this week was fun.

This has been a great great week. I had a paper due on Friday, but of course that hasn't really been the focus until.. um… yesterday and today. More specifically today. Naturally. So really I had nothing to do all week and it was so relaxing and I got to do a lot of fun things!

On Monday night we got the chance to go to the Philharmonie Luxembourg to see the symphony orchestra "Solistes Européens, Luxembourg" perform. We got to hear selections from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt, Jan Sibelius' Symphony No7 in C Major op.105, and Beethoven's Symphony No5 in C Minor op.67. We got free seats in the boxes courtesy of our music professor (although I don't think these are actually considered the best seats in the house) and I got to get all dressed up. It was the first official concert of the new conductor of the orchestra, Christoph König, and so there was clapping GALORE. Maybe that was just normal, but when each piece finished people just clapped for ages and the conductor would leave the stage and come back out and leave again and people wouldn't stop clapping. Hilarious. I also got to see the Grand Duke of Luxembourg for the first time. No big deal, the leader of the country was just THERE. They played his own special hymn when he arrived and when he left and we had to stand while he entered. My music professor also pointed out the former head of the EU when we were walking in. I mean... holy crap. These people are a big deal. It was great… Anyways, I loved most of the Peer Gynt selections. I loved when they played In the Hall of the Mountain King - its just such a powerful, fun sort of song. I wasn't such a huge fan of any of Sibelius' symphony… except one part when the strings section went crazy. Then of course Beethoven's 5th was just excellent. Can't go wrong with Beethoven. All and all, I can definitely say I'll be going back for more this semester. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of free philharmonic symphony tickets every other Monday or so?

Then on Tuesday - and okay this is a little minor - I watched THE PREMIERE OF HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. Success. HIGH SIX! Still a good show. But more importantly, I got to go to a live jazz bar down in the Grund in Luxembourg City. It was really fun and the musicians were pretty good so I think I'm going to try to make it a habit if I can find people to go with me all the time. The only bummer was that the late trains run at 11:50 and 12:50… so I nearly fell asleep on the forty minute ride back to Differdange. I had to set an alarm on my phone when I knew we'd be close so I wouldn't end up at the end of the line or something.

So other than this paper, the week has been pretty chill. And tomorrow we leave for Rome and our music class tour in Italy. I am SO EXCITED. Let me list the reasons:

1. Well. It's Italy. That's a good enough reason to be excited.
2. I get to speak the 7 words I know in Italian again!
3. This is a little random, but at least where we were over the summer, the conad grocery store sold pasteurized skim milk that tasted like milk tastes in America. If I find it, I will buy it. Because I have been craving milk so badly the past few days and Luxembourg milk is nasty crap.
4. Gelato.
5.Gelato.
6. Gelato. Yes, it needed to be said three times. I have a map saved on Google maps of all the gelateria in Rome I like/want to try.
7. Warmer weather! We've actually been having a nice sort of Indian summer here in Lux (knock on wood, it hasn't rained ALL WEEK. It's like a miracle), but in Italy it's supposed to be high seventies. Unfortunately it might also rain. I'm praying against the rain.
8. The study tour our music teacher planned is probably hands down the best tour. We have huge amounts of free time and we're going to Milan, Pisa, Lake Como, and a few other little random Italian towns.
9. Caffe, cappuccino, cornetto, gnocchi with pesto, pizza margherita, pizza diavola, cacio e pepe. No carb left behind.
10. and most importantly I AM SEEING MY FRIENDS FROM ROMA. I AM SO EXCITED.

But before all that, I have to write this paper… but its okay because it's about US-North Korea relations and that's just really interesting so it's not even a hassle. Heeere we go. :]