I'm back! I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing, but it's true. I'm here to stay... for a while at least. Let's just keep it at that :)

Going to Germany was exactly what I dreamed it would be and more! I really needed this stimulation, and at least in my mental state I feel like a different musician compared to before. I feel refreshed, excited and motivated! What I got out of these two festivals, are truly priceless. I have many new ideas on phrasing, performing more expressively, how to achieve good tone, and getting the most out of my instrument. These are the things I'll be thinking about as I start preparing for my concert in November.

In Nurtingen, my schedule was so packed every single day, that I didn't have any time to practice. Trust me, I'm not trying to make up an excuse for my lack of practicing! I got up at 6am every morning (7 at the latest) and you all know that I am not a morning person... The schedule at Iserlohn was less intense but a typical day in Nurtingen looked like this:

8:00 Breakfast
9:00-12:30 masterclass/ ensemble rehearsal
12:30-2:00 lunch
2:00-7:00 more classes
7:00-8:00 dinner
8:00-10:30 concert

So as you can see, there's no time to practice! The only way to practice was to get up early, but that's even hard when you're suffering from severe jet lag and partying til late at night ;) I did have some time to practice every day after lunch, but I used the time to warm up for the ensemble rehearsal with Maestro Shingo Fujii. Aside from the small window of time, every free second I had was spent on socializing and getting to know other people who were there. It was really fun to meet everybody there because each person had a different story, came from different countries, but with one common interest...classical guitar!

There were other things that kept me busy such as enjoying the beautiful city, great food, and visiting the vendors on site. They had everything from guitars to strings, sheet music and other guitar accessories. I bought 3 CD's, 4 sheet music, guitar rest, and arm rest. I'm really loving them now :)

After an intensive 2.5 weeks at Nurtingen and Iserlohn guitar festivals, I got to relax and enjoy some sightseeing for 3 days. I visited a friend who I hadn't seen in 5 years, and that was really fun. Him, his girlfriend, and another friend took me to Bonn, Cologne, Munster, and Schloss Burg! I'll be blogging about that soon so stay tuned!

Flying back home is probably the most difficult thing when you're traveling. You look forward to going back home to sleep in your bed and having your normal routine back, yet you're sad to part because you know that you may not be able to visit there again. The hardest thing for me was saying goodbye to my new friends. Even though my time in Germany was short, I feel like I got to know each person really well because I spent so much time being around them, 24/7. We did everything together from rehearsals, going to classes, eating three meals together, enjoying concerts, hanging out at parties... I made about 40-50 friends and I miss every single one of them! Thank goodness we have Facebook in this day and age :)

What made it easier upon returning was my free upgrade to business class from Frankfurt to Chicago!!! Thank you United Airlines!! When they told me that at the check-in counter, I was flabbergasted and ecstatic!! I got to enjoy the comfy reclining chair with plenty of leg room and three course meal (appetizer, salad, salmon entree, and ice cream sundae) on real plates, glass cups and real silverware! It's no wonder they charge so much money for business class. The service was above and beyond! Now that I've experienced this luxury, it's going to be very difficult to fly on economy from now on :(

Also, I was able to take my guitar on the plane as carry on, all four times! I was really worried about traveling with my guitar, but it worked out and both my guitar and I are in one piece :)

The person next to me also got a free upgrade! He was from Kazakhstan. By the way, don't mind my make-up free face...

To be continued...

Back from Germany