Dreams Do Come True

This is my last post (probably) for the next week-ish, so here's a little recap on my week thus far. First off, a big shout out because today (March 6) is Zeb's birthday!!! [If you don't know who Zeb is, then we're probably not very close, so let's get to know each other sometime! But he's my favorite and only brother.]

To recap: here's a cheesy little collage I whipped up featuring some highlights from 

Hampton Court Palace. 

Me as a moose, the lovely detail of a ceiling, King Henry VIII showed up,

we got to do a fantastic maze, the palace itself, a group of us at the center of the maze,

some of the gardens, the magnificent clock, and the gun room

Fun fact about the clock: it's a 24 hour clock, and also tells the phases of the moon, months, and something to do with the tide of the Thames, among other fun things which I can't currently recall.

On Sunday, some of us enjoyed church at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, a few blocks away from our hostel. Because I'm taking a Political Theology class, we met and experienced the hilarity and confusion which is Speakers Corner. Historically, Speakers Corner was a productive place to share publicly and discuss current issues. Now it has become kooks central, with extremists all over the place. I had an absolute blast. There were Muslims explaining why the Bible is untrue, Christians being racist, Christians telling people that they're going to regret everything on judgement day, one guy sharing his views on feminism-which led to a rather overwhelming debate with an unfortunate amount of political incorrectness occurring, and much much more. After discussing free speech both in the political and Christian contexts at a coffee shop, a couple of us returned because we had such a grand time at the first go. Definitely something to hit up in the future.

Our British Life and Culture class, which meets Monday mornings, took us to Westminster Abbey. There, we enjoyed some fun history, the grand Abbey itself, many many graves of royalty and other important figures, and (best of all) Poets Corner.

Tuesday turned out to be the best of all days. For one thing, we discussed the second half of the Fellowship of the Ring (the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in my literature class, so that was fabulous. That afternoon, I got to help out at Bloomsbury Baptist in the kitchen serving lunch and tea to the retirees as they enjoyed their afternoon hanging out together.

Tuesday night has to be one of the best nights in the history of ever. On that night, one of my dreams really did come true! The costumes, stunning. The singing (especially by certain characters), overwhelming. I've always loved The Lion King, and this was my chance to see it on stage! Disney is supposed to be the place where dreams come true (or something along those lines).  The dancing, beautiful. And the sets, exceptionally well done. I can not even say what my favorite part was-I'm honestly still processing it all. If you ever get the chance to see it-do not hesitate. Go. It's wonderful. You (and if not you personally, then probably one of my family members) may be wanting to ask what my favorite part of it was. I'd have to tell you that I'm atrociously incapable of committing to picking favorites 95% of the time (it's true, I don't really have many favorites, just a lot of things that I like a lot). Then I'd have to admit that Rafiki was absolutely phenomenal  as was Zazu. I can't even imagine the skill that each and every member of the cast must have. Even the chorus/dance ensemble/whatever the term may be thoroughly impressed me; each one of them had to be fantastic singers, dancers, and puppeteers to some extent, in addition to navigating and changing in and out of some pretty wild costumes. Mufasa, although without the especially deep voice of Disney's classic movie edition, did very well, as did Simba, Nala, Sirabi, Pumbaa, Timone, and Scar. Scar did an exceptional job, being a crazy bad guy isn't as easy as it looks. And the hyenas and Pumbaa and Timone did very well with their complicated costuming and comic relief. The opening number, the Circle of Life was just so grand, so glorious, it may have been my favorite part...maybe. In addition, there didn't appear to be a bad seat in the house! Taylor (my great friend from UMHB) and I sat on the very last row at the top with our backs to the wall (thankfully we were about dead center!), but still saw everything easily!
I could go on, but I think I'm just going to sleep instead.

I'll leave you with this appallingly low quality picture of the stage and my program from just before the show!

 One more day of class and then I'm off to Scotland, Wales, and other parts of England for a week!