End of Semester!

Yesterday was the last day of classes – I handed in my two 3000 word essays (the only required projects up to this point), and that was that. Woah. Im not really sure when the semester happened. Compared to the American system, there is a lot less contact / in class time in the UK. My three classes - Music History, Wagner Seminar, and Composition - met twice a week, once a week, and every other week respectively. There was also a lot less work, so the semester just seemed to breeze by. The UK system leaves the amount of work you complete up to your own discretion - the teachers hand out generalized reading lists, and leave it at that. This approach has its advantages, but I think the American system pushes you harder. The standout classes were Wagner Seminar and Composition, both smallish third year courses, while History was a large second year lecture. The teacher for Wagner seminar was this badass young Irish woman with an endearing habit of pronouncing “myth” as “mit,” and whokept the class pretty lively. Wagner was a total asshole (read “Judaism in Music” – actually don’t read it), and I think his music is pretty awfully, but he is just crazy enough to be interesting to study. The very long DVD screenings we had of Wagner’s operas (the longest takes 3 days to perform) – were bearable only because of snacks and wine. Wagner seminar was also the most “American in style,” and most of the students here seemed to regard it as the most difficult. Composition was good because my tutor – who I unfortunately got to see only every other week, told me to “stop writing like an American!” and pushed me in some new directions. I have been trying to listen to a lot of European and UK music while I have been over here. I have to turn in a portfolio of compositions (Bach Soc. piece and a wind quintet) at the end of April. So that’s it for academics – I have two exams in May, and an additional presentation for Wagner Seminar at the end of April. To celebrate the end of classes, I made some chicken tikka and Indian rice (came out most excellently – thanks Laxmi) on Thursday. Afterwards Mads, Anna, Katy, and I played Kings and watched “Little Britain” – a popular comedy show that pokes fun at various contemporary British stereotypes. Most of the show seems to involve the two main actors getting decked out with fat suits and fake bad teeth (or maybe they are real?) and acting as unpleasant as possible. It is oddly fascinating. Yesterday Annabel and Katy hosted a big party at their flat, and most all of the usual suspects were in attendance. Good times. Last week I went with Chamber Choir to St. Andrews – a small university town across the Firth of Forth in the Kingdom of Fife. What great names. St. Andrews (the Uni where Prince William attended) is a very strange place indeed – all the students were red capes (Transylvanian count style), and the way the cape is worn indicates whether its wearer is a first, second, third, or fourth year student. Some people were walking around with the cape appearing to be falling off – but apparently that just means they are seniors. With its capes, isolated location and gothic campus, the whole thing felt quite Harry Potter. The town - a collection of small, quaint buildings, nestled up against the ocean – is quite tiny, but very clean and attractive. The landscape is dominated by a giant ruined cathedral (the former seat of the Kirk of Scotland) and an old castle, both of which sit atop rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. The day we went was cold and moody (as Scotland often seems to be), with the sun occasionally breaking out through dark clouds to illuminate the bright blue sea, rocky headlands, and distant snowy mountains. I had fish and chips lunch with the choir at a pub, and we spent the day walking about the town. At 5PM we performed a concert of music from the previous semester (I was mostly sight reading) to a very small audience in a beautiful old chapel run by the Uni. Later that evening, we had a very good time at the home of some friends of the choir director (the ever ridiculous but excellent Eric von Ibler), who were kind enough to provide us with various fried treats and white wine. Speaking of fried things – last week I had a complete English breakfast (tomato-y baked beans required) at a restaurant with Jack and Andrew. The main purpose of this breakfast - I had had a very delicious English Breakfast for Courntey’s birthday in early March - was to try “blood pudding,” which we had not partaken of at Courtney’s birthday. The pudding looks harmless enough – like black hash brown, and tastes like some familiar fried food that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. However, the thought of its contents were too much for me and I couldn’t really eat it. So much for being an adventurous eater – yesterday I downed an entire box of delicious Jaffa Cakes (spongy cake with orange jelly covered in chocolate), which was much more to my liking. Anyways I guess that’s all for now – next week my dad is coming in for a few days (up from a physics conference in London), and then Im off to Spain to visit Don Lopez.

PS - sorry about lack of pictures - my computer has problems. I have posted all pictures on facebook.