Orientation Weekend

Well, I've come to the end of my orientation weekend, and I'm pretty excited to get classes started. Here's a blow-by-blow of what happened:

We packed up my mom's car Thursday night and then headed out Friday morning. I drove my car with my mom and my dad followed in my mom's car. We got there around 8am. Katrina, my roommate, had already moved in about 2 weeks before that to do a hiking/nature trip. They had gotten back Thursday night, so she had been up for like 10 min when I showed up : P I'm on the 3rd floor (3rd New), and a bunch of the sports guys were there to help the girls move in, which was really great, because they got everything up to the room in no time at all. So for a while I had to figure out where all of my stuff was going to go. Thankfully Katrina already had the desks and beds all configured, so I didn't have to deal with figuring that out. After I got stuff situated, it was time to run around the campus dropping stuff off and picking other stuff up. Then it was lunchtime. At that point, I had run into Luke and his family, so we ate with them and my roomie. And Connie stop by too. Luke proceeded to scare Katrina, mainly by being himself. The next major thing was the New Stuent Dedication Service. It was really cool and then we marched around the Quad, following a single bagpiper, mimicing the walk that seniors do for graduation. Following that there was an Ice Cream Social and then it was time to say goodbye to my parents. There were no tears, so that was good. We ate dinner with the people on our floors, where I met Alissa (fellow Music major, except that she is a piano performance major) and Autumn (her very cool roomie). After the Student life Office Town Meeting, we got put into family groups based on floors, which meant I got to hang out with Hannah even more! It was pretty crazy. We did some activities on the Quad, including having to form the shape of a lawnmower. When they needed someone small to sit on top of some guys hands (we did a riding mower), Luke and Connie were very quick to volunteer me. Love them. They ended up dropping me. After that we went to the Campus Center Lounge to watch some You Tube videos.

The next morning we had some meetings in the chapell and then spent most of the morning with our First Year Intro group, which also happens to be my honors program group (East Meets West). So we played some games to get to know each other, then we had a picnic on the Quad. Afterwards I happened to bump into a transfer student named Jessica and we talked for an hour or so. We have so many similiar views on Christianity and its role in today's society, it was very cool. We took a bus trip to Letchworth for the afternoon and then later in the evening there was a Karaoke party. I did not go up and sing, but I did participate in the singing/dancing that was occuring out in the audience : P Mainly because Hannah left me no other choice.

Today was much more laid back. We had a New Student Worship Service at the Chapel, followed by the President's Reception where we got to meet and talk to President Mullen. I went and walked to the local gas station/video rental/grocery store/laundry mat/car wash. No joke. I'm thinking Bath might even be bigger than that : P I spent most of my time hanging out with Alissa, Autumn, Bethany and Hannah. We even took time to play a small/quick game of Apples to Apples. I finished getting stuff organized in my room, and finally took some pictures. At dinner, Kyle and Garrett from my FYI group joined the silly girls from dinner. One word : Crazy. OUSTA!!! (inside reference). Our FYI group had dessert together at the Flats, so I got to hang out with Kyle and Garrett and went with them to the Koinonia service. It was really Contemporary, which was slightly different from what I'm used to, but still pretty good.


Tomorrow classes start (MWF):
9Am Theory 1. The books: Kostka-Payne: Tonal Harmony, 5th Edition (text and workbook)
Benjamin/Horvit/Nelson: Music for Analysis, 6th Edition

10Am: Biblical Literature. The books: New Revised Standard Version Bible.
Varughese, Alex, ed. Discovering the Bible: Story and Faith of the Biblical Communities. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2005.

11Am: Chapel

2Pm I have my (literally) 5 min chair placement audition for Symph Winds

4pm Symphonic Winds

And my Tuesday/Thursday classes:

9Am: Music in the Christian Perspective. The books:
DeMol, Karen. Sound Stewardship: How Shall Christians Think About Music?. Dort, IA: Dordt College Press, 1999. ISBN 0-932-914-44-6.
Green, Barry. The Inner Game of Music. NY: Anchor, 1986. ISBN 0-385-23126-1.
Levitin, Daniel. This Is Your Brain on Music. NY: Dutton, 2006. ISBN 0-525-94969-0.

10Am: Percussion Instruments. The books: Percussion Manual, Second Edition F. Michael Combs. Alfred's Drum Method Books 1 and 2. Beginning Solos For The Complete Percussionist Contributing Editor Gary Stith

11Am: First Year Introduction (Lecture/Discussion). The book: Serve God, Save The Planet

2Pm: Aural Skills 1. The book (and software!): Benjamin, Horvit, and Nelson: Music for Sight Singing. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2005.
Blombach, Ann: MacGamut 6 (ear training software)



And here's a link to some pictures from the first few days! http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7213&l=fba2d&id=1018706386

I'll hopefully get a chance to write by Wed. how everything goes!