Getting Settled in Minnesota, Part 1
I’m officially living in the twin cities now! My partner and I moved into our apartment about two weeks ago and things are mostly set up at this point except for the fact that a piece of our bed was missing so we haven’t been able to set up the bed yet. That problem should be fixed tomorrow though!
The Journey
It was a long drive that we broke up over three days. We stopped for the first night in Ohio which I have to say was truly one of the saddest places I have ever driven through. As soon as we crossed into Ohio the roads were terrible and it started raining, just bad vibes all around. But the second day we stopped in Illinois with a friend who we were meeting in person for the first time. It was absolutely fantastic and we got to meet some new friends as well!
The final day was a relatively easy drive from Illinois to St. Paul where we signed our lease and started moving into the new place! I’ll be sharing pictures of the apartment at a future date once we’re a little bit more setup but I think it’s going to be a lovely place to be for at least the next couple of years.
First Week In The Twin Cities
Settling into life in the twin cities has been a pretty smooth process so far. I wanted to make sure we hit the ground running so in that first week we went to IKEA on Tuesday to pick up some basic furnishings that we needed to make the apartment a functional space. I had never eaten at the cafe at IKEA before so it was an absolute necessity that I try as much food as possible!
Then on Wednesday we went to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory which was absolutely fantastic. It’s a smaller local zoo that is in St. Paul and is free, but the highlight of that trip was the conservatory and Japanese garden. The conservatory was primarily full of stunning arrangements of ferns and flowers and it’s hard to really capture its beauty in photos.
The Japanese garden is the real crown jewel of this space though. It was born out of the relationship between St. Paul and it’s sister city, Nagasaki. It was designed by Masami Matsuda, a renowned landscape designer. If the beauty of the conservatory is hard to capture the Japanese Garden’s is almost impossible. There is also an amazing collection of Bonsai trees that I didn’t take pictures of and will have to save for a later time.
The first concert
On Thursday we headed to the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul for a Courtroom Concert presented by the Schubert Club. The Courtroom Concerts are an amazing series of free concerts and I just so happened to know one of the performers for this concert. Clara Osowski and Ahmed Anzaldúa performed an absolutely glorious program of art songs that included two world premieres by local composers. The program was performed with incredible precision and clarity but not at the expense of the humanity and warmth required of the music. The opening piece was “Duérmete, niño lindo” by Mari Ésabel Valverde which was a gorgeous arrangement of a folksong from the San Luis Valley. The second piece was the first of two world premieres, “Flight” by Catherine Dalton. It was short set of three songs that portrayed a journey from a state of brokenness to renewal and recovery using imagery of a tattered feather and the flight of a bird. Despite at a few times being a little trite in its harmonic content and structure it was incredibly impactful for me and brought me to tears. The message of growing and overcoming hardship touched me in a way that was quite powerful. This was followed by two songs by Frederic Mompou which were both delicate and absolutely beautiful. The piano playing on these two songs was particularly bright and clean without sacrificing the warmth that the instrument was capable of. Next up was the second world premiere, “Rabbits Among Us” by Janika Vandervelde. This piece for me was a little less successful due to some redundancies of the form that was presented. The nature of the text setting had a two steps forward one step backwards quality that became incredibly predictable by the end of the song. That being said there were moments of it that were at times beautiful and interesting in their quirkiness. I just always want an art song to add up to more than the sum of its parts and this one didn’t quite get there. Nevertheless it was a perfectly good piece and a worthy contribution to the repertoire. The program was rounded out with a set of three songs by Brahms and a quick little piece by Gerald Finzi. Normally I’m not particularly keen on Brahms which I know is sacrilege but I just frequently find his music to be far too serious. However these songs were surprisingly delightful especially with the intensity of interpretation that Clara brought to the performance. The Finzi was a bit of a throwaway for me but it brought the program to light and pleasant close which felt completely appropriate for a concert at noon on a Thursday.
There are so many more adventures to unpack but for now that’s where I’m going to leave off. Stay tuned for my first trips to the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Zoo, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra! It’s been a busy two weeks, but I’m back and ready to be inspired by my new surroundings.
See you next time!