A Moment of Thanks and Taking a Step Back

Today is our free day in Prague, and we have done so much that it is really hard to document it all. Back at home I have such a hard time getting anywhere, and all of that is in my native language, so being here, trying to decipher other languages to get around is really disorienting. With that said, it is absolutely gorgeous in Prague. It may be dark and dreary, but I still appreciate how beautiful the city really can be. Everyone on this adventure, music major or not, is having a great time here too which makes me incredibly excited. The non-majors particularly have been amazing to be around on this trip. They notice so much more about the music than music majors do, and it really helps someone like me take a step back and look at performance from a different side of things. Last night I was out to dinner with my roommates and we were talking about all the different performances we have been listening too. The Benda String Quartet came up and the non-majors brought up that one of the pieces they performed sounded off, or like the group got lost in the middle of the piece. In reality, the piece was more modern and the music was supposed to sound a little funky, but as a person who listens to this stuff quite frequently, I never would have noticed that. The non-majors have such wonderful insight into these concerts, moreso than those of us studying music, so I am thankful that they were able to go in this adventure with us.

I want to end this post by saying how thankful I am for the friends I have here. I have been handling some heavy personal issues from back home since I pretty much got here in Europe, so naturally it has been on the back of my mind the entire time (which sucks because I have been wanting to go on this trip since I first learned about it my freshman year at PLU). However, my friends have been absolutely amazing helping me through all of this, and helping making it fun for me by all of our silly jokes about it. Without my group, I think this tour would have been ruined for me but because of them I am still having a ton of fun. Thank you Paige, Kara and Tomick, if you read this, you three are the best.