Busiest "month" continues

Things haven't slowed down since we got back from England.

Last Saturday, April 26, Rachel arrived back in America, having had a fantastic semester abroad. After only a few days home, she's currently back at James Madison to audition for some shows and get next fall squared away.

Meanwhile, I've been in my new office for a week and have just about finished getting everything where it needs to be. There were a lot of adjustments and some small crises, but things should be approaching normal tomorrow.

And on top of that, Carol, Ben and I spent all weekend at Game Days, the annual game convention run by the Games Club of Maryland. As usual, it was a great time. The big hit of the convention seemed to be the new game, Splendor. We'll be picking up a copy.

And now to bed.

A New Companion

Rachel posted this on Instagram yesterday.

My life is complete.

Rachel (and soon others) in London 5

It's been a long time since I've done an update of Rachel's semester in London. If you follow her blog, you'll be happy to hear that she's actually made it past Day 8, the last post she made. She's realized that she doesn't have time to do a daily blog update, so they come in infrequently and way out of date.

Since I last posted, she's been through Spring Break. Her boyfriend flew in and they spent a week traveling to Dublin and Galway, Ireland, Berlin and Hamburg, Germany and back to London. From all reports they had a great time and saw a lot of cool things. Her class went to Paris a couple of weekends ago and Rachel Skyped me from the top of the Eiffel Tower! This weekend her class traveled to Bath, England, to sightsee.

She's in her final month of her London semester now. And this week, we're joining her! We fly into London on Thursday morning, spend the day, and then take the train with her to Paris. While in Paris, we're going to Paris Disneyland for a day, and of course we'll do a lot of sightseeing. Then it's back to London where we'll spend the following week. It will be the first time Ben's left North America and the first trip to Europe for Carol. I was in Europe an unbelievable 34 years ago when I toured with my church choirs in 1980.

Being something of a Tolkien geek, the first thing I did when I stepped off the airplane onto British soil in 1980 was to recite Frodo's part of the Tom Bombadil rhyme to summon him. Sadly, it didn't work. I'll likely try again on Thursday morning.

Rachel in London 4

Rachel sent us a text last night that she was in line (at 4:30AM!) to get a ticket to stand along the red carpet for the BAFTAs (British Oscars). She did get her ticket and was there when the celebrities walked the carpet. She posted that she saw Christian Bale, Christoph Walz, Dame Judy Dench, Prince William and Oprah, among others, and got autographs from Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Gattis, and a few others. She was really hoping to see Benedict Cumberbatch but he was a disappointing no-show.  KHAAAAAN!!

The BAFTA coverage started airing here at 8PM on BBC America and Carol was watching the red carpet footage looking for Rachel. And she found her!

Here's Leo signing autographs with Rachel taking his picture.

Here's Rachel, dead center with the black glove and camera.

Rachel in London 3

Rachel has started her blog, Life in London. She's writing every day, but she doesn't have the time to post every day, so the posts are a little behind the actual date. She's posted up to Day 7 and she's currently living Day 13.

Her writing is very stream of consciousness but she doesn't hold back her thoughts. And she posts some great pictures.

If you're interested, her blog is here:  Life in London

Rachel in London 2

Rachel's been in London for a total of five days now and she's already seen four shows. In addition to Richard II with David Tennant, she saw Rupert Grint in Mojo, Matt Smith in American Psycho, and some Cirque Du Soleil-esque show.

That's four shows and she's already seen Ron Weasley and TWO Doctors. Wow.

Rachel in London 1

Here's Rachel at Dulles, getting ready to check in for her Thursday flight to London.

I tracked her flight across the Atlantic using Flightaware and was put in no small amount of distress when the telemetry from the airplane stopped for three hours over the Atlantic. I finally checked out some other flights and determined that it's a typical thing. Stupid Flightaware, might want to post a warning about that.

She arrived safely and has been fighting jetlag to get through orientation. She must not be doing too badly, though, because yesterday she waited in line and got the next to last ticket ever sold for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II starring the 10th Doctor himself, David Tennant! She texted that it was the "best show ever" and "amazing".

Rachel Flying Away

Tomorrow night, Rachel flies to London for a semester abroad through her school, James Madison University. She'll have limited class time and will be going on many sponsored field trips throughout the country (and Paris!), including seeing nine(!) West End shows. When she's done she'll have earned her Minor in British Media and Communications.

Basically, this is a dream come true for her. She's been an Anglophile for years and living in London has been one of her goals for a long time. She's well prepared and organized for the trip, unlike some of her classmates who this very evening were texting her with questions about using credit cards in England. Oy.

During her spring break in March, her boyfriend will be visiting and they're going to Ireland and Germany together. Then in April, Carol, Ben and I are visiting for ten days. It's an exciting time for all of us.

Bon Voyage, Rachel.