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!