Kathryn's First Ever Bike Trip

Since Florian is home, and it's finally acting like spring (or maybe summer, hard to tell), we decided to go for an afternoon bike trip together.  I recently acquired a bike, and I'm enjoying being able to ride around (although I am really quite bad at going up hills).  So yesterday we set off from my house, and started riding towards Germany (yes, we did cross the boarder eventually, but we weren't in Germany for long).  Near Bülach (where I live) we found the river Glatt, which we followed to the Rhein.  We crossed the river into Germany, and then rode on (and crossed the boarder again) until we found a nice spot for lunch.  Then we rode through Hüntwangen, Wil (ZH), and finally Rafz.  From Rafz we biked through Flaach (which spelled with one "a" would mean "flat" in German, which it was not!!), Dättlikon, and ended in Pfungen.  Then we caught a train back to Bülach.  Here are some pictures of our grand adventure. 

The view from the bench where we ate lunch.  Not sure if what we could see was Switzerland or Germany, maybe both.  We were on the Swiss side at the time.

Enjoying the sun

My awesome bike!!! (and Florian's awesome bike too)

Florian on our lunch bench, complete with picnic knife

Hmmmmm...  where are we?

The grass is super green, but the trees haven't quite caught up yet.  Spring sprang on us suddenly.

Chocolate Mousse (Florian's Home!!!)

Florian is home, and to celebrate we made chocolate mousse! 

Us looking cute...

 Our real selves... 

 The chocolate

The stirring never ends...

The finished mousse

Life updates and blog takeover

Just a few quick updates.  Sorry I never write.  I feel like I never do anything interesting anymore, or take cool pictures.  Oh well.  I forgot to take a single picture when I was in Wales last month, which is sad, but it was much prettier in October.

Second semester just started, and I'm very busy with all of my classes.  My major is now officially music pedagogy, so I'm looking for students and learning a lot about teaching.  I'm really happy with the change, and think it will be a really great three semesters.  I'm focusing more and more on old music, which has been really fun, as well as nerdy and rewarding.  I love reading the old texts and working with the intonation concepts and old instruments, and I love the freedom.  Baroque music was, in a way, the jazz of the time, and thus when played properly, you have a lot of freedom.

Two weeks ago we had a concert that was streamed live onto the internet.  For my school this was a first, and they made a pretty big fuss about it.  That said, it was a good concert, the stream went well, and you can still watch it here if you would like. 

Florian will be back in Switzerland starting in three weeks.  We both have work and auditions while he's here, and I have school, so we probably won't get to spend a week in the mountains, but I'm still really looking forward to seeing him.  Maybe we'll even take a picture of the two of us.  But no promises!  So far our track record is dismal.

And, on to the blog takeover.  I'm taking some online courses this year through a lovely website that offers free massive open online courses (MOOCs).  Basically, that means a teacher posts video lectures, quizzes are computer graded, and that the real homework is peer graded.  I'll be using my blog to post some of my homework assignments, which means if you have no interest in music production, you should not read those posts (I'll label them, promise).  That said, if you want to learn something nerdy, feel free to keep reading.

That's all for now!

And, one last update

I know I've been really bad about both blogging and keeping in touch this semester... as usual, school has been crazy, and life in general has been as well.  I've been to both France and Wales this semester, and a quick trip to Germany is probably going to happen before next semester starts.

In the middle of all this, I've actually changed my major.  While I was working on an orchestra masters, as of next semester I'll be doing a pedagogy masters (but will still graduate on time, with a little effort).  This decision came after serious thinking, but my teachers and I have decided to use this masters to get what is arguably the most useful degree the school has to offer (orchestras never hire someone because they have the degree, but music schools will look much more carefully at someone with the teaching degree, and often even require it).  If I was doing what might be considered the "normal" thing in Zürich, this might not matter so much, many people do more than one masters at this school, so there would be time for both.  That said, the current plan (and of course plans change often and without giving much notice) is that I will leave Zürich in two years (so after this masters) and pursue an old music masters.  Since natural horn is what I currently do best and enjoy the most, it seems like the best option.   This was a big decision, but I think everyone involved currently feels like it's going to turn out to be the right one.  I know I do.  :)  Hopefully by the end of this degree, I'll have some practice teaching and the certification, and I'll have managed to make contacts in the old music world, and will be ready to take that step.

So, for anyone who's a bit unclear about what this "old music" this really is, it's basically exactly what it sounds like.  Its the idea that the music of Bach should be played on the instruments that existed when Bach was alive, and that we should do our best to learn the stylistic aspects that went with each period.  There are many books written by players of these time periods detailing how they felt pieces should be played, and old music students study these for information on things like ornamentation.  The fun thing about old music is that you get to play a lot of different styles and instruments.  The not so fun thing about this is having to potentially carry a few instruments to school every day.  When I go to Germany in a few weeks, I'll be taking some lessons with a very well known natural horn player (if anyone wants to give me a lesson for Christmas, that could be cool).

I leave you with a few pictures:

 This is what my locker looks like with both my modern and natural horn.  I can just barely make them both fit!

This is a picture I took of the natural horn this week.  I'll put it up again with pictures of a baroque horn, as soon as I take some.  :)

Bülach, and My New Room

I think everyone knows that I moved (again, I'm getting really tired of it).  My new room is in a two bedroom apartment in what is either a large village or a small town called Bülach.  It's a very sweet place, I really like it.  I'm living in the old city, which means adorable shops and houses, and everything within walking distance.  Within three minutes I have city hall, a new book store, an amazing used bookstore, a bakery, a whisky shop (haven't been there yet, haha), a yarn store, a library, and I'm sure much more.  Last weekend the Christmas market was here, which was good, but dangerous.  Lots of good food and cute things to buy!

 This is the tower of the church I can see from my bedroom.  Yes, the clock is correct.  If you look closely, you'll see a brass band on the tower.  This was the first weekend I was here.

 This is a bit of the Christmas market right before it opened, so the crowds hadn't appeared yet.  It was much cuter at night, but getting a good picture was hard.  Just imagine everything dark, and the trees and the stalls glowing. 

 And, this weekend it snowed!  This is the view from my window.  The used book store is the window on the right.

 Same view from my window.  

 My desk and bookshelf.  I'm sitting here now writing all this...

 My bed

 My couch and clothing storage (yes, I have a couch.  You have no idea how cool this is!!!)

Another view of my bed and the window and stuff...

It's so good to have my own place again, and to be unpacked and mostly organized.  There are still a few things that are mysteriously absent (would anyone happen to know where my Brahms Horn Trio is?), but this is more settled than I've been since June.  My flatmate is lovely, and she has two adorable cats (pictures next time they come inside, they're out in the snow right now, I think).  

Wales

As a few of you may have heard, I went to Wales at the end of October.  Here are a few pictures from the coast, were we spent a nice, sunny, cold Saturday wandering around and enjoying the views and the tiny village.

France, Vichy

Last night was our final concert in Vichy, France. I felt sort of bad for the audience, there were a lot inside jokes added to the opera between the orchestra and the singers, but I'm sure the audience didn't get most of them. We, on the other hand, had a bit too much fun. It was awesome. I also got to play first horn on the overture, which includes a big solo. It made me quite nervous. Today we pile back on a bus, which will take us to Lyon. From there I have a train back to Zurich, I arrive this evening. I can't believe it's over. I can't believe I won't see these people again until November when we get to play the opera again in Versailles. I really don't want this tour to end, don't want to go back to the real world. But... I guess I'm looking forward to sleeping in one place for more than two nights... And practicing something else will be fun. So, thanks for reading! Next stop is San Diego on Friday, and then Colorado on August 6th, so I'll see you all there!