Week 9, Midterms are officially over! I am so glad that I am retaining a lot of the knowledge from Munich classes here. With spending most of my class time translating Italian and broken English all the time, I forget what it feels like to fully comprehend what the instructor is conveying. During week 8 I went through a lot of emotions I can’t adequately express place into words. At the beginning of the week, the most of the program spent the weekend in Milan prepping for Midterms, some more stressed than other which is normal. Myself, not so much, I only had two midterms left, and I was able to finish studying for one and reading the book for the other. Overall, I feel like they went well. My Italian midterm did not go as planned but that’s okay, I realized that I am still adjusting to being immersed in a new language and at least I’m trying. I am proud to say that I have accomplished one of my goals out here and I’ve made some friends in Italy. I am glad I completed this goal, I was nervous to interact the locals here for a while. But taking the risk in trying to speak their language and step farther outside of my comfort zone was rewarding.
After my Midterms, I sang my last concert with the LaVerdi Symphonic Orchestra Choir in Verdi’s Requiem. Frankly, I am grateful for the opportunity, and I am glad I got to sing a couple of fantastic pieces, but in the end, I am so happy to be finished. I forgot what it felt like to be in a community choir, where there is this semi-professional attitude about music. My experience in the choir was sub-par, the director was great, but she frightens. I have a lot of appreciation for her passion towards the music, however, conducting a rehearsal screaming at adults and having stress nosebleeds only leads to a chaotic unproductive rehearsal. The participants in the choir were very friendly, yet their egos reminded me of what I do not want to be in this world of music. I will say the soloists were fabulous and I learned a lot from watching them. I learned a lesson about being more professional when presenting myself, being on-time and fully participating in rehearsal. However, the overall experience reminded me of the reasons why I almost left music.
Anyways, there a couple of adventures I have coming up are seeing one of my best friends, Connor Martin, in London. Before that, I am planning to make more trips to more parts of Italy.  Looking forward my last 5 weeks in Milan, I have spent so much time singing I forgot about travel.
More pictures to come! Thank you so much taking your time to read about my adventures, your support is keeping me sane through all of my adventures.