I’m back from my trip to the UK, and honestly, I kind of wish I were still there.
Sometimes I go places, and I think, “I could live here.” My husband will say that I always say that, but it’s not true. I definitely could not live in New Orleans (hurricanes!). I love Key West, and wouldn’t mind having a vacation house there, but it’s too far from the mainland – although the mainland is Florida, and right now, the further I can be from there, the better. (Also, hurricanes.) And although I still love many things about my home city of Milwaukee, and think about having a place in the Third Ward to stay for Irish Fest and to rent out as an AirBnB the rest of the year, I couldn’t live there.
I could live in London. It has everything. There’s theater – for about a third of the cost of Broadway shows (I saw Bonnie & Clyde on the West End and Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe). There’s public transportation that can get you anywhere within the city and beyond. It’s a walkable city (I averaged 15.5K steps/day), and, most importantly, I ate cheese off a conveyor belt (something I never did before, even in Wisconsin).
We also spent some time in Oxford, where the binge drinking I witnessed rivaled anything I ever saw in Wisconsin, particularly near UW-Whitewater or Madison (I guess a college town is a college town anywhere you go!), and the Cotswolds. The latter involved my husband driving on the left side of the road, because it wasn’t quite as rail-friendly, and we wanted to do some exploring. (Fortunately, he was able to make the transition back to right side driving when we picked up our car from the airport parking lot.) The airline we chose was based in Iceland, so we had a brief stop there both ways, although there was no time for exploration.
But all good things come to an end, and I’m back now. My friends who are living there right now (and were terrific hosts as well as tour guides) will be moving to the states in July. They’re not sure if they’ll stay here long-term or be assigned overseas (hopefully to another great location where we can visit!).
Honestly, we could’ve stayed another month – except for there’s this little thing I’m doing called a studio showcase on June 5, for which I have to prepare. I created rehearsal tracks and distributed music four weeks ago, so everyone (hopefully) has a good start on it, and we have the next four weeks to polish and get people together to work together and collaborate.
The ensemble programs that I did for ten years in Milwaukee were very special to me, and my Milwaukee students, with very few exceptions, performed above and beyond what anyone would expect of middle and high school students. I’ll write about some of these past programs on Thursday.
Now that I’m back in town, I also need to remember that there are things about Baltimore that are equal to (or, in some cases, better than) things found in the UK. Unfortunately, I missed this year’s Kinetic Sculpture Race at the AVAM. But I’ll put up their exciting and creative exhibits against the dragon at the British Museum any day – both are fun and inventive. And no, I didn’t try the pie and mash with eels (shudder). Give me a Maryland crab cake any day!
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Summer registration is now open!
For new students who register before May 15, pay for four (4) 50-minute lessons and receive a bonus lesson. All lessons must be taken between June 20 and August 16 (I will be off 6/30-7/10 for the NATS Conference).(I am on vacation through 5/8, but will answer emails as available)
Register at Summer Session 2022 – Early Bird!
