"Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay!" Part 3: A Cornish Holiday

I did try to follow up my last entry with one about our holiday in Cornwall as soon as possible...but clearly I wasn't trying hard enough.
But I'm doing it now seeing as how I have found the time and the motivation to carry out my promise because once I say I am going to do something, I always follow through...eventually.

So last time I left you with Paul, Alan and I driving out of Birmingham.
We arrived at their home in Gloucestershire in the late afternoon.
Wine was had before dinner and Paul entertained me with his guitar-playing to keep my mind off of how sad I was to leave Birmingham.



Oh clearly he succeeded.

The next morning we began the journey to Cornwall. We took three cars; Alan and Catherine in one, Pip (Paul's sister) and Dom (her boyfriend) in their car, and I rode with Paul.

The trip itself wasn't that long (to me at least, as I am quite accustomed to long car journeys from Humboldt to the Bay Area). Halfway there, Paul and I stopped for petrol and lunch. Thankfully there was a nice pub near the petrol station so we weren't forced to eat anything cheap or inedible from the shop.



It had a really nice view as well.

When we arrived at the house we were staying at in Fowye, it was overcast but the view from our patio was lovely!
We took a walk about the town and had dinner at a place by the harbour where I ordered sausage and mash in a yorkshire pudding. It was a massive dish and I barely put a dent in it. After eating his massive steak and chips and peas Paul finished it off for me.

The next day it was still a bit overcast and we went down to the docks to check out the boat we had rented out for the week.

The next morning, however, the weather was much more pleasant.




Catherine, Pip, Dom, Paul and I took the boat out to go fishing.




We returned empty-handed to the house where Alan was getting the barbecue ready, but we had an amazing dinner nonetheless.


Dom and Paul looking at pictures taken from the day.

From the first day on we fell into a nice routine of getting up, walking around town, getting into the boat to attempt fishing, coming home, and having dinner.

In the middle of week, Alan and Catherine thought we'd take a day trip to a nearby town called Falmouth.
It was a bit cold and the town wasn't all that exciting. Paul and I often found ourselves wondering, "Why did we come here?"



At the end of the day, Dom exclaimed, "Well, Falmouth isn't getting an entry in my diary!"

The rest of the week we were back in the same routine.




This was the road where we lived: Esplanade.


Our address

Paul and I even discovered this nice cafe called Pinky's where we could get a wireless connection and get our much needed internet fix.


Oh, as well as fishing and walking and such, we also ate a MASSIVE amount of Cornish cream teas!

One morning we even had some pleasant visitors:


Dom had made a little plank out of a cereal box so the ducklings could make it into the makeshift pool we'd provided.


On our last evening out.

On our last day in Cornwall, Paul and I had a day of hikes.




After covering the hills of Fowye, the entire family took the boat across the harbour to this town called Polruan where we took a walk through these lovely gardens.




All in all, it was a fantastic holiday and I was so happy that Paul and his family had invited me to be with them for my last week!

Driving back having arrived in Gloucestershire:


On my final FINAL day in England, Paul and I took a walk through the countryside, which was lovely:


And lazed about at home watching telly:


With the cats...


It was the perfect close to an unforgettable year!

Next I see Paul, now, will be next month when he comes to visit me for Christmas and New Year's!!!!
I am well excited!!

Perhaps before then I will blog and update everyone (who still reads this) on what I've been up to my first quarter back in Santa Barbara.

"Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay!" Part 2: Sweet but Sorrowful Goodbyes

Right, so during my last week in Birmingham, I went to GradBall and then I thought it'd be nice to arrange a sort of lunch with my friends in Gunnies. So created an event on facebook and invited people and ended up staying at the pub for, I dunno, a good 5 hours or so. People sort of drifted in and out as there were dress rehearsals going on for two last minute end of the year productions: Therese Raquin and Midsummer Night's Dream.


Katie and Maddy

So that was all rather sad and bittersweet saying bye to everyone. That night Paul went with me to see Midsummer Night's Dream. They had to perform inside unfortunately (not outside in front of the Vale lake as they'd planned) but it was wonderful nonetheless. After the performance, everyone migrated onto campus to Joe's for an after-show pint. The Therese Raquin cast had just finished their opening night as well so there was a great deal of theatre people present which was convenient for me because I could just get all the painful goodbyes over with in one go.
I would go into details, but I wouldn't want to drone on and bore you. Just know, I cried very much. I nearly got a headache. There were even a few parting gifts which included a ring from my friend David, an impromptu poem from my friend Vicki, and a letter from my friend Will that I was told not to open unless I was "extremely low".
Ugh, it sounds so cliche but Shakespeare had it right: "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

The next day, I took care of some last minute errands; gathered my papers at the drama department (got a whopping 90 [well over a first mark] on the Theatre and Cultural Politics paper that I slaved away on over Easter holidays!). Actually met with one of the professors who went over my final marks with me. And when he saw the 86 final mark for Theatre and Cultural Politics and he exclaimed, "My word; 86. Graduate school is in your future."

So I'm quite pleased with that.

My flatmates had a brunch but unfortunately I couldn't join them due to all the business I had to take care of.



'Had some last minute goodbyes after I gathered my papers, and then Paul's dad arrived to pick us up and drive us to Gloucestershire.
Oh god it was the hardest thing clearing out my room. It was just so empty in the end. If I didn't have people waiting on me to clear out, I would've had to be dragged out.

So as Alan and Paul and I drove out of Birmingham I spent a lot of time just gazing out the window and soaking every possible detail in.



It was so hard to fathom leaving Birmingham before the fact because I'd grown so attached to the places and the people. So actually leaving was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

Cheerful Cornwall pictures to come!

"Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay!"

So this blog is far too long overdue but better late than never.
I'd meant to do a blog on my last weeks in England but I've clearly been procrastinating because I was afraid that to write about my last moments in the UK over the summer in my seemingly constant depressive state would be to mourn them and that's not what I wanted. I wanted to be in the right state of mind to write this so I could celebrate them. I want the remembrance of them to make me happy as I anticipate my return.
This is my attempt at celebration.

First let me briefly mention the Vale Festival that took place on the 10th of June: it was an awesome music-based event where all proceeds went to charitable causes. This year the charities were focused on bringing more access to clean water and sanitation in countries in need. So this year the theme was 'Water is Life'.



And I finally made my way to Stratford upon Avon! I took the train there on my own and took a tour of Shakespeare's house and later on, Will met up with me and we took in a matinee of Midsummer Night's Dream.


In my last few weeks I got so sentimental I actually took brief videos of my typical walk to campus so here are some clips so you can see:








I hope that wasn't too boring for you...

For my last weekend in Birmingham, I finally took part in a 48 Hour directed by Flo and James. We did a Russian play, The Government Inspector.


I played the Director of Education, Khlopov. When I read for the part in the auditions I tried to channel the head of the Drama/Dance department of UCSB, Simon Williams, who is British and the charming bumbling professor type. It seemed to have been a good acting choice as that was the role I was given.


My friend from UCSB, Karie, had taken a year abroad in Italy. She was the one I visited in Paris for New Year's/her 21st Birthday. The weekend we did Government Inspector she came to visit me with another UCSB friend, so they got to see the show.

Me and Karie

Here are some of the rehearsal pictures I stole from my friend Lauren Baker.

The ensemble!


Look there's Oleanna Dave in the back there with me!


Danny Fisher as the Town Mayor


"Oh deeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaar!"


Warm-ups before performance.
Mom, you said I looked a lot like Dad in this one so I thought I'd post it for you. :)

On the 17th of June was the GradBall and I thought I'd attend seeing as how I was kind of graduating from Birmingham.
My friend Ed and I decided to be each others' dates.

It was soooooooo pleasant!


I think I'll end this portion now on a happy note. I still have much to post with all my Cornwall pictures and such so stay tuned.

But first, some footage of a lip sync performance by my friend Tommy...accompanied by Adam and his DJing skills. This was the man who so famously coined the phrase, "Hey baby, let's vacuum." Basically, the story behind this whole lip syncing to N*Sync ordeal began back in fall term. I was at 69 Alton, the home of David and Tommy, and Tommy had some cast members from Little Shop, which he was directing at the time, over. Some N*Sync came on and I just started lip syncing and dancing for Tommy in that corny boy-bandish way. He loved it and since then we always talked about having a Boy Band Lip Syncing Party which we never actually got around to doing...until my last week.


Catch Adam's "whatthef&*$?!" face which we invented back in December:


Okay, I will leave you there.

SO Many Fancy Dress Parties

Here's some stuff I wanted to post before the weepy blog came along.

So bascs (another drama word: 'basically') the first week of June after I came back from Brighton a whole load of fancy dress parties just kinda piled up.

On Wednesday it was my friend Reece's birthday celebrations and he encouraged people to dress up 50s 60s themed (this later stretched out to the 70s thanks to our friend Will) and go out to our favorite club SNOBS (where I spent every Wednesday evening Winter term, actually) :-x


Alice and I in our best 50s 60s garb

Next morning Will and I surprisingly managed to drag ourselves out of bed to watch the Drama final year practical performances in town. Later we did some shopping for Will's fancy dress costume for Friday night.


The Bull of the Birmingham Bullring

On Thursday it was my friend Thom's birthday celebrations and the fancy dress code was T-Themed. I decided to do my uncles proud and come as a Trekkie.

For some research, Paul had me watch this:





It was one of those eventful nights and Will and I were still in Selly Oak when the sun began to rise at like 3 in the morning! That's another wonderful thing about England in the summer- the daylight really does last longer. It wouldn't get dark until 10 pm.

Friday we tried catching up on sleep to get ready for one more night of fancy dress at our friends' joint birthday party themed 'Beauty and the Geek' where the pieces of Will's week-long search for the best outfit finally came together.



I miss this boy!

Every ending is a new beginning, but all beginnings are hard

There are many blogs and pictures about my last weeks here that I want to put up but this one simply can't wait.

I have just spent my last full day in Birmingham and have said many goodbyes. I had a little farewell lunch and in the evening I saw a production of Midsummer Night's Dream, the cast of which consisted of some of my best friends here. We all then headed for campus for Joe's, the bar at the guild.

I don't remember the last time I cried so much. I tried so hard to hold everything back when saying goodbye to friends that hated tears, but in other instances I just had to let go. I have been crying a lot, I grant you, but I would rather have it this way than me aching to go home and not acknowledging my last moments. It is so hard to say goodbye but the friendships I have made here are so strong, it would be ridiculous NOT to come back and visit.

All I can really say is that I don't know how I got so lucky in making so many amazing friends in one year.

I have adored every moment.
I have had my lows but I do not regret them.
I know I've accomplished so much.
I have made the most of everything.
My heart has ached so much these past few weeks, but I take comfort in the fact that I and everyone I've loved here are going to make sure that we see each other again.

I am glad though that it isn't another week until I leave the country. In the mean time I will be having an undoubtedly wonderful time in Cornwall with Paul and his family.

It has been the most amazing journey. I have soaked up every last bit. All I could think of on my walk back home was how grateful I was for everything. I even found myself whispering "Thank you" to everything around me.

I cry to acknowledge all the wonderful things that have happened and I find myself smiling when I think of my return. I know this is not the end.

Brighton By the Sea

At the end of May I decided to take a trip to Brighton to visit my friend Claire whom I met at the EAP orientation in London.

On my way to the train station in Birmingham, I always pass by a rest home. On this day an elderly woman who was out for a walk with a caretaker stopped me for a little chat just to say hello. Woman: "Where are you off to on this lovely day?"
Me: "Oh I'm going to Brighton!"
Woman: "Oh Brighton by the Sea! Oh, take me with you!"
It was the sweetest thing! She also complimented my eyes. I wish I did take her along.

Claire goes to University of Sussex in Falmer, but met me in Brighton to show me around.



The Pavilion


The Seaside!





The next day in Falmer, Claire took me on a nice walk behind her campus. As Jane Austen fans how could we not enjoy a nice long walk in the English countryside, imagining Mr Darcy shall appear at any moment.


Claire lovingly calls this place the Bennet House






Made a new friend! :)

In the evening I headed for London for one last visit to Sam's. The next day I took in a matinee of King Lear at the Globe.


It was pretty incredible. The eye-gouging scene was so graphic!



On my way back across the bridge I soaked some last bits of London in...and stumbled across my friend, Anthony's, school.


How lucky: to go to school nestled between St. Paul's Cathedral and the Thames and to have The Globe just across the river. *swoon*