Thursday, January 5 STUDENT JOURNAL

by Kristen French, Senior soprano

With the sky still dark and the temperature a chilly three degrees Celsius, we left the comfort of our cozy beds to start day two of our tour. Spirits were running high. After our first good night of sleep and a full English breakfast most of us had beaten our jet lag and were ready to see what England really had to offer. The view from our coach was absolutely captivating as we wound our way through what the English call the down lands. As the sky grew lighter it keps famous gray hue but the green fields seemed to be glowing despite the overcast sky. The road to Bath was lined with charming English cottages ranging from the most humble to those looking more like cottage mansions, but all with thatched roofs. The rolling hills were dotted with sheep and the yards were scattered with chickens. It was a perfect illustration of everything I have ever though of as quintessentially English.

When we arrived in Bath the view out our coach window changed considerably. We slowly descended into a city built entirely of limestone. I could feel the history of the city as soon as I stepped off the bus. We visited the Roman ruins built over the natural hot springs, which treated the ancient Romans to baths of 114 degrees Fahrenheit. Seeing the steam rise from the hot water into the cool January air was stunning and beautiful. It was mind boggling to stand in the same place the Romans had in 100 AD and to enjoy the same view that has been seen for generations.

After a stretch of free time for shopping and lunch we loaded the bus once again, this time bound for Stonehenge, a site most of us had been eagerly anticipating. After reveling in the history of Bath I was blown away by the view at Stonehenge. Each rock weighs in excess of 4 tons and has been standing in the shocking formation for almost 5000 years! I was caught up by the intense sense of mystery that surrounded Stonehenge. No one knows for certain how or why these stones were moved or even who could have done such a thing but to see work of such immense proportions was fascinating.

With the sky already beginning to darken we arrived in Salisbury where we were greeted by the largest spire in England looming overhead. The Salisbury Cathedral was truly a sight to see; the sheer size of the cathedrals is something that most of us are still getting used to and the intricacy is gorgeous! We immediately jumped into our rehearsal with the famous conductor and organist David Halls and tried to mentally switch gears from tourist to musician. Before we could catch our breath we were vested and ready to begin Evensong.

As we sat in the quire, the expanse of the church around us was humbling. We were all unsure of what was ahead of us and somewhat nervous for our first performance. It helped me to remember that although this experience was new to us, it was an every day occurrence for the faithful few that joined us for worship. There was comfort in the formal tradition that was acted out once again in a church that has held an Evensong service every day for the past 700 years. Before the service began, Dr. ABC reminded us that once we sang in the Salisbury Cathedral our voices would remain to mingle with hundreds of years of history. We sat in the places where thousands of worshipers had sat before us and we were able to add our voices among theirs. The feeling of adding our part was truly fulfilling and a great way to make our international debut. After marveling at the history of such an old country for the entire day it felt good to be able to leave our mark.