Well, I figured that I haven't updated in a while. I've been pretty busy actually. Though, if someone was to ask me, I couldn't quite answer exactly what I've been up to lately. Just... school and rehearsals and everything else seems to be eating away at all my time. Time time time. It's going so fast! I've already been here for almost eight months. Can you believe it? In only four months I'll be back home cursing the wellington wind and rain and bus services.
Anyway, so it's tuesday night. I was thinking of making a video actually. But the last one took so long to edit out all the ums and ahs (purely to make it more bearable), and then I couldn't figure out how to convert it back. Anyway.

Umm. Things I've been up to lately. Well, while I try to think of something interesting, the weather's been pretty crazy. It was really really warm last week. Like, Andrea and I walked out of the house one afternoon and it was Warmer outside than in! Then, two days later it snowed. A lot. And then on saturday it started getting warm again. In a way it's really frustrating , as I'm kinda getting a bit sick of the whole winter thing (especially coming straight from NZ winter, then heading into Austrian winter, and with the knowledge that I'll be coming right back to my NZ winter again). On the other hand it's quite nice. On Thursday Matze went skiing on fresh snow, and I had time on Saturday to go skiing as well. We went to a new place (might take a few years to get through All the ski slopes in Innsbruck), and I went on the easy slopes, as per normal, which turned out not to be easy At All. But I did them all! And I'm still alive and living to tell the tale. Actually it was really good. I can't believe how much better I am at skiing after only ten ish days on the slopes.
But enough about skiing and snow (it's gone now.. in the city at least. Can still go skiing of course).

I'm off to Berlin next week, where I'm staying with Miriam (our exchange student in NZ from Norway) and her family, which I'm really excited about. Ummm school is going well. We have a Music exam on thursday, which I'm kinda freaking out about because we have to do all the history stuff as well as harmonising stuff, which I hate. But we'll see. I'm really enjoying my German classes at the moment actually. We're studying German impressionist and expressionist writers, which is really challenging, but really interesting.

The language is good. I have really good days and really bad days and everything else.. well, it's kinda in the middle innit? Today's one of my not-so-good-days re language, but I have no difficulties whatsoever in communicating, and yeah. I've found a new english library though! A friend of mine, Christina, from my class LOVES books (and soccer. She's writing her English essay thing for Matura on football), and has a whole lot of English 'Chick Lit' as it is apparently now called. Just finished The Devil Wears Prada, and am onto another one at the moment. In saying this, I AM reading german books as well. At the moment I'm still half way through the first Harry Potter, and also a children's novel called 'momo', which Sara picked at random for me from the school library shelves.

Aaanyway. Umm. What else. Ooh music. Well, I went to get my violin checked last week. It was sounding terrible. Turns out the bridge was on the verge of collapsing, and the soundpost was completely out, so I now have a beautiful new bridge and soundpost to remember Austria by, all for the lovely, painful sum of €150. It's sounding really good though, and I guess that's what matters. Anyway, two concerts in May to work towards, as well as a wedding that I'm playing at. Oh and I asked Bambi the other day if he wants to start a chamber group (just for fun, as he doesn't have much time what with Matura and all). Planning on asking Edda. Or is it Etta? (eek!), who plays viola to join us (she travels to Salzburg every week for lessons, and has the least amount of time of anyone I know, so I'll have to keep all my fingers and toes crossed that she'll say yes), and we're still looking for a cellist to join us. So here's hoping it'll all work out!
Oh and I'm working frantically on my NYO excerpts as well at the moment. I find it quite astonishing that Nobody I know seems to have a CD of Stravinsky's The Fire Bird, let alone the overture of it (rather than the Opera). Anyway, it's not as hard as I had expected (very hard), so we'll see how it goes.

Oh and I started fencing two weeks ago. It's great. Mondays foil and Thursdays epee. Looking forward to fitting my skinny jeans again.

So yeah. It's now twenty past eleven and ooooh it's raining outside! I should head off to bed so I can somehow manage to lure myself out of bed tomorrow morning.
Take care, and I'd love to hear from you all!
Kelda

ps. I taught myself some flamenco guitar the other day. Maybe I'll pick up some jazz guitar too. Like I have time for it..