Summer Camp Summary

October 3, 2006 at 4:06 PM

Well, I haven't been on here for ages.
Things have been crazy since the summer started and I just haven't had time.
I'm just procrastinating right now, looking sideways at Cicero's First Oration against Cataline that I'm supposed to be translating.

The summer was quite wonderful. I ended up going to the Brevard Music Festival for seven weeks in North Carolina. I had a good time, learned a lot of things, and played loads of fabulous music. I was rather disappointed with the quality of people there, though. While my roomates were all nice and the faculty and staff were exceptional, the typical highschool camper was...shall we say somewhat lacking in moral standards. I didn't expect trains of saints with little halos above their heads or anything. But when even the concertmistress of your orchestra is caught "being bad" (this *is* a "family friendly site...) You just can't look up to them.

As a concertmaster, I've learned that it's way more than how you play. You are a role model. You set the example for how orchestra members should act in rehearsal, you set the standards of playing, and you are in charge of your section. It's your job to lead, help, and encourage your fellow violinists. I didn't get any of that from my concertmaster in Brevard. Just snubbing noses.

I was happy that competition was not the dominating theme at camp. I've heard all too many tales from conservatories about strings being slashed, bows being snapped and suicides being committed because of tough competition. At Brevard, it was very individually focused; just doing the best *you* could do without worrying about anyone else.

I was assigned work study to help apy off some of the tuition, and I was pleased to work under Nurse Rhonda at the Infirmary and Wellness Center. Although most of my work revolved around janitorial duties and supply inventory, I learned a lot by working with her an hour a day. Nurse Rhonda was not only a registered nurse, but also a nutritionist and massage therapist who had worked at Brevard for something like 17 years. She taught me a lot of things about health care for musicians and I picked up a lot assisting with patients. For some reason, people loved to get injured while I was around. Sliced hands, impaled guys with innards showing, seizures...all in a day's work. And surprisingly enough, i actually liked it a lot.

One of the downsides of camp was the lengthy walk into town. To do laundry, Sam (who ended up going to camp too) and I walked a few miles in to the laundromat every Saturday. We looked like homeless people lugging our bags of laundry or dragging a laundry cart (ghetto-rigged with an umbrella on rainy days) up and down the roads of Brevard. On occasion, we were often forced to walk to Church too. There was only one Catholic church in the county, about an hour to an hour and a half of walking from the camp. when we couldn't beg a ride from our dean, we would grab any others willing to come and make our little "pilgrimage".

Another major downside was the lack of appropriate room and board. Being the youngest girl in camp, I was sentenced to living in the crappiest cabin, Upbeat. We didn't have walls at all; our rooms were seperated from each other by thin, six foot partitions and our only barrier from the outdoors was a six foot wall with wire mesh connecting the "wall" to the roof. Our ceiling was so bad that when we jumped off of our "beds" to the floor, dirt and bugs (usually alive and crawling) would fall through the slats. We used so many cans of Raid, Off, and Scrubbing Bubbles to kill bugs that we nicknamed our cabin "the gas chamber" since it always smelled like chemicals. Being 5'9", I was usually recruited unanimously to execute bugs on the ceiling. It was especially fun killing spiders the size of a rosin cake that fell on top of you when you sprayed them. Our "closets" consisted of a solid metal bar that ran from one side of the cabin to the other, on which we were supposed to hang clothes and our rooms were so small that all of a room's inhabitants couldn't fit in at once.

The food was just as bad, in general, and I seemed aprticularly susceptible. I found numerous bones in the so-called meats, and got food poisoning twice. Sam called our meats "unimeat"; it looked, tasted, and smelled like our pork was our chicken was our beef was our fish. The cafeteria's sanitation score (required to be displayed) was 7.5 points lower than the local Burger King's. After about a week, my cabinmates and I had amassed enough care packages to keep us satisfied when the food became to unbearable.

A few weeks into camp, I was running down the unpaved gravel road from our cabin (soon nicknamed THE HILL because of the number of injuries occurring on it) to catch a bus and I slipped and fell. Besides shredding my knees to pieces, I hyperextended my thumb and sprained it so badly the nurse thought I had broken it and wouldn't be able to play for the rest of camp! Luckily, the doctor looked at it and diagnosed it as a very bad (very painful) sprain and after a week I was back to normal. Thank goodness.

So yeah, all in all, a summer to remember. I'll post more on my current life later, but right now I need to run.
So....
~natasha

From Sydney Menees
Posted on October 3, 2006 at 10:01 PM

Well, thanks for blogging!!

I'm really glad that camp was so enlightening for you. It sounds like you learned a lot. On the other hand, SE sounds a LOT more comfortable! Any chance of you coming next year? I get to see Vic almost definitely!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on October 5, 2006 at 7:15 AM

Welcome back, Natasha. I was wondering what had happened to you. If adversity builds character, you must have some very well developed character. I hope the coming months go more smoothly for you. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

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