I am now a 2nd semester student at Berklee! I feel like a pro!

I was so excited about coming back to Berklee after the lovely break! I returned with my cymbals this time! The flight was longer than ever and bumpier than ever. A bit scary at times. It was a bit of aftermath of the gale force winds and just intense winter on the east coast. But in the end it was all safe and no real problems. Once I landed I found out I had probably brought too many bags for being as cheap as I am. I took the T (Boston underground) and there are way too many stairs for so many bags. I could've taken a taxi, which would have been a lot easier, but it's a lot more expensive! 
Anyway, I arrived safely and got there eventually.

Of course I immediately went to find Sixy Sissy! We spent the rest of the evening catching up and she told me about her new RA (Resident Advisor) life in the big new building. She's very busy and I'm very sad that we don't get time to hang out anymore, but she's still working very hard, so I'm still happy with her.
The new building is very spectacular, beautiful and special, but it's also very inefficient, quick to break and going to take some time for processes to be figured out. The building is 10 floors taller than the other main building and the view is magnificent! You can see all of Boston, literally: into Fenway Park, the frozen Charles River, the Prudential Center and just everything! The new cafeteria is pretty spectacular. Apparently, when the staff were let in there the first time, they were all so overjoyed that they had a decent selection of appliances and that they worked. It's pretty funny. The new cafeteria has two floors, larger selection of food and a lot of windows for a lovely view of Boston.

After a few days I was made aware that I needed a haircut, so I went to my 'regular' spot, which I've been to once between the Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Chang's. I sat down and got this typical Boston woman to cut my hair. Turns out it was the most violent haircut I ever had. She actually scraped my head back to try and collect the hair in her hands. She was also rather reckless with the razor, cleaning up the hairlines around my neck and ears. After that, she was very quick to ring me up to pay before I could mention I had a discount card. She told me she couldn't put the discount in so it was left at $15. Then she asked how much tip I was giving. Obviously I said none because she overcharged me when forgetting the discount. Later when I checked my bank account I found out she actually gave herself a $5 tip and put the bill at $20. 
What nerve! That was really stupid and annoying.

Anyway, now that I'm looking fresh, I was ready for classes, but the first Monday was Martin Luther King Day so day off. Only on class on Tuesday, Harmony 2, (quick side note, he was playing 'Hit Me' by Dirty Loops when I walked so I knew it was going to be fun with this teacher). Then Wednesday was a snow because there was so much hype about the blizzard, but I woke up the next day, looked outside and the roads were white from all the salt left over after the snow had melted and dried. That was frustrating. I was really looking forward to my first Private lesson, but I guess that wasn't happening. Really annoying because the practice rooms were also closed, so a waste of a day really.
This gave me the time to try and get a job. I knew the job I wanted, 'work study' in the drum practice rooms because it actually puts me in an environment where I am getting paid to do my homework! It's great! I know the student supervisor from the British Club, Andrew, and I told him I wanted to do it. He helped me out greatly and kept coming to me first any time a time slot opened up and I jumped at any opportunity. The reason I wanted this job is mostly because I want some new drum pedals. I've got to get me some DW 9000 Series Double Pedals! Also, I've been wanting a job for a long time so I can become self sufficient and getting used to the real world. So I'm currently working 10 regular hours a week, but I often pick up extra shifts, or help out at clinics or move drum kits around the school. It's pretty fun and I'm glad I got this job.

Before I got to Berklee my Dad warned me almost everyday about the freezing cold weathers they have in Boston. He hasn't been wrong, but I haven't found it that bad yet. Normally I don't walk outside for very long, but as long as I keep my hands in my pockets and wear some ear muffs, I don't think there is an issue at all. My phone said it was like -10 degrees Celsius, but feels like -21 for example and that is definitely bearable. I'm happy with that. 
As a result of the cold, there is plenty of snow or at least plenty of talk of snow. 2 weeks after the first, there was another snow day, again making me miss my private lesson (GRRRR), but this time there was more snow. Roads were still clear, but there was some in the local park. So naturally we went there and played in the snow. We found friends who had sleds on the hill. Also, our good ol' Texan, Katie 'El Presidente' Hattier had never built a snowman so that was the first thing on her agenda. We built a nice tall snowman and then I had the urge to tackle. So I did! I made sure my friends filmed it for me and it was spectacular! I put the video on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (of course!). The next day I saw on my Twitter that someone had replied to my video. It was a rugby club in Boston saying, 'You should play for us!' I obviously said yes and now I am going to play for the Wolfhounds in March. Need to find some gear though...

Then there was last weekend.

Last weekend I was a part of a video shoot for the Berklee YouTube page. One of the only I've ever worked with my teachers. Weird experience seeing them in their real life, professional situation. Or as close as possible so far. The story behind the video is a little sad, but the video itself is going to look super fun! I'm playing Surdo and hopefully they used the take where I'm flipping my stick around. Always trying to steal the show! Basically, the need for the video is that the percussion department is sinking. Drums are fine, but hand percussion and orchestral percussion etc are apparently losing interest in the upcoming youth. This video is to show that we're still fun, there's a versatile percussion department and there's some real quality. Very excited to see the finished product!

After that my friend told me about an upcoming audition I was very excited about. He told there me there were auditions happening for the Assistant Conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra. As soon as I got back to my room, I emailed the teacher responsible so I could tell the man I wanted to do it and find out the audition requirements. He wanted us to prepare excerpts from Stravinsky's 'Royal March', Berlioz' 'Symphonie Fantastique' and, one of my favorite pieces ever, Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture'. The last time I've been involved in the Tchaikovsky is when I was playing Timpani under the direction of Dudamel. Probably the world's leading conductor right now. It was so amazing watching him at work so I tried to copy him as much as possible in that audition. Another related story, which is actually so cool, is that after my audition he told me that was a cofounder of El Sistema! So he is partly responsible for the existence of Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra. The best in the world! I couldn't believe it! El Sistema is a revolutionary program that started in Venezuela, where they basically gave less fortunate neighborhoods the chance to play music and give them something to keep them away from the bad situation on their streets. The same mission as the Samba Band/Organization I play for, Grooversity. So amazing to have met Francisco! But the audition itself, he seemed happy with me, but he referred to the fact that I was 'only' a 2nd semester and then proceeded to tell me about classes I should take and then 'if' it doesn't work out that I should reaudition in later years. Don't get me wrong, he was very happy with me and we had a great time together, but he was looking for someone older and he really wants me to reaudition and I should get the job rather easy then.

Lastly, in the spirit of Valentines Day and our upcoming 3 year Anniversary, I really want to thank Hannah for sticking with me while we're so far apart. She's so understanding and supportive of all my big dreams and spending the Christmas holidays with her made realize why I have to be at Berklee and maybe spend too much time in the practice room and not enough time on Google Plus with her because I want to make sure that I can come out of Berklee providing the best family environment for Hannah and I to be together from then on.
I love you, Hannah and thank you for being by my side... Metaphorically speaking.

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find this anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

And if you've enjoyed this maybe you'll also enjoy my drum covers? You can find them in the tab at the bottom of the home page labelled 'To my other videos', which should take you to my YouTube page.

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this.

Hope your life is well

P.S. I have a Venezuelan friend who was singing a straight 16th note (semi quaver) rhythm in ear training class and it made him think of the military and he became scared because of the turmoil happening in his home country. His Mom is still stuck there, they won't allow any airplanes in or out of the country and he is scared and angered everyday by the ridiculous actions of the Venezuelan Government. I hate seeing him like this and this needs to stop! World awareness is what freed Mandela, let's see if it works this time. Please build the awareness for the mess that is going on in Venezuela, it needs to stop!

It was time to go 'home'. First time going to Belgium and especially the new house. I obviously took Hannah with me and we flew on Boxing Day. About an hour after we got 'home' the whole family flooded in. My grandparents, aunts and uncles and especially all my cousins. Great day hanging out. Had a whole Christmas party with big Christmas dinner again and caroling, but staying in the house. We didn't go disturb other people. My grandad made me conduct, it was hilarious! Good bit of 'Silent Night' and 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'. Very funny videos were made, but I don't know if I want to put them up... But yeah, it was a very fun day. Great food, great seeing family and catching up and especially awesome seeing all the little cousins. I think they're between 4 and 7 and it's adorable. It's great to get to spend the day with them, they're so much fun. The cousins weren't all just little kiddies. I have three cousins that are 13, 17 and 20. We've always been great friends and I've always looked forward to seeing them and just messing around when I come to the Netherlands. This was all the family from my Mom's side of the family.

So the following days were spent seeing my Dad's side. We started by picking them up from the train station and made our way into Maastricht town center. Maastricht is one of the main cities in the south of the Netherlands. Very beautiful city with a very cool little Christmas market with food, clothes and a few attractions like a Ferris wheel, slide and ice skating. Pretty cool and very Christmassy and cute. We then went to have a very nice dinner all together and caught up with them as well.

Then Loek, my oldest cousin, stayed over and told us about his big plans. He's always been a very hard working, optimistic and ambitious guy. For his gap year he went to Australia. He surprised his parents by coming home on Christmas Eve with only the tank top, shorts and flip flops he was wearing and his passport in hand in the snow. That was it! Everything else was like sold or stolen. Now that he's graduating from university in Amsterdam, he's organizing his Master's program and he wants to come to the land of opportunities and really get in to what he wants to do. Econometrics in the U.S.A. Very impressive list of colleges he's applying to. MIT, Stanford, Berkeley etc. All over the place. But obviously, being the beach bum that he is he wants to study in one of the two California colleges most, so very excited for his endeavors and I'm very inspired by how hard he's always working.

But anyway, he stayed over and then the next day we went to drop Michelle off at the Brussels train station because she was spending New Years in England. The rest of the day we spent sight seeing around Brussels. Very beautiful city and some very funny sights. Like there's a little statue called 'Manneken Pis', which loosely translates to 'Pissing Boy'. Souvenir shops filled with with these little boy statues peeing! After that, I went into a Hard Rock Cafe for the first time ever I'm pretty sure. That was pretty crazy. All the memorabilia on the walls. Can't remember exactly what was there, but I think it was David Bowie's hard written set list and Shakira's top and Eric Clapton's guitar and all sorts of stuff like that.

After that we dropped Loek off at the train station and began to get ready for New Years.


New Years is very crazy in Belgium and the Netherlands etc.
We started the evening by watching my mum's favorite film, 'Coming to America'. Very funny film. Apparently so funny that it was what made my mum laugh so hard that it made her begin giving birth to me, so that was a special time! Eddie Murphy's in it doing his signature 'acting as multiple characters' and it's very clever. 
After that we started the real New Years traditions. We started watching the Dutch and British New Years shows with Haim, Tom Newman and many more. 
Once it came around to Beglian New Years, there was a lot of excitement. There was champagne and Oliebollen, which are the Dutch traditional New Years cakes, and we were ready to count down. You could already hear some fireworks by now, but once 'the ball had dropped' as it would in New York in 6 hours time(!) the skies were well and truly lit up. First, of course, we had to have our 'welcome to the year' kisses with our partners and wish each other luck for the year (apparently that's a Dutch thing). After that, there was literally non-stop sound from the fireworks and this was heard from inside the house. We went to all the highest windows to see any and every bit of fireworks. Sadly there are a lot of trees surrounding our house, but luckily our neighbor was there to save the evening. He stood there in the middle of his horse parading area and let rip! We just watched his little show (little being a huge understatement) for about 30 mins. He just kept shooting off firework after firework. An absolute array of the finest things you will see unless you are like in the big city watching the real professional shows. 
After he was finished we went back inside and watched the Jools Holland New Years while we waited for the British to catch up (obviously due to the time difference!) Once, the British New Years came around it felt very much like old news. I'm pretty sure Hannah and I were teaching my parents how to play Canasta. Once the British how got there, we obviously immediately got up and sang Auld Lang Syne' with the rest of Britain lead by Jools. I'm pretty sure there was still non-stop fireworks going on until well after I'd gone to sleep, which must've been at least 2 or 3am.

The following morning we followed the tradition of watching the New Year's Concert on TV from Vienna. It's a always a fantastic concert playing plenty of jovial Strauss marches etc. This year Daniel Barenboim was given the honor of conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and he had such an aura of power and assertiveness. While we were watching me, my parents told me that they enter the raffle every year to try and win tickets to that concert. It's probably the most important Classical concert in the year and it would be incredible to go once in your life. It's got something for everyone. Great music from a great orchestra lead by a great conductor; great ballet with great choreography with great dresses and suits and one of the most beautiful concert halls dressed up with the finest flowers the planet has to offer.

The next few days were all preparation. Hannah was returning to England to do her first exam at university; I had to pack for our skiing holiday as well as preparing for returning to a Berklee and trying to unpack some stuff so my parents knew if they could throw anything out. Also, I filmed the holiday drum cover in the next few days. I had a lot of fun doing that. 3 cameras, trying out new drum microphones and microphone techniques and placement. It was a really fun song and I would really appreciate it if you would check out! It should be on the front page of this website. So if you click the 'Home' button at the top of the screen you should be there.

After that, it was a very sad, but exciting day. I had to take Hannah to the airport to say goodbye for a week as she returned home for her exam, but after that my parents and I were going to set off and drive to France.

We set off on our 8 hour drive and before well left, my parents joked about me having a stint on our way in my Dad's Audi A7. Little did I know, they weren't joking. About 3 hours in we stopped at a service station for me to switch in. I was pretty scared because I tried driving my parents' old cars, which were also automatic, and I really couldn't get a hang of the brakes, but this time the car was just the easiest thing to drive. It was great! Anyway I drove for about an hour, playing around in sports mode etc. before I switched out again and then my Mum took us into France. 
Then we arrived in the most beautiful ski resort and mountain range I had ever been to. Also, a snazzy new hotel that had their grand opening while we were there. Beautiful, modern spa with rooms of all random conditions imaginable. Like, Turkish steam room, sauna, igloo room and 100% humidity rooms. Naturally, I wanted to take my new toys out to play, so I tried taking the mini Bath rugby ball Hannah got me for Christmas, but they didn't allow it. After which I proceeded to sneak it in in my bathrobe every day. Not sure if all the Russian tourists approved... One down side though, was the horrendously tiny room only big enough to fit the beds and barely a walkway around it. Anyway once we got our skis and found our way to the lifts there were no more complaints. Beautifully sunny, blue skies everyday. There was occasionally some snow lacking. 
Later that night, my Dad and I had a great idea... We should get a GoPro. We could film these beautiful sights while we ski and it's still such a cool and amazing camera for normal life anyway. I'll definitely use it for my drum covers in future. So yeah, the next morning we bought it, strapped it on and hit the slopes. It was weird thing to get used to, but it took some amazing videos! So the next few days were all about the same sort of schpiel, but my Mum and I became more and more adventurous each day until the last day when, I would say, we got a bit too adventurous. We just kept traversing across to the right until we almost fell off the planet, but it was some of the most beautiful skiing I had ever seen, but eventually we did probably start to regret it... A dog chased me, we got stuck in some bushes and then there were very deep, icy moguls. Not the best ending, but the top of the mountain was breath taking. Once the week was over, I began skimming through a lot of video and putting them into a little montage of our holiday. If you want to see it just copy and paste or click on this link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxilAFJnXxs - it's got some amazing sights, me jumping and plenty of me falling!

When it was time to drive home again I got 2 shifts this time. 1 hour in the middle along the boring moterways and the last hour and a half taking us home. It was amazing! That car is lush!

Then I only had one day to pack ready for returning to Berklee. My Mum had to wash all my new clothes and I had to make sure I didn't forget any presents I was giving or any I had received. And of course I had remember all my foreign person papers to make sure I could actually get into the US.

On my way back to Berklee, I took a little detour back to Cambridge for a day. I took the Eurostar for the first time to get there. It was very stressful because we left a bit late and we couldn't find the directions to the station. Once we got there I ran through everything to make sure I got in. I didn't even get a chance to say bye to my Mum. So I will take the opportunity now. Bye Mum! Thanks for taking care of me again and letting Hannah stay over. I love you and can't wait to see you in summer and tell you all the new stories.

Anyway, so I stayed one more night with Hannah to say bye to her properly before I went back. We went to Nandos and watched Mandela. Perfect evening! Mandela was such a beautiful and inspirational film. I really want to watch all the historical films that have been coming out recently... I really should get onto that.

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find this anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

And if you've enjoyed this maybe you'll also enjoy my drum covers? You can find them in the tab at the bottom of the home page labelled 'To my other videos', which should take you to my YouTube page.

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this.

Hope your life is well

I know I haven't written a blog in a while and I'm sorry for that, but I wanted to really indulge in my holiday so I could have the best stories to tell you now.

My holiday started by rounding off my first semester at Berklee, packing and flying home. It was really nice being able to see my friends one last time before they all left and some people for the last time already. Some people I planned to see or just saw around campus, but some I got to see last minute before my flight to England when they came up behind me and scared me by shouting in my ear (not naming names... JOE!), but I think I did get to say a nice goodbye to everyone before I left, which I was very comforted by. 
Regarding actually flying home, the dorms closed at midday and my flight was at 7:30pm so I was preparing myself for nice long, boring wait in the airport, but then I found out that two other friends were in a similar situation (Abbie and Dhruv) so we got the chance to hang out together and not be bored out of our minds before our flights. We each in turn dropped each other of at our terminals and securities for our flights at the appropriate times. They both had issues with baggage drop as both of their bags were overweight. Abbie just took out her boots and it was fine, but Dhruv just sly talked his way out of the extra fee (not impressed with all involved), but yeah, THEY had problems... I didn't because I'm a good boy and stayed inside the luggage allowances. Anyway, we all got in eventually and I was the last one left waiting after all the heartfelt goodbyes. Then I was so overjoyed to find that my flight had been delayed an extra hour............. Not! But whatever, that's fine. I just had more time to get my last American burger in before leaving. That's when Joe came and attacked me... But after that heinously juvenile moment he had, he sat down with me and we had a very lovely chat before his departure. He was one of the people I was saying goodbye to forever. I met him at the Brit club meetings at Berklee and he's always been super helpful even though on paper he shouldn't have been. He's a guitarist in the songwriting major. Pretty much opposite to me, but he was still always a wealth of knowledge for me to take anything I wanted from. And as a result I want to audition for the Sting and Paul Simon Ensemble with hope to eventually get in it before I leave Berklee. But anyway, it very nice to see him before I left, but very sad to be saying bye to him for the last time.

After that, I eventually got on the plane and that was fine. Nice long 7 hour flight and then I was in Heathrow. Once I landed I was very excited. I got all my bags and I was ready to get back into England 'for real' because awaiting me was Miss Hannah Long and family. I couldn't have been more excited. Finally I got to see the love of my life again after 3 or 4 long months without her. I got out of the baggage claim and walked out into the arrivals and around the corner was hiding Hannah with a sign being all funny saying 'Welcome Back, Basil'. Once we saw each other we both dropped everything we were holding, ran to each other and had the best hug ever! So great to feel my baby again. After that we drove home in my Dad's old car, which was a weird feeling. They needed a new car, we needed to get rid of our car, but yeah I had prepared myself to see nothing the my family owned when we got back to England because obviously everything was in Belgium, but then I saw that.
Anyway, I got back to Hannah's house where I would be staying for the next few days and I was gladly reunited with the puppies! Her black and golden Labradors. I love them so much! They're so cute and cuddly! But jet lag was setting in as I had the overnight flight which landed in England at 8am. As I couldn't get to sleep on the plane, it meant I was up for 2 days solid, if I were to try and conquer the jet lag. Also, later that night there was a party so that didn't help! I tried my best to stay up the whole time, but I physically couldn't keep my head upright. I was forced to nap for a little bit. When the party came around, I think I was up and ready again. It was a very insightful party. I saw a lot of old friends who were also just starting university and we had plenty of stories to share. I got to talk to Tom Hiom who has always been a great friend of mine who just started at Cambridge University, so I was very intrigued as to how the school actually runs away from all the stereotypes. Very interesting! They are as busy as you might think and Tom is trying to become the cox on the Varsity Rowing team, which would be very cool if he did. Then I got see and talk to my longest standing friend Ellie Dawson. We've been at the same schools for like 8 years. We always been great friends through all the struggles of exams and new schools etc. It's always been nice having her around. Her and my good friend Louisa were the listeners of the night, which was very nice of them, but they were also telling me about their Gap Year plans. Ellie's going to Ethiopia for 5 months and Louisa is going Namibia. Both very noble causes and I am proud of them!

The next day I organized to meet up with my musical friends from Hills Road. Very nice to see them because they were probably on the closest boat to mine and again, I was intrigued as to how the British system differed to American music colleges, but I probably still couldn't tell you on a general level because they all went to different schools, some university, some music colleges, but one thing if could say for certain is they are having fun and I am very glad for them. Also very proud of them as well, as one has already been the musical director for the university's production of Grease. Not to be sniffed at... A first year already making it to the top. Others learning very much and expanding their talents to levels they weren't expecting to cover. Very happy for them.
Later that day I was reacquainted with my Grills. They organized a murder mystery night and obviously the American Journalist was the killer! Americans...! 
Later that evening I found a free evening to spend with my best friend, Matt Grenz. He is in his last year of sixth form college so he is going through the same process I was going through last year, but I would say much more successfully. He knows what he wants and he's putting his all into getting it. Who needs maths when you're going to be the next John Coltrane?! He is doing very great job of keeping up all his commitments to a very high standard! Being put through the ringer by Hills Road while being terribly uninspired and almost put down by the teachers in the music department; making the most of his last year at his 'second home' the Junior Royal College of Music; working very hard for his A-Levels all while gaining a place at the Guildhall School of Music next year in the jazz course where he feels he will be able to start doing what he wants to do and not be forced to do what teachers want him to do for their benefit at the hinderance of his own musical progression. I am very proud of him for all his hard work finally paying off! He is one of the hardest workers I know and he inspires me every day to keep working as much as any of these stars at Berklee.

Then it was Christmas! Christmas Day with the Long family! Great day! Started with presents at home where I received some very generous gifts. Some chocolate, a toothbrush and 2 drum kits. Then we went to Auntie Stella's house for Christmas dinner. Very exciting! We took the puppies with us to play with their dogs, Moss and Mable. Started with howdy hellos and introductions then we got down to eating. Some of the best food I've had in along time! Obviously I had to be difficult about my eating habits, so I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for that, but it did taste amazing! Then time for more presents. More generous gifts came my way and people seemed happy with the gifts I gave them. Then it was time for Long family games. We played some like charades, but with clay and Hannah was terrible! *cough* After that we learned a new card game called 'Canasta', which Hannah and I continued to play throughout the rest of the holiday.
All in all it was a very nice day and it was wonderful to experience a real British Christmas.

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find this anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

And if you've enjoyed this maybe you'll also enjoy my drum covers? You can find them in the tab at the bottom of the home page labelled 'To my other videos', which should take you to my YouTube page.

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this. 
As you might be able to tell, this wasn't my whole winter break so far so next week I'll have the second half talking about my new Belgian house and skiing in France, so keep a look out!

Hope your life is well

So it's coming up to the end of my first semester at Berklee and I wouldn't have it any different way. It has been quite like a roller coaster, but perfect. It has been inspiring in so many different ways. I have been motivated after going to a clinic, having a terrible practice session, my friend's amazing talents or just thinking about the legacy I have put myself into. Every step I take around Berklee has a new piece of inspiration and a new topic to learn from. Can't wait to see where I end up! And this is only the start!

Anyway, the last 2 weeks started with being the calm before the storm or finals come hitting hard! There was Thanksgiving this past week which I spent with my sister, Michelle, in Charlottesville, Virginia spending the week in the Hoo Crew at UVA. We watched a girls soccer game and the grudge match, UVA vs Virginia Tech Football game. The girls won their soccer game 2 - 1 with a girl on the USA national soccer team scoring the winning goal. That was pretty cool, but then the football game was crazy! Huge, stadium stadium; big grudge match; sitting at the front of Hoo Crew; next to the marching band and behind the Virginia Tech bench. Abuse was flying! It was fantastic! Most would say the abuse was flying mostly from me, but they're definitely lying! Atmosphere was great! The marching band was awesome and put everyone in the perfect spirit for the game. Sadly UVA lost 16 - 6, but it was a fun day!
It was also nice taking a break from the big city. Getting some time with space. UVA has a beautiful campus with a very Native Grecian(!!!) architecture. A lot of columns! I loved going on runs around the campus. Through their rugby pitch, around the Rotunda, amphitheater and just running along the corner. All in all a nice couple of days. Thanksgiving dinner wasn't entirely traditional, but we're foreign so it's ok!
In addition, having that time away did make me realize how much I appreciate being in a big city and especially Boston because it's a very nice, safer, more relaxed big city. I think it's the perfect blend for me. I love being in the middle of everything where you don't even have to contemplate wanting to go somewhere, you just go and walk. It's everything I wanted after living in Harston. Going to Cambridge always required too much thought, time and planning, driving or a long sweaty cycle! Now there is no planning or effort required! Just go!

But now that I'm back, it's go time! Finals are around the corner as well as ratings auditions and planning and registering for next semester. I have registered for my classes, but I was only allowed to start registering on one of the last days. Some stress came up because a class I had to take, Acoustics, was completely taken before I even had the chance to get it, but at Berklee you can email the teacher and ask them to let you in anyway. Doesn't make sense, but I did that and now I have got into that class, so crisis averted! I needed that class because you have to have taken that class before you can apply for the Music Production and Engineering Major, so I'm very glad I was let in there. 
Another funny story is how I tested out of the Conducting 1 class. I went to meet with the head of the Conducting classes, George Monseur, who is quite literally the reincarnation of Leonard Bernstein, it's fantastic! I told him this, stupidly enough, and replied with, 'I didn't like him that much...' And immediately face palmed myself and thought 'Of course! Bernstein is way too stubborn a person for there to be enough space on the planet for two of him!' But yeah, I met up with him to discuss testing out and he just asked me my past experience so I told him I took a class at Junior Guildhall etc. so he said, 'Ok come back next week and I'll give you a little test and we'll see what you can do.' So I did that. I came back to see him and we sat down and I told him what his plan was for me, but then he said he didn't have time for it, so he just asked me my previous experience, I told him and then he just went and got the sheet to sign to say I'd tested out... It was rather surreal and random, but I'm out! And I'm waiting to hear back from him with regards to being in his class because that one was also initially full.
Other than those two, I had no problems registering for classes and I'm just ready to keep my good work going into the next semester. One thing I'm really excited for, though, is my Private Drum Lesson. I signed up for lessons with Henrique De Almeida. His drum clinic was the first one I saw after coming here and I've asked around for advice on who I should pick for my private instructor and everyone said Henrique is tough. He is very disciplined and he will whip your technique into shape. Perfect! That's what I need! I feel like, at the moment, I don't really know how to practice and the biggest thing lacking in my playing is technique, so I couldn't possibly think of a better teacher. I can't wait to really solidify the holes in my basics and hopefully from there be able to skyrocket in progress at a much faster rate.

After this, I have some super exciting much closer in time. I am going to the Zildjian Factory and taking a tour around the factory. Not only that, there was a secret host of a masterclass at the end of the tour and I found out that the host is Gerald Heyward!!! He is one of the main innovators of Gospel Drumming, which is all the rage right now. It's all very creative, virtuosic, technically demanding and musically zany forms of linear drumming. Linear drumming you never play with more than one limb at a time making it all very smooth, flowing and constant awesome! I'm so excited! Also, being in the place where most of the best cymbals in the world are made and seeing how it's done. Zildjian, in my opinion, is among 1 of the top 3 cymbal companies, so I am so excited to be able to stand in the home of it all. And apparently Berklee has it's strongest ties with Zildjian over all other cymbal companies as featured in the latest Berklee chops video called the 'Berklee Mega Drum Project' which was sort of weird... Check it out! It's cool, but not what I expected, but that's a different topic, which isn't important now. But Zildjian fully decked out all cymbal requirements for that video FOR FREE!!! I am still, every day, so honored to be able to walk around in this hub of the worlds high musical priorities. It's mind blowing!

After that, finals. Should be fine. As I've said enough, I only have simple classes so far so nothing to worry about, but it is getting busier than normal. After that, I get to go home! Sort of in two ways. Go back to Cambridge and see all my friends who I've missed so much and spend Christmas with I can only hope to be my future family in law and then share my experiences with my own family when I take Hannah to my new home in Belgium (which I've never seen before) and initiate her into the family fully with the New Year's plans. Can't wait!

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find this anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

And if you've enjoyed this maybe you'll also enjoy my drum covers? You can find them in the tab at the bottom of the home page labelled 'To my other videos', which should take you to my YouTube page. 

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this.

Hope your life is well

So I finally think I have the hang of Berklee. I think I'm planning my days well with classes, practice, working out and sleeping enough. There's still the sporadic jams, Brit club meetings, Grooversity rehearsals and gigs and concerts around Boston, but I think I can organize myself accordingly. Also, now that all the drum covers are done and ready to be put on YouTube (which I'm posting every Thursday so keep an eye out on my Facebook), I have a bit more spare time to do whatever takes my fancy, like, I just got my roommate into watching Misfits, so naturally I sit and watch whenever he's in and watching it.

But anyway, I'm guessing you want me to explain the extra stuff I've been doing, so come here and find out! Well, as much as I would love a visit from any one you, but I guess it would be rather unlikely for that to happen so we'll have to settle with my explanation. I guess I'll start with the Brit club meetings.
Yeah! There is a British club! It's pretty funny. It's a part of the college and they give the club money for food anything required for the meetings. They meet about every two weeks and I went to the Guy Fawkes night meeting. That was fun. Loved having the accents around again, some of them were into rugby and it was just after the Australia game and the upcoming Ashes series. Also, funny story, there were 3 guys who lived like less than 20 minutes from each other back in London, but they didn't even know the others existed until these Brit club meetings at Berklee! Small world right?! But yeah, it was really nice and felt homey because they weren't just British, they thought the same as me about their reasons for leaving Britain and trying to make it in the US. I should mention that I'm saying Britain because there was a Scottish guy there. They also found it weird and like a blast from the past when I mentioned A-levels (very few of them are 1st semesters), but they were also helpful in telling me what I could do with my A-level credentials, like test-out of some subjects and get transfer credits and some things like that. All in all it was a very nice, homey experience and they were all lovely people, obviously.
After that I should probably give you an insight to my living situation. See if you think it's an appropriate living standard for me. I'm in a triple room, so with two roommates, which I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned, but if not, there's Ryan Meier (also known as Painted Chameleon on SoundCloud). Do check him out. He's from New Jersey and I've recorded a few drum parts for his new EP and there's some good songs in there. There's also Sam Matheson. He's from Maryland. He's Jewish (always important to add) and he also helps out Ryan with general gigging and recording. And I think it's a pretty nice set up. I have a bunk bed over my desk and dresser so I have my little hutch to live in. They have a bunk bed with desks and dressers spread around. Their desks are both facing out the windows. We have a pretty big closet for the 3 of us, but I'm the only one with any clothes in there and about 40 spare hangers. We have a little en suite bathroom with the standard sink, toilet and shower. It's pretty small in there and Sam takes rather long showers (50 minutes), but I think it works pretty nicely. I live in the main building, 150 Massachusetts Avenue. The cafeteria, most of my classes, ensemble rooms and most of everything that is happening is in this building. The drum practice rooms, however are across the road in 171 Mass Ave. There are 18 drum kits (Pearl 4 piece with hi-hat, ride and crash) and a tuned percussion room and a hand percussion room. If there's a line, I always warm up with the hand percussion stuff, I think it's a lot of fun. 
Just down the road, past Symphony Hall (where the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform, is where I go to the gym with my friends, Kirsten (Alaskan), Dhruv (Indian living in Dubai), Nick (Hawaiian) and Inca (Icelandic). It's the first ever YMCA! By the way, I'm not if you know this already or not (I definitely didn't) YMCA stands for Young Men's Christian Association. It's really big and really nice with everything I need to get swole! All in all, I think it's really useful, convenient and you never miss a thing, unless they call a jam at Fordham. Fordham is another building further away for more ensemble rooms and stuff (full of only DW kits!!!). That is where I have my Grooversity rehearsals! 
Grooversity is a charitable organization which is generally about getting less fortunate children playing music and it is all through the medium of SAMBA! I am in the samba band 'Bloco Afro Brazil' which is run by the Grooversity leader and they play gigs at all sorts of functions around Boston. They played at the Berklee welcome barbecue, which is where I found out about them, but also I remembered them saying that 5 of them went to play at the Montreal Drum Festival which is pretty huge! The leader is called 'Marcus Santos'. He's made a few DVDs with LP or Hudson Music or something (which is a pretty big deal) teaching Pandiero and Samba with students from Bloco Afro Brazil. He's very entertaining as a person and I think the music is a lot of fun so you should definitely check that out. I've gone to a few rehearsals and played in one concert. The rehearsals are super fast and quite hard because most of them are from a Latin music background and understand this sort of stuff and I decided to pick the hardest instrument as well, Timbau, not smart. It could take me a while to be properly ready for a concert, but I have had one chance already. It was the Grooversity Festival. That was amazing! Bloco Afro Brazil closed the festival and I was supposed to play Timbau, but luckily they didn't bring enough instruments so I played shakers which was a much safer option. The festival was awesome! There was some world class performers, teachers at Berklee and clinicians giving lessons and performances there like Ernesto Diaz, Sergio Bellotti, Marcus himself and 12 time Grammy winner, Mark Walker. They were all incredible! The performance was streamed live to the world, but I don't think they've compiled the final video together yet, but I'll be sure to post it on my Facebook when it does.
Speaking of gigs and concerts... I've seen more gigs of any kind already this semester than ever before! There is so much going on here, in Berklee itself, the BSO, random music festivals and concerts when awesome bands come town. In Berklee there are always concerts in the Berklee Performance Center or caf shows in the cafeteria or clinics around the place. In the BPC I've seen Snarky Puppy, an Art Blakey tribute concert and Gary Burton to name a few. The caf shows are for current or recent students to play a set for the student body. Zach a Mullings played last week! That was incredible. Also, students are allowed to put together shows whenever they want. I had a friend, Felipe, put together a versatile, but Latin based concert which was amazing. Concerts around Boston I've seen are You Me at Six with 3 other awesome warm up bands, Hiatus Kaiyote with Emily King opening up. Those concerts felt great! Such an atmosphere created in completely different styles, but both so incredible! Then there's the BSO concerts. Berklee offers a student card for $2 and then you get free tickets for the year, it's unreal! I've seen them perform Brahms 2 and Mahler 2, which were epic!

It's been so exciting recently and it's only getting better! My Dad is coming to visit this weekend and he's taking me to a Celtics basketball game. The week after I'm going to visit my sister, Michelle, for Thanksgiving in Virginia and she's taking me to the UVA vs Virginia Tech football game. It's going to be lovely seeing some family members again!

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this.

Hope your life is well :)

Midterms:

So I'm about half way through my first semester at Berklee and I think I'm planning too far ahead and forgetting about what I'm doing tomorrow, for example. I do have big plans for my time at Berklee, but I need to remember to make the baby steps to try and break down these big plans. Like I want to test out of as much as I can at the start of next semester. Testing out basically means that I take a test saying that I know all the material that will be taught in the class so I don't need to take it, but I still want the credits. Remember, American universities run a credit system and you need to collect enough credits to graduate. So I want to test out of classes like both tonal harmony classes (because it's just Bach Chorales, which I've been doing the last 2 years) and both conducting classes because their course description seems basic enough and I want to try and make some spare time for a Conducting Minor in my later years. I was also going to try and test out of the earlier harmony classes here, but apparently the first one I will have to take already jumps straight into hardcore jazz theory and I have never touched any of that in my life. Go old-fashioned England! So I'm slightly slowed down there, but if I take an Acoustics class, that would be a class that counts for my Natural Science, Liberal Arts requirement and I'm required to take it before being allowed to declare the Music Production & Engineering Major and that is where a dilemma begins...

So I am having a slight identity crisis. I am having trouble deciding between the riskier passion or the safer, more solid career. The riskier passion would be taking the Performance Major and as everyone knows, being a musician is a very risky, difficult business, but I would feel more confident in myself if I felt like I could hold my own as a drummer at this school, but I feel like I have a lot to do just to catch up, so I could either risk it, put my head down and work till I get to where I feel confident in my abilities or I could go for the apparently safer option which would be the Music Production & Engineering Major. I wasn't even considering this option coming into the Berklee (especially after the U in my Music Tech coursework, which on a remark is still a U...! Went up 20 ums though), but after randomly doing some techy stuff here and there, such as, working on my drum covers; help mixing a friend's project; help people with their music tech homework without even knowing how to use the program and the fact that I tested out of the music tech class here. After that, I appeared to collect a fair collection of generous compliments, which got me thinking that maybe this could be a viable option for me. So yeah, I can't really decide right now. The most likely option seems a Performance Major with MP&E minor, but I don't know if that will give me enough MP&E knowledge. I don't know if it will go far enough in depth. Another problem is that I want to take the Conducting minor, but I don't know if I will get the time to do so if I do the afore mentioned plan. Also, I don't know if it will work with the career plan, but I don't even know where I am as a conductor. If I could make it or not. I have never had the chance to see if I'm good or not (thanks Hills).

Anyway moving onto funner stories. The World Series was in town... That was alright I guess. <Biggest understatement ever< The city went crazy! For a couple of weeks prior, we got emails from Berklee Public Safety warning about all of these games, but then they won the whole competition and the city erupted! I went busking at that game with my Alaskan friend, Kirsten, only made $20 but that's not the point, we got kicked out of the general area of the stadium at like the 6th or 7th innings to start crowd controlling because a lot of people were already out because they were 6-0 up already. After that I went back to Berklee to watch the end of the game and we went outside as soon as it finished just to see what all the hubbub was about. The streets were already full of party people! Throughout the evening I heard about cars being flipped, people climbing the traffic lights just to jump from them into the crowd, windows broken, people jumping on taxis and the riot police was pretty intense looking. They were all dressed in full armor with effectively baseball bats and like every other one had a dog and they just lined up along the street with an armored vehicle behind them and just walked the city away from Fenway. My friends and I stood and watched them although our Bostonian friend was extremely scared. I didn't see the police have to get anyone, but they did have to get a bit rattled up to make sure people kept walking! Also, there were police in every type of vehicle you could imagine just making sure everyone stayed sensible. It didn't work entirely, but realistically, compared to past parties of this kind, apparently this one was rather tame. People just had a good time and celebrated! It was awesome to watch!

Back to why I'm here... School! This past week was our Midterms. In America they have the workload spread out so basically every homework and even class participation and attendance counts to your final grade, but then they still have Midterms and Finals to be the bulk of your grade. I had it pretty easy. I only had midterms in Music Application and Theory (MAT) and Ear Training 1 (ET). They were both pretty easy. I got 97% in the ET practical portion and that's the only result I have so far. I would expect 100% in everything else, really. As I've said before, these classes are pretty easy so far. So no worries with my school work.

Now that's it's been around two months away from ex-home (now that my parents have moved to Belgium) and also because the Christmas holidays are coming closer and closer I really can't wait to get home, by which I still mean England. I've never been in Belgium longer than a day yet and I've never seen the new house so obviously not calling that 'home' yet and I also think about going to England when I think about the Christmas holidays. I will be staying with Hannah in England for the Christmas period, but our semester end on the 21st of December, here. After that my flight to Belgium has been booked for Boxing Day, I believe, for Hannah and I. So that means I don't have long there, which really sucks! I do miss England. I miss having my drum kit just upstairs to play whenever I want; having my TV and Playstation just there; being able to drive around and see all my friends; the generally more relaxed atmosphere; not worrying about life yet; waking up on a Sunday morning to go play rugby (I miss rugby way too much!); I missed cricket before I even left, didn't get to play enough in the summer. Most of all I do miss just hanging out with my friends. Hanging out in on my sofa with Hannah or in the gallery or at rugby on a Sunday or around Shelford or Parker's Piece etc. with all the people that meant something to me in my time in England. Hannah, my Hills Road friends, Leys friends, Rugby friends, Cricket friends, Guildhall friends and even as far back as St. Faith's.

I really do miss you all and I can't wait to get home and I really want to see as many of you as possible when I'm briefly at 'ex-home'

I thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you find anywhere near as exciting as I do. I just want you to see how amazingly contrasting and interesting this world can be.

Please stay tuned for the next installments and I will try to get them out more frequently, but I'm trying to make sure I get enough content in and I spend enough time to thoroughly write this.

Hope your life is well :)