Thursday

After class I went to the Bloomsbury farmers market and got a boar burger and seafood paella to take away. At night, Kody and I took a very long walk (because we got lost) through the South Bank and to the Globe to see Measure for Measure. Kody became a groundling and I stayed in our very limited view seats. It was neat. I hope I can make it back for the other show!

Wednesday

After thinking of a lot of stuff in class, I decided to go home and work on homework. I was very productive! I got to go to bed at a decent hour and relax. I also was able to talk to everyone back home which was nice because I was very homesick. 

I ate a burger and carrots for lunch and pasta for dinner even though I don't like pasta. 

We worked on our observation forms for class together which was stressful.

We went out for karaoke and that was a lot of fun. Everyone, including non MME's, did a great job. I sang "Take a Bow" by Rihanna. There were some awesome performances: Bonnie, Jackie, Chris and Laura, Dan and Brad... everyone did great! 

I love our group of friends here. There are some incredible human beings among us. 

Tuesday, July 14

Today we had class. We made lots of transfers and watched a cool video about the voice.

After class, Kristy, Derek, Kevin and I headed out to Greenwich. Our plan was to go to the Royal Naval Chapel and sing Tallis where Tallis was the resident composer, but there was graduation today so we couldn't get in! What a bummer!
Anyway, we walked to the tube and took the tube to the DLR and then took that to Greenwich. I wanted to eat at the Admiral Hardy pub so we did. It wasn't that great. I got fish and chips and a pint of something but I can't remember what now. I doused my meal with malt vinegar.
After that, we went and got gelato. After sampling pretty much every flavor collectively, I got the coffee and salted caramel. I ate it so slow it was so delicious.
We walked to the Royal Observatory but had to stop off at the bathroom, so we went to the bathroom in the Queen's House. Then we set upon our journey to the Royal Observatory. I say this because it is like a 6 minute walk up a... 50 degree slope. It was very steep and kind of actually scary to walk on. But we made it and saw the clock of some sort and also the prime meridian! After lots of pictures we went back to the bathroom in the Queen's house. After that we were going to go to the Painted Room and the Chapel I think they are called but there was graduation from the business school so everything was closed. I was very disappointed because it meant we couldn't not sing where Tallis was resident composer for the king and queens BUT we did find out he was buried in or around a church very nearby so we went and sang there. The results were less than stellar but it was so cool. In addition, I saw things I didn't see before including a stain glass window of Tallis and his organ. It was neat to sing Tallis where he was the accompanist/organist.

After that we headed to go see the Cutty Sark (need to look up that spelling). We heard a singer, Sara Bird who was okay and then we walked to look at the Thames.
After that we walked back to the train and I thought this guy was going to try to take Kristy and me. Luckily Derek was a pal and stepped in. It was scary!

Monday, July 13

Today we had the pleasure of going to the University of the City of London or something like that.
First we walked by the site where the bus bomb of 7/7 happened. I couldn't really see anything but I had seen a lot on the news about it recently since the anniversary was just last week.

The first lecture was about how we as humans were meant to have music. That was neat and the kid was really cute. His rendition of Twinkle Twinkle little star was off the hook.

The second lecture was more of a session and it was about communicating and singing and teaching. It was fun!
Things to remember:
-climbing a rope ladder
-buzz bee friend
-swing

Lunch was cool. I talked to this guy that was joining us, Francisco from Seville who was here researching. Apparently he is a professor at Loyola Seville. Sounds like he teaches everything. The food was cheap and okay.

The 3rd lecture was about research and defining good singing.

I came back and wanted to pass out and I think I did nap for a bit. Kevin and Derek convinced us to go to Parliment and Big Ben and I'm so glad I went. We watched them talk about the budget. The building was so cool. Guy Fawkes!

Big Ben was pretty. It was a good day.

Sunday, July 12

Today, I got up and walked with Derek to St. Paul's Cathedral. We were originally planning on going to Westminster Abbey to sit in the choir for the service, but then we found out that most of our classmates were going to St. Paul's because the Mass setting they were using was the same Mass that we sang last year as part of our program! The Mass was Missa Sancti Nicolai.
Last year individuals had their own movements and several soloists sang. This was actually used for the purpose that Haydn for which Haydn wrote- to be used in service- not just to be sung for a concert.
The soloists were wonderful. 1 boy soprano, a male alto and a tenor and bass. I LOVE LITTLE BOY SOPRANOS and he was spectacular. The little boys were all so cute as well. I want to have about 80 little boy singers as sons. It was fun to hear. The organist played a lot of out there stuff which was a nice contrast to the Haydn. Also, the Amen that the choir sang was crazy out there. There was a full orchestra which was different than our performance last year, and that was neat. 1 bass, 2 cellos a few violins and 2 french horns. I was paying more attention to the singers.

The readings were very strange and I was sleepy, and the homily was equally strange, but the end of the homily had a good message: God will always love and take care of us and hope will prevail.

I just made a wickedly good grilled cheese sandwich with 3 types of cheese. Tonight we're having a potluck at the boys apartment so that will be fun.
There are 8 boys living in the apartment:
Derek & Kevin
Kody &
Charles & Sheldon
Josh &
Michael &
It is large a good place for potlucks.

Kristy and I are going to try to see Matilda. Because we're both 25 or younger, we should be able to get 5 pound tickets. Yay!

Saturday, July 11

My day started off running a bit late to meet up with Derek so that we could go to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We missed it, so I decided to eat breakfast and he was going to finish his coffee. As I was waiting in his apartment, I rubbed my nose and saw that my hand had blood on it. As I reached up to check my nose, it really started to drip. 25 minutes later of trying to get it to stop, we decided to walk to Boots, the pharmacy here. Pharmacists hold a lot more power here so I thought something cool would happen. He said I just needed to wait for it to clot. It had been 45 minutes at that point so we just decided to start our day. We got on the tube and headed for the Tate Modern Museum. I went back and forth all day on whether I liked the art there. Certainly, there were things that I enjoyed. Some highlights were Dali, Picasso, and Warhol. But there were MANY pieces that I disliked. A mirror, most of the performance art, white canvas with 2 drops of white paint and many other things similar to this. It did cause me to start a discussion. I have never discussed art with so many people or for so long. Sure, it is similar to John Cage's 4'33 which I do not hate. Someone said that music always followed the art-so we wouldn't have stuff like that Cage music without this kind of art. I don't buy it. I am not into it. I like a few pieces but the majority I find stupid. Despite me disliking most of it, we did (Josh, Kody, Derek and I) enjoy coffee on the stop floor restaurant. We had a great view of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Thames and lots of other stuff.

After we finished our coffee, we hopped on the tube at the Blackfriar's station and headed to the Natural History Museum. I LOVED this place. I love animals, and water so it was great to walk around and read. There are some really cute goat looking things. I loved the sloths. I loved the ancient giant sloths. There were lots of shells and sea creatures. I disliked the rock room. The giant sequoia was eye opening. We also stood on the earthquake simulator. It was pretty cool and I could imagine that an earthquake would be terrifying. I want to go back to the Natural History Museum, it has been my favorite museum so far apart from the Imperial War Museum.

After I came back and relaxed, ate some pasta (ok a ton of pasta) and relaxed more. Later, Kristy, Brandon, Tara, Marisa, Derek, Kody, Michael, Charles, Sheldon and I went to a pub for a drink. I got a pimms with lemonade. It tasted like ginger ale. It was good. The music there was fun. It was a great day.

Friday July 10th

Friday we had class and after class I decided to go home and clean. Folks were going to Westminster Abbey and to go get tickets to Miss Saigon first. Because I've already been to Westminster Abbey I decided not to join them, but I did go on the tube and to the ticket station and to the Prince Edward Theater to search for tickets to Miss Saigon. We sat in row S for 37.50. What a deal! I was overwhelmed that I spent that much so I decided not to join everyone else in their tour of Westminster Abbey, especially because I had already attended a service 2 weeks ago.
I basically hung out and napped because I still wasn't feeling great. I laid around for so long that I forgot to eat dinner. So when Derek and I walked to the theater to meet everyone else for Miss Saigon, I was quite hungry. The area was interesting- SoHo/Chinatown so I walked around looking for a take away sandwich shop. We didn't want to wander too far away from the theater so we just went to a food shop around there. It was kind of fun to be by all the gay clubs and seeing everyone getting their drinks before they went to the club. I ended up getting Powerade (OH HOW I'VE MISSED THEE) and cookies. Cheap dinner. And yummy.

Miss Saigon was amazing. Truly moving. Lots of phenominological moments happening. I really relate to a lot of the story since my mom is from the Philippines and my dad was in the Navy and that is how they met. I am bui doi! Except I wasn't left in a war torn country. But I can relate to not fitting in on either side.
The main guy, the engineer, was filipino and he was INCREDIBLE.
The girl was 19ish, straight out of high school. She was equally incredible. I couldn't believe how good she was.
I cried. It was amazing.
I came back and thought about it a lot.
It was amazing.

Thursday, July 9th

Derek, Kody and I headed out to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. I had already been with my family, but I decided it would be nice to go again because there was a strike going on the day I went with my family. I saw a bit more things and had more time to enjoy the paintings that I rushed by before. There was also less people at the Museum. It was nice to revisit the Van Gogh, Monet, and the Ugly Duchess, probably my most favorite painting of all time.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/quinten-massys-an-old-woman-the-ugly-duchess

We knew that we were going to go to the London Eye that night, suggested by Frank because the weather was nice, so we didn't want to go back to the flat because we were already somewhat close to the London Eye. So, instead we went to the Sherlock Holmes pub which was pretty neat. Oh, but I had to go to Boots first to get allergy medicine. It was my first time inside Boots and the chemists were very friendly. I also got antibiotics without a prescription.

At the pub, I got the Sherlock Holmes ale which was very delicious and also cheap. The boys had 2 beers and I just had one. There were not any seats inside so we sat outside across the street. Seemed kind of strange to walk so far away with their glasses, but that was our only option and there were also lots of people Derek had a funny moment with change and the bartender and I had a funny moment with the bartender because I ate an apple (I seem to always have many apples) and put my core in my glass. I'm cheap, yolo. There aren't any trash cans around (rubbish bins) because the IRA used to put bombs in them. So if you have trash you're just kind of stuck with it. Better than being bombed.

Derek, Kody and I were hungry, but not too hungry and also missing the US. We looked for a place to eat but couldn't find anything we felt like so decided to look for a McDonalds, and "found one" in the Waterloo station. We had trouble finding it, so Kody got a burrito and I got a lox bagel, but Derek found the McDonalds. I had a strawberry lemonade from McDonalds. There was a cute kid playing with me through this window. I was smiling at him and teasing him. I tried scaring him but the game had ended at that point. He was a cutie.

After that it was pretty close to 8 so we walked to the London Eye. I was stressed because we kept hopping in and out of line waiting for people and by 8:20 people were fed up so we got in line and were going to leave people. I was feeling so bad. The line was stressful. Eventually the stragglers caught up and managed to push themselves up to join our group! It was magical. It was the golden hour, we got lots of selfies and we also sang the hymn to the garnet and the gold up at the top looking down on London. It was wonderful. Phenomenological moment.

Day 3-Wednesday July 8th

Today after class I took the tube to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum.

Kevin had the Rick Steve's book. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I watched a video about a shoemaker, saw Chihuly glass, saw DaVinci's notebook, saw a lot of Catholic things like clothing, altars, staffs, lots of things from Asia like rugs. I wasn't expecting to like the museum based on the description of the museum but it was very helpful to have Kevin leading Kody and I because he had Rick Steve's London book so we got to hit the big important things. And I can't forget the cast room that had David who was just huge and amazing to look at and also the cast of the huge tower in Rome. It was a great time.

After that, Kevin, Kody and I ventured to the Science Museum. I was really looking forward to the Science museum, but it was so crowded and we didn't feel like fighting the children to get close to the exhibits. We actually did start at the top of the museum which was somewhat disturbing but also very interesting. It was all about old medical devices and technology. It would be so terrible to have lived back then without anesthesia or proper antibiotics and cleaning supplies.... But it was neat to see the drawings and things like that of the human body.  A lot of it was gross. But it was cool to see where current medicine came from. It had to start somewhere! After the Science Museum I headed back to the flat and ate dinner and did homework.

Day 2- Bend it Like Beckham

I really wasn't feeling too great today, so instead of exploring London after class, I went grocery shopping, cooked, tried taking a nap, did some homework and waited to go back to the study centre.

We had tickets to Bend it like Beckham. I was making fun of it a lot but I thought I'd enjoy it just because I enjoy musicals. Despite critiquing it a lot, I did enjoy it more than I did not enjoy it. Some of the songs were out of place and it got too long in places, and some of the dancing was inappropriate- tap dancing soccer girls in the locker room?

Some of the light effects were overdone as well but overall I enjoyed it.
I'm not going to complain about seeing a show for free in the West End!
For your viewing pleasure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0zifKatwvU

Tara and I split a bottle of wine and they forgot to set out the 2nd half of the bottle up at intermission. It sounded like a good idea so that we wouldn't have to wait in line, but instead we were sad that they forgot about us and we actually thought that someone stole our wine. Everyone agreed that I could play Jess in the musical because she was an alto, Asian, and athletic. We looked a lot a like.

First Entry

So if you didn't know, that building behind me is the Shard.
So... Shard + Y = Shardy.
Sarah + Hardy / school email = shardy.

Anyway, I am supposed to keep a log or journal. I actually wish I had started this at the beginning of my travel on June 16, but alas, I did not. I wouldn't have had wifi to post it on, so maybe this is for the best.

Before school started I attended services at both Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral.

Today was our first day of class and I was very anxious. I had no idea what I was getting into and I was sitting front and pretty much center (T-zone of success, y'all!). 3 hours of class and I was enthralled the entire time. Dr. Madsen is pretty amazing. And very intimidating. I know I am going to get a lot out of class. But when people move a mile a minute like he does, I tend to miss things.

Philip and Bill both did amazing warm ups/refocuses. I'll have to remember those.

Today in class we were informed that we had some mandatory museums to visit. Rough. We were also told to try new food. Tough for me because I don't like spending money going out to eat so when I do I want to make sure that I am going to enjoy my food. That is something I am stuck in my ways about. I love hamburgers.

Anyway, I got a chicken pancetta chardonnay pie with mash and peas and leeks on the side. I started with the peas and leeks, which were great, then mash and gravy, which were great and beautiful and finally dug into the pie, equally good but I was kind of full at that point.

Today I hit one of the mandatory museums- the British Museum. I saw some mummies, Greek stuff, Roman stuff, Napoleon stuff, Japanese stuff, but actually what I enjoyed the most was the clock exhibit.
Sounds super boring, right? WRONG!

There was this one with this ball that travelled and was supposed to represent seconds but it was super inaccurate, but really fun to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leDf-tHycAw

Another one that was a boat with an organ and guns and dancing people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Galleon

Plus lots of pocket watches.

Here is the link to the gallery I loved.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/europe/room_38-39_clocks_and_watches.aspx

I'll try to play catch up on my entire trip later. Cheers for now!