Music of the Night

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA- entrance

  After the CRAZY day in London it has been kind of quiet. Sunday I slept until noon without realizing it, we went to a pub to have tea and wifi and learned not everyone here is so friendly. After a couple of hours, they shut off our wifi. We were a little shocked that she didn't at least tell us! Rude, but there is also unpoliteness in USA as well.

Monday we traveled all as a group to Reading Henley School of Business. We got a speech from one of their professors which was good and then we headed to a large branch of Johnson & Johnson. They were so welcoming and it seems like they have a lot going for their company. It is really interesting to see how they run their business for so many diverse European countries. One example they used was the Nordic countries because they don't believe in medicine but natural remedies. They actually have pharmacists that tell their patients to go home and don't buy the medicine. Kind of peculiar but very interesting to me. Monday night was a good old-fashioned movie night!!

Okay NOW, did you see that picture up there? Doesn't tell you much but we went to Phantom of the Opera and let me tell you it was awesome. I got chills at the beginning when they started to revive the old Opera and the Phantom of the Opera music came on. I literally was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The music, the cast, the production was all INCREDIBLE. I love musicals and they lived up to my standards. 

 Cheyenne and I before the play started (does the excitement show on my face?). At the bottom is Bre, Hallie and I, and I didn't mean to cute Cheyenne out, sorry Chey!

A couple of things to note: at the beginning the when the girl started singing her AHH aHH AHH intro part (if you know the play you may get it)sequence I was amazed. I swore it was a soundtrack I have never heard anyone go that high so perfectly.

 Also, they had some amazing sets. The phantom brings her down into her waters and they made the stage foggy, had candles coming up through the fog, with beautiful music all the while and it looked like water on the stage with a boat floating on it (he was punting! like i mentioned before). You didn't have to imagine too much they painted the picture so well.

To the left is the front of the theatre: Her Majesty's Theatre. I guess this is on the famous West End, but I don't know. Another thing to mention is when we were walking we came out at Piccadilly Circus and passed a movie "cinema" they call it, on our way to the theatre. Someone said there was a British movie star there that was in Star Trek. Now, if that was true I am extremely disappointed. Benedict Cumberbatch was possibly there, and I walked right by him. But for now, I am assuming that he was not there so I can sleep at night. You may not know who that is but he seems pretty cool. He's the bad guy on Star Trek. One of those bad guys you will love, trust me. Anyways the top picture is after they dropped the cover and the theatre came to life, also it was intermission. I have been listening to the Phantom of the Opera while I wrote this to set the mood. 

Today we had a guest speaker from the London School of Economics and he was good but a little too sure that his opinions would save the world's economy. The men loved him but I think the women thought he was a little arrogant, so that was interesting. Extremely smart and very sure of himself and his ideas. That's an economist for you. For example, he said that his mom's eye treatments were so expensive and he loves her but he thinks it is unreasonable that Medicaire pays for them. Whats an extra 5 to 10 years of eyesight? Anyways, thats just one example of what he was like.

Toniht a lot of us cooked dinner together, ate and hung out in the Stewarts' flat again. Got a little George Strait going on the guitar among some other stuff. So fun.

Okay here it is Molly. Miss Selfridge. Do you see that? I plan on going in there, I am sure it is glamorous and the owner is quite a character. I wonder if she's American and her store is the first of its kind?

Off to Brussels, Belgium tomorrow and then onto Paris, France on Friday. Won't blog for a few days then I'll have a long one!