Oh How I Love To Sing

Not only just the familiar choir warm-up, but the actual truth! That's right--I finally got to put my weeks of rehearsing to the test in my choir concert last night.

The choir had been having several extra rehearsals lately to prepare ourselves for the upcoming concert. Needless to say Friday was not spared. So I made plans to meet up with a German friend outside of city hall and we headed to rehearsal in Millenium Hall at approximately 4:00 pm. We got lost trying to find Millenium Hall--we actually found it right away, but a man there told us it was somewhere else. After a short conversation with the receptionists in City Hall, we discovered our error and had a security guard escort us to Millenium Hall. After about an hour and a half of rehearsal, we had time to go eat dinner and have a little break before the concert. Most of us American students stayed together, although my German friend and an Irish girl I've gotten to know pretty well came with us. In addition, I finally discovered that a girl I met in choir goes to Gustavus! She prefaced where she went to school with "a small liberal arts school in Minnesota" which I thought was hilarious, because that's exactly what I do! When we returned to the Hall, we were told where we could put our stuff. Surprisingly, I discovered that we weren't actually having our concert in Millenium Hall; we were more in the reception area of the performing space. Millenium Hall was absolutely beautiful! That's where the choir kept our stuff. It had a huge stage, chandeliers, a balcony and mirrors everywhere to reflect how rich and elegant everything was. The reception area that we sang in, on the other hand, very much reflected a modern styling. The acoustics were pretty interesting, too. A few of my roommates showed up for the show, along with a friend from my art class. We sang 10 songs throughout the evening, interspersed with a solo flutist, an acapella group, our choir director's piano stylings, and a string quartet. Everything was really fantastic to listen to, but my favorite parts of the evening were the acapella group (especially their rendition of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley) and the song Gnossiennes No. 1 played by our choir director. That song is in the movie "The Painted Veil" which is one of my favorites (thank you Alyssa!). We had to stand through the entire concert though, and my legs started to go numb during the second half, so by the end of the concert all I wanted to do was put my feet up.

This week was one for the arts, I guess you could say, as another Bennie was involved in the Second Year play. The whole lot of us went to support her in that on Wednesday night. The play was "The Good Person of Szechwan." The Bennie that we knew was playing the lead. She was so fantastic! I really liked the play as a whole. It was a little on the crazy side, but I think it had a thought-provoking message.

The lot of us are getting ready for the big St. Patrick's day celebrations this Tuesday. Apparently they start the festival early here, with music and dancing this weekend. Luckily, St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday here, which means no classes for me! It'll be interesting to see how the Irish celebrate...