"He’s just a poor boy
from a poor family.
Spare him his life from
this monstrosity".
Louie McArthur recounts that these lyrics from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” have been taking up space in his head since he was no more than 4 or 5 years old. He didn’t even know what song the lyrics came from until he was older and “I heard the song again. I realised oh that’s the song I’ve been looking for! I learned that it was Queen; I go down the rabbit hole, and the rest is history.”
From that day on, Louie became a die-hard Queen fan and rocks a Queen shirt during his band’s performances and even during this interview.
If the lyrics of “Bohemian Rhapsody” were rewritten about Louie himself, they’d probably read more like this:
He’s just a busy boy
from a multi-cultural family.
Spare him his life from
any monotony!
Indeed, Louie may not even have time to sleep at night because he’d rather be composing his own music, playing any of the five instruments he practices, or learning to sail on Lake Starnberg!
Originally from the UK, he and his family moved to Germany in 2018. Louie spent his first few years in German public school before coming to MIS in 5th-grade. Thanks to his family’s multifaceted heritage, he is fluent in English, German, Portuguese, and Greek. He is also an upper-intermediate French student. Now an 8th-grader in his fourth year at MIS, Louie is indeed -- a very busy person, thanks in no part to MIS’s Student Life Programme (SLP) which provides over 100 athletics and seasonal activities to MIS students each year. Here is what a typical week of MIS’s SLP after-school activities looks like for Louie:
“On Mondays, I do sailing. On Tuesdays, I do Computer Builders. On Wednesdays, I go to Band Jam; and on Thursdays, I do eSports." There are no Student Life Programme activities on Fridays. If there were, surely Louie would find something he’d like to do -- “probably practicing music for my next performance”.
“I feel like I'm a very privileged person with many opportunities, especially at this magnificent school. I feel like I'm very privileged to have all this talent, and to have this ability to try new things, be able to say, "Oh, hey, I want to learn this new instrument." and learn it.”
One might wonder how Louie stays organized considering that he manages to fit so many different activities into a week. “I don’t,” he admits. So, while he is not able to provide any tips or tricks for juggling a busy schedule; he does have plenty of wisdom to share to encourage students to try something, anything!
Louie explains that, “I didn’t write the next Bohemian Rhapsody or advocate for something important, and definitely wasn’t a huge risk-taker at the start. I just love my instruments. If there’s one thing I can say, it’s -- find something that you like – literally, anything that you like. And do that, and work on that, because you will get good at it, and you will get happy doing it. And if you don’t like it – drop it and find something new."
Click the link to enjoy Louie's new release titled 'New Shoes'!
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