I feel pretty damn spoiled. This is my schedule, give or take:
Practice
Eat
Sleep
Hang out with people
Go on hikes.
I have, for me, for what I am used to, an enormous amount of time to concentrate on playing the viola. This is what I came here to do, and it is incredible to be able to devote so much time and energy to it.
At the conservatory, my obligations as a student have been slow to start, so right now my work is mainly individual. I'm preparing for an audition for an internship with an orchestra in Lausanne and learning music for upcoming concerts. My professor was here a lot in September, so I'll spend the next four weeks he isn't here on incorporating what we have already talked about.
Sometimes I feel like all I do is practice. Sometimes I feel like I don't practice enough. Balance, it's all about balance, huh?
I've been enjoying doing things in French that I have done a lot in English: chamber music coachings, yoga classes, musician gossip, etc. I went to a yoga class and meditated on the gender of various body parts and whether the word 'relâcher' is related to 'relax.' (I think it is).
I hope that my french is improving--I think I'm getting more familiar with third person plural, and forms of verbs that are slightly more inaccessible to my brain. (I haven't yet started to use the subjunctive...I usual realize the opportunity after it passes). I have to say, Americans set the bar low for language learning: I get a lot of compliments on my French within the context of 'Wow, Americans normally have horrible accents.' Someone told me today that I talked like the Swiss, what with the septante, etc. I told him that being less complicated, I chose the swiss way of saying 70, 80, 90 (septante, huitante, nonante rather then in France French soixante-dix, quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt-dix). I haven't quite figured out how to tell who is Swiss and who is French amongst students and professors.
In sum, I'm enjoying my life here quite a bit. I feel lucky. Summer is hanging on, with countless days of 70 degrees with sun and no rain. Maybe this will all come crashing to a halt when I start to be busier and it gets cold...but probably even then life will be sweet in Switzerland.
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Clio, your life in Lausanne sounds pretty nice, and you're learning how to do yoga and coachings and gossip in French, which is pretty terrific, even if people DO set the bar low for Americans who speak foreign languages. You told me the other day about listening to a Swiss radio program that sounded like it was commentary on politics, and I thought, "how cool, Clio understands what she hears on the radio well enough to really get it." And you're developing a Swiss French accent! This all so neat, I'm pleased, proud and perked up. Good luck with the upcoming audition for the internship! mom
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