Life as a Proper Conservatoire Student

Is very different from what I’m used to. For the past nine days, there hasn’t been a day I wasn’t at the Conservatoire practicing. I’m not complaining, though – not only has it given me a chance to at least somewhat socialize with the other percussionists (when we’re not shut away in our practice rooms), but I’ve made fairly good progress with my pieces. Of course, my lessons last weekend still didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped, but I suppose I was still somewhat rusty from vacation.

For these last two weeks I have in Strasbourg (what!! I only have two more weeks!! Gaack!!), the only item on my to-do list is to practice and leave the Conservatoire having my professors think well of me (I hope). I have discovered, though, that I do much better when I have to fit practicing into my schedule, instead of that being the only thing to do. Though a little uninteresting, it is refreshing to be able to fully concentrate on my music, and not have to think about my homework while I’m trying to work out this weird sticking in my snare piece. So, it should be a relaxing last two weeks, and I can take it easy, and properly enjoy Strasbourg in my free time. There is a museum or two I’d like to go to before I leave, maybe visit Orangerie a few more times, and otherwise wander around and soak in the wonderfulness that is Strasbourg when I’m not practicing.

You or may not know that this past Sunday was a rather important day in France. Not only was it my concert (hee hee – it went pretty well, by the way, and a few of my Strasbourg aquaintences came, from my church, two SU friends, and one of the SU administration people), but it was also the second round of the presidential election. France has an interesting system for their presidential election. The first round, all the candidates run – there were 12 this year. From all the first round candidates, the two who receive the highest percentage of the votes continue on to the second round. This year, the two final candidates were Segolene Royal of the Socialist Party, and Nicolas Sarkozy of the UMP party (translates to the Union for the Popular Movement, but basically it’s a party a little right of center). M. Sarkozy won the election last Sunday, which surprised me a little - not because he came out of no where (he’s been in the lead in the polls all semester), but because he’s rather pro-American. With as much as the French public doesn’t like Pres. Bush (and they really don’t), I was surprised they elected someone who is openly accepting of Bush’s presidency. One headline from the International Herald Tribune this week reads that the French-American relationship is expected to warm up with Sarkozy as president – it shall be interesting to see how that pans out. And, especially with our next presidential election coming up in the not-too-distant future, it will be interesting to see how Sarkozy gets along with our new president. Though I’m not a political person, it’s been very interesting to study in France in the midst of the election, and see how it all works in a foreign country.

Tomorrow morning, I’m leaving for a weekend in London. I’m really, really excited – not only is London the last of the places-I-absolutely-have-to-see-while-I’m-in-Europe (which means I’ll at least have seen what I really wanted to this semester), but I’ll get to see two family friends that I haven’t seen in a very, very long time. (Which also means free lodging – thank you, Hector!!) So, this weekend should go by quickly, and then it’s less than two weeks until my parents get to Strasbourg… Wow, my semester has gone by quickly.