London Calling

Tori | 21 | VA This blog is designed to document my experiences overseas in England and Scotland in January 2018, consisting of text updates, photos, videos, etc. Ryder give me an A, please and thank you. :)

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a couple of iconic style looks from the UK

bonus:

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Performance Review #3: Concert at Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel

Let me preface this by saying this was absolute favorite concert venue I’ve ever performed in and have had the pleasure of singing in. The Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral is hands down one the most beautifully acoustic sounding spaces I have ever been in. 

We had our last concert engagement at the Lady Chapel on Wednesday, January 24. It was a very rainy afternoon, with storms pouring down for most of the day, so we all were a little spent from being out in the rain for most of the morning. We had our rehearsal in the space that went really well and I was so excited to be able to conduct in such a phenomenal space. The concert was attended by a very big group of people, with guests having to sit in the chapter seats because the other seats were full. It was a noticable difference from the first concert we had had in York the week before. 

Everything about this concert felt so different.

I don’t know if it was the space or our confidence, but it was the best performance I believed we had put on over the course of the trip. I was almost driven to tears conducting The 23rd Psalm, as it felt like it was always meant to be performed in that space. Everything came together and I was so happy to have been apart of such an amazing experience.

The repertoire from the concert consisted primarily of music to be performed on the R-MC choir trip to England and Scotland in J-Term, but also pulled from spring repertoire and new pieces were added solely for the concert. We had to overcome the challenge of performing pieces a capella for concert choir which is a difficult for many of the singers, since a considerable number of them are untrained singers or have very little musical background. Still, the overall response for the concert was a favorable one and I heard great comments from members of the audience. I believe that we had a very good concert and along with many of the new situations this year has brought our groups, we were able to overcome those challenges and put on something very nice.

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Performance Review #2: Concert at York Central Methodist Church

The R-MC choir group our first concert engagement overseas on Wednesday, January 17 at York Central Methodist Church in York, England. The location is a new one for the choir from our other venues in America, for obvious reasons. I really liked the space because it was a really historical space in the center of such a history-filled town. It was a nice day for a concert, but unfortunately, we did’t have that big of a crowd come out for the concert. Mainly due to the construction happening right outside of the church, and the little publicity by the church was the reason why we didn’t have a big audience. That being said, we had a nice group of older people from the church and from around the town out for the afternoon concert.

The repertoire from the concert consisted primarily of music to be performed on the R-MC choir trip to England and Scotland in J-Term, but also pulled from spring repertoire and new pieces were added solely for the concert. We had to overcome the challenge of performing pieces a capella for concert choir which is a difficult for many of the singers, since a considerable number of them are untrained singers or have very little musical background. Still, the overall response for the concert was a favorable one and I heard great comments from members of the audience. I believe that we had a very good concert and along with many of the new situations this year has brought our groups, we were able to overcome those challenges and put on something very nice.

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Reviews of Student Presentations

This entry is a summary of my thoughts on all of the student group presentations over the the course of our tour.

1. Music of the Methodist Church: Jeff Peters, Andrew Geiger, Jacquelynn Duff

This group discussed the music of the Methodist Church, focusing on the locations that we visited associated with Methodism and their significance: 

Edinburgh Methodist Church

Aldersgate Flame

The Wesley Chapel

Charles Wesley’s House

The next section focused on the Wesley Brothers in the creation of music for the Methodist Church, particularly the contributions of Charles Wesley and the writing of the hymns for the church as a method of learning the scriptures due to the illiteracy among the common people. 

The last section consisted of a comparison between Anglican and Methodist music particularly with the uses of hymns and congregational singing.

2. English Churches and Cathedrals: Russell Rochte, Caroline Hincher, Seth Buzan

This group discussed the various churches and cathedrals in England and examined them based on the time period in which they were built:

Saxon & Norman  

Middle Ages 

Reformation  

19th Century Gothic Revival 

Features of the cathedrals included vaulted ceilings, Gothic arches, and other architectural features that were prominent in each time period. 

The churches and cathedrals that we visited included the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford, Wells Cathedral, and Durham Cathedral.

The group also provided a list of key architectural terms to better understand the features of the different buildings we would be visiting throughout the trip.

3. Women in Anglican Church Music: Dustin Brown, Tori S. Troutman, and Jacob Stech

Since this is my own group’s presentation, I’m going to say that my group was the best solely because I was in it. That being said, even outside of me being in the group I thought this topic in particular was very cool.

We discussed women in Anglican Church music starting with the history of women in general church music and activities, and leading into the biases that remain in England with women in Anglican Church music, and finally we focused on Salisbury Cathedral being the first cathedral to add girl choristers to the choir and is one of the few cathedrals with girl choristers in the country.

4. English Church Music: Jacob Young, Andrew Crater, Jordan McCall

This group discussed Anglican church music as a whole in England. First focusing on the importance of music between Anglicanism and Methodism and the differences between the two, with Anglican music being more devoted to God, with Methodist music being for the congregation’s learning and understanding of the scripture.

The group also focused in on key composers in England over the course of the Anglican church’s history:

Thomas Tallis

William Byrd

Sir Charles Standford

Peter Warlock

David Bendall

5. The Three Organs: Austin Wachsmuth, BJ Camano, Callie Brown

I remember this presentation in particular for taking place at Royal Holloway at the University of London on our second to last day right before our tour of the college before evensong that evening. 

The group discussed the features of three specific organs from three different locations over the course of the trip:

Salisbury Organ

Greyfriar’s Kirk Organ

Selwyn College Organ

They discussed the different features of the organs, also talked about the history of the organ itself and the installation of organs in cathedrals. There was also an important perspective from Austin on the organs because he was able to play on all of them over the course of the trip.

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Performance Review 1: St. Giles at Six (Day 3 - Edinburgh)

Our first performance experience was actually a unique one, since we actually went to see a piano recital at St. Giles Cathedral on January 14, which was apart of the St. Giles at Six series. The cathedral itself was stunningly beautiful. In fact it was so beautiful, I managed to sneak a picture of the building.

The audience was pretty varied, but most certainly on the older side, as opposed to our age group of students on the trip. The evening at that point was really cold and windy, so it was actually a relief to get inside, where it wasn’t so freezing that it was blowing us away outside.

The concert’s concept was very interesting as it was focused on using poetry as a method of connecting the pieces together as a coherent set. The pianist Alexandre Prevert was also on the young side, probably no older than his mid-twenties, and going by his accent was probably French. He had a mix of Classical, Romantic, and Impressionist works in his repertoire, with pieces of poetry mixed in between.

I personally loved the Chopin piece towards the beginning. That being said, all of the pieces were reminiscent of times of love and loss and peace and dreaming, and it definitely set the mood of the atmosphere in the cathedral. Accompanied by fantastic acoustical support, it was a fantastic concert to be able to attend.

Clip was definitely snagged by me :)

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Day 15: A Microcosm of British History 

Let me preface our last day in the UK by saying I don’t regret this trip for a moment, and I loved every single moment and I will cherish the memories and the people I made them with for as long as I live.

The only regret I have is that I didn’t make more of it. I hope to God that I’m able to go back soon and visit again, I don’t think I can keep myself from going back.

On our last day, we headed to the historic center of London, Westminster Abbey. We had to wait a little while, but it was worth it for what we had in store inside. Our tour guide referred to the building as a “microcosm of British history”, which is probably the best descriptor one could come up with to describe the massive amount of history that is stored in the building, not mention all of the people buried there as well.

Once again, we were not permitted to take photos, for obvious reasons, but I thought it was fitting that we couldn’t take pictures because I was able to really relish in what was in the abbey, and who was there as well. A place of not only coronations, but also the burial place of many English monarchs since William the Conqueror. 

It was also the only abbey to be spared from Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries after the break with Rome and the rise of the Anglican Church. In that respect, one can understand just how important Westminster is for the entirety of England and its history.

Also, I have an enormous amount of respect for the abbey because of the additions of other saints across the entrance way of the abbey, including Martin Luther King Jr.

After our time at the abbey, we headed straight to the Methodist Central Hall nearby, which also had really great views of the minster from its balcony. We learned some information about its history briefly until we were let go for lunch.

Instead of going straight to lunch, my friends and I had some better ideas, so we ran down the street for a good fifteen minutes to get to Buckingham Palace for some pictures and to actually see the palace on our last day in London.

No, the Queen wasn’t at home but just being able to stand in front of Buckingham Palace made the entire excursion entirely worth it.

And who better to make those memories with than with those I love.

Still, our time there was a little brief since we still needed to eat lunch, so we managed to get a cab back to the Central Hall and eat some lunch there, before heading off to our next destination. (And amazingly enough, I was able to squeeze in some last minute shopping before we left.)

We headed onto Wesley’s Chapel, his house, his grave site, and the Methodist Museum. 

Then, we walked, and walked, and walked, to the Aldersgate Flame next to the Museum of London where Wesley had his conversion (?) experience and was able to move forward fully with the Methodist movement.

It was a slab of metal that had Wesley’s diary entry about the experience that really wasn’t well maintained, the plaque adjoining with it was faded and basically illegible. 

So it was slightly underwhelming.

Anyway.

We went back to Trafalgar Square, where we would have dinner later and we had some free time to ourselves to explore, but a lot of us were pretty tired so I went with some friends and sat at a McDonald’s for a little while. 

Fun fact: I forgot the UK doesn’t know what sweet iced tea is, so I was surprised to see that I was given a cup of hot tea. I was kinda sad, and then realized it was probably high time for me to go home.

We had dinner next, which was honestly a waste of time since I didn’t even eat and we had to wait almost over an hour for our food on the night before we had to leave, so our patience was rather thin to say the least. Luckily I was able to get back to the hotel with the first round of students so I could start packing up to get ready to go home the next morning.

But at the end of the day, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.

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Day 14: Ding Dong, Is The Queen Home?

Windsor Castle is home. In case you didn’t know, I’m an undercover princess and this is my new permanent residence.

I mean not really, but the Queen wasn’t even home so what else am I going to do other than claim the castle as my own, it’s great.

We left in the morning and headed straight to Windsor, which isn’t actually too far out from London. We had a lot of time to explore the castle and it was essentially a free exploration day for everyone and it was a nice bright clear day too, so I would say it was great timing.

We also came just time to see the changing of the Guard at the castle so that was a fun time, I might post the video later if I have time.

We explored the castle, with my first destination being St. George’s Chapel, which I personally couldn’t take any pictures of because it’s a place of worship. Still, I’m gonna post some public pictures because I need to make a point about Henry VIII for a second.

So we’re in the quire, and a lot of royals are buried in the chapel, and I find the man himself.

HENRY VIII BURIED SMACKDAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE QUIRE BECAUSE OF COURSE HE IS. Henry VIII, the reason the Anglican Church is what it is and why the English Reformation was able to happen is low and behold right in the middle so you don’t forget. I love it. Henry VIII is always back at it.

After that, we went into the apartments where the royal family ACTUALLY LIVES and we were able to tour around the premises, and once again since photography isn’t allowed, I’m inserting some public pictures from Google.

The place was great, I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was to be able to roam the halls of the palace. The only thing that made me mad was how much detail was put into Princess Anne’s dollhouse recreation because that was just ridiculous.

Anyway, we had some time for lunch and then we did some extra exploration of the town of Windsor and some of the shops, before we headed out to Royal Holloway College of the University of London for our last evensong participation with the chapel choir, which consists entirely of choral scholars.

And in case you missed it, I’m transferring to Royal Holloway because that place is gorgeous.

Case in point, the entire college.

I had a lot of fun with the students though they were all very nice and welcoming to us as we came to work, and we were even given a tour by some of the students before rehearsal as we learned more about the college as a whole and its history as a women’s college.

Afterward, we participated in our last evensong in England, and then had some dinner in the dining hall before we headed back to London for the night.

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Day 13: Girls Can Definitely Do It Too

Let me preface this by saying that Sarah MacDonald is the icon of my practice and I love her and she deserves everything good in this world and she is a Grade A Badass. 

I’m also going to preface this by saying I did not actually take any pictures on this day because it was windy and rainy because it’s England and that’s the default, but this day in particular was awful and gross so in a word, no.

I won’t say that this morning had a great start, it actually had the worst. I say this because we had an engagement at St. John’s College School in Cambridge, but due to unforseen circumstances and despite leaving at the most ungodly hour in the morning, we were too late to make it to the rehearsal of the boy’s choir. It was incredibly unfortunate because it was the only engagement with boy choristers in our itinerary so it was sad to have that fall through. So thanks English traffic :)

So instead of heading to Cambridge, we went ahead and went to Ely and to our concert venue at Ely Cathedral in the Lady Chapel for the afternoon. But before that, I was able to get an exclusive sit down conversation with Sarah MacDonald herself and we had a long talk on the politics of women in Anglican Church music, which ties into my senior thesis project on women in music history. Talking to her was honestly the highlight of the day, I loved being able to see her perspective of the blatant biases that still exist in England with women in the church.

Then we had our concert in the Lady Chapel, which was absolutely STUNNING. A full performance review can be read here.

After a nice concert, we hit the road for London, so talk about a long drive and a well-deserved nap along the way. It was amazing that I slept just long enough for us to be entering the city. I was so happy we finally made it there, it had felt like an eternity working our way to it. Plus, it was one of my all-time dream destinations to visit in my lifetime so it was incredibly exciting.

We settled into our hotel, after spending quite a long time in that iconic London traffic, and then we went out to dinner, where I had some fish and chips. 

After that, we came back and went to bed!

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Day 12: Apparently I Need to Get My Head Checked?

Cambridge.

Cam.

Bridge.

A bridge over the River Cam.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from being in the UK is that there is almost no creativity in ANY of the names of the places there. 

And I digress.

So we departed from Bristol to Cambridge to visit King’s College and Selwyn College on the campus for our next evensong participation, also we were cordially invited to the formal dinner at Selwyn College following evensong, so that was pretty exciting too.

But before I go on,

I have words about a man who confronted me when we were in Cambridge, who basically said that King’s College is an eyesore and that the beaches of Thailand were better. I will argue that that’s a fair point, but also don’t scream at me to get my head checked when you honestly need to get your teeth checked like 30 years ago. 

The chapel was also a huge marvel. 

Lol, when Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had their initials lovingly intertwined at the chapel and everyone knows how bad that went.

After exploring the chapel, I left a little early to go eat more food since the bagged lunch we got from the hotel was less than up to par and I could barely stomach it. So we went to The Eagle, which is famous for its reputation in WWII with the military badges left by veterans over the years.

After that, we went to Selwyn College to meet with Sarah MacDonald and her cathedral choir to rehearse for evensong. I loved working with the choir and Sarah, she had a great report with her group and I appreciated the warm welcome we received and how she intermingled us with the choir. Evensong itself went very well in my opinion, and I had a lot of fun singing with the group.

After that was when the real fun began though. 

So we were invited to the formal dinner at Selwyn College and we had dinner in the great hall with the other students, which definitely included a lot of wine. Most of which was most definitely given to me voluntarily, so yeah, those students know how to drink and drink well. Dinner itself was very good too, since there was a really good leg of lamb roast and mashed potatoes. 

Then after that, we also were invited to the student bar where we had even more to drink, with me being at least three glasses of wine in, added two ciders on top of that. So I was very happy at the end of the night. I did have a great time with my friends and new companions at Cambridge and it was definitely a fun filled, unforgettable night.

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Day 11: The Old and The New Room

Let me preface this by saying that this literally was a day of ups and downs, but the only thing that matters is that it was DR. RYDER’S BIRTHDAY AND IT WAS AWESOME.

So I had been helping to plan the fun times for the day with Cathy since the beginning of the trip and I was so happy to have it come to fruition!

Andy the Tour Guide even bought him a little, CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYTHING AS CUTE AS THIS? No, no you can’t it’s the cutest thing ever and I wanted to cry. 

So we started off the morning by wishing Dr. Ryder a happy birthday, followed by singing Happy Birthday to him on the bus and giving him the card that all of us had signed.

Then we headed into Bristol to visit the New Room and Museum built in 1739 and is the oldest Methodist building in the world. The chapel has an interesting story in that the reason why there’s no windows on the first floor is because of the opposition to the Methodists in its early days in England.

Afterward, we were taken quite a ways away from the New Room to Charles Wesley’s (The Music Man) house. When I say the walk kind of scared me, it definitely kind of scared me. Let me phrase this in the best way possible, I think it was how different the environment in Bristol is in comparison to the other places we had been. I realized it was because Bristol was heavily bombed during the Blitz during WWII. 

So we made it to Charles Wesley’s house in Bristol, which was a simple townhouse, fitting for the Wesley brother. There were a lot of stairs though, and I don’t like stairs so that was fun.

It also turned into an impromptu photoshoot spot for Caroline and I, so there’s a lot of pictures, or in this case, gifs, of me being an awful student at Charles Wesley’s house.

After our adventures at Wesley’s house, we headed back to the New Room and were able to explore the museum and archives of the Methodist Church.

Randolph-Macon COLLEGE, thank you very much. We actually had a really good conversation with one of the workers at the museum about Randolph-Macon and other Methodist schools in Virginia and the United States. I hope that if we’re able to come back that we’re able to see those changes and additions.

After more adventures at the New Room, we headed off for lunch after getting to Bristol Cathedral, Caroline and I had a mini date by the waterside.

Afterward, we had our evensong with the Bristol Cathedral choir, after having a talk with David Bendall who is the church composer at Bristol and also composed one of our pieces I Saw a Stable. 

Then, we returned to the hotel for dinner and then we went to bed.

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Day 10: Wells, Wells, Wells, I Might Need a Bath

I will preface this by saying that Wells Cathedral is the most architecturally unique cathedral I have seen out of all the ones in our, as Robert puts it, “ABC Tour” (another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral....) but anyway. 

We left from Salisbury into Wells and stopped at Wells Cathedral to attend the Sunday morning Eucharist service, which was a very interesting experience. I’m very happy we were able to attend an Anglican church service that wasn’t just an evensong participation, but a Sunday service of the Eucharist. I was also very happy because we were also permitted to participate in Holy Communion. I was surprised because I thought we would have only been permitted if we were baptized in the Anglican Church, but it was open to all visitors so I thought that was a nice touch.

After that service, we departed to Bath, named after lo and behold, the Roman baths that made the town a renowned spa in ancient Britain. We first visited Bath Abbey dating back to the 7th century AD.

It was really crowded with visitors though, so I didn’t really take much time to explore because of sensory overload, so I mainly just sat in one of the pews and basked in the glory that was the abbey instead. Sometimes, you don’t need to run and explore everything, you can learn just as much about a place just by resting and absorbing what the place has in its essence. 

After that, we headed next door to the Roman Baths museum and exhibit, which was also pretty crowded so I went through that one rather quickly, or at least as quickly as my phone could keep up with me before it died. (RIP)

I thought it was pretty cool, and then you were able to drink some of the spring water too at the end of the tour. 

It tasted a lot like iron, and I probably could taste it really well because my iron levels were so low because I DON’T KNOW HOW TO KEEP TRACK OF MY PERSONAL NUTRITION MEANING I NEED TO BUY VITAMINS.

This was honestly my favorite reenacted clip out of the whole of the exhibit. Tell me this isn’t the funniest thing ever. I’m still crying. 

After the Baths, we went on sort of an excursion around Bath because with England being, well, England, it was wet, cold, and rainy, so we couldn’t really do much of any browsing without getting wet, so we looked in a few stores, and then found a little tea shop. So we stopped and had some scones and tea just in time for High Tea time at four.

After that, we headed to Bristol and to our hotel, where we had dinner and then we went to bed for the night!

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Day 9: Dem Rocks Tho

Let me preface this by saying that even though Stonehenge is not just a bunch of rocks, it’s sorta just a bunch of rocks. But they’re a bunch of rocks with HISTORY.

As always, I am the most graceful of all.

After I was prompted to pose like I had some sense. You’re welcome, Mom.

So we visited the most iconic sites in the entire world Stonehenge, and I celebrated the victory by doing finger guns at the most iconic piece of world history because that is what I do. England being, well, England, it was cold, rainy, and wet, but we still made the mighty trek up to the site. Meaning we got on a bus, only to promptly get on another bus to actually get to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is actually a pretty incredible sight, originating just over 5,000 years ago. No one actually knows what the purpose of the structure was, but i personally think it was in devotion to whatever Pagan sun god the people there worshiped, since it was built to be aligned with the sun on Sundays in particular.

Bonus: “Can you come up with a different pose now?” - Caroline

Soggy, rainy days make for bad moods though, so the rest of the day wasn’t exactly my best if I’m being entirely honest. We added an extra visit to a local Methodist church in town, but at that point I just wanted to go back to the hotel and to an extent go home really. I received the news on the same day that my sister was in the hospital so I especially wasn’t doing that great. I call this part of the trip where I start to get tired of basically everything and everyone, the Bad Times. And this is essentially where they like to happen often from this point onward. I simply wasn’t myself and I hated how I acted as much as everyone couldn’t stand me for it.

At a moment of personal reflection, I realized that I never had the temperament for a trip on this scale. I don’t do well among the same group of people and around so many people at one time without almost any time by myself to recenter, and as such I snap and lose my temper, even at those I care about the most.

I hate that that part of myself decided to come out during the trip because I feel like it hindered me from seeing the bigger picture in the context of where I was.

This is something I would struggle with for the rest of the trip.

But still, Stonehenge was great, just wish I could be great too.

“I love you!” <3

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Day 8: Oxford Blues & Hogwarts’ Home

I’m going preface this by saying I MADE IT TO HOGWARTS.

I CAN’T BELIEVE I MADE IT TO HOGWARTS

I WAS AT HOGWARTS

Okay so we were actually back at Oxford at Christchurch College, which was one of the main filming locations for the Harry Potter film series, hence a very popular tourist attraction. However, we came at a good time in the year since NO ONE TRAVELS TO THE UK IN JANUARY. Meaning we didn’t have to wait in massively long lines and step over people and maybe dropkick a few people. It was great. We then got to go inside the great hall.

Let me reiterate that I WAS AT HOGWARTS.

Besides that this was also the college that the Brothers Wesley were both ordained at so that’s pretty awesome to but still the fact that I went to Hogwarts is honestly what matters the most here.

It was unreal and I loved every moment of it. I also appreciated the line of portraits up and down the hall with all of prominent figures who graced Christchurch College in their time.

And Lewis Carroll (a.k.a. Charles Dodgson) I guess, even though you can’t help but wonder if he was a closeted pedophile. Being obsessed with the headmaster’s underage daughter when you’re much older is vaguely disturbing and shouldn’t warrant high praises but that’s none of my business. He also took photographs of young children nude and I personally don’t care if times were different back then, that’s still vaguely disturbing, except not vaguely.

And I digress.

And then there’s the characters from Alice in Wonderland secretly inserted into one of the stained glass windows.

Afterward, we bid farewell to Hogwarts Christchurch College and briefly explored the chapel and sang a little bit, before running into a fellow RMC class travel course to the UK (which surprisingly was not the only time we would run into the class over course of the trip)

We finally bid those Oxford Blue skies goodbye~

Onward to Salisbury for evensong!

So first of all, Salisbury is a crime because the spire at the very top is slightly crooked so that made me angry, btu anyway the cathedral is amazing. It’s so huge!

We were taken on a tour of the cathedral by a very enthusiastic tour guide there who showed us the ins and outs of the building. 

Simply a marvel.

Then WE GOT TO SEE THE MAGNA CARTA.

THE MAGNA CARTA.

THE MAGNA CARTA.

THE BEST PRESERVED MAGNA CARTA IN THE WORLD AND IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES

THIS DOCUMENT IS ALMOST 1000 YEARS OLD AND IT’S BETTER PRESERVED THAN ANY OF THE AMERICAN FOUNDING DOCUMENTS AND I’M MAD. I’VE NEVER SEEN SUCH AN OLD DOCUMENTS BE SO LEGIBLE AND EASY TO READ I WANTED TO CRY.

It was every historian’s dream to see and I was able to witness one of the world’s greatest documents right in front of me. Definitely life-changing.

And then it gets even better because we were able to participate in evensong with the cathedral girl chorister and lay clerks and that was absolutely incredible. 

And to top it all off, the male alto in front of me complimented my singing and was particularly impressed with my performance that evening. 

Honestly, I peaked in that moment.

I never need to sing again and be judged.

My work is finished.

After that we went to dinner and stuff and back to the hotel.

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Day 7: #JohnWesleyWasHere

So John Wesley was a fellow at Lincoln College at Oxford University, while both of the Wesley bros were ordained at Christchurch College at Oxford University. This was very confusing and I only just processed the difference.

So we finally went to Oxford University, which was virtually a dream come true because I had always wanted to go there when I was four years old. My mom always tells people I tried to apply there when I was ten, but I really was just browsing. 

I know my limits, I’m not a prodigy Mom, sorry!

England being England, it was wet and rainy. (At least it was consistent)

We visited Lincoln College at Oxford where we basically retraced John Wesley’s footsteps there and even visited his room while he was a fellow there. The college is actually one of the smallest on the university campus, so it really did just consist of a building surrounding the quad and that was about it. That being said, it was interesting to see how different the association between colleges and universities is between Britain and the United States.

We perused the dining hall and then explored the chapel.

Our tour ended with seeing John Wesley’s room at Lincoln. #JohnWesleyWasHere

We then visited Wesley Memorial Church, not far from the Wesley Brothers meeting place in Oxford for the Holy Club shenanigans.

Then we left to go to our hotel, followed by an INTERESTING dinner at Cafe Rouge. The waitress was rude so I may or may not have purposefully spilled water on the floor for her to clean up.

Then we went back ordered pizza and then went to bed.

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The cathedral choir at York Minster just before Evensong, meaning the sound of the angels.

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 Day 6: Yorkish Euphoniums & Methodist Melodies

I will preface this by saying in comparison to Westminster, York Minster definitely stands as my favorite minster that we visited over the course of the trip. 

Fun fact: the differentiating factor between abbeys and cathedrals is the presence of a cathedra and that’s about it.

Today was a great day because we really did have a lot of time to go out and explore York on our own. York is honestly a place with so much history at every turn that you really can’t get enough of it.

Our first destination of the morning was walking to York Minster, which if it hadn’t been so cold I would not have minded walking in the morning. Walking through the city did have a lot of great sights though and coming up to York Minster was definitely a beautiful view for first thing in the morning.

I feel like I can better convey the sheer magnitude of York Minster through pictures rather than words.

When I say York Minster is one of the most beautiful architectural marvels I’ve ever seen, I’m not saying it lightly. It was really a wonderful experience, then the tour guide had to point out the slight flaws in the geometry of the building, but it did not make it any less beautiful.

After that, we had to basically run to York Methodist Church for our first formal concert engagement for the public, which was actually a small scale affair. I don’t have any pictures from that day itself, but I found out on the way back the location was used in the miniseries Victoria for one of Prince Albert’s speeches!

I thought it was pretty cool to notice that later, but anyway. 

The concert went very well, despite the small audience. A full performance review can be read here.

Afterward, we were set lose onto York again for lunch and met up to go see the remains of St. Mary’s Abbey, which was pretty muddy to say the least, but still very cool.

I personally think going out for Afternoon Tea afterward was a little better. I’m glad I was able to experience a little luxury while in England too~ Also the food was DELICIOUS!

After that we ran back to York Minster for Evensong with the York Cathedral Choir, which was honestly the most ethereal experience just waiting outside before entering into the quire. You can listen to what I’m talking about here.

At any rate, it was an awesome experience to be able to attend evensong as a congregant rather than participating because it was an important perspective for me to understand, because I had never been to a high church like service in my life. It was such an intimate experience sitting in the quire that it was easy to forget that we were in a massive minster the whole time.

Afterward, we made the trek to dinner at Slug and Lettuce before returning to the hotel for the night! A bidding farewell to York~

[toritakestheuk]

Day 5: Seaside Scenery & Wesleyan Octagons

I’m going to preface this by saying when I move to England, I’m moving to Whitby and never leaving because that place is gorgeous.

Bram Stoker honestly had it right when he decided to use Whitby as inspiration for the setting of Dracula, but I probably wouldn’t have it be the setting of a vampire horror story.

I had a lot of fun on this day to be completely honest, and it goes down as one of my top three destinations and travel days out of the trip. 

We started the morning off my going to Yarm from Middlesbrough (never to return again) and visiting the oldest Octagonal Methodist church in the world. The group who escorted us was incredibly inviting and kind and had so much to tell us about the church and its history and how the church stands at the center of the community and has a major place in the activities of the town. the church was very active, despite its age and has truly withstood the tests of time.

The town was also very vibrant and lively that morning that we went and even the townspeople were intrigued by us being there especially in such a small tucked away place. It was nice to see that the people were so happy that tourist had a genuine interest in their town.

Onward from Yarm, we headed out to Whitby (which like I said, I fully intend on moving to when I move to England) and the seaside was absolutely stunning. It was basically everything I wanted when I went to England. The seaside breeze, the bright blue sky, the boats in the harbor, IT WAS A DREAM COME TRUE.

There we also go to see the remnants of the Whitby Abbey that the VIKINGS JUST HAD TO GO DESTROY BECAUSE THAT’S ALL THEY LIKED TO DO. But still, the cliff-side view was honestly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life. If I didn’t hate crying in public, I would have shed a tear at the sight. It probably would have ruined my makeup too so.

We also went inside the Church of St. Mary which was built in the early 12th century.

Bonus: I HAD FISH AND CHIPS BY THE SEA!

I didn’t eat the peas though, since I’m not the biggest fan of peas. I don’t wanna talk about it.

From there we headed to our next destination for the next few days, York. And we had dinner at a local pub. I had a delicious steak pie, even though I don’t really eat red meat on a regular basis.

Bonus: Max mansplaining to Caroline as he does.

After that, we walked back to the hotel and headed to bed for the night!