I started playing the piano when I was five years old and still really enjoy it now: it’s a perfect way to relax and cheers me up when I’m feeling down. When I lived at home with my parents, we had a lovely reddish brown piano in the house and I had piano lessons every week. However, when I went to university, I had to leave my family, my home and my piano behind.

I missed playing the piano so much that I spent all the money I got for my eighteenth birthday on a brand new electric piano. It was quite difficult getting it from the music shop to my house: I had to take a friend with me to get it into a taxi and then carry it to the door. I am very glad I bought it though. I was able to play whenever I wanted, using headphones so that I wouldn’t disturb my flatmates. When I was studying or writing an essay, I used to take a break to play something energetically. It really helped ease my frustration! When I was feeling a bit homesick, playing music that I learned on my old piano made me feel better.

Now I am on my year abroad and unfortunately I don’t have a piano any more. I still listen to a lot of classical music by my favourite composers like Beethoven and Chopin. I find that, especially when I’m listening to a tune that I can play, I feel nostalgic for the piano keyboard. You can really get attached to a musical instrument because playing music involves lots of emotion. I wish that pianos were as portable as guitars and trumpets because I really miss spending time on my hobby. Never mind, there are other creative activities that I can do to relax, like drawing or writing stories. When I go home for Christmas, I will drive my family mad because I will play the piano all the time. It probably won’t sound very nice because I haven’t had any practice!