I just had to post this picture- it's a fairly nice one!

It was taken at Hampton Court, where we spent the day admiring Henry VIII's 1,000 room castle with attached gardens. We learned a lot about the Tudors- Henry's six wives (two of whom he had executed), and his longing for an heir (that's why he kept acquiring new wives). We ate lunch on a sunny bench in the beautiful gardens, wandered through the maze, had tea and scones, then attended an Evensong (a sung church service) in the chapel before heading back on the train to Waterloo Station.

Let's see, this was the first night out of five that we haven't seen a classical music concert- Wednesday was the London Philharmonic, Thursday was the Philharmonia Orchestra, Friday was the Royal College of Music's Symphonia Orchestra, and Saturday was the New London Choir and Orchestra performing Mozart's Requiem in St. Martin-in-the-Fields- whew! All amazing, of course.

I keep finding little reminders of Ghana all around London, which is a pleasant surprise. I suppose it's because they were a British colony up until 1957. I just figured they were sorta opposite ends of the earth. We ate British foods while we were there, so I'm always seeing them here and I heard a Ghanaian pop song yesterday in Leicester Square that made me really happy. The traffic here is similar, too: everyone seems to create their own lanes and threaten to run over pedestrians without blinking an eye.

I wish I could sit down and write a really long post about everything- but we're just doing so much I can hardly keep up! We're supposed to keep a journal as part of our classes, but at this point my entries consist of a list of places we went and the experiences and impressions will have to be added in later.

Tomorrow I'm off to my second day working with Tyrone doing Children's Music Workshops in primary schools in East London. I promise to write more about that soon- it's such a great experience. British accents are even more adorable on children.

Cheers!

Here is my first attempt at posting photos- bear with me! On the left is a picture of our flat! We live on floor 2, and it looks really narrow, but the building goes very far back. I've been pretty pleased with the living situation so far. It's been really nice to cook for myself, too! We made stuffed bell peppers tonight that were delicious.









This picture is of the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall taken from Hyde Park, which is right across the street from the flat. Tom and I took our stale bread and fed the geese/ducks/swans on The Serpentine Lake. It's a wonderful place to people watch and dog watch.



This picture is taken from Trafalgar Square looking at Big Ben. The first weekend we were here, there was a big festival concert in Trafalgar Square for the Russian New Year that consisted of some really ridiculous Russian rock bands. The National Gallery is right on Trafalgar Square, which is very enjoyable. We saw some Van Gogh and Monet the other day, and we plan to go back to do the rest. We'll actually be going back there next week for our fine arts class.

This is a picture of some stained glass windows at Westminster Abby. We had a great guided tour, and got to see the incredible number of plaques to honor the famous people buried there. We stood on Handel's grave, hoping to absorb some musical talent.

This last picture is from tonight. Tom and I went to see the Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall (playing a bunch of really cool Prokofiev) and on our way back, we found ourselves taking in this incredible view of Big Ben and Parliament.

I have so much more to talk about- shadowing children's music workshops in inner city schools, bellringing with a local group in an old church in Putney, seeing Beethoven's 7th tomorrow, Mozart's Requiem Saturday, going to Hampton Court on Sunday- SO much! But, I must figure out where I need to go to watch Hamlet the opera performed for kids tomorrow!

Cheers!

I've been finding it very difficult to find time to update this blog because we've been cramming so much into each day! There is SO much to do here, and a good chunk of it is FREE! Let's see, in just the first week, we've been on a walking tour of the neighborhood we're living in (Kensington- one of the richest in London) and a bus tour of London, we've been to Westminster Abby, St. Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, three different street markets (Burough, Covent Garden and Portabello Road), and four different performances. It is all so rich in history and music and culture- and we've just barely touched the tip of the iceberg!

We got to see Stomp, which is a phenomenal group of actors/musicians who make music by playing a variety of rhythms on a huge range of "instruments" including everything from a tic tac box to a lighter to a kitchen sink to oil drums. It was just incredible! I believe they have made several movie specials (Imax, HBO, etc) which would be great to watch if anyone's interested.

For our first theatre class we saw a traditional English pantomime, or "panto," of Cinderella which was hilarious. To my confusion, this pantomime was not silent, but it had original music and speech just like a regular musical. It involved a lot of audience participation (booing and hissing at the evil characters, saying "awwww" when the main character is sad, etc) which was quite fun. The evil stepmother was played by a man in drag, a famous British actor who I believe was in The DaVinci Code, and he was just hysterical. Part of the tradition of "panto" is to bring in a big name for one of the main parts, and women played by men is also common. It was in a cute little theater, with an amazing Jamaican restaurant attached where we ate dinner.

For part of my opera workshop internship with Music Platform, I saw English Pocket Opera perform Hamlet the opera. It was the most creative use of a theater I had ever seen. We began sitting in our seats, watching the play on stage, but then for each different scene, we would move to different parts of the theater, including the back ally, the front foyer, and the bar upstairs. Eventually the audience was sitting on the stage watching the actors act in our chairs! They were incredible singers as well and I very much enjoyed it.

We had a drink last night at a pub called the Churchill, which is a quirky little place covered in potted plants on the outside, and the indoor ceilings are covered in what I think were beautiful chamber pots. In the back there is a small Thai restaurant, of all things. The drinks were good, but most of all it was fun to watch the crowds of British people. We will be returning to sample the fairly cheap delicious-looking Thai food!

Tomorrow I head off to my first opera workshop with children in a school somewhere in Tower Hamlets. I'm hoping if I leave at 7:30, I'll have enough time to get lost and still get there by 9:00!

Hope all is well on the other side of the pond.

Cheers from LONDON!!

The travel part was tiring, but fine- it's so nice to be here! Most of our group (there are 23 of us) lives in the second floor apartment of a house just across the street from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and just down the street from the Royal Albert Hall. It's a very old, narrow house, but it's got what seems to be a great kitchen, although I hear the stove top doesn't work at all. I share a large room and bathroom with three other girls.

Went to the grocery store today - Sainsbury's - which is sort of like a Fred Meyer, and the prices weren't too bad on most items. They even sell peanut butter, so I figure we're going to be okay food-wise.

Tom and I wandered around to find dinner tonight and settled on this cute Italian place where you could feel the tube rattling the floor and see the double-decker buses zooming around the street corner. We found two conveyor belt sushi restaurants that aren't that much more than what we pay in Portland, so Tom was thrilled. There are so many cute bakeries and restaurants- I can't wait to try them all! Most of them are foreign foods of some sort, especially Indian.

We have "Oyster" passes to the tube and bus system, and we used that for the first time tonight after dinner and took the tube one stop down to Harrods, the ultimate department store selling "anything legal." Unfortunately, it was closed, but it was beautifully lit up with lights. We walked back to our flat (we're doing SO much walking, it's crazy) which took us past the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, Imperial College and the Royal College of Music.

We picked up a brochure from the foyer of the Royal College of Music- there are some wonderful performances going on the next few months. Masterclasses on every instrument you can think of (except flute, go figure), instrumental competitions, and their orchestra is playing Beethoven's 7th, Shostakovitch's 4th, and Holst's The Planets. We're lucky to have this amazing institution literally right next door.

Well, that's all for now. We're headed out to the Imperial College pub to find the rest of the group.

Cheers!

Almost there....

Hi all!

I am currently in Minneapolis visiting the boyfriend before we both head off to London tomorrow evening. I'm so excited to go to London for the next semester- I've never been there before!

I've had a really fun few days here in Minneapolis- we saw Avenue Q, The Golden Compass, had lunch/ice cream with Maddie, Carolyn, and Jesse (who have been in Greece, Greece, and Japan for the past semester)- it's been fun. And really snowy for the California native!

I'll update this blog in London instead of sending out emails, that way I can post pictures pretty easily. Let me know if any of you have problems with it.

Also, email is the best way to get in contact with me- NOT phone unless it is an emergency (because it's so expensive). My email is jdoehne@lclark.edu, or jfdoehne@gmail.com will work, too.

Happy New Year!