Day 5 in Londontown

(Sept 9th, 2012)

 

[It has occurred to me to copy all of my facebook statuses – stati? – into a word document so that I no longer have to scan through reams of wall posts & updates to find the right day’s record. Brilliant. Now I can update these past days more readily]

 

Ah, Day 5. Straight forward and relatively stress free.

 

Day 5 was another relax-and-sleep-in-at-the-hotel kind of day. Went to visit our lovely little waitress (she had lived in Greece and London and … somewhere else for “home”, so her accent was awesome!) at Garfunkle’s for breakfast before taking the first of many adventures on the bus to residence!

The route is actually really easy ONCE you know which stop to go to at the changeover. (Believe it or not, I just found another, even closer stop, today. 2 weeks later. Bah!) To go from school to rez on the bus takes about 40-50 minutes, including the walk to change, and waiting time, so its not SO bad, although of course it would be great to live in the same neighborhood as school!

That said the neighborhood I live in (called “Shepherd’s Bush” – dont laugh.) is actually perfect for a residence. There are two shopping malls within 10 minutes bus ride/25 minute walk, several groceries stores that are both walk and bus-able, as well as tonnes of shops, pubs and places to eat. There is a beautiful park practically across the street where all the wind players have taken to for our daily runs, and there are also 4 tube stops within the area as well.

Not to mention the bus to school stops directly out the front door of the building.

Can’t complain.

 

Anyway- our first adventure on the bus. Relatively painless however we did get a little confused by the change over. Once we did it, oh … the first 312 times though, we really got it down pat.

I lucked out again this particular day: mom & dad continued to clean and tidy my new room while I spent an hour in the practice suite (aka the practice rooms in the basement of Rez) getting ready for my upcoming ensemble placement audition.

After an hours work, mom & dad headed back to the big shopping mall, Westfield, to explore a bit and get me a few groceries, while I attended the hog roast in the Rez courtyard.

 

For anyone who knows me personally, you can be sure a “hog roast” is not exactly my cup of tea. I’m all for a good piece of pork, but to see it rolling around on the spit was not exactly appetizing. Thus! I had a bun and a few leaves of spring mix with some feta cheese. Not a particularly amazing lunch, but I have to admit my eating habits havent been spectacular since I arrived in London!

Anywho – the hog roast was a laugh. I hung out with my double bass friends, and met a new friend, a pianist from Corsica, France. The cool thing about going to a prestigous European school is that you get to meet lots of incredible musicians from all over the world. Literally everywhere. (My current group of close friends is a bit like this: 2 x Canadians – including me – 1 x African, 1 x American, 1 x Norweigian, 1 x Portuguese and 2.5 x Australian… the other .5 is British. Born Australian but spent most of his life in England… he’s basically Percy Grainger.)

After the hog roast, mom & dad brought some groceries back for me to put in the kitchen (not that they were going to be used until they left, BUT it was a good start, just a few things like crackers and cans of soup etc) and we headed back downtown to the hotel.

 

Day 5 was the first experience at Bella Lu … Italia. Yes, Bella Italia. At the corner of St. Martins and Garrick in Leicester Square (not far from Trafalgar Square – it is the clubbing/pubbing area of central London!). Oh man. I figured this restaurant had to be a one off, family owned spot. Evidently I was incorrect, but that didnt change how amazing the food & service was.

Our wait was a beautiful young Italian man named Luca. He was so “fresh off the boat”, as they say at home, that his English was still broken and laced with a fairly thick Italian accent. It was drop dead gorgeous, and so was he.

I ordered the Margherita Pizza. Can’t even remember what mom & dad had that night (we went back two more times after) because I was so blown away at how delicious my simple pizza was. The crust was fresh and it came out piping hot. I was in total foodie heaven.

On top of the main meal, we decided to go all out and have dessert. I had an incredible variation on lava cake:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Lava Cake.

 

Once I get the photos off of my Canadian Blackberry I will share a picture of this delightful dish with you. Absolutely spectacular – warm and melty with a big scoop of ice cream on top. Perfect.

 After that we wandered around Covent Garden market area, had our photo taken in front of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden (again, pictures when I get them off my BB!) and saw some of the cool bars and restaurants in the area.

 

We hopped the tube home – yay for the Piccadilly line! – and went to bed.

 

My little rez bed just isnt the same after sleeping in that hotel bed for those 12 days. Oi vey.

 

 

More soon,

xoxo

 

Oh Freedom! (The joys of the Alexander Technique)

Today was the first day of “Week 3” at the Royal College of Music.

…or “week 2” of classes, if you want to be all technical about it.

No real class for me today, with the exception of my first private Alexander Technique lesson!

I got up early and, same as yesterday, it was POURING rain. I didnt have any reason to go to school early so I warmed up on some scales and Reichert exercises whilst doing a bit of laundry. 11:30 rolled around and I made a quick dash for the bus stop outside Rez. Lucky me – the 94 showed up just as I got to the stop so I hopped on and away we went. Unfortunately I was not so lucky at the Notting Hill Gate stop, where I switch buses… but at least the stop has an over hang you can get in under!

While I was at the bus stop waiting for the 52, I saw that the convenience store just on the corner sells those super cute, clear plastic umbrellas with the phrase “I ❤ Rain” on them. I meant to go back this afternoon and get one but the weather was so beautiful by 4pm that I totally forgot!

Anyway, got to school, practiced for a couple of hours and then climbed all the stairs up to the very top of the west tower.

Okay- not the very top. Only the fifth floor … so 485 stairs as opposed to 502.

I wish I was kidding.

Anywho, here I was, perched on top of the world. There was a BMus 1 class just finishing up when I had a moment of panic because the other person who I was expecting to be joining me for the lesson, hadnt shown up. My immediate reaction was “OH CRAP! Today is not Alexander Day, its tomorrow!” but the super nice teacher came out behind the other students and welcomed me into the room.

Clearly he was expecting me.

I have studied Alexander Technique before but this was the most interesting lesson yet.

First off, he had me sit on a very nice hard wooden stool, so that my thighs were parallel to the floor and I could sit upright nice and comfortable. I was poked and prodded, shifted and moulded, all so he could see what my natural tendencies were. Next I had to stand up, sit down over and over, while he put his fingers in the backs of my knees and poked at my hips.

The final step of the consultation portion of our lesson was for me to play flute for him. Within 2 or 3 minutes, he told me what I already knew: when I play the flute I put my weight on the back of my feet (heels I guess),  push my hips/pelvis forward, lean my shoulders back and bring my head to meet my flute instead of the other way around.

Great – awesome. I knew that … I just need to figure out how to fix it!

He pushed and pulled on me a little more, lifting my head and neck up, realigning my hips, ribcage and knees so that everything was centered and balanced. To be honest, I thought I was going to fall forward onto my face!

Funny how you become so set in your ways that once you go back to “neutral” it feels all wrong and uncomfortable.

This is a good sign tho. If it wasnt uncomfortable or strange, my teacher would have been concerned! He had me play again and this time we talked about how I get my flute from my sides to my face. I was instructed to think about my elbows moving away from the shoulder, not in towards the body or using the top part of my arm & shoulder to left the lower part up to the flute. I found that thinking this way really allowed my arm to open and use the full length (right from the point of the shoulder blade) much more. Suddenly I didn’t have to work so hard to hold my flute up!

The next task to tackle was getting me shoulder blades really being used properly!  I had to lay on the table and pretty much have the Alexander equivalent of a massage. First I lay flat, and just relaxed, followed by having my legs lifted (for me!) and bent so that my feet were flat on the table. Then he lifted and stretched each of my arms, pulling the shoulder blade out from under my back so that it rested flat instead of arked against the table. Man did that feel good.

The very last thing my Alexander teacher did was lift me off the table. Or at least lift me into a sitting position and then help me stand up. I’m not kidding. I wasnt allowed to let my muscles help him sit me up. It is very bizarre, forcing yourself to be a ragdoll.

 

After the session, I just about skipped out of RCM and over to Imperial College (to the bank to get my new UK bank card 😀 Eee!) I am SO excited about having regular Alexander lessons – I know it is going to be a huge improvement to my playing and my overall wellbeing!

 

While I think about it: if you want to read another blog about adventures in London whilst studying at the Royal College of Music, my new friend Ted from Boston University has a blogspot page – http://tedinlondon.blogspot.co.uk

…he’s all fancy and got the British address 😛

 

Anywho – Ted is a flutist too. I am playing piccolo to his second in Symphony Orchestra this semester, and we played first together on the Mahler 1 reading session during Induction Week. I dont know about him, but I am loving having some North American friends … and all the other BU folks are lovely as well.

 

More updates tomorrow. For now I must be off to bed because I am needing to get up to practice at 7am! No rooms available at school tomorrow AT ALL!

 

Ridonkulous.

 

xoxo

Cheers!

Days 3 and 4 – September 7/8th 2012

Days 3 and 4 in London comprised of two very different adventures.

On September 7th we went to one of my favorite retail locations in the world: Harrods.

For those of you who don’t know what I”m talking about, or do know but have never experienced, Harrods is retail as you could not even imagine it.

So big you can barely cover the entire store in one day, and containing EVERYTHING imaginable, at every possible price point (no joke: $50,000 watches, designer clothes and shoes…right down to a five pound teddy bear). It is overwhelming and unbelievable, and I absolutely love every minute of being there.

The highlight of this shopping trip, at least for my father, was spending at least an hour in the new Live at Montreux area of the store. You could buy a DVD for what I would guess to be pretty much every concert to ever happen at Montreux, as well as merchandise (apparel, bags, stickers, etc) and novelties like chocolates & coasters that look like records.

Dad spent so much time just browsing the DVD racks that mom and I went in the Montreux cafe and had a coke and a coffee. Four pounds each. Oi vey.

We (dad) signed up for a Harrod’s reward card, although I dont know how much use it will get! The only thing I managed to buy there were a few bags of apple flavored kibble type treats that my horse likes!

Speaking of the equestrian section…. while I was buying my treats, I asked the staff lady about the possibility of getting a job there. She told me to bring in my resume and a photo of me riding! Apparently they arent currently looking for another person in that department but they might in the near future (I guess for the Christmas rush?).

Looking back on it now, a few weeks later, I think I will not be applying there. Its a long way from my house, not to mention I dont/can’t work while I’m at RCM…. which I will explain at a later date.

On to Day 4- moving into residence!

Weoo. Well this was an interesting day for sure.

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting when I got to rez. I knew I wouldnt have my own kitchen or bathroom, and I expected the bed to be small and uncomfortable.

What I wasnt expecting were the springs to be all but coming through the mattress, or for it to look so old! The building is relatively new – not built in the 1800s like school was! – but you can tell it has been well lived in. Admittedly, everything here is spotlessly clean. Can’t fault them for that.

When we arrived at the rez, we were greeted by lovely RA’s and an assistant manager who knew me by name, even though we have never met. If I had to pick the most positive thing about living here (dont worry, its gotten MUCH better since that first day!) it would be that the poeple who run it are awesome and super on the ball. A.G. doesn’t miss a trick, and she is so much fun, too.

Because the lift (aka: elevator) is so tiny here, my parents stayed downstairs with my luggage and qued up for that, while R.C and I  took the stairs up to the third floor.

I’m glad my parents got to the room shortly right behind me, because if they havent I probably would have sat down, cried my eyes out and then promptly booked a plane ticket back home.

There’s nothing wrong with where I live. I just got really used to my nice little apartment at the University of Ottawa, and incredibly comfortable living at home for my masters!

My room here at RCM rez is smallish, however I suspect it is bigger than others. By the looks of things, I think my room was a double, that has been converted (the second bed removed) into a single. I have two large closets, a set of drawers attached to a long desk, and a headboard with double sided shelving and two very deep cupboards (these last two are currently storing about three towels and my hand bag – can’t put too much in there or I will never fish it out!)

Mom and Dad, good as gold as they are, went to work as soon as they set foot in my room. Despite it being impeccably clean, they scrubbed every inch from floor to ceiling, and then helped me hang my flag from home (The union jack, signed by all my work girl friends!) and lay out my clothes in the drawers. Once my things started to find new homes, the place began to look a lot better.

     

Here’s dad, good as gold, cleaning out my closet!

The only truly stressful thing about move-in day was that we had ordered a box of supplies – linens, towels, dishes and cutlery etc – to be delivered prior to move-in so that everything I needed would be here when I arrived.

Unfortunately the box didnt arrive until a few days before my parents left!

Lucky for me, I was FORCED to stay at the hotel. Ha. Forced.

In my opinion, not having my “box” right away was actually a blessing in disguise. The company told us to go out and buy my own linens, for which they reimbursed us, thus leaving me the opportunity to pick out my own design and colors. What I got was MUCH better than the white or “pastel” options they had listed.

My cozy duvet is a purpley grey color, with pink, purple, turquoise and grey sparrows on it, my bed sheets are baby pink, and my towels are a mix of fuschia, purple, red and grey.

Overall, I am very happy with the way my room turned out!

Still waiting on a couple of minor extras – as in, a chair or my “reading nook” (where the other bed should have been), and some posters or something for the walls – but the majority of things are set up just right for the year… including the picture of Cativa & I that A.P. gave me as a going away gift. Its the center of my whole room 🙂

After we got my room cleaned up and tidied up, it was time for me to be off to a Rez welcome party. We walked down the street to a pub called the Thatched House for dinner and drinks! I was lucky enough to meet up with some nice folk: a harpist from Slovenia and two female double bassists from other parts of England.

I have to say – the event at the Thatched House was a good one. The conversation was upbeat, and my pint & food was delish! I had “Chicken and Broccoli” pie, with chips. SO yummy but the biggest serving ever. Weoo. I expect there will be other nights spent at the Thatched House … going to the neighborhood pub is definitely a way of life around these parts!

For now – I’m off to have dinner with family. More stories about London adventures coming before bed.

Cheers!

They said it rained in London…

…and now I’m a believer.

 

Departing from the updates of the first 2 weeks in Londontown (I had another – LONG – entry written and then lost it completely, so gave up for a few days out of frustration), I just needed to say that today is the first day in 3 weeks of being here that it is pretty much pouring rain.

 

….And of COURSE this is the day my friends and I decide to go out and stand in a line/walk around the city for a few hours.

 

Needless to say, I am soaked through (well – my other clothes are! Happily snugged up in yoga pants a hoody and my fur lined slippers now!) and chilled to the bone. Came home for a couple of hours to recover before setting out again to have dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousins (who are here from Aberdeen, Scotland) at The Silver Cross near Trafalgar Sq.

 

Fingers crossed the rain lets up for a bit.

 

Oh – we never did see the Gherkin.

 

 

xoxo

Day 2 in London – the first whole day!

(September 6th, 2012)

That first nights sleep. Oh boy, how good did that feel.

Once we were refreshed and cleaned up, Mom, Dad & I headed out for our first adventure on the London Underground. The tube system here is incredibly huge and complex. Not hard to figure out, you just have to pay attention to the different directions!

Our first ride was on the Picadilly Line, right down to Leicester Square. When you get off at that stop, you’re only steps from Trafalgar Square! its so pretty down there- lots of shopping and pubs! On the particular day we were there, the London Paralympics / Mayor of London were hosting a big concert, as well as a wheelchair-tennis demo that you could get in and try!

Dad wanted to walk down “Cecil Court” because he heard there was a model car shop (he’s addicted). As it turned out, we stumbled upon a used music store – I found a couple of new piccolo pieces, and a score for one of the Vivaldi piccolo concertos! All for 11 pounds!

Score!

We did a lot of walking on day two. Walked all the way form Leicester Square, through Trafalgar Square, to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace! We saw the Horse Guards (got barked at for going to close to the gate to the stable!) and then … my favorite: we did a tour of the Royal Mews!

The Mews is the Royal horse stable where all the carriage horses, carriages and cars are kept! There are a lot of interesting facts about the various carriages – where they are from (Australia, anyone?), who gave them to the Queen, how much they weigh, how many horses were required to pull it…. even how they managed to get them OUT – which for the big gold carriage is quite the feat.

There were only two horses in the barn at that point, all the rest were out to pasture. The two that were there were so pretty- one of the royal greys, named Jasper, and a more crabby bay mare named Mary Tudor. All she wanted to do was eat…

…sounds like another bay mare I know…

Turns out (lucky me!) that my ticket to the Royal Mews is good for a whole year! I can go back to get my “horsey fix” any time I like!

Unfortunately the ticket that I COULDNT get was a seat for the Vienna Philharmonic with Bernard Haitink conducting (Bruckner 9 … BAH!).

So sad to have missed that.

The good thing is, I LIVE IN LONDON! They will be back 🙂

Time for bed. First lesson with my piccolo teacher Stewart McIlwham tomorrow… need to be well rested!

Cheers!

London, Day 1

….Perhaps I should start with the flight.

Lucky us, (mom and dad were travelling with me!) a direct flight runs from YYT to LHR between May and September each year. THEREFORE, our flight to Heathrow was only 4:45 long.

 

Unfortunately we had a hardcore snore-er behind us and he was one of the worst I’ve ever heard.

 

These direct flights from Home to London leave around 10pm. You fly all night long and get in to LHR around 6am. Its a pretty awesome deal, if you’re a good plane-sleeper (which I am – I think I was asleep before we even left the runway). The really upsetting part is that under no circumstances can I sleep through excessive snoring. Like – never.

This rude fellow behind us – who was wearing an eye mask and catching flies too, the whole nine yards! – started snoring pretty early on, and it was a big, snarly, gargley snore that you just cant tune out.

Mom and I ended up watching “The Lucky One” instead. Not soon enough, however, because the plane landed, and the video systems turned off, with about 15 minutes left in the movie. Guess what I ‘m doing right now? Yup. Downloading “The Lucky One”.

(Spoiler Alert*** Its a really good movie but honestly. I need to know if they wind up together or not in the end because they were such a cute couple! If you havent seen it yet, go watch!)

Once we finally made it through LHR and hailed a cab to our Hotel (Crowne Plaza Kensington, if anyone is travelling to London at any point. Great hotel, amazing staff, and good services if you buy the “club room” package. They also have 2 level pent house suites? Who knew!) where we promptly crashed for a nap.

When mom and I were in London this past December for my audition, we also had a nap upon arrival. That day we got up around 11;30 or so, I think. This time? It was 2 if not going for 3 in the afternoon.

 

Yeah boi.

We were tired.

 

 

Finally made it out of bed and headed to school to do some paper work and show Dad around. I forgot how beautiful that building is. (More about my school later!)

Wandered in to Royal Albert Hall, poked around at the gift shop – they had some really neat stuff, but I’ll tell later so as not to ruin anything – and over heard a conversation that the BBC Proms were putting off a new opera I have been interested in seeing.

I had to find out what was going on, so I asked one of the box office attendants. Sure enough, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & choir (plus soloists) were doing a semi-staged version of John Adams’ “Nixon in China”, conducted by the composer himself.

We bought tickets immediately.

 

The rest of the afternoon saw us wandering thorugh Hyde Park, around Kensington Palace and back, and stopping for some afternoon sunshine ice cream. My fave!

We headed home for supper (Garfunkle’s, which I will write much more about at a later time… we ate there rather .. frequently, on this trip) and to get cleaned up, before going back down Cromwell Road to the RAH. We were JUST turning onto the street my school & the hall are on (Prince Consort Road, for anyone who wants to google-map or street-view it! haha) when tragedy struck!

As you may well know, people in England drive on the wrong side of the road. That is to say, they pass right-hand-to-right-hand instead of left to left. When you want to cross the street, you need to look to your right and not your left. Also, the drivers here are crazy. Even worse than in Montreal. And I mean ALL kinds of vehicular drivers.

 

We were just crossing the second half of the way over to Prince Consort Road, dad stepped out in front and we saw it. Whiz bang bam – taken out by a bicyclist.

Dad wasnt hurt, just got some bike grease on his pants, but the poor cyclist tipped over and scraped his knee. He is lucky though … it could have been far worse as he wasnt wearing a helmet! Thankfully he was a pretty nice guy and didnt get upset about it or anything, just warned us to be more careful about watching for cars (from all directions), motor cycles AND bicycles.

 

Pedestrians definitely do not have any right of way in this town!

 

Regardless, Nixon in China was brilliant – however I have to say I may have catnapped through some of it. We were tired, dammit! Either way, great show – would love to see it fully staged, and sit a little closer. Had a hard time hearing / understanding the soloists in some parts. The BBC phil were awesome though – I am very much looking forward to hearing them play more this year.

 

After the opera, we wandered back to our hotel and crashed for the night. Sleep was SO good.

 

The adventures of Day 2 coming up after this snooze. First night in my rez bed 🙂 

 

Cheers!

How it all began…

So. You’re probably wondering where the title “Future Duchess” came from, right? Here goes nothing.

 

Over the course of the summer, my work colleagues discovered that not only was I moving to England, I also had an incredible love for all things Royal – especially one red-haired prince in particular.

As such, it became the “inside joke” at work that I was not actually moving to England to study music, but in fact to find Prince Harry of Wales and marry him.

[Spoiler: Sorry to say kids, Prince Harry has flown the coop to Afghanistan. Unless the militants continue to target him at Camp Bastion, it doesnt look like he’ll be home before I move back to Canada)

My amazing work girls threw an incredible party for me just a few nights before I made the big move. The theme? A British Bachelorette party, of course! Now – We couldnt let Harry’s Vegas-antics out do our hen party, so there were balloons and streamers all in the red, blue and white of the union jack; matching cupcakes with union jack flags coming out the top; we ate British food including yorkshire puddings (as well as some awesome american style food – chips & dip, brie from work, plus a lot of other goodies…and drinks! Oh the drinks!). To top it all off, they  gave me a blow up scepter (which eventually was transformed into a likeness of Harry himself!), a tiara and feather boa…. not to mention we were all wearing hen party t-shirts we had made the night before! Mine said “Mrs. Henry of Wales” and the girls all put “Lady In Waiting”.

It was the perfect way to kick off a British invasion………

Welcome to the FD blog!

Hello Everyone & welcome to my blog, Future Duchess!

 

I’m a 24 year old musician studying piccolo (and flute) at the Royal College of Music in London, UK. This blog will be a record of the daily goings on here in the life of an Artist Diploma student here in London. My program is only a year long, so the blog will encompass all of my adventures between September 5th 2012 and July 5th 2013.

 

If you are stumbling upon this blog by accident, feel free to check out the “about” page to read my bio and learn more about how I ended up in England.

I’ve already been here for 12 days now, so I’m going to go back to the beginning and catch you up on what has happened so far…

 

Cheerio!