17 October 2008
Pictures...
I've got a lot of pictures up on Facebook of fall etc, so you can see them by following these links! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009212&l=7ca36&id=1500870042 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009515&l=67fdf&id=1500870042 Yay pictures!
13 October 2008
Update #2!
Hey all!
Sorry it's been a while...I kept thinking "ohh, I need to send another update!" and never got around to it. Then today I got an email update from my Great Aunt Theo and from my sister, and a few days ago from another great aunt, so I figured it was my turn! It's actually been exactly a month since the last one, so perfect timing.
Well, I'm over a month into college, and I've got to agree with what "everyone" says - college is better than high school. I did somehow manage to have a great time in high school, but college so far is great. My classes, in general, are all good, orchestra's awesome, and I haven't met anyone so far that I don't really like. Of course I'm better friends with some than others, but it's really nice not to actually dislike anyone. Oh, and the food here is good. Not homecooked, of course, but definitely edible all the time.
Family weekend was in September. Unfortunately, my parents weren't able to make it up here because my mom was going to be the substitute choir director (turns out she didn't have to, but by then it was too late). I wasn't too worried because I knew there were some other girls on my floor who didn't have parents coming either, so I figured I could hang out with them. I actually ended up getting adopted by one of the girls across the hall and her family (the Hylands). They're from Oskaloosa IA and know my Aunt Sally and Uncle Rand, or at least who they are. Kelly and I connected via facebook before school started, and have become pretty good friends. So her family took me out with them for the day! We went to Dunning Springs, which is a really pretty waterfall about a five-six minute drive from campus, and hiked around for a while out there, before heading off to dinner at Sabor Latino, a Mexican restaurant in town. It wasn't all that amazing, but it was different than caf food, so it was just fine!
The weekend after family weekend was homecoming, so there were lots of activities going on! Monday there was an open mic night in Marty's (our grill place/coffeeshop), which was really fun. A girl from our floor and one of her friends performed, which was cool. One of my favorite acts was an Irish group! It was so unique; very different from all the singing/dancing/other playing. Then on...Wednesday, I think it was, there was "alumni gift giveaway" where everyone can get a free gift. This year it was a gym bag type thing (one of those that has rope/cord straps that pass through and tighten around the top...I'm not sure how to explain it), which was nice and useful! Friday night was Jazz Night in Marty's, which was awesome! The Luther Jazz Bands played (I wasn't sure how many of them there were...), plus some other people. A group of us played cribbage and cards for a while, then we just sat around and talked, then we danced for a while.
Saturday night was the best though. Every year they have one formal (well, semi-formal...) dance, the Flamingo Ball. They bring in a live band, and it's just really cool! This year they had the Paul Windsor Jazz Orchestra, and they were amazing! I've never been to a dance before with live music, and I must say it makes them so much better. I figured I wouldn't stay for the whole time because I didn't like high school dances, but I stayed until midnight, and wished it would've kept going! Not only was the music better, but there was actually some real dancing going on. Since we've been taking ballroom and swing dance lessons, a bunch of us knew how to dance, and could figure out the lead parts enough to keep ourselves occupied.
That's about all I can think of that's interesting here, other than that fall break is this weekend! I'm really excited to be going home and seeing people and sleeping a lot. Beth tells me that it's weird to be home the first few breaks, so I'll have to see if she's right!
As I've said, emails are always welcome!!! Love to you all!
Sorry it's been a while...I kept thinking "ohh, I need to send another update!" and never got around to it. Then today I got an email update from my Great Aunt Theo and from my sister, and a few days ago from another great aunt, so I figured it was my turn! It's actually been exactly a month since the last one, so perfect timing.
Well, I'm over a month into college, and I've got to agree with what "everyone" says - college is better than high school. I did somehow manage to have a great time in high school, but college so far is great. My classes, in general, are all good, orchestra's awesome, and I haven't met anyone so far that I don't really like. Of course I'm better friends with some than others, but it's really nice not to actually dislike anyone. Oh, and the food here is good. Not homecooked, of course, but definitely edible all the time.
Family weekend was in September. Unfortunately, my parents weren't able to make it up here because my mom was going to be the substitute choir director (turns out she didn't have to, but by then it was too late). I wasn't too worried because I knew there were some other girls on my floor who didn't have parents coming either, so I figured I could hang out with them. I actually ended up getting adopted by one of the girls across the hall and her family (the Hylands). They're from Oskaloosa IA and know my Aunt Sally and Uncle Rand, or at least who they are. Kelly and I connected via facebook before school started, and have become pretty good friends. So her family took me out with them for the day! We went to Dunning Springs, which is a really pretty waterfall about a five-six minute drive from campus, and hiked around for a while out there, before heading off to dinner at Sabor Latino, a Mexican restaurant in town. It wasn't all that amazing, but it was different than caf food, so it was just fine!
The weekend after family weekend was homecoming, so there were lots of activities going on! Monday there was an open mic night in Marty's (our grill place/coffeeshop), which was really fun. A girl from our floor and one of her friends performed, which was cool. One of my favorite acts was an Irish group! It was so unique; very different from all the singing/dancing/other playing. Then on...Wednesday, I think it was, there was "alumni gift giveaway" where everyone can get a free gift. This year it was a gym bag type thing (one of those that has rope/cord straps that pass through and tighten around the top...I'm not sure how to explain it), which was nice and useful! Friday night was Jazz Night in Marty's, which was awesome! The Luther Jazz Bands played (I wasn't sure how many of them there were...), plus some other people. A group of us played cribbage and cards for a while, then we just sat around and talked, then we danced for a while.
Saturday night was the best though. Every year they have one formal (well, semi-formal...) dance, the Flamingo Ball. They bring in a live band, and it's just really cool! This year they had the Paul Windsor Jazz Orchestra, and they were amazing! I've never been to a dance before with live music, and I must say it makes them so much better. I figured I wouldn't stay for the whole time because I didn't like high school dances, but I stayed until midnight, and wished it would've kept going! Not only was the music better, but there was actually some real dancing going on. Since we've been taking ballroom and swing dance lessons, a bunch of us knew how to dance, and could figure out the lead parts enough to keep ourselves occupied.
That's about all I can think of that's interesting here, other than that fall break is this weekend! I'm really excited to be going home and seeing people and sleeping a lot. Beth tells me that it's weird to be home the first few breaks, so I'll have to see if she's right!
As I've said, emails are always welcome!!! Love to you all!
13 September 2008
First week!
Well, at this, the completion of my first FULL week of class etc. here at Luther College, I figured it was time to let people know what was up in my life! Note that chances are I won't be nearly as regular and good about updates as Beth is, but I'll try my best to get something out every so often! Overall stuff has been good, classes are going well, and I've made friends. I guess I'll just go over some highlights of my time here, since you probably don't care too much about the nitty gritty details of each day!
This is slightly backward, but it's freshest in my mind, so I'm going to write about it first. Tonight on campus was the first night of their main stage series thing, featuring major acts and performances from around the world. The kickoff program was a musical political comedy group called Capitol Steps! They make fun of everyone, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, person or occurrence. They take well-known songs and change the lyrics around, mostly. One of the funniest things that they did was take the first syllables/sounds of two words and switch them! The only example I can remember right now is that Sarah Palin becoming Parah Salin (say it out loud...which sport does it sound like?).
Last night was the first of (apparently) monthly salsa dances!! There were brief lessons held in Ylvisaker (one of the first year dorms) beforehand, and then from 9-12 was salsa dancing in our cafe/coffee shop/dance floor, Marty's! It was really fun, despite the lack of guys. We were all expecting that, because at ballroom dance club and swing dance clubs on Tuesday and Thursday respectively, there was a definite lack of guys as well. But we all managed just fine!
For those of you who don't know, which is probably most everyone, I made the top orchestra here. We rehearse three times a week for an hour and a half each time, so it's quite a bit of work, but it's really fun! At the moment we're working on Dvořák's 9th Symphony aka the New World Symphony, along with a piece by Falla, who I had never heard of before. The Dvořák is amazing; he's one of my favorite composers. We had the annual "orchestra play day" today, where we practice for three hours in the morning (9-12), and then get pizza afterward. I'm used to DAPA rehearsals where we had a 15 minute break in the middle of three hours; here we got a half an hour, so it was really easy. There are five of us first year violists, and we all made the top orchestra, which is awesome! We ate lunch together today, and had lots of fun. It just makes me miss all my viola friends back home!
Overall, classes have been going well also. At Luther there's a required class for all freshmen called Paideia. According to wikipedia, in ancient Greek the word paideia means 'education' or 'instruction.' Here, it's mainly a literature class, but we discuss a lot too. My prof is amazing; his name is Storm Bailey and he's a philosophy prof. We've been having some AWESOME discussions in class. My Spanish class is really fun; our prof is nice, and there's a kid from Sioux Falls who I know in there, plus other really fun people. My theory class is the most disappointing. Everything is going to be a review of what we did last year in AP Music Theory. So far we've reviewed major and minor scales and intervals. We're FINALLY (after a week and a half of class, and 25 pages out of the workbook - including one with practicing writing 60 intervals...) moving onto figured bass, so hopefully it'll get more interesting soon. Everyone that I've talked to in the class is equally bored, so that makes it somewhat easier.
So that's a general summary of what's been going on! Obviously, if anyone's in the area (or not...), you're welcome to stop by! A little advance warning would be nice, so I can figure out what's going on, and we can clean our room, but other than that, I'd love to see anyone! Emails work too, though of course face-to-face visits are always better! I love you all!!
Emily
This is slightly backward, but it's freshest in my mind, so I'm going to write about it first. Tonight on campus was the first night of their main stage series thing, featuring major acts and performances from around the world. The kickoff program was a musical political comedy group called Capitol Steps! They make fun of everyone, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, person or occurrence. They take well-known songs and change the lyrics around, mostly. One of the funniest things that they did was take the first syllables/sounds of two words and switch them! The only example I can remember right now is that Sarah Palin becoming Parah Salin (say it out loud...which sport does it sound like?).
Last night was the first of (apparently) monthly salsa dances!! There were brief lessons held in Ylvisaker (one of the first year dorms) beforehand, and then from 9-12 was salsa dancing in our cafe/coffee shop/dance floor, Marty's! It was really fun, despite the lack of guys. We were all expecting that, because at ballroom dance club and swing dance clubs on Tuesday and Thursday respectively, there was a definite lack of guys as well. But we all managed just fine!
For those of you who don't know, which is probably most everyone, I made the top orchestra here. We rehearse three times a week for an hour and a half each time, so it's quite a bit of work, but it's really fun! At the moment we're working on Dvořák's 9th Symphony aka the New World Symphony, along with a piece by Falla, who I had never heard of before. The Dvořák is amazing; he's one of my favorite composers. We had the annual "orchestra play day" today, where we practice for three hours in the morning (9-12), and then get pizza afterward. I'm used to DAPA rehearsals where we had a 15 minute break in the middle of three hours; here we got a half an hour, so it was really easy. There are five of us first year violists, and we all made the top orchestra, which is awesome! We ate lunch together today, and had lots of fun. It just makes me miss all my viola friends back home!
Overall, classes have been going well also. At Luther there's a required class for all freshmen called Paideia. According to wikipedia, in ancient Greek the word paideia means 'education' or 'instruction.' Here, it's mainly a literature class, but we discuss a lot too. My prof is amazing; his name is Storm Bailey and he's a philosophy prof. We've been having some AWESOME discussions in class. My Spanish class is really fun; our prof is nice, and there's a kid from Sioux Falls who I know in there, plus other really fun people. My theory class is the most disappointing. Everything is going to be a review of what we did last year in AP Music Theory. So far we've reviewed major and minor scales and intervals. We're FINALLY (after a week and a half of class, and 25 pages out of the workbook - including one with practicing writing 60 intervals...) moving onto figured bass, so hopefully it'll get more interesting soon. Everyone that I've talked to in the class is equally bored, so that makes it somewhat easier.
So that's a general summary of what's been going on! Obviously, if anyone's in the area (or not...), you're welcome to stop by! A little advance warning would be nice, so I can figure out what's going on, and we can clean our room, but other than that, I'd love to see anyone! Emails work too, though of course face-to-face visits are always better! I love you all!!
Emily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)