I'll be back

I am home :)

I said

That Oxford would be a good place to put thoughts in my head

I dreamed

That my tea would be paired with some scones and some clotted cream*

Across the sea

It's the magical land of the doctor, some wizards, and more

And it was home to me

I still can't believe that it happened, or was it a dream?

I'll be back, soon you'll see

My new home is far across the sea

I'll be back, time will tell

The UK has really served me well

Word counts rise, book piles fall

My Bod Card* has brought me through it all

And when papers were due

G&D's* was there till midnight so that I could power through

Although my time was draining I will still go on

I'll keep on reading and writing even though I'm gone

And I won't change the subject

Cuz now, I love my subject

Theatre can be a research subject

My magical, musical subject

Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…

I'll be back, back for more

I will fight the fight and win the war

For my chance to succeed

I'll be back to get a higher degree

When I'm gone, I'll go mad

Thinking of this special thing we had

Cuz when push comes to shove

I will leave my friends and family, to return to the land I love

*Clotted cream - The most magical dairy product known to mankind after gelato

*Bodleian Card - Oxford Student ID card granting me access to all Bodleian Library Material

*G&D's - A magical land of much needed late night ice cream

The End...almost

Well, here we are. This will be the second to last post on this blog, and it won't even be about Oxford. For the past two and a half weeks my friends, Rebecca and Abby, and I have been galavanting around Europe before returning home. It has been a crazy couple of weeks full of many twists and turns, but I have finally realized that I am ready to go home...tomorrow.

Maybe we should talk about Oxford a little bit:
     The end of term was immensely stressful. I wrote three papers that were over 2,500 words about politics and literature. These covered Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Orwell. It was definitely a stretch for my brain, but it was fun to finally read Hamlet and Nineteen Eighty-Four. I also wrote a 6,300 word thesis, which probably should have been over 8,000 words. This is definitely my favorite paper that I have ever written. I researched how the music from stage musicals is changed when they are adapted for film with a focus on Sweeney Todd and Les Miserables. As part of my research I went to see Les Mis and Phantom (which was originally supposed to be included in the paper, but word limits decided otherwise) in London. It was really fun to see Les Mis staged with a turntable and to finally see Phantom live. Also this term I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as a reward for finishing my paper about Shakespeare and Politics. This term has really helped me to realize that I want to pursue music and particularly musical theatre, hopefully through orchestration and maybe someday composition. I have also realized that musical theatre can be a research subject, which will hopefully lead to many hours of pleasure during eventual masters and possibly doctoral study :)

Now for a well-earned vacation!

London
     Before heading out of the country we spent a couple days in London so I could see my favorite actor, David Tennant, in Don Juan in Soho. This was definitely one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. The acting was incredible. Tennant's D.J. was horrible, and yet demanded every shred of your attention. Adrian Scarborough was his lovable, and conscience ignoring, chauffeur/friend (if you can call him that). The play was excellently staged and D.J.'s demise came with a powerful message about the dangers of our overly sexual culture. After the show, Rebecca and I waited by the stage door and I got my program signed by the lead actors :)
     The next day we walked around Kensington Gardens and enjoyed our last day in London. That night we all re-packed our giant suitcases and mentally prepared ourselves for the next couple weeks of travel. Rebecca and I also headed out to the Old Vic theatre to wait by the stage door for Daniel Radcliffe and the cast of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to appear. Radcliffe was inside the theatre and they ushered us in after waiting in line for over an hour. He showed me his dinosaur socks because I commented on his zombie socks in a rehearsal photo. It was a good day :)

Paris
    We spent three days in Paris in a cute little apartment near Bastille. On our first day we walked around Le Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre. The view of the city was beautiful and it was really fun to return after coming when I was in high school. I was surprised at how much of the Easter Mass I was able to understand :) The next day we walked along the Seine, visited the Eiffel Tower the Statue of Liberty, and continued the idea from the day before of finding the bathroom and wifi in Starbucks (this trend would continue through Madrid). The next day we visited Notre Dame, which heightened my appreciation for Hunchback, and the Catacombs. It was so cool to see all of the bones piled so neatly, and also slightly terrifying to realize how easy it would be to get lost in them :P On our last day in the city we visited Versailles, which definitely puts the English palaces to shame, and the Louvre. We went on one of the nights that the museum was open late and therefore had no crowds to push through!

Vienna
     I feel like I have completed an epic music pilgrimage. It was amazing to visit the city where so many important musical moments took place. We visited the graves of composers like Beethoven, Strauss, and Schoenberg as well as the Vienna State Opera. We saw Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for only 4 euro in the standing section!!! It was so intense and on of the last instrumental interludes was basically the first movement of String Quartet No. 8 (the best piece of music ever written). While in Vienna we also visited Schoenbrunn Palace and the oldest zoo in the world. One of my favorite parts of our time in the city was just wandering the streets and enjoying time with friends.

Barcelona
     We only spent a couple of days here and it was punctuated by many stressful moments. However, it was quite nice to see the ocean and to collect some sea glass. We also ate some amazing gelato and paella and visited La Sagrada Familia.

Madrid
     Madrid reminded me of London in many ways. It was much more relaxed than Paris or Barcelona and we mostly spent our days wandering. Abby left us on our first day in the city and Rebecca and I spent most of our time just wandering and picking up souvenirs for our friends and family. I really enjoyed walking through the parks and seeing the Egyptian temple. On our last night in the city we visited La Reina Sofia and saw some interesting modern art that neither of us really understood and a Picasso exhibit featuring Guernica. 

Milan
     The end of our time together has come in Milan because I could get a really cheap flight home from here. Rebecca and I spent yesterday morning wandering around the city center and the shopping district before retiring to the riverside to read. We have eaten lots of pizza, pastries, and pasta. Today we visited Lake Como in the pouring rain, but still enjoyed wandering the streets of the town of Como without the large crowds of tourists that are drawn to larger cities.

As you can probably tell, our trip has had a very nice winding down period over the past week that has prepared me for the transition back home. I am excited to hug my rabbit (who has held on all year despite being 13) and my cats and dog. This year has been crazy and enlightening and practically perfect in every way. While I have loved just about every minute of it (the hour before a paper was due when there was probably three hours of work left to do on it was not my favorite), I am excited to go home and reconnect with my friends and family. Thank you everyone who has supported me on this journey. Your letters, texts, and prayers have made this year much easier.

~ Brynn

Almost end of SCIO post of shame...

Hello from bright and sunny England :)

(It is actually bright and sunny. Contrary to popular opinion it doesn't actually rain all of the time...)

(Note about this post in advance...I kept hitting save instead of post and therefore this will be the last month's posts all kind of piecemeal together :P)

So, last week I mentioned that I went to Sweden! Well, my parents came to visit me for spring break and we went to visit the land of my mom's study abroad experience. Since returning to the UK I have restarted British Culture and have just finished my first paper. For the first time ever I did not stay up even remotely late to finish it. Actually I finished it 37.5 hours before it was due, which will probably never happen again :P

Spring Break

Oxford

My parents and I spent the first few days of spring break hanging out in Oxford while I finished up lectures. (I am going to call this part of spring break since all of my coursework was done.) It was really fun taking them to all of my favorite places to eat and hang out. We started the week with a Bodleian tour where we visited the Rad Cam and Duke Humphrey's Library (a.k.a. the restricted section). I enjoyed showing off all of the places where I go to study. On Monday we spent sometime exploring the city and I had a concert for OUSinf. I was really impressed with the quality of music we produced with less than a week of rehearsals and never having everyone in the same room until the concert. On Tuesday we visited my spirit horse, Stubbins, in Port Meadow - the magicalist of magical fairy lands and we cooked dinner for my food group. I love cooking with my parents and it was so much fun to share a kitchen with them again. Wednesday we went punting, well we were punted around because the river was too fast for any of us to punt and walked around the city some more. I also had my final orchestra performance in Oxford with the open orchestra. I will definitely miss playing in the beautiful chapels, theatre, and music rooms around the city. On Thursday we visited Blenheim Palace and enjoyed our last night in Oxford. I spent the majority of that night packing up half of my stuff for my parents to take home. However, as I write this I am looking at how much is left to fit into one suitcase and wonder how heavy that suitcase is going to be...

Sweden

We got a 6:30 am flight from London to Sweden which meant a day of very little sleep :P When we got to the city, we spent our first day wandering around the streets of Gamla Stan. We even found a store that my mom had visited when she was in college. For dinner we got a bunch of my mom's favorite Swedish food from the grocery store. On Saturday we visited the Skansen and the Vasa Museum. I really enjoyed the Vasa. It reminded me a lot of the Mary Rose exhibit in Portsmouth, but this ship was actually whole. The Skansen was also quite fun to walk around and to see Swedish history being lived out. Sunday was our final day in Sweden and we visited Uppsala, which was close to where my mom did her year abroad. It was surreal finally seeing the cathedral and the river I had grown up hearing about. 

London

For my parents last couple of days in England we stayed in London and walked over 10 miles every day. On Monday we walked by Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, visited the British Museum, walked by St. Paul's, and the Millennium Bridge (my favorite bridge). We ended the day with a spin around the London Eye with beautiful views of the city and the sunset. I was quite proud of my ability to navigate most of the day with minimal use of a map. On our second day in London we visited Westminster Abbey, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hyde Park, and had High Tea. At the V&A we saw a really interesting exhibit about theatre featuring a costume from my favorite witch who we would be seeing later that night. Seeing Wicked in London was definitely a highlight of spring break. Willemijn Verkaik is definitely the best Elphaba I have seen. The best part of seeing this though was not the show, but seeing the show with my parents. My dad, a Wizard of Oz fan, finally joined me on the Wicked side for a night and now understands all of the songs I have been singing for the past 10 years...

British Culture...Is Over...ish

Academic Things

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I have just completed my first British Culture paper. Only three more papers for a total of 11,000-ish words stand between me and summer break. I am happy to be almost done with the crazy writing marathon, but also would give anything to extend this for another few months, years, or an eternity. Finishing this post is an avoidance tactic at the moment. I have just finished reading 1984 and sent in the first draft of my thesis yesterday. Only two more papers to write and one massive thesis to edit!!!

With the return of British culture we also get the return of field trips!!! 

St. Albans and Verulamium

We first visited the theatre of the ancient city of Verulamium. I enjoyed seeing the ruins of the theatre and then visiting the museum full of relics dug up from the English countryside. St. Albans cathedral was beautiful and I really enjoyed walking around the town with my friends. 

Winchester

At the beginning of the day we went to a service at the Hospital of St. Cross and then strolled through the countryside while one of our lovely British professors read us poetry. We then went to the cathedral, which is huge and the adorable city of Winchester. We visited the grave of Jane Austen and saw the house where she spent her last days.

Bath

This was probably my favorite city that we visited. I really enjoyed the Roman Baths, which were much more extensive than I had imagined. At the end of our tour we were able to drink some of the water...which tasted just like the water in my elementary school. Dr. Baigent, our lovely senior tutor, brought us on a tour around the city to look at all of the architecture and then we got to spend some time soaking in the sunshine!!

Coventry

Our final field trip of the year was to the ruins of Coventry cathedral. We then were given a few hours to walk around the city. It wasn't the most eventful of days, but I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my friends. 

In two weeks I will be somewhere (probably London) beginning our end of term travels before heading back to the US and all of the adventures that are waiting for me back home. I can't believe that I've been here for seven months now and that I have less than two weeks left!

~ Brynn 

End of Term Post Of Shame...from Sweden...

Hello everyone,

I am sorry for not keeping you all in the loop about my life this term. Things have been crazy, but enjoyable. Since this is only my second blog post for the term I think I am just going to do a general update.

Tutorials

Extracurriculars

Composition: This term I have written in a variety of compositional styles. For one assignment I created a new tonal system based upon the octatonic scale. This was particularly challenging because I am very used to composing with a normal major or minor scale and chord system. Even though I was using completely new chords and melodic ideas I still gravitated towards the chords closest to those I was already familiar with. For another composition I wrote aleatorically (in this style of composition a lot is left up to chance and to the performers). This was also challenging because I am used to dictating every little thing I want on the page, but it was also freeing in that I could just put down notes and leave things such as rhythm up to the performers. For the past three weeks I have been working on a song accompaniment and variations. Although, my variations are so varied that it is difficult to tell where they originally came from and therefore, have become pieces on their own. I have especially enjoyed experimenting with serialism in these compositions and with extended techniques and ranges on both the piano and cello. For my final tutorial I wrote three miniatures, and while some miniatures were more ideas then actual miniatures I had one that actually was self contained and a complete idea that my tutor seemed to like!!!

Topics in Music History After 1700: Since the Oxford system of music history has four topics for after 1700, I did one essay for each topic. Therefore, my studies traveled through Handel's operas, twentieth century string quartets, the changing tonality of Webern, and finally the effects of recorded music on our engagement with music. I have really enjoyed diving into these topics and getting to know some new repertoire because of them. My favorite paper was definitely the one on string quartets because I spent a week listening to all of my favorite pieces such as Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet....aka the best piece of music of all time.

Thesis: So, it's not really a tutorial, but I have to write a 5,500 to 6,000 word thesis and even though it's not due until mid April, I have already started reading and planning out the paper. I am quite excited to be writing about musical theatre to film adaptations. Once term ends I am hoping to go see Phantom and Les Mis in London in order to better write about experiencing the music and then I will also write about Sweeney Todd. Basically, I get to spend the next month and a half submerged in film and musical scores...tragedy 😛 


Orchestra: This term I was a part of three orchestras. I am still in the OUPhil and we had our concert almost two weeks ago. We played Beethoven's first piano concerto and Brahms's first symphony. I have really enjoyed been part of this ensemble and it is probably the best orchestra I have ever played with. The Brahms's was definitely my favorite this term and the cello part was challenging, but still enjoyable. I also played for OUSinf whose concert was last week. We played a Boccherini piece whose name I cannot recall, a new composition by an Oxford student, and Shostakovich's 9th Symphony. The Shostakovich was definitely my favorite and the most challenging. Finally, I have been playing with the Oxford Open Orchestra who played Dvorak 9, a new composition, and Jurassic Park. Dvorak's 9th is my favorite symphony and I really enjoyed playing it :) 


Focus: I have been going to an undergraduate group with my church, St. Ebbe's, this term and have really enjoyed getting to know other Christians in Oxford outside of Wycliffe and SCIO. We spent the term going through the book Uncovering the Life of Jesus and talked about how to share our faith with non-Christians. I now feel more confident about the prospect of talking to non-Christians about Jesus and hope that I will have many opportunities to share what I have learned. 

So...This post is going to be kind of short because I really need to sleep before my 7 am flight to London from Stockholm but I promise to post an update about my spring break travels when I get back to Oxford on Wednesday!!! 

~ Brynn 

The Start of Something New

These past few weeks have been some of the craziest and most exciting weeks I have had since coming to the UK :) As you may remember, Josh, my darling brother and most favorite person came out to visit me for the Christmas holidays. Together we travelled through Edinburgh, where I last left you to Berlin, Dublin, London and then back to Oxford where I have been hanging out for the past week waiting for my housing to open up for next term along with Elisha, another yearlong SCIO student. But if you are reading this blog, I am going to assume you didn't come here for some surface details, so let's dive in.

Edinburgh...well the rest of it

We began the day with a Lessons and Carols at a church near our flat and then headed downtown to the National Museum. There were some really cool exhibits full of taxidermy animals, exotic instruments, and some shoes that looked impossible to walk in and could possibly have been used as a torture device. We then visited the Christmas market, which was completely packed and then ended the day at a pub. Josh was brave and had a haggis burger. This was a much pleasanter experience than I imagined it to be. 

Berlin

After Edinburgh we boarded a plane to Barcelona and then got on one to Berlin. After some interesting transportation issues (the bus left with only half of us on it from the airport...) we finally made it to our flat in East Berlin. On our first day in the city we decided to stick close to our accommodations and to avoid the city center. (We arrived the day of the terror attack, but were thankfully located far away from it.) We visited the East Side Gallery, which is a 1000+ meter section of the Berlin wall that has been covered in murals After that we took a stroll through Treptower Park and visited the Soviet War Memorial. This memorial was much bigger than I had imagined it would be and felt very Soviet. Day Two of German travels took us outside of the city to a smaller town called Potsdam. We figured this would be a safer place to get some Christmas market shopping done. Josh and I were able to finish up most of our Christmas shopping here and it wasn't too crowded!! I also had my favorite food from the trip there which was a fried dough ball-ish thing. I know that description doesn't do the fluffy oily goodness any justice, but it is the best I can do. We spent the rest of the day in the city visiting all of the obligatory tourist stops: the Brandenburg Gates, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Holocaust Memorial. Day Three brought us to the German history museum. Josh was in heaven. By this point we had finally figured out the german transportation system...almost. Google maps did not like to bring us to helpful bus stations. On our last day in Germany, Josh and I were on our own (Rebecca and her friend had left that morning and then night before) so we visited the DDR museum. This was probably my favorite museum of the trip because it was so interactive and hands on. The airport was a zoo, but thankfully we were pulled out of the security line so that we wouldn't miss our flight! (Even though when we got through security they told us our flight was delayed...)

Dublin

Our first day in Dublin was Christmas eve. We spent the morning visiting some of Dublin's history museums. My favorite exhibit featured five (I think) bog people. Essentially they are people that died in mostly gruesome fashions, were tossed into a bog, and over thousands of years became leather-y and stopped decomposing. It was amazing how whole some of these people were and how they were alive before the coming of Christ. Josh and I also got lots of last minute Christmas shopping done and bought food to make our fantastic Christmas dinner together. To conclude the day we went to a Christmas Eve Mass at a local church, which featured a beautiful boys choir concert. On Christmas day we ventured out to Phoenix Park in search of deer. Although we were unable to find any, we enjoyed trekking through the park and enjoying the fresh, and quite warm, winter air. On our way home we were subjected to spontaneous downpours and got completely soaked, but still enjoyed meandering through the streets of Dublin. For Christmas dinner we made steak, cheesy-bacon potatoes, and zucchini in the tiny little kitchen of our Air BnB and watched many episodes of Doctor Who while eating mince pie cookies :) We got to FaceTime with family and still be a part of Christmas celebrations back home which took the edge off of not being home for Christmas. On our final day in Dublin we went out to the South Wall and Light House. The walk there was super sketchy as we journeyed through back roads that were devoid of people, but the light house itself was beautiful. It was so nice to be back by the ocean and to smell the sea breeze. If there is one thing wrong with Oxford, it's that it is one of the furthest places from the ocean in the UK. The views from the wall were incredible and it made the almost five straight hours of walking that day beyond worth it. That night we took the scariest bus ride of my life to Dublin airport and boarded a plane for London!

London

We flew into Stanstead, took a bus to London, took another bus to Oxford, and finally arrived at our Air BnB around 3 in the morning. Then woke up at 7:45 the next morning so we could catch a bus back into London to visit the Star Wars Identities exhibition. I really enjoyed seeing all of the costumes and creating my character as we walked through. Josh was a fountain of knowledge and got very excited about every artifact which made the whole exhibit much more enjoyable. After that we headed over to the West End to see  the RSC's production of Love's Labours Lost. It was so funny and so well done that we decided to come back and see the same cast do Much Ado About Nothing, my favorite Shakespearean play. Being able to see so many shows in England has been one of my favorite parts of my time here and I really enjoyed sharing that with Josh. In between shows we had some time to explore the West End and went to Chipotle for dinner. Normally this would not merit a mention in my blog, but while I was there I noticed a familiar looking person in the line. Jamie Parker had come to eat dinner in between shows and I almost died. (For those of you who are not as in tune with the Harry Potter Universe, Jamie Parker is currently playing Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.) Somehow I summoned up the courage to talk to a stranger and asked for his autograph (I had missed out on seeing him at the stage door) and we had a nice little chat about the show. All in all it was quite the eventful day and I was thankful to have some time to sleep on the bus on our way home that night.

Home Sweet Home

Josh and I spent his final two days on this side of the pond in Oxford, my beautiful home. On our first day I gave him a walking tour of the city including favorite sights such as the covered market and Ben's Cookies, Wycliffe Hall, Christ Church, and the Ashmolean Museum. We had a great deal of fun roaming the museum in search of their must see items and also re-naming many of the artifacts with more accurately descriptive titles. We finished the night with a visit to the movie theatre to see Rogue One. Josh enjoyed it immensely and I think I kind of understood why it was significant, but the music was great, which is all that really matters. On my birthday we went to the Pitt Rivers Museum, which I have always wanted to visit. I especially enjoyed the many touchable objects, the visiting insect photography exhibit, and the shrunken heads. After the museum we headed off to Port Meadow, the most beautiful place in Oxford where we finally found the horses. (I spent a good portion of last term looking for them!) One of them was obsessed with Josh and rubbed up against him before following him around for a bit. The meadow was a mud pit, which made the walk much more difficult, but also much more entertaining. Finally, we went to the Eagle and Child (home of the Inklings) for dinner. Josh engaged in my celebratory twenty-first birthday drinking for me because we are in England where the drinking age is eighteen and I do not actually like alcohol. The next morning Josh had to catch a bus to Heathrow at some ridiculous hour where the sun doesn't shine and I moved on to my final resting place before term. 

Elisha and I had an enjoyable week relaxing and writing. I spent a lot of time composing post cards and letters to friends while also working on music for various compositional and arranging projects. For New Years Eve we took the Oxford Tube into London and watched the various fireworks displays around London from Primrose Hill. It was fun to spend the day exploring the city and to see all of the people excited for the new year. 

Here We Go Again

I cannot believe that it is already the second week of the Oxford term. I have been at Wycliffe Hall, my home in Oxford, for two and a half weeks now and am finally getting back into the groove of life here. I really like the new people that have come this term, but I still expect to see old friends when I go down to the kitchen for a late night snack. This term I am taking one tutorial in music history and another in composition. I am excited to be challenged further in composition especially and to hopefully develop some skills that will help me to write my own musicals someday. Since being back at Wycliffe I have had some fun experiences such as late night sardines games around Wycliffe, late night G&D's runs, Focus group from church, orchestra, and a return to the constant stream of tea being consumed. This past weekend I went to London with a bunch of people from the program. While I spent most of the day in a Library and then a coffee shop studying while they toured the city, we met up to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I could spend an entire blogpost alone talking about how amazing the acting was and how innovative the set design and staging were, but I will spare you all and just leave you with this. You HAVE to see this show. The humanness of the characters and their interactions is something that we are missing from our daily lives. The misunderstandings and chaos we face day to day can be redeemed through our love and kindness for one another regardless of how similar or different we are. 

If you made it to the end of this post you have earned 15 points for your Hogwarts House. (Or you can donate them to Gryffindor :P) 

~ Brynn