Archives for the Month of August 2005 on CWRU: A music geek's perspective
I Hate Wednesdays!
Well, I think the title says it all. I have been out of my room for almost 12 hours today running too and from classes. After breakfast, I had theory, ran to physics, then camped out in the lobby of one of the quad buildings to read for SAGES until my Calculus class started. I was able to grab an early dinner with Mark and Matt before I had to head to my voice studio class. I met my voice teacher, Marla Berg, for the first time. She seems really nice and all of the voice majors seem so compatable personality wise. At least that part of my school life seems to be nice. After the studio class I had to head over to the Physics building Rockafeller for my first physics lab. Talk about stressful! I wasn't sure what the expectations were or what exactly we were supposed to be doing so it was a very nerve wracking 3 hours.
So, I'm finally back in the safe haven of my dorm room. It is easy to forget about the stresses of the outside world here. The room is so cozy, so warm and loving, I feel at peace here - especially at night. Our soft lighting just adds to the calm that washes over you.
At the same time, I have such a blast talking to Sam. She draws while I knit and we just chat for hours. Many a night we have been up way to late becasue we don't realize how long we have been talking and it is around 3:00 in the morning. Although, this is not happening as often as it used to now that classes have started.
Well, since I was out my room all day, I have some reading to catch up on. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.
Rain Rain Go Away
What a yucky day! It has been raining all day long. I never really minded the rain until I realized that I would have to walk all across campus in it. Okay, in high school, I would occasionally have to walk between buildings or to my car but never these long distances. I mean, I had an umbrella and a jacket but my pants were completely soaked all day long. But enough complaining, onto the day.
I had to get up early (sorry, I'll stop complaining) because I had SAGES at 8:30 this morning. I think I'm going to enjoy the people and the teacher but not the subject matter. I hate writing and it seems that there will be a lot of writing involved.
I had theory again today where we sang major scales (so hard) and we have no homework. I am liking the difficulty level of this class, although I am sure it will pick up soon.
After theory I ate lunch with Sam, Mark, and Sam's friend Ray who is a Voice performance major and we walked over the recital class together. It looks like it will be an easy class since I only have to perform once this school year and just watch people the other days.
Eurhythmics was an interesting class. We started out by walking in a circle to the beat of a metronome. This was the quarter note beat. Then we had to walk eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes. It is supposed to help us internalize beats better and understand rhythms, hense the name Eu- (the latin prefix for good) -rhythmics.
Finally, I went to Concert Choir. It is so increadible. We sightread through 3 brand new pieces a cappella in at least 6 part harmony and they sounded better than some pieces at my old high school concerts. I can hardly wait until our first concert.
Well, as much as the rain made life difficult today, I had a pretty decent day. I had alot of classes, but none of them were high stress. Tomorrow will be the real test though. Class off and on from 10:30 to 9:30 at night. We'll see how that goes. But for now, thanks for reading.
Getting Started
Well, here it goes. I've never had a blog before, but then again, I've been doing a lot of things I've never done before this past week. College life is so much more than I expected. Sure I expected to go to class, eat, sleep, and make friends, but I didn't expect my whole way of life to change.
The biggest change is going from an only child to never spending a moment alone. There are always people around. When I'm not in class, I'm eating in the dining hall, going to a movie, taking a walk around campus, or just spending time in my room. But none of these things are done alone, which leads me to my next topic: my new friends.
First of all, there's my roommate Sam. She and I are so compatable, it's scary. Today we had to fill out this "roommate contract" to agree on things like cleaning schedules and bedtimes. We were cracking up on how many things we agreed upon. Also, we hate the overhead lights so we've invested in many little lamps and decorative window lights. People have actually come up to see our lights because they can see them outside through the window. It is so awesome. And with our carpeting, we definetly have the greatest dorm on campus.
Next there's Jocelyn. I met her during freshman orientation and we bonded over a love of music. She plays viola and is majoring in Computer Science so she is a cool computer person as well. Her roommate's name is Adrie (pronounced like Audrie). She is a medicine major but might major in music as well.
When it comes to the guys, both Zhen and Matt are so funny. A couple of nights ago, Matt decided he wanted to run around and touch all the dorm buildings in the NRV (North Residential Village) and have me time it. The funny part is, it was raining the hardest I have ever seen it in my life. Both he and Zhen were soaked by the time they got back.
And then there's Mark. I met Mark on the first day of orientation and we clicked. I don't even know what to say about him. He is the greatest friend I could have ever hoped for.
Going to school so far away where I didn't know a soul, I thought it would be hard to make friends. Now, I'm finding it is hard to spend time with all of them. I can hardly wait to start taking my music classes and start singing again. It has been so long since I've done any serious singing and I am ready to get back into the swing of it.
My schedule if finally resolved. For the longest time, my freshman seminar, called SAGES: the Life of the Mind, was conflicting with my music theory class but it is now all resolved. I am taking 20 hours this semester which sounds like a lot but many of those hours are small, one credit, music classes like my Studio Class, Recital Class, and 3 hours for Voice Lessons. I think I only have 4 classes with real work as far as I know: Physics 123, Math 223, Music theory 107, and the SAGES seminar. I am also taking Eurthymics and Concert Chorus but, again, it doesn't sound like there is much work involved. I will know better after tomorrow when I go to the rest of my classes for the first time.
I could go on forever about so many things that are different from little old Cary but if I did now, what would I talk about later. So for now, thanks for reading and see you all soon.