You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

     Perseverance has always been a part of my life, I’ve just never used that word to describe what I do as a part of me [until now].  I’ve always been involved in activities, I’ve always kept pushing forward, and I never regret any decision that I’ve made.  I’m not one to give up because I’ve never seen that as an option.  I admit that I have fallen down many times and wanted to give up, but I never did truly give up.  Sometimes, you learn best at those junctures in life.  This trip has included perseverance in many different ways.  First of all, the courses I have been taking here with Dr. Keith have really taught me a lot about viewing music therapy through different lenses and for pushing my own views of music therapy.  The students on this trip represent 5 different universities, none with the exact same values.  Class discussions have been, at times, really mentally exhausting.  We all have to try and find a balance that works with all of our opinions.  In doing so, I challenge my own opinions and open them up to more and more possibilities every day.  This final week of classes did just that.  Our assignment for this week was to write a response paper on an article posted to the Voices page.  I chose to research community music therapy since I’ve only come across the term in my studies.  I didn’t learn much out of the article itself besides research summations.  What I wanted more was the practice behind it.  I wanted to hear the music techniques used and how the therapist interacted with the community to build community bonds or how the therapist helped guide the individual to become part of the community or how members of communities interacted.  I was presented with even more questions.  Being a detail oriented person, I want to know more.  So I found the World Congress program and circled the sessions that had community music therapy in the title or something related to the nature of social work.  I am always determined to learn more.  That’s what I love about music therapy – you are always learning: about how to improve your counseling techniques, your music techniques, your music therapy techniques, etc.

     Being abroad teaches you a lot about yourself.  It tests your levels of patience, it opens your mind to other ways of thinking and even noticing similarities, and it allows you to gain an independence.  Even being with others, you learn to go at your own pace.  I really put other people before myself, but I’m finding that that has a limit.  When being in a new country, you do what makes you happy [at your own pace].  A group of us took a 50 km bike excursion this weekend and I was in quite a bit of pain from the bike ride itself.  The bumps in the road were giving me a migraine like the ones I used to get before I had neurosurgery.  But I wanted to be able to experience all of these adventures, so I walked slowly and took in all the beauty that was around me.  The fields we biked through still amaze me – the beauty that just surrounds you is impeccable.  I just closed my eyes and listened to the wind blowing through the wheat.  Then the hike a few days after really hit my legs, but I didn’t want to stop.  The views that I saw on the way were profound.  We stopped at an old Nazi propaganda amphitheater and an old, ruined monastery.  If you clear your mind enough, you can just imagine what it looked like when it was first built, filled with people for very different reasons.  These experiences don’t come much in the United States because it’s history doesn’t date back as far.  That was worth every step of the way, but more importantly the conversations you have with the people on the way there and back are worth so much.  These stories we all have to tell are really special.  You see the joy and concern in every conversation you have.  I feel like I’ve known a lot of people for a while now, but it’s only been 3 weeks.  And then with 2 people from my school, I feel like I’ve really gotten to know better, which is a really great thing to be able to take back for my senior year of college.  Stories are what make a life – experiences are everything.  So, that is my brief summation of my 3 week adventure in Heidelberg.  My hope for the future: to continue to find joy in every day.