Music and Videos

Well, it is rather amusing in some respects, but this video provides a pretty good idea of what life is like here.  I have been to most of the places shown in the video, and by and large the information and images appear to be fairly accurate and up-to-date.  I hope you find it interesting (or if nothing else, just learn a little about my new home!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5KCKgNc0Ok

The philharmonic concert last night was a lot of fun.  It was a Tchaicovsky violin concerto and a Brahms symphony.  Not my favorite Brahms piece, but it certainly finished on an exciting note.  The violin concerto was okay.  The orchestra was definitely better than the soloist, but it was a nice piece and a wonderful atmosphere.  It is always so wonderful to get to see concerts in settings like this - a huge church.  The visual lines of sight were not good and the acoustics were a bit strange (I have never heard a small woodwind section sound so loud!), but what a great feeling.  I was able to see a Vivaldi piece at St. Peter's (right?) church in London and the Mozart requiem at a gothic cathedral in Paris.  It just seems like the right setting for this kind of music as I am sure it is where much of it was initially performed.  And, there was a huge crowd, which I was not really expecting.  The crowd also responds a bit differently here.  They clap for a very long time afterwards (many so-called "curtain calls" and bows) and eventually go into a sort of unified clap.  It was interesting and different for me, but kind of fun as well. 

Friday, October 16th

Today I am (yet again) working on job applications.  I am a bit nervous about them as I will need to submit all of my materials online.  Also because I am not able to supply my recommenders with envelopes, they are asking to submit their letters electronically as well.  I just hope that all of this works out okay.  It is so reminscent of grad school applications and the final dissertation process...just stressful.  It is hard, too, because I feel so far away from all of it (even with the internet), so in a sense I feel like some of the process is a little out of my hands.  I will just have to think good thoughts that things will come together.  This weekend I am going to try to gather all of my cover letters and make sure I have everything together, both for myself and for my recommenders.  Since I am applying for a fair number of jobs, I want to make sure that everything is very clear for the recommenders, just to make it as easy and straightforward as possible for them (and for me!).

I just returned from the American Studies library where I returned a book and read a little of the reading I assigned for class next week.  We will be discussing oral history collections, which should be interesting.  The class is reading a few selections from 3 different collections (one by Studs Terkel on race, one about a mill in New Hampshire, and one on soldiers in the West).  We will talk about how each collection approached oral histories and used them differently.  Then, so it doesn't seem like all we are doing is talking in circles about oral history, we also will talk a little about the history itself of each of the time periods and people discussed in the collections. 

Okay, I think it is time to go chekc on my heaters and see how they are doing.  Eventually I need to make some applesauce for the dinner tonight, but I feel like I need to get a little work accomplished first.