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Fun Stories and Stuff |
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First Reaction |
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This page includes details about my trip, what I did most days, what classes were like, fun moments, what I've learned, etc. That sort of thing. As you'll read on, it was an amazing experience. |
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When I first arrived to Kecskemet, I was very overwhelmed. I knew about five words in Hungarian and everything was different. I got homesick a few times more than I'd like to admit and I felt very small. Not to worry, it didn't last long. |
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The cool people I met |
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One of the greatest things about the institute is that the classes are small as there are only about 25-30 students. We all got really close this semester and became a sort of family. We were there for each other through all the stresses of school and adjusting to a new culture. |
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Classes |
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While at the institute, I took a variety of courses, all centered around a different aspect of music. The classes are solfege, conducting, folk music, music literature, Hungarian music literature, piano lessons, voice lessons, choir, methodology, a lecture class on Kodaly's philosophy, chamber music, and score reading. Some of these are self explanatory. One that may be confusing for some is solfege. Solfege is a way to read music using syllables. An example is the song do-re-mi from The Sound of Music. It uses the entire solfege scale. In solfege class, we sing and learn music using solfege as a tool. It is sort of like music theory, but it focuses mainly on developing an inner ear and musicality. It has been so beneficial to my musicianship. |
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Celebrating Jenny's Birthday |
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We also celebrated birthdays together and shared holidays from our own cultures. One of the unique aspects of the Institute is that the students come from all over the globe. We had students from Austrailia, Canada, Austria, Germany, the States, Mexico, Columbia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Korea, Japan, and England. |
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Fall Break |
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Fall Break was an amazing experience for me. We had a week off of school at the end of October which I spent in Prague and Vienna. I traveled completely by myself which was really scary, yet really rewarding as well. I grew so much from that experience of being on my own. I had only me to rely on and only me to take care of. It is amazing what that will do for you. And seeing Prague and Vienna was amazing on it's own already. Go to the Fall Break Pictures for more info and to get a better idea of everything that I saw. |
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Fun Details - Or What I'll miss |
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This has been the experience of a lifetime, and there have been so many moments of joy and happiness. Sitting with the girls watching Bridget Jones' Diary (one of the few movies we had on hand) for about the 15th time, baking and cooking together, celebrating birthdays, orientation week when we all got really close and connected almost instantly, making fun of each other's accents (those that spoke English as a first language), hours upon hours practicing conducting and solfege together, laughing about the silliest of things, yet also finding time to be there for each other and listen when it really mattered, being amongst so many musicians who understand what it's like, evenings spent at the pizza place across the street when we were just too tired or stressed to cook, going out for espresso in the afternoon, the way all of the trees in Kecskemet started to loose their leaves like snow, seeing snow in early November, sharing in the amazement of the students at the Kodaly school, playing Taboo and Yahtzee in the kitchen after a long day, saying tapwater the Hungarian way (csapviz) so I don't sound uncultured, and finding the stupidest things funny because we are all musicians and it comes with the territory. I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can think of or have the strength to type out. |
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What I've learned |
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This paragraph will be updated when I get back as I am still here and am learning every day. It goes without saying that one of the top 5 reasons I came to Hungary was to learn more about music and to develop my musicianship. And that has definately been a huge part of this experience. The other huge growing part is how much I have learned about myself and about life really. I have learned that I can depend on myself a lot more than I thought I could. I've learned that the world is absolutely huge, and I am a very small, but important part of it all. I've learned that there are a lot of people in my life who care about me, more than I could ever hope that they would. |
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