Go Time!

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! Pretty much a day full of intense excitement, and some stress.

For those of you who know what’s going on, the reason for this is obvious, but for those who don’t, here’s a quick run down. Basically, about a month and a half ago, I met someone online, and we’ve been talking since then. His name is Tom (go creep Facebook here), and though at first I thought he wasn’t all that interested in talking to me, apparently I was incredibly wrong. He lives near Sheffield, about 2.5 hours north of London, and shortly after he found out I was coming to London for 4 months, he asked me to go on a date and I was more than happy to say yes to such a gloriously good-looking individual. This first date was supposed to be the Muse concert at Wembley Stadium on Sept. 10, Friday night, but since I’m allowed to have guests at the ISH, we decided that getting to know each other in person for a bit would be a good idea before going to a massive noisy concert where awkwardness would likely ensue. So, Tom drove down from Sheffield on Wednesday morning for a visit, which ended up being both extremely stressful and then extremely excellent.

The fun began the night before, with roommate girly chat and preparations, including getting both Brooke and Alison’s written permission to allow him to stay in our room, tidying up, etc. In the morning, I got constant updates of where he was on the road so that I’d know when to walk over to the ISH main building’s (very small) parking lot to meet him. At about 3 miles away, I walked over to wait… and then things got interesting. Somehow, the road directions led him wrong, and he ended up down Marylebone Street, which turns into Euston, way past the residence. I attempted to guide him back based on my limited knowledge, and owing to that and my inability to wrap my head around turning directions and the fact that these crazy people drive on the other side of the road, I think I got him more lost. To add to the excitement, my phone was dying, so I ran up to Jono’s room to see if I could access a map to find Tom. After much quick thinking, slight panicking, and locating of tiny little streets (thank goodness for GoogleMaps), I managed to get him back to Great Portland Street Station, right across from the ISH, and then ran downstairs to attempt to find him outside. A little like Where’s Waldo, but more rewarding at the end. I ran around the corner, and found him sitting in his car, in a very small side alley beside a Pizza Express, and, well, the rest is history. (I’ll spare you all the mushy details).

After Tom and I got to know each other, talked, and chilled with the roommates for the afternoon, the girls and I got ready to go to the first required musical performance, which was open to everyone: a full dress rehearsal of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House. The poor boy had to stay behind and keep himself occupied in my room with magazines, my laptop, and some ramen, but considering what happened next, it was probably a good thing he didn’t come along to witness my embarrassment.
Alison, Brooke and I got all dressed up and in heels, being very excited about the opera, (I wore the grey dress Jen), and headed to the Tube to make it down in time. In our rush, we had to run to catch a Tube train that was waiting in the station when we got to the bottom of the stairs. (Keep in mind here that the Tube doors are curved, not like the TTC). So we pushed ahead to catch it, along with a whole bunch of other people, when the door closing alarm started beeping. Because of the crush, my feet were inside the carriage, but my head was not. I am now aware that when they say “Obstructing the doors can be dangerous,” they mean it. Basically, I got into a fight with the Tube door and won… walking away with only a slightly bruised hip, cheekbone, and a large black mark on the side of my face. The people laughing at me made it that much better, but we made it to the opera on time! I know, I’m pretty much a selfless heroine… sorta.

When we got to the Opera House, we met our instructor, Sinead, who used to work there, and were handed tickets for the Grand Tier, which I was completely not expecting. We made our way up to that level, and were directed towards a series of private boxes on Stage Right. The box I was in, Number 38, was directly across from the Royal Box (marked by a gilded crown over top), and we later found out that during the regular season, our seats would cost £800 per. The Opera House itself was amazing, all red and gold and lit up, and everything you’d expect. I was half waiting for the theme from Phantom to start, and black figures to appear running around the top catwalk, but I also have a highly active imagination.
The opera was also incredible, (here’s a link to the wiki for a synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Così_fan_tutte ), and because of our seats, we could look directly down into the orchestra to watch the excitement going on. The plot was modernized to place the characters in the 20th century, with amazing, and slightly hilarious costumes (when it came to the disguises). There was even a Nokia ringtone played on a pianoforte to fit into the plot.
I came home blisters ahoy, and basically just relaxed, talked to the fam and hung out with Tom for the rest of the night. All in all an absolutely fabulous day, with lots more to come I think…