In general things are still going really well, but there are some interesting things that happened that I wish to share with you. Primarily:
THANKSGIVING!
Yes, I found a way to celebrate thanksgiving even under the oppressive rule of the evil french government haha. My good friend Katherine's parents were visiting for that period and they rented an apartment for the two weeks they stayed. They brought a bunch of things from the South that they feared they would not find here and they prepared a wonderful thanksgiving meal for all of us. All of us being my girlfriend Anna, Katherine, Lucy, and several friends from their program. It was absolutely marvelous. The turkey was cooked perfectly, the stuffing was amazing, the cranberry chutney that Mrs. Stone made was to die for and, last but not least, they had grits! It was so nice to have a staple from southern cooking here in france. Really made me feel like home. Then, for dessert, there was pumpkin and pecan pie! Both were absolutely fantastic. I'm not generally a pecan pie fan, but Mrs. Stone's has joined the ranks, along with Andy's and my grandmama's, of the pecan pies I like the best.
Although it was all a tad bittersweet because it really was the first time I felt a wave of homesickness spread over me. But I was able to call home and talk to everyone and wish them a happy thanksgiving which made it a little better.
The entire evening is going down in my books as one of the pest evenings. As a matter of fact, every single dinner function held by the Stone family has been a truly exceptional experience (despite home much Katherine may protest about the first one being a disaster.)
SAM'S BIRTHDAY!
I'll tell you this story briefly because it sort of leads into another thing that I hope will happen soon.
So my friend Samantha's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and she had it a kareoke bar. Generally, parties at bars aren't really my thing because usually the bar is crowded and loud and expensive and on and on and on blah blah blah. BUT this was an exception and actually it was one of the nicest night's I've had "out on the town." First of all because it was a cool place to hang out. Yes, it was expensive, but the atmosphere was nice and the people around were't too eurotrashy/club type people (although there were an appropriate amount of skeeze bags there) It was also really to chill with a few of the people from my program outside of the school setting for once. All in all, it was a night to be able to cut loose for a bit and just have fun.
I also got to sing kareoke which is always fun :)
But another interesting thing is that I met a singer, a really good singer who hope fully will be a part of...
MY NEW BAND
Yep, i'm trying to start a band. It's a proving to be a little harder than I thought mainly because it's hard for me to focus on what kind of music I want to play. I would like to do originals at some point, but there are a bunch of covers I love and would love to do. More on this as it progresses!!
IN OTHER NEWS
I got to sing the other night which was a lot of fun. I think really got to sort of show a lot of the students at Le CIM who I was as a performer. It was hard at first because most of the performance opportunities have been out of my genre and comfort zone (doesn't mean I didn't do them, but I have sucked to semi-sucked in front of a lot of these students on more than one occasion) but this time I was able to show off my bluesier side and rock out pressure free for once.
I'm performing tuesday night in my school bands. One ensemble is playing Latin music. That was a fun experience to learn, but it's safe to say that it's not really my style. I really respect it, especially the intense rhythmic complexity, but it's just not clicking with me. I especially noticed this when our teachers changed (this ensemble is one where we get several different teachers, who each teach different styles, throughout the year.) and we got a jazz standard teacher and I was just more comfortable with my comping and soloing.
In generally i'm becoming more comfortable playing jazz and soloing. This is because i'm focusing more on my technique and scales then I ever have before. My voice teacher told me the other day that my problem was that I lacked precision in my work which was a big "call out" as it were. It really forced me to look at the work I was doing and realize that I just need to go back and re work some things that I sort of thought I knew and really get them solid.
The magnum opus continues.
on a lighter note...
TODAY
Today, I went to the Louvre and spent a good part of the afternoon in the egyptian section. MAN that may be one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts I've ever seen. It makes the British museum look like a rock collection and the Met look like an archology set you buy at walmart. It just kept going on and on and on. Every aspect of egyptian life was covered. It was absolutely wonderful. I got to sort of wander through my childhood again. When I was younger I was incredibly interested in egyptian life, particularly their gods. It's been awhile since I've formally studied it (have I ever formally studied it?) so it was really nice to get a good solid refresher.
Well week is the last week before la vacance du noël. I leave for Berlin on saturday night! I'm staying with my friend Fanni and Shay and a few other for the following week then i'm back in paris for awhile. But fear not, I'm already signed up for another school trip to the south of france (Marseilles, to be exact) around the 14th of january. I'm just a ramblin' man I guess haha.
À bientôt!
