My life since Jan 26

I have been quite busy in the past few weeks, but now that I have been holed up in my dorm room thanks to Snowstorm Nemo, I am ready to update you on what I have been doing.

"criptocardiograma" by August de Campos,
just in time for Valentine's Day!

As usual, my Portuguese class has been kicking my butt.  I know I'm only taking two real classes but my the homework for this course really takes forever.  However, one fascinating poet I have discovered through this course is Augusto de Campos.  It may seem a bit gimicky but I find it so fun, especially after reading so much dry boring poetry!  My favorite of his works is the "criptocardiograma".  You can appreciate the poem even if you don't speak Portuguese - the end result is kind of trans-lingual.  To read the poem, first you have to decode the symbols using the letters in the word bank on the left of the flash player.  Once you solve the puzzle, you will understand what I mean about not needing to speak Portuguese in order to understand.  Once you finish that, you can explore all the other interesting works of this contemporary Brazilian poet.

Of course, I also have been working on my auditions.  I had on audition since I last wrote about my daily life in Washington, DC.  It was nice to get home once again this semester and see friends and family living in that area.  It started to feel for a while like I was in NoVA more than I was here in Connecticut!  Because of the huge snowstorm, though, I had to cancel my trip home this weekend.  I was supposed to audition for the Marine Band in DC, but I had to cancel my audition since I couldn't find a way to get there.  The trains and buses were shut down, and my friend who could have driven us couldn't dig his car out.  So that means I'm just looking ahead to three more auditions in the next week, and then I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, with only two more auditions after that!

I made it to the top of a 15-foot pile of snow
in the aftermath of the storm!

Despite the snow, I have spent a lot of time outside in the past few days.  On the day after the record snowfall of 34 inches (more than half my height!!!) I went outside with my friend S to go exploring.  We walked all over the city of New Haven, got coffee at the only venue open (Dunkin' Donuts, of course), and then walked to an amazing sledding hill another friend let me know about.  There we met up with a whole group of people from the School of Music and a fantastic time was had by all.  School has now been cancelled since Friday afternoon, though my Friday morning classes were cancelled by the teacher as well, and they've already cancelled through Tuesday! I'm getting pretty stir-crazy here at home, which brings me to my next topic...

I signed up for a 5K! Running a 5K is one of my 25 goals to accomplish before my 25th birthday in November.  The one I signed up for is on March 3, and takes place on the Yale campus, so I don't have to worry about how to get there without a car.  So I am beginning my training.  I already run somewhat regularly (outdoors when the weather permits, and inside the rest of the time), so I'm not doing the ever-popular Couch-to-5K plan.  I instead made my own training plan for myself, which basically involves running a few miles 3-4 days per week (I get to choose whether I want to run again on the fourth day or do some other kind of physical activity).  I guess the training plan is more about being consistent rather than an actual distance to run.  Anyways, I made it into a sticker chart that is currently hanging on the side of my fridge, and I've been following it so far (all four days since it started snowing and I got bored...).

Just a few final tidbits before I go:

-I started reading Moby Dick (another one of my 25 things to do before my 25th birthday).  It's really good so far, though I was really shocked by how racist the narrator is! I'm about 40% done now, so I'll probably have a summary for you in a few weeks.

-I found out that I was awarded a Presidential Fellowship from the University of Georgia!  That means I will receive a generous stipend to do my doctorate there.  I'm still not 100% sure I'll go - I want to wait to hear from everywhere before I make up my mind - but things are looking good for me to end up there.

-As most of you know, I often travel to Brazil to work for a youth orchestra program there.  I'm happy to announce I'll be returning there for a week and a half during my spring break this March!  With the orchestra, I will also be traveling to Oman to play some concerts with the orchestra there during the last four days of the break. I couldn't be more excited!

Until next time!

Lauren