a beginning

I find myself, mid-july in Paris, thinking about the upcoming grandes vacances. The month of August. The time when the city empties, save tourists and the unlucky few who cannot take time out for vacation. I've started observing this yearly parisian ritual. Last year, to the south of France. The year before, and entire month on the coast of Maine. This year will take me to Corsica for 10 days, then to the states to see my parents' new house in Kentucky.

Everytime I leave a place, even for a moment, I have to ponder what I would miss most if I could never return. From my childhood home, it's most certainly the sound and smell of the atlantic, the autumnal color changes, and the presence of a fried shrimp basket on every local restaurant menu. From my college town, it's the delicious and comforting saturday brunch ritual, and the most incredible music library I've ever set foot in. From my summers in Italy, 1 euro cappucinos with little pictures drawn in the foam, and the musical rhythm of the small village markets. But from Paris--in Paris, there are too many things to love, and to miss, but also to hate. Paris is a city so many have written about. Maybe because it is the city of light and of love. But for me, because it one of the most inspiring, yet frustrating; beautiful, yet dirty; utterly polarizing places I have ever experienced.

After four years in this city, I have spent many nights trying to figure out why on earth I would possibly want to stay here, and just as many nights trying to understand why anyone would want to leave.

Those of you who know me, know that I am first and foremost, a musician. While I've experiences various moments of inspiration in my life from other possible paths, music has, and will always be my default, my love, my inevitable comfort, and my constant motivation. While normally a slightly cynical person, music brings the most optimistic side of me--because I do truly believe we are all connected through it. While once aspiring to be a uniquely classical singer, my musical dreams have blurred and evolved as the genres I find myself moved by. While still a classical student, I have great plans to make classical chamber music more accessible, to elevate simple pop melodies, and to transcend style, century, genre. While I have yet to do any of this, I want to share my musical journey somewhere. And why not here ?

But there is more to life than sharing one's professional passions. I am inspired by many things other than cadence & rhythm--though these top the list. Living in Paris, there is the unescapable question of food & drink. Of art & architecture. Of Frenchisms. There is travel, and language. There are gardens. Truly incredible gardens. And for specifically lucky me, there is my own garden. And there are animals. It wouldn't be a blog about me if there were not something about animals.

So this is a blog. This is a blog about a girl and a city. A city full of sounds, and smells, and tastes, and stereotypes, and secrets. And a girl who wants to share all of that with you !