Back Home

After spending two and half months in Europe, I am back home and trying to find a direction for my life.  First I must apologize for not posting whole in Europe - I accidentally locked myself out of my blog...

I learned so much on this trip and saw SO MUCH.  As I traveled I met people from all walks of life from all over the world.  I learned so much about the great masters of music from the great masters of music but I also learned a lot about myself, about traveling, and other cultures.  I had a few scary moments but nothing that could outweigh the beauty I saw and the friends I made. 

As I said before, I am trying to find direction in my life.  For the first time in twenty years I am not in school.  After leaving high school I enrolled in community college and did that while I tried to find my path.  Now I have that all important piece of paper - my degree, stating to the world that I am a musician; I chose to study music and followed through.  It's a very bizarre feeling to not have homework and constant deadlines and projects on which you are graded.

As of today I have been home for two weeks and had wonderful times already with the friends and family I missed so much while away.  This week I started back with Bella Voce and our smaller ensemble Cantiamo.  I love those women and am so proud to be a member of their choir.  Their support has been invaluable - from helping my fundraising efforts to get to Europe, supporting me at my concerts and giving me the best birthday in Leipzig on tour with the group.  This week I also started with a new choir, Solaris, a mixed choir, also under the direction of Dawn Willis.  I am SO EXCITED to be singing in a mixed choir again.  I can already tell from our first rehearsal how fantastic the group is going to be.  I am so excited to be surrounded by such amazing musicians to help my education continue outside of the classroom.


Now, getting back to my trip.  Over the course of 64 days I saw eight countries and visited 23 cities.  Everyone has asked which place was my favorite and I feel its almost impossible to choose one place or even one country.

The countries and cities I visited (in order) were:

GERMANY
Frankfurt 25 June
Esienach 26-28 June
Arnstadt 27 June
Halle 28 June
Leipzig 28-30 June
Dresden 30 June

CZECH REPUBLIC
Terezin 30 June
Prague 30 June - 5 July

AUSTRIA
Vienna 5 July

ITALY
Oderzo 6-30 July
Venice 28-30 July

GERMANY
Dresden 31 July - 3 August
Meissen 2 August
Potsdam 3-6 August
Berlin 5 August
Hamburg 6-7 August

NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam 7-8 August

FRANCE
Paris 8-18 August 
Ville d'Avray 8-18 August
Versailles 11 August

SPAIN
Oviedo 18-25 August
Gijon 23 August
Rodiles 24 August

FRANCE
Perpignan 25 August

ITALY
Milan 26-27 August

There is so much to tell and I can't wait to share it all with you! Stay tuned for my adventures in Frankfurt and my tour with Bella Voce!

Summer Solstice Adventures

Wow! What a year it has been.  The summer solstice is in two days and in five days I leave for the remainder of the summer to enjoy the bounties of Europe.  I can't think of anyway better to start my summer!

As some of you may know, I was accepted to the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera (EPCASO) which is a month-long opera and Italian intensive in Oderzo, Italy.  This program starts in July but before that amazing opportunity I have the absolutely amazing opportunity to tour with Bella Voce Women's Chorus for 10 days through Germany and the Czech Republic. On that tour we will be able to sing in amazing places like THIS and enjoy spectacular food and music related tours.

After the tour and my time at EPCASO I will be touring Europe in the way I've only ever dreamed of.  I will be staying in Italy WWOOFing (follow this link if you're confused what that is) and hopefully getting in touch with new friends throughout Europe, traveling via train.

With such an exciting summer planned I'm going to try and keep everyone updated here with adventures and pictures.  


P.S. I did have an Indigogo campaign to help riase the money for my tuition for EPCASO.  Unfortunately my campaign finished tonight after raising only 15% of my goal.  I did raise quite a bit from individual donations so, thank you to everyone who donated both online and in person.  However, if you still wish to donate please contact me via the comments and I will get you my mailing address.

P.P.S. For those of you who missed my recital or those who want to watch it again - here is the live recording. Enjoy!


Thank you so much for reading!!