Before I begin I should mention that the computer I am currently on does not have spell check. Spell check is one of the most brilliant/damaging inventions mankind has ever come up with. Brilliant, because, well, that goes without saying; damaging, because as young 20-something hoping to soon enter the professional world, I still cannot spell. Oh the embarrassment.
4 weeks since my last blog. So much can happen in 4 weeks. So much HAS happened in 4 weeks. I've been growing, and metaphorically the last 4 weeks have come and gone and left me several inches taller, complete with the pains and the stretch marks. I'm not a new person but I am an older person. This is an interesting phase of life, where I am forced to balance so many contradictions: the wisdom of age, the cynicism of experience, the arrogance of youth, the energy of childhood. These are overflowing within me, and like an unschooled pool boy I am frantically and constantly remixing the chemicals in hopes of finding a non-toxic balance. Thankfully there have been no deaths, but my childish inexperience has not only killed the bacteria but left rashes on some few poor, unexpecting swimmers.
Forgive me, my analogies are ridiculously extended, and by now you are no doubt wishing you had swallowed chlorine. Metaphors and emotions I abandon thee thus and now embrace the more simple and tangible facts. When I left you, my dear readers, I had just finished the big October concert and was preparing for the legendary midterms. The papers (as grades reflected) were anything but legendary, but the vacations were worthy of such an adjective! I began the break with an Ian Bostridge concert/lecture--he's tall and a bit awkward, though quite funny. Free CD and now a claim-to-fame later, I spent the first part of the break working.
By Monday I was off to Venice. Disneyland for grownups was how the city was described, and no description was more fitting! I loved it, though it was quite a fairy tale. If anyone tells you Venice is the most beautiful city in the world, believe them. I chased my Venice with an unusual trip to Cambridge. Alone, it once again confirmed that this is not my preferred way of travel, but I enjoyed the beautiful town. What type of University has their 800 anniversary? Not an American one.
Another week fulfilled its typical usual unusuality. I saw one of the most fantastic productions of Hamlet in my life, and then attend a Leif Oves Andsnes masterclass. After watching him sight read Mephisto Waltz better than an already-brilliant Royal Academy student, I wasn't sure if I was watching another fantastic pianist or a Norse God with super-human musical skills.
Then I went to Bath as opposed to taking one. The baths themselves proved to be the most unremarkable item of the town, though the abbey was probably the most beautiful I've seen in England. At a whim I decided to crash there for the night with a few others from the group. The next day was spent exploring various English towns and really getting in touch with the English countryside. Regarding the latter, there simply was no choice. Our request to find Stonehenge was answered by a bus driver dropping us off in the middle of a field. We wandered, climbed barbed-wire, dodged cows, and found the underwhelming world site only to be barred by a chain-link fence and £7 tourist fee. Fortunately, cameras can overcome chain-link fences. Unfortunately, batteries cannot overcome death, and I was forced to stop my photoshoot short. Back to London
Halloween came a night early in the form of an awkward over-50s pub. Yours Truly was an effected Andy Warhol, complete with an Eddie Sedgewick, a Glitter Fairy, some sort of crazy schoolgirl, though the last two were not connected to the theme. (Though considering I was Warhol, the latter two don't sound all that strange.) The lack of a dance floor only encouraged its creation, and I now find myself dreading when such incriminating videos will be posted. Naturally, my health had had enough by this time, and has left me withered with a raspy replacement for a throat. In 15 minutes I will go to catch a plane to Ireland--perhaps I should be writing down my family member's address if I am really going to find them.
If you are still reading this, you a brave soul. I find my head of late to be in the lands of Joyce, Mann, and Haddon. Though nowhere near their talent, I apologize, for you have undoubtedly been the unfortunate victim of such influences. Until next time!
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