Music Makes Me Happy

Source: thebluepeonyblog.blogspot.com via Haleigh on Pinterest

You know what I love, that I have had a song stuck in my head.  I make sure to have it come on whenever I get in the car this week.  The voice is rich and the lyrics are strung to a melody that lets me sing my heart out.  For a few minutes it’s just me singing…to my car.  And I have learned that it doesn’t matter if the neighbor is walking past me, or if the guy in his giant truck laughs at me, or if the little old lady looks at me quizzically.  I am using my voice in a sweet way.

I have a fun fact about me; I sing in the car, when I’m alone, and especially on car trips.  It keeps me awake, focused, and makes the miles go faster.  This last car trip that happened just a few days ago was a flashback through my life in music.  I put the ipod on shuffle and sung.  There were 90’s worship songs, boy band sagas of elementary school, some 80’s hits, and then some indie, even some instrumental to round out the mix.  It was eclectic.  Life is eclectic. 

I have been thinking about what it means to have variety in life and this is one of the ways that I see it so clearly.  Music is a memory maker for me.  Certain songs are associated with certain events.  Music speaks to me and I learned a long time ago that it is a language. 

If you’ve been around here you would know that I am not a language person in the fact that I don’t pick them up easily.  But I feel languages.  They ring in the depths of my heart and my ears perk up when I hear an unfamiliar tone.  Music is a language to me.  I feel it, I can move to it, I can even speak it…but I am not fluent.  I can’t read or write it, but it speaks to me and I speak back.

Do you speak music?  Or language?  Or maybe you speak art?  Maybe you speak math or chemistry?

What do you speak and have you truly spoken it from the depths of your soul lately?

This is the artist I am loving and one of my favorites by her

Music to My Ears

The sound of a language is music to my ears.

As I sat on the lawn studying for my class, 5 international students came and sat in a circle.  They grinned at one another, laughing.  And then the words started to flow.  They were softly spoken and only brash from the language, not in the harsh American English tone.   The French flowed from their mouths and the laughs ensued.  Also did the sharing.  One sandwich was produced, cut in half and it was passed around the circle.  The cigarettes came out and at first all I could do was smell the smoke.  And somehow it doesn’t bother me anymore.  It is a smell that though I would rather not smell it and though I do not want people to have the health effects, it is a part of the culture.  It is a way of life.

I wanted in on the conversation.  Every once in awhile a word would come wafting my way and I would understand.  That one word. 

It was hard not to stare, not to be interested.  But I also was timid.  I don’t know French.  I don’t know the culture.  I don’t know how to approach.  But I do know that I was offered a window into their life.  Just to be in the presence of a little difference was refreshing.

What is changing your outlook today?  What is making you feel refreshed?

Make New Friends

So again I don’t really have a picture to go with this post because it seemed a little awkward to ask for one! You will see why…

On Monday I wasn’t supposed to be at school. I had no classes, and it was a personal study day for my test Wednesday night. {hence why there has been no updates} I was about to walk out after spending longer than I planned in the student lounge. I saw 2 Italian girls that were standing at the door to the office staring as if trying to find something among the masses of paper notices that cover the door. We said the usual “excuse me” and gave a half smile in greeting. I then made my way to the lunch room to meet a friend. A few minutes later the two girls walked in and asked accented English asked “do you know Italian?”
I have been in a conversation like this before, my first day of class in a world where I did not speak Italian. I knew how to say hello, good bye, and excuse me at that point. Now I was prepared when I answered “a little” for the next question. “Would you like to practice English and Italian with us?” “Yes, when would you like to meet?” And thus yesterday I had my first meeting and “tandem” conversation.
I was nervous and told them. I also had a ton of fun. We laughed. We tried new words. And they made me speak in Italian, which was good but really hard. I laughed when one of them said “ok, it’s time for you to speak in Italian for 30 minutes. If you do good and don’t make very many mistakes we will say good bye in English.” And all I could think was Well, I guess we are saying bye in Italian…
I think that the real victory for me is that I have wanted to meet Italians. But the Italian students are very closed off to us Americans and it takes time to build relationships. And a few days ago I was feeling as if there was not enough time for meet to meet Italian students. Today when I went into the lunch room at our class break one of the girls was there. She called out my name and smiled. We did the traditional greeting of a hug and 2 kisses. “Did you like yesterday? Do you want to do meet again?” And then she turned and said “I want you to meet my friends…”

I walked away feeling blown away by blessings and so very thankful for new friends.

Very Important People

Admittedly, even though I was in Brussels for 2 days I did not get to see much of the city. But I still learned a lot. I could tell you of the places I didn’t go and the things that I didn’t see that I wanted to but let’s focus on the experience that I had.
It’s funny but every city that I go to in Europe is definitely European but that doesn’t mean that they all look the same. Brussels was the same way, European but definitely metropolis. The first day that we arrived it was a mad scramble to get to the specific commission building we needed to be at. There was enough water in the air that everyone looked disheveled, but not enough for an umbrella. The lady we asked for help gave us directions and then said ‘it’s across the street from the pretty glass building’. That last sentence was not helpful. There are skyscrapers that are ‘glass buildings’ everywhere in this part of town and none of them look ugly.
Moving on… The first meeting was in a Commission building, but not the commission building because of security reasons. When we walked in I felt like I was going to debate the future of the world in the classy board room. Even though the lecture was requested to be in English apparently the fact that we are from Torino trumped that. The lecturer only spoke {sarcasm} Italian, French and a little bit of English. Our professor translated which was nice. I was so proud of myself because I think I would have gotten most everything between listening closely to the Italian and reading the slides.
After that we had a little break where we went and bundled up a little more and then grabbed some ‘Belgian’ waffles {tourist trap} and then some Belgian fries. And then we walked to a really nice building where we had to have our names on the list to get in. I felt so important as I walked into the annual conference of the European People’s Party and the icing on the cake was that they keynote speaker was Jose Manuel Barosso. Barosso is a wonderful man that is the Commission President. Not only does he have a lot of influence, but he is considered a strong leader and he was a really good speaker. To watch what we were saw you can go here. After him there was a panel and all the talk centered around the euro zone. The euro is kind something that all the people who are educated or read the news talk about. That night I went to the hostel well informed brain active, and so tired.
The next day only held more important places as we went to the Committee of the Regions to hear about what this group actually does. I think of all the places I visited and learned about this branch most closely matches my personality. They are close to the people/citizens and give them a voice as well as the fact that they don’t make the important decisions but the help to influence them and guide them down the path that makes the best sense for the citizens and not the big guys. The speaker was so kind to us and made the talk fun and interesting.
We had a little break where I grabbed lunch with some friends and then we walked to the park to eat it and enjoy some more fall weather. The little café that we got lunch at is a chain, but they need a similar option in the US. It’s kind of like healthy, fresh, premade food. Whole foods meets Trader Joe’s…errr something like that.
Our next big building was the parliament building. It’s one of the three parliament buildings, but the other ones are in different countries. We heard a little background on the parliament and what was happening in the chamber presently and then we got sit in the chamber. It was so neat! We were supposed to meet a deputy {high official} of Italy and get to ask him some questions but were not able to. Even though he had nothing to do with the situation, the fact that he represents Italy means he had to be present at the negotiations. When I was in Brussels, the fate of the Italian President was being negotiated and decided in Rome. It’s amazing, scary, and exhilarating all at the same time. I didn’t find this out until Thursday.
Instead of meeting with a member of parliament I went and learned more at the Parliamentaruim, a museum about the Parliament. It was actually really fun and interactive. It’s brand new and has lots of hands on technology that gives the history of the EU, parliament, and world events. Before we went we were told it was supposed to be an interesting building so lots of people opted out of going. It was so worth the extra time!

The next day it was off to the airport and back to home sweet Torino!

This is a very condensed version of these 2 days, that doesn’t have many details in it. If you have any questions, want clarification or more information let me know!

I Understand

Today I had a conversation in broken English and very broken Italian on my part with a Moroccan and an Italian. They were encouraging me to keep speaking Italian to get better. As I sat there I realized that I have been in Italy 2 weeks. Only 2 weeks and I know so much. I often don’t feel confident about my abilities and have trouble plugging through when I hear people talking at a rapid pace. Today showed me that I understand.

That I don’t imagine the conversation on the street of the woman telling here 3 year old boy, “Look at the beautiful blonde behind us. Isn’t she beautiful? Oh stop playing! Come.”

I am not imagining that the woman talking on the phone is telling the woman on the other line that she is with her friend, having a wonderful day and is on the way to her friend’s house.

That I don’t imagine that the Moroccan gave me a huge compliment in thinking that I was Italian and then when it turned out I wasn’t thought I was French or British. (I was speaking English that he understands a little of so I have no idea what he was thinking).

I’m not imagining or making these conversations up, because I am listening and I understand.