Ah... Um..?

THE SEQUEL: Insert film tagline here, followed by a name of someone relatively famous who could play me (perhaps Robert de Niro, Cate Blanchett or Frankie Muniz.)

Two days appear to have passed and things are looking somewhat more chaotic than before. Still, a bagful of questions and guesses about actually getting on with stuff is, so far, proving to be far preferable to the worry and suspense that was distracting me so much in the metaphorical ‘doldrums’ over the weekend.

 Yesterday was an official International Student Orientation day; this was not so much a case of helping people to find their way around their own buildings of study, locate north, or face Mecca, but actually a bit of an excuse to photocopy a lot of passports and wander around the town in the sun trying awkwardly to get to know people. It turned out to be quite good fun. Following a presentation from quirkily-named ‘Buddy Go Dutch’ and ESN (essentially a sort of ‘buy some friends’ organisation, which suits me down to the ground) we had a tour of the city and got to know each other by moaning about how painful it is climbing the Dom tower. Several free beers, although continentally small, helped to lubricate the most international conversation I have ever been a part of. Within the group, we had representatives from Australia, Japan, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Slovakia. Think of it as a meet-and-greet in a world where the Eurovision song contest got WAY out of hand.

Today was my first lesson at the Conservatorium. My teacher, who bears the profoundly Dutch name Johan van der Linden, seems a nice enough man who has clearly devoted his entire life to studying, writing about, performing, composing for and teaching the Saxophone. This reassures me that I am in a safe pair of hands, and that any musically-induced suffering is probably with a view to ensuring that I am kept on an upward trajectory. Most of the lesson was spent uncovering various fundamental flaws in my playing, usually following this pattern:

“Can you do technique X/play note Y/scale Z for me please?”

The request is then fulfilled, resulting in a rather underwhelmed expression.

“Hmm. Okay. Well, now try this aswell.”

‘This’ then fails to happen.

“I think you should work on just doing these three things for the week.”

It turns out that ‘these three things’ include a piece I already thought I could play, a C major scale (once again, I thought I had that down) and a whole load of long notes. I guess it’s a challenge that I knew was probably coming my way and it certainly gives me something to do, or would if the Conservatorium has actually updated the computer system so exchange students can book rooms.

In general, the feeling is more positive. Although still a little sore from a mixture of Saxophone lessons and bike rides (which I am debating whether to re-christen BDS, or Bottom Destruction Scheme), it certainly feels better to have things to be trying to get on with and problems to solve. Tonight will involve me re-choosing most of my other modules (I was rather optimistic about being able to have Piano and Clarinet lessons on top of Sax practise hours) before heading in tomorrow to try and get hold of some kind of timetable, practise booking and, if I feel like paying for them, a few more friends. (Thanks, ESN!)