Good things coming....

​It’s Thanksgiving today. 
 
Living abroad gets easier with time and communication gets better with practice, but missing holidays will always be difficult.  Today I have work and, actually, a gig! So it won’t be your typical Thanksgiving for me.
 
I remember last Thanksgiving feeling super weird. I had class in the morning, work in the afternoon, and came home to an empty house because David works nights. I Facetimed my family while I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner at 9pm.
 
Chicken instead of turkey, of course.  
 
It was an “off-year” back home last year, which is what we call it when half of the family spends the day with their in-laws. And it was smaller than an “off-year” too because my aunt’s family spent it in North Carolina. So when I called, my immediate family and my grandparents were at the table eating a pre-ordered Thanksgiving dinner. LOL.  That never happens.
 
It didn’t feel right not being home for Thanksgiving. It's times like these when you really realize what you have.
 
Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Friendsgiving with a couple of our Spanish friends as well as David’s brother who is here visiting. And my supervisor gave me the day off tomorrow so I am feeling extra thankful right now.

There’s about exactly one month until I’ll be flying home for Christmas, and let me tell you, I am so ready. I really need a reset button.
 
This semester has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think “adult life” has set in a bit. 
 
I entered my senior year of college planning and preparing for my senior recital, which was no small feat for me. After that, I went right into four months of student teaching, which was essentially a full time teaching position plus an ensemble and a seminar class, as well as working on the side for actual income.
 
I went from student teaching to graduation and from graduation to Israel, Greece, Malta, Germany, Italy, Austria, France, home, and to Spain to start my Master’s. I graduated from my Master’s this past July, traveled back home to release my EP, and spend some well needed time with family and friends, and back to Spain I went to start my fellowship year.

I’m finally slowing down, a little. And it just feels a bit weird. I think a lot of things that I put on the back burner during all the craziness have been bubbling up and it’s forced me to confront them because, well, I guess I have time now. 
 
Most of all, having time to do what I “want” has been a strange feeling. I feel like I’m still kind of figuring out what it is that I want to do in my free time.  I’m not a full-time teacher yet, so do I continue to work on my career? I’m living off a very small income, so do I work extra to make more money? Or do I continue to spend time making music and performing when most of the time it feels like a rollercoaster?
 
The point is, things are going well but I’m definitely in a weird part of my life where I’m trying to figure out how to navigate without deadlines. Cause I was actually really good at that.
 
I have something really special and exciting in the works for next semester. Until all the details are ironed out, though, I’ll keep it a secret.
 
Current Priorities:

• Studying for teacher certification exams
• Blogging about all the insane things I’ve done in the past year and a half (it's taking a while)
• Working on developing my music technology curriculum for my post-thesis project
• Getting prepared for next semester’s secret adventure
• Making music for my own enjoyment 
• ​Learning Spanish​​

Hasta pronto!