"Getting to Know You.."

During the Music School's convocation Dean Hoffman mentioned the importance of having friends during the busy college years. Sometimes a student may feel so rundown and overwhelmed with the music school's workload that she needs support from another to get back on board. I took this seriously and have been trying to make friends. The people I have formed the closest relationships with have been music students. Since the music students share many of the same classes, they carry the same burden of work. Plus, they can commiserate. Even though complaining does not change the circumstance, it is nice to vent with some. 

Up to this point, I have considered most of my relationships as healthy. I have not quite made any close friendships, but I have some friendly acquaintances. One problem concerning my ability to know who considers me a friend is that I have pretty low self-esteem. This causes me to have poor judgement when it comes to knowing how I'm perceived by others. There may be girls who really do consider me their friend who I'd love to be friends with, but I don't know how they actually feel about me. 

I do think that meal times are great times to meet people and make friends. Some people that I was unsure about, I have sat with when the dining hall was mostly empty and had good conversations with. The thing I love about Converse is that most of the girls are friendly. Not everyone has the same beliefs, but I feel like most people are tolerant. However, I have noticed a trend of girls with similar beliefs grouping together.

One of my biggest problems with making lots of friends is my pathetic memory for names. When I put a name with a face the person becomes very important, and I'm able to remember specific things about them. The other problem is I have ADHD. Sometimes I'll talk to much or get too excited or get distracted and seem disinterested or rude. I hope people can look past that and know that I do not want to be mean to anyone.

Study Buddy

The title referring to a "study buddy" is actually less than true. I usually prefer to study alone. However, for some assignments having peers is quite helpful! This is especially true for some of my music classes. However, I haven't found the music building especially helpful for studying except for in the practice rooms when I'm learning music for my voice teacher, musicianship, or opera scenes, and that is usually for working individually. 

I have found a good place in the library tough. In the library there is a music oriented study place referred to as the music library! The music library is great for working with music peers or to just concentrate alone in the stillness. I have studied in there for several hours before, and it has a very good study atmosphere! Plus it offers a number of LPs, CDs, music movies, and music DVDs for listening or viewing with three wonderful listening rooms equipped with stereos and record players, and one specific for watching movies! I find the area a place where I can concentrate with ease, and if I have questions there's usually another music student there who can help! Plus there are internet-connected computers, so I have all the necessities I need! It is one of my top spots for studying. A study place that I haven't had a chance to study in, but I would also really to try out is the third floor because it seems so quiet and peaceful! It's rather dim, but quiet and peaceful places are ideal places for me to study. I also do like white noise, because if it is too quiet sometimes I feel like I'm going to fall asleep.

Honesty

In Converse 101 the students were challenge to be completely honest for twenty-one hours. Then we were supposed to blog about the experience, and the outcome. Unfortunately, I chose to be honest on Thursday. This is unfortunate because Thursday turned out to be quite uneventful! This concerned me because I worried that I might not be able to adequate blog summary because being honest was just like every other day. With that in mind, I chose to be honest another day. This also was a disappointment. The day failed to have any reasons for me to be dishonest. In light of the experience, being honest for not twenty-one hours, but forty-two (actually more like twenty-one minus the sleep) was surprisingly easy. 

My feelings on the honor code are great. I think this experiment proved that an honor works. I was not confronted with the desire to be dishonest because everyone (myself included) was acting considerably honorable. However, if I had conducted this experiment on the weekend, it may have been more challenging. I feel like the weekend is probably the majorty of student's preferred time for acting out. However, I was saying, the honor code is mostly good. It usually works because it raises the morale and self-esteem of the students because they have ideals and morals.

Converse Organizations

On September third I went to the Organizational Fair. The numerous clubs with information at their tables and gifts for those who signed up made it a very exciting event! I had trouble refusing most groups, so I signed up for more than I will actually join. My greatest interest pertained  to religious organizations. Because my religion is very important to me, it is a necessity that I stay focused on Jesus. In high school there used to be a group who would meet on Fridays during lunch and discuss the Bible. Unfortunately, it never gained much popularity. I ended up choosing to help the also unpopular recycling club on Friday's by collecting all the accumulated paper from each classroom. I was also a part of the FCA, but it was a bit complicated because it stopped being open to non-athletes when I was a junior due to change in leadership. Fortunately, I was on the varsity soccer team that year. Still, it turned into a group that failed to uphold many Christian ideas and rarely met. I also was in my church's choir, and I was in another church's youth group. Although being groups focused on Christ is nothing new to me, I have not been much of a leader. I signed up at the table for Young Life and Wyld Life. This would enable me to teach and be a positive influence on either high schoolers or middle schoolers. I think this would be really neat. 

I am also interested in music organizations. One club that really interested me was called Music Helping Others. It does nice things like caroling and singing to people on their birthdays. I am also used to being in music clubs. In high school I was in Tri-M, and I was its scholarship recipient.

One issue is the time crunch. Right now I am doing Opera Scenes, plus my music classes are quite demanding. Whenever I finally regain some of my spare time, I would really love to try synchronized swimming. It is foreign to me, but I think it would be really amazing to try! Lastly, this year I am also going to try and squeeze intramural sports, like winter basketball, into my busy schedule.