Welcome to the 2013 London Semester Abroad!!!!!

Welcome to the 2013 London Blog.  If you want to follow our adventures this semester, please subscribe to the blog and you will be notified every time I post something.  I will try to do one every week to let you know what we have been up to.  This is going to be a preview of what is to come.  But first I want to fill you in on what I did this July here in London.  I set up our day trips to Cambridge, Bath, Canterbury, and Blenheim Palace where Churchill was born.  I got the student flats all set up and our new classroom space.  It is much bigger seeing that we have 25 students this semester.  London was very hot for the two weeks I was here.  Great weather which is still continuing...Love it!   I was outside The Crypt at St. Martin of the Field's Church when this pink bus drove by about three times.  I thought it was pretty cool.  I also got to look at my new flat which is near the students this year.  For those who have been on the program before I am above the Tesco Express!  This is very convenient!  

This summer I managed to see a bunch of shows, some of which have since closed or will be closing this Saturday.  Merrily We Roll Along was fantastic.  I also go to see The Book of Mormon and I also saw it again last Saturday.  It stars Gavin Creel whom we are trying to get to come and speak to the students.  The Cripple of Inishmaan with Daniel Radcliffe closes this Saturday as does A Chorus Line which was exactly like the 1970's production.  Same costumes, choreography and blocking.  A delightful show.  The musical, ONCE which won best musical in NYC is an incredibly charming show that I want to see again.  

While here in July I bought tickets for most of the shows we will be seeing.  Monday is the first day of classes and we are going to see War Horse at The New London Theatre.  Other shows I booked are Les Miz, Mid-Summer Nights Dream at the Globe Theatre, Riot at The Shed written and directed by Tom Brennan one of my former students at Rose Bruford. at the National Theatre. It is about a riot that happened at an IKEA in Northern London when it opened.  Also at the National is Tori Amos' new musical The Light Princess and  Liola in the Littleton.   The farce One Man, Two Guvnors is also booked. This was a favorite of last years students.  I saw Chimerica two days ago with Jonathan Kennedy, executive director of Tara Arts where we will be performing our play, The Triangle Factory Fire Project October 22 -26th.
I booked Chimerica for the students before it closes and also Domestic Crusaders a new play commissioned by the US Embassy that will be performed at Tara Arts just before our show.  I also booked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night based on the book by Mark Haddon.  This was a play I saw in July.  It won 7 Olivier Awards including best play.  The Scotsboro Boys is coming to the Young Vic.  St. Mary's students went to see it in Minneapolis before it transferred to New York.  I am excited to see this seeing that I missed it in Minneapolis. We are also going to see The Same Deep Water as Me at the Donmar Warehouse.  There is going to be a revival of MOJO at the Harold Pinter Theatre Starring Rupert Glint (Ron from Harry Potter) in his stage debut.  So these are a few of the shows that we will be seeing this semester.

I have been here for two weeks trying to settle into my flat and buying a few more tickets, etc.  Students will be arriving tomorrow and Saturday and we will spend the weekend settling in, buying phones, getting Oyster Cards (Tube Passes).  On Sunday I will give them a walking tour of some of the highlights in Central London.

I also got to spend two days last weekend with Brother Louis DeThomesis former President of Saint Mary's University.  We had a great time and it was nice catching up!  Today I spent the afternoon with Phi Rendell who arrived yesterday.  He is staying with his Grandmother for a couple of days before he moves into the flat.  

I also want to thank Darrell Fair for the Logo at the top of the page!

So that is it for now...watch for more updates and follow us this semester.  It is going to be a fun time!