Day 2 London: Just walked Abbey Road! Saw Paul's offices, the roof of the final Let It Be performance, etc, etc. The list goes on. The Beatles ruled London in the 60s. I guess I've learned nothing from "Midnight In Paris" because I want to live in that era!!!!!!!!! I covet it!!!!!!! Oh well, I guess we'll never learn!   After the wonderful Beatles tour, we visited Regent Street for some amazing shopping! We went to the famous 7 story toy story Hamley's where they had all this amazing, official Harry Potter merch!!!! OMG the wands were so cool! I wanted to buy Harry's Wand but then it's like, what do you do with a HP wand after the initial photo shoot of you in a cape casting spells?! lol That is a reoccuring theme... I want this amazing souvenior but then WHAT WILL I DO WITH IT WHEN I GET HOME?! Yes, I want those Royal Wedding biscuits for the William and Kate tin, no I don't need that! That beind said, I bought the most AMAZING heels with the Union Jack on them... talk about covet... :)   After a quick rest we popped into the New Vic for some dinner. The New Vic is a great, experimental theater that has a bar and restaurant attached! What a great way to make money for a quirky theater company... giving me ideas.... It was so great to stay in the Theater district.... with my peoples...   Day 3 London:   I'm writing this from an internet cafe (no free wifi!!) from Heathrow airport. Our flight to Athens has been delayed 2 hours! Grr... Well, as long as we get there. They said it's going to be a busy flight, but at least it's under 3 hours long. I will probably just read magazines and work on my new play that I've just started.   Some conclusive thoughts on the English after my two days here: We in America seem to have a sort of mythical way of looking at the British. We think of them as more sophisticated, more fashionable, funnier, etc. it seems. But other than a few idioms and a funny accent, they're really just like us! Well, they appreciate art more, which is lovely. And they've birthed some remarkable people. But so have we. But they have royalty, so that's cool. I can't believe William and Kate are going to be in LA tomorrow and I'm here! Funny timing... maybe the royal family is what creates this mythology for us surrounding the British. Ah, well, maybe I'll find out whenever I'm lucky enough to come back here. Until then, off to Athens to bask in the Athenian sun and pretend I'm a Greek goddess!

Greetings from London! About to watch the Comedy Theater's revival of Pinter's masterpiece "Betrayal." We're in these ridiculously high up balcony seats!!! I can't believe old theaters like this still exist! *sigh*

Keep on moving...

Okay, so updates! Just made it back to Long Beach after a long, crazy four years in Santa Barbara. Graduation went well. Pico Iyer was the commencement speaker for the Arts and Humanities graduation ceremony and I was super stoked on that!!! He was so eloquent and inspiring. He said those who are graduating with degrees that make money, like, say, NOT THEATER, may have the money, the houses, the cars, the "answers," but they are the ones who will be turning to us, the arts and humanities students for the REAL answers about life. It made me smile and made me think, for some reason, of my time on Semester at Sea. I wonder why? Maybe because SAS was the best thing I did in college and probably the best thing I've done, ever. And although many people chose to spend their time in school "getting ahead," staying behind, on a ship, was something that I think will get me ahead in the long run.

After graduation, me and the girls headed straight for Las Vegas. Of course. Joanne got this fantastic deal for a suite at the Encore hotel, so we jumped at it and found ourselves in a "King's Suite" on the 38th floor of the Encore with a huge bed, couch, nice bathroom and stunning view of the strip! The room was unreal. And destroyed by the time us 8-10 girls had stayed in the room for 3 nights. Utterly destroyed. We left a big tip for housekeeping!

And then, after thinking, as one always thinks to herself, or screams to her best friends in the car as she drives away from Las Vegas, GET ME THE HELL OUT OF LAS VEGAS, we made it home.

Now, I've moved most of my stuff back into my Mom's place in Long Beach and am unpacking my life as I start packing for Greece with Cambodia's packing-for-a-year in the back of my mind. It's all about the suitcases and duffle-bags and storage containers. Yup yup this is going to be an adventure... or a series of adventures...

Until next time!

LinkedIn

Got myself a LinkedIn profile! Connect with me!

http://www.linkedin.com/in/monicatrausch

Musings on the Museum of Woman...

The shows went so great! We performed on UCSB's campus as well as downtown on State Street in front of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art during Santa Barbara Downtown Organization's First Thursday Events. Both nights were highly successful! I got a lot of great feedback. The best thing any audience member said to me after the show was, "Thank you for doing this."

It's kind of incredible that it was, in fact, so brave to do what we did on the stage/sidewalk two days ago. I didn't realize the scope of what I was touching on. Or maybe I did, and I just refused to process it completely because I probably would have exploded with nerves. But we did something powerful out there on Thursday. We questioned society and the norms we take for granted on a physical place, a property where those norms are continually upheld. Maybe we did something brave. Maybe just a little. Maybe a lot?

Check out my university newspaper's review of the Tuesday show on campus: http://www.dailynexus.com/2011-06-02/museum-woman-art-life-inspiring-form/

She got it, and it sounded like a lot of others did, too. One step at a time :)

The Museum of Woman

Tomorrow night's the big show!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173192126072999

The Museum of Woman

This blog was originally created to serve as a connection for my friends and family while I was studying abroad with University of Virginia's Semester@Sea. Now, Fall 2009 is long gone, and so, I thought, was this blog. But as I prepare to set sail again (this time, metaphorically), I thought, why not start up my blog again? Since, after all, I am a traveler and writer. So let's do it! Watch me, read me, live vicariously through me as I traverse the world.

UPDATES. I’m graduating UC Santa Barbara in two weeks. In the last four years, a lot has happened. A lot has changed. Obviously. Ugh, I’m boring myself. The point of this lack of a story is… there is an ending to this story. I am so fortunate to have an “ending”—a culmination of my work. A senior thesis project. A performance.

Leading me to my conclusion: after a year of work on this project (and four years of work in theater), I am one week away from presenting “The Museum of Woman.” Not my first play ever produced, but the first time I truly saw a project start to finish essentially on my own. Well, not really on my own, because I have such a fantastic support system/cast/advisor, etc., but this was my idea, my concept, my original research, my play, my direction, my producing. I’m even acting in the show! So thank god this is ending in a week. And truly, thank god I have had the opportunity to create.

Check out the facebook link to the performance: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173192126072999

After this performance, it’s off to Vegas (AGAIN), then to Greece, then almost straight to Cambodia, where I’ll be teaching English to preschoolers for 10 months. This life is a blessing! :)