From the 1st of December my flatmate and I were decorating for the holidays! In lieu of being able to get a true Christmas tree we used window crayons to draw our own tree, decorations, and hearth (complete with stockings and Santa feet!).

Due to intensifying school work my time this month has been busy, but fortunately there has been time for a few adventures. The museum studies program had its last museum visit two weeks ago- a trip to the Horniman Museum, a museum of anthropology, musical instruments, and natural history in south east London. The museum houses a creepy looking merman (http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/exhibition/object-in-focus-touring-exhibition-merman/exhibition-chapter/touring-exhibition) made out of taxidermied fish and paper-mache. Additionally, this past week our course took a day to explore the Science Museum.

The symphony orchestra has also had its last two concerts of the term. The first one, at St. Pancras Church near King's Cross Station, was a like birthday gift for me. We performed:

-Dvorak- Te Deum

-Tchaikovsky- 5th Symphony

-Borodin- Polovitsian Dances

Afterward, a friend met up with me and I was treated to a birthday cider! The other concert was full of Bach cantatas and held at St. Olave's Church, a medieval church near the Tower of London (Here's a link to the concert https://soundcloud.com/uclsound/sets/uclu-chamber-choir-winter-concert-2012) . The venue was unique and the music really gave off a Christmas spirit, but most exciting of all was the radiator that was right next to my seat! Always a plus to be warm in a cold church. Following the concert a few members of the orchestra went out for a drink, locking the church and completely forgetting that the conductor was still changing in the green room. Eventually, he did escape and join us for drinks!

Despite the busyness of end of term work I have managed to get out and about to enjoy the holiday spirit around the city.

Adventures around the city began on Thursday evening with a walk down Tottenham Court Road to Covent Garden where some rather large decorations were displayed: a large Rudolph and Coca-Cola truck, Jack Daniels barrel-tree, baubles hanging from the rafters, and an Advent calendar made entirely out of LEGO. From Covent Garden a short walk to Trafalgar Square presented a choir of carolers standing in front of a tall Norway spruce, a tree gifted to the city as a token of thanks for British support of Norway during WWII. A quick trip on the tube and we surfaced at Knightsbridge station to see the lights and windows of Harrod's, decorated with a Disney princess theme. Exploring inside Harrods was just as glamorous- although we found that we couldn't even afford to buy a bag! Burrowing underground once again we made our way to Winter Wonderland, half fairground/ half German Christmas market. Most notable highlights of Winter Wonderland included a carousel bar (perhaps not the best idea if you have had a bit too much!) and a Chinese food stall called the "Alpine Noodle Bar." The night ended with a crisp walk down Oxford Street seeing all of the decorative street lights.

The next day included attending a free lunchtime piano concert of Liszt at St. Martin in the Fields, Christmas shopping, and evensong near Westminister. This was followed by a weekend of festivities along Southbank's Christmas Market- delicious licorice, stratigraphic cake, and something of a Santa convention (there must have been hundreds of them!). Finishing the excursion at St. Pauls and with a lovely dinner with a friend, I am ready to head back stateside for a fortnight!

See you home for the holidays!! Until then here is a beautiful advent hymn which I heard this morning at mass:

Hills of the North, Rejoice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHudis7ITrY