I haven't been AVOIDING it as such... it's just difficult to summon the power to open up the page, select the blog and CHOOSE to write about all the insane things I've actually done since... oh balls, June.
29TH JUNE.
That's bad. In fact, it's dreadful.
VITAL UPDATES ABOUT MY LIFE:
I turned 18, that was a thing.
I passed my A-Levels.
I sang at Maria Eck in Bavaria.
I sang at the Royal Albert Hall.
I attended lots of concerts and rehearsals, pub gatherings and a few parties, they were pretty swell.
One of the biggest things I did this summer was go on an Outward Bound Classic course in Ullswater in the Lake District and that was phenomenal. The ultimate challenge (for someone like me!) and I met some truly incredible people and some not so incredible but fairly fun people. It was tiring but an excellent challenge. We had to perform and carry out an unplanned Mountain Rescue scenario at one point and I didn't freak out or break down like the other girl in our group but I just got on with it and sort of went into this sort of "just do it" mode and didn't grumble or complain about how cold and wet and seriously uncomfortable it was to walk in my boots that were rubbing whilst damp; I just did it. We also played a lot of pool and made many catch-phrases and nicknames, we were obviously the most mature group there. Well, we were the oldest. Three expeditions; three totally unforgettable weeks. Now and again when I look back on that experience as part of this summer just gone I get insanely emotional about it all, like really lamentable and I just want to go back. There's a huge part of me yearning to just get back in a minibus up to the centre, to see that sign that says "Outward Bound Ullswater Centre" and walk through stores, past the cage and up the stairs to F4 dorm and just sit there on the bed overlooking the phone booth... I think it would be too overwhelming to go back so soon, with my badge and pride and all of that. I want to go back though. Describing this is making me want to read over my diary entries again but the sheer exhaustion of the whole experience and the insane emotions I felt reading over it last week was enough for this summer! At some point in my life I'd like to return to the centre, look through the book and look for the Hargreaves' team picture from my course with me and my hat and red waterproofs looking absolutely hinging, fresh from final expedition on the canoes, maybe just roaming the corridors and seeing who is still there...
I returned from that INSANE experience and had five days at home before I got my A-Level results. I got an A* for English Literature (yippeeeeee so happy!), an A for Textiles (get in there, my comments to the examiners were obviously worth it and they loved my Kangaroo-pouch trousers from my coursework) and a B for Psychology which I was happy with but a little bit miffed because I was like 1 UMS mark from an A and it was just frustrating. All in all I was very proud because it accurately reflected how much effort/revision I'd put in (except I barely revised for Textiles because the exam was pretty straightforward and I got to draw pictures and diddle around) but didn't really reflect how enthusiastic I was about Psychology because it is still a fascinating subject to me... but PSYB4 was the dullest exam I have ever sat. This might all sound like exam-board nonsense to those of you reading this who haven't been through the devastatingly DULL English, AQA exam system for A-Levels... and good for you, you should keep it that way. Ignorance is most certainly bliss when the subject of flipping exam requirements is banded about. That is for those of you who will never have to sit them. If you have to sit these exams you should probably work for them because that would be pretty idiotic if ya didn't now, wouldn't it? YES IT WOULD. I'M TELLING YOU. OK? Yes, good.
With those well-received results, I accepted a place at the University of York to read English Literature and Language in Education and I'm off there in 9 days! WOOOOOO *many celebratory noises and gestures*
Packing up my life into boxes is liberating and fun, but also intensely frustrating. I keep stopping every time I find something with an awesome memory attached to it... which it pretty much everything because that's just how my brain works. Sometimes I get really sidetracked because I want to tell anyone and everyone the stories and things that I can remember and then they all get bored, just like you probably are reading this. Why are you reading this? You're either my Mother (HELLO), my sister, someone reading this from my other, more jumbled blog or one of my Canadian friends. Or a total stranger... HI THERE.
The day after I received my A-Level results, I just casually packed a suitcase to go to Bavaria with my Chamber Choir for 4 days. Those were definitely four days that I will remember for as long as I live. Silly heat, silly clothes, silly people. All of whom I love and cherish very dearly and we are the best Chamber choir! We're like an extremely close family. Gosh I want to go back there, with those people. We walked up to Maria Eck and performed the best and most emotionally filled concert I have EVER sung in on the second day. I was given an orange rose for singing my solo in Fix You which was not really expected and the other soloists were real solo pieces, I felt like an impostor in a way but it was just gorgeous and WAAAAAAAAAAAH. We then went to an insanely German beer festival and we all got pleasantly drunk (inc. the under 18's wheyyyyayyyeee, some more than others...) and it was an hilarious evening when we returned to the Convent. Oh yeah, we stayed in a Convent because it was pretty much entirely ours apart from a family that stayed one night out of the three we were there. We had a an afternoon by Lake Chiemsée and a day in Saltzburg where we went to Mozart's Geburthaus (nerd MELT). We actually sang outside his house which was a big deal because we had to ask permission ahead of the trip and they don't just let anyone do a performance of Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and "Laudate Dominum" outside the main man's house! But they let us and it was wonderful. The heel/sole fell off my boot (THEY WERE ONLY FOUR DAYS OLD, SOB) when we were on the train back and I was the first person to hop off the bus and onto the flight back from our group!
When I returned from Bavaria I had two days to turn around/pack up again and I zoomed off down to London to sing at The Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms... no biggie!
I kid, MASSIVE BIGGIE!!!! AAAAH!!!! LIFE CHANGING STUFF. We sang Mendelssohn's Elijah, under the conductor Paul McCreesh and it was phenomenal. I can't adequately describe how much fun I had, how tired I was and how lost we got in Camden (which actually wasn't that lost but Rachael had a huge panic) that weekend but it was just amazing. There were lots of moments whilst actually singing on the stage when I was totally overwhelmed and the performance just struck me right in the heart as an exceptional moment... it was awesome.
THEN... I came home and lamented my travelling summer by watching programmes online and going to see Comedy with my cool family, films, trains, Church, so much blogging (elsewhere...) video-blogging, skyping.
Now I'm packing up and moving on; my biggest adventure is just about to begin...
UNIVERSITY.
Stay adventurous,
Hazel :)
