Making the right decisions

So I am still recovering from the shock I went through the other day at the Royal Opera House in London… It was amazing; one of the best experiences of my life. I guess I don’t need to tell you that the whole company was absolutely wonderful and flawless. They performed The Sleeping Beauty just like only the Royal Ballet does. It was perfect and… I love them all. Word.

But I am here to talk about decisions. I realised I never really wrote here what I decided about my Translation and Ballet studies. Well then, I am glad to say that I made the right decisions, and this is making me so happy.

You know, last year I loved interpreting, because I found it so dynamic and new, but actually in my inside I always knew I wasn’t made for that. Maybe that is why I couldn’t sleep well the nights before going into a booth. So this year I chose Translation. And I am so happy I made that decision, nice reader. I love the subjects I am taking and find them really motivating and inspiring. I am truly enjoying my time looking for solutions on the Internet, in books and dictionaries. I am really loving this freedom I have to play with words. I am having fun and I can totally see myself doing this for the rest of my life, because I am in love with it. And when you’re enjoying so much an activity, you find it wonderful when you see that your hard work is rewarding. When you receive an e-mail from your favourite teacher, who tells you she hasn’t changed anything on your translation because you write so well. These things, nice reader! These things are motivating and inspiring. These little things make you want to push yourself further; they make you want to achieve perfection, as unreachable as it is! They make you feel happy and love what you do!

And as regards ballet, I told you a few weeks ago that I needed to make a choice between staying with the beginners and going to an intermediate class and pointe. I did make the choice. And it was the right one. I am going to class with the intermediate students. I am not a good dancer: ballet is hard, very hard. But I am dancing. I am really dancing little combinations and I am learning so much. Things are going pretty fast for me: you have to realise that now I am taking class with girls who have been en pointe for many, many years. I am actually asked to dance like them in the centre, even though I have only had four or five pointe classes… so it means that I might have skipped a few years on my ballet training because my beginner teacher believed in me. And my current teacher is so lovely. She is such a beautiful dancer, nice reader. I am glad she accepted to teach me. She believes in me; she thinks I can dance like the others and I feel honoured and grateful, even though sometimes I am simply unable to do what she asks me. But I am trying. I am doing my best. If I fall today, I will stand tomorrow. I am determined to become the best ballet dancer I can. And now I have to encourage you to DANCE, because it is simply a pure wonder, nice reader. Nothing feels like that.

Keep translating and dancing!

Nerea.

Moving on...

Hi there once again!

I said I would let you know what my teacher told me about my interpreting. I went to her office and basically she said that sometimes I was VERY good, but there were always some moments in which she didn't know what to do with my speeches.

I told her that I really wanted to choose Interpreting instead of Translation next year, and she quickly dissuaded me from doing that. Actually she was very nice while saying it, but I simply wanted to DIE at that point. BUT! (Yes, there's a "but", and this is a nice one...) She said that next year, if I did Translation, I would be able to go to as many interpreting lessons as I wanted, and learn as many things as "real" students, without having to do the final exam. I know that on my university degree people won't read "specialized in interpreting", but they will read "Translator AND interpreter", and I guess that the important thing is what you can ACTUALLY do, regardless of what is written on a piece of paper!

So I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do next year, but I know that I have this opportunity, and it is probably the best one for me, according to my current skills.

What else!? Time for a ballet talk! Yay!

So last week I went to my ballet class and after doing some tendus, jetés and passés, my teacher said that my feet were beautiful, strong and prepared. I think it's an awesome thing to be told, so I'm really happy with myself.

Also, yesterday we were at the barre, doing some demi-pirouettes and the teacher was telling my classmates to keep their arms placed; she said that I was doing it properly, so I stopped and started looking at the corrections she was making to the others. It is true that you can learn lots of things looking at fellow students!

Now it's been exactly eight months since I decided to take ballet lessons again and I'm starting to actually see a big improvement in my dancing skills. I feel more confident at the barre and I really feel like dancing (at the beginning it was like some weird feet-and-arm-moving). Now I feel just like I felt eight years ago, when I was on pointe in front of an enormous crowd. The difference is that now, on pointe or not, I truly know that I LOVE ballet and I will not stop dancing ever. Ok, maybe when I'm too old, but still...

 That's me, the other day in my bedroom =D

See you!

Nerea.