Reba Loves Me....Bigger, Better, Clearer!!!

I found an even better video from the Reba concert! The camera is right in her face and you can clearly see what she says!!!! And hear me in the background!! The time is at 2 minutes and 45 seconds!

I know I should be doing more productive things than being on Youtube, but I needed a break! And this is WAY cool!

Reba Loves Me.......

At 2 minutes and 45 seconds finishes her song "Till You Love Me" and I yell I love you SUPER LOUD! Of course she heard and said "I love you too"! You can't really see her saying I love you too, but you can definitely see that she reacted and acknowledge my cry! 

Watch as I Defy Gravity.......

The front of the theatre

THE STAGE

Gina Beck (Galinda/Glinda)

I FINALLY saw Wicked on Monday and must I say it was a phenomenal night. When we walked out of the tube station we were met with the bright green lights from the signage at the front of the theatre. I had to take it all in to keep from breaking down in front of the theatre. We took pictures in front of the theatre before we headed inside the theatre. The foyer was light green creating a Ozian atmosphere in the foyer. There as a concessions area to the right and two Ozdust Boutiques (Gift Shops) to the left where the staircase split, leading upstairs to the dress circle. We walked upstairs to reach our seats the very last row in the theatre, but I was just excited to be there. Once the show started I was overcome with emotions and became so happy I teared up a little halfway throough the first act. I mouthed the words to every song and even recited certain lines throughout the musical. When the time for "Defying Gravity" came I was so amazed. I had only seen the scene on Youtube and it was just extraordinary to watch it live. I did my best to not become emotional throughout the song, but it did not work to well. the second act started and I regained composure and did pretty well until they performed "For Good". It was so surreal and I felt very connected to the show. Of course I did, I've been following the musical for two years now. I know the back history, the book, and all the characters antics in the musical.

 

My beach towel

Rachel Tucker (Elphaba)

The musical ability of Glinda and Elphaba were outstanding. There were moments where Elphaba's charactersang way to low, but the notes that she did belt were beautiful. As a souvenir I purchased a Wicked beach towel, because I promised myself when I saw the show in London I was going to buy myself one and that I did.  I also stage doored the performers. I didn't know the actors, but this was the first time I saw Wicked and I really wanted the actors/actresses signatures. Overall. I had an amazing time and I fell in love with the musical all over again.

Sunday Night adventures in a Country World....

Reba and her back up singer

On Sunday, London held the first International Festival of Country Music for the first time in 20 years.  The headliner was Reba McEntire and she hadn't performed in London for over 20 years and it was amazing to watch her perform. I have been trying to find a ticket to one of her concerts in America, but when they are in Texas they are really expensive.  But I was very excited to see her in London because the tickets were really cheap and I sat in the 5th row. 

Last picture i took

For the most part  the festival wasn't bad, but it was running an hour and a half late. The other artists performed really well and two of them were apparently a big deal. I was anxious to see Reba get on stage though so I wasn't very engaged in the other artist's performances. 

One of many eye contacts

When Reba came on stage the audience erupted, as well as I. She was a great performer and kept the audience engaged. I'm pretty sure she made eye contact with me on five different occasions. There was also a moment where I yelled "I love you" very quickly after a song and she looked at me and said "I love you too". That was the best part of the whole performance (for me at least). The worst part of the night was that I had to leave early because the tube (subway) closes at midnight, so I was not able to stage door her like I would have wanted. But I did only miss one song of the whole performance so it wasn't the end of the world. Overall it was a great experience to have while I was abroad.

Geocaching: Jack the Ripper Style

On Monday we did a Jack the Ripper series that led us to the six locations where Jack the Ripper's victims  were found. 

Ripper's Corner: The fourth location

I introduced everyone in our group to the wonderful world of geocaching. Geocaching is basically a cross between a scavenger hunt and hide and go seek. After we visited the six locations and collected clues from each one we solved formula given to us for the GPS coordinates to the last location, Jack the Ripper's supposed hideout. This series was a lot of fun as a first cache in London.

We found it!! 

Each site had a detailed story of how each girl was found and how her body was mutilated. I recited each story to the rest of the group as we journeyed through East London. Some of the sites still resembled 19th century London whereas others have been completely modernized. It was great exploring the different areas of East London and imagining the gruesome story of Jack the Ripper. 


   

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

Can I just talk about how excited I am for this week!! I am seeing Reba in concert and Wicked!!! I am really stoked for both of them and have been wanting to see both for about 2 years now!!!! 

                            

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Whitechapel Market

For starters, the ONE day I decide to go to a food market is the first day that it decides to rain hard in London since I have been here, but I survived. 

I have been wanting to get to a food market for the longest, but we hadn't quite made it there until today! We walked down to the Whitechapel Market which is about a 15-20 minute walk from campus in the direction of Central London. East London is a very ethnic section of London and mostly occupied by Western Asian cultures so there is a lot of Halal restaurants along the market stalls and many Western Asian inspired clothing. But the steal of the day were the fruits and veggies. We found tons of stalls that were selling bundles of fruits and vegetables for only £1 ($1.60). I bought 3 bunches of bananas, 8 oranges (with the green stem still attached), 5 bell peppers (2 yellow, 2 green and 1 red), and 11 onions for £4!!!! I think I won the fruit and vegetable lottery!! They were clearly picked recently and aren't that perfect grocery store shape or too big because of nasty pesticides pumped into them! Just regular old fruits and vegetables!