Turangalila-Symphonie in Royal Festival Hall

Yeah, you read right.

On May 23, 2013, I had the opportunity to perform with the RCM Symphony Orchestra on stage at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall – only one of the biggest and most prestigious concert halls in the world – under the direction of Thierry Fischer.

We played only one work, the 90 minute long “Turangalila-Symphonie” by Messiaen.

While it may be very modern and incredibly loud, holy heck, what an amazing piece of music. And what a thrill to be able to play on the stage of Royal Festival hall, sitting in the same chair where I normally see my teacher playing!

…I have to admit though- RFHs stage is not NEARLY as big as I thought it would be.

The house is still huge, no matter the vantage point.

If you haven’t heard of Turangalila, please do go look it up on youtube or spotify or wherever. You may not want to sit through the whole thing, so here are my recommendations for the “highlights” from the 10 movements: Listen to numbers 4 (big picc solo 😀 ) five and ten. You’ll get the idea.

As a side note, here’s a write up on it I found from our concert listing on Southbank Centres website:

Messiaen’s great symphonic work, first presented after the Second World War, shocked audiences with its ecstatic music and opulent orchestrations.

Inspired by the Tristan myth, it channels intense feelings of ecstasy and erotic love using a culmination of all the techniques Messiaen had developed so far.

Free pre-concert event, 6pm until 6.30pm, Royal Festival Hall
RCM Sparks, the College’s innovative Learning and Participation programme, have been working with composer and animateur Rachel Leach, a team of RCM students and pupils from West London Free School and Richmond Park Academy to create a unique piece based on Messian’s Turangalila. The pupils are working with theme’s and motifs to create and inspire their own 21st-century young person’s version bringing together a joint schools mixed ensemble to perform on the stage on Royal Festival Hall.

Here’s a quick pic of me getting ready for dress rehearsal, taken by my friend J.S:

So proud of this moment, and even happier that my parents were there to see and hear it! We played so well!

Talk soon
x

Aberdeen May 9-12

I know this blog is WEEKS late, but I’ve just been absolutely blocked with work and then I finally got a break and haven’t been able to do anything productive, at least in terms of blogging!

Anyway, here is the month-over-due blog about my trip to Scotland!

My Aunt K, Uncle T and cousin’s E and K moved to Aberdeen, Scotland just last year. They live in a beautiful cottage (actually called “lodge”) at the top of a hill in the Milltimber area of Aberdeen, over looking beautiful farm land. I went up to visit them for a weekend, as I hadn’t seen them in ages AND it was a good reason to go see some of Scotland, for which I have always had an affinity.

Being frugal, I took the overnight National Express bus from London Victoria, to Aberdeen. The ride up was relatively uneventful, with the exception of being an hour or two late getting going. Thankfully we made up the time and still arrived midmorning!

Scotland is absolutely breathtaking.

It is exactly what is portrayed in the movies: the hills are rolling and a shade of green I have never seen before or after that trip.

I had such a great time hanging out with my family- my aunt and I sat out in the sun the first afternoon, enjoying a cup of tea in the peace and quiet of the country side- seeing the sights of Aberdeen (including a few castles!) and just generally enjoying the “family” lifestyle.

Its amazing how you get used to living in a communal residence, and then what a luxury having a big bed and “private” bathroom etc. And not having to wear flip flops in the shower! Oh joy oh bliss!!!

Anyway, because its been a month my memories are not quite as vivid, but the general overview of the weekend was that we ate awesome food (including steaks, bbq hot dogs, taco salad, REAL AMERICAN BUTTERMILK PANCAKES and burgers from Handmade Burger Co. – one of the best I’ve had in the UK and I would know, being a burger connoisseur and all 🙂 ), did some fun sight seeing and generally enjoyed Aberdeen.

I didn’t really get to enjoy the Scottish accent, but to be honest, it was nice to be with other Newfoundlanders and just have a laugh together.

The first exploration of the trip was to check out the Cullerlie stone circle – its not Stonehenge size or anything, but it was still very interesting, and I greatly enjoyed the neighborhood sheep, including the new born lamb we saw!

Up next was the Crathes Castle. This one had been restored somewhat inside, so you could go in and see all the rooms decorated as they would have been when the castle was active hundreds of years ago, as well as learning about the history of the families who lived there. The gardens at Crathes are particularly spectacular which you’ll see from the million photos I took. My particular favorite was the “Egg in an Egg Cup” topiary … who would’ve thought!

We checked out the Aberdeen beach which was lovely, although the wind was blowing which made it a bit chilly! By far my favorite part was Dunnottar Castle. These Castle ruins are absolutely exceptional. You have to hike out to them, and I mean HIKE! First you walk out a gravel path, then down a bazillion stairs and back up a basquillion more. Originally there was a pathway you could walk across to get to the peninsula, but it has been worn down over time and is now just a big hole!

Anyway, the ruins were so inspiring and amazing. You can just feel the hum of history and tell that something bad went down there. If you want to read about the history, check this link: http://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/

We tried to get a deep fried mars bar from Stonehaven on the way home, but the little fish and chip shop (which claims to have invented the deep fried mars bar) wasn’t open! So instead we got baklava from the local weekend market 🙂

Perhaps my favorite meal in Scotland was at the Handmade Burger Company. Oh mama.

I had a beef burger stuffed with cranberry jam and wellensleydale cheese. It was divine. Not to mention that because they forgot to put my order in with the others (so I didn’t get my meal till 15 or 20 minutes later) the meal AND a second round of drinks was on the house! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

We also ate at Jamie’s Italian restaurant, which of course is one of Jamie Oliver’s brainchildren.

It was absolutely divine – we had a big cheese and meat platter to start and then I followed it up with a pasta/prosciutto/pea dish wish was divine! Definitely a great way to start my long, long, LONG trip home.

The bus ride back to London was meant to be another 12 hours. Unfortunately we broke down in a little tiny town in Scotland, no where close to another bus station, and ended up sitting in a parking lot for four hours, starting at 1am, waiting for a rescue bus to come save us. When the bus finally did show up, I managed to get a few hours sleep before they announced (at 8:30 am) that we would be stopping in Milton Keynes, which is about 40 minutes tops outside of London, to switch busses and drivers … and THEN I almost didn’t get on the third bus because it was already half full.

Not sure if I would have been better off waiting the 20 minutes for Bus #4, because Bus #3 took the SCENIC route home through London. Eff.

All in all, I didn’t get home till 12:30 lunch time, when I should have been home at 7:30am. Brilliant.

Ah well, my trip to Scotland was AMAZING either way.

Enjoy the photos!

x

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MTT / AT

Its been SO long since I wrote a blog entry about life in London that I just wanted to pop up a few quick exciting things for you guys to catch up on, before I go to bed.

I promise that over the next couple of days, I will post about my trip to Scotland, and my mom and dad’s visit here to London for the Turanagalila-Symphonie concert at Royal Festival Hall (under the direction of Thierry Fischer) and my graduation recital!

 

What I want to tell you about right now is the exciting masterclass I attended last night, as well as a short story from my alexander technique lesson today!

 

Last night, I went along with I.F. and T.T-B to the ‘LSO St. Lukes’ venue to see a conducting masterclass with Michael Tilson Thomas.

MTT Is one of my favorite American conductors. He is currently principal conductor with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (my favorite American orchestra!) but is also principal guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra.

 

Last night he gave a brilliant three hour class for a large audience at the LSO St Lukes hall. That place in itself was amazing (Check out the story here: http://lso.co.uk/lso-st-luke-s ) but to be in such an inspiring venue AND getting to watch MTT himself in action was unreal.

 

First of all, I was mildly thrown off by his Harry Potter-esque glasses! Perfectly round, dark framed glasses are definitely NOT how I am used to seeing Mr. Tilson Thomas, so I was a little shocked when he first came out in front of the orchestra. To be honest, I think they make him look older than his more familiar rimless, rectangular glasses!

 

Either way, he had some great ideas about conducting Shostakovich 5 (finale), Coplands Short Symphony and Britten’s Young Persons Guide. It was also a thrill to hear the LSO play again, and nice to be in such a casual setting.

 

For me, as an arts administrative type with a love for all things music education & social justice, I found being in LSO St. Lukes with a very vibrant orchestra to be a little overwhelming. The LSO has so much energy and camaraderie amongst the players, I couldn’t help but feel energized right from the start. Thinking about all the work the LSO has done (including rebuilding St. Lukes into a music center, from ground up) just made me so excited about getting back to my own work at home in Newfoundland.

 

I really think I should have been following this orchestra more this year! Shame on me I guess, but can I really be blamed for being a bit loyalist to my teachers’ orchestras?

 

There are only SO many concerts a girl can see.

 

Either way. MTT had some great things to say so I learned a bit more about conducting and got the thrill of seeing him in person.

 

T.T-B. went to go meet him afterwards but I.F. and I got left behind and ended up not meeting him…. Oh well. Another time maybe, when the poor guy isn’t so jet lagged.

 

He’s here for another number of days doing several concerts with the LSO and Yo-Yo Ma:

 

Fri 7 & 21 of June at LSO St. Lukes, 12:30pm: American Themed Music, lunchtime concert

Fri 7 June at LSO St. Lukes, 6:15pm: Artist Conversation, Gareth Davies with MTT

Sun 9 June at Barbican, 7:30pm: Copland Orchestral Variations, Shotakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, Copland Short Symphony and Britten Young Persons Guide

Tue 11 June at Barbican, 7:30pm: Copland Quiet City, Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2, Britten Prince of the Pagodas suite

Wed 12 June at Barbican, 7:30pm: Copland INscape, Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

 

 

Yay!

 

 

 

Okay, on to my Alexander Technique lesson.

 

Today, whilst we were doing table work and having a lovely conversation about who knows what, my wonderful AT teach stopped me to say he thinks I should do the certification to be an AT teacher! I was pretty excited at that, because I’ve worked hard on my AT this year, and while I’m certainly not perfect, I am very interested to keep studying and working to get better, and to help others!

 

I’d previously thought about doing my AT certification but it is a long process that I don’t think I can commit to just yet. Funnily Enough, immediately after P.B. had said I should get certified, he followed it up with an “although I don’t know when you’d do it because you’re so busy all the time”.

 

This man gets me.

 

 

That said. If I can get settled away in a job, I can totally see myself getting certified in 10 years time. The certification process is a 3 year commitment to at least half days at “school”. I think it is definitely a marketable skill to have though, as more and more conservatories and music schools are hiring AT teachers to help their students.

That brings me to another point I could rant about for ages but wont now, I’ll just state my opinion.

 

Musicians need to talk about health and injury when kids are YOUNG. Teachers need to be aware of it all the time and make sure their students are forming healthy playing habits from the moment they start learning to sing or play an instrument.

 

No student should have to give up their passion because of an injury, or spend years in therapy (whether medical or with a method like AT, as I have done) trying to learn how to cope with or improve their condition.

 

Just don’t do it, folks!

 

Commit yourselves to being BETTER, HEALTHIER musicians… and commit to passing that on to every other musician (student colleague or otherwise) that you meet in your daily life.

 

 

Phew.

 

Rant over…. and its bed time for this “maiden of the dwarf flute”! Need some rest if I’m going to be ready for Paris in a few days!

 

xoxo

Cambridge – April 20, 2013

On Saturday, April 20, T.T.-B. and I hopped on a NationalExpress bus and made our way out to beautiful Cambridge!

It was an absolute georgeous day out, so we walked around town from 11 in the morning till 7 at night! Some of the sights we took included many of the Cambridge University colleges, in particular Kings College with is famous Chapel. We intended to hear the choir sing at the 5pm service but unfortunately it was cancelled that particular day! I was so disappointed.

We also walked along the Cam River and watched the people out punting. Apparently this is the thing to do in Cambridge. You rent a boat, with or without a tour guide/experienced punter, and then push your way leisurely down the river. Some boats (hen parties I think) were popping champagne bottles and enjoying a glass of bubbly in the sunshine.

One of our main stops, which took up most of the afternoon, was checking out the Botanical Gardens! The flower beds were absolutely beautiful and we really enjoyed taking a relax stroll around the HUGE property.

We managed to get into the Eagle for lunch – it is a historic pub where Dr. James Watson and Professor Francis Crick did most of their “thinking” at the time when they discovered DNA. The Eagle also has a really cool ceiling in its back room area, which is covered in writings from the war.

Check out the photos below 🙂

xox

Oxford (March 2, 2013)

This journal entry is WAY over due, but on March 2nd myself, I.F. and T.T-B hopped on a train early one Saturday morning and headed out over the English countryside to the beautiful town of Oxford! It was quite a lovely day!

The main purpose of our trip was to go to the Bodelian Library at Oxford University where we were all going to do some research – for me, I was looking for books on Karlheinz Stockhausen, a composer who’s compositions for flute I just gave a lecture-recital on at Memorial University back on March 28th.

The Bodelian library is absolutely beautiful but we had a bit of an adventure trying to get inside! Apparently non-research students like I.F. and myself aren’t supposed to be allowed in during term time (which it was) but they let us in anyway because our books were already called over and we had made a special trip just to see them!

It ended up being a good research trip, but we also had fun exploring the various markets (T.T.-B. and I found a tack shop even! Having buyers regret now that I didn’t get the gold whip 😦 ), the Oxford University Press book shop and a really great music store where I got some lovely books for young kids and a good Henle Verlag copy of Vivaldi C+ concerto !

T.T.-B. headed back to London a few hours ahead of I.F. and myself – we hit up a wonderful little pub hidden away down a small lane. You’ll see in the pictures, it was just fantastic, if a bit chilly out!

xox

All in all, a LOVELY trip to Oxford.

End-of-Term Celebratory Scandinavian Dinner!

Hello friends!

Yesterday was, for me at least, the last day of school for the spring semester!

I really didnt have much going on this week, in terms of school related activities, with the exceptiong of a busy Tuesday, my usual Monday Alexander Technique lesson and a piccolo lesson with Kathleen Stevenson yesterday afternoon on my lunch break from the Future Play: Music Systems of the 21st Century symposium.

The week, although not really “busy” was, in the words of JS, super “hectic”. I was a bit stressed about our studio class on Tuesday with Daniel Pailthorpe, as College only gave us postgrads about 5 days notice to learn a whole new piece, memorize about 8 pages of Taffanel & Gaubert EJ 4 scale pattern, and prepare the Moyse 24 Melodic Studies. Bah! Everyone was stressed!

It ended up going supremely well for all involved and Daniel, who I have never met before, is absolutely lovely! I would definitely like to work with him again 🙂

Being involved with the Symposium at the Barbican made things also very hectic. On Wednesday and Friday, we (IF and I) were at the Barbican from 9am until 5 in the afternoon. On Thursday we were there from 9 am to 10pm, because we had the great fortune of seeing the LA Philharmonic with Dudamel conducting, on the main stage in the Barbican Hall. What a thrill!

They played a contemporary program which opened with John Adams conducting the UK premiere of his “Son of Chamber Symphony”. The rest of the program was more UK/European contempo premieres, all very good but not as exciting as it would have been to hear them do Mahler 5 or something!

Either way, the symposium was AMAZINGLY inspiring (more on it in a later, seperate, post) but the schedule made me have to reorganize my other regular daily activities… like practising, which then had to be done at 5 or 6 in the morning, or (at least on Wednesday) from 8-10pm.

I’d rather practice in the early morning than after supper time, but alas. It had to be done, hah!

Yesterday was particularly brutal. In order to be on the tube to the Barbican at 8 am, I got up at 5, and practiced till 7:30. I HAD to do the morning practice because I had a lesson at 12:30 – yes you read right. I left the Barbican in the middle of one of our discussion panels at 11:30, tubed it back to College, played a lesson and then RACED back to the Barbican to hear Dudamel rehearse a London City Youth Orchestra (combined orchestra of many city players age 10-18ish I think). They played Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliette and they played the heck out of it.

I’ll stop myself before I talk more about that – want to save it for the Future Play blog I’ll be writing later today 🙂

Anyway! Made it home at 5pm, totally exhausted, stayed awake for a few more hours – should have had a nap but I did work for Project Grace and other things, instead – before joining my College friends here at Halls for an incredible dinner.

My friend L.P from Sweden, and A.V from Norway, planned a gorgeous Scandinavian meal to celebrate the end of the semester, before everyone goes back home for the holidays!

We had a beautiful supper of homemade Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoe with cream sauce and Lignon Berry Jam, with sides of salmon crackers (I didnt eat those, but you can see them in the pictures), and lamb meat.

For dessert, we all contributed! There was a chocolate mango trifle or flan type thing by A.H (Italian), a Chocolate Tortilla Torte from yours truly, Ice Cream from the Americans 🙂 and Swedish Waffles which I.F specifically ordered a waffle iron in order to be able to make.

Oh man.

Amazing Amazing.

I always say that my time at the University of Ottawa gave me some amazing life long friends, but I think its safe to say that I have made MORE amazing lifelong friends here at the Royal College of Music. I just love these guys so much!

We’re off now to watch Alien 4 (going to finish watching all 4 in the quadrilogy, plus Prometheus before I leave on Wednesday, hah) but I’ll leave you with a photo that R.K (Icelandic!) took from last night’s dinner!

xox

Scandinavian Meal Time!

Call me a Nerd but..

For those of you who don’t know, I run an afterschool music program in my hometown, that is based on the Venezuelan “El Sistema”. Its not quite as big as most sistema programs, but I am just following the advice of a good friend – “start small and grow slow”.The program is called Project Grace and we serve about 30 kids, teaching violin, cello, flute and trumpet at the moment. You can check us out on facebook, twitter, and at www.projectgrace.ca.

I’m very interested in music for social change, and music education in general. I’ll never be a school teacher, its not the kind of music education I’m interested in (although I am very supportive of it and especially of my own sister who is an INCREDIBLE public school music teacher!) but El Sistema is a huge part of my life and something I am incredibly passionate about.

Last week when I went to Oxford with friends (a post about that another time) I picked up a book called Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema and the Transformative Power of Music. I read it in about 2 or 3 days and have just been SO inspired ever since!

Changing Lives

Also while in Oxford, we discovered the Oxford University Press book store! Whilst there, I came across a few other books I’d like to own, this one in particular:

The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator

and now I’m even MORE excited because I just bought a copy from Amazon.co.uk (just over 2 quid cheaper than the OUP store!) and it should be here in a few days!

Aside from College based activities- the performance side of things: practising, gigging, etc – I spend a lot of time thinking about and working on El Sistema related stuff, including my program. A few weeks ago, I.F. and I discovered that the Barbican is playing host to the LA Phil this coming week… not just for a concert but for a whole 3 days symposium called “Future Play: Music Education Systems of the 21st Century”.

I’m sure you can imagine how excited I was/am.

We signed up immediately (there are some great discussion panels and performances scheduled, and I MIGHT even get to meet Gustavo himself! Mom is sending up my Project Grace tee shirt and my sister’s LA Phil w/ Dudamel recording of Mahler 5, in case an autograph opportunity comes up!) and I have been counting down the days until we get to finally go.

I am terribly excited in anticipation of the panel on El Sistema. It will be amazing and so inspiring to hear Dudamel speak about the program he came from, and hopefully to nick some ideas to help improve my own program. Cannot. Wait!

SO yes.

I’m a huge nerd but I am obsessed with this whole El Sistema thing. I FULLY believe that music has the power to change the lives of children and give them more skills and opportunities for their future.

Speaking of … if you’re in my hometown and you want to see Project Grace in action, please do come along to our Winter Semester Showcase on Sunday, March 24th, at 3:30 pm – in the St. James United Church sanctuary 🙂 Can’t wait to see everyone there!

xox

m i n i m a l i s m – a t – i t s – f i n e s t

Just wanted to leave a short journal about an RCM concert that I had the privelege to be a part of last week.

This is the second semester now that I have been a flutist with the Variable Geometry Ensemble, under the direction of the wonderful Jean-Phillippe Calvin (http://www.jpcalvin.org/ – beware old photos; so handsome.) playing a selection of minimalist music.

The program for this concert was:
John Adams – Chamber Symphony
Raquel Garcia-Tomas* – Not Wanting to Say Anything About John
interval
Louis Andriessen – Workers Union
Steve Reich – Tehillim

*RCM Doctoral Composition Student

I’m not generally one for minimalism, but this concert, aside from its 42 hours of rehearsal (which thankfully I wasnt involved in – I only played the Reich and Garcia-Tomas), was pretty much incredible. For quite obvious reasons, John Adams’ Chamber Symphony and Andriessen’s Workers Union, are incredible standard pieces of the minimalist repertoire. I didnt play in either of them, but the Geo ensemble did a pretty incredible job on both works.

If you’re interested in hearing some of these works, check out the following youtube links:

John Adams Chamber Symphony, III. Road Runner

Louis Andriessen, Workers Union

My dear friend S.C. (not one of the friends I live with, just a studio mate from College) got to play both of these and she did a fantastic job. Her piccolo playing in the Adams – which was most of the piece – was absolutely spectacular! I loved every minute of it.

Workers Union is a bit of a different bird. Listen to it and you’ll see what I mean. I think its an amazing piece of music but it can be a bit overwhelming, due to be scored for an ensemble made up of “any loud instruments”. Piccolo should have been involved, haha.

My favorite piece of the whole concert was Steve Reich’s “Tehillim” (pronounced “te-hil-leem” apparently, although we always say “te-heel-lim”).

Lasting nearly 40 minutes long, spread out over 4 movements (with a break only between the 2nd anad 3rd movements) the piece is based on Hebrew texts from the Book of Psalms. If you want to read a detailed explanation about the piece, you can check it out on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehillim_(Reich)) but let me just tell you that its a mixed meter, fairly quick moving piece that features four female vocalists singing in a fugal arrangement.

The string instruments play basically continuously (literally – S.C. and I had to page turn for them in movement two… we were super duper ninja page turners, ducking under bows and scrolls to turn the page at just the right time) but the winds are in and out of the texture throughout the four movements.

Lucky me – not – I only play for about the last 20 or 30 measures.

Yeah you read that right.

I sit for about 36 minutes, then I blow some hot air into my piccolo hoping to get it SOMEWHAT in tune with the rest of the band and then I play a very cool tune for the exciting ending of the piece.

You dont have to listen to it all… but have a scroll through and check out some of Steve Reich’s MAMMOTH of a piece…

TEHILLIM.

NEWS FLASH!

My sweet Prince Harry has found another woman.

According to the tabloids, Henry Wales is dating Cressida Bonas – a 24 year old dance student / model who graduated from Leeds University.

My poor broken heart!

He even bought her mukluks to go skiing in Verbier! Doesn’t he know Canadians are MEANT to wear Mukluks? Ugh.

The Gift Mukluks

Cue: Devastation.

See news (aka: tabloid) articles here:

Sometimes you just have to eat CAKE!

Me again.

For those of you who are facebook friends of mine, or perhaps follow me on twitter (@sassyflute, if you like), you will already know that between last Monday and this coming Friday, I will have 6 lessons (6 in 14.. that must be a record) as well as having had 16 hours of rehearsal, a concert, and an orchestral repertoire class.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I am feeling the pressure of having THAT much playing to do in one week. Mostly it comes from the condensed schedule of lessons.

I’ve gotten used to having a rather spacious, intermittent lesson schedule. Unlike the average university program I’ve been in previous to RCM, a top notch conservatory of this calibre does not maintain the same level of expectations for lesson preparation. I basically bring something new (a movement, a complete work, a set of excerpts etc.) to every lesson, and for the most part, it has to be fully prepared: no “practice tempo” or “work in progress” options, at least for a majority of teachers.

My teachers are really awesome – they all recognize that I’m preparing three different sets of material for three different people, and that for the most part, the things I’m working on are pretty difficult tasks, so sometimes I dont have it all perfect. But the last week to ten days, I’ve really been feeling the pressure of trying to prepare equally well for everyone.

In some ways, I havent been able to keep up! It’s become very much of a live-day-by-day kind of routine, dealing with it all one step at a time, in the order that they appear.

So far I’ve managed, but I think the stress of coping with it finally caught up to me, because I got to my piccolo lesson today with the lovely Kathleen Stevenson, played about 30 minutes worth of Shostakovich 10 (that piece is a B*@$h!) and then burst into tears when Kathleen actually paid me a compliment.

Oh my.

As it turns out, we ended up having a really lovely, therapeutic chat about making sure to take care of yourself, turning OFF the musician switch and giving yourself a break.

If we focus on our job 100% of the time it wont be long before we are run into the ground. And as Kathleen says, it takes YEARS to get to the level of professional players, and so few get there at a young age. So! Her advice to me?

Have a coffee, sit down, take a breather …. and get yourself a piece of really yummy cake!

Cake!

So. With an incredible weight lifted from my shoulders, I resolved to take the rest of the day off, and start making room for a bit of me time in every day – I recently (as in, two days ago) joined a local gym (more about that later) and am very excited about getting back into running, working out and general fitness!

I am also terribly excited to go home in 22 days, but more about that another time as well.

On the slim chance that my wonderful teacher Kathleen Stevenson should ever happen to read this blog… Thank you, thank you, thank you. A cry, pep talk and hug was just what I needed today. ❤ x