I have not blogged for a very long time. For this I apologise.

It turned out that I didn't get very much time on the internet at all while I was away. I'm certainly not going to provide a blow-by-blow account of the whole tour, mostly because I don't have time. What I will say, is that it was totally awesome - I can't get over how good it was. (If you're feeling confused and don't know what I'm talking about, I've just been on tour for the last month in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria with the National Youth Choir - It was too cool for skool.)

I would like to provide a bit of an account of Vienna though, because I had probably the weirdest day of my life on Sunday. However, the story begins on Saturday...

1. We arrived in Vienna at lunchtime but couldn't check into the hotel until later.

2. Bethan and I had found ourselves in charge of buying thank you presents for all the staff. This is a reasonably stressful job, because what do you buy for somebody like Michael Curtis Brewer OBE? We shopped all afternoon.

3. Having checked in at 5 and lugged my suitcase up the stairs, I was auditioning for a choir called Laudibus at 6. This used to be called the National Youth Chamber Choir, and is a small choir selected exclusively from NYC. I knew I would regret it if I didn't audition, but also if I did, because I was certain not to get in, and therefore become grumpy.

4. Audition went well, which I was pleased about. But I was confident that I was just not good enough to get in. Had dinner. Also my last ever NYC cabaret that night. Good stuff.

[This is where it gets interesting]

5. Sunday morning. Rehearsal. Mike says he wants to see everybody who auditioned at some point during the day to give feedback, before he announces results in the evening. I don't want to see him - I'm happy not knowing.

6. Free afternoon. More staff gift buying, but to make the stress worse, all the shops except touristy ones are closed. We eventually get everything we need. Extremely tiring.

7. Final concert of the tour in the Stephens Dom in Vienna. Amazing place. I sing a small solo for the first time ever in my 10 years of NYC. Crazy.

8. We run out of time and get kicked out of the church before our final piece. Major anticlimax.

9. We start singing outside in the square. Start with Shenandoah. Lots of people cry, including me. Eek.

[I'm getting bored of this now. Are you?]

10. Back at the hotel, I ask Mike about the audition thing. He doesn't want to talk to me about it. I don't get it. Weird.

11. Farewell dinner. Feel exhausted, but have lots of fun standing at the front doing the thank yous.

12. Mike announces Laudibus results starting with three girls. Raptuous applause. Then announces I've got in too. Can't quite believe it (still can't actually). Choir erupts, and then starts singing 'Jonny Bell' to the tune of Amazing Grace. How am I supposed to react to that??

13. Can't stop smiling for the rest of the night. Stay up talking until 5am, when the 1st flight leaves, then sleep for 2 hours before my flight.

The End.

I always experience a kind of post-NYC blues, but it has been much worse than normal this time. It's the most intense experience ever, which added to the fact that it was a month long and my last course, made it quite special.

I'm looking for an amazing place to put photos on the internet, where there isn't a teeny limit on how much you can post, and it you can add lots of photos in one go. And where anybody can look at them. Any ideas anyone? For the time being, some of my photos are here on facebook.

Tomorrow I'm moving to Derby to start my apprenticeship. It's pretty exciting, but also a bit scary - I don't know anyone in Derby. I will try to update my blog though this time...