Entries in the Category "School Life"
IT SNOWED!!!!
Okay, well it was kind of a wimpy snow. Like, it was very variable and the flakes were extremely small. But still, it did snow. And snow is in the forcast all the way till tomorrow night so who knows what is to come.
Cleveland weather is certainly interesting. It was farirly warm until the month of October when it dropped down like 20 degrees to average in the 50s. Then, out of the blue, last week it was amazing fall weather. The skies were clear, the temperature was moderate, everything was nice....for about 2 days. And now, the average is around 45. It is supposed to snow today and tomorrow and then again next Wednesday. It will be quite a shock to get on a plane in 30 degree weather with snow and get off two hours later to a nice mild 60.
Well, this was short but I had to brag about my tiny bit of snow. Maybe I'll have more to report later on (and possibly pictures!!!). Until next time, thanks for reading.
Good Opera vs.......
I have recently come to the realization that I have been extremely spoiled. Let me explain.
When I auditioned for the Opera Company of North Carolina my junior year, I wasn't even expecting to get in. Not only was I cast in the chorus of their show, but I was cast in the chorus of one of the greatest Opera's of all time: Giacomo Puccini's Turandot. The last of Puccini's operas, which he actually died before finishing, not only is the music beautiful and memorable, but the story is exciting. Who doesn't love a tale of executions and unrequited love?
As a chorus member in an opera, I could have easily been in the opening, the finale, and maybe make a short guest appearance somewhere hidden in the middle of the second act. Not the case with Turandot. We were on stage for nearly 2/3 of the opera. Now, this stage time meant a large amount of music to learn, but I enjoyed ever minute of it (and sadly, I still remember it all). The entire opera was amazing and the finale even brought tears to my eyes at each performance. I thought all operas would be this amazing. However, recently, I have discovered this is not the case.
Over the last month I have seen and heard music from several different operas. These have been in different languages, from different time periods, and by different composers. I recently saw Eugene Onegin by the Cleveland Opera Company. It was performed beautifully and the staging was very impressive with full out ballroom dancing in some scenes. The story was a moving tale of unrequited love. However, it didn't have the same effect on me that Turandot did. Maybe because it was in Russian so I relied heavily on the translation above the proscenium or because there was no striking musical theme throughout, I don't know. But it wasn't the same.
I've listened to many recordings since them and realized that I just favor certain composers. Anything by Mozart, Puccini, even Verdi or Strauss I can't get enough of. But once you move into the more obscure operas, that magical effect diminishes. Sure, I appriciate the masterpieces that they are, but they don't send chills down my spine.
But who knows, maybe with time and more exposure, the less traditional operas will have the same effect on me. Until then, I will stick to the greats. Turandot is being performed in early April here in Cleveland and I will be there, wrapped in every word. And you can be sure, when Calaf comes down from that high B in "Nessun Dorma", tears will be rolling down my face. What can I say. I'm a sucker for great music. Until next time, thanks for reading.
Why a Wednesday?!?
Well, it's back to the grindstone today. Fall break is over, which I have mixed feelings about. I am happy that people are back on campus and that there is now food readily available whenever I want it (Leutner closed for fall break so meals were a difficulty. I lived off black bean soup and greens for four days). But at the same time, I don't want to be going back to classes. Moreover, my first day back is, yep, a Wednesday with a Lab. So I'm going from sleeping in till 2 and doing fun relaxing stuff like crocheting and eating sushi to having class from 10:30 to 9:30. It is very dissapointing.
What makes it all worth it? I GOT A HAIRCUT!!! Finally, I have a cute hairstyle to show off. And the cosmotologist decided she wanted to flat iron my hair. It is definetly a different look. I took a picture and let Sam fool around with it (she is the art major afterall) and it is now my facebook picture. But, for those of you who don't have facebook accounts, I'll post it here so you can see it.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
$$$$$$$$
I got paid! More on that later. Sorry it's been so long since I've written. Last week was midterm week so I was up late writing papers and studying for tests. But now that's over. It's Fall Break!!!!!
I never thought the campus could get this empty this fast. Friday night there were only 6 people left on the hall and Sam left Saturday night. It is almost like going back to freshman orientation except emptier. I'm still having fun though. Mark and Zhen are still here and I hung out with Alex and his sister last night so there are a few people still around to do stuff with.
Today was really interesting though. On thursday at CCC a guy came up to me and asked me if I would be interested in filling in to sing at his church that sunday evening. I said I would be in town and would love to fill in. Later that night he brought the music by and told me the details of the gig. He also told me that I was getting paid for my trouble. I thought I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart and it turned out I was going to make some money too.
It was a very old Anglican Catholic church whose building has been around for more than 100 years. The "choir" I was singing in was really an octet with a bass missing so my role was much larget than I expected. I was filling in at a 4:00 Sunday service so it was smaller than the traditional Sunday morning worship service. The boy who asked me, Graham, was the organist/choir director. I arrived and the smell of incense and oils. The inside was very ornate with many Cricifixes and paintings of Mary. We rehearsed at 3:00 and took a small break before the service. Out of the hour long service, I would probably say I sang for 45 minutes of it, mostly call and response between the minister and the choir. The worship service was very ritualistic but the small but friendly congregation made me feel somewhat at ease. Afterword, Graham drove me back to my dorm and asked me if I would be willing to fill in again. I said I'd love to.
So, while this weekend has been kind of slow at times, today was very productive. With the time I spent learning the music, riding too and from there, and the service itself, I was paid about $13/hour. I can hardly complain about that. So until next time, thanks for reading.
Craziness!!!
Wow!! What a night!!
Yesterday started out kind of blah but then became completely random and exciting. I'll get to that but first I must catch you up on this past week.
This week has been a pretty good one. I had my first Calc test on monday which I ACED!!! That's right: 100%! I was so happy I could have screamed. Then week started to go downhill from there. That's when I contracted the "5:30 Virus", a virus where, no matter what I'm doing, at 5:30 everyday I get a fever and start to feel really crappy. I had felt kind of tired Wed. morning so I got a coffee and then, at 5:30, I just got even worse. I had a lab that night so I went and got another coffee. By then I was wired. Molly, the other Physics/Voice double major and my lab partner, and I were wired during the lab. Even after 3 hours of work, we were so hyped. The two of us and Alex, another guy from our physics class, went to quiznos to get some dinner since none of us had eaten yet. Then we went back to their building, Tyler, to hang out in the lobby. At around 10:30 Sam called asking if I wanted to go to Arabica. The two of us, plus Jordan, went over there and what did I do? Got another coffee, a white mocha to be exact. Stupid Stuipd girl. Both Sam and I were sitting at our computers around 3 that morning saying "Are you tired?" "No." "Do you think we should try and go to sleep?" "It is 3 in the morning." The next morning was a hard morning to get myself out of bed. I actually slept a little late but was able to get to SAGES by 8:30.
Thursday night was another night of studying. I had a physics test on friday so I was studying all evening. I couldn't go to Archery because I had a review section for the test during it so Jordan stopped by to tell me what I missed. I went over to the study room in Wade to study around 1:00 so that I wouldn't disturb Sam while studying. I finished the practice problems and made my review sheet and hit the sac around 3 again that night.
That test went pretty well and, after the usual friday quiz in Calc, the week was done! Jordan came over to watch Smallvill since the two of us missed thursday night (Thank God for Tivo). We got to snack on the food from my wonderful parent's care package. I got a ton of food, B&N Gift cards, and a beautiful necklace :-) There was an Archery fun shoot that night and I brought Sam along with me to have her try shooting. She isn't as interested as Jordan and I but she has her fencing so she's fine. The fun shoot was nice. We played a game. We split into 3 teams and each team had a castle. Other teams would shoot at it to wound it and different parts of the castle were worth different points. There were also 2 health targets and wild card targets. Each team started with 80 points and the last team with points wins. Our team didn't win but it was still alot of fun. It was my only time shooting but my aim is getting much better. I could hit a health target that was a 8 inches on a side at about 16 meters about 2/3s of the time. I'm getting there and it is so much fun! After the shoot Jordan and Zhen came by and we all grabbed some dinner before heading back to our room and playing some Hand and Foot and watching Anastasia.
That brings us back to yesterday. It really did start out kind of sucky. I slept till 12, went to lunch with Sam at 1, and the day was so nice I went for a walk around campus. By 3 o'clock, however, I was back asleep in Sam's amazing chair. I slept until 6 when I had to go work on a group physics assignment. I went to dinner with Mark, Zhen, and Sam and then we went over to catch the end of the Football game because there was going to be a fireworks show going on right after. I actually got into the game. We were down by 7 to 14 going into the 4th quarter and we actually scored a touchdown but the kicker blew the extra point so we lost by 1. The fireworks were nice and then the craziness began.
We were invited to go clubbing by some girls on the hall but, after checking out the place they wanted to go, we changed our minds. We spend the next half an hour acting nuts in the hall. Some people were passing Sheeba around and then they stole her shoes and threw them over the ledge of our balcony onto the 2nd floor one. She went out to get them with Sam and Matt and some people put the couch infront of the door so they couldn't get back in. So, Sheeba decided to climb over the edge down onto the 2nd floor balcony outside to get her shoes!
Sam and I figured out how to make our computers look like strobe lights by making a powerpoint presentation of white and black screens and looping them with an automatic transition time of 00:00 seconds. From outside, our room looked like a party was going on inside. One of these weekends we are going to turn our room into a club.
Jordan got back from a concert and told us all about it. Sam and Zhen went down to the lobby to play pool and Jordan broke out his new ping pong stuff for us to play. A little later Matt brought out is volleyball and the five of us played sand volleyball at midnight. To cap up the evening the five of us, plus Jocelyn, all played a game of Pit before turning in. Towards the end of the game, Matt started falling asleep in between rounds so we just let him crash on our floor/chair since he was too tired to walk upstairs to his room.
All I can say is I LOVE COLLEGE!!!! Until next time, thanks for reading.
This Week in a Nut-Shell
I know it has been a while but it has been a busy week so I'll just give you the highlights.
As promised, I'm including pictures from Monday's physics class.
Just looking at the pictures still makes me laugh.
Nothing else particularly exciting happened the rest of the week. Tuesday night was the latest I have been up working so far. I was at KSL working on my Physics lab report until 2 in the morning. That was fun.....loads of fun.....
Thursday we had the worst thunderstorm I've ever witnessed in my life. I got back to the dorm just in time to avoid the rain. There was a lightning stike at least once every 5 seconds and, at times, I couldn't see the ground outside the window because of all the water. It was insane. The door to the fourth floor lobby was left open and, when some of the guys went to shut it, the water had sprayed inside all over the common area to the sink and microwave nearly 20 feet inside. The best part of the storm was the cool weather it brought with it. The past couple of days it has been around 70 with a low in the mid to upper 50s. I love this climate.
Today was pretty relaxed. It's parent's weekend so most of my friends were out with their parents doing stuff which gave me an opportunity to start studying for my first college exam: Calc 223. I am not looking forward to Monday at all.
All in all it was a good week though. Friday night I went to my first Archery meeting. I know, I never would have thought of myself as the type to fire a bow and arrow as well, but it was so much fun. It lasted about an hour and a half and I was amazed at the progress I made. I am definetly going back.
That about sums up the week thus far so, until later, thanks for reading.
Pretty Good Monday
I know, it sound like an oxymoron. Good and Monday side by side. But it actually was.
I got up and went to Theory. There are only 7 of us in the class and it was one of the girl's, Elyse's, birthday so our professor, Dr. Lo, asked if we wanted to have class at Starbucks. You can guess what our response was. After a relaxing class (accompanied by a Caramel Light Frap of course) I went to Physics where Dr. Brown was his usual entertaining self. We were talking about torque and angular momentum so, apparently, he felt the need to demonstrate this with a Huge Blue Crayon. That's right, one of those 4 feet tall plastic crayons. And, since he had it with him, he used it to point out some things on the projector screen. It was so unbelievable, I actually took a picture of it on my phone so I would have proof when I told people the story later.
During lunch I bought an Escher poster for my room because they were having a poster sale outside between Twing and KSL. It is a poster of a kid sitting on the stairs looking up at his mother who is at a second story window but the same image is duplicated several times from many different angles (as is Escher's style). Now I just have to find a place to put it...
After Calculus (where I got my quiz back from Friday which was not nearly as bad as I had expected it to be) I spent the evening hanging out with Jordan for a while, then dinner with Mark and Zhen, surfing the web with Mark in Wade for a while, then going to Arabica with Sam and Jordan before turning in for the night. (Turning in stands for Sam and I deciding to watch U-571 so we can stare at men in uniform for an hour and a half)
So, all in all, the day wasn't the most productive in history, but it sure was nice to take a day off from the heavy workload and just have some fun. Now, tonight on the other hand......I don't want to think about it just yet. I'll let you know how much I pay for my night of freedom. Until later, thanks for reading.
Glorious Sleep
I have come to an amazing realization. I LOVE SLEEP!!!
Yesterday was a stressful day. After the usual calculus quiz, I was done with classes and ready for a fun weekend. Jordan and I made a trip up to the Giant Eagle to get some groceries before dinner. I will say it again: Going to Giant Eagle before dinner is not smart. I wont say how much we spent, but I am definetly my father's daughter when it comes to grocery shopping.
We went back to eat in Leutner and met up with Mark and Zhen. That night the film society was showing Mr. and Mrs. Smith so Jordan and I went to see it. Zhen and Mark didn't want to so, while we were gone, they decided to have some fun. The two of them, along with Sam, decided it would be fun to mess up Jordan's room. They got his roommate, Thomas - the guy from Hong Kong, to let them into the room and went to work. They hid his computer behind his desk, his groceries under his bed, and his Ipod in his desk. They put signs up around the room and TPed his bed. When we got back from the movie, he went to bed because he was tired so I went back to my room. As soon as I came in, Sam told me what they had done and so we decided to see his reaction. We hid on his floor until he had seen it. As soon as he had, he went down the stairs (probably looking for Sam) and called my phone. He saw us up the stairs and took off after us. We ran all around the floor and down the stairs before he calmed down. It was hilarious.
Now comes the sleep part. I went to bed at around 1:30 and didn't get out of my bed until after noon. We're talking nearly 11 hours of amazing sleep. I woke up all refreshed and relaxed. It was incredible :)
As for today, it was just as much fun if not more. Sam and I got up and did a thorough cleaning, including laundry, dusting, and vacumning the carpet. The room now looks so nice. Then Sam invited me to go to her house and we hung out there for some time. I also got to know her sister and mother better too. She modeled her prom dress, which she designed and her mother made. It was so beautiful and artsy. I'm so jealous of her talent.
When we got back to the dorm, I hung around until later in the evening when Sam, Zhen, Jordan and I went to a sushi place in coventry. Zhen and Jordan had not been exposed much to sushi so Sam and I helped them order. It was a definite hit and we will be going back soon. On the way back to the greenie we stopped and got some ice cream for dessert.
College life is so much fun. I have only been here for four weeks and I can hardly imagine life anywhere else. I love my family and friends from back home, but Case really feels like my home now (or at least for the next few years). So until later, thanks for reading.
Acting Crazy
What a crazy day.
It started out boring and dull. I got up early and started studying. I had a lot of work to do. I ended up going to the Kelvin Smith Library after lunch to write my SAGES paper. Mark was there for a while but he left around 4:30. Jordan came over to KSL from around 5 until we left around 8. We went back to the dorms to drop off our stuff and get Sam and Zhen for dinner, and then the crazyness began. We were eating dinner, picking fun with each other, acting weird as usual when Jordan goes to get a bowl of Fruit Loops. Jordan apparently really likes Fruit Loops but unfortunately there was no milk so we started a scheme to get back at the dining people. We all went and got styrofoam bowls and filled them with cereal. By this point, we were all acting a little loopy.
Walking back from Leutner Sam walked across the grass because it was straighter than walking on the sidewalk. She called out, "It's called common sense." At this point, Jordan smiles at me and says "It's called a sideways tackle" before taking off toward her. I call out her name just in time to allow her to avoid him. But now it was on. She put her bowls of cereal down took off after him. She chased him all around the field, while Zhen and I were doubled over in laughter.
Ami, an art major down the hall, was making this art piece by taking food, chewing it up, and spitting it onto a poster. It was absolutely disgusting but they were having fun making it. After more crazy acting, some of which involving throwing a foam brain at each other and down the stairwell, we watched Signs before going to bed. It is so great that I get to act crazy and no one even really cares here. I love college! Until later, thanks for reading.
Little doze and Emily Rose
Yesterday, I went to theory, physics, and then an hour and a half break before Calc. I started studying in the comfy chairs in Olin lobby but soon fell asleep. It was alright because the quiz wasn't hard.
That evening, Jordan, Mark, Zhen, Sam, and I went to the movies at Tower City. We wanted to see "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" but Sam and Zhen ended up going to see Red Eye while the rest of us went to see it. The movie was really good. It was not a horror film like I expected. There was much more plot to it and the scary part was limited to a few small parts and the actual exorcism scene which was about 10 minutes long.
After the movie, it was around 10:00 and everything was closed so we had no idea where to get dinner. As we headed back to campus, we thought of going to Little Italy to eat at Mama Santa's. Mark decided to go back to the room so the four of us went and ate pizza at 11:00 at night. It was so incredible. I have never eaten better pizza in my life. After dinner, some people came back to our room to watch Coyote Ugly before bed. It was such an amazing evening. I can harldy stand it.
Today I had a Case Concert Choir Rehearsal/Social. It was a great opportunity to go meet more members of the chorus and sing music with amazing musicians. Tonight I'm going to see pleasantville that the film society is putting on and then probably going to the Case/CIM/CIA benefit party that they are putting on for Hurricane Katrina Relief. They are having a dance, movies, food, from 10pm to 10am. Then tomorrow it my workday. Whoo hoo. I love weekends. Until later, thanks for reading.
Let the work begin
Wow! I never knew there would be this much work involved in school. I never studied in high school but that has now changed. I have tons of reading to do.
And I'm not exagerating. I've spent all of Monday, Tuesday, and Today when I haven't been in class studying. I had articles and passages to read for SAGES, a Physics Lab Write-up to finish, Calculus practice problems to try, Music Theory workbook pages to complete, and practicing to do. It is around 11:00 right now and I am not finished with my work yet. The biggest issue is that I am in class until around 6:00 three days a week without significant breaks in the middle of the day to get any work done so I end up trying to finish all of it later in the evening. Let me just say I can hardly wait until this friday when I get a few days off from work and some of us go to see "The exorcism of Emily Rose." It looks really creapy. I can hardly wait! Until later, thanks for reading.
Weekend of Cards and Walks.
Well, the title basically says it all. This weekend was a weekend of card games. Let me explain.
Saturday I met Mark, Matt, Jordan, and Jocelyn for lunch around 1:00. We ate, then Mark had to go get ready for a family reunion and Matt had work to do so Jordan, Jocelyn, and I met up with Zhen to go shopping for a birthday present for Jordan's sister. It was a nice trip. We got on the rapid and took it to the waterfront to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We weren't really in the mood to go around it so we just got gifts from the gift shop and then decided to walk around Cleveland some. We were trying to find a mall and Jordan and I remembered our SAGES professor Chris telling us about something called "The Arcade". We found it on a map and walked to it. On the way we came across the ingenuity festival which was a set up of fair-food booths and a swing band on stage performing. The Arcade ended up being a very old building converted into a Hotel on the upper floors with a bunch of small boutiques on the first two floors. Most of the places were closed and the ones that weren't didn't have anything worth buying.
Our next stop was Tower City. It is the main depot for the Rapid trains that run around the Cleveland area but it is also a big shopping mall on the upper floors. We went in there and Jordan was able to find a game called "Pit" which we would play later. I also bought 6 decks of cards so I could teach others to play "Hand and Foot". We grabbed something to eat in the food court and then headed back to campus. Then, the card playing began.
First, Jordan taught us how to play pit. The deck consists of sets of 9 cards that all have some crop or produce item on them like "barley" or "wheat". After all the cards are delt, you are supposed to trade cards with people but you can't say what you are looking for. All you can say is the number of cards you want to trade. If someone else is looking to trade the same number, you can switch those cards with them. The first person to get 9 of a kind then slaps the "corner - a card in the center" and they win the point total of the cards they collected. For example, wheat is worth 100 points, barley is worth 85 , ect. There are two wild cards. One is the bull which can hurt you or help you. If you have 8 of a kind and the bull, it can count as a wild to be the 9th you need. If you have 9 of a kind and the bull (since two of the four people get 10 cards instead of 9) you get double the score on the cards. However, if someone slaps the corner while the bull is in you posession, it counts as -20 to your score. The other wild card is the bear, which only hurts you. If you have the bear, you can't slap the corner until you get rid of it and, again, if you have it when someone else slaps the corner, it is a -20 to your score. The first player to 500 points wins the game. As you can see, it was an intense game of screaming "4? 4? 4! here, okay 2...2...2...2...2!!!" You sound extremely stupid but it is so much fun, it is all worth it.
After several games of pit, we played a game of UNO to 500. We were vicious. There were games when we would just gang up on people (meaning too or not) and sometimes one of us would end up with a hand of nearly 200 points.
Deciding to take a break from cards, Jordan, Jocelyn, and I started listening to and looking through my music. The three of us all realized that we sing different parts. I sing soprano, Jocelyn is an Alto, and Jordan normally sings baritone. I rememberd that Mark is a tenor so I'm going to check some music out of the music library and we're going to for a little quartet for fun. I'm so excited!!! After watching some tv, we decided to call it a night.
Sunday, the three of us hung out all day. Mark was still at his family reunion and Sam, Zhen, Matt, and his twin brother Chris all went to the air show down at the waterfront. Sam is obsessed with planes and is looking for ways to get her pilot's licence. Anyway, the three of us went to lunch around 1:00 and then went back to the lobby of Taft to play more cards. Jordan taught us an italian trick-taking game called "Cala Brasella," one of the few games made for 3 people. Then we played two more games of pit with a fourth guy from our dorm. I actually won both of these games.
At this point Jocelyn needed to practice for her audition so Jordan and I played a game of Cribbage while she practiced. He also taught me another trick taking game for two people before Zhen called saying they were on the greanie on the way back. We ate in Leutner for dinner and then Jordan, Jocelyn and I went on a walk to the park by the Library and then went to starbucks for coffee. After playing pool (which I suck at) and ping pong (which I'm a little better at) in the lobby with Zhen and Sam, we went to Jocelyn's to watch Finding Nemo. Mark came back at the end of the movie and he, Jordan, Jocelyn, and I went for one more walk around campus just to see it at night. After getting back to the dorm, Mark and I talked for a while just to catch up and then I went to bed.
Today is a study day. I don't expect anything extremely exciting to happen but who knows? At college, you never know when the ordinary will become an adventure. Until later, thanks for reading.
North Carolina Blue Skies
What a beautiful day! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Friday. I got up, took my theory quiz (which I aced), and headed to Physics. Every Friday we do a lesson on Chaos theory. Today we studied fractals. It was so interesting!! I think I am going to love this class. I studied during lunch because I was worried about my Calculus quiz. Of course, it was an extremely easy 2 question quiz so my studying was for no reason, but whatever. I didn't really care because, at 2:50, I was done for the day. Then the fun began.
Sam and I decided that, since it was such a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, we would go to grocery shopping today instead of later this weekend. So, we rounded up a group with Zhen, Joeclyn, and a guy from my SAGES class named Jordan and walked up to the Giant Eagle. I never thought I'd have so much fun going shopping for groceries. On the way, Sam wanted to stop for gelato so we all tried some. It was heavenly! I have always been an ice cream person but this was much creamier and smoother than anything I had had before.
We spent forever in the grocery store. Jordan and I found a whole wall of cheeses and spend nearly 10 minutes picking out which one we wanted to buy. We had to carry all of our groceries back to the campus loop "greanie" bus stop at south campus. Zhen joked about stealing one of the Giant Eagle shopping cart to push them all the way back down the hill and, half way back to school there, we found an empty one on the side of the road! We decided to use it to get to South Campus and, when we got there, we found a whole stash of them just sitting outside one of the dorms. I figure that the south campus students just take them up the hill to the store, buy groceries, and then bring them back after full of groceries. Either way, the irony of finding one was extremely funny.
Back at NRV, we met up with Mark and went to dinner at Leutner Dining Hall. Then we decided to head back to Sam's and my room to watch a movie. Matt came buy and Mark brought "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" which we watched first. Jordan and I had each bought food to share so we had a carpet picnic to share with everyone. We had everything from bree and crackers to flavored pretzels to, Jordan's recipe, tuna with mayonaise and seasoning salt on sour cream and onion potato chips. The tuna was surprisingly very good.
After the first movie, I suggested we watch "The Fifth Element" becasue I love it so much and many of them had never seen it. We got part of the way through it when Sam, Zhen, and Matt had to leave to go see "Sin City" playing with the film society on campus. The rest of us stayed, finished watching the movie, and watched some Will Ferrell skits before calling it a night.
I am so excited. I don't have to get up before noon tomorrow and I have a full three days ahead of me with very little required of me. So, it is time for a good night sleep. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.
The Calm after the Storm
Today was a very relaxing, stress-free day. After SAGES early, I only had theory (which is still extremely easy), my first Voice Lesson, and Eurhythmics. None of those classes actually took much effort on my part. I simply had to show up and sit there.
The most exciting part of my day was my voice lesson. Marla Berg seems so amazing. She is so friendly and easy to talk to. I know this year is going to go extremely well as long as I'm in her studio. She seemed really impressed and said I had a "powerful instrument", which I took as a huge compliment from a new teacher. I can hardly wait until next week for my next lesson.
Well, apparently I am not being fed enough here at school because I just recieved a huge care package from my parents filled with trail mix and crackers and chocolate and hard candies (thanks Mom and Dad). I loved getting the email saying "You've got a package in Wade". It was like Christmas in September. I can't wait until the next one arrives (hint hint ;).
Well, I know it's short, but today was sort of a lazy day. Tomorrow I have my first college quizzes in Theory and Calc. We'll see how those go. Now, I must study so, until then, thanks for reading.
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.