Let the Academia Begin!

So, to start the first day of actual classes, we were told to meet Mary Jane Walsh (head of Tisch School of the Arts London) at the Senate House Library for an induction. One of Londons first skyscrapers, it was the spot from which the VE-Day broadcasts were sent at the end of WWII (see my previous entry if you're shaky on te anagram). A little known fact about this building is if Hitler had succeeded in taking over Great Britain after the blitzkrieg, he would have used this building as his base of operations while in London.

The second I learned that fact, I decided to refer to this building solely as Castle von Hitler. Not many people understand the subtle nature and history behind the humor of this nickname. Some get rather touchy when they hear the phrase "Castle von Hitler".

That would be MJW herself, leading us through Trafalgar Square to the location of our education, the ICA. She suggested that for good food in the area, we eat in the crypt of St. Martin's Church that has been transformed into a little cafe.

That's creepy as shit, so we ate at a pub-like little restaurant in Leicester Square. We discovered the existence of two unfortunately-named cocktails there: the Slippery Nipple and the Cactus Banger. We would have ordered them to see how they tasted, but none of us could seriously order either drink. You lose all man-priviledges if you order a Slippery Nipple and you look like a Saharan sexual deviant should you chose the lesser of the two evils. I had a bottle of water.

This would be the public entrance to the ICA, located on the Mall. Students get a secret entrance in back. I'd tell you where in the back, but it's a secret. Some of us had our first class be Theatre in London...I am one of the some. We will be seeing a theatrical production damn near every Wednesday of the semester. Yes...this will be going on the blog.

During the break in between class and a little housekeeping session with MJW, we wandered back over to Buckingham Palace, mostly because Joel forgot his camera the first time we were there. As we were walking back passed the Victoria Monument, CNN stopped us and coralled us because we were Americans in London. Aparently, they wanted some Yanks in the UK to read bits from MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech for MLK Day and for the upcoming inauguration. Joel read on behalf of the RADA crew because the reporters really liked his hat. They didn't really audition anyone, then, pick the best reader to do a cold readin of an excerpt for the camera. Sort of ironic when you think about it: the person they wanted to read the speech, a speech teaching to judge people by the content of their character and not by their outward appearance, was chosen solely on the basis that they liked his outward appearance. I'm not jealous, mind you; it was a huge chunk of the speech and a cold-reading to boot. Good for Joel. YouTube him or look him up on CNN. I was there!

Yadda, yadda, yadda...classes ended a little early. We decided to walk home through London's Chinatown. Hundreds of paper lanterns...hundreds of whole fried ducks on spits in windows. I don't know what it is, but if a Chinese restaurant, butcher, or any kind of food vendor has a whole duck that they've fried, they just love to put that sucker in the window for everyone to see.

The second day of classes was vastly superior for the Theatre in London group, as most of us were in the same academic classes. It started at 2pm and it was only the one class: Art in London. It think the only pre-requisite to having an NYUL class is that the title of the class must have the words "in London" tacked onto the end of it. Architechture in London, Chemistry in London, Taxidermy in London, etc. Anyway, the Arts in London class meets at a different museum every class period. Yes...this too will go on the blog. Halfway through class, our teacher decided to take us on a brief walking tour to examine nearby examples of Gothic and Neo-classical architecture, which helps further support my theory: every British person in the city is a trained London tour guide.


We saw the pelicans again. Hello, pelicans! As you can see, you can't really tell from photos how big the giant fucking pelicans are, but they are giant. Just a quick photo of them with the setting sun shining on the lake's surface with Buckingham palace in the background.

We headed back to the ICA and ended class earlyso that people could watch the inauguration footage at the institute's cafe and pub. Another note: most of the NYUL-associated buildings have a pub or at least a place within the building to order a pint...which, I feel, is a vastly superior system than the one we have in the US.

Well, it's almost 9pm here in London and there was a recent discovery about the Rocket. Apparently, not only is there a student discount there, but every Tuesday night is £1 Pint Night, £3 Burger Night. We discussed going earlier in the day...but will we go?

Are the RADA students going to get drunk the night before we all need to perform Shakespeare monologues that we've never done before in front of the entire Royal Academy Staff, or are we going to use our better judgment and use this evening for last-minute performance prep? Who will prevail: acting or alcohol? Prepping or pints? Monologues...or beer? I couldn't think of anything for the letter M, so shut up.

Tune in next entry to hear what happened!