I Am the Walrus

Oh jeez, oh man! Brighton is one rocking place. Before going, I never understood Lydia Bennet's fervor in journeying forth to this coastal metropolis. I have seen the light, and now have a new sympathy for the youngest and most annoying Bennet. As one friend advised, "In Brighton, you must drop your handkerchief whereupon a member of the regiment will pick it up for you, and you will promptly marry him and live happily ever after." Although no such miracle occurred, I did enjoy myself doing what the love-scorned do best: eating chocolate. After a stop at the fudge shop, the chocolate-covered Belgian waffle kiosk and the cupcake confectionery, I was one hyper, happy girl!
Luckily this was after our tour of the Royal Pavilion and so the guide didn't have to deal with me bouncing off the walls and OH MY GOD I WANT TO LIVE AT THE ROYAL PAVILION! Windsor Castle is amazing, but gloomy in comparison to Brighton's Arabian Night's themed palace. Once inside the palace, we were no longer in Saudi Arabia as we were transported into all things Chinese. Fake bamboo accented the Chinese garden main hall, while massive iron dragons held up huge chandeliers in their rather sinister mouths. Rich colors and the use of many large windows (some stained-glass) added a light, cheerful and exotic tone to this huge but homey pavilion.
After the tour, I ran around the beach wearing off my sugar high and trying not to freeze. Being a coastal town, it reminded me a lot of Florida, only substantially colder. Interestingly enough, the beaches of this shoreline do not consist of sand, but of rocks...I forgot the technical name...shoal, perhaps? Thus, one would imagine it's not quite as comfortable to lie out on a sunny day. Nevertheless, this beach is exquisite, lovely smelling and terribly romantic. And it would be even more romantic if it was a good 40 degrees warmer. Ah well. We had sun that day...I can't be too needy now can I?

Sunday I went for a walk in Hyde Park as I do, and passed over a lovely bridge that reminded me of bridges near the Park Way in Minneapolis. Nostalgic moment. Ok. So I wandered down a quaint path and towards the direction of Speaker's Corner. Now there were three gents speaking on the day I went: one was speaking quite intelligently albeit idealistically about using money allocated for bombs on education instead. His motto: "Educate the future, don't kill the future!" To which I say, wouldn't that be nice?
The second bloke was a bit more, well, I don't want to be judgmental, but he was quite set in his ways. He was telling a bunch of Muslim people that the Qur'an is complete and utter rubbish because it's been proven that the Bible is not only factually accurate, but the only truth. My response: Uh crazy man? (there goes my attempt not to judge), 1. They basically tell the same stories, and 2. There's a reason it's called faith. You can't prove it, but you believe it anyway. That's kind of the whole point.
The third man was intensely amusing as he was swaying to his head phones and occasionally saying to newcomers, "silence is the most important voice. Only by being silent will you learn." Not surprisingly, most of the audience found the squirrel eating the man's food at his feet to be more absorbing.

Monday was Billy Elliot, and it was FROCKING AWESOME! Seriously, you need to see it. As Shannon mentioned this kid had to do tons of routines while singing and acting. Watching him, I not only wanted to adopt him for my little brother, but I also felt incredibly inadequate knowing that I could never do that. What I found most amusing about the night were the scenes in which the clearly classically trained little dancers had to pretend to be poor ballerinas. Ironically, their "bad" looked better than my good. C'est la vie. Anyhow, it was a truly spectacular musical, the choreography was superb and I had a smile on my face the whole time. Well, except for the sad parts at which I was bawling. How embarrassing. Parental unit - I am looking forward to seeing it with both of you. You're going to love it, Dad!

Tomorrow I have midterm and a paper due, Thursday is my violin lesson and then I'm off to España. Or in a Spanish accent, "¡Vamoth a Ethpaña!" Loads more when I get back from Barthelona y Madrid.

Besos,
Lauren

P.S. I just bought a plane ticket to Galway for £10! Eep!