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...
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Infinity
I am really tired.
So the yard I am in is referred to as Crimson Yard.
Perhaps I'll change the name of the blog.
So the yard I am in is referred to as Crimson Yard.
Perhaps I'll change the name of the blog.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Snaps for... Move-in Day
Wow.
Seriously, I don't think there is anything more I can say...
Just--
WOW.
So I've been at Harvard for almost a week now (I came last Friday evening) because I was doing a Pre-Orientation--the Freshman Arts Program (FAP), to be exact--and I expected to have some time do put up a few updates on life.
I was wrong.
As soon as we got on campus and had dinner, we got to work. We've been working (relentlessly) from 9am-11pm evereyday (except yesterday was 8-11). But speaking of dinner, I have a story to tell that completely convinced me that I made the right choice in coming here:
We were at dinner and I was talking to my proctor (basically an upperclassmen who acts as a counselor) about the types of art that I do (vocal, musical theater, writing, songwriting/composition, analog photography) and she said, "Oh, you like musical theater and composition! You should meet our Resident Artist for the music thread, Larry!" Here, I should add a disclaimer that she may have told me Larry's last name, but I had been swamped with so many names by this point in time that I forgot it immediately (I didn't even know she'd said Larry until I learned his full name...).
So Megan introduces me to him and tells him about my musical interests and he gets very excited and tells me that he also loves musical theater and is a composer. Of course, by this point, I know that he has to be someone legit (I mean, this is Harvard, afterall), but I was thinking he was just a teacher who composed on the side or something, but either way, I respected the fact that he composes, because (as I learned this summer) good composition is hard. Somewhere along the line in our very nonchalant conversation I ended up telling him that I spent the last part of my summer trying to write a musical (yes, I am writing/will write a musical. Hopefully very soon) and he became extremely interested and was asking me what it was about and I explained to him all of the issues I was having and then he offered to help me out with it. "You should show me some of your stuff and I'll help you out," he'd said. So I was quite taken aback and touched because this person was obviously important, yet he'd offered to help me out without even knowing my level (or lack of?) talent. So I thanked him profusely and agreed.
A few minutes later, we left Dunster House (where we'd been having dinner) and went to the theater where we had an opening ceremony of sorts and we were introduced to the Res Artists and to one another. The first RA to be introduced was the man I had met at dinner. So Dana (the program coordinator) got up and said something about how cool all of the RAs are and that he'd let them introduce themselves and first was, "Larry O'Keefe." Now here I stopped. Larry O'Keefe... That name sounded oddly familiar to me. Suddenly an image materialized into my mind's eye of a playbill of a certain Broadway musical that I both know and love well and had seen on tour earlier this year, but I dismissed the thought. Certainly I had associated incorrectly, I thought. Perhaps Larry O'Keefe was just a common name for men who write musicals (O.o). Surely he wasn't--
And then he stands up and says, "Hi, my name is Larry O'Keefe [again the name!] and I'm a Broadway composer [here, I knew exactly what it is that he'd composed, yet still couldn't bring myself to believe it] and I wrote a musical some of you may know about a movie called Legally Blonde," and I flipped. I love Legally Blonde the Musical. Like, seriously. And I was even more freaked out because I'd just had such a legit, carefree conversation with him and I knew that would never have happened if I'd had the ability to retain names for more than 2 seconds upon meeting someone for the first time. I know for a fact that I never would have told him I was writing a musical. I mean, you don't just tell a Master Craftsman that you are trying your hand (and failing) at doing their craft.
Needless to say (but I'll say it), this past week was phenomenal. I'll have to update more specifics later, for today, WE MOVE IN!
Seriously, I don't think there is anything more I can say...
Just--
WOW.
So I've been at Harvard for almost a week now (I came last Friday evening) because I was doing a Pre-Orientation--the Freshman Arts Program (FAP), to be exact--and I expected to have some time do put up a few updates on life.
I was wrong.
As soon as we got on campus and had dinner, we got to work. We've been working (relentlessly) from 9am-11pm evereyday (except yesterday was 8-11). But speaking of dinner, I have a story to tell that completely convinced me that I made the right choice in coming here:
We were at dinner and I was talking to my proctor (basically an upperclassmen who acts as a counselor) about the types of art that I do (vocal, musical theater, writing, songwriting/composition, analog photography) and she said, "Oh, you like musical theater and composition! You should meet our Resident Artist for the music thread, Larry!" Here, I should add a disclaimer that she may have told me Larry's last name, but I had been swamped with so many names by this point in time that I forgot it immediately (I didn't even know she'd said Larry until I learned his full name...).
So Megan introduces me to him and tells him about my musical interests and he gets very excited and tells me that he also loves musical theater and is a composer. Of course, by this point, I know that he has to be someone legit (I mean, this is Harvard, afterall), but I was thinking he was just a teacher who composed on the side or something, but either way, I respected the fact that he composes, because (as I learned this summer) good composition is hard. Somewhere along the line in our very nonchalant conversation I ended up telling him that I spent the last part of my summer trying to write a musical (yes, I am writing/will write a musical. Hopefully very soon) and he became extremely interested and was asking me what it was about and I explained to him all of the issues I was having and then he offered to help me out with it. "You should show me some of your stuff and I'll help you out," he'd said. So I was quite taken aback and touched because this person was obviously important, yet he'd offered to help me out without even knowing my level (or lack of?) talent. So I thanked him profusely and agreed.
A few minutes later, we left Dunster House (where we'd been having dinner) and went to the theater where we had an opening ceremony of sorts and we were introduced to the Res Artists and to one another. The first RA to be introduced was the man I had met at dinner. So Dana (the program coordinator) got up and said something about how cool all of the RAs are and that he'd let them introduce themselves and first was, "Larry O'Keefe." Now here I stopped. Larry O'Keefe... That name sounded oddly familiar to me. Suddenly an image materialized into my mind's eye of a playbill of a certain Broadway musical that I both know and love well and had seen on tour earlier this year, but I dismissed the thought. Certainly I had associated incorrectly, I thought. Perhaps Larry O'Keefe was just a common name for men who write musicals (O.o). Surely he wasn't--
And then he stands up and says, "Hi, my name is Larry O'Keefe [again the name!] and I'm a Broadway composer [here, I knew exactly what it is that he'd composed, yet still couldn't bring myself to believe it] and I wrote a musical some of you may know about a movie called Legally Blonde," and I flipped. I love Legally Blonde the Musical. Like, seriously. And I was even more freaked out because I'd just had such a legit, carefree conversation with him and I knew that would never have happened if I'd had the ability to retain names for more than 2 seconds upon meeting someone for the first time. I know for a fact that I never would have told him I was writing a musical. I mean, you don't just tell a Master Craftsman that you are trying your hand (and failing) at doing their craft.
Needless to say (but I'll say it), this past week was phenomenal. I'll have to update more specifics later, for today, WE MOVE IN!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
In the Beginning...
So, this is my first post, and I suppose I should begin with a disclaimer. My dorm is not actually in Harvard Yard. Unfortunately, Pennypacker Hall is one of the few freshman dorms that are outside of the Yard, but for the purposes of the title, I'll pretend that I do. :D
Basically I'm beginning this blog because I want to keep all the aunts and uncles and grandparents and friends aware of what is going on in my life so that we can better keep in touch!
I tend to be rather unfaithful when it comes to blogging or journaling, though, but I'll do my best to tell you all of the interesting things.
Love,
Kyra
Basically I'm beginning this blog because I want to keep all the aunts and uncles and grandparents and friends aware of what is going on in my life so that we can better keep in touch!
I tend to be rather unfaithful when it comes to blogging or journaling, though, but I'll do my best to tell you all of the interesting things.
Love,
Kyra
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