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| The Lassus Scholars in action. Photo credit: The Dublin Choral Foundation |
A huge part of my life for so many years has been choir. Being in a chorus is such a great experience, and so when I heard about the Champlain link with a Dublin choir group, the Lassus Scholars, I was excited to take advantage of the opportunity. One of the Champlain Abroad Dublin faculty members met with me and she gave me directions on where to go to meet the chorus and audition.
I took the map she wrote on and after class another teacher of mine was nice enough to walk me down to where we’re supposed to meet. I still had a couple of hours before I was supposed to be there, so I decided to go home and change into something nicer for the audition. SO I put on a nice button-up and a nice pair of jeans and went on my way.
I showed up to the space, a church, about 10 minutes early, and no one was there. I figured I must have gotten there early, so I waited. 20 minutes later, and not a soul to be found, I looked around the building’s outside (where I had been waiting). I noticed a paper on the door that said the church had been closed permanently. Confused I waited for a little bit longer. I decided to walk down the street and look for any signs of singing because maybe I was given the wrong location. After another 15 minutes there was nothing, so I found a wireless signal. My iPod was on the verge of dying, so this was a race against the clock. I found the choir’s webpage and I got contact information. I quickly got my phone and called it with no answer. The machine told me that I would have to call another number to get the conductor, Ite O’Donovan’s, phone number. SO I called and she didn’t pick up. I left a message and then it got a little hopeless. Who checks messages immediately? She could call me back next week for all I knew.
I decided to just sit for a couple more minutes and wait. Low and behold, about 5 minutes later, I got a call from Ite. She apologized for the confusion and told me that the choir started the following week at another location. It was hard to hear because of all the cars and people around her and I, so she told me to meet her at a book store where she currently was on Grafton street, about a 2 minute walk. I agreed and she told me to come in the back way. Confused, I complied and went to the store. The store was empty on the first floor, so I walked up to the second floor which was also void of human life. She told me, though, to come to the back on the third floor. I went to the elevator and arrived at the floor.
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| Me, on top of Bray Head, County Wicklow, Ireland |
Luckily i had the button-up on because I had stumbled into a book opening for one of the women in the choir. It turns out that she had submitted a book to a contest and won! I didn’t immediately see Ite (nor did I know what she looked like), so I waited for her to notice me. She eventually popped her head over a few people and came over to talk to me. I was introduced to a lot of member of the choir and I ended up signing the card the choir got for the woman, buying this book, The Secret Son, and getting it signed. Ite also told me that she trusted in my abilities based on my speaking voice and said I was in the choir. All in all, it was a great day.
All the best,
Liam P. Callaghan
Champlain Abroad Dublin, Fall 2013
Champlain College, Computer Networking & Information Security, Class of 2015.