Sunday, December 18, 2011

Finally Snowing!

We got our first snowflakes yesterday (and it's been snowing off and on ever since), after what has been a quite wet winter. We had three days of chilly rain leading up to the snow (and some sleet and wind to make things extra nasty), so I'm actually quite glad it's snowing. It's much prettier than sleet. And, happily, so far I have had no transport problems despite the snow. When I lived in Germany this much snow would have completely shut down the buses and delayed or canceled the trains.

This sounds crazy, but I still don't really know what I'm doing for vacation. I'll probably spend some time in Munich, and maybe some time in Italy, and definitely some time here practicing. Only little problem with that plan is that they actually close the school for break, but I'll find a time that I don't annoy anyone and practice here or something.

I have a few classes this week still, but things are really starting to calm down. Which, honestly, is quite nice. It's been a chaotic couple of weeks. I've had a lot of extra lessons, and extra concerts.

Random things I haven't posted on my blog: I now have a swiss driver's license, I'm playing solo with an orchestra in May, and I actually did pass my first semester of French (which, honestly, is kind of surprising. I'm quite bad at it. But yes, I will take it again next semester. Now it's become a matter of pride that I don't give up and stay this bad at it). I've also put my facebook into latin. This really doesn't have a point, but it makes me smile.

One last random thing. I wrote a guest post for a another blog (which is amazing), which you can read here. It's about playlists I've made of horn music on spotify.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Winter Update

This is the official winter update!

I haven't managed to write a lot recently, because school and extra stuff have been keeping me really busy. French is still really hard (there are more irregular verbs than regular ones, really), and with three instruments to practice, I don't have a lot of free times (especially because organ isn't exactly portable, which makes finding times to practice even harder).

Niki and I are coming to the States this winter! We'll be in San Diego from January 27th to February 3rd, and in Fort Collins from February 3rd to the 10th. Sorry it's short, but it's really all we can manage around school. Some teachers appear to not understand the concept of vacation.

This has been the warmest winter in a really long time in Switzerland. It still hasn't snowed where I live (it finally started snowing in the mountains, which the ski areas really appreciate). We've mostly been getting cold rain and fog, which is lovely, as I'm sure you can imagine. Don't be too jealous.

I managed to write the first draft of a novel during my train time last month... I really miss the orchestra that was giving me all those hours on the train, although I don't miss the train as much. But those trips made me realize just how beautiful Switzerland is.

That's all for now!

How to become my favorite family member!!!

So, my Uncle Glen and Aunt Susan were in the area a few weeks ago (specifically, they were in Southern Germany, but that counts. We met in Konstanz, which is less than an hour from me). Coming and visiting me is one of the easiest ways to become my favorite family members ever.

And just in case you're wondering, we have lots and lots of fun. And there's chocolate. You know you're jealous. And thus want to come see me too.