Happy Halloween!
I can hardly believe that today marks the end of October, the time seems to be flying by! I have had a great week this past week, and this next week will be just as exciting, but a bit more stressful. This week I am giving a presentation in my "Twentieth Century Body" class on the novel "African Psycho" by Alain Mabanckou. I haven't yet made up my presentation, and I'm a little bit nervous--I haven't given done a literary analysis presentation in a while. But I'm starting to get used to the switch from objective to subjective coursework, and it's refreshing to undertake an assignment where there are no concrete "real answers."
This past weekend I had my first seven hour long orchestra rehearsal (that's right, seven straight hours except for a lunch break)! I think it is the longest time to date that I have played my violin. It was fun and productive, but by the end, I thought my arms might disown me. :) We focused mainly on the Bartok Concerto that we will be performing in our concert in December. The whole piece is extraordinary and very long--it takes almost 45 minutes to play through all the movements. It is also quite difficult, and I think that this comes from the fact that Bartok is rather modern and plays with eccentric rhythms and almost atonal tunings. I didn't quite like the piece when we first started playing it, but I think that I'm starting to warm up to it, and as the orchestra gets better at playing it, it's sounding better and better. I'm pretty sure by the time the concert rolls around, it will be incredible.
I also celebrated halloween with the campus Erasmus Society and my friends last night, which was a great relief from the hours of violin playing! :) Halloween isn't quite as big as it is in the US and here most of the costumes focus on being scary, rather than, well, other things, which I found refreshing and rather fun. I went as a scary fairy (I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to rhyme) and my friends went as a witch, a vampire, and a devil.
On Friday this week, I got to play two volleyball matches with a smaller team, so I got more playing time, which was awesome, and I got to know the girls that came a lot better as well, which was even more awesome! So far, I'm good friends with girls on the team from Germany, Norway, Greece, France, and of course, the UK. I love how global the student culture is here. I'm starting to think it's going to feel strange to go back home and not be the minority.
This week I'm staring a jumping training program with my friend on volleyball who is from Germany (although, her English is so good, I thought she was from the UK! I was really surprised when I found out she is from Heidleburg). I play the 3,4 position (which is outside attacker) so I need to be able to jump high and hit the ball hard. I'm really excited to get started, and it will be nice to get to know her even better while we train.
I've also decided on some performances to attend on campus for the upcoming weeks! Here they are:
1) Nov 12: Robert Glasper Trio
2) Nov 13: Blazing Fiddles
3) Nov 19: Christian Scott
I am also in the process of planning a trip to either Scotland and Ireland or to Paris for an upcoming weekend. I also hope to travel to the Netherlands and Spain before the Christmas holiday, but we'll see how ambitious that turns out to be!
Cheers and Happy Halloween!
Sarah
