Yesterday was the first day in our challenge that I did not write an essay. I allowed myself to do this because it was a special day for me. I had my first choir concert! Today I want to share this experience with you.

I joined the choir 2 years ago, in March 2020 – at around the same time when the pandemic started. That means I had one rehearsal before we all went to lockdown. From that moment on we only practiced over zoom. Shouting into your notebook was a pretty nice variation in those boring days (probably not for my neighbors though), but there was a lot missing. We could only practice one voice group at a time (so I practiced only with all the tenors) and also I did not really know the people yet and that was also a pretty strange feeling.

This semester it was the first time there was the realistic chance of a concert, so we all were really excited, although you could feel that also in this semester did not have enough time. One day before at the dress rehearsal you could feel many insecurities and it made me a bit nervous. Our conductor said that this will be a "spot landing" — and now I'm happy to say she was right. We just started singing and almost everything went perfectly well!

After 2 years – finally – my first concert. Such beautiful feelings – excitement, pride, relief. Sticking it out through the tough phases of the whole pandemic thing paid off.