My first all-nighter

Hello London

I've been awake for 35ish hours. Yay............ Should I be writing right now? No. Will I accidentally reveal all my secrets and/or make a total fool of myself? Probably. Have I started hearing colors and seeing sounds? ...maybe.

Our flight from Dulles took off around 6pm EST Monday evening and arrived 8 hours later in London, which was 7am for them. 

We kind of flew right over our nighttime. The first day finished, and at the time I would've been going to bed, the next day was upon us. 

two days back-to-back without sleep = one 36-hour day

Those of us who tried everything (breathing slowly, counting sheep, sacrificing a goat, doing a rain dance) and still couldn't sleep on the plane had to occupy ourselves in other ways....such as....

taking pics of your neighbor sleeping...

using the neighbor's phone to take selfies ...

being classy and drinking wine from the most adorable little bottles

also sipping tea because you've never said no to tea and don't want to start now

When we finally arrived in Cambridge, it was love at first sight. A few minutes later, it started pouring as we were out walking. Then it turned to hail. 

Still. Cambridge has stolen my heart.  It's something from a fairytale. 

I'd been up for 28 hours when we arrived at Jesus College (one of the many colleges of Cambridge University). Chamber Singers (a subset of USingers) was to rehearse and sing evensong with the choir of Jesus College. 

We were exhausted, and our voices weren't at their best. But as soon as we started singing, everything was perfect again. 

Singing evensong this evening was magical; the stone castle that is Jesus College echoed each chord we sang. I would do it every day if I could, and if you don't see me at UVA next semester, it's 'cause I've transferred to Cambridge (don't tell my parents)

It's almost midnight over here, and we have a concert to perform tomorrow!
Wish us luck...

Marina

'twas the night before tour

Hello World! (Computer Science reference there--I'm so funny) Did you know I have unparalleled blog-writing abilities? Me neither.

Usually people don't decide to start a blog the night before they leave for Europe, but my mom has forcibly persuaded me to start a blog so she can keep track of me when I'm on this whole European tour thing. What she doesn't remember is that I are an engineer, and I doesn't know how to write words. But I complied.

So what is this European tour thing?

I'm in this group called the University Singers (because we go to the same University and think we can sing), and this summer we're visiting some of the musical capitals of the world to show them how Americans do choral music. (hint: This is how Americans do choral music)

The official USingers tour blog can be found here. Mine is just a place for me to post every wonderful iPhone photo I take and a way for me to communicate with my family when I decide I'm never coming back from Europe.

So hopefully you'll be hearing from me often-ish (when I'm not sporting a black trash bag--I mean, concert dress--or off visiting every coffee shop in Europe).

Wish us safe travels, and until something exciting happens, bye.

Marina