Wanderlust

Epic Moments

2012-02-15T05:43:00.000-08:00

Those moments in band when everythingis perfect and beautiful and together and epic... those are hard tocome by. When you're young, but after you've improved a lot, maybe inB band (certainly A band) at CMS, they're slightly more common,because you're young and excited about music, but not well-trainedenough to hear the difference between in-tune andnot-quite-really-in-tune. Then they get less common, as you improveand learn to constantly notice the way you and others are playing, toevaluate cold-mindedly. Symphonic band was the worst, in that respect– the entire year I never once had an epic moment. Even in freshmanyear concert band I had one or two. Marching band is the same way –by the end of my freshman year, every show felt golden, and this year(my junior year) I was never completely satisfied (several goldenmoments, to be sure, but never a golden show). But sometimes you canfind a balance between your own ability level and that of yourensemble, and you get a few more epic moments. That probably would'vehappened in county honor band for me, but with only four rehearsals,even the best students in the county can't sound perfect. (Besides,our music selection was interesting, but we didn't have any reallyepic pieces, per say.)

This morning in Wind Ensemble, werehearsed Give Us This Day, by David Maslanka.
(Mvmt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9dvpQfp4I
Mvmt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6uG-Z4cOk )
It's a very difficultpiece, but we've been playing it for long enough by now to have itdown, except for occasional intonation problems. My favorite part isthe last fast section to the end (measure 186 to the end, if youhappen to have a score in front of you...), which has lots of noodlynotes, then epic fast notes with a repeat of the theme, and finally aslow, brooding, medieval chorale, ending with a series of crashing,dissonant chords and settling into a sort of overwhelming rumble ofsound that melts into your bones and becomes your whole self, untilthe magic is released and the conductor lowers his baton. Right as wegot to the chorale this morning, the sun had risen just far enough toburst into sight through the window of the band director's office,and the whole right side of my vision was just glorious morning lightas Maslanka's final chords pounded through the walls, the floor,filling the whole room and all the world beyond with light and gloryand crescendos.

Epic moments are fewer, now that we'veall trained our ears to hear every mistake. And I'm sure my momentthis morning would not have felt so glorious if James Galway sat inmy place. But I'll take them when I can get them.

Where to?

2012-01-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

Someone told me I should make a list, with pictures, of all the places I want to go. There is actual content about my progress at the very bottom of this post, if you want to avoid the irrelevant stuff (or the relevant stuff cause you don't really care about me, but like pretty pictures :) ).

Venice, Italy

Actually anywhere and everywhere inItaly would be nice. Home of the greatest musicians, one of the most beautifullanguages in the world, and delicious food. Italian is also on mylist of languages to learn.

Really this is redundant, because goingto France is like putting “all of Europe” on my list. (Peopletravel more there, since places are closer, or so I'm hoping.) I hopeto be able to see Germany, Spain, Italy, England, and Ireland becausethey're all wonderful places and so close, how could you not go visitthem? But I'm aware that's a lot of travel for only a year abroad,and not likely at all. My most realistic wish is that I'll be able togo visit my good friend Cheryl in Heidelberg, Germany.

Cameroon and/or Senegal

One of the most special people I've met(sort of a father/uncle/mentor figure to me, though I don't get tohang out with him much) comes from Cameroon. Knowing one personshould not really be enough to feel the flavor of a society, butnonetheless he showed me and told me of the wonderful sense of humor,hospitality, and ingenuity native to Cameroon, or at least justenough that I really want to go there and see for myself. Cameroonand Senegal are both French-speaking countries in Africa where plentyof my camp friends and counselors have gone, so I guess it's naturalfor me to want to follow.

Switzerland

Just look at the flipping picture. Whowouldn't want to go there? Apparently it's beautiful. To someone wholoves the outdoors as much as I do, irresistible. Also they speakFrench (except when they speak German or Flemish or Italian...), haveamazing government and health care and stuff, and are just prettyamazing like most European countries.

Iceland

Why the frig not? When I think ofIceland, I think of three things. #1: That picture ^

#2: This girl and her awesome music:

(EDIT: My dear friend Solange told me how confusing this is to anyone who has not experienced the wonders of Bjork. To be clear, Bjork is a musician from Iceland, and I highly suggest you go to youtube and listen to some of her music.)
#3: Because I'm a linguistics dork, howthe language is almost unadulterated proto-Germanic because of theisland's isolation. * Dork moment! * So anyway. Iceland here I come.

Israel

Because I love history. I would say myhistory, but it's not, really. I love when people insist that Judaismis not a race, but only a religion. I'm sure I will rant about thisplenty later, but it is a culture, a race, and a religion. Peoplesometimes insist than when “Jewish” is used racially, you mustreplace it with “Israeli.” There are several things wrong withthat: first, the Jews aren't originally from Israel. Well, yes, originally, before the Diaspora. That was a long time ago. The state ofIsrael was created in 1948 – after WWII. “Israeli” is only asaccurate a term as “American” is for me, but actually less so (myJewishgreat-grandfather came to the US before WWI, before Israel'screation). Second, as I mentioned, Jews are a race as well-- you canbe a German Jew, a Russian Jew, a Polish Jew (generally collectivelynamed the Ashkenazim) or a Spanish Jew (Sephardic). Mygreat-grandfather came from the Ukraine, but he came because he wasJewish and had to escape the Russian army. My great-grandmother camewith her family just before WWI in fear of political turmoil andanti-Semitism. If you tell me I am not Jewish because I am notIsraeli, or tell me that I should label myself Israeli instead of Jewish because my religious label is atheist, I will give you the disappointed "oh, how ignorant" look. (The real reason I am nottechnically Jewish is that 1) my mother is not Jewish, and Jewish tradition is that you take on your mother's religion, and 2) I didn't have abat mitzvah, which would have effectively negated the firstpoint. Ethnically and culturally, without regard to the synagogue, I consider myself Jewish.)
Anyway, enough of that, it's not terribly relevant. What Imeant to say is that I love history and Israel is full of Jewishhistory, which I can relate to and have a personal interest in evenif none of my relatives (besides a couple aunts, going to universitythere) have lived there.

Similarly,for reasons of family history:

The Netherlands:

TheCzech Republic:
(Prague):
(andthe rest of it):

AndEngland oh and also Ireland! For much, much more than just familyhistory.

Ireland,first of all, is beautiful. What better reason?
It also makes methink of tin whistles and haunting beautiful music, crazy folk tales,and Sir Galway.

Note:all these probably wildly inaccurate stereotypes I'm using as reasonsto want to go places are just that – silly little reasons. Pleasedon't be offended by anything I say, and if it's horribly incorrect,correct me. I'm just an ignorant American who wants to go see theworld so I can become lessignorant.

Speakingof good music... it's always been on my bucket list to learnbagpipes. Alors:
TheScottish highlands:

That'smore than enough for now. Right now I just have to work on getting toFRANCE, stop number one.
Onward to the content!

The good news: The office finallyagreed to let me go! It took five months for them to say yes and signa piece of paper. 5 months.For my short proposal with only a word and a signature needed inreturn. What confused me was this: every person I talked to (and Italked to many, since the first people I talked to were quiteunhelpful) was reluctant to say yes, because there aren't any actualrules about exchange programs in this very American school districtwhere no one would consider such a strange notion. So, if there areno rules... why would you say no? It's so easy just to say yes, signmy forms, and approve my credits as valid for Homestead. Why not?Regardless, I finally won them over, and learned a lot about the value ofpersistence and ignoring social norms (not leaving them alone whenthey tell you to stop bothering them, etc.). I asked two of my favoriteteachers to write me letters of rec, and I'm done with most of myapplication. Will send it in sometime next week.

Badnews: I still have to get accepted. Which I'm not really concernedabout; I'm sure they want my money. Other bad news: It's kinda sad. I'll miss my friends. Since when've I had friends? Good timing, Ikwe... get better, closer friends right before you're about to leave and never live near them again unless you coincidentally go to the same university or eventually settle back down in Sunnyvale (bah, yeah right).

Ithought it was interesting that the hardest thing so far, harder thantelling my best friends, my flute section, or pestering the officestaff, was telling my esteemed band director. Band has been my entirelife. And now I'm leaving? Right before senior year. Right before Iwould be section leader – in fact, the only student leader with ayear of experience (this year I'm assistant section leader and theother three leaders are seniors). Right before being first chair inwind ensemble – in fact, the only returning member of windensemble, as I'm the only junior this year. Will band fall apartwithout me? Almost scarier, will it function as normal, completelyunaffected because let's face it Ikwe, you just aren't thatimportant? Will I be able to find friends without marching band? Mr.Burn, who I hold in high regard but is extremely socially awkward,looked disappointed but accepted it in the same quiet, supine way hedoes everything.

One more good thing: I don't really know whyI did it. I purposely didn't tell my director where I was going,explaining only that I was signing up “to go abroad,” to see ifhe would ask. Partially because some people think he doesn't careabout his students, only about band, and the response to a question like that(irrelevant to band) provides some small proof one way or another.Partially because I didn't want to make it seem like a big deal,like, oh, look at me, I'm so special and have better plans than band– I actually talked more about band than France, thanking him forthe amazing experience and telling him who should be section leadernext year. :P In any case, he did ask, and somehow it made the overallrather depressing encounter a little better. “I'm going to France,”I said. “But I'll miss band so much.”

A Year of Planning

2011-09-23T22:47:00.001-07:00

At this moment, no one knows of theexistence of this blog. In fact, only my family and two close friendsknow about my plans that are the reason for its existence. But, ifall goes according to plan, by this time next year my friends oranyone who is interested in seeing the world through another's eyeswill be reading what I'm writing right now, on August 19, 2011.

Well that was an unruly sentence.

So the actual purpose of this blog, asyou may have deduced from the title up there ^ “Wanderlust,” isto document my travels to many different places, since I have alwayshad a worse case of wanderlust than anyone else I've met, and plan tosatisfy it as much as possible. This will start, esperant,with an exchange student trip to spend my senior year in France.

As I mentioned, I'm writing thisbefore I have even told my friends, and actually before I know it ispossible. I haven't talked to my guidance counselor yet, though I'vedone RIDICULOUS amounts of research and contacted the obliging peopleat CIEE to let them know I'm interested. So who knows? Maybe it won'twork out. But I'm determined not to spend another two years at mynice but boring high school near Sunnyvale, California, where I'velived for the past 16-and-a-half years. Somehow I'll find a way out.There's a lovely phrase in French “trouver un moyenne,” which isapproximately “to find a way/a means” to do something, a phrasewhich I repeat to myself often.

And the “many other places,” youmight ask? Indeed. After this, who knows? Not I. But I'll go tocollege somewhere interesting, and I'll try to do a year abroad theretoo, perhaps venturing to Cameroon or another Francophone Africancountry. I find it likely that I'll work for an international charityorganization at some point, to travel the world doing good things forthe Peace Corps, or AmeriCorps, or Les Medicins Sans Frontiers, orwhatever. I also find it likely that when I'm figuring out what to dowith my life (a process I assume happens at some point betweenstarting college and leaving it) I'll choose something that allows meto travel, like journalism, international politics, or even a normalbut highly relocatable job such as nursing. (Yeah, you can tell thisis really set in stone, huh.)

Until then, and after then: May welead interesting lives! I will post observations about living abroad,perhaps some photos, or whatever other mind-vomit really needs to behere (more for me than for you guys, but I hope you few readers willenjoy it).

Oh, a few other things: 1) All myCalifornia friends know me as Jenna. I'm the same person, with twonames. :) 2) If you were wondering about my, uh... creative URL(there are SO many blogs, it's impossible to get a sensical name), Iwould love to explain it to you! Envie de voyager isapproximately how you'd say “wanderlust” in French, and I'veinserted my name in the middle of it-- “Env-ikwe” devoyager. My name seems to have a history of creative mangling, afterall – my dear camp friends might recall L'Iktionaire, Ikwe-itis,the Ik-squeak, or Lea's Icky-wee-wee. <3 Good times.

I'm actually posting this first blurbway after I wrote it. Unfortunately, I have little progress toreport, a month later. My school guidance counselor is a useless lumpof flesh, no matter how kind and understanding I try to be about it.I have everything totally planned out-- but for the past month, allI've needed as a next step is to talk with my counselor, and everyone of the half-dozen times I've gone to see her, she's been fairlyrude, too busy to see me, unwilling to tell me what else I can do orwhen she'll be less busy, and altogether thoroughly unpleasant todeal with. The introverted, non-confrontational side of me just wantsto slink into a corner and forget about it, but with such a goal inmy head (and internal murmurings of “trouver un moyenne,” and“never give up”), I keep going back for still more unpleasantconversations. Wish me luck, oh so-far-non-existent readers!

Amities, Ikwe