I just finished participating in the 4am slot of the 24 Hours of Prayer! Harvard was the 40th university to do this in a row, completing the 24 hours of continuous prayer for 40 days in various universities throughout New England (each university had 24 hours).
Those in the 4am slot (there were 4 of us) were supposed to pray based on Romans 8. As I was reading it in preparation last night, I was struck by what a wonderful chapter it is... In the prayer room there was a blanket signed by all of the participants (in all of the universities) and prayer notebooks of thoughts, inspirations and prayers of the students. One of my friends even found an addition that her brother had written (he goes to a different university in New England)!! The prayer time actually went by a lot faster than I expected and before I knew it, it was 5:10 and the people for the next shift came in.
And now I must sleep, for tonight, I test!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Math 1b Hourly 2
I have my next math test on Wednesday at 6:30 pm. I don't think I've ever felt so unprepared for a test. (Taking OSSM into account): I don't think I've ever felt so unprepared for a test that mattered.
Nonsensical Things that Will be Taking Away My Study Time:
Nonsensical Things that Will be Taking Away My Study Time:
- Tuesday
- 7am photoshoot for the Pitches in strapless dresses and without coats
- Class (most nonsensical of them all)
- Rehearsal (not nonsensical, love it, but inopportune at times)
- Wednesday
- 4am prayer in the library to help with Harvard's 24 hours of prayer to complete the 40-university stretch of 40 days of prayer (not nonsensical at all or taking away study time, just sleep time)
- Class (see above)
- Voice Lesson (also not nonsensical, love it, will hopefully be stress-relieving)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
"Are You Still Doing the Blog???"
Ummmm.... Yes.
Thanks for that conviction, Katelyn. :D
I keep thinking that my daily schedule will become a bit more uniform, but I think I should learn to accept that this will never be the case. I am learning to have better time management, though. And after the grades I got on my last two midterms, I really have no other choice...
I have begun to notice this strange sense of timelessness here. As in, I feel like it has only been a few days since my last blog post, only to realize it has been three weeks. Or, I feel like I have been in college for six or seven months, but it has only actually been 10 weeks. It's like I can't fully grasp a sense of time anymore. It is kind of unnerving...
Parent's Weekend
Was wonderful!! Mom came and I got to spend time with her and she was able to see our a cappella concert! Hopefully I will be able to get videos of it soon! It was wonderful and I received my Pitch Name (every year before the first jam at Sander's theatre, the baby Pitches get nicknames): Sweet T Pitch. Because I am always sweet (to which my friend Maddie scoffed) and because I have very interesting adventures on the T (the subway), alluding to my utter FAIL at attempting to get to my first voice lesson.
I Fail at Public Transportation
Since I cannot just allude to the story without telling it, on my first experience of going on the T by myself, I failed both liberally and miserably. I like to blame it on the fact that I've grown up in places like Missouri and Oklahoma that have an unfortunate lack of public transportation, but really (and don't tell anyone I told you this), I think it's just because I lack common sense. So, I started off on the Red Line (the line that goes to Harvard) and was supposed to switch to the Green Line at the Park Street stop. So I was going and then I got all the way to Charles MGH (the stop right before Park Street) and then looked at the subway map and somehow (I still don't understand how) determined that I had missed my stop (I guess I was looking in the wrong direction). So I got off at Charles MGH, go to the other side and make my way back on the Red line. But something tells me that I might be going in the wrong direction, so I asked someone to confirm and they informed me that I was utterly wrong. So I got off at Central Station (one station AFTER Harvard, as in I as almost back at Harvard), had to get out of the station and buy a new ticket (because the two sides were not connected) and then finally get on the right way. Needless to say, I am now a pro at the subway. After that many fails, it's kind of hard not to be.
Babysitting!
So, I kind of have a job now (though not a work-study, like I need to have...)! I am babysitting for this Israeli family that lives one street over from my dorm. They had put up fliers in the dorms asking for a Harvard student interesting in babysitting, so I called, and now, here I am! They are very cute children. The girl (E) is 5 and the little boy (S) is 3. I am having E teach me Hebrew. I can already say "mother," "father," (although this one was kind of cheating, because of the Bible) "water," "yes," "no," "come here," (for both genders) and "bagel." E has tried to teach me other things but they are usually too difficult to pronounce and I forget them all... In my opinion, these are all I need! But anyway, I should be fluent in no time!
Thanks for that conviction, Katelyn. :D
I keep thinking that my daily schedule will become a bit more uniform, but I think I should learn to accept that this will never be the case. I am learning to have better time management, though. And after the grades I got on my last two midterms, I really have no other choice...
I have begun to notice this strange sense of timelessness here. As in, I feel like it has only been a few days since my last blog post, only to realize it has been three weeks. Or, I feel like I have been in college for six or seven months, but it has only actually been 10 weeks. It's like I can't fully grasp a sense of time anymore. It is kind of unnerving...
Parent's Weekend
Was wonderful!! Mom came and I got to spend time with her and she was able to see our a cappella concert! Hopefully I will be able to get videos of it soon! It was wonderful and I received my Pitch Name (every year before the first jam at Sander's theatre, the baby Pitches get nicknames): Sweet T Pitch. Because I am always sweet (to which my friend Maddie scoffed) and because I have very interesting adventures on the T (the subway), alluding to my utter FAIL at attempting to get to my first voice lesson.
I Fail at Public Transportation
Since I cannot just allude to the story without telling it, on my first experience of going on the T by myself, I failed both liberally and miserably. I like to blame it on the fact that I've grown up in places like Missouri and Oklahoma that have an unfortunate lack of public transportation, but really (and don't tell anyone I told you this), I think it's just because I lack common sense. So, I started off on the Red Line (the line that goes to Harvard) and was supposed to switch to the Green Line at the Park Street stop. So I was going and then I got all the way to Charles MGH (the stop right before Park Street) and then looked at the subway map and somehow (I still don't understand how) determined that I had missed my stop (I guess I was looking in the wrong direction). So I got off at Charles MGH, go to the other side and make my way back on the Red line. But something tells me that I might be going in the wrong direction, so I asked someone to confirm and they informed me that I was utterly wrong. So I got off at Central Station (one station AFTER Harvard, as in I as almost back at Harvard), had to get out of the station and buy a new ticket (because the two sides were not connected) and then finally get on the right way. Needless to say, I am now a pro at the subway. After that many fails, it's kind of hard not to be.
Babysitting!
So, I kind of have a job now (though not a work-study, like I need to have...)! I am babysitting for this Israeli family that lives one street over from my dorm. They had put up fliers in the dorms asking for a Harvard student interesting in babysitting, so I called, and now, here I am! They are very cute children. The girl (E) is 5 and the little boy (S) is 3. I am having E teach me Hebrew. I can already say "mother," "father," (although this one was kind of cheating, because of the Bible) "water," "yes," "no," "come here," (for both genders) and "bagel." E has tried to teach me other things but they are usually too difficult to pronounce and I forget them all... In my opinion, these are all I need! But anyway, I should be fluent in no time!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Big News in the Art World!
To all of you who have been reading this, I don't blame you if that is no longer the case! I have been exceptionally bad at keeping this updated, but college life is crazy and unpredictable as I have been finding out.
So to recap all of the interesting things that have happened in my life thus far:
1. Common Casting
All of the musicals and plays (and some operas) that are put on at Harvard go through an audition process known as Common Casting where for one week from 6pm-12am students can go to one of three theaters to audition for all of the shows that are there currently. You audition for all of the shows at the same time and, as a result, you, very conveniently, find out about which shows you have gotten in to all at the same time.
I'm not much of an straight-play actress, so I wasn't too invested in CC this year (mostly because I wanted to focus on getting into an a cappella group). There were only 4 musical-type shows going on and I wasn't particularly interested in any of them, but I auditioned none the less (and also for some plays on a whim) and ended up getting in way over my head and regretting it once a cappella auditions started over-lapping with CC callbacks.
2. A Cappella
Yay!! This was the most intense audition process I think I have ever been through. Saturday and Sunday I spent going to preliminary a cappella auditions (and CC callbacks!) for 5 out of the 6 prominent a cappella groups on campus available to women (there are a few all-male groups): The Radcliffe Pitches (all-girl), The Callbacks (co-ed), The Veritones (co-ed), The Opportunes (co-ed), and the Fallen Angels (all-girl). I then spent the next five nights (from times ranging from 6pm-1am or later) going from one audition to the next for each of the groups (all though I only ended up doing 3 groups the last 3 nights). Each day the called back fewer people and it was so strange to see the crowds of auditionees dwindling as the week went on. The competition was extremely stiff for all of the groups. Harvard student are seriously talented.
But to make a long story short, I ended up getting into the Radcliffe Pitches (!!) which was my first choice! And we have our first big A Cappella jam on October 16th in Sanders Theater during Parent's Weekend. I CAN'T WAIT! I love being in the Pitches. It is SO nice to be doing a lot of artsy things again after going to OSSM...
3. First Solo Trip into Boston
This happened this afternoon and it was almost a complete failure. So the reason I was venturing into Boston alone is because I was going to my first voice lesson (!!). I'd been on the T (the subway) before with other people, and I figured it couldn't possibly be so hard. I was wrong. Perhaps it has been growing up in tiny towns for the past 9 years of my life, or maybe it's just plain lack of common sense, but whatever it was, I ended up on the subway going back and forth because I thought I had missed my stop when it turned out that I hadn't even reached my stop yet. Not a mistake that's easy to make, let me tell you. So, in the end I ended up being 20 minutes late and I thought my new teacher was going to hate me, but he totally understood.
So my teacher is an absolutely wonderful person and I can tell I am going to learn so much from him! He was extremely impressed by my voice and commended my previous voice teacher (thanks Mrs. King!!) for teaching me such good technique! It was really exciting to be praised so highly, especially when he teaches professionals and talented college students (including ones in Berklee and the New England Conservatory) whose talent I would consider much superior to my own. But anyway, this is going to be a wonderful year!!
So to recap all of the interesting things that have happened in my life thus far:
1. Common Casting
All of the musicals and plays (and some operas) that are put on at Harvard go through an audition process known as Common Casting where for one week from 6pm-12am students can go to one of three theaters to audition for all of the shows that are there currently. You audition for all of the shows at the same time and, as a result, you, very conveniently, find out about which shows you have gotten in to all at the same time.
I'm not much of an straight-play actress, so I wasn't too invested in CC this year (mostly because I wanted to focus on getting into an a cappella group). There were only 4 musical-type shows going on and I wasn't particularly interested in any of them, but I auditioned none the less (and also for some plays on a whim) and ended up getting in way over my head and regretting it once a cappella auditions started over-lapping with CC callbacks.
2. A Cappella
Yay!! This was the most intense audition process I think I have ever been through. Saturday and Sunday I spent going to preliminary a cappella auditions (and CC callbacks!) for 5 out of the 6 prominent a cappella groups on campus available to women (there are a few all-male groups): The Radcliffe Pitches (all-girl), The Callbacks (co-ed), The Veritones (co-ed), The Opportunes (co-ed), and the Fallen Angels (all-girl). I then spent the next five nights (from times ranging from 6pm-1am or later) going from one audition to the next for each of the groups (all though I only ended up doing 3 groups the last 3 nights). Each day the called back fewer people and it was so strange to see the crowds of auditionees dwindling as the week went on. The competition was extremely stiff for all of the groups. Harvard student are seriously talented.
But to make a long story short, I ended up getting into the Radcliffe Pitches (!!) which was my first choice! And we have our first big A Cappella jam on October 16th in Sanders Theater during Parent's Weekend. I CAN'T WAIT! I love being in the Pitches. It is SO nice to be doing a lot of artsy things again after going to OSSM...
3. First Solo Trip into Boston
This happened this afternoon and it was almost a complete failure. So the reason I was venturing into Boston alone is because I was going to my first voice lesson (!!). I'd been on the T (the subway) before with other people, and I figured it couldn't possibly be so hard. I was wrong. Perhaps it has been growing up in tiny towns for the past 9 years of my life, or maybe it's just plain lack of common sense, but whatever it was, I ended up on the subway going back and forth because I thought I had missed my stop when it turned out that I hadn't even reached my stop yet. Not a mistake that's easy to make, let me tell you. So, in the end I ended up being 20 minutes late and I thought my new teacher was going to hate me, but he totally understood.
So my teacher is an absolutely wonderful person and I can tell I am going to learn so much from him! He was extremely impressed by my voice and commended my previous voice teacher (thanks Mrs. King!!) for teaching me such good technique! It was really exciting to be praised so highly, especially when he teaches professionals and talented college students (including ones in Berklee and the New England Conservatory) whose talent I would consider much superior to my own. But anyway, this is going to be a wonderful year!!
Friday, September 17, 2010
HARVARD-RADCLIFFE PITCHES!!
I AM ONE OF THEMMMMM!!!!!!
Here is a link.
Look them up.
The past two weeks have been absolutely insane. I haven't slept since yesterday. I have to go to class, more info later!!
Here is a link.
Look them up.
The past two weeks have been absolutely insane. I haven't slept since yesterday. I have to go to class, more info later!!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Let's Concentrate in ECs...
So this week we have been inundated with meetings for extracurriculars. First, it began with the activities fair where all of the student groups on campus put up booths in the Quad and force you to sign up for their mailing lists by means of enticing you with pizza, candy, rootbeer, and the like. Then, your e-mail box becomes full of reminders for meetings and you have to read through 10s of e-mails to find the clubs you actually wanted to join rather than the ones you just signed up for because they asked you if you, "want to help kids with cancer?" which no human being with a conscience can say, "no," to. Then once you've actually chosen which meetings you want to go to, you have to figure out what order you want to do them in because, consequently, they are all at the exact same time. Literally. But once this is done, you feel accomplished, yet overwhelmed because you have finally remembered that you are not going to school to join clubs, but to learn and then you wish you could just concentrate (fancy Harvard lingo for "major") in extracurricular activities so that you wouldn't have to make any sacrifices.
And then on top of all of the club meetings you must go to, you also have to begin preparation for all the (TOO MANY) auditions you are going to go to. As a freshman, you want to maximize your probabilty of actually making one of the prestigious a cappellas or getting into one of the casts of the plays or musicals. So you audition for all of them. Every single one. In the end, you hope that one of them works out, but considering you have not yet chosen any audition songs, you figure you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch.
And then on top of all of the club meetings you must go to, you also have to begin preparation for all the (TOO MANY) auditions you are going to go to. As a freshman, you want to maximize your probabilty of actually making one of the prestigious a cappellas or getting into one of the casts of the plays or musicals. So you audition for all of them. Every single one. In the end, you hope that one of them works out, but considering you have not yet chosen any audition songs, you figure you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch.
Monday, August 30, 2010
So, to Recap
On Saturday we had our FAP pageant. And it was amazing. Somehow, we were able to completely create and rehearse a show in two days, perform it two days later, and become the biggest hit on campus.
Only at Harvard, reader.
Hopefully there will be videos soon for you to see our beautiful work, but apparently Dean Dingman (the Freshman Dean) wants us to have a revival for parents weekend because our show was so good.
I think doing FAP has been life-changing. I mean, as life-changing as such a short program can be, I really think they changed me as much as they possibly could. Music comp is my new thing. I just want to write songs about everything!! And I'm taking Music 2 (a music theory class) this semester, and I am so excited for it.
I feel like I already have a pretty solid group of friends from FAP, which makes things really difficult in terms of making friends with the non-FAP members (the rest of the 1551 people XP ) of the class, because I just feel like I don't need to. Once classes begin, though, I'm sure that will change, so I'm not at all worried.
Speaking of classes, I think I have my schedule picked out for the semester! It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. It was all pretty straightforward. I'm taking Math 1a, Life Sciences 1, Music 2, and Spanish 30 or C. Somehow, I managed to test into a really high level of Spanish (30), but I think I'll move myself down to C. Although, both classes are taught completely in Spanish, so it might not really make a difference... Oh, Prof Rojas, WHY did you do this to me?!!? I feel so unprepared for college level Spanish, but I have no choice at all...
Only at Harvard, reader.
Hopefully there will be videos soon for you to see our beautiful work, but apparently Dean Dingman (the Freshman Dean) wants us to have a revival for parents weekend because our show was so good.
I think doing FAP has been life-changing. I mean, as life-changing as such a short program can be, I really think they changed me as much as they possibly could. Music comp is my new thing. I just want to write songs about everything!! And I'm taking Music 2 (a music theory class) this semester, and I am so excited for it.
I feel like I already have a pretty solid group of friends from FAP, which makes things really difficult in terms of making friends with the non-FAP members (the rest of the 1551 people XP ) of the class, because I just feel like I don't need to. Once classes begin, though, I'm sure that will change, so I'm not at all worried.
Speaking of classes, I think I have my schedule picked out for the semester! It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. It was all pretty straightforward. I'm taking Math 1a, Life Sciences 1, Music 2, and Spanish 30 or C. Somehow, I managed to test into a really high level of Spanish (30), but I think I'll move myself down to C. Although, both classes are taught completely in Spanish, so it might not really make a difference... Oh, Prof Rojas, WHY did you do this to me?!!? I feel so unprepared for college level Spanish, but I have no choice at all...
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