Ukulele LOVE
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Recently one of my best friends turned 18, and she asked for a ukulele for her birthday. Whilst researching for her present I realised that not only is it one of the coolest instruments to grace the earth (second perhaps only to the Mouth Harp) it would also be perfect for me to take to uni with me, small, lightweight, basically just a lot less bulky than any of the other instruments I play which will take up precious space in my student accomodation. So, my friend and I are both now proud owners of shiny new ukuleles!
…anyway, what I’m leading up to is, also during my research, I discovered many musicians who use ukuleles in their music, it’s way cooler an instrument than it’s given credit for!! My favourite of all the artists I found has to be Danielle ate the Sandwhich. Not only does she write some beautiful tunes, but her lyrics are meaningful, and Danielle herself comes across as having a really quirky style and a fun personality. I really think you should give her a listen!
I also now have turquiose hair.
ABC (NOT as easy as 123)
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WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Yesterday was A-level results day (aka ‘the day of reckoning’) for second year college and sixth form students across the country. I surpassed the entry grades I needed for Oxford Brookes uni, getting grades ABC, which may I say, was NOT as easy as 1,2,3.
So, I’m leaving Birmingham, the city I’ve lived in my entire life, for Oxford, the student city, which has wi-fi everywhere (except toasters).
Scary? Yes.
Exciting? Even more so!!
Voices of angels
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On Monday I returned from the awesome city of Kuala Lumpur where I was touring with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus. Now I have rested, recovered and managed to condense everything we did into a remotely bloggable size, I shall tell you of my Malaysian adventure!
The first couple of days were just the plane journey, flopping down at the hotel restaurant to eat, and exploring the surrounding area for supermarkets so that we could make use of the little kitchen in our 5 STAR! hotel room. We also started rehearsals for the first weeks concert which was Mahler 3 (aka ‘BIMM BAMM’). I also picked up a newspaper, and as I flicked through it was incredibly excited to see an article about US (CBSC) titled ‘Voices of angels’. For the Mahler concert we worked with the Kuala Lumpur Children’s Choir, who were (and I think I can speak on behalf of the whole female section of the choir when I say this) SOO CUUUTE! …and also very good at singing.
Day 3
A group of us ventured out to the central markets where we had our feet nibbled by fish. The fish were called Garra Rufa, they are toothless and feed off dead skin cells. They are also attracted to moisturiser as one of my friends found out when half the pool flocked to her. She did have extra smooth feet afterwards though.
For lunch we headed to the food courts where I tried out some sting ray, which took a while to eat due to the sheer amount of tiny fiddly pieces of cartilage.
Day 4
We did a bit more exploring and took a look around the Suria KLCC, the ENORMOUS shopping mall beneath the Patronas towers. Here we found another, much bigger supermarket, where bought a small mountain of Malaysian junk food, including seawood flavoured Pringles, to take back for lunch.
Day 5
After the evening concert we decided to explore the city’s night life. We headed off to Sky Bar, which is located at the top of the 5 star Traders Hotel and is one of Kuala Lumpur’s most famous bars. Having never seen anything quite like this, the group of us were in awe of the atmosphere, the panoramic views of Kuala Lumpur by night, the 3 swimming pools and the prices of the cocktails. Despite prices we did all decide to treat ourselves to at least one cocktail, and they were I must admit, VERY nice cocktails!
Burn revision burn!
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As I’m off to Malaysia in two days, and so probably won’t be blogging for the two weeks I’m there, I thought I might give you a brief update on the last few days in the life of me.
I invited a few college friends over for a revision burning bonfire on Tuesday night. The last revision bonfire I had began with my mobile phone (or should I say EX mobile phone) being accidentally tossed into the bonfire by one of my dear friends. She has never lived that down, and everyone kept their phones well hidden this time. There was much fun, food and guitar playing (and no phone tossing) and I got rid of a black bags worth of revision notes. It felt SO good.
On the Wednesday I revisited the art department of my college for the end of year exhibition where our work is displayed. It was so cool to see what everyone had spent the last year working on, and everyone’s work was AMAZING! Here’s a teensy weensy sample.
The meaty butchers piece is mine. The collage face is my friend Emily’s. It’s A2 size and entirely made from teeny pieces of coloured paper. She has A LOT of patience! The bust with the hands reaching out towards it is by a girl I don’t know very well, but it’s an AWESOME piece. I’m not too sure how she made it, although I do know the hands are made of wax and plaster, a lot of work went into it, and she’s going to get a very good mark!
So, see you in two weeks!
P.S. Hopefully I’ll have a tan.
P.P.S. If I do you probably won’t recognise me.
P.P.P.S. Ok, a tan? Really? I know that’s not going to happen, but I can dream.
FREE AT LAST
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So I’m finally free of college. I finished my exams yesterday, and although I was lucky enough to have only two exams this June, (I had my 10 hour art exam in April) as the invigilator told us to put down our pens, I still felt the pressure lifted from my shoulders. I am now left with about three months in which to make the most of my freedom, and to learn how to fend for myself before I ‘fly the nest’. Believe me, I intend on making the most of that freedom!
My celebration of freedom began today, with a trip to Morrisons. Not just any Morrisons however, it was in fact the Morrisons by my college. Ok, it doesn’t sound so great, but I was joined on this Morrisons trip by several friends from my English Lit class, and after buying ice lollies, we had a hilarious and enjoyable (and freedom filled) afternoon chilling out in the sun and eating and decorating ginger bread men.
As for my upcoming plans, a couple of months ago the older members of the CBSYC, a choir that I’m a member of, were invited to join the CBSC on tour to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for two weeks. As I am one of the older members of the CBSYC, I was invited, and as I thought this oppurtunity sounded fantastic (and luckily so did my parents, who are the ones paying. Did I mention how awesome my parents are?) I put my name down. The trip involves several concerts, a couple of educational trips to schools, lots of rehearsing, and most importantly EXPLORING TIME! So, you’ll be hearing about my adventures in a few weeks!
On A-level results day, as well as receiving my results, I shall also be leaving for the South of France with Jake, his parents, and some of their friends, which will again be another adventure for me to blog about. A few days after that, of course comes the summer necessity of Shambala festival! (yes, I’ll probably be telling you about that too)
Excuses excuses
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Um, I haven’t blogged for a while…I guess you probably gathered that from the fact my last blog post is talking about Christmas. I kind of have an excuse though! Well, several, in the forms of lots of college work, exams and a little trip to Venice.
Lets see now….Venice…what can I say…It was AMAZING! It was only a little weekend trip for my mum’s birthday, but by the end we were nothing short of exhausted! Naturally we paid a visit to the Rialto bridge, St Mark’s square and the islands of Murano and Burano. However we didn’t do a gondola ride as they were ever so slightly, um, really expensive. That didn’t ruin anything though, because the Smiths know how to have fun without gondolas! We took the water bus, and did a lot of walking so we had the opportunity to take in the streets of Venice. The buildings are old and dilapidated, but beautiful as it means they’ve kept they’re original charm rather than being ruined through modernisation.
A very merry (and belated) Christmas!
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In the recent weeks of my newly gained adulthood I have finally started driving lessons, had my nose pierced and dyed my hair BRIGHT orange (or rather, I got Jake to dye my hair BRIGHT orange). I couldn’t find orange hair dye, so Jake and I had to improvise by mixing red with a yellow that according to the tub ‘glows under a blacklight’…that fact does not surprise me. I have also been revising for the upcoming exams. Luckily only two this time and they’re pretty far apart.
Uh oh, adulthood…
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As of last Sunday, I’m officially an adult…I hope that doesn’t mean I have to be all mature…
I didn’t have a huge 18th birthday party, but I’ve been doing lots of smaller things instead. I went out for the night before my birthday with a group of friends. Sheen and Liah made me a cake before we went out too. It was pretty much pure chocolate…it was so goooood! 
Bobbie (Jake’s mum) held an afternoon tea party for me, it was fantastic! We all had lots of yummy food (and I mean LOTS of YUMMY food!) and a generally awesome afternoon! On my actual birthday I was woken up with breakfast in bed by Jake, and I went out for a family meal. Most of my family (that live in England) were there, and it was great to have them all around me on my birthday. The coming Friday I’m also going down to Leicester to see Kirsten and go out for the night with her flat mates, which I’m very much looking forward to!
Green Day gig checklist:
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The other week I went to see Green Day at Birmingham NEC (now the LG arena, but who actually calls it that!). It was definitely one of, if not, THE best gig I’ve ever been too! They pretty much had it all, although I am going to see Muse this week which I reckon will be preeeetty closely contending…
Anyway, this is some of the stuff Green Day had:
Pyrotechnics (of course!)
Toilet roll guns
Hose pipes
Water pistols
Fancy dress hats
T-shirt cannons
Audience participation (and LOADS of it!)
Tres Cool in a red bra
The Benny Hill theme tune
…what more could you want!
Best trip everrr!
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I returned from the college art trip to Paris a few days ago, we were only there for three nights, but ohhhhhohoh boy what a time we had! We visited 4 art galleries, went to the top of the Eiffel tower, went to the Pompidou centre, had a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe, went on a sight seeing tour (passing the Arch de Triomphe and the Moulin Rouge), visited Monmartre to see the street artists, played Pool in an Irish pub, and still had time to do some rushed gift shopping for our dear friend’s and family who missed out on the best trip everrrr!
Hi, I’m Hannah! Your (shorter than) average, 18 year old Brummie.