I'll see you on the dark side of the moon...

Hmm, very appropriate lyric, seeing as I'll initiate radio silence until Tuesday starting tomorrow...

Well, the list of things left to be done before I leave is complete...no more buffer days in between my departure, no more things to stall my time. In describing how I feel to my friends, I've likened this moment to being on the lift hill of a roller coaster; you can't get off...the ride is imminent. You're filled with excitement and nervous uncertainty at the same time, but you know that once you finally get over that hill and start moving that it'll all be OK. I'm waiting to crest the hill...that should occur when I get off the plane Thursday morning.

I'm very excited to be going over there though, to start exploring and yes, to start classes too. The Shakespeare, film, and alternative theatre (change from Intro to London Theatre) classes are what I'm most excited for. I really enjoy math and science, which is why I'm an engineer, but the thespian/musician within me is equally strong. I think that if I wasn't geared toward engineering, that I would've been a Theatre major instead. So, this semester will give me a break and allow me to explore one of my other true loves.

I must cut this short for now, because there's a few final preparations, but I'll post again once I'm in London with first impressions. If you're interested, here's the contact info for my other study abroad related stuff:

Photo album: http://community.webshots.com/album/560230499oWUbwk
Address: Timothy Politano
University of Notre Dame
Flat 31, The Landward
Harrowby Street
London W1H 5HB
England

Take care until I'm across the pond!

The Journey Approacheth...

"...for lo, the time was drawing near when this wandering musician and scholar would journey many miles to begin a great adventure. But that time was not yet..."

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog! I figured since I started this thing up a week ago that I should probably write something. So here we go...I hope you enjoy the adventure with me.

Well, it's already August 14th...two weeks from tomorrow I get on a plane and leave this country for a whole semester. Despite that rapidly approaching date, I still don't feel like I'm going abroad. Right now, I'm just going through life like it's a traditional summer, filled with random escapades with friends, work, and vacation. It hasn't sunk in that I'm going to be having some amazing opportunities and adventures very soon. I don't think it'll really even set in until I get off the plane. It did set in for a while when I was planning my tentative schedule, probably because I was finally doing something pertinent to the program, but now I'm back to normal. I think it's also because I've had a few things between the end of my internship and my departure. I just spent an amazing weekend with my girlfriend and her family up in the Green Bay area and now I'm spending a few days with my family in Door County. Next week, I'm going back to ND for a few days to visit friends, watch band camp, and see everyone one last time. So there's still stuff to do...

While we won't know our schedules until we get there (we register for classes the first few days), I do have a tentative list:
-Playing Shakespeare (already registered)
-Fluid Mechanics
-Philosophy of Religion
-Seeing Britain on Screen
-Images of Britain through the Arts (required)
subelectives: "London Theatre" and "Art and Society in Victorian London"

I'm incredibly excited for the "Playing Shakespeare" course. The first half of the semester we'll be studying in depth Shakespeare's plays to understand the issues addressed within them and his use of language, as well as the nature of the Elizabethan stage and Shakespeare's modern day context. We'll get to deepen our study by seeing a few plays and writing reviews and analysis on them. But by far the coolest part comes in the second half of the semester, when we get to rehearse scenes in the Globe Theatre under the direction of a professional director to gain a firsthand knowledge and understanding of the plays. We even get to perform them on the Globe stage at the end of the program! Woot!! Overall though, I'm excited to have a more Arts and Letters based semester, especially one that's focused toward my loves of theatre, art, and music and located in such an international city. I could've tried to get another science requirement fulfilled, but I figured "When am I going to be in another country able to take classes pertinent to their culture again?". Thus, the film class and the various subelectives. Hopefully, my knowledge and appreciation of the arts will be even greater after this experience.

There's also plenty of opportunities in the city to complement my arts education aspirations. For one, there's an abundance of theatre opportunities. A few of my friends and I plan on seeing a good amount of musicals, such as "Lion King" & "Avenue Q". Plus, there are a bunch of museums within the city that are free to students. Ahh! The possibilities are endless! I could go on forever.

I also plan on traveling across Europe whenever I have the chance, which you all will certainly hear about. Right now, the only definite plans are to spend Fall Break in Rome with my parents, and to make it out to Oktoberfest with a few friends. But I'd like to go to Switzerland, Paris, Ireland, Prague, maybe Normandy or Lourdes, and around England. So it should be a very full semester.

Well, I hope you're all looking forward to further tales. Have a wonderful day!!