Le Travaille Commence!

The work begins!

Hello every one, sorry I haven't had time to update the blog in a while. What has happened?

- I conducted/rehearsed an orchestra for the first time

- I've started babysitting 3 french children

- Classes are kickin' my butt

So lets begin! First I'm going to copy a message I sent to my family describing my experience conducting the orchestra last tuesday night. If you've already read it, you can skim past:

Where do I begin?

I admit that I felt twinges of nervousness throughout the day, and finally really had time to reflect on the nervousness that evening on the car ride over to the rehearsal. But as I sat in the car thinking about things, I realized- how can we be nervous about the things that we want? When you spend countless hours working toward a goal, and the opportunity is at last presented, then how could I be worried about it? I should only be excited, expectant, and above all, thankful. I have been talking the talk for months, all about wanting to be a conductor- and at last the world had challenged me to walk! What more should I expect? For it to be easy? I know each of you have faced challenges far more daunting in your life, so I have nothing to complain about.

Rehearsal went well while I was playing flute; it was great to play in an orchestra again! Then after about 1/2 and hour, the director explained that the amercian he had introduced last week was going to conduct the orchestra. There was sort of a murmer of "oo!"'s and I grabbed my baton and hoped up there. I said a little introduction of "I'm honored to have this opportunity. Please excuse my french, it's not good, but I'll try. Hopefully the music will go beyond the language difficulties" Every one was very nice with big smiles, waiting to see the cute little girl conduct. haha.

The piece I conducted was Bizet's Farandole, which you can hear on youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUot1r2QSow&feature=related

It's quite appropriate because the Farandole is a dance that comes from this region in France! It's a very fun piece to play and conduct! If I had to summarize the experience, I'd have to say it was fun. Very exciting, and very comfortable for me! There was only one moment where I thought, "holy crap, if my parents could see me! Leading this whole group of musicians!" while the rest of the time was me thinking, "oh gosh, how do I explain what I want to in French?!" or "why aren't the violins together?" I rehearsed the orchestra as best I could, pulling out parts that needed help and explaining the sort of feeling the music needed to have. It's one thing to have a conversation with a french person about your school and interests, and another to say, "please phrase the melody this way- and don't rush! listen to the timpani here!" haha

When the evening was done, it was an odd feeling: nothing about me had really changed, but it was like there was an added part of me then. A new flavor in my life- something that I had never tasted before. Sort of like when you go to another country the first time, and when you leave, part of it has stuck onto you, become a part of you.

In other news, I've been hired as a babysitter/teacher to work with 3 french kids on improving their english, which is already pretty good, as they lived in NYC for 4 years recently. We prepared a little snack together the other day so they could read the recipe to practice their english and then get to complete the act with making the snack- we made Ants on a Log! [celery, peanut butter, raisins] Yum!

Matteo [6] in the back, Carla [8] presenting her creation

Thomas [11] on the left

The week has just been full of classes, work, trying to jog most days[its tough to fight all of the nutella and bread here!], practicing organ when I can, etc.

Friday night though one of the directors in the Vanderbilt in france program hosted all of the students at her house for a dinner. Was a lot of fun! She was the woman who first encouraged me to think about studying abroad! Seen here, in the center.

Friends enjoying the evening!

So the weekend hasn't been very eventful, I've just been trying to stay focused on work- big test and a couple of little papers due this week, but I really want to keep good grades here. It's tough, but I mean, this is my junior year! It's really counting now... ahh.

I went to the market yesterday [saturday morning] and spent about 10 euros on tons of woooonnnderful fresh fruits and vegetables! I got to have a brunch of delicious sweet fruit while I did some score studied of Dvorak New World Symphony, which I'll be conducting at this tuesday's orchestra rehearsal! How awesome of a way is that to start the day?

All of my love!

-me

Quand il pleut, il PLEUT- Quand il brille, il BRILLE

When it rains, it rains- but when it shines, it shines. 

We had such wonderful weather the first 2 weeks, but have seen quite a bit of rain lately. Oh it's despressing when it rains here. We're all so excited when the sun comes back out! 

This weekend was fun. Friday night a bunch of girls hung out and then went out dancing. 

Then on saturday I went to the city Lyon to visit my penpal of 7 years, Fanny! It was pouring rain as I left early saturday to try to find the bus station in Aix to take a bus to the TGV train station. I had to ask for help a few times, but eventually found my way and bought a bus ticket. On the bus I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen my cell phone in a while... I couldn't remember if I had brought it with me! Soon I arrived at the TGV train station and went to print out my train ticket I had bought online. The machine said my credit card wouldn't work... the whole situation was getting a bit stressful. I had to talk to a TGV employee though and she printed my ticket for me at the computer. Crisis averted- and then I found my cell phone! All was well as I boarded the train, eventually found my seat, and sat down to enjoy a beautiful 2 hour train ride. 

Fanny was there to meet me at the train station and it was so wonderful to see her again! And even better- the rain had stopped and it was a beeaautiful day! We spent the whole day walking all around Lyon which is a gorgeous city. There's a huge park where we spent a lot of time- there's a zoo and a big lake. It really reminded me of central park in NYC. 

In the zoo- here's a giraffe for you, dad!

and a sleeping lion for you mummy!

the park entrance: beautiful!

This was the opera house in Lyon! [and fanny pictured here:]

In the afternoon we met up with her boyfriend, William who speaks english very well because his mother is British. It was nice to let my brain take a little break and speak some english over a cool Orangina drink. mmm...

Then we took a tram to the top of a huge hill in Lyon where there was a gorgeous cathedral. 

You could look out and see the whole city! Just as we arrived we spotted a rainbow starting to appear! [unfortuantely it doesn't show very much in this photo:]

heres the cathedral pictured above when we came back down from the hill

They took me to a restaurant for dinner that specialized in crepes and cider! Dinner was fabulous and Fanny was so kind- she treated me to dinner. I'm going to have to really do something nice when she comes to visit me in Aix! Here's a beautiful building in Lyon by night. 

We headed back to her dorm -she's at a university in Lyon- for the night and watched a french film that was pretty funny. the next day it was unfortunately pouring rain again. ah! After lunch we headed to the train station and I headed back to aix. Another stressful series of events trying to find the bus and get a ticket.. yada yada.

When I got back to aix it was still pouring, but I could see blue skies ahead! I had to stop and take a photo- a shot of the sky behind me and a shot of the sky infront of me. That's what I mean when I say- when it rains, it rains but when it shines, it really shines!

Behind me: rain

in front of me: blue skies [a metaphor? hehe]

Then got to skype with jordan, lindsay c., and mom sunday night which was great. We had another supper club dinner as well which was again a ton of fun! We had mexican food! mmm!! 

A great weekend and now it's back to work. I have my first organ lesson today! ah! I'm a bit nervous, but I think it will go well. 

With love, Dani

Ouai, un peu mal du pays

Yeah, a little homesickness.

I think that's how I will title this blog, though it has been a very exciting week indeed. Lets begin with sunday when my friends and I had our first weekly Sunday Soiree- its like a supper club where we each bring a part of the meal and eat together. It was such a beautiful evening and such good food and company. Two of our friends hosted it at their apartment because they have an awesome backyard!

 

Here we all are wining and dining together. yumm. And I'm proud to say that my mother's tomato salad recipie was a huge hit! 

That night though I was hit by my first feeling of homesickness. I missed musicians and people who were working for nonprofits- I missed my friends at vanderbilt and the comforts of the familiar. 

Monday I met with the organ teacher and played for her a bit. We decided on a time to have lesson each Monday. It's a pretty decent organ, but I can't really figure it out quite yet. I've practiced on it for a couple days now. It was quite nice to have something familiar under my fingertips and in my ears again. 

Tuesday- some of you know the ordeal of tuesday. To VERY briefly summarize a very stressfulday, I went to have what I thought was a meeting with the conducting professor at the conservatoire. I discovered upon ariving that he was in fact in the annex of the conservatory-- I had to try to find it down the road in the rain. There were no signs for a conservatory, but suddenly from the street I heard a french horn practicing from a building and I followed the sound to find the conservatory. I got very lost, but I had to laugh- it was such a funny situation. Then when I found the conductor, I discovered that it was not a meeting, but in fact the conducting class... and that it lasts for 4 hours every tuesday. That's a lot of intense french + music.

Tuesday night I was beginning my internship with the orchestra in Marseille. Again, to sumarize a very long story- I thought I was going to only be watching and working with [possibly conducting] the orchestra but when I arrived they handed me music and introduced me to the other flute player..... I discovered that I am supposed to be playing in the orchestra. I hadn't even bothered to bring my flute to the rehearsal. I'm not even sure how I missed that detail. Again, it was a bit overwhelming, but at the same time, the sounds of the orchestra were very comforting. Its wonderful that I speak the language of music that is so international. 

The orchestra is made up of professional and nonprofessional adult musicians and they practice in a big cathedral with pretty good acoustics! It was all very funny and intersting to me. Here's the venue:

Tuesday was a very rainy day and with me being so overwhelmed from the choral conducting class and internship, I felt very very homesick. 

Wednesday was a bit better and productive. I ran with a group of my friends instead of by myself and it felt good to run with others. I had my art history class and felt overwhelmed again- its a tough class. It was still rainy and gray in the morning so I was a bit depressed. After my class though, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining! what a difference it made in every one's mood. I went and practiced organ and as I was sitting there, feeling overwhelmed and nervous about everything in life, I suddenly remembered that I had the power to make everything positive again. I said to myself:

Dani- when the going get's tough the tough get going. 

I just have to suck it up and look at this wonderful opportunity that is my being here. I sat at the organ and decided that the next day would be different and beautiful and happy. I smiled to myself, knowing that it was going to be a good day. Indeed it was. (the organ at the conservatory:)

So today- thursday- was indeed much better. Plus, I didnt' have any classes today. I woke up to another bright beautiful day in aix. Went to pick up some music from the conservatory, then went for a run, then practiced music and had a good session at the organ. Oh- and this morning I got a call from a french mother that contacted the vanderbilt-in-france center needing someone to work with their children on English and babysit. I told her I definitely could babysit today- so I got myself a little job! 

From 5-7:30 I babysat 3 children [boy 6, girl 8, boy 11] which is the most number of children I've babysat.. um.. ever! haha. It was a lot of fun and we spoke mostly in English, which they spoke very well, but also practiced some french. It's so cool that they can switch back and forth so quickly. I'm jealous. The 6 year old boy was a bit of handful, but I feel like I handled him climbing on walls and jumping off furniture with good dicipline. [did I jump off of walls when I was 6?? what did my parents do?? haha] The woman payed me well and wants me to work with the kids a couple hours each week on their english- 15 euro an hour! that's like 20 bucks an hour which I am very very excited about making. Money coming in?! Haven't seen that in forever.

So I need to be preparing for classes tomorrow now. Not long ago one of my roommates made hotcocoa and invited every one to have some. It was so cozy and nice to have. 

[that's me hugging the hotcocoa-mix box. haha we're cheap.]

Tomorrow will be an even better day though! 

I miss you all though. With love. 

Boire et manger- et nager!

To drink and eat- and swim!

I have much to update!

Some of my dear friends and I here have decided to start a Supper Club! {un club des diners!}  Each sunday we're going to have a themed dinner at one of our appartments and each person brings a different part of the meal. Our first one is tomorrow [sunday]. I'm pumped! 

We all went out and got a wonderful dinner Friday night. We have such beautiful and wonderfully breezy evenings. We get to pick any of the many restaurants and creperies and sit out on the busy little rues watching the french and their doggies walk by. 

new friends: me- elyse- lindsay [my roomate]- claire- chelsea- helen- savannah

One night we went to get champagne at a fun pub right around the corner. There were these fantastic green lights flashing all around that made for great photos! This is Elyse-

So here are all of the wonderful ladies that I live with here: Whitney, me, Fanny- who is a french gal studying at another university here; she makes sure we practice our french at home hehe- kate, and my roomy lindsay!

And today [saturday] the whole vanderbilt-in-france group got to go to Nice, which is about 2 hours away by bus. What a beautiful blue-skied day we had yet again, exploring the city and beaches. 

 This was an icecream shop [i promise, I don't really eat much icecream here, it just seems that way haha] that had TON of flavors. I had chocolate orange!

The beautiful beaches and clear blue wate. Goodness, how wonderful. 

The ladies on the town again! 

Classes have been going fabulously. I don't think I've updated my blog about my classes much! I met with the director of the conservatory last week to see if I could take any music classes... but he gave me even better news than that!! He told me that I could take organ lessons, choral conducting lessons. Then he explained how they don't have any orchestral conducting lessons and no orchestra in the city here, but that he was a conductor of an orchestra in Marseille, not too far away. He proceeded to tell me that he was going to offer me the unbelievable opportunity of letting me have an internship with him, working with his orchestra in Marseille [a city about 15 minutes away] every tuesday!!! I couldn't believe it. I think he'll even let me possibly conduct the orchestra, even if only in rehearsals... what a phenomenal opportunity-- to work with the director of an entire conservatory privately with an entire orchestra!!! I'm so excied. So all of that starts this tuesday. I'll keep you posted! 

French classes have begun- I'm taking Art History and French Conversation. Two really awesome, but tough classes. Don't worry- its not all icecream and beach trips- we really do have a lot of work to do! Trying to speak and think in French doesn't hurt my brain much any more, but it's frustrating because there are oh-so-many words I want to know in French!! Il viendra avec les heurs [they'll come with time.] 

Vous te manque, mais j'apprends beacoup chaque jour et j'ai un merveuilleux temps - I miss you all but I'm learning a lot every day and having a wonderful time.

-moi [dani]

La Semaine Commence

The week begins! 

Ok I just wrote a very long blog to describe the past 2 days [monday + tuesday] but then I accidentally delated the whole thing. AH! so I haven't the energy to write it all again. I'll summarize and use photos to help. hehe. 

This is one of the beautiful windows we have in our stairwell leading up to my room. It overlooks lovely gardens in neighbor's back yards! Monday was a day of exploration. In between our class orientations, I spent a lot of time walking around and seeing the city. 

I went to the cathedral right next to our place and saw the beautiful organ inside. Oh I hope I get to play it! Then I decided I would go check out the conservatory where I will hopefully be having some classes. I didn't know what to expect and boy was I surprised! I turned the corner and came to a huge beautiful building! 

with my mouth agape, I began to explore the whole building on my own. It was beautiful! Bright orange walls in the foyer!

And a beautiful blue room that was connected to another room with a stage- it was like a bunch of secret ancient rooms! 

Afterwards I headed to a park I had found the day before- its called Parc Jourden which made me smile.I spent an hour or so just reading and watching all of the happy people and doggies in the park. it was a beautiful afternoon.

After dinner I randomly decided I wanted to go out with friends haha. Yes, it was monday night, but I just felt like having some fun. So we popped open some wine and then headed out to see what was open. Pretty much nothing haha. But then we found an icecream shop! We were thrilled! We each had a scoop of icecream and a lot of laughs and it was a great monday night! haha

Today included more orientation where we got to choose our classes and decide our schedule. I still don't really know mine though because we haven't heard back from the director of the conservatory. gr! 

This morning, however, we spent a bit of time at this fabulous market that opens in aix 3x a week. Great flowers and fresh food! 

I'll include here some more photos of my apartment. Here's my room: 

My lovely roommate, Lindsay! 

Our hall way/guest bed haha. [couch]

Our french housemate, Fanny! 

And the kitchen. Its all quite lovely and we're having a great time!

a la plage!

At the beach! 

We spent a beautiful day at the beaches of Cassis- which I have apparently been to before and forgot until we went today! haha. It reminded me a lot of greece- and sooo beautiful. I don't know which was bluer- the sky or the water! When we first arrived there was some strange parade going on! 

We all took a boat ride to see the coves and beautiful water. Seen here with new friends: 

We got some “glace” [icecream] which was melting fast and quickly gobbled up.

Then a couple of friends and I headed to the pebbly beach and took full advantage of the warm sun and cool wind. Then we built up the courage to wade out in the water… in the absolutely FREEZING water. oh my goodness. Can you tell we were a little cold here? 

It was a beautiful and relaxing day though. Cassis was once a major ancient roman trading port. The white stone that makes up the cliffs surrounding the coast have been cut since it was a roman port and used to make houses and structures. 

Afterwards, we arrive back in aix and saw that there was a big antique flee market going on in the main avenue! I wasn’t planning on getting anything, but then I came across a table of old books, each for only 1 euro. I suddenly saw some music scores! There were two very old but fantastic Beethoven scores that I snatched up and was thrilled to find they too were only 1 euro!! I figured I could splurge. I am so excited to have these! one of the books is a piano reduction of 4 of his symphonies, so now I can play the great symphonies at the piano! 

here are two pictures of the cathedral that’s right outside of my window. at day and at night. I’m going to go listen and see the organ during a service sometime this week for sure! 

Orientation is tomorrow. Classes will begin all too soon! 
-dani

also- here is a photo of me and my roomie, lindsay, at dinner last night!