finals week

Hey All! Greetings (for the last time this spring) from London! I would like to share some great reflections with you about my semester here, but I'm afraid my brain is too busy processing all of the information I need to transfer onto my exams in the coming days. I have one exam each day over the next three days and a paper to turn in. My test tomorrow is a six hour take-home exam. The plus side of taking the exam at home is that I don't have to try to get to school during the tube strike. And I can wear my PJs. I'm pretty sure I think better in my PJs.

My better half is in her second to last week of rehearsals for Don Giovanni. Unfortunately, she is sick at the moment, but she went to the doctor today and got some medicine. Hopefully, she'll be up and running (and singing) very soon. 

 Obligatory London picture.

As a closing event for our program, my classmates and I were treated to a boat ride on the Thames on Friday. We enjoyed some great views of London in spite of the weather.

Some of my classmates posing for a selfie.

I hope you'll forgive me for keeping this short, but I think I should call it a night. I'm going to fall asleep on my Election Law textbook and hope that some information seeps into my brain. Until next time, have a great week!

just Easter bunnies this week

Hello all! My dear husband is writing one of his many papers due in law school, so I'm taking blog duties this week. I can't promise much, since I'm rather tired myself! As well as having rehearsal tonight, I went for a run in the forest, and I think after such a lazy weekend my body is confused! Chad and I had a wonderful long weekend together in London, but honestly didn't do too much! We've decided we need to go back to London just as tourists, so we can see all the sites that we still haven't seen. I think that because we are living apart, we tend to take joy in the little things, like drinking coffee together in the morning, and going grocery shopping. Too busy enjoying the mundane to go out and see great works of art! We did get together with some of Chad's classmates, and that was nice, although they inadvertently made me feel old, since it's a running gag to mock Chad's age, and well, I'm just not that much younger than him! I'm looking forward to his birthday in a couple weeks, just so we can have three years between us again!

We had some sad news this weekend, and I was glad I could be with Chad when we received it. His 92 year old Grandma passed away on Friday, after being put in hospice care on Thursday. She was a big part of Chad's youth, and was always very sweet to me. We will remember her with much love. We're really sorry that we can't be with the Graham family during this time, but they're being very understanding about our necessary distance, and will wait to have the celebration of life until the end of the summer, when we can all be together.

Other than that, there's not much to tell. After this blog entry, we only have one more entry in which we're apart from each other. We are both eagerly awaiting Chad's triumphant return to Frankfurt! I mean, I'm just assuming it'll be triumphant... That's why I'm writing this blog, so Chad has a better chance of passing his classes! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

I snapped this picture on my run today. The ground cover is made up of Bärlauch, or wild garlic,which makes the air smell like chives! I hadn't ever heard of this plant until moving to Germany, where it's quite prevalent in grocery stores! I've always been tempted to pick some of it, but  I heard it can be easily confused with other plants that are quite poisonous, so I'll leave the gathering to the professionals for now!

fluffy bunnies in the spring

Hey all! Sorry I'm a day late this week. As you saw from my micro-post yesterday, I was tied up with U.S. taxes. Uh oh, I said the T-word. Brenda and I don't actually use the T-word when talking to each other because it induces so much stress and anxiety. Instead, we say "fluffy bunnies." Why, you ask? Well, fluffy bunnies are cute and soft and harmless (except for the ones in Monty Python) and don't instill feelings of dread.

Fluffy bunny preparation this year was a little more involved for us than it has been the last few years. We decided that we would prepare our return ourselves (with filing software) instead of hiring someone to do it for us. And between you and me, I kind of had fun doing it, which is an enormous change from when I last prepared our fluffy bunnies several years ago. So I've learned something about myself. After going to law school, I've become the type of person who likes to read verbose IRS instruction manuals. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Brenda and I enjoyed some time together in Frankfurt this past weekend, and we're planning on repeating the experience in London this weekend. Her director has been kind enough to give the cast some time off in honor of Easter. It will be nice to have some more time here with Brenda before this law school business wraps up. I'm hoping we can make it to the Tate Gallery and possibly even try a new restaurant or two.

One of my classmate's parents came to London last week, and they kindly hosted a dinner for a group of us. They are both lawyers who, as I understand it, have lived and worked in Kentucky their whole lives. I had a good time chatting with both of them about their law practice. I also enjoyed eating a home-cooked meal (I've been eating a lot of rice cakes this semester).

The apartment my classmate's parents rented had a nice sitting area on the roof.

I think I should call it a night. I need to be well rested for our discussion of Bush v. Gore tomorrow in my Election Law class. Actually, I need the rest so I can endure all of the "chad" jokes that I'm going to be subjected to. Until next time, have a great week!

Tax day

Hey All! I'm afraid I've been tied up with taxes all evening, so I haven't had a chance to write a proper blog entry. Please tune in tomorrow!

THE END IS NEAR!

Hello all! Hope the blog title didn't scare you. It's actually not a doom and gloom statement at all! Chad and I have less than one month left before he is done with law school and we go back to living with each other full time again! I hope he hasn't gotten too used to his bachelor lifestyle. Come to think of it, I hope he hasn't been living a bachelor lifestyle at all. If the TV show "The Bachelor" is what bachelors live like, I think he and I might need to have a serious talk... 

Today marks a good day in my schedule, because I have one less thing to prepare for! Last night I sang in my first recital in Germany (which means just me and a pianist, no staging, no costumes, no orchestra!) and it was SUCH a lovely evening! Other than my solo sets, I also sang some duets with my friend and colleague Paula (she and I are currently playing sisters in the opera Così fan tutte!) and we're hoping we can do many more recitals like this in the future! It's really one of the best things in the world to be able to perform with friends! My old friend from Juilliard, InSun, played the piano for us both, and I'm just in awe of her. We performed some Rachmaninoff songs, and her piano parts were like mini piano concertos!

Paula, myself, and InSun in the backstage area.

Relaxing after the recital at one of our favorite haunts, Klosterhof!

I had a glorious day off today, but tomorrow it's back to work for Don Giovanni rehearsals! Friday will be the really great day, because not only does Chad come to Frankfurt for the weekend, but that will also be the day where I can begin concentrating on one opera and one opera only! As sorry as I will be to have our last Così fan tutte performance on Thursday, it will be a big load off my mind! My next opera production doesn't start rehearsals until June 23rd, and although it seems far off now, I'm sure it will come sooner than I expect! 

Chad is currently a paper writing machine. I know he wishes he could spend more time exploring the parts of London he hasn't gotten to, but those darn professors keep assigning so much work! It looks like we'll get more opportunities to hang out in London in the future though, so I suppose it's good he's saving some of it. :-) 

Spring has really exploded in Frankfurt, and I'm incredibly grateful I'm not affected by allergies like Chad is. I like to look at the flowers and smile, not curse them. Our balcony is overflowing with wisteria, which is beautiful, but that means it's also overflowing with bees! And since Germans (really, Europeans in general) don't seem to believe in screens on windows, I always cautiously eye the kitchen when I walk in. I've only had one bumblebee in there so far, and he was very friendly, so I let him go. 

I'll wrap it up there for now! Have a wonderful week, and I hope it's filled with sunshine! 

break's over

Hey All! Break is over, which is both good and bad. It's bad because Brenda and I have to be apart again, although that might be a good thing for her because of all the work she needs to get done (I'm very good at distracting her). It's good because I can get back to finishing up this law school stuff once and for all (31 days to go). Also, fleeing the country has been good for my allergies. I don't know what plant it is, but when spring starts springing in Germany, I start to have trouble breathing. 

 I've gotten to know the flights to and from London pretty well over the last few months.

Now that the end of the semester is so close, I need to try to squeeze in all the London sightseeing I haven't gotten to yet. I've hit the major musical venues on my list and most of the famous landmarks. That leaves the museums. I'm also open to suggestions. Is there anything else I should be sure to see before I leave?

Brenda made this delicious looking dish last night after I was already on my way to London. I think it was her way of punishing me for leaving.

I had better stop here. Deadlines are looming for a couple of papers. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!