Interlochen--Where art lives

I’ve arrived at Interlochen.  My home away from home I’ve missed incredibly.  A haven for creativity and inspiration.  "Art Lives Here," as their moto beautifully notes.

So this means for the next month I’ll actually be getting back into writing!

We’ve just been moving in and meeting our roommates (I’m in a pretty bare-bones cabin with four rooms, but cozy-feeling since it’s surrounded by woods.  We had a new-faculty dinner tonight where I finally met the Dance Director.  She seems so awesome, enthusiastic, and encouraging.  I feel so lucky to be working with her!

Other than preparing, I’ve been taking advantage of being back here by visiting my old haunts and exploring new avenues.  My favorite place to read or write used to be “Sundecker,” the deck overlooking the lake in the High School Girl’s division.  Since hanging out there now would be quite strange (and would involve potentially awkward encounters with my students), I found a fantastic—or even better—substitute.  There is a place just down the beach from there called the Minnesota Building (don’t ask me why—do Minnesotans create nice beaches?) with lounge chairs, board games, a coffee stand, waterfront activities, all just for camp staff!  They call it the “gathering place.”  I’m so psyched to dedicate some R&R time here.  Or if resting will be a near-nonexistent concept, at least watch just about every single sunset, like I did the last two nights. :)

I also was lucky enough to bring my 11-week old kitten with me!  She’s being generously housed by the High School Girls director in a wonderful cabin on the lake, with a glorious breeze and many rooms and hideouts to explore.

What I love about this place is how art doesn’t just exist here.  It lives, breathes, emanates from, and is a part of every molecule here.  Walking around, I love hearing melodies coming from the practice huts.  Even some scales and arpeggios I heard today sounded so much more rich and meaningful than warmups I might here in some other less beautiful place.  Yesterday afternoon, during my first few hours of free wandering, I stumbled upon the Horn Institute Recital (a pre-camp workshop), which was a fun first concert to attend.  I brought my horn with me, and even though I haven’t played in a year ½, I’m sure I’ll be inspired to play again.  It would also be awesome to take a voice lesson or two while I’m here.

There’s so much I want to take advantage of here!  I find myself being constantly simultaneously so incredibly grateful for being back here and landing this amazing job (I actually cried yesterday when seeing the lake for the first time), and feeling rushed to to experience everything in such a short amount of time, as I am only hired for the first session….

Today I planned out the details of an injury treatment/prevention lecture I’m giving on Tuesday—I have therabands and exercise sheets to hand out to everyone, and I am so nerdily excited about it.  Tomorrow and Sunday I need to crack down on reviewing my lesson plans for the classes.  I confess I’m seriously nervous, but I need to project a confident act so the students don’t sense it.

Thanks for reading about my latest adventure.  More to come!

“Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.” --Suzanne Collins, "Catching Fire"