July 1

Traveling and singing, two of my favorite activities, are being combined in our amazing adventure to England and Wales. I’m Tina and I knew instantly when I received news of the possibility of this trip in August that it would be a wonderful chance to meet uncommon women from all over the U.S. and the world, one of the original reasons I chose Mount Holyoke for my undergraduate studies. Plus, I have the chance to add a new language to my collection when we sing a Welsh lullaby. So far, it’s exactly what I expected. We’ve been together for a whirlwind 24 hours already and have started to come together as a group, musically and socially. Everyone dedicated herself to learning her music before arriving, so we have moved on to refining our sound. We have sung all day, met our bus partners, found out amazing things about each other, and we’re pretty sure we’ll win first prize at Llangollen with our “burning hearts,” in our Pergolesi work “Fac Ut Ardeat.”

Our day consisted of a delicious breakfast, rehearsal, rehearsal, a lunch break, get-to-know you meeting and some shopping or nap time, and a rehearsal, dinner, and oh, yeah; rehearsal!

Those of us who haven’t met yet learned more about each other at our evening gathering, where we played “Musical Shoes” and tried to find other women who shared our life experiences. Several of us are unique within the group: one woman has a great-grandchild, another is a naturalized U.S. citizen. On the other hand, plenty have traveled, have children, love musicals, and a surprising number of people love mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Cathy has inspired us with her determination and her vision to organize our adventure and combine our voices. We look forward to tomorrow when our music will echo through Abbey Chapel at our concert starting at 8 p.m., foreshadowing our success in England and Wales!
--Tina, '96