sunburnt, full, and happy

This week was action packed! Which is why I probably haven't been to the blog for 6 whole days. Valentine's day is coming and couples seem to be displaying their love for one another everywhere I go! Maybe I'll have some lucky encounter between now and Thursday involving roses and dinner --- okay probably not! But I am happy, tonight we made MORE crepes and I just had a great filling of triple chocolate icecream. If I had a pound for every pound of food/drink I consume, I'd be a very rich lady! Too bad it works the other way around...

I won't bore you trying to recap every day, but I will tell you some highlights! Saving the best for last. Tuesday we went to Rational Rec, which is the arts event put on by my music teacher Matthew, and Spencer who is interning with him! It was really bizarre and VERY different, there was a song that involved the audience collectively making "raspberries" or loud fart sounds! All of the composers are classically trained but they seemed to have taken to a different path of exploration in their music writing. I can't say I enjoyed it, but it made me think a lot about art and what the purpose of music is/can be. One French woman wrote a score of music on a huge posterboard that involved the guitarist going down an avenue and different buildings represented different guitar effects/pieces of music. So the path changes depend on who is playing the piece. It was a really cool idea! I'm glad that venue exists for progressive thinking in the composer/performer world.

Wednesday I saw the INCREDIBLE Cirque du Soliel! We bought standing room, matinee tickets and ended up getting SEATS in the second row of the circle, which is eye level with all of the high-up acrobatics! It was sooo incredible and beautiful! I was really nervous for some of the people because they were SO high up hanging on one rope with one hand! It was incredible though, they defied everything I thought was possible for human beings, and flew around gracefully and magistically (when i would be PANICKING for fear of my life!). Then I went to see "James Son of James" a theatre production put on by professional dancers, which I loved. It was sort of a dark comedy, and it was opening night so they had an open discussion with the performers. I loved how they expressed the plot/emotions through dance in certain moments. I really really enjoyed it.

Thursday we all went to see Messiaen's Tarangalilia Symphony played by the London Philharmonia. I had a hard time falling in love with this piece because it jumps around so frequently, but by the 8th movement I was "moved" it all just came together and was so passionate and incredible and the conductor looked like he was moving the ocean into a magnificent storm with his body! It was amazing, I felt like crying afterwards. Instead, we went to the a pub/restaurant on a boat for Matthew's Birthday! They had a great view of the city on the Thames.

Friday I met with Riccardo/Orrin and we discussed songwriting and lyric writing and it was really fantastic. I'm excited to work more on this, hopefully Riccardo will write something in Italian which we will work together to translate. Friday night I saw the first play that I geniunely did NOT like at ALL! It was supposed to be a comedy but wasn't that funny, and I didn't get anything good out of it, I left feeling sorry for the company that they spent so much time and energy putting on such a bad play! Anyways--

SATURDAY -- the biggest highlight. I went to Dover with 6 others, and it was beautiful! We hiked up to the castle and decided not to pay 7.50 to get in, and went to the white cliffs instead... except they didn't have a marked path to the cliffs, so we ended up hiking through the woods, crossing a highway, going underneath a used-to-be barbed wire fence, and hiking up a huge hill to arrive in the beautiful rolling hills where we continued to hike and take sooo many pictures. it was SO beautiful! We could see france from the cliffs. And if we had passports, we may have just taken the ferry over there! It was so so beautiful, the pictures will do the talking for me on this one. Spending all day outside on the crystal clear day I actually got SUNBURNT in ENGLAND in February! Quite an accomplishment I'd say. The night ended with italian food at La Scala and a walk to the waterfront under the stars, touched the channel! :)

Today I was tired and went to the park and fell asleep in the sun and wrote some letters, and went to the Chinese New Year Celebration at Trafalgar square. Dragon Dances, fireworks, and cheap chinese food were the highlights! I hope you all have a lovely week! I'll let you know how the next couple days go!

Love,

Jodi