Iamsterdam

Before I get to the really exciting portion of this post, I need to write about some other, more mundane things so bear with me.

A little while ago we had transfers and we said goodbye to some of our really good missionaries.  Of course it was sad to see all of them go, but it was very sad to say goodbye to Sister Ahlm.  She was trained here in Munich and we got to know each other very well, and ever since then we have always been very excited to see each other and spend time together whenever possible.  She was a great missionary and is a great girl.

 Pretty exciting things have been going on in school lately too.  Not really, but here they are.  This is a picture of our physics lab where we investigated how the current of an electromagnet affected its strength.  Pretty cool.

 This was my finished art project.  We had to do this whole dumb unit about "culture and identity" so I decided I would fashion mine around music being a part of my culture and who I am.  the quote I based this off of was “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent,” by Victor Hugo.  That silhouette is actually mine and the rest is zentangle patterns.  I basically just wanted to do this, but justified it with the cheesy explanation that "all the different patterns represent the different settings in which music has influenced me in my life and the come together to form who I am as a musician and a person."  I thought it was pretty clever...

 This is a picture of all of us with the numbers on our hands from the "Spartan Race" we had to do in PE.  It was short, but harder than I thought it would be.  Since then we have had training lessons with our partners and soon we will have to do the race again to see if our specific training has helped us improve.

 Now the exciting part!!!  A few weeks ago our choir, Anima, took a trip to Amsterdam for solo/ensemble!!  Only eight of us were able to go, but it worked out well.  Six of us left and me the other two who were already there from a different trip.

Here we are in the MIS parking lot waiting to go to the airport.

 Margaux and me.

 When we got to the airport we got food there and took it back to the hotel.  That night we just relaxed.  I shared a room with Margaux, and later the two girls that joined us.

 The next day we went and explored the city!!  Here we are in the elevator ready to go.

 We saw the famous "Iamsterdam" statue and took pictures with it,

 A church,

 Just messing around,

 This was a picturesque little street that I just loved.

 All these pictures are pretty self-explanatory...

 This is a cute little cafe place where we had lunch.

Then we just looked around in shops and it was really fun. 

 I thought this was so cute!  It was just this little kid that seriously just looked like a mini European man--so cute!

 As you can tell by this lovely picture, it was very windy all day, which made it all the more fun!

 We took a hop-on, hop-off tour on a boat in the canal, which was fun, but after walking around we were all pretty exhausted!

 More pictures out of order...

 The next day we went to the American School of the Hague (ASH) to perform.  Our performances went well.  I performed my solo and the adjutacator was great in helping me improve.  I sang "O Mio Babbino Caro."  She found out I wasn't taking voice lessons and was blown away.  She chose me from our group to perform in the master class with everyone and I was honored.  All the other solos were also very good and everyone did well.  Our choir perfomance also went well and we were also chosen to perform for the master class.  Represent!

 When we walked into the maser class, the young man was performing.  He was singing very well, and as he sang I thought I saw a BYU "Y" on his tie.  I told myself it couldn't be, it must be for something else.  But it kept bothering me.  So finally, after all of the performances, I snuck over to where he was and asked him about it and we made the connection that he was also Mormon!  I was so excited!  We only talked for a minute so I didn't even find out where he was from.  He said he joined the church about a year ago and was working towards a mission.  It was so cool!

 Here we all are with our certificates and ribbons.  Our choir got the highest ranking!

 That night we just hung in the hotel and all the girls came to our room to have a "bonding session."  So stereotypical, but so fun.  

 The next morning we ate and headed out to the airport.  We got lunch there, here we are at Starbucks.

 Then we flew home!  It was an amazing trip and I had such a fun time performing and just being with the girls.

 Here are just a few other things I wanted to post about as well.  The spring flowers have started coming!  Pictures cannot do them justice, but they are gorgeous.

 And here are just some artsy pictures for you.

Life is good everybody!  it keeps moving forward so move with it!