julika

"I dreamed a dream my life would be..." -- these are the famous words Fantine sings in Les Miserables when she realizes that her life has absolutely not turned out the way she thought it would. Of course, I'm not comparing myself to Fantine's horrible fate. But her words stuck with me nonetheless: I was 16 years old when I was Fantine in our high school musical production of Les Miserables -- and I had a certain dream what my life would be like in the future, too. It was only a little high school musical show, but for me it was the [...]

I always get a little nostalgic when the new year is about to begin. I sort of like clinging to the old year and remember what happened. At the same time, I like to imagine what the next year will be like -- always hoping that it will be (even) better than the last one. A few years back, a friend and I started to write something we called "The First Time List" during the holidays. We wanted to end the year remembering all the things we had done for the very first time that year. We would put big [...]

I vividly remember when it happened to me for the first time. I was 19 years old on art major class field trip to Rome. We had spent the entire year before learning about Renaissance and Baroque architecture and the history of the Eternal City. Dates and countless names of places, popes, and artists had to be learned by heart to prepare those seven September days studying real art in Rome. When we finally arrived, we had to practice our architecture sketching skills in front of ancient ruins and give presentations in front of famous fountains, half-screaming to be louder than [...]