To be, or not to be...

To be, or not to be - that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
or to take arms against a sea of troubles
and by opposing end them...

We're doing Hamlet. And guess who is Hamlet? Yeah, that's right. I am. But don't be too impressed. My group is only doing about a quarter of the play, and since Hamlet kind of has multiple personalities were being three Hamlets. But please, be a little bit impressed at least. I am actually going to learn everything by heart. I love the old English we are using and it's true what they say, there's a lot of rythm in it which makes it easier.

To die, to sleep - no more.
And by a sleep to say we end
the heartache and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
devoutly to be wished.

I have also been able to watch two different Shakespeare plays during my time in Oxford. First Hamlet, and then a Midsummer night's dream. They were both very good, and since we were doing Hamlet, and since the guy playing Horatio was amazingly handsome, we paid £13 extra to see Hamlet again. Girly I know.

To die, to sleep -
To sleep - perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub.
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
when we have shuffled off this mortal coil
must give us pause.

I am staying in a Oxford Collage residence which means I have a House Mother that cooks all my food. She's american and a very good cook. Today, for example, are we going to have a Barbecue in the garden!
The people living in Host Families have quite a hard time getting used to the food. Tomorrow I'm going to interview one of them to be able to say exactly what they get for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

There's the respect
that makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the pangs of despised love,
when he himself might his quietus make
with a bare bodkin?


A couple of other cultural differences I can think of right now:

1. They hardly have any pizzerias at all.
2. They have different bus companies so there is a lot of different coloured buses around.
3. They have book shops in every corner.
4. American movies have premiere a lot later in Britain than in Sweden.
5. You have to buy regular water.
6. They uses a lot of: Let me put it like this: "If you want to, I can't stop you." If you for example ask them if you can swap to better seats when the play has started.
   

Who would fardels bear,
to grunt and sweat under a weary life,
but that dread of something after death,
puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to other that we
know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
and thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
and enterprises of great pitch and moment
with this regard their current turn awry,
And lose the name of action.