The Eye of the Storm

I've had requests to set up a blog, so away we go.

While its main purpose is to document my semester in Spain, I just got back from a couple weeks in Chile with my Chamber Orchestra. A few photos/notes are in store:

The view from my balcony in Valparaiso. It's a hilly coastal town in the middle of Chile, which is known as the New Years Eve capital of South America. And we just happened to be there on New Years Eve. The people in every one of the houses in this picture were on the streets partying till the not-so-wee hours of the morning (8 am).

We, uh, hiked the Andes. This was the view from the lagoon we stopped at. I think the picture speaks for itself...















A shot of some of the UR/Santiago youth orchestra members! URCO combined with them to rehearse/play a concert. Despite the language barrier, we all became friends. They were so enthusiastic, especially when playing their instruments: our version of Westside Story involved confetti and dancing on stage. And we had an audience. Heh, a bit different than playing in Strong Auditorium at Rochester.



A bit seasonally challenged at the moment, from Christmas decoration in an 85 degree summer to half a foot of snow. Now it's on to packing and getting ready to go to Spain on the 19th. Everything's a bit surreal...