You will find that Americans will somehow still follow you to every corner of the planet, just when you are trying to get away from the US. Even worse, you will find people you know and it’ll make your eye twitch – because how on Earth did I find this person here?
I say this because last weekend, I went with my aunt to see the Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theater. It was my first time seeing a musical in the West End. I’ve never pictured myself as a theater enjoyer, but that’s probably because I’ve never been in a city where theater is all that popular. Really, I picture poorly-produced high school shows that make you cringe.
I was flipping through the program I got before the show started, and lo and behold: a swing cast member who studied at the Lamont School of Music at DU. Excuse me? How could I possibly have found a DU alum in this particular showing of the Phantom of the Opera, on this day, at this time? I didn’t know that our music school was that good (no offense to any Lamonters reading this). He will never know that I was in the crowd watching his show, but it was weird to think that this guy walked around the same campus that I did, thousands of miles away.
But West End theater is no joke. Everything from the costumes to the rapid changes on set were something to behold. The giant chandelier that gets hoisted into the air and then comes crashing down onto the stage, the 2+ hours that are required for the Phantom’s makeup alone, the thousands of beads on every dress and suit are really something to see. It’s peak human creativity; refreshing to see in a time when AI can now “sing” a cover of an Elvis Presley song as Michael Jackson and auto-generated images are everywhere.
I have exactly one month left abroad, and I want to tear out my hair thinking about it. I’m having fun, living in a big city, and frankly, I’ve accommodated very well to living in London. Going back means that I will have to be dragged back into the real world with no public transportation and no more fun accents. So now I feel the pressure to do as much as possible (no matter how financially irresponsible) before I return. Despite the fact that I’ve already been trying to see the city as best I can, it feels like I haven’t even explored a fraction of it.
Maybe that’s something that just comes with living in a place as big as London. Things are always changing. The holiday season makes this especially apparent, as the giant angels floating above Oxford Street just seemed to show up overnight. When did they even find time to hang them up? There’s always traffic, and the old infrastructure isn’t the most friendly to modernized Christmas decorations. Also, Christmas markets have been popping up all over the city. Leicester Square, Southbank, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Old Spitalfields, London Bridge. When am I even supposed to find the time to visit them all? On the bright side (or rather, the dark side), it gets pitch-black at 5pm, so all the decorations light up early.
But alas, DU beckons. Whether it attempts to find me in the West End or through emails about the end of fall quarter or housing selection, I can’t escape its grasp until I graduate. (Okay, this sounds bad, but I think I just get sad when I think about having to leave London for Colorado, where people literally wear FLIP FLOPS in the snow and ice. Horrendous.) I think that for the rest of my time here, I will attempt to do one new thing every day, even if it’s just walking a different route home from class or trying one of the millions of cafés that exist on every corner.
Thank you again for reading,
Alexandra
DU Abroad 