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
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