England: Stratford-Upon-River
Sunday, May 15th
*Yawn* It's Sunday and time to wake up to a full English breakfast (which we all know was my favorite phrase from the trip). Actually, by Sunday Michael Joseph and I still hadn't figured out how much time we were going to need for breakfast, so Sunday's breakfast was hurried and only came after we had packed and left our stuff down in the lobby with people who had already eaten. So the "full" English breakfast didn't leave me feeling very full.
Sunday was the first day the choir was going to sing together on the trip (at Wesley's Chapel)... and I became increasingly nervous when I realized just how little I had practiced the music. And then I remembered how bad I was at sight-singing. And that made me more nervous. Once we got to Wesley's Chapel and had everyone stand in sections, I noticed I had been CBed (so to speak) by my section. The basses were all tight in a row, the baritones refused to move down for me because they were all in one perfect section of pew... and I ended up asking Kopec (a tenor) if he wouldn't mind moving down one so that I could squeeze in. How out-of-place I felt! Right off the bat, I had been made to feel like I didn't belong. "You're an outsider, alum," my section seemed to be saying. Kopec, as always, was nice and welcoming and didn't make me feel bad in the least... so I guess there's something to be said about good people who do good things. Too bad I'm not going to say it here and rather will focus on the negative. Hooray!
Anyway, our first "concert" consisted of three songs and just further proved something about myself I should have already known: I hate "choir" music. When I say choir music, I'm referring to the rigid, Christian, "I'm Singing About God in Latin" music that most college choirs are forced to sing. Give me a spiritual... something that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a college choir (particularly a 90-some percent white college choir) and like McDonalds I'm lovin' it. We did this African song (which I will misspell right...) Siyahamba (now) that I was totally into. It was repetitive and "easy," but it spoke to me on a level that Haydn or the stupid Chichester piece couldn't possibly speak to me on (on which they couldn't possibly speak). It moved me... and I have always felt that music that doesn't move you isn't much in the way of music. That's why I love the Euphonics so much... I could move and do whatever because I FELT it in the music. So, thankfully, we had a couple of the moving pieces and then one that wasn't too bad as far as 'choir' songs go. I think I was born the wrong color.
During the mass, the minister spoke about being welcome to travelers from all over the world and I was actually pleased to see that she made an effort to reach out to our choir. That didn't stop Mike and I from mocking the building or the man who built the religion upon which our college was founded. See pic below.

We're going to Hell.
Posted by Hello
However, the nice people of the parish (and they were very nice) packed us a sack lunch for our trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon that afternoon. So lunch was free and taken care of. Because it was a sack lunch, and we were in England, I wondered aloud if the lunch had been fired. No one found that amusing. No one besides me. Regardless, it was already time to leave London... and I hadn't even gotten the chance to really know her. Alas... some day, London. Some day.
After a fairly lengthy coach ride, we arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon with about an hour before the closing of Shakespeare's birthplace. I had become so discombobulated by this time that I actually thought it was Saturday... so I asked the woman taking our tickets how late the Holy Trinity Church would be open. "On a Sunday?" said she "It's already closed to the public. They're holding an afternoon service in an hour." "Blast!," I thought, "I really wanted to see Shakespeare's tomb!" And it's true. There is almost nothing that interests me about the birthplace of someone famous, particularly Shakespeare. He did all of his major and important writing in London... what could I possibly learn about the man (that I didn't already know) from his birthplace? Uh... nothing. I went very quickly through his birthplace and only learned one thing: His house was HUGE. His parents must not have been too well off for his house to have been as large as it was. Actually, here's a picture of one side of the house:

I think the gutters are new. And the electrical outlets. And the windows. And probably the roof has been replaced. And the side of the house has probably been redone. I'm not sure what about this picture is actually part of the original house. That's history for you!
Posted by Hello
I'm not sure why I went through the house so quickly... but it was probably because I wanted to do other things in the city. Like head to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in town and check out another show! But guess what the planners of this trip didn't realize when they planned the trip? No shows on Sunday! There was, honest to God, nothing to do in Stratford-Upon-Avon on a Sunday. So a large group of us went to a pub, The Garrick Inn, for dinner and some drinks... and we found another large group of us already there... so we had two large tables of choir folks right next to each other. And, in a stroke of pure genius on Bishop's part... when I mentioned I was left-handed he threw a fit and demanded I switch with Mike... who was sitting across from Miss Chelsey. Pure genius. My view now improved, I had a pre-dinner Guinness... my first taste of famous English Fish and Chips (not worth the hype... tasted like fried fish and fries to me)... and gave that Strongbow cider another shot. [Naysayers (naysayers named Amber) have said some negative things about Strongbow (like "nay")... but it had a very light, pleasant, not-too-overpowering taste which is a perfect compliment to my heavy, loaf-of-bread tasting Guinness. So there.]
After a filling dinner, a huge group of us left the bar to walk around the little town. We made our way to see the outside of the Shakespearian theatre, walked around the court-yard of Shakespeare's final resting place (he's INSIDE the church), and walked passed the bar (The Black Swan/The Dirty Duck) where all the Shakespearian actors like to grab a drink after a performance. Thrilling, huh? No? I didn't think so either. If we had stayed in London on a Sunday, there may have been something to do, but, since we didn't, there wasn't a whole lot to do. (Actually, there is an interesting photographic tour of Stratford-Upon-Avon here)
So little, in fact, that about 80% of the choir ended up at a pub called the Pen and Parchment to celebrate Jason and Dan's combined birthday (for a summer pic of the Pen and Parchment, see the photographic tour, a quarter of the way down the page). Would that many of us had ended up at that pub if there was actually something to do on a Sunday night? No... but it was kind of nice to have the whole choir (almost) in one place at one time so early in the trip. I was able to talk to a lot of new people all at once. I was also able to talk to people I already knew... like DRR who, in the most awkward bathroom conversation ever, suggested that Bohne and I have our beds zipped together (as they were already very close to each other).

This is how close the beds were anyway... we might as well have zipped them together. Or... we slept as far apart as is possible on these two beds. One of those two.
Posted by Hello
In addition to the fabulous conversations, Mike and I invoked an old choir tour tradition from the first choir tour. This turned out to be a bad idea in retrospect for multiple reasons... but, if you take me out of this picture, look how COOL we look!

I should have been looking at Kent. Look how cool he and Mike are! I'm like that loser guy who's always hanging around in the background so that someone will hopefully think I'm cool by association. What's he called? Oh yeah... the drummer.
Posted by Hello