Saturday, July 19, 2008

Winding to a Close

I heard several times before I left that going on a study-abroad program for only a month was a very disorienting thing to do to yourself and I am now beginning to really understand why. I've done a ton of fun things here and had a blast almost the whole time but I spent the first couple weeks feeling slightly homesick. Every now and then, I would think about how great it was going to feel when I finally went home. Now, after about 4 weeks, I feel like I live here and I haven't thought much about going home at all recently; Now I'm going home in a week. I've gotten very used the the rhythm of things hear (which, arguably, is not that different from what I do at home: go to class in the mornings on weekdays, go out, drink, go into the city, go to concerts on weekends) and now I've got to go change it all up again.

As usual, new, exciting things happen every day. I've managed to play quite a bit of piano here recently. First, I found an entire music store district (mostly just one street, Sarmiento) downtown and practiced on a nice Yamaha upright until the owner tactfully kicked me out when he discovered I wasn't really there to buy a piano. I also recently discovered Vale's family has a piano and played on that for a while one day. Most importantly, I discovered via the internet an organization called Jazz Club Olivos that meets every Thursday at a bar/restaurant in San Isidro. The 'shows' are mostly impromptu jam sessions and I've been able to sit in on them the past three weeks and play a few tunes. I've always rolled my eyes when mom has called music the "international language" but it's really been true here. I can play music by ear with these guys easier than I can talk to them. It's been a perfect "jam session" experience. With all the new things I've experience here, I've used piano as a personal link to the familiarity of home.

1 comment:

Bill Chapman said...

You say that music is an international language." Of course you can't talk about love, the economy, what you're going to eat -in B major.

I would like to argue the case for Esperanto as the international language. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states.

Take a look at www.esperanto.net

Esperanto works! I've used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.

Let us know what you think of Esperanto!