Orchestre in Mayenne rocks!

After only some sleep, I got up and went to orchestra rehearsal at the Ecole de Musique.  We started with sectionals in which each section had a mini-rehearsal before a general rehearsal with all sections.  It was fun getting to meet the other first violins, all from various backgrounds.  Some were students, others teachers, no cookie-cutter people in the violins at all.  Everyone was there with a unified goal:  to make music and to have fun doing it.  We rehearsed "Pirates of the Caribbean," "The Sorceror's Apprentice" from Disney's "Fantasia," and the Carillon Suite by Bizet, among other pieces.  I always enjoy sectionals as we get to hone in on each individual part of the music in order to correct mistakes and get everything "up to par."  The first violins joined the rest of the orchestra, and I sat next to a student at the university who is a physics major and wants to become an airplane pilot.  Wow! That's pretty cool.  Soon after, the director, Jean-Christophe Bergeon told me that I will be moving up to second chair!  And the week after, I will be the first violinist (leader)!   The orchestra does rotational seating, so different members get different seats each time.  Next week is the first concert, which will be a benefit concert for Haiti with a dinner (5 euros) following.  Really looking forward to that.

Following our morning rehearsal, I went into the library, which is in the same building as the Ecole de Musique.  Quite convenient, huh?  I took my dossier with paperwork for a library card and got one!  I'm now registered at the Mediatheque de Mayenne!  I checked out "Bouvard et Pecuchet" by Flaubert for my continual work on my grad school writing sample; "Jacques le fataliste" and "Le neveu de Rameau" by Diderot; and a philosophical book by Derrida.  Lots to read... but time to do it in.

This afternoon, I continue to work on my writing sample for graduate school in hopes of finishing it soon so that I can move on to perfecting my statement of purpose.  After that, it will simply be a matter of "plugging and chugging" information into the template for each university.  There's still time to manage...