A nicer evening

View from the A30 crossing, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

Today is a less exciting day for me and I am happy. I need to rest and stay in. Although, as a result of staying in, I am a bit lonely. Normally if I am not planning to do anything Carl usually comes over and we watch TV or talk or do something that does not require leaving the bedroom. That is always the nicest thing for me, just staying home with someone I really enjoy being around.

Here however, if I want to spend time with people I have to go out to the bar on campus and that is just too much for me. I cannot be drinking all the time and spending time with so many people! It's too much trouble.

This weekend I am going to have my first rehearsal for a play that I am in. It is called "Hay Fever" and it is supposed to be a British comedy from the 1920's. On Sunday I have my first training day with the Basketball society. Should be fun. I am looking forward to the much needed exercise! I am out of shape!

I don't have a lot to say today. My room light is still out so all I have is my table lamp. I am looking forward to my courses starting up next week because I'll be able to go into London a lot and I will something to do other than wander around RHUL with Hughes.

Bye bye.

Enrolment

Statue, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

I am finally an official RHUL student. I still have to switch my temp. college card but I was too lazy to do it today. I attended the Freshers Fayre and I joined the Basketball Society so I can stay in shape! This one guy saw my camera as I was in the queue and he said I had to join the photography club. There are a lot of geeky societies on campus like Sci-Fi reinactment society.

I didn't do a lot today. After spending some time on campus I went with Hughes and his housemates to his house to see where they live. They live at least 20 minutes west of campus. Plus the 15 minutes it takes to get down to the high street and the station--they have a long walk. Their house is nice, though. They have a lot of open space. Hughes wants to barbecue so I suppose we might do that sometime next week. I told him to let me know when so I could buy some veggies at the farmers market on Tuesday (it's on campus!!!).

Today is a nice and slow day. Everyday prior has been too busy and too social for me. Yesterday Richard took the train into Egham for dinner and we stayed out quite late. Well, I got home around 11:30pm. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and he ordered a bottle of red wine which we finished between ourselves. I didn't realize we have finished it until I looked to see how much was left! After that we walked over to a pub called the Red Lion and chatted for a bit until his train arrived. All in all, it was a nice evening.

Tomorrow I am going to collect all of my reading material for next week's lectures. I want to be prepared! I definately do not want to give off the impression that I am some idiot American. My Music and Musicology class should be boring. Our first lecture is called "Introduction to Musicology: Writing and Presenting". Although I know it will be very helpful in the long run. Luckily our reading isn't a lot. I can't complain really, what else do I have to do at this point? Just reading!

By the way, resturants are too expensive in England. I am never buying food at a restaurant again. I am only eating in. The only outside food I will buy is fast food at Mark and Spencers. The meal between Richard and myself was literally 80 dollars. I...just...can't fathom. Well, the bottle of wine was 20 dollars. But still. It's just too expensive to eat out a lot around here. Best to just stop at the local fish and chip shop if you're hungry or else Mark and Spencers is really good for quick food and it's way cheaper.

If anyone wants to send me a care package...please include those tiny jawbreakers from the Sweet Factory. Those are good!

Idomeno canceled in Germany

Allegedly, Idomeno's performance in a German opera house was canceled due to possible Muslim backlash. However, the scene in question (according to the article I am linking in this post) also shows the severed head of Jesus so what is the big deal?


Berlin opera canceled after religious threats

Sounds to me like the director was too proud to get rid of her own added ended to Mozart's original ending of the opera. He reason is that no religious figurehead as brought peace. It seems to me that she is really trying to make some sort of political artistic statemet by canceling her own opera over possible threats. All she has to do is take out the heads of Muhammad, Jesus, and Bhuddha (I can't believe she is beheading Bhuddha she's really ignorant) and just leave the head of Poseidon. It seems like it is just an excuse to foment more ideas of Muslims who will turn to violence over such things, amongst non-Muslims in the Western world.

In other German news, I read that some of Hitler's alledged watercolors were being auctioned off in Cornwall today and that the auction was crashed by a funny British comedian and a man dressed as Hitler offering 'six millon as the painting was a Mussolini.' In otherwords, it is likely that these amateur watercolors are in fact fake. Yeah...I really want a watercolor by Adolf Hitler hanging in my hall way. Definately good for conversation at the dinner table.

Hidden trails and Ethno students

Hidden House, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

I finally met the person I found on MySpace at our Computer Centre induction. She seems alright but I don't think we hit it off quite well. I told her she could come back to my place because she had to wait 3 hours before our Music department induction took place. We got back to my place and ate a late breakfast afterward I showed her my room but she wanted to go outside somewhere to sit so I went along with her (even though I would have preferred to stay locked up in my room) and went in search of a place to sit.

Needless to say, we did not find a place to see really but we found a hidden away trail that leads around an area that maintains several greenhouses. It was quite cool. Afterward I brought her back to my commons area and she took a nap. I got bored and she probably sensed it so she basically let me go on my way.

After that we had our induction for the department which was a long 3 hour introduction to the programme. That was alright up until one of the professors went off on a tangent about research catalogues like RILM ad JSTOR (catalogues that I am more than enough familar with).

At one point we were asked to talk about our Special Study dissertation topic. Seeing as I didn't have a clear idea otherwise, I talked about what I wrote up in my proposal and that seemed to hit it off quite well as the professor didn't ask me a single question. I guess I came off appearing as if I knew what I was talking about! Other people were being asked loads of questions as their topics were quite broad or else a bit unsure. There are three Americans in the MMus pathway, including myself. One I believe might be Opera Studies and the other is a bit wishy washy and I wonder if she will last through the programme (she is going part-time as well).

I spoke to someone who did the MMus programme in Ethno and who is now starting his PhD at RHUL. He is being fully funded (well you really shouldn't do a PhD if you can't be fully funded) and its seems that I have to figure it out by January if I want to do the PhD programme next year or else wait a year. I might do it. It's a 3-4 year programme depending on how long you take which is not really bad.

I still have a cold but cold medicine helps wonders. Tomorrow is a free day for me so I hope to get some rest. This morning we had a fire alarm go off at 7:30am which was not exactly the nicest thing but at least it didn't go off at 4 in the morning.

Monday I have booked a ticket to see a live musical performance of a SciFi film called Metropolis. That is, the score will be performed live to the film. Should be a nice experience. It was brought to my attention via the Film Music expert at the department so I figure I should take advantage of anything that comes my way while I am here.

Currently I am waiting for my mac and cheese to cook in the oven so I can eat dinner! Yum!

My first cooked meal

My first cooked meal, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

today i picked up my temporary college card and then picked up my student union card. i get my permanent college card on thursday when i am officially enrolled.

afterward i took the train to a 'london borough' calles hounslow so i could go shopping for cooking stuff.

hounslow was interesting. i wish i had taken my camera with me but i was trying to travel light as i was about to purchase a lot of items. it's sort of a poorer area of London and there are a lot of Muslims and South Asians. Many of them dressed in traditional clothing. It was quite something to see!

While i was in Hounslow I got a new cover for my phone as the keypad on the phone had worn with use by the previous owner. After that I shopped at a place called 'Wilkinson' which is basically the equivalent to a Pic'n'Save. I went there because they sell stuff for really cheap.

I have yet to buy groceries but I am going to do that this evening. My plan was to take the bus down to the high street and shop at Tesco but I just met one of my hallmates and he has a car! He just got here this afternoon and is currently unpacking but he is planning on going into Staines to the Sainsbury (a better grocery store than Tesco) there to do his grocery shopping so I will be catching a ride with me. This is good news as my feet are tired and I've caught what people out here call the "Freshers flu". I just have a sore throat and I feel a bit under-the-weather but I am ok otherwise. I figure I'll buy some Theraflu.

Tonight we have a hall meeting. Sounds like a real informal get together so we can meet and greet over soft drinks and 'nibbles'. Tommarow is my Music departmnet induction which means I'll probably find out where I am supposed to go for my classes next week.

I bought a Young Persons Railcard today, as well. It gives me a discount on rail fare for 20 quid/year.

I am having a nice time but today I felt a bit lonely. I haven't met a lot of people yet as classes have not officially begun and the students in my hall are slowly trickling in. The accommodation is broken up into Blocks (which are the buildings) and then within each block are floors and then within the floors are flats. So I am in a flat with 5 other students and we share a kitchen that has two tiny refridgerators and one stove.

In other news...our television is missing! I wonder if someone put it in their room...I had just fixed the reception too.

england

Outside my window, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

well, i made it. the flight went smoothly and i arrived without much problem. the weather has been surprisingly warm and i cannot complain. i went into london today where i met my friend for lunch. we pretty much wandered around london all day chatting and catching up on life. london was really busy as there are a lot of tourists out here still. my room is decent and i can't complain because i have my own bathroom.

tomorrow i have to go pick up my college card and my student union card. that is about it. i'm going to buy some food tomorrow as i have only bought cereal and milk. egham is a small town so i am going to take the train to a bigger city called "hounslow" where they have a wilkinson. at wilkinson i will purchase some pots and pans for 'dirt cheap'...apparently.

england is really lovely right now. i was telling my friend that i have to tell myself that i live here now. this is my home, for now. it's still hard to believe.

tuesday i have music department induction and i guess some department meet and greet stuff. the rest of the week is free time. there is a freshers fayre going on toward the end of the week with loads of fun stuff going on. next week classes begin. i can't imagine. i really can't. i must be dreaming!

as everyone out here says...cheers!

Aaron's got a knife!

Aaron's got a knife!, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

this is what happens when your mother sends you to an uptight religious private school. I visited my family in Monrovia today as it will be the last time I see them in a long time. I can't believe that I am going to be a graduate student in Ethnomusicology.

My bedroom

My bedroom, originally uploaded by vansgirl12.

just in case anyone was interested, this is a photo of my bedroom, taken with my new nikon d80. it's an amazing digital camera. it is going to take me a long time until i figure out everything it can do.

bob 'dillon' or bob 'dye-lin'?

my dad couldn't believe that the person who sings "lay lady lay" was the same person who sings "rainy day women". he thought one was bob dylan "bob dillon" and the other was bob dylan "bob dye-lin".


i leave for england on friday. i am in the middle of packing and it's a real pain. packing is my least favorite thing to do---ever.

no hangover = good times

last night's pbe show was fun. after having one vodka tonic i was quite on my way to a fantasmic night. normally i am very critical of pbe performances but last night they sounded awesome. it may have been the alcohol as they claim that it was a really really rock performance. however, i had a great time being with my friends. i'm flying out next friday to start my somewhat new life as a masters student in ethnomusicology at royal holloway in london so i'm glad i was able to have such a great time with my friends out here, it may be the last time i see them in a year!

why the emmy's ruled this year.

i didn't actually see the emmy's but i saw this clip and i knew it was fantastic for at least 2 minutes of the entire show.


colbert and stewart

old posts new posts

i came across my old blogger from 2001. i posted from my junior year of hs until half way thru my freshman year of university. it is so fascinating to see how we change over the years. i am proud of who i have become. i feel like i have so much ahead of me and a lot to offer.

yesterday nicole mentioned that one of her best classes was when someone asked "how do we define music?" and she threw out the lecture and just talked about that. it is true though...how do we define music? what is music? there are so many definitions and so many of them are subjective. someone might say about rap, "oh that is not music." however, they say that simply because they do not enjoy it. rap music is in fact music.

i guess this is something for me to ponder upon. i have to eat brunch so i can run my errands.

rhul drama for your mama

so just about every student at royal holloway is having problems with enrolment. it's really out of hand. the university's online enrolment service has not been working for everyone and forms have been mailed out late to a majority of the students. at least it appears that way from the bbs at the rhul student union. it's nice to know i'm not the only one getting information later than i should be.

my loan has been processed and payments are already being made to the university. yay! so i'm in the clear and i won't be too broke when i'm out there. i still will need to get a part-time job though.

as for my money problems in the local area, i called my old job and reported my lost cheque (finally, i lost it in january but didn't know until may and then lost it again when i was moving) and they are going to mail me a new one. that will cover the amount of money bank of america took out for the check bouncing (i don't use bofa but the guy who deposited it does) and then i can pay him back for the original amount. i'm glad that is working out, at least.

thanks to everyone who came out last night! i had a great time.

according to the student union counter, 13 days until term starts. dun dun dun!

just when you thought it could only get better..

it gets worse.

just came back from camping up north and having a great time with carl. i wrote a check a few weeks ago for my improv class and i must have been short about 10 dollars and so my check bounced when the guy cashed it (not his fault, i'm just an idiot who should keep track) and his bank charged him 90 dollars. that is crazy. i mean, i got charged for 'insufficient funds' but it was only 22 dollars. so now i owe the guy 175 dollars. currently i have 13 dollars in my entire bank account. hopefully i'll be getting some cash this week or i'm screwed.

update on this person

don't judge. don't judge other people. you are not smarter than them. you are not!


i need to tell myself this before i judge this person i've never met.


oh my god. she is also a pisces! i don't want to meet a strange version of myself!!!!!!

creepy coincidence

so...myspace is really freaky.

i put in my course numbers for royal holloway on myspace and it shows other people who are in the same course. one other person put their courses up as well and it turns out they are also american and studying historical musicology at rhul and we are going to have two of the same courses together. so i asked them to be my friend so we could keep in touch. i was just looking at her myspace and it turns out she plays oboe as well. come on...how many oboe players ARE THERE IN THE WORLD?!?! she is really into south indian music and it seems like she is really good at singing karnatek music. maybe she can help me get better at making oboe reeds...

small strange world.

the wickerman

well, i watched the wickerman today with my relatives. it was pretty awful. the ending was the worst part. i felt like i was watching a really great improv scene. the only problem is that the film is supposed to be a serious kind of twisted horror suspense driven story.

my nephew is off to kansas tommarow morning. it's pretty sad. he doesn't really want to go but he doesn't have much choice. hes going out there to some private boarding school. it's a catholic school that goes from k-12 grade, apparently. they are really strict and apparently the boys and girls aren't allowed to talk to each other. it sounds miserable. my sister one day decided to become religious and she became a traditional catholic. it's almost like being a chabadnik but worse. i think i would rather be a chabadnik than crazy catholic. of course, that is just me being slightly partial.

i don't know if i mentioned this, but i have my schedule worked out for the fall and i don't start class until 4pm on most days. i go to class three days out of the week and no one has class on fridays. four day weekends rock. i think i am going to get a part-time job so i can buy groceries and be able to go to the movies. it's insane but for working a typical college job, you earn almost 10 dollars an hour. i didn't even earn 10 dollars at my law office job and that was a decent job. i was paid 9 dollars an hour. if i get an office job in england, i will be paid more no matter what, i think, because i have a years experience working as a receptionist.

most of my classes are in london with the exception of one being on campus. my 'music and musicology' course is in Bedford Square near the British Museum and my 'Music in the Americas' course is in London somewhere. I don't know where exactly. It just says 'London' on the Music departments class schedule. My other course is in Wettons Terrace, which is the main building for the Music department. I'm a bit disappointed that I will have to travel into London for my courses because it takes about a half-hour by train. Maybe I'll be able to get a ride into London. It's only 18 miles away but it takes ages for some reason to get there by train. i guess there are stops along the way.

the reason why some of my courses are in central london is because royal holloway is a part of the University of London which has several 'colleges' around the London area, Royal Holloway included. so i guess some of the courses are taught at the central base.

i got my diploma in the mail earlier this week. pretty awesome. carl says i have to frame it. i feel happy to have finished. nothing lasts forever. generally we hang on to bad memories more than good memories, but in regard to csuf, i seem to only have the good ones to think about. i'm glad because my best memories are of my friends at fullerton. i feel so lucky to have made such wonderful friends. i don't think i've ever had friends that i could really relate to. i am very fortunate.

i think n.baker is right. i think i should probably continue working on my jewish music research. hopefully they will let me switch. the only problem is i don't know what aspect to focus on in england. i was thinking that it would be nice to do field work in israel since there are so many different cultural backgrounds in israel (jews from all over the world make aliyah and bring their home's culture along with them) it would be interesting to see what goes on musicially. also, israel is so secular that jewish pop music would be interesting too (not klezmer! and yes, pop music is a popular area right now!). but who knows. i need to get through my courses first! if i don't do my doctorate right away, i really kind of what to be a writer for a while. i actually have experience and i've been published as a journalist so i might have a chance. who knows. those long vacations for teachers is so tempting...