I started playing the violin in 5th grade.
You mean the stringed instrument sometimes also called a fiddle?
Yes but I was much more classically trained.
strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno). 
Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments and in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music and in jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used
Erhu
The erhu (; ), or urheen, is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "Southern Fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle".
It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As