My favourite things

Location can be everything and at the same time nothing. The elements of my life that are affected by where I'm living are completely different than I anticipated. I thought that it'd be a whole new me in a whole new country but then I started to notice my 'old' personality surfacing within the first few weeks. The things I thought would be so different feel so normal and those tiny little things I never thought I'd think about bubble to the surface at peculiar moments. The strangest thing however, is that everything here feels so familiar, that I sometimes I forget I'm even away at all. Isn't it funny how the Netherlands feels like it's just around the corner from Australia?

Here are a few highlights of the past month . . .

Going to the Grand Theatre in Amsterdam twice in one week!
Joeke, one of my percussion teachers, was kind enough to get me a ticket and take me down to Amsterdam to see 'L'Amour des Trois Oranges' by Prokofiev. I was lucky enough to poke about backstage beforehand and even meet some of the musicians from the orchestra and hang out with the cast of the opera - I was tempted to sneak into one of the dressing rooms, don a wig and sneak on stage, but decided I should resist - before taking my prime seat in the beautiful theatre.

Later in the week, I headed down to Amsterdam yet again, with my Australian friend Bella. We dressed up hopped on the train and enjoyed wonderful cocktails (made by yet another Australian in the Netherlands) before 'Romeo and Juliet' performed by the National Ballet.
Romeo and Juliet is one of my favourite ballets and Prokofiev's score is also one of my favourite pieces of music and takes me back to my childhood. It was on the CD of ballet music my mum always played in the car or that I listened to as I went to sleep, though I knew the tracks too well I would always wait for it to finish before I went to sleep.

"The boys" (3 of the percussionists at university) and I performed at the UMCG Hospital in Groningen. We had a small audience of music lovers and were broadcast across the entire hospital. It was such a fulfilling experience for me as I am always thinking about how to make live music accessible to everyone. Before I left I'd been discussing with some colleagues of 'Voyces' choir about doing something like this and I hope that when I return we can make this happen! If anyone has any other ideas or thoughts on this topic please let me know.

On Easter Sunday a big group of us from college decided to have an Easter feast, and boy did we feast! In the morning I made an Easter egg hunt for some of the girls and people cooked away in kitchens all day. It was so nice to have everyone showing such generosity and to share a beautiful meal together.

All my lessons are going well, my parents now have proof (via Skype) that I do actually have friends over here and the weather is warming up!

I love waking up on those days when you can just feel that spring is in the air. Everything seems to be buzzing and all of a sudden everyone is sitting out in the sun in t-shirts and shorts, smiling and waving at each other, just being thankful to be alive and have some long forgotten Vitamin D.

Off to enjoy the sun!
Lx

beautiful flowers from one of my performances
ragtimes at the hospital
outside the theatre in Amsterdam
the Easter feast (note my roast chook!)