We made it!! After days of traveling Amy and I arrived in London yesterday around 8 in the morning. Of course it only felt like midnight, so we were doing okay but neither of us had slept that much. We braved the tube all the way to one of the southernmost tips of London, and spent the majority of the day with Amy’s friend Della. Della lives with her brother Martin and we spent the time meeting each other (or in Amy's case, catching up.) Amy is staying with Della, so once we got her settled we walked over to Re and David's, also friends of Amy's, where I'm staying.
Re and David have this amazing house in south London; from the outside it looks like an ordinary townhouse, but on the inside you discover a huge 4-bedroom 5-bathroom house, tastefully decorated with items that could have been make 5 years ago or 500 years ago. The whole top floor currently belongs to me complete with bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. Everything is quite European--the "clothes-dryer" is the line outside and every toilet and shower is an adventure. The shower hasn't been too difficult to figure out, as American showers are equally puzzling, but the act of flushing the toilet is always a path of discovery. Just a few minutes ago I actually managed to succeed in a full flush on the first try, which I consider a vast improvement of the usual 4-or-5-half-flushes-until-the-real-deal-happens.
Of course there is an absolutely beautiful garden in the back and a wonderful cross between a dining-room and a green house where I had breakfast this morning.
My first impression of the English can be summed up in a little story: at Della's house there was a beautiful calico cat. When I asked the name, they said they had no idea, they simply call it cat because its not theirs. Of course they feed it and pet it and take care of it, but their really not sure of it's gender or even how it got there. When arriving at Re's we saw a wonderful black cat. Once again I asked the name, and Re said that she didn't know and they just call it cat, creating a humorous sense of deja vu. Apparently this cat comes over because it knows it can always get a good scratch. So that is my first impression of the English: kind, caring, yet somewhat impersonal and private, not necessarily trying to get too involved with others.
Today we decided to hit the city. It was awesome. But there was a twist. When I arrived at Della's today to meet Amy, she had no voice. Laryngitis had taken over, and there was my professor with a notepad, tea and honey, otherwise completely unable to communicate. Poor woman: those of you that know Amy know that she isn't exactly quiet. Nonetheless, I became the translator and group communicator today. It's a good thing that I have taken piano lessons with Amy for 3 years now, otherwise reading her notes would have been impossible. She spent almost the whole day whispering and writing...I told her it felt like we were telling secrets!
Some highlights of today included Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, and of course the Proms. Going to the Proms was unreal; Royal Albert Hall is incredible, just like as glorious as every youtube video I've seen of it. And the big deal about it's acoustics being lousy, I disagree. Not really that bad at all, especially when you go in with the mindset that it will be on-par with Olsen Gym. The program was Wagner's Rienzi Overture, Beethoven's 2nd piano concerto (with Paul Lewis at the bench!!!!), and Dvorak's new world symphony. Fantastic. We met up with Amy's friend Mina for the concert and afterwards Mina took us to a swanky little place and talked about her fascinating life as a concert pianist and teacher living in London.
Otherwise, I becoming very familiar with the tube, I haven't been robbed yet, I love fish and chips, I love London more than I had even expected, and British accents are actually a lot harder to understand in real life than in the movies. But it's 1 am, and it's a full day tomorrow, so I have to go! I'm meeting up with Ben, one of my best friend's from high school who's here on some West Point Summer School thing, and then Amy and I are going to a Pink Martini concert at the Barbican! And a teaser for you lovers of the greatest baritone ever--I get to see Bryn Terfel on Saturday!!! Until next time!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ready, Set, WAIT!!!!
Following Andy's travels is turning into a game of red light green light. I'm trying so hard to leave, but God keeps turning around and saying "Red Light!!!! moohahaha!!" Currently I'm in a state of red-light suspension, aka Minneapolis.
Remember how I said "hopefully" the next time you hear from me will be Europe? Either I'm a cynic or someone up there has an ironic sense of humor, because here I am, updating from the good ol' US of A.
Two nights ago said goodbye to my car, delicious Mexican food, and my friends and family. I stayed with Bob, who's attitude is sometimes a little too care-free. The philosophy "We'll get there when we get there" doesn't really work for me when driving to the airport, but we arrived unscathed and only an hour behind schedule. Bob imparted some deep thoughts: "I think reality is sometimes a really big constriction," which I thought was intriguing and almost quintessentially Bob but not something immediately acceptable for me.
At the airport I ran into Amy, who was having difficulty with the self-serve machines, but in the end we made it to the airplane in time for final boarding so all was good. After an uneventful flight, we landing in Minneapolis and realized how indecisive we both are when it comes to choosing food. In fact, we are realizing that we will realize quite a lot about each other, and with all the realizations its probably good we'll have a 6-month break from each other after these weeks. But it's been fun, as we both have good senses of humor, and when our flight was delayed 3 hours because our pilot was trapped in Atlanta, we took our food vouchers and headed to TGI Fridays for supposedly our last American meal.
Upon our return it turned out due to London's curfew policy and the tardiness of the pilot, our flight was canceled. It has been rescheduled to today at 6pm, which puts us roughly 21 hours behind schedule. We were both good sports about it, and thank God we were on West Coast time, because it was almost 2 am by the time we got to the hotel. The hotel has been nice--I hand-washed all my clothes and dried them via hair-dryer and iron, and the only thing missing from my life currently is a toothbrush and some deodorant (but that's what multiple showers a day are for, right?)
After breakfast I took a walk while Amy caught up on sleep, and got to see the Twin Cities. It was quite lovely, walking over the Mississippi and seeing the University of Minnesota. Plus I made it to the Weisman Art Museum, which had awesome architecture and free admission, not to mention a Warhol and couple of O'Keefes. The only down side was the 100% humidity that made it feel like I was swimming laps instead of walking, and the 27 cents starbucks charged me for a cup of water.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get to London tomorrow morning!
Remember how I said "hopefully" the next time you hear from me will be Europe? Either I'm a cynic or someone up there has an ironic sense of humor, because here I am, updating from the good ol' US of A.
Two nights ago said goodbye to my car, delicious Mexican food, and my friends and family. I stayed with Bob, who's attitude is sometimes a little too care-free. The philosophy "We'll get there when we get there" doesn't really work for me when driving to the airport, but we arrived unscathed and only an hour behind schedule. Bob imparted some deep thoughts: "I think reality is sometimes a really big constriction," which I thought was intriguing and almost quintessentially Bob but not something immediately acceptable for me.
At the airport I ran into Amy, who was having difficulty with the self-serve machines, but in the end we made it to the airplane in time for final boarding so all was good. After an uneventful flight, we landing in Minneapolis and realized how indecisive we both are when it comes to choosing food. In fact, we are realizing that we will realize quite a lot about each other, and with all the realizations its probably good we'll have a 6-month break from each other after these weeks. But it's been fun, as we both have good senses of humor, and when our flight was delayed 3 hours because our pilot was trapped in Atlanta, we took our food vouchers and headed to TGI Fridays for supposedly our last American meal.
Upon our return it turned out due to London's curfew policy and the tardiness of the pilot, our flight was canceled. It has been rescheduled to today at 6pm, which puts us roughly 21 hours behind schedule. We were both good sports about it, and thank God we were on West Coast time, because it was almost 2 am by the time we got to the hotel. The hotel has been nice--I hand-washed all my clothes and dried them via hair-dryer and iron, and the only thing missing from my life currently is a toothbrush and some deodorant (but that's what multiple showers a day are for, right?)
After breakfast I took a walk while Amy caught up on sleep, and got to see the Twin Cities. It was quite lovely, walking over the Mississippi and seeing the University of Minnesota. Plus I made it to the Weisman Art Museum, which had awesome architecture and free admission, not to mention a Warhol and couple of O'Keefes. The only down side was the 100% humidity that made it feel like I was swimming laps instead of walking, and the 27 cents starbucks charged me for a cup of water.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get to London tomorrow morning!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Ready, Set, GO!!!!
It's time. In less than 24 hours I will be sitting in a plane , on my way to LONDON!!! I have moved out of that little house I was crashing at for a month and now I'm bearing the title "homeless." Time has gone by both quickly and slowly, and I'm in a frantic state of anticipation.
Packing was a little traumatic. I have a lot of nice things, but only 2 suitcases. So, decisions had to be made. Though I have repeatedly been told that 9 slacks is ridiculous, I refuse to believe it. Nonetheless space won out and 4 were sent home. The tie collection had the most causalities. My glorious 35 was reduced to a mere 7. But I simply did not budge on my sweaters. My logic: London is cold. I like sweaters. So I made it work. There is further photo evidence of this horrible travesty on facebook.
Church was absolutely wonderful today. I don't think I even got that much attention when I was born. The singing went better than expected--only 1 crack! The result was 4 suggestions that I audition for Il Divo and 3 signatures. (I couldn't help laughing as I signed church bulletins.)
Said my goodbyes to Mom, discarded my cell phone, and said goodbye to Geesila and Charleen, my 93 Subaru Loyale and the little Hawaiian girl on the dashboard. It was rough, as Charleen and I have been through a lot together, but her smile was painted on and her hips wiggled in their usual excited fashion as my mom drove away.
Oh yeah, and apparently I didn't convince Amy to ride with me and Bob...but I figure I'll find her in SeaTac eventually; I mean, we're sitting next to each other, right?
Otherwise, I want to thank everyone who is keeping me in their thoughts and prayers, and hopefully the next blog I write will be from Europe!
Friday, July 16, 2010
9 days and counting!
It is only 9 days until I leave!!! I'm so excited, it's ridiculous. After hours upon hours spent at the library researching and buying plane tickets, I have finalized my schedule. For the first 2 weeks I will be in London with Amy doing our grant work. How cool is it that I get to go to London and watch concerts with my favorite prof, all on PLU's bill!?! And of course, Amy lived in London back when she went to the Royal Music Academy or something awesome like that, so she knows city pretty well.
After the grant work in London I will fly to Northern Germany right outside of Lubeck. There I will spent time with the Lunds...one of the most amazing families I have ever met!
After my time there I will head to Switzerland to visit my friend Lukas. Lukas was a camper of mine a few years back; as his English was limited, we ended up spending a lot of time together as I helped him find rehearsals and communicate with his teachers. Over the years, he's turned into a great friend, sending Christmas cards and Easter baskets, and while I was in Bavaria his family took a detour on their travels and came to see one of my concerts, bringing Swiss chocolate and a Swiss army knife. While in Switzerland we are going to visit Zurich and many of the small surrounding towns, and then do a lot of connecting with nature.
From Zurich I head to Berlin to visit some more old friends, Robert and Josi. I'm not sure what we're planning here, but it's Berlin, so I doubt I'll be bored! From Berlin I head to Vienna, a city I've been dreaming about ever since I knew who Mozart was. After previous failed attempts, I will succeed! I'm a little nervous about staying at a hostel for the first time, but I know I'll be fine. Then from Vienna I'm going to Paris, which, knowing me, will probably be spent inside art museums. If anyone has a friend in Paris or Vienna who would like to hang out with a dorky American, let me know!!! From Paris I take that crazy underwater train back to London, where I meet my host family and then begin my four months of internship and classes.
Now I'm just doing the normal pre-travel stuff...pretending to pack while not packing, still celebrating that I actually got my Visa with no problems, wondering when the heck the program's going to let me know about my internship placement results and my host family.
Also, I've been talking to Amy almost every other day, finalizing last minute details. One of those in my mind was figuring out how to get to the airport, as I won't have a car or a cell phone at that point. Amy suggested riding the bus, I suggested our dear friend Bob. Amy said that I could ride with Bob and she would take the bus. In an attempt to convince her that this was a stupid idea and she should just ride with us, I sent her the following list of reasons:
Otherwise, 9 FREAKIN DAYS!!!
After the grant work in London I will fly to Northern Germany right outside of Lubeck. There I will spent time with the Lunds...one of the most amazing families I have ever met!
After my time there I will head to Switzerland to visit my friend Lukas. Lukas was a camper of mine a few years back; as his English was limited, we ended up spending a lot of time together as I helped him find rehearsals and communicate with his teachers. Over the years, he's turned into a great friend, sending Christmas cards and Easter baskets, and while I was in Bavaria his family took a detour on their travels and came to see one of my concerts, bringing Swiss chocolate and a Swiss army knife. While in Switzerland we are going to visit Zurich and many of the small surrounding towns, and then do a lot of connecting with nature.
From Zurich I head to Berlin to visit some more old friends, Robert and Josi. I'm not sure what we're planning here, but it's Berlin, so I doubt I'll be bored! From Berlin I head to Vienna, a city I've been dreaming about ever since I knew who Mozart was. After previous failed attempts, I will succeed! I'm a little nervous about staying at a hostel for the first time, but I know I'll be fine. Then from Vienna I'm going to Paris, which, knowing me, will probably be spent inside art museums. If anyone has a friend in Paris or Vienna who would like to hang out with a dorky American, let me know!!! From Paris I take that crazy underwater train back to London, where I meet my host family and then begin my four months of internship and classes.
Now I'm just doing the normal pre-travel stuff...pretending to pack while not packing, still celebrating that I actually got my Visa with no problems, wondering when the heck the program's going to let me know about my internship placement results and my host family.
Also, I've been talking to Amy almost every other day, finalizing last minute details. One of those in my mind was figuring out how to get to the airport, as I won't have a car or a cell phone at that point. Amy suggested riding the bus, I suggested our dear friend Bob. Amy said that I could ride with Bob and she would take the bus. In an attempt to convince her that this was a stupid idea and she should just ride with us, I sent her the following list of reasons:
- Your house is actually on the way to the airport from PLU; not a big detour at all
- You won't have to take the bus (no point, waste of money and time)
- Less scary homeless people in Bob's car than in the bus
- How cool would it be to see Bob right before we leave?
- He's excited to drive us and would be disappointed if you said you were taking the bus, and, really, what's worse than a disappointed Bob?
- I probably will no longer have an American cell phone at that point, and it will be way easier than trying to find you in SeaTac without phones
- Think of all the amazing photo opportunities (You and Me, Bob and You, Bob and Me, all three of us, individual shots; really, the options are limitless!)
Otherwise, 9 FREAKIN DAYS!!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)