Hello all,
I can't believe it has already been almost a month since I've moved in. As a matter of fact, it has been a month exactly! As kind of a weird anniversary of that occasion, I went home this weekend. It was honestly a weird feeling. I mean, I missed my family a lot, but it was almost like my body had adapted to Luther being my "home." I can't exactly describe what I was feeling, except that it was similar to a "oh yes...." feeling. It was weird to see my puppies (5 and 10 year old dogs) again, weird to see the cows, and pretty much the same for all the other parts of the farm. Now, I would like to reiterate again, it wasn't a bad weird, it was a different feeling than what I expected. So, I spent some time with the family, went out to Hu Hot (an amazing mongolian grill chain in Iowa), and sang at a wedding. It made for a pretty random weekend, but towards the end I was slightly tempted not to come back to Luther (only about one percent....and that was only because my mom made pancakes before I left.)
I do think that while it was good to see my family, I don't think I could handle more than the once or twice a month seeing them, because then it would be really hard for me to come back to school. I've already kind of planned out my next visits home, so that shouldn't be a problem.
OTHER than that, the past week has been fairly uneventful, I got horribly sick and really didn't do much for the entire week. I'm still getting over it, but I think I may have gotten my two roommates sick...so sorry guys!
Well, I have to go practice some before my seminar!
Later,
Jake
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Family Weekend
Hello....again! It's been a trying week, I went from having minimal amounts of homework to having two papers to write, 300 pages to read, and five pages of my theory homework to do. Talk about passive aggressive assignment...ing! But that's what I originally expected from college, so I think I'll adjust just fine to the work load, just not this weekend.
I can mostly attribute my lack of motivation due to the fact that this weekend was “Family Weekend” here at Luther. This basically means that 99% of the students here had their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles...and second cousins. Anyway, I was part of that 99%. A lot of people's families come up on Friday night for some events the college has then, but most people come up Saturday for the football game and choir and band concert, like my mom and brother. I hadn't seen my brother since I moved in a month ago, and he grew about another inch (he's now a 6'4'' [ish] 15 year old). It was fun to show them around campus and share everything I had taken in over the last month in about 2 hours.
Later in the day, I had my first Norsemen concert, along with Aurora, Cathedral, Cantorei, and Collegiate choirs, and the Varsity and Wind and Percussion bands. Looking at that list, it looks like it would make a long concert, but it was only about an hour and 15 min. Shortly after the concert, I had to make the short jog from the CFL (Center for Faith and Life), to the cafeteria in the Dahl Centennial Union for the Jazz band concert. It was a “soda shoppe” event hosted by the SAC (Student Activities Committee), which basically means people ate ice cream and listened to... slash danced to... the music of the Jazz Band and Jazz Orchestra (Jazz II and I respectively). As boring as my day sounded, I really enjoyed spending time with a portion of my family again. I was a classic case of not missing them until I was gone. Well, that's all I have for this week!
Later!
Jake
I can mostly attribute my lack of motivation due to the fact that this weekend was “Family Weekend” here at Luther. This basically means that 99% of the students here had their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles...and second cousins. Anyway, I was part of that 99%. A lot of people's families come up on Friday night for some events the college has then, but most people come up Saturday for the football game and choir and band concert, like my mom and brother. I hadn't seen my brother since I moved in a month ago, and he grew about another inch (he's now a 6'4'' [ish] 15 year old). It was fun to show them around campus and share everything I had taken in over the last month in about 2 hours.
Later in the day, I had my first Norsemen concert, along with Aurora, Cathedral, Cantorei, and Collegiate choirs, and the Varsity and Wind and Percussion bands. Looking at that list, it looks like it would make a long concert, but it was only about an hour and 15 min. Shortly after the concert, I had to make the short jog from the CFL (Center for Faith and Life), to the cafeteria in the Dahl Centennial Union for the Jazz band concert. It was a “soda shoppe” event hosted by the SAC (Student Activities Committee), which basically means people ate ice cream and listened to... slash danced to... the music of the Jazz Band and Jazz Orchestra (Jazz II and I respectively). As boring as my day sounded, I really enjoyed spending time with a portion of my family again. I was a classic case of not missing them until I was gone. Well, that's all I have for this week!
Later!
Jake
Monday, September 15, 2008
One week down...
Now with the first "official" week of classes under my belt, I think I'm finally settling into a groove. it didn't take me long to realize that 18 credit hours makes for, well, four too many credit hours. For those of you who don't know, Luther bases it's course credit on "credit hours." From what I understand, the title really doesn't change the fact that they just add up to the amount you need to graduate. Speaking of which, I'm not sure off the top of my head how many you do need, so I'll get back to you guys on that. Each class on average is about 4, and some are 0, and some are more...I think. But anyways, 18 credit hours is a lot, most people max out at 16, and with all the things I'm doing, I doubt I could even handle that.
So, now I'm down to my theory and ear training classes, my sophomore psychology class, and of course, Paideia (which isn't as bad as you hear about ;). I also recently made the Jazz Band (in essence, Jazz Two) on piano. We rehearse every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and a half. I'm also in Norsemen, the freshman men's chorus. Its a pretty sweet experience, I've never been in a strictly TTBB (Tenor 1 Tenor 2 Bass 1 Bass 2) choir, and I've got to admit, it's awesome! On top of those, I'm also taking private Voice and Piano lessons. Because of that, I accompany for 8 other music major's lessons, and accompany my voice studio's seminar once every week. Oh, and I also tutor down at the elementary schools every Tuesday and Thursday.
Honestly, I haven't had much homework yet. Apart from the frequent worksheets from my music classes, I know I haven't hit the "motherload" of college work yet. Luckily, I'm pretty interested in all of the classes I'm taking. More than likely, my next post will find me SWAMPED in homework. Wait for it.
Apart from the busy schedule, I still am having a phenomenal (word of the day) time here on campus. I may or may not be eating too much at the cafeteria. I may or may not be studying as much as I should. But I certainly am getting a LOT out of my experience thus far.
Later!
Jake
So, now I'm down to my theory and ear training classes, my sophomore psychology class, and of course, Paideia (which isn't as bad as you hear about ;). I also recently made the Jazz Band (in essence, Jazz Two) on piano. We rehearse every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and a half. I'm also in Norsemen, the freshman men's chorus. Its a pretty sweet experience, I've never been in a strictly TTBB (Tenor 1 Tenor 2 Bass 1 Bass 2) choir, and I've got to admit, it's awesome! On top of those, I'm also taking private Voice and Piano lessons. Because of that, I accompany for 8 other music major's lessons, and accompany my voice studio's seminar once every week. Oh, and I also tutor down at the elementary schools every Tuesday and Thursday.
Honestly, I haven't had much homework yet. Apart from the frequent worksheets from my music classes, I know I haven't hit the "motherload" of college work yet. Luckily, I'm pretty interested in all of the classes I'm taking. More than likely, my next post will find me SWAMPED in homework. Wait for it.
Apart from the busy schedule, I still am having a phenomenal (word of the day) time here on campus. I may or may not be eating too much at the cafeteria. I may or may not be studying as much as I should. But I certainly am getting a LOT out of my experience thus far.
Later!
Jake
Thursday, September 4, 2008
First Things First
Hey! I'm Jake, and if you didn't read my info, I'm a music and psychology major at Luther, and enjoy candlelight, coffee, and poetry readings. I'm originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa, which is a whopping hour and a half away. However, I've never gone to school in Cedar Falls, but instead up the road to a smaller town of Waverly. But, that's just some boring education background stuff.
I came to Luther for several reasons, the top two being their impressive music program and the financial aid I received. All in all, I applied to 15 different schools: private, out of state, state schools, and big universities. Regardless of where I got accepted, I wasn't ever treated the same as I was when I visited and applied to Luther College. And wherever you visit and go, you'll find that every campus has a different attitude - Luther's just happens to be nice. But I digress, I came to Luther because I liked it, and when you visit, you'll probably find some things you like too.
Anyway, enough about me, I want to tell all of you what an AMAZING experience I had moving in. So, I spent most of the last few weeks of summer actually preparing to move in. I was even able to move in one day early on Friday the 29th. When we got into Decorah, I just got this overwhelming feeling, and I actually missed my parents...who were still in the car with me. One good thing about living in Olson is the fact that there is a parking lot right behind the building. You don't get that anywhere else as a freshman! We pulled up to the door, and brought my 14 boxes, mattress pad, futon, rug, fridge, and everything else in in about 5 minutes. I figured if college doesn't work out for me, I definitely have a career in moving. However, it took us about 4 hours to arrange the three lofts into the best arrangement on my floor. So, when I finally got everything moved in, arranged, and unpacked, I sent my parents home. It was a weird feeling, but I felt that I had just jumped the first and biggest hurdle of college: being ok with not being at home. The next few days were spent going to meetings, meeting people, and just spending time in my AIR CONDITIONED dorm room being cool...literally.
Now I have the first few classes under my belt, and feel ready to conquer the world. Which would be interesting to see, I may add...but that's for another day.
Hope this finds you well.
Later!
Jake
I came to Luther for several reasons, the top two being their impressive music program and the financial aid I received. All in all, I applied to 15 different schools: private, out of state, state schools, and big universities. Regardless of where I got accepted, I wasn't ever treated the same as I was when I visited and applied to Luther College. And wherever you visit and go, you'll find that every campus has a different attitude - Luther's just happens to be nice. But I digress, I came to Luther because I liked it, and when you visit, you'll probably find some things you like too.
Anyway, enough about me, I want to tell all of you what an AMAZING experience I had moving in. So, I spent most of the last few weeks of summer actually preparing to move in. I was even able to move in one day early on Friday the 29th. When we got into Decorah, I just got this overwhelming feeling, and I actually missed my parents...who were still in the car with me. One good thing about living in Olson is the fact that there is a parking lot right behind the building. You don't get that anywhere else as a freshman! We pulled up to the door, and brought my 14 boxes, mattress pad, futon, rug, fridge, and everything else in in about 5 minutes. I figured if college doesn't work out for me, I definitely have a career in moving. However, it took us about 4 hours to arrange the three lofts into the best arrangement on my floor. So, when I finally got everything moved in, arranged, and unpacked, I sent my parents home. It was a weird feeling, but I felt that I had just jumped the first and biggest hurdle of college: being ok with not being at home. The next few days were spent going to meetings, meeting people, and just spending time in my AIR CONDITIONED dorm room being cool...literally.
Now I have the first few classes under my belt, and feel ready to conquer the world. Which would be interesting to see, I may add...but that's for another day.
Hope this finds you well.
Later!
Jake
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