Calm before the storm

The first three days here in Sheffield have been really great (except for the hurricane moving through yesterday; I spent most of the day alternating between being soaked and drying out). It' s been mostly the other apprentices (people like me paid to be up here for the whole festival to sing, conduct and do little chores like getting conductors water) and the faculty (we have a whole bunch of great, down-to-earth voice teachers) getting together for meals to get to know each other. I really like everyone here and I think we have a talented, good, fun group. It sounds like we will be inundated when the choristers arrive, unlocking doors and carrying their bags up their stairs, etc...The meals so far have been pretty good, and the dorms are, well, dorms. The scenery is just beautiful (see above). I'm looking forward to starting the musical portion of the festival tomorrow, with Vaughan Williams' 'Dona Nobis Pacem', Poulenc's tasty 'Gloria', and four hymn arrangements by Mack Wilberg. I'm interested to see Craig Jessop (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) work and how quick things should come together. Hopefully I'll still have time for blogging!