Oberlin, OH

It's still cold, and I have a cold.

Sheila told me that when arrive in Oberlin, that college is just going to pop out of nowhere. She was right. At first, were we just driving through cornfields and next thing you know, there were students and college buildings everywhere!
We ate lunch at The Feve, which serves gourmet sandwiches and french fries. I wanted a lunch that would help me become decongested, so I ordered some peach ginger tea (with a lot of honey), french fries with Jacque seasoning, and a coconut curry chicken pita sandwich. The sandwich was very spicy, but the tea and the sandwich did the trick!

After that, I had my trial lesson with Peter Slowik. I was a bit worried about making a good first impression because I only had five minutes to warm up! I felt like I didn't play my best in front of him, but he encouraged me to make mistakes. We talked about how the Walton viola concerto was like flowing water, how to fix my problematic right arm, and the conservatory. It was a fun trial lesson indeed!

After my trial lesson, my dad and I toured the conservatory. The conservatory has so many windows, which allows a lot of sunlight to come in. Students can also rent practice rooms for the year and some people made the wise decision of making their practice room beautiful. For example, one double bassist put up some christmas lights and some photos next to his window. I was so in awe with the  decor that when I looked in the practice room, I didn't know he was practicing, so I hope I didn't scare him too much!

We also got to watch a recital. A soprano, two cellists, and a pianist performed. I enjoyed it all!

I also saw Josh, another student from UNCSA, who was interested in studying violin here. It was nice to finally get a chance to talk to him at the reception. It's also been months since I have had a decent snickerdoodle. 

We ate dinner at Wild Mango. Legend has it that when a music major of Chinese descent returned to China, he fell in love with this girl-who happened to be an excellent chef (or "cooker" as I say). Being that the number of places to eat at Oberlin was low and the epicurean demand was high, the clever music major decided to move back to Oberlin with his wife and establish Wild Mango. 

This tangy restaurant is best known for their presentation and their entreés. Being that I was still full after my lunch at The Feve, I only wanted a salad. Little did I know that nothing at this restaurant is ordinary. I ordered a shrimp bisque, an asian chicken salad, and some Oolong tea. My Oolong tea came, which hit the spot. We were then brought tiny (I'm talking TINY) shot cups-of what I thought was truffle soup. It was so delicious, I wish I could just have ordered that, but it wasn't on the menu (sad face/what face). Dad's calamari was given the best grade for presentation. The chef created a moat of sweet and spicy sauce and placed all of the calamaris into a fried bread roll. My salad and the shrimp bisque was also wonderful, the salad was very tangy! We were then given a nice piece of bread (normal or brioche, I chose brioche) with some...cashew butter! The waitress explained to us that they combined honey, butter, and crushed cashews to create this wonderful butter. It was so good that I was unconsciously eating the rest of the butter out off of the plate. Thank God I didn't know anyone there!

Now, I am praying that I will do well at tomorrow's audition. Can my Oberlin audition please be as great as my Umich audition?