Turkey is Beautiful

One day in Turkey, we decided to forego the afternoon performance at the festival and instead to pay a visit to a nearby lake.

Totally worth it.

See? Told ya.

Oh, you know, just chillin on rocks...

Like mermaids...

lookin fierce...

lookin at this:

There was a weird cement pier/dam/thing that curved its way out into the middle of the lake. Couldn't pass that one up.

aaaaaand we brought snacks. of course.

From there we had a great view of the lake town, despite the cloudy day.

And a great view of a dead crab. there were a few of them around. The ants had a good time!

Sophie continued down to the very end of the pier

And I found this guy!!

(...yup. that's the end of this one. wanted to end on a high note!)

We Are Thy Labyrinth!

Earlier this semester, our cohort was invited to perform at the Arda Kanpolat Tiyatro Festivali, a theatre festival in Isparta, Turkey!  Unfortunately all 12 of us were not able to go, therefore preventing us both from taking a show we'd already created (like Midsummer) and from using class time to create a new show. SO, being the eager-beaver overachievers we are, we came up with a show concept and started rehearsing on weekends, putting together something completely on our own :) 

We started with the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and decided to tell the same story from 3 different perspectives - Theseus's, Ariadne's, and the minotaur's. We structured the show in 3 acts, each with its own director and its own rehearsals, and off we went!

Throughout the show we traded characters, exchanged props, and never left the stage. Super meta.

And since we were flying to Turkey on cheap airlines, we were pretty limited in what we could bring along, so props and costumes had to be sparse.

AND, since we would be performing for a predominantly Turkish audience (with others from Iran, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic), we knew we couldn't rely on their understanding of English. So while we used words, we called upon our physical theatre powers to communicate!

We created a badass minotaur:

...that had to fight!

Actually there were 3 minotaur versions, varying in size. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the 2nd one (made of 2 people) but you'll see the third one later.

There was dancing!

And drama!

And lots of string!!

no seriously there was a ton of string. Oh, and that's minotaur version 3. too bad you can't see his physicality. it was cool. That was for the Minotaur's perspective.

After the show, we were super sweaty, but excited to have had a great performance! Our helper/guide Berkay ran backstage and took this photo of (some of) us:

In the end, we got an trophy! The Jury's Special Award! Which basically means that they wanted to recognize us, but didn't give us any of the other awards (like best actor or scene design, etc). It was pretty cool!

(photos by Claudia Schnurer)

True Life: We Are Fashion Models in Italy

But seriously, we are.

Our movement professor is friends with a shop owner in town, who wanted to have a fashion show / event to release her spring collection. soooo......

this happened:

Hair got crazy:

(there is a water bottle inside Fran's hair. magic!)

The behind the scenes folk: Veronica, the shop owner, Claudia, the director, and Gianni, our sound guy!

Back"stage" (aka, behind a shelf of clothes), and ready to go!

Yup. It happened:

we made fun of models.

The guys:

The gals:

Why yes, we did wear multiple outfits, and have choreographies/scenes to accompany the styles:

It got intense...

and weird...

and dramatic...

and silly...

and crazy!

look at those faces...

I foresee big things in our future...

To book us for your new collection premiere, please comment below.

Day 5: Big Deals in Berlin!

On our last full day in Berlin, Fran, G. Ben, and I went for a walk and made another amazing discovery:

Yes, my friends, not just a second hand shop, this is JUMBO SECOND HAND!

And while the store itself wasn't jumbo, their stock was. Tons of stuff. Really good quality, and ridiculously well organized:

Yes, that is a rack of similarly-cut leather jackets, arranged by color. Welcome to Germany.

Anyone need some thigh-high boots?

Actually I think those might be considered weapons...

Fran found adorable tiny shoes:

I found ridiculous giant shoes:

And then there was this:

When we had sufficiently decided that we couldn't afford any of the awesome things we found there, we went to Gorlitzer Park and had lunch at the Edleweiss Cafe. Yet another delicious meal, and a comfy place to do a bit of reading:

Can't go to berlin and not have CurryWurst from Curry36!

In case you were wondering, yes, the smaller beer is Fran's. Hey Fran! Let's argue about a feminist interpretation of that photo!

Finally we found our way to the Berliner Ensemble, Brecht's Theatre.

Fran likes Brecht. A lot. So much that she bought a ticket to see 3 hours of Shakespeare's sonnets performed in German, just to see the Berliner Ensemble perform. She was very excited about her ticket:

This concludes Day 5! But because we left Berlin the following day at about noon, it is only fitting to include the fact that, for the sake of circularity, Berlin concluded with...

Brunch :)

Berlin Day 4: Apparently food is important to me...

One of the best discoveries about Berlin was the waffle shop a block from the place we were staying.

Tons of topping options, all delicious:

So delicious that we came back two days in a row. Which was good because G. Ben wasn't there the first time we went, and if he hadn't gone, I would have taken this photo:

Crepe with caramel, brown sugar, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream: Breakfast of champions; Breakfast of G. Ben.

In other news, there comes a time when your friends have a moment of intervention to suggest that perhaps you take too many photos of food, and not enough of people. This moment happened on this trip. So here are some photos of people. Enjoying their waffles. :)

And setting a good example for me, by taking photos of PEOPLE. not food.

Fueled by our incredibly healthy breakfast, we headed off to see the German sights.

First stop, the Brandenburger Tor:

Next, some more history. Berlin Wall!

Ok, enough somewhat-obligatory tourist stops for one day. Clearly it was time to head to an amazing chocolate shop, where you can drink wonderful hot chocolate in their chocolate-tasting room. However, I was so distressed by the fact that we got there late in the evening so they were no longer serving hot chocolate, and so distracted by the deliciousness of the chocolates we purchased instead (and overwhelmed by the number of times I've said 'chocolate' in this paragraph), that I didn't take any photos. Bummer.

So naturally, we moved on to MORE food, this time at probably the best Indian restaurant I've ever been to. Seriously. If you go to Berlin and like Indian food, get the info from me - It's amazing.

Between the 6 of us, we ordered 4 different soups, and passed them all around so everyone could try them all.

You know that moment when you try what your friends ordered, secretly hoping that you made the right decision and your dish is actually the best one on the table? I had that moment here, but the thing is, there was no Best Soup. I don't think I've ever eaten 4 such equally-amazing soups in a row before. And that was just the soup. Entrees were stellar as well!

Oh, and there was a big mirror, so we seized the opportunity for a group shot!

Maybe we should have discussed if we were making funny faces or not.

Oh wait, we could see each other. Maybe we should have looked around to unify.

Maybe it's better this way.

Maybe it doesn't matter because seriously, that Indian food was damn good.