Enakshi Manchanayake

I am a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States. I am currently in my junior year, majoring in Operations and Information Management in the Isenberg Business School and pursuing minors in Information Technology, Economics and Psychology. I hail from a beautiful island called Sri Lanka formerly known as Ceylon.

My passion is music. I have been playing the piano since the age of 8, when my mother forced me to go to my first lesson. I was fussing all the way on the car ride and I had already formed ways and lies to avoid going to future lessons. My grumpy mood and grumbling changed, when I walked in to my to-be teacher’s house and heard her playing Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. I have heard a piano being played before in school but none of my teachers had ever played such a melody, a beautifully haunting melody. I stood behind my to-be teacher awestruck at the sounds she was making by moving her fingertips. I knew then that I wanted and needed to have the ability and the knowledge to play this instrument, which produced such a variety of sounds. I have never grumbled since and I have a teacher’s license as well. I make music of my own in my free time.

My boyfriend is in a band and he plays the acoustic guitar. He and I make music together sometimes, which I have to admit is one of the best feelings in this world. To play a couple of notes and have it flow to a tune and then into a song makes me happier than anything I have known. I find that playing the piano is a vital part for me to combat stress; especially in college. One of the reasons I look forward to breaks so much is so I can go home and play the piano to my hearts content and make sounds that make me smile and happy.

I also love cats!! I had six kittens and the mommy cat when I was young. I find them to be adorable creatures.