The long and winding road...
The Loreena McKennitt concert was amazing! Her voice is so clear it actually sounds better in person than it does on the CD. It's almost like the recording equipment can't handle the range of her voice on the newest CD.
Anyway, our seats could have been better, but given the time I got them I was pretty satisfied overall. The stage backdrop was simple but really well done. It was meant to look like the inside of the tent that's on the cover of her latest album. The backdrop fabric had celtic notwork on it, and there was this awesome arch sort of over the drum set that looked like it was made from metal vines.
She did probably almost every song from her new album and a lot from her older ones. I was so happy when she did The Lady of Shalott. That one holds a special memory from English class last year. She also did The Mystics Dream, The Mummer's Dance, The Highwayman...and a bunch of her really good old ones. It was like a best of concert in my opinion.
So, enough of Loreena McKennitt for now...Let me tell you some pretty exciting news. I had been looking around at programs by this company called International Student Volunteers last summer, and although I really liked the programs and the premise behind them, I just forgot about it entirely when I saw the price. They have programs that range in length between 2 weeks to 3 months, and you basically volunteer doing conservation or community development, and then travel. Their typical program is 4 weeks; 2 weeks volunteering and 2 weeks doing the 'outdoor adventure travel'. They have projects in Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Thailand.
Last Thursday when I had my first Field Research in Religion class I arrived a bit early so I was looking at the posters that were up by the class room. I saw one advertising this program that caught my eye. They had a website on the pamphlet and they were having a presentation the following day there at SMU. I really wanted to go but couldn't because of work, so that night I got home and checked out the website. After realizing that it was the same thing I had been looking at before I decided to apply just to see if I could get in the program. I figured there was no harm in trying and that if by some chance I did get in, well then I'd just have to think about it more seriously.
Fast-forward to Tuesday. I was in my Field Research class when my phone rang. Thankfully it was on vibrate. I didn't actually hear it until it had almost stopped anyway...but that's beside the point. I looked at it after class, thinking it was odd someone would call me during a class when they know I'm in school, but it was a long-distance number (714) so I didn't think much about it. I later called my mom and she looked it up for me and apparently 714 is the area code for a part of California. Again, I thought that was really odd, but left it at that. I didn't get home until late that night, because of the concert, but when I did mom said she had some good news and for me to listen to the messages. And I'm guessing you've figured out what the message was. I got accepted into the program for Thailand, and they were so happy to see me so enthusiastic and passionate about conservation they wanted to call me and tell me in person rather than just an e-mail. SOOOO...I may be going to Thailand next summer. It's probably going to cost me $4500-$5000 by the time everything is said and done (airfare and program cost and some food during the travel weeks), so I really don't know if I'll be able to afford it or not. I want to go sooo badly though!
Anyway, I just thought I'd relay this to my reading public. Until next time!
Anyway, our seats could have been better, but given the time I got them I was pretty satisfied overall. The stage backdrop was simple but really well done. It was meant to look like the inside of the tent that's on the cover of her latest album. The backdrop fabric had celtic notwork on it, and there was this awesome arch sort of over the drum set that looked like it was made from metal vines.
She did probably almost every song from her new album and a lot from her older ones. I was so happy when she did The Lady of Shalott. That one holds a special memory from English class last year. She also did The Mystics Dream, The Mummer's Dance, The Highwayman...and a bunch of her really good old ones. It was like a best of concert in my opinion.
So, enough of Loreena McKennitt for now...Let me tell you some pretty exciting news. I had been looking around at programs by this company called International Student Volunteers last summer, and although I really liked the programs and the premise behind them, I just forgot about it entirely when I saw the price. They have programs that range in length between 2 weeks to 3 months, and you basically volunteer doing conservation or community development, and then travel. Their typical program is 4 weeks; 2 weeks volunteering and 2 weeks doing the 'outdoor adventure travel'. They have projects in Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Thailand.
Last Thursday when I had my first Field Research in Religion class I arrived a bit early so I was looking at the posters that were up by the class room. I saw one advertising this program that caught my eye. They had a website on the pamphlet and they were having a presentation the following day there at SMU. I really wanted to go but couldn't because of work, so that night I got home and checked out the website. After realizing that it was the same thing I had been looking at before I decided to apply just to see if I could get in the program. I figured there was no harm in trying and that if by some chance I did get in, well then I'd just have to think about it more seriously.
Fast-forward to Tuesday. I was in my Field Research class when my phone rang. Thankfully it was on vibrate. I didn't actually hear it until it had almost stopped anyway...but that's beside the point. I looked at it after class, thinking it was odd someone would call me during a class when they know I'm in school, but it was a long-distance number (714) so I didn't think much about it. I later called my mom and she looked it up for me and apparently 714 is the area code for a part of California. Again, I thought that was really odd, but left it at that. I didn't get home until late that night, because of the concert, but when I did mom said she had some good news and for me to listen to the messages. And I'm guessing you've figured out what the message was. I got accepted into the program for Thailand, and they were so happy to see me so enthusiastic and passionate about conservation they wanted to call me and tell me in person rather than just an e-mail. SOOOO...I may be going to Thailand next summer. It's probably going to cost me $4500-$5000 by the time everything is said and done (airfare and program cost and some food during the travel weeks), so I really don't know if I'll be able to afford it or not. I want to go sooo badly though!
Anyway, I just thought I'd relay this to my reading public. Until next time!