Closing Ceremonies

The Best Concert Ever

I will never attend such a huge concert in my life, unless I go to a Closing Ceremony in the USA. 

I was incredibly depressed when the torch went out. It was such an extreme emotion I felt. More than any other Olympics, I felt so attached to these ones. It's such a weird feeling knowing that something's finally over. London is definitely have an Olympic hang over after these games!

I loved hearing all the music that I know and love from England. I know that so many people don't know all these bands and therefore it wasn't as surreal of an experience for them. British music has always been a bit of an obsession for me so seeing this show made me really happy. I loved when the whole crowd would sing together or clap. I also thought that the idea to make the stage a Union Jack was very creative and worked well. Personally, being in the actual audience made me feel like there were no lulls in the performance. I thought it was spectacular to see the Spice Girls, George Michael, Take That, and so many other wonderful performers. England truly has some remarkable acts and should really get more credit for their music industry. 

FUN FACT: After their performance, One Direction sat 10 rows up from it. It was really weird realizing that celebrities were sitting near me in the stands and I wasn't even there to see them. Haha!

Sadly my camera died only after approximately 20 minutes of pictures. I could upload what I have on here, but figure if you know me you can just ask me to see them. :)

Here is the set list:

1. Emeli Sande – Read All About It (Part III)
2. Stomp! Choir – “Because” by The Beatles
3. Julian Lloyd Webber playing to Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. “To be British, is to win the lottery of life”
4. Prince Harry of Wales and  Jacques Rogge from  Olympic committee arrive. UK national anthem “God Save The Queen”
5. Michael Caine, street party; group Madness performs ‘Our House’
6. Blur’s “Parklife”, performed by Queen’s Guard band
7. Pet Shop Boys – “West End Girls”
8. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”
9. The Stomp
10. Spelbound (BGT winners) – “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles
11. Ray Davies (The Kinks) – “Waterloo Sunset”
12. Emeli Sande – Read All About It (Part III)
13. National flags and the athletes
14. Elbow – “Open Arms” & “One Day Like This”
15. Men’s Marathon Victory Ceremony, Uganda’s NA
16. “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles, some appreciation for the volunteers
17. “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Imagine” by John Lennon
18. George Michael – “Freedom” & “White Light"
19. Kaiser Chiefs – “Pinball Wizard” (originally by The Who)
20. David Bowie musical montage + British supermodels
21. Annie Lennox – “Little Bird”
22. Ed Sheeran – “Wish You Were Here” (originally by Pink Floyd)
23. Russell Brand sings “Pure Imagination” & “I Am The Walrus”
24. Fatboy Slim – “Right Here, Right Now” & Another Song
25. Jessie J – Price Tag
26. Tinie Tempah – Written In The Stars (feat. Jessie J)
27. Taio Cruz – “Dynamite” (written by Bonnie McKee and Dr Luke, so much for British music)
28. Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz – “You Should Be Dancing” (originally by Bee Gees)
29. Spice Girls – “Spice Up Your Life” & “Wannabe”
30. Liam Gallagher (Beady Eye) – “Wonderwall” (Oasis)
31. Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
32. Eric Idle – “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”
33. Muse – “Survival”
34. Freddie Mercury (Old Wembley footage), Brian May on guitar, Queen – We Will Rock You (feat. Jessie J)
35. Speeches: Sebastian Coe, Jacques Rogge
Olympic Games are now closed.
36. Take That (minus Robbie Williams) – “Rule The World”
More fireworks.
37. Darcey Bussell (ballerina) – “Spirit Of The Flame”
Olympic flame is out.
38. The Who – “Baba O’Riley” & “My Generation” & more

Olympics Weekend 3

Women's Gold Medal Soccer (9 August)

Annie, Mom, and I at Wembley stadium

I must admit that one of the highlights of these games for me was hands down going to the women's gold medal soccer match. I have always been a lover of the sport and defend it adamantly when people choose to make fun of it or discount it as a legitimate game. 

I wore my Mia Hamm signed jersey that I have owned since I was in second grade and was extremely happy when a woman stopped me to comment on it. We talked about how Mia had been our idol and how it's a shame that not many people in younger generations will ever know about her. I was lucky enough to have had the chance to meet Mia when I was little and she signed my jersey with the phrase "Live your dreams". Even girls who never played soccer seriously know who she was because of her commercials and appearances on Disney Channel. I haven't seen a really positive sports star like her in many years. Hopefully soon another team like the USA team she was on will once again bring not only glory but also respect to the sport.

The game was very exciting. We were behind one of the goals but had a great shot of all the action. I don't think anyone really knew who was going to win until the finals whistle. It was hard not to get emotional with the team as they hugged and walked with the flags. You even felt sympathy towards Japan as their girls cried too. It's hard to lose, especially for the veterans because this is for some of them their last shot at a medal. It was such an emotionally charged atmosphere. There isn't anything quite like that feeling of pride when you have witnessed people you can relate to having success.


Men's Semi-Final Basketball (10 August)

Tip off!

We attended the Team USA vs Argentina game. This game was supposed to be a tough one because traditionally whoever has won this game has one in the final. The Argentinian fans were very enthusiastic and a pleasure to watch as they chanted and sang together across the stadium. Team USA really needs to come up with a better cheer!

Watching the Dream Team was a lot of fun. Sadly I still found myself cheering for Kobe and wanting to BOO LeBron. Some things will never change haha! They played so well together, it is obvious why they are usually the favored team for gold ever year. The game was very high scoring for Team USA and although Argentina put up a fight, the cards were not in their favor. 

Track & Field (11 August)

Olympic Stadium

MY SPORT! I said that soccer was my favorite event, but Track is a very close second. We got to watch the Men's Javelin Final (it's actually really cool to watch) where a man from Trinidad and Tobago won, Women's High Jump Final (which was my sport back in the day), Men's 5000m, Women's 800m, Women's 4x400m relay, Men's 4x100m relay. 

Women's High Jump was so much fun to watch. One of our girls took second and was overjoyed with that finish. She was crying with happiness rather than being defeated. It's always wonderful when you see the joy and surprise of doing well rather than the bitterness of defeat. She jumped her personal best - she peaked at the right moment and was rewarded.

Team USA Gold 4x400m

The Men's 5000m was fun to watch despite no Americans doing well (we even had 3 in the competition). Mo from Team GB had the crowd going crazy. He came from behind to win a second gold medal. The stadium erupted! It made me happy for the British people that many of their athletes performed extremely well in these games. 

The Torch

The Women's 4x400m was an easy win for Team USA. They smoked the competition. I was hoping they would set a new world record. That would have been a sight to see! 

Finally we saw the Men's 4x100m. The men were so fast! Team USA took second to Jamaica. I really was surprised because our men were in the lead throughout, but Bolt proved to be just too darn fast! He blew by as the anchor leg. It was so exciting to see this final race of the Olympics.

Fun Fact

The same night as track Tom Daley got bronze. :) 

My mom bought me the early birthday present of an autographed picture of him. 

Cambridge Week 6

Classes

Brief update:

This week was very short for me because I didn't have too much class. We watched two movie screenings which was great. I really loved Colonel Blimp. Roger Livesy is such a great actor. I thought the themes of national identity and gender were very nicely shown in this film. The film was about three hours long, but I didn't mind because I really liked it.

Sadly I did not enjoy A Canterbury Tale nearly as much. It got better for me once it was explained more in depth, but after watching it the first time on our own I was left feeling confused and frustrated with the movie as a whole because it seemed so random. I suppose my confusion came from the very beginning when I had expected Canterbury Tales rather than this movie. I really should have realized after the WWII planes flew in that it was certainly not based on the book. 

Family Time

Standing in front of Kings Chapel with my dad

My parents came to visit Cambridge for my dad's birthday. He turned 59 on August 8. We went out to dinner on August 7 and attended "Midsummer Night Dream" which was part of the Shakespeare Festival. I must say that I was very impressed by the Shakespeare performance. Despite all my bug bites I had a great time! The actors did a wonderful job interacting with the audience as well as adding modern flourishes to the play. FACT: You're in England and it is a dreadful shame if you don't attend at least one Shakespeare play. In fact, if you don't attend one I'd say you're ridiculous because they are literally in your backyard so you have absolutely no excuse!

Kirsten and I with our drinks

My parents stayed at the Varsity Hotel. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting Cambridge. It was beautiful and had a great view from its rooftop. We had cocktails on the roof before moving to dinner which overlooked the River Cam. I really need to go back to that place so that I can get the dessert - rhubarb creme brulee! 

Dave and Vera's 40th Wedding Anniversary

Back in Basingstoke (5 August)

After our taxi ride to Basingstoke we quickly freshened up and headed over to the Basingstoke Golf Club to celebrate Dave and Vera's Wedding Anniversary. It is their Ruby Wedding (40th). Everyone was in black tie attire. I wore the lovely dress Emily's mom had found for me at an estate sale. This was my first time wearing the dress and I was very excited to see how it would go over.

It was so nice to see them again. It appears that Vera and Dave had already told everyone who I was and why I was in England and introduced me to many of their friends. I loved that the question they would always ask me when I was being introduced was how much studying I was doing versus going out. It seemed to rear it's head at every twist and turn of conversation. Haha! But it was all in good fun. They always love taking the mickey out of me. 

They were very happy to see my family as well. My mom realized that this year it has been 25 years since she was in Basingstoke doing her student teaching with Vera. Both Dave and Vera mentioned my parents in their speeches. It's very sweet that they think so highly of us and include us amongst their close friends. 

I enjoyed playing with all the grandchildren. They are all such fun and each very different characters. I think it must be such great fun for them to all play together and grow up together. The two boys (not including the new baby) and two girls are each less than a few months apart in age. How brilliant to have people your own age to grow up with! Towards the end of the night, after dinner, they were getting very tired so they went home. Which meant...it was time for dancing!

The DJ was a lot of fun. He played music that was age appropriate for the majority of the people in attendance. My parents knew nearly every song. It was great dancing with the Cottrell family, especially all the wives of the boys. They were a hoot and a holler. I also realized that maybe I should learn how to dance more like my parents so that I don't stand out like a sore thumb on the dance floor. My mom likes to tell me that I should stop dancing like I am at a club. I suppose it is all this clubbing I have been doing at Cambridge!! 


I think my favorite dance was when the men lifted Vera in the air "Dirty Dancing" style. I thought they would drop her! But they didn't and she was safe. The Welsh family that drove over were really funny. They were the life of the party for sure. 

The next day we went to lunch at Dave and Vera's. Annie played with the little ones and kept them entertained. It was really nice to catch up with them some more. Always a pleasure seeing their family. 

On Monday my dad and I went to Lloyd's of London to have a tour around the place. It was a very unique building and I've found that I would really like to come back and do an internship there. FACTS: They insure J-Lo's butt there! Also because it is the 100th year of the sinking of the Titanic Lloyd's (who used to ring their bell every time one of the ships they insured sank) has put out their book of lost ships and put it on the page where it marks the Titanic. How crazy is that!!

Olympics Weekend 2

Water Polo (2 August)

I headed into London right after class on Thursday so that I could go see the Team GB vs Team USA water polo match. Sean accompanied us to it and helped my dad start many of the U-S-A chants during the game. It was crazy how many British people were in the crowd and how riled up they got after my dad and Sean would start the cheering. They immediately drowned them out! Chay was put in for Moses after the first quarter so that if they won a medal, he would get one too. The rule is that you have to have been in the water and actually play to get a medal. GB scored many times due to this change, but it made the game more exciting. Chay did a great job! Shea also scored his first ever Olympic goals (yes he scored TWO!). I was so proud of him.


Tennis (3 August)

Sharapova

We watched two full matches of tennis at Wimbledon. We saw Maria Sharapova play another Maria from Russia and Tsonga with his doubles partner play against the Spanish doubles team. We also ate strawberries and cream! FACT: It is a tradition that you must eat strawberries and cream at Wimbledon (I don't even like strawberries but these were great!)

The two Maria's match went by fairly quickly, but it was a lot of fun watching Sharapova. I have always enjoyed watching her pay on TV and she's the reason I bought my Cannon Powershot haha. Many people thought it was funny to yell "GO MARIA!" because both players had the same name. I think it was funny the first time, but after around the 10th time onwards it got a little ridiculous. Sharapova won easily.

Tsonga

The Doubles match was over 3 hours! It was crazy. The whole time I wanted the French because I love Tsonga, but the Spanish put up a good fight. It kept going and going! Nobody could get an edge, but then Spain had two chances to put it away and didn't capitalize on it. In a dramatic finish the French finally prevailed. 

Family at Wimbledon

Sadly we weren't able to see the other match we were supposed to see which was Andy Murray playing mixed doubles. They said they were going to move the Williams sisters to our court for their doubles performance, but again because the other match went to late they cancelled it for the day. It was really annoying that we weren't able to watch another match, but it had a really great time so didn't mind too much.

Men's Soccer (4 August)

We went to the Mexico vs. Senegal quarter final at Wembley Stadium. These were seriously the best tickets we had throughout all the Olympic games. They were 8th row! Crazy! Susanne and Jake came along too. The game was very exciting and went into overtime where Mexico ended up defeating Senegal. I seem to always choose the wrong team to root for! My mom and I left right before the game ended so that we could find my dad and Annemarie and hop in the taxi that was taking us to Basingstoke to attend Dave and Vera's 40th wedding anniversary.

Cambridge Week 5

New Classes

This half of the program I am only taking one class. It is on the magic of cinema through the works of the two greatest British film makers, Powell and Pressburger (The Archers). Our teacher is from Scotland and seems very knowledgable on all the topics. Luckily I am not the only one who has only taken one or no film classes. Despite it being my minor, I know very little about film. What is nice about the classes at PKP is that if you have no knowledge on the topic, you can still do well and learn a lot. I am very excited to be watching films I have never seen before. I think I will do the screenwriting assignment and hope for the best. I have never written one before so this will all be new to me!

Only 3 days of class for me this week! Very happy about that because it means I can go to London early for water polo. Yay! (Our teacher has decided to take away a few of the discussions so that we can do movie screenings at night instead...what luck for me with my busy weekend schedules!) 

Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Les Miserables

In front of the studio

The Making of Harry Potter (30 July)

My Uncle Steve, Annie and I left to see the Making of Harry Potter early in the morning. Many people believe that this studio is in London, but is about an hour outside of the main city. 

Our tickets included the audio tour that had Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) as the guide. I highly suggest getting this otherwise you can get a bit lost and don't get all the really awesome fun facts. Also buy an official program if you want to have better insight on what you are seeing and so that you can remember everything with the pictures you are taking.

Front Gates of Hogwarts

We started the tour by entering the Great Hall and hearing a small introduction about the hall and the tour. Once you exit the hall you step into one of the lots that houses many of the different settings such as the Boys' Dorm, Hagrid's hut, the Potions Classroom, and Dumbledore's office. It as such a crazy feeling being on the same sets that the actors used and seeing all of their authentic costumes. They even had the glasses Harry wore in the first movie.

I really enjoyed learning about how they did the staging, costumes, and special effects. I will warn you that some of the magic goes away when you know how they did it, but it also gives you a whole new appreciation for all the work that was put into the films. Seeing all the paperwork that was done for the letters, newspapers, and paintings really gives you insight into how hard the crews and behind the scenes people work to make movies happen. 

One of the most amazing sets was the Ministry of Magic. I can't imagine walking onto that set for multiple days to film. Even the actors have said that it was breathtaking. And I only got to see a little part of it! The paint and sculpting put into the setting was flawless. All the statues were handmade. Imagine having real artists do all this work! Too often I think we assume that everything is made through digital art, but so much of Harry Potter was hand done!! 

Privet Drive

We next moved into the outside lot where we saw many of the outdoor sets such as Privet Drive, the Night Bus, and Hogwart's bridge. They also had butter beer for sale in this outdoor area. It was so tasty! I wanted to buy more, but honestly it was too expensive to keep going back for more haha. My sister and I took pictures in Hagrid's motor cycle and the Weasley's car. I loved seeing the giant chess pieces! They were one of my favorites in the books and movies. 

Next we saw how all the dummies, goblins, and other special creatures were made. We also got to walk down Diagon Alley. This is where it really hit me that I was walking exactly where all the actors walked and spent much of their time filming. What a surreal experience! We had a look at a lot of the initial art for the various characters and paper models of all the rooms seen in the film.

Finally we got to Hogwarts. The model was BRILLIANT! It took my breathe away. I couldn't stop staring at it. After listening to the guide and hearing how everyone cried on the last day and how they know these films have changed their lives it's hard not to get emotional with them. Hopefully soon I can go to Harry Potter World in Florida and enjoy my love for HP event more.

Hogwarts!

Les Miserables (30 July)

After going on the Harry Potter tour we headed back to Sloane Square where Sean met up with us after his long bike ride in London and nap in Hide Park. I had a stroke of inspiration in the tube when I saw the posters for Les Miserables. We decided on a whim to purchase tickets and see the show. I hadn't seen the show since I was eight years old before my sister was born, so I was eager to see it again. On Broadway I recall it being very good, but I couldn't say if I can really compare that version to the cast on the West End. We made it to Queen's Theatre in 30 minutes moving at a brisk pace, which was quite nice seeing as I haven't been getting much exercise ha! As usual the musical was great, there were some actors that had stronger singing voices than others but overall I really enjoyed the experience. The stage they use never ceases to amaze me. HINT: They have £25 tickets for students under 25