Hello from Madrid!

 

It's been a while since I updated my blog so I thought since I'm having a quiet afternoon I might as well write a little something. Our Contiki tour ended this morning so there were a lot of sad goodbyes. It's unbelievable how well you can get to know complete strangers in 12 days, especially when you are spending nearly every waking hour with each other.

 

In the past 8 days since Rome we have visited Florence (with the Uffizi Museum, the "Real David"" and Ponte Vecchio, the great Cathedral, the Duomo (the oldest dome in Europe), Pisa (Leaning tower), La Spezia (a seaside port  on the west coast of Italy), the Cinque Terre (5 little towns on the west coast of Italy- absolutely stunningly beautiful), Nice (with it's lovely beaches on the Cote d'Azur) and Monaco (the casino!), Aix en Provence (a university town) , Avignon, Carcassone (where Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was partially filmed), Barcelona (with its all night parties, the Sagrada Familia and the awesome beach), Zaragoza and finally Madrid ( with an aweosme Royal Palace, and the stunning Valley of the Fallen- a monument to the soldiers of the Spanish Civil War, in the mountains.)

 

We've had some huge nights out as well- had an awesome time with another Contiki tour group both in Florence at a Space Electronic Disco, in Nice at Waynes Bar ( where i bumped into 4 friends from NZ!), a good night out in Barcelona with just the tour group, and finally a last blowout in Madrid last night. The Spanish are crazy when it gets to partying. The Bars don't get going till about 1am, are packed every night of the week (we partied on a Sunday, Monday and a Wednesday night!), and don't close till 6am! Imagine what these places are like in the summer.

 

Off to Toledo tomorrow. Another very uninteresting post sorry! Will try to write in more detail at a later date!

 

Dickson

Hey all!

 

Its 11:15 am here on my last of 4 days in Rome, beautiful outside. Things have been going great. I have joined my Contiki Tour, and there are some interesting characters in the group. Heaps of Aussie Girls, a bunch of people from South Africa, a few from Canada ( including a guy Kevin, whos gonna be the one to get all the drinking started), and a splattering from all over the world including some South Americans. The tours gonna be great with a cool bunch of people, and hopefully a few big nights out. My mate David had a huge night last nite, wandered in at three absolutly trashed. He went on a pub crawl run be these New Zealanders starting at the Spanish Steps. I backed out coz I needed to do washing! Wot a loser! Im gonna have quite a few big nights here though, so I thought I'd save my money for now and have a bit of fun at a better time.

 

The last couple of days have been buzy. We arrived in Rome after a 5 hr train journey from Venice at around 7:30pm, only to discover that our hotel is way out of town! Its probably the most inconvieniet place you could have a hotel. Its a little like staying in a hotel in Howick! It costs €25 to catch a taxi to town and about 35 min by train. The first night I couldnt find a restaurant anywhere near the hotel so I had to starve and boil my own water!

 

Apart from the inconvienience of the Hotel, Rome has been great. On Friday we visited the Vatican (St. Peters Basilica, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel), marvelled at all its grandeur and the beauty of the Frescos, then had some lunch and wandered round town for some shopping. David is quite a shopper so he bought a hoodie and something else (I can't remember what!) and then we headed back to the hotel for an early night. We were still tired and he was asleep by 7pm!

 

On Saturday, we met up with a couple of our Contiki tour mates on the bus into town and walked around with them. Saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon etc and in general just hung out with new buddies. Had to be back in the hotel by 6pm for a tour meeting, where we met Gary (our Australian tour guide, whos a bit of a moron lol), and the rest of our tour. Theres about 40 people on tour, so its a huge group! After that we had a night walk through town (seeing the same attractions as we did in the day!), and then found some dinner. The spaghetti and pizza here is so nice! I have discovered Spaghetti Pomodoro, (Spaghetti in just Tomato Sauce) and its fantasitic. The evening concluded with a few drinks at the hotel bar and a Poker lesson run by Kevin the Canadian. Good times...

 

Yesterday, the group did a guided tour of the Roman Forum, and then we went into the Colosseum. I think I enjoyed this the most, since you don't even need to have an artistic mind/ knowledge to appreciate the grandeur and the history behind these ruins. We basically spent the whole morning wandering around and taking in the sights. The afternoon we wandered back into town and had a look around, it was pretty relaxed.

 

In the evening, we went out to dinner at an Irish Pub called Trinity College, of all places. Had a decent (not great meal) of Cheese stuff called Scamorze, and some drinks. I went back to the hotel early coz I was tired and had washing. David partied on hard with about 5 others. He's still at the hotel now coz he didn't want to take the bus into town. Hope he makes in in town in time to catch the tour bus to Florence!

 

This morning I had a wander up the Dome (Cupola) of St. Peters Basilica on my own. Some fantastic views up there! I'm about to find some lunch now and then hop on the bus to Florence! The weather has been really fine here, but a little cold (about 7 degrees outside). I looking forward to my coffee and lunch now, so hungry!

 

Thanks to all those that have e-mailed me, I havent had time to reply sorry! Hope you are all having great summers! Write heaps of e-mails to me, I want to know all the gossip!

 

Laterz

Hello from Venice!

 

The last two days have gone by so quickly it's unbelievable. On Tuesday, right after getting off my 13hr flight from Singapore, I spent the day exploring London with David (my travelling buddy), Mei Lam, Janet ( friends who are also from NZ travelling round Europe at the moment too) and their friend Aneela. Had an awesome time seeing the sights such as the London Eye, Big Ben and Oxford Circus. London is such a buzy place! People always seem to be in a rush, and the Tube is always full of people! Everyone was real tired though after getting off the plane and not having slept properly for some 30hrs, so we called it a night pretty early. David and I also had an early morning flight to Venice.

 

Yesterday Dave and I arrived in Venice about 10:30 local time. We caught a Vaporetto (a water taxi) from the airport right to St. Mark's Square, where our hotel is close to. We were real lucky that we found our hotel real quick coz it's on a small side street and could have taken forever! Spent the day wandering the streets and soaking up the atmosphere. Photos to come! Venice is amazing! The buildings everywhere are just like in the pictures/ paintings, full of history! St. Marks Basilica is a truly humbling place, in all its grandeur. It's amazing how these places were built way back then to perfection and has stood for so many centuries!

 

Gotta dash right now, don't have much time left before I have to check out of the hotel. Sorry for such a boring post, but have to rush. Promise I will do a more comprehensive blog later! 

 

Blogging live from Singapore Airport! I arrived in Singapore about 1 hr ago after an evetful 10 hr flight. The plane was only half full so i didn't have to sit next to anybody, which was great. I must say Singapore Airlines has the best inflight entertainment for economy class ever! U can choose from 40 movies and about 100 Cds (30 Classical!) which you can start, stop or pause anytime you like! There is even an online language tutor which teaches you the basics of languages ranging from French to Russian to Indonesian! Spent my time watching Mr and Mrs Smith (the movie!) which was average, listening to the CD of the East West Divian Orchestra play Tchaik 5 and Force of Destiny Overture (really good!),Joshua Bell play Tchaik (quite good), Vengerov play showpieces (average... typical showpiece crap... but technically awesome!), and a new young violinist Nicole Benedetti on her Symanowski album (decent). Also learnt sum spanish... now I can count from one to ten, and know that El Dormitorio (is that right?) is bedroom. Must do the italian tutor on the way to London.

 

It is so hot in this airport! It's 29degrees C outside, and I'm sweating! Doesn't help that I'm wearing a big as jacket to take to Europe. My flight leaves in 2 hrs for London ( a 13hr flight) so I think i'm going to find a cool drink to cool down for a while now and stretch out a little! More to come when I get to London.

NZSO was fantastic last nite! Truly one of the best concerts I have been to. Right from the start the orchestra asserted themselves as an amazingly tight ensemble, with a short and brassy fanfare-like work by John Adams. Despite some rather seemingly frantic  and erratic conducting by the Finish born conductor Hannu Lintu ( I don't know how anybody could follow his beat- his arms were moving so fast and in such a crazy fashion!), the orchestra was crisp and tight throughout- a true whilwind of a performance.

 

The violin playing of Cho-Liang Lin was a definate hightlight. Although he made a tentative start to the Brahms concerto, he was able to produce the most amazingly warm and sweet sound from his violin. His interpretation of the Brahms I felt was at its finest in the 2nd movement, where again his sweet sound matched with incredible phrasing made his performance of this movement one of the best I have heard. He also showed absolutely incredible stamina in the 3rd movement, with some of the best intonation I have heard live in that movement, and extremely clean tone production throughout. Apart from a few dodgy moments in his passage work, and some funny octave intonation in his encore, his performance was quite difficult to fault. The orchestra was solid again in this performance, except for one or two moments in movement three, where I felt the conductor may have been at fault again with his conducting.

 

Tchaik 5 is one of my favourite symphonies, and I was definately not dissapointed by last night's performance of the work. The tempos were a little slow to my liking, and again the brass stood out inappropriately I felt in a few places, but overall there was so much passion showed by the musicians and the conductor that I think all must be forgiven! There was an interesting moment in the 1st movement when Vesa (the concertmaster) broke a string and had to take his desk partner's violin! An series of violin swaps then occurred. I haven't ever seen this in a concert before (although I have played in two concerts where Cello strings have been broken and there have been some swapping action going on), so it was interesting to see how efficiently this was done. Highlights were definately the 2nd and 4th movements, which are (for the use of a better word!) truly orgasmic at their climaxes!

 

Another cool thing about the concert was that an old friend, Blythe Press, was playing in the 2nds for the concert. It's truly incredible when someone 4 years younger than you is already playing in the NZSO (I'm so jealous!). He is the man! It was great to catch up with him after the concert and to hear about what he tought of the conductor, how playing in the orchestra in this programme has been, and to hear about his trip to Austria studing with Yair Kless. Blythe is truly amazing- he'll probably be a concertmaster of some major orchestra someday or a touring worldwide as a soloist or chamber musician. Knowing people like him is truly inspiring and shows where with a bit of hard work and talent where you can be.

 

So all in all, an inspiring night! What is less inspiring though is the pile of physiology notes sitting on my desk It's times like this I wish that I was doing violin. I hate being at my desk and studying. I just want to do something active. I think I'm going through academic burn-out of sorts. I just feel so unmotivated to study, especially since exams to seem that scary to me anymore!

 

Had a three hour quartet gig today, so I feel much richer. I'll have to save every penny before I go away. Only 8 days away now!

It's always gutting when you just don't do as well as you know you can- and that was exactly the case in my exam today. Despite studying quite hard for the last four days and learning a lot (despite it being at the last minute), sometimes things just don't work out well in an exam. Anyways, the exam just went crap- all the mini essays I had to write just didn't flow, I felt like I didn't have enough time to explain anything well, had mutliple brain blocks, and spent way too much time on some sections, leaving not enough time on other sections and not really completing them to my satisfaction. I just have to get over it now and move on- only one to go! (Hope I didn't fail and have to drag my ass back from Europe to sit a special!)

 

Tomorrow night I'm going to hear the NZSO with Cho-Liang Lin, which will be exciting! I've been looking forward to this concert since last year, as it combines two of my favorite pieces- Brahms Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky 5! A radio review of the performance was unflattering though: apparently the conductor is a bit dry. So hope it's gonna be a good night.

 

It's only 10 days till I leave for Europe- which is a bit worrying! I haven't even thought about what I'm going to pack and I don't think I have enough clothes. Last night (since I never sleep well the night before an exam) I spent ages tossing and turning thinking about what I'm going to eat over there (in sight of my food allergies), and worrying about what it's going to be having to move round and travel all the time. I think I'm just begining to realise what a long time I'm going away for. I'm sure there are going to be some great times, but two and a half months of traveling is going to get tiring! I definately think by the end of it I will appreciate much more a simple home cooked meal, as well as my own bed!  Mum and Dad a stressing heaps about security, telling me all these scary stories. I don't think I'll get a wink of sleep whilst I'm over there!

 

 

Sometimes (being the SNAG that I am lol!), I am prone to my spells of corniness. As I was studying for Practitioner Development II exam tomorrow, I came across these little gems of wisdom regarding life in our "Self Care" lecture:

 

Resilience:

 

What is it? "the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress..." APA.

Not a trait- it involves behavious, thought and actions that can be learnt and developed...

Main factor is having caring and supportive relationships PLUS

Positive view of yourself and confidence.

Skills in communicating and problem solving.

The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses.

 

APA recomments 10 ways to build resilience:

 

1) Make connections (what ever that means lol!)

2) Avoid seeing crises as insumountable problems

3) Accept that change is part of living

4) Move towards your goals

5) Take decisive actions

6) Look for opportunities for self-discovery

7) Nurture a positive view of yourself

8) Keep things in perspective

9) Maintain a hopeful outlook

10) Take care of yourself

 

Does that just make you feel so much better about exams? But then, this arrived in my e-mail inbox from my mate Tim (Rated M for Male Reading Only)

 

An exam is like a wife:

1) Too many questions

2) Difficult to understand

3) More explanation is needed

4) Result is always unexpected.

 

LOL! Happy examing and good luck!

 

 

 

 

Not much to report this time. Still have done hardly any work for exams- I'm determined to get started properly tomorrow! Today I spent starting the day having lunch at St. Lukes with Dave Mc, checking out the mall for some stuff, then heading over at 1:30 to Dave B's to meet him and Tim to book stuff for Europe. Little did we know that very little progress can be made in 4 hrs!

 

Booking Hostels and arranging the European Tour has been more difficult and frustrating than anticipated. It would be ideal to stay throughout Europe in hostels sharing a room with my travelling buddies only, especially for security's sake, but it seems like we've simply left it too late! Of particular interest is the hostel situation in Prague, where the hostels that the Lonely Planet book has recommended seem to be all full, and the rest seem to be full of criminals! One review of a hostel reported that "Security is non existant" and "not even your (lol not my) bra is safe!". Should be some interesting times!

 

My departure date is in only 3 weeks, so the trip is really fast becoming  reality now. Still got three pesky exams to struggle thorugh though. Money is also fast dissapearing out of my bank account! I have now bought my Eurail pass, and have decided to add one night in Venice to my itinerary (some troubles with cheap accomodation there too!). For the first time, I'm starting to worry about what it will actually be like living in hostels for a month and a half. I'm sure I'll appreciate the simple pleasures of  home so much more after.

 

Another frustrating thing is that people have been keeping things from me... you know who you are. I expect you to all come clean sometime...

 

Laterz