhere. There is just so much cool stuff to look at in London, especially when you are shopping in places like this.

What I will miss

•the food. Oh man the food. Pub food, bakeries, candy, I have loved the food in London. Unfortunately that has also led to what has probably been the most unhealthy 6 weeks of my life. I'm a little appalled at what my diet has consisted of. but I enjoyed it, loved it, and am looking forward to quitting chocolate cold turkey when I get back to Provo.

• living in the city and taking public transportation. I love taking the tube places, and although I am exited to be reunited with my car, I will miss taking the tube a lot. Even the Piccadilly line, which although everyone hated it for being so busy, takes you to the best places in London in my opinion ( mostly just the west end)

•the people.  Although living with 30 other girls could get a little crazy, I'll definitely miss the other people in the program

•living somewhere with so much theater. This is the one that I am really distraught about. London is the theater Capitol of the world! And I am absolutely terrified that I will never live somewhere with so much amazing, accessible, experimental and creative theater.

What I have learned

One of my professors here in London kept telling us this quote by Oliver Wendall Holmes, that "One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions". This is something that I have come to believe so strongly while on this trip, because I have learned quite a few really important things.

• first is how much I learned about theater. I have experienced some of the very best theater on the planet in the past few weeks, a fact that continues to blow my mind. I have always appreciated and loved theater. But this trip has reaffirmed to me over and over that theater is a beautiful, moving and important art form. It allows us to explore humanity, experience things vicariously and create beauty and joy. 

• I've leaned about other people. One of the best things about living in london was the opportunity to go to church here and meet the people. In my ward I had people from all over the world. I grew to love the members of the white chapel ward so much, 

•I've also learned a lot a out myself. I missed home while I was here. ( home being Provo for the most part) I think this is the first time in my life that I went somewhere where I really didn't know anyone. I grew to love my professors and all of the other students in the program, but it really is a blessing to be surrounded by people who know and love you. I also missed school. Not so much the classes, but definitely the creative outlet of working on shows or films. I loved seeing shows, but I missed getting to be creative. After this trip I know now that I can travel all by myself without getting lost or killed. I love traveling, and I love big cities so much. It was amazing to finally get to live in one, even if it was just for a short time. I have always loved traveling, but now more than ever I am excited to travel and see what the world has to offer.

So... It's been an amazing few weeks, and an experience that I know I will never forget. I was rained on  in the globe theater, went fabric shopping in Paris, ate crepes until I was practically sick and fulfilled my long time dream of seeing Big Ben. Lots of people in the program are really sad to be headed home, and even more sad to go back to Provo. But I can't wait. I'll miss London, but I love school, and have some amazing opportunities ahead of me.  And am excited to get back to it all!

London Days 40-42: my last few days in London

I cant believe today is my last day in London! the past few days havn't been too exciting. Mostly full of packing and finals, but we did manage to do a few fun things.

Sunday I went to church, and that was about it. we mostly just hung out and relaxed back at the flats for the day.

On Monday I took my  Shakespeare final. and other than mixing up a quote, (in my defense, both Hamlet and King Lear are about people going mad) It went well. Strangely enough I actually sort of enjoyed it. This really was one of my favorite classes I've ever taken, and it was really cool to be able to take the final and remember all of the shows we have seen and things we have talked about. After that my roommates and I walked down the road, and ate way too much sugar before heading home and doing the take home portion of our final. After that, and a little bit of packing, my roommate and I went to the covent garden markets and looked around, grabbed some dinner, and went over to the national to see Strange Interlude. It was a super long show, and wasn't my very favorite, but I enjoyed it. the concept of the script was sort of cool because the characters would stop and talk to the audience mid sentence and go back to talking to each other. And it had some pretty sweet scene changes. It was great to be able to catch one last show in London and to say goodbye to the National theater!

On Tuseday we had our Contemporary British Theater final. we were split into groups, and each group chose a scene from One Man Two Guvnors and had to interpret it in a new way. It was a really fun final actually. we had a good time, got to be creative and watch the other groups perform. After that we came home and did a lot of packing and cleaning. after that we went to Hampstead, which is an area we had ever been to before. It is a beautiful town, with a huge park. its more of a forest than a park. we had a fun time exploring, getting lost, and frolicking in meadows.

then we came home, did the rest of the packing and cleaning we needed to do, we will probably go get one last milkshake from Byrons later, and then that's it! tomorrow we leave. Its a little crazy to think about and is barely sinking in...keep an eye our for my final London Blog post tomorrow when I wrap up my trip, and talk about what I learned and say all of the sentimental stuff!

London Days 38 & 39: Brighton and Harry Potter!!!

its been an exciting two days here in England. On Friday, the morning after getting home from Stratford, we all got back on a bus and headed to Brighton for the day! Brighton was great! sort of like a British version of Santa Cruz, which was exciting for me since Santa Cruz is one of my favorite places on earth. The beach was beautiful, there was a pier with lots of rides and carnival type food, and the town itself was great. It was full of restaurants, boutiques, and vintage clothing stores. we had a great time exploring, riding the rides, and eating WAY too much sugar. (seriously, I'm a little appalled at what my diet consisted of that day). But it was a beautiful day, and we all had a blast!

Friday was great, but Saturday was even better! me and a few people from the program, went to the Making of Harry Potter!!

Its a really cool tour that has been set up with original sets and costumes and props from the films. As both a huge Harry Potter nerd, and a lover of any film, behind the scenes thing, I was pretty much jumping up and down with excitement. before we went in, they showed us a film about how the Harry Potter books  took over the world, and then another that told us a little bit about the tour, what we were going to see. then the movie screen lifted up, to reveal the door leading into the great hall set. From there we got to see tons of set pieces, and props  and costumes, which was so amazing.

there were a few things that really impressed me/ got me really excited while looking at all of this 

first, the costumes. it was so cool to be that close to the costumes from the movie, not only to see some of the detail and construction, but to see that some of those costume pieces might not have actually been as amazing as they looked in the film. I thought that was interesting.

next, were the sets and props. the detail in these sets was amazing! and most of it are things you would never really see or notice, but add so much to the look of the film. the production designer (who was the same throughout all the films, even though the director, producers, and lots of other people changed ) was amazing! I still cant get over how elaborate the sets were. but the cool thing about seeing it in person, is seeing that its real. I mean obviously it took a huge amount of time and money to create all of this for the film. but seeing it in person somehow made building a set and making an incredible movie seem like an achievable end.

there were also two really cool things that I hadn't ever even thought about. first was the huge graphic design team that was needed to create all of the newspapers, posters, advertising, and packaging seen in the film. when looking at the area on this stuff I realized how much their work had become ingrained in this world of Harry Potter, but its something that I hadn't thought about. Plus I cant think of a more fun graphic design job.

the last thing was the animatronics  used in this film. I didn't realize it, but in many shots in the film, Buckbeak, Dobby, the monster book of monsters, even Hagrid's face were all animatronics. I found this so impressive, and again, that's another piece of film making that I had never thought about.

the tour ended with the model of Hogwarts, which was filmed to get the wide, sweeping shots of the castle. I've got to say, this was just the coolest day. not only did I get to walk into this world that I have loved from the time I read the first book as a child, but I learned so much and got so excited about the future. This is what I want to do. SO BAD. designing and creating worlds like this is just so fascinating to me, and I sincerely hope that someday I will get to work on a project as creative and design heavy as these films were.

London Days 36 &37: Stratford!

the past few days in Stratford-upon-Avon have been such a blast! the town is so picturesque, and has such a different feel from London. On Wednesday we got up early, had a delicious English breakfast at our bed and breakfast and headed over to Shakespeare's birthplace. before you go in, they play a short movie for you that uses the prologue from Henry V. Talk about chills! It was a beautiful old building, we got to walk through the place Shakespeare grew up, including the room he was born in.

Next we walked over to Nash's house. which is the home right next to the house Shakespeare lived in with his wife and children. Shakespeare's house was burned down a couple hundred years ago, so we spent some time looking at some exhibits of the archaeological dig that was done there, and sitting outside right where the house would have been.

Next we went to Hall's Croft, where Shakespeare's daughter moved to with her husband, and trinity church, where Shakespeare is buried

and back to the royal Shakespeare company for a backstage tour. It was really interesting to get a little more of a backstage look at these awesome theaters, learn more about how they run, and learn the history of the RSC. there was a really cool costume and makeup exhibit, we got to go to the control room for the theater we saw As You Like It in, and we also got to see the other theater in this building. 

We saw Hamlet that night and it was great, I really loved it. I didn't love it quite as much as As You Like It, but it was still really well done. It was done on the same stage, which was really cool, because they had to bring on a completely new set. This play was also done in modern costume, and I really liked the direction they went with it. Lots of the actors were in both this show and As You Like it, which I thought was impressive. overall, I loved their use of lighting, and scenic design. This was definitely not exactly what I was expecting for Hamlet, but I loved it.

On Thursday we left the bed and breakfasts pretty early and got back on the bus to go do some more site seeing that was farther out of town. first, we stopped at Anne Hathaway's cottage, the childhood home of Shakespeare's wife. it was beautiful, as everything seems to be in this country and was surrounded by gardens.

after that we went to Mary Arden Farm, the home of Shakespeare's grandparents. this place was pretty cool because it is a real working farm. so they have people cooking, taking care of animals, gardening but dressed in Tudor period clothing.

Im looking a little crazy there, but Im going to be honest, I was pretty excited to be petting a cow.

Out last stop before heading home was at Blenheim Palace. we had a great time touring around the palace, and walking around the grounds and gardens which were beautiful

from there we headed back home to our flats in London and pretty much crashed. It really was an amazing few days in Stratford. visiting the places Shakespeare went to, and literally walking in his footsteps was such a cool experience. And getting to see some of his work done so well by the RSC made the experience perfect. I have loved Shakespeare ever since taking a Shakespeare class in high school, but my time in London and Stratford, being able to read and see his plays has made me realize just how amazing it is. It makes me excited for a life full of reading his plays, seeing them performed, and hopefully designing for them as well.

London day 35: headed to Stratford!

Tuesday was great. After getting up really early, we got on a bus and headed to Stratford. We stopped a few places along the way

We stopped at Coventry cathedral for about half an hour. Coventry is a beautiful town, but it was totally bombed during world war II. Coventry cathedral is the shell go an old cathedral that was bombed. It was a beautiful building with such a sad history.

Next we stopped at Kenilworth castle for about an hour. It's the ruins of a castle and basically feels like a huge jungle gym. It was absolutely gorgeous, and had such a cool history. This was the castle where henry V was when the dauphin of France sent him tennis balls! Having just designed the costumes for that show, I started geeking out a little when I learned that the tennis ball thing really happened and that Henry V was here!

After that, we spent a few hours at Warwick castle. This is an castle that has been turned into a bit of a theme park. We watched a trebuchet being fired, falconry, archery, and got to climb around in this beautiful place.

We finally got to Stratford, and after checking into our bed and breakfast. We walked around a little before finding what looked like a cool pub with good prices. I got bangers and mash again, and this really might be a new favorite food. I just love it! I really like eating at pubs. In a big group it's easy because you pay individually, I like that you pay before so you can just hang out if you want or just eat and run. Plus I really just love the atmosphere.

That night we want and saw As you like it by the royal Shakespeare company. This show was amazing. As far as acting goes I don't think it was my favorite that I've seen, but the directors concept and the design of everything was just beautiful. From the styling of the costumes which was just so fun and imaginative, to the final scene which had Orlando and Rosalind kissing in the mud and rain, it was just one of he most joyous, creative, beautiful things I've ever seen. Honestly this show is sort of what I wish the world looked like. I applaud the design team for this show, and hope that one day I can create something as beautiful and unique.

Sorry for all the pictures. They are more for myself than anything else, but I also want to try to show you how awesome this show was! Think of a strange cross between  J Crew models, a carnival, the village people, and pinterest and you might sort of get the idea. Also, here is the URL to a YouTube video of some of the footage from the production, watch it!! Sorry, can't insert a Video on my iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHL6LzDpZ_4&sns=em