And I'm back.

I had a stark realization yesterday. It occurred while I attempted to write essays for this incredible summer project I'm applying for called Cultures in Harmony (check it out, seriously: www.musicforthepeople.org). I have lost touch with writing and communicating my thoughts in English! It's been months since I last wrote anything here, and this livejournal was the one way I kept up my writing skills and maintained a personal voice preserved on paper (er, electronic paper...). I found that while writing the essays, words were coming to me first in German and Spanish, and while on one hand that's a good sign because it means these foreign languages are starting to become a part of me, it also means that my mother tongue is starting to fade. It would be a real pity to lose the gracious literary teachings which were imparted to me by Ms. Scholz and the GBN English Department, and so I am going to try to get back into writing regularly on here. Let's see, where were we? Oh yeah...I played a million concerts in places like Münster, Potsdam, Paris, Lage, Paderborn, and various other cities in the region. I have had many lessons, and am playing two pieces with my piano trio - Brahms C Major Trio from last year and the Mendelssohn d minor Trio. I've developed a sheer love for the baroque violin and baroque music/art in general, and also fell in love with Sevcik Opus 3 exercises for bow technique once again (thank you, Andy Mark, for freshman Orchestra Rep class). I lost hours of sleep, ate too much chocolate, smoked too many cigarettes, drank too much beer, and still managed to cook some amazing Indian meals. I lived out of a suitcase for a while, and will again this weekend when I go to London for a mini-break and to visit my dear friend, Sara. I've been enjoying the new experience of playing viola in a string quartet (Beethoven Op. 18 no. 5 in A Major) with three wonderful other musicians, and we just finished playing for the Tokyo String Quartet in a master class yesterday. They gave one of the most genuine performances tonight, and we ended up dining and sharing drinks with them for a few hours afterwards, which was, suffice it to say, an unbelievable treat. I love my roommates (Cristina from Spain, Sebastian from Chile), and my Spanish is getting to a level of fluency that is continually more comfortable and authentic. I met another American here, Nathan. He comes from Virginia and is a very mature 18-year-old who took a gap year by deferring admission to UPenn for a year...he's a smart and sweet guy. Iris, a Spanish cellist, has become a very good friend as of late, and I'm starting to practice yoga with my roommate, Cristina. My health has been quite poor lately because I've neglected it for so long (note: DO NOT try to live off of dark chocolate, black tea + coffee + hot cocoa, pasta, bread, and vitamins...you will eventually crash), but I'm learning that the basics in life are the most important things to keep in order, and that we do have more control over them than we think. I'm sorry to those of you (ahem, parents) whom I've not had regular contact with. I'll try to improve, but do bear with me because the next few weeks are really tough. Lots of love to everyone...take care of yourselves!