Tricky Linguistics

So we went to see Stonehenge. And, according to my British mates, I pronounce it incorrectly. Apparently Americans say STONEhenge, with the emphasis on "stone", whereas Brits say stoneHENGE. As Ziggy said, "It's a henge made up of stone, not a stone made up of henge."
Right. I'm stupid. I can't pronounce words correctly. Even my violin teacher with his markedly Romanian accent started laughing at my accent last week when I asked the ever-comical question, "what?" According to him American accents are funny. Apparently we say "totally" too much (which I totally don't think is true) and "like" (ok, that one is totally valid). Also, whenever people in drama club are representing a character that is supposed to be ditsy, phony or flaky, they give them an American accent. Similarly, I was told by my director for "Hitchhiker's" that my character Trillian, whom I hve been trying to give a sophisticated, brisk and no-nonsense personality (she IS a neuro-scientist after all) needs to "be more Barbie". Are all Americans viewed as stupid Paris Hilton types? Are we perceived to be imbeciles who bat our eyelashes and say the most mundane and obvious things? I wish that we wouldn't immediately be stereotyped into the Hollywood/media projected image. You know, not this attitude of, "oh she's American - 'Tis pity, she's a whore". Ok, maybe not that strong, but I was channeling John Ford there.

Enough of this. StoneHENGE was amazing! I mean, I didn't get the feeling, but I still like it. You know, that feeling. The one where you are so overcome that you feel if you were to touch the stones you would be transported to an alternate universe where Pagans rule and dancing naked under the full moon is a mandatory ritual. Despite this, the sprawling fields and smell of hay and horses brought me back to Wisconsin. Before going to Salisbury, we stopped at Old Serum where, in a fit of nostalgia for our past childhood, we were allowed to climb up and frolic over the ruins of an old castle. It is absolutely gorgeous there, remote and unreal. I mean, climbing over the ruins of a castle? Not something you do every day. Afterward we drove to Salisbury, which is a cute village-y town known for its Cathedral. While impressive, it wasn't my favorite place of worship that I have viewed thus far. We hit up the market where we were immediately drawn to the pastry and book stalls. Pretty predictable.

Yesterday a few of us went to the site for the 2012 Olympics. While we all know I'm not the biggest sports enthusiast, it was pretty awesome to see the stadium, as well as other unique architecture that will be used for the games. It was a lovely day, Spring is FINALLY here in London, and we took the train to Canary Wharf (an area of London) which reminded me a lot of Chicago. Actually, it was apparently inspired by Chicago architecturally-speaking, complete with huge shopping mall. After hitting up the docklands museum, which was pretty darn groovy we hit up the mall. Thirty minutes later I promptly felt sick (shopping does that to me) and took the tube back to go see some friends at Imperial College in their hilarious production of Noises Off.

And tomorrow my parents will be here! A little slice of home right in London. So excited!

Good-bye for now my dahlings!
Lauren