DIANE'S OPINION =)

Well i def like italy a lot better then london. i mean the sights in london were cool, but italy is just like my country. today at breakfast i looked out the window and felt like i just belong here. i cant wait to go to venice! i am happy that my roommate is emily because were so much alike and she just doesnt get on my nerves like ever. (i hope i dont get on hers lol). um i dont know what else to say really except that typing on an italian keyboard is a pain in the butt =P LOTR in london was cool, king lear was really bad(because we had to stand thru the whole thing; would have been better sitting), and the last two days in london were just so amazing because we didnt really have any schedueled activities so we just grouped together and wandered. hope that was a good update!
-Diane

Brent's First Impressions

Thursday May 29 - Today we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Its architecture was fascinating. We had a tour guide by the name of Nigel, who told us immediately to refer to him as Nigel. We were able to visit the crypt of St. Paul's, finding the memorials of people such as John Donne, Sir Christopher Wren, and William Blake. Afterwards we went to Westminister Abbey, which was evidently home to some of the most famous dead people in Britain's history. Such were the names of Henry VII, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Samuel Coleridge, Washington Irving, Dylan Thomas, amogst others. Then after that we wandered about, splitting into two groups so that people could have some down time. One group, seeking to go to Harod's, a department store, went off that way. My group (Dr. Zellmer, Ms. Harings, Simone, Sean Saleh, Sean Campbell, Michaela, and myself) wanted to go to the National Portrait Gallery. Spent oh...an hour there before we searched for food, taking up twenty minutes (feeling like two hours). Now here I am, sitting, writing this post for all to see.

London days

allrighty then! Lord of the Rings and King Lear are both great in their own way.... though entirly uncomparable. King Lear would have been more enjoyable if we had been allowed to sit! feet pain does not let the mind concentrate on entertainment. We had a brief, 2 hour sunny spell today, which is now over and rain is gracing this city, making it quite drab. However, now we know their secret to green! now all we have to do is persuade the rain gods of Arizona to rain... one suggestion was the collapsing of bridges, not quite sure where that came from.
We are all foot-weary and rather sore, but haveing lots of fun, albeit exhaustive fun. Food is pretty good; there is a really wide variaty. Indian yesterday, Thia today and good ole Fish n chips. St. Paul's Cathedral is amazing!! though no pictures are allowed, as it is a place of worship. these British really knew their stone-work and masonry. Such intrecacies EVERYWHERE in these buildings(we also saw Westminster Abbey)
That's all for now,
Samone

Next fire alarm, remember shoes

So the big news of the night was that the fire alarm went off at the hotel at 3 a.m. We were all so disoriented and exhausted, however, that it took some time to figure out what was going on. Michaela and I stuck our head out of the door to check what was happening, and saw people pouring down the stairs, so we went...sans shoes and--in Sean Saleh's case--a shirt. It was drizzling outside, and the concierge herded us across the street to stand, huddled together, in the cold for 10 minutes while the fire department came. NO WORRIES; a water leak had triggered the alarm, and we were shortly allowed back in. Wish I'd had my camera, though, to capture our snazzy pajama party.

Needless to say, we were very tired this morning. I failed to wake up until 10 (and breakfast was scheduled for 9:30), so Cate Bacon helped out with a knock at the door. We made it to the Tower of London by noon, and were lucky enough to catch members of the Royal Navy making an official entrance into the tower. Apparently they were ferrying a foreign diplomat and his family on a naval ship parked in the Thames - Michaela has pictures of them.

In the Tower of London, a Yeomen Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress (a.k.a. "Beefeater," because they were partly paid in beef back in the day) met us -- and 100 other people -- for a tour. His voice projected well, and we caught most of the stories of murder and mayhem: Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Gray were all executed there, among others.

Molly, Blake, Charlie and I separated from the group in order to view the Crown Jewels and wander through the White Tower, where relics of the Royal Armory are stored. Lots and lots of guns, pikes, and armor.

Tonight, we'll head to the south side of the Thames and the new Globe Theater to catch a performance of Shakespeare's King Lear. We're bringing our raincoats!

Frodo lives! And so do we.

We have arrived. The trip was relatively uneventful, which is exactly what we'd hoped. The British airways attendants were courteous and even tried to joke with us a bit, which went over like a lead balloon; we had trouble deciphering the joke through the thick Scottish brogue. (Mrs. McGarvey has nothing on our flight attendant!) And here we are, in the lush, COOL (60 degrees) city on the Thames!

Since we were near the front of the plane, we were the first group off and first in line for customs. Sean Saleh sailed through with his Irish passport, but then had to wait while the rest of us were casually waved through by a gentle matron who simply said, "School group? Ok," and barely glanced at the passports. Robin Eden had kindly set up a coach (aka bus) to meet us at the airport, and we made it to the hotel by 3 p.m.

Everyone took a break to get cash and food, and we met again at 6:10 to catch the Underground from Queensway station to Holborn, from where we walked to Drury Lane Theater. We stumbled into the theater just in time to take our third-row seats and giggle at the antics of the Hobbits dancing about the stage. They were catching "fireflies" and grazing our heads with their long nets. Very cute, and so was the jig with which they began the musical.

Lord of the Rings can be nothing but a spectacle, and it was. The light and set directors deserve medals, as they took us through so many set changes that I started to get dizzy. (This was also because the set often turned on stage to indicate the length of the characters' journey.) Galadriel stole the show (for me) with the Most Extravagant Entrace Ever: She and her elf minions floated down from the tree tops, doing acrobatics and singing at the tops of their lungs. Gold sparkled everywhere, and more than once we were showered with the falling leaves of autumn.

All this splendor, however, failed to keep the majority of us awake for the entire three-hour event. Yours truly had some eyelid issues. There was a moment at which I glanced up and down our row to see more shut eyes than open ones. So we all plan on sleeping well tonight!

Welcome, EuroTravelers!

Dear BASIS parents and students,

Bookmark this page. We'll be updating our status and uploading pictures on here for all parents and students to see. Feel free to comment!

Ms. Harings