"I have one more seat," She said.

My last moments in London for a while we great. It was hard however to be saddened because I knew tha most of the people I would miss the most, I would see them again eventually; so it wasn't so bad saying goodbye! Saturday night we had one last good time up at the Tavern. Sunday morning I went to church and had communion and I felt that was the most appropriate way to leave London for myself. Upon arriving at Heathrow Airport, I immediately became a marathon runner as I tried to track down my ticket for my flight. There was a mix up and my flight had been swithced to a united airline flight instead of a lufthansa flight. The problem was that the two airlines were in two different terminals. Nevertheless it was a run to the finish as I ended up running to the very last gate in the terminal. I think its fair to mention now that I have never had bate B1 or B2. No, I always have to depart from gae B30 or B52, which always ends up being at the end of the world somewhere. Nevertheless, I got to the States via Chicago ok. i was pretty pumped Until I looked at the departures to Cleveland and realized my flight had been cancelled due to weather. So the next 8 hours end up being filled with me waiting for a long time trying to get out of the airport possibly They told me it wasnt possible for at least 24 hours. So I prepared myself for sleep in the airport. But...there was one more flight to cleveland. The odds of me getting on this flight were extremely low. But something told me to wait at the gate until everyone had boarded the last flight out to Cleveland for the night. I went up to the desk and asked the lady if it were possible that they had one more seat on the flight. She typed a whoole said, "I have one more seat," she said. Home at last. Home at last.

Are you the best?

Yesterday I finally completed my recital and it went very well. And then the craziness began. I went out to have a celebration drink with some CIEE buds and then went to the Student Union for the annual Christmas Ball featuring Michael Jackson :) Needless to say I had a jamazing time. Of course after a long night of partying kebob was an absolute neccessity. I've definately been going to the wrong kebob because the place I went to last night was definately a more quality product.

I have been asked probably 85 times since wednesday If I am sad that I'm leaving. Why must people state the obvious? If I were sad about leaving they definately are not making it better emphasizing the fact that I'm leaving :) (inconsiderate people...jk)
Just because I'm leaving London does not mean I'm leaving peoples lives. My adventure is not ending, its only beginning and so in a way its a good thing that I am leaving. Its time to finally take everything that I've experienced over here and deliver the message to anyone who cares to listen. I'nm not only talking about the experience of living in london, but rather the personal changes that have taken place in my life since I've been here.

Nevertheless, I still have one more rockstar night and it will be a good one!

Concert

Today we had the Choir christmas concert. I conducted a John Rutter song called Shepherds Pipe Carol and I sang a solo in a song called There is a flower. My solo went well- I had to change up the melody a wee bit because something was going array with my voice this morning. I felt lik Dr. Hasseler while I was conducting giving facial expressions and different queues to the group solely through interpretive facial expression.

There was also a popular music group that sang some gospel-esque renditions of Hark the Herald and Joy to the World. They were pretty good. It was mostly the atmosphere they presented with their pieces that was impressive more than the singing itself.

I'm getting my small christmas presents ready. They may not be expensive but they all have meaning.

I think I'm going to go see lion king tonight. We shall see...

The first of the lasts

Monday, I began experiencing the first of the lasts of things that I do in London. I had my last Music History class and that felt great. I also had my last Pizza Express and that was brilliant.

Yesterday CIEE took us out for a farewell dinner at Pizza Express and we ate all the pizza, desert and drank all the wine that we could! It was excellent. It was really interesting to here all the other CIEE students and their learning experiences. Many people shared similar interests and experiences as I did- others were completely different.

My main difficulty was with the idea that people censored their opinions simply because they are American. At no point did I censor my opinion to appease the crowd around me. Everything I have to say about the United States was my opinion as a citizen. And no one should feel like they should alienate themselves to appease others.

ok... off of my soapbox...

I am still preparing for my recital on friday. I am being extremely ambitious with my song selection but it is a must for my development as a performer.

Well that's all folks! Peace out!

French and German and Italian...oh my

So this week has been a careful balance of making sure I am having a blast whilst my time in London draws short and still being able to practice singing without losing my voice. So I've made a careful plan of execution. I still go out and party but I don't speak much and I only answer to yes or no questions while loud music is playing. It may seem anal but its necessary for my vocal success.

Tuesday Ahmed, Kenan, Tom and Elgin and I went to Ministry of Sound where they played amazing hip-hop and R&B all night basically. Of course we waited until they played Soulja boy before we left. I accidently spilled this guys drink while I saw 'yuling' and he wouldn't leave me alone. Considering I am a beast and he was a dwarf I really didnt feel threatened but to save the embarassment of imprisonment/ deportion for disturbing the peace I just ended the situation and tossed two pounds at him in the most condescending fashion I know. Tuesday was bitter sweet because I had great fun at Ministry but I found out that my Aunt had passed away. She was having a lot of health problems for a while. She's in a fabulous place now.

OH MY GOD! I made chicken and noodles this week and they were absolutely amazingly delicious. They actually tasted like grandmothers...brilliant.

As I prepare for my recital next week I get more excited about singing back at Capital so show-off what I have learned here. I feel a special need to be as accomplished as possible because I took the road less travelled coming to London instead of going to Hungary. I feel that I've worked harder here on vocal work and I can at least return home knowing I wasted little time and improved a bit!

My recital next week was finalized yesterday. The song list:

Recontre- Gabriel Faure
Toujours- Gabriel Faure
Non siate retrosi- from Cosi fan Tutte... Mozart
Donna mie a tanti- from Cosi fan Tutte... Mozart
En Priere- Gabriel Faure
Immer Leiser wird mein schlummer... Bhrams

A brilliant collection of music... all hand picked by yours truly!

*u*k! I shot myself in the foot!

Friday night, I particiipated in a pretty phenom concert. The orchestra performed A Night on Bald Mountain and Mendelsohns 1st Piano Concerto. The choir came in and we all performd Haydn's Mass in time of War. It was really appropriate that we perform this piece as the US in war with an almost invisible enemy...

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic concert. Afterwards I went to the Marquis, a local pub in New Cross with Adam (flat mate) and a few other lads, then straight to the Student Union for 1.50 pints and free entry!!! Can't beat that :)

At the Union, Crystal, a fellow Ohioan, was there and we chatted away as well. We were talking about how much we are gonna miss being here. I told her how I am gonna be so emotional when I leave because of the friendships I've been apart of here. She said that she tried not to get to close to anybody beause she knew that she would be leaving as quickly as she came. I don't like that at all. I fell sorry for her. I've held back becoming attached in a romantic relationship because those are a little different. If she truly held back from having friendships here, she missed out. I am a better person because of Ahmed and Kenan, Aaron and John and Justine (my twin), my flat mates and the people that I've intracted with and gotten to know.

I've matured and realized things about my own life, by having brits give me their opinion of the type of person I am. I relish the conversations with Ahmed and Kenan and all the other brits I've chilled with. And its gotten to the point that I am not sad about leaving, because I know I'm going to do everything in my power to keep in contact with the people I care about here in London... so at the end...its still gonna be a good day :)

On Saturday, I went paintballing with Kenan and Ahmed and Aaron and a couple other guys. I had to wake up at about 6:45AM so that I could be ready to leave by 7:30 :(

This place was really crazy. We played six different games and had a ball. We were there for the majority of the day. Good fashion fun. And, as promised I cooked dinner for Ahmed and Kenan in traditional American fashion (well Clopton family tradition). I made fried chicken, mashed sweet potato, peas and carrots. and for dessert we had America's favorite...Oreos!!! BUT WAIT, the best part... I found ROOT BEER!!!!

The dinner turned out very nicely. I felt like a panzie because I would ask if everything was ok every 5 minutes. It was my first time cooking a meal for a large amount of people. The only mishap was one piece of chicken that was not cooked all the way.

After dinner, Ahmed and I chilled and discussed America and politics and shop in general. We headed off to the Goldsmiths tavern where we met up with the rest of the guys. It was rather tame last night (until soldja boy came on). We were all so exausted from paintball. I knew that I would be getting up early for church so i left at about 1AM.

This morning I went to church at St James', which is right down the street from my dorm.

SIDE NOTE- it has been windy and pouring rain randomly the past couple of days including today!

I had communion and I even got to play happy birthday. It was the organists birthday so the vicar refused to make him play the bday song. So I volunteered to play for him! I enjoyed this service. Out of all the churches I've been to, I liked this one the most... it had a community feeling. It was like the church I was baptized in back home. It felt good to welcome in Advent went super nice people. They were all really excited I came to service. The head pastor guy said its hard to get university students up in the morning. So good for you.

I thought about that for a moment when I was walking back from the church. My favorite bible psalm is psalm 103... praise the lord o my soul, and forget not all his benefits... Out of all the absolutely splended things I have been able to do in my life and out of all the things that I've not done so well, the least I can do is get my lazy ass out of bed for an hour to thank Him who gives me everything.

Then Justine and I had eggs and sausage.
And then I actually did some work on this paper. My goal is to finish all my work by tomorrow.

Here's the plan for this week and tentatively next week

Mon- WORK WORK WORK WORK
Tues- Ministry of Sound
Wed- Champions Tennis and Club Sandwich
Thurs- The Lion King and Stoplight Party
Fri- Curry
Saturday- Long ass voice lesson then Club in the evening
Sunday-church and maybe some sighseeing
Mon-
Tues-
Wed- Concert (I'm conducting!)and Club Sandwich
Thursday- chill out for recital
Friday- RECITAL and the beginning of constant drunkeness
Saturday- day trip to Windsor and Sat. night- the best night of my life
Sunday- church and a hopeful soon to return 'see ya later'