Gone.

After four weeks, seven concerts, eight cities, four languages, many new friends, and more than 14,000 miles travelled -- home.

For me, this tour meant a lot of things. It gave me a genuine feeling of thankfulness and appreciation for the life I have. Playing with the orchestra has inspired me to new goals in my practicing, and higher goals in my musical life. But overall, I hope I can keep the attitude that was so prevalent in our group - an attitude of positive patience. At our last concert in Montevideo, our harpist, Andrea, had to play the only harp the orchestra could find in Montevideo. And it was the worst harp I think any of us have ever heard. And while she was playing the cadenzas in Scheherazade, the orchestra could not stop laughing. It was microtonal. The strings buzzed in the middle register. One of the pedals kept falling off. In one afternoon, she had to change something like 18 strings. At first, Andrea was close to tears. I mean, really -- to travel all this way and then have play an instrument like that? But pretty soon she couldn't stop laughing, either. This is the YOA way: if things go wrong, you have to laugh about them.

Another YOA way: make friends with everyone you see. This includes the flight attendant on the way to Buenos Aires. He was so excited to meet us that he wanted us to play music on the plane - so we started playing what we could remember from Porgy and Bess in the aisles. Then he gave us free champagne and let our principal trumpet pass out pretzels to the whole plane, allowing her to fulfill her own stewardess dreams. I felt like when I was with these people, I never knew what was going to happen next.

So that's what I hope to keep going in my own musical and real-life adventures. Spontaneity, positivity, smiling -- and who knows what's going to happen next?