From Paris to Shanghai to Cuba

First things first - finished my thesis research proposal, sent it in and already received feedback from my professor, who thought it was fine. I just need to tweak my research questions a bit. Am sticking with "Hurray for Hollywood? An Inquiry into the Impact of American film stars on the West End" Will be doing a case study of five actors (Kathleen Turner, Christian Slater, Woody Harrelson, Val Kilmer and Jessica Lange) who have trod the boards here across the pond.

Now taking a bit of a breather and pulling together more Paris pics. Round deux is now posted on Snapfish. The one above is the whole gang helping ring in my 40th at the fabulous Alcazar, which I've just learned on Google is a Sir Terence Conran restaurant, which at one point had been tennis courts and a transvestite bar. Who knew??

Speaking of restaurants, the next time anyone comes to visit, we are making tracks for Shanghai. It's the BEST chinese restaurant ever and walkable from Alliance House. Set in a former East End pie and mash shop going back to Victorian era, the food is super-fresh, super-tasty and super-affordable. Three words: Dim-Sum Happy Hour

Tonight's fare will be Cuban as we celebrate classmate Stuart's birthday at Cuba Libre. Oh, and next week? Belgium! A tres international spring break indeed!

I Love Paris in the Springtime

Back from a fantastique weekend in Paris. I think it may be battling London for my favorite city. Highlights included a wonderful stroll in sunny, 60 degree weeather along the Seine to Louvre and then down along Champs-Elysees to Arc du Triomphe, a trip up the Eiffel Tower, a voyage to Versailles and a wonderful birthday dinner on Saturday with friends old and new. Oh, and if it's me, you know there has to be a pop culture moment. That came when we went to the super, ultra-cool Kong Bar on Pont Neuf. On the upper floor is Kong Restaurant, where one of the last scenes of "Sex and the City" was filmed (when Carrie meets the Russian's ex-wife). Check out some photos on Snapfish. Will post more soon.

The Lady from DuRude

Just home from seeing Dame Maggie Smith in Edward Albee's "The Lady From Dubuque." I was so hoping I could title this blog entry "There is nothing like a Dame." Alas, no.

Ms. Smith wins the award for rudest celeb encounter at stage door! I was standing behind 6-7 young American drama students (which seems to be typical for UK stage doors. The Brits may love their celeb tabloids, but are not big for meeting stars in person). When Maggie came out, they asked if they could get their picture taken with her and she practically bit their head off. I then made my way up and was asking for an autograph and my friend had a camera at the ready, but she said "no more pictures." She then fussed about where to sign my flyer (I was not shelling out 4 pounds for the program) and then huffed off into her car.

Her performance in the play, however, was fantastic. The play itself very odd. We're still scratching our heads and asking "Who IS the Lady from Dubuque?"

In other news, my class is done! I passed my essay and think my final exam went ok. Day after tomorrow it's off to Paris!

Au revoir

6 months here

As the sun sets over Alliance House (pic is view from my bedroom window!), I reflect on how it was 6 months ago today that I was moving in. The year is flying by! And just as it was a warm, sunny day when I moved in, today was also nice and bright. I have yet to experience London's horrible gray, rainy winter as promised. I can maybe count on under 2 hands the number of days the weather's been really bad. Apparently this winter's been the UK's warmest on record. Go global warming!...Well, no, not really. Everyone needs to see An Inconvenient Truth and start taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint!

Now looking forward to my Spring Break, which begins Tuesday and which comprises Gretchen Gone Wild with travel plans. 4 countries (France, Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland) in 5 weeks (oh and also working on my thesis).

Friday Night Lights and Saturday Blackout

Two fairly opposite evenings added up to one of the best London weekends I've had so far.

Friday night I spent the evening at my friend Neil's. He's launching a new web site (to tout his work as an author of celeb biographies) so I was helping him with work on the set-up and design. His flat is on the South bank, near Tower Bridge, and out of all his windows we had gorgeous views of the river and Canary Wharf, so gorgeous all lit up at night. After working on the site, we had a tasty dinner and watched "Ugly Betty," such a cute show! Then I crashed in the guest room gazing out at the lights of London.

Saturday night was spent partying with about 10 classmates at our friend Nineta's flat, during which we all went up on the roof to watch the lunar eclipse (it helps that she is an R.A. in the building). Wow, talk about incredible views. It turned blood red and dark right in front of us. Festivities continued until 4 in the morning! The highlight of which was when I was deep in conversation with a Bosnian guy and a Greek guy debating comic book superheroes and their translations into film. Had Artemis not twisted my arm into doing some vodka shots, I might be able to remember a bit more. The one thing I do recall is that we were all in agreement that the 2nd X-Men film was the best of that series.

My First Blog!

Welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by. Can't believe it's taken me 6 months to get this thing going, but my first semester was a killer. From October through December I was eating, sleeping and breathing Arts Management. The good news is I passed those classes, one "with merit" even! I'm now about to wrap up my second semester, for which I only had one class. Do not ask where that time went- Jan. and Feb. seemed fly by. Not really sure what happened, but I know I:

• Wrote a 3,000 word essay on cultural regeneration in Birmingham
• Saw some great theatre - "The Seagull" w/Kristin Scott Thomas, "Don Juan in Soho" w/Rhys Ifans, and "John Gabriel Boorkman" w/Ian McDiarmid (best known as the Emperor from Star Wars films)
• Continued on quest to return to victory at our local pub (The Nobody Inn) quiz night. We won back in December, but The Alliance has been off its game ever since, placing 2nd or 3rd (always the bridesmaid, never the bride!)
• Came up with thesis topic - "Hurray for Hollywood - The impact of American film stars in the West End" (so far that's about as far as I've gotten...need to 'get to steppin'' as they say)
• Landed a marketing internship with a theatre company - Net Curtains
• Started this blog, whose name is based on my second favorite television show (after "Buffy" of course)

Will update the blog at least weekly with various updates on life in London and feel free to post comments!