"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.