As the summer days continue to pass, I find myself to have limited free time due to my involvement in many summer sports, work, and camps.

I am currently settled into my temporary home for nine days at the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham. Here, I am attending Southern Maine Music Academy or SoMMA.

At SoMMa, musicians from Southern Maine and across the country come to better their performance and expand their knowledge in music. They also come to have a great time in doing what they enjoy. That is, playing their instruments.

As a musician, I highly enjoy attending this camp because I get to meet new people, perform pieces of music by some of the greatest composers in history, and most importantly, improve in what I love doing. 

Each night of camp, there is a concert that is performed by either the students, faculty, or various performing groups throughout the state of Maine.

For instance, one group that had performed was a Middle Eastern Ensemble called Zapion.

Zapion was by far one of the coolest and most cultural performances I have ever seen. This is because they only perform music from other countries in the world such as Turkey, Syria, and some Arabic countries. 

Throughout the ensemble’s performance, one piece stood out to me in particular. It was a Traditional Greek piece called “Samiotisa.”

I found this ironic because I am of Greek descent. When I was a child, I grew up listening to Traditional Greek pieces and attending the annual Greek Festival held in Saco.

Listening to Zapion performing the Greek piece brought me a sense of nostalgia and pleasant memories of my childhood. 

Does nostalgia create feelings of happiness or sadness? Or perhaps a longing for a distant memory?

I find having nostalgia to be peaceful. It creates a sense of uttermost peace and a butterfly effect in your stomach. It feels as if all the emotions are streaming through your chest to your toes. 

Sometimes these feelings of nostalgia are the greatest things in life. Especially for those who experience a large amount of negativity.

These distant feelings of peace allow a chance to travel back in time for a moment. It brings you back to an emotional or memorable time that is significant to your life and who you are.

Nostalgia is time travel. 

Nostalgia is bliss.

Most importantly, it is good for the soul.