Top Ten Signs you Need A Break from Longy
(I was all excited to post this and then realized that quite a few of them are "inside jokes" so I've provided an "inside joke" key at the end.)

1. You start arranging to have dates at school, in between rehearsals.
2. Your favorite restaurant is "the Bistro".
3. Whenever you write "long" your hand habitually adds the "y".
4. When Terry and Harry are your best friends and David is your weekend buddy.
5. When your daily exercises include sprints between buildings trying to find a practice room.
6. When silence is deafening and fresh air makes you choke.
7. When you feel like a full-time babysitter.
8. When you think the copier is a technological advancement.
9. When you schedule a room and therapy session with John at the front desk.
10. When you start asking about the PhD program at Longy.


"Inside Joke" key

2. the "Bistro" is a small little area inside one of the buildings where there are vending machines, tables, a microwave and fridge.
4. Terry, Harry and Dave are the guards that are there in the evenings and on the weekend.
5. Longy has two buildings-each one a block from the other. There are never any practice rooms to be had - and what usually happens is you look in one building for a room and when there isn't one you trek to the next building and usually there isn't one there either. So then you just go home.
7. Longy has a large Prepartory Studies program. There are kids running around ALL THE TIME. Some of them climb lockers and the lockers fall on them (as happened last weekend)
9. John is the Front Desk receptionist (my old job last summer!!)
10. Longy has NO PhD program.

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
~George Eliot~

Ineffable Creator...
You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.
Pour forth a ray of Your brightness
into the darkened places of my mind;
disperse from my soul
the twofold darkenss
into which I was born:
sin and ignorance.
You make eloquent the tongues of infants.
Refine my speech
and pour forth upon my lips
the goodness of Your blessing.
Grant to me
keeness of mind,
capacity to remember,
skill in learning,
subtlety to interpret,
and eloquence in speech.
May You
guide the beginning of my work,
direct its progress,
and bring it to completion.
You Who are true God and true Man,
Who live and reign, world without end.
Amen.

From the Ante Studium(Prayer Before Study) by St. Thomas Aquinas

ahhhh... I remember...THIS is what it was like working the 5-10 shift on Tuesday evenings. I'm back into the full swing of things - at school, the library...everything. I'm sitting here at work, back into my old Tuesday evening schedule and it's completely dead at the circulation desk. I really should be doing some translating and studying of text, (I say this way too often - it's becoming too much of a trend and habit this "I should be...") but I suppose I'll turn to it when I'm done updating my blog page which is of the utmost importance! Have to keep you all informed, don't I???
Second week of classes is going well. I'm pretty much over my nasty cold and now am just work with the leftover gunk. Back to singing and trying to determine what I will put on my required recital at the end of this year. Because I'm doing this program (Graduate Performance Diploma) in a year I have to give the recital this year instead of next - obviously - so I've got my work cut out for me. Last year at this time I knew exactly everything, save for one piece, that I would be working on towards that May performance. This year I have one set of pieces chosen and that's it. Ergh. I have lots of other ideas rolling around in my head - but not anything clear cut, that would fit well together (not that sets HAVE to)or that won't make my recital 2 hours long. I was already pushing the limits last year with a nearly hour and 25 minute program. No wonder I didn't have a voice two days later! I guess it also didn't help that I had a performance the following evening as well. Ok.. this is really not interesting at all. I'm just babbling.
I'm desperately trying to get back into running too. Pushing myself to make that commitment of 3-4 times a week and do 3-4-5 mile rotation. Can I do it? Perhaps if I make myself committed to the fact that running is as important as practicing - then yes. It's going to start getting cold here in months time and then I'm not going to want to be out in the cold running and risking getting sick. THAT I cannot afford. I worked enough hours in the past year at Harvard to be eligible for all sorts of benefits - including use of all their gyms!!! WOO-HOO! It will only be $20/semester. That's a better deal than $300+/year at a gym that's completely comparable!
I quit my job at Starbucks. I have too detailed of an explanation to post on the web. If you want to know - ask me. However, I did get a job as one of the Institutional Advancement interns at Longy. It pays better and completely compatible with my schedule and for the same amount of hours. Plus, I'm working with and for some pretty cool people.
I just read a weather report on weather.com that said that beginning tomorrow "October is visiting September". Already I'm talking myself out of running tomorrow. BAD RACHAEL! NO EXCUSES!!!!
Ok - must get back to reading my Glamour... I mean... translating my French text. He he he.
Au revoir!

Classes have begun and I have a cold already!! Although, as soon as I felt that scratchy throat and sneezed that "tell-tale" sneeze I brought on the Vitamin C, Echinacia, Airborne, OJ, and water and I can tell that this little viral invasion of my body could have been a lot worse than it is.
Classes began last Thursday. My first class was Elementary French. As it turns out she is going to do total immersion with us and Thursday was the last day we will ever speak English!!! Oh good Lord! I think I could very well have handled a total immersion in German but not so much in French. We'll see how it goes. Perhaps one day I will write an entire blog in French. I'm also taking a Schumann Song Cycle Class,the required Experiential Education Program, Vocal Chamber Ensemble, and my studio voice lessons. A significantly smaller schedule than in previous years. I think it's going to be a really good semester.

Five years ago....
Five years ago I boarded a plane in Columbus on September 8 which took me to Minneapolis, then to Amsterdam, and then on to Budapest. One of the memorable parts about leaving is that all of my family and friends came to see me off and were able to hang out at the gate from which I was leaving - one of the last times that would ever be allowed. On the flight to Amsterdam I sat beside this gentleman who was going to Frankfurt, Germany where he would be stationed at an American Military base for the next 5 years. I remember thinking that 5 years was such a long time - and what would I be doing five years from then. One other weird thing I remember about that flight is that when we were preparing to land the wheels of the plane had almost touched the runway when the plane suddenly jerked up and we started ascending quite rapidly back into the air. One could hear everyone on the plane say "whooooaaaa" and this guy looked at me was like "Well, that was a little un-nerving!" and I just nodded. We ended up circling around in the air for probably 1/2 hour longer before we made our landing.
I didn't arrive at the Institute until later that evening, September 9. Blue Peter picked up me up from the airport which was really nice because I didn't have to worry about catching a train with all my luggage. (Oh, by the way - he's called "Blue" Peter because there are two Peter's at the Institute and this particular Peter always wears a blue sweater. Students from many years before nicknamed him that to keep the two Peters straight.) Angela greeted me at our door and I remember two specific things about that evening: Even though I was thoroughly exhausted we moved the entire room around and Angela made me a fantastic dinner - some kind of pork or chicken stir-fry.
So, I wasn't in America for September 11. I was actually preparing to go to a Hungarian Language lesson. Opened the door to my room to step out and there stood Gretchen, her hand up to knock on the door, and tears in her eyes. She said "There has been some kind of explosion in one of the World Trade Center Towers and part of the Pentagon has also exploded." So we all ran to the tv in one of the hallways where there were already people gathered around it watching the BBC - the only English speaking station we got. During that time we witnessed the second plane hitting the tower and both of the towers collapsing. It was so unreal. I mean... of course it was unreal to anyone who was watching it all over the world. We just sat there for hours and hours watching. Time just flew. As we sat more and more people gathered around the tv. At one point Mihaly, one of our professors, came from his office and sat with us just shaking his head in disgust and occasionally grumbling something in Hungarian. He would get up, leave, and then come back again. It soon got to be past dinner time. After that I don't remember much. I know our internet stopped working and I wasn't able to call into the U.S. but my mom was able to call me. It was such a relief to talk to her. She was crying but I assured her that of all places, this little monastary in this little city in Hungary was probably one of the safest places I could be. The next day Peter Erdei, the director of the Institute, gathered all of us Americans (I think there were 10 in all) together just to talk about the situation and answer any questions we might have concerning safety and going outside of Kecskemet.
All-in-all, the experience of living outside of America during 9-11 was very different. After about 10 days it ceased to be constantly aired on the tv or front page of Hungarian newspapers and magazines etc. It didn't "go away" but it certainly wasn't something that was in our face for 2 or 3 months afterwards. That's how we experienced it.
Well, I certainly did not intend for this blog to be a look into the past but I guess that's sort of what it became.

Sarah's Bon Voyage Party
  

Second Annual Longy Kickball Tournament
  

Longy-oke: Hang on Sloopy "O-H-I-O"

The Ohioans supporting the Buckeyes at the first annual Longy-oke.