Thursday 1 November 2012

Halloween in England

So we returned from Paris and were exhausted for the next day of classes. After sleeping only 3 hours the night before, my only obligations were to attend choir practice and swim practice. I trudged through choir, but swimming didn't really happen. The music department at Brookes is in the basement of the arts building just like the music department at High Point. The coincidence made me happy.
The Chamber Choir is a little different here. The entire setting is more casual, and practices are only once a week. The conductor and group are excellent, but I kind of miss the HPU Chamber Singers. Either way, we've been working on a lot of Christmas oriented songs for the holiday celebration. My favorite piece is definitely this one by Arvo Pärt. The lyrics are a little repetitive and banal, but the harmony is beautiful: 

"Which was the Son of"- Indiana University Choir

Beyond that, we came home from Paris right before Halloween so we were all scrambling to find costumes and trying to figure out what we're going to do that night. I had a couple ideas for costumes, but it would be a lot easier if I wasn't a poor university student in a country that automatically diminishes my funds by 1.62. Lesson: Bring a Halloween costume if you're going abroad in the Fall. 
I managed to find a pumpkin to carve!

It was a bit depressing because I noticed that the Brits aren't as into Halloween as much as Americans. So, to make sure that the holiday was properly celebrated, we threw our own party and invited our new friends. One of my Australian friends was really excited because she had never really celebrated the holiday. Since Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday I had to make sure this went well.

 Aisha, (2 girls I didn't really know), Tanz, and Gzm
 Collier, Bank, and Simon
 Thomas, Rag, Katie, and Bank
Sara playing water pong & me as Rambo Harry Potter...still don't know exactly how that happened.
Some of the HPU ladies!

Over all our party was a success. Even though Halloween was on a Wednesday, we had a pretty good turn out and everyone had fun! I had been worried because initially I wasn't able to find solo cups to play water pong. Most of the people we met were interested in anything that was related to Fraternities/Sororities so of course everyone wanted to play. After buying a pumpkin in the covered market I stopped by Moo Moo's milkshakes and they kindly supplied me with some cups.

Thanks Moo Moo's Milkshakes!






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