College Life

Hey! Ok so my goal was to try and post at least every month...but hehehehe you can see how well that worked. In my defence, I've had a lot of school. And I mean, yes, I know that everyone has a lot of homework, high school or college. But uh yeah. The average course load for a full time student is 3-4 courses or 12 credits. I have 9 courses equalling 19.5 credits. NINE. Life of a music student y'all 😑😄

But! School has been pretty amazing and I've been learning a ton. Literally ;) 

My courses this semester have been as follows:

Two Applied Music Lessons ~ these were vocal lessons and because of the certificate I was in, I had to take two. So yeah. Also, it was sooo encouraging to learn that I was the only in that program and no one else was because it was the harder one. Greeeeeeaaaattt :P 

Large Ensemble I and II ~ so much singing! and so much music to learn! We ended up having so much going on in choir, my music professor decided it was enough content for two semesters instead of one. It's been a pretty fun experience though. In October, the choir went to New York to sing at Carnegie Hall (more on this later ^_^) and then in early December, we had four concerts over the span of two days. (also more on this later ;))

Contemporary Music and Performance Practice ~ well...not really much to say about this. Except that it was very long and was mainly learning about genres of music. It was also a night class and yeah. I'll leave it at that. However, I DO have to do a presentation on Monday and I'm looking forward to that because it's gonna be on country music and I love country :D)

Introduction to the Old Testament ~ had to read the whole Old Testament in 12 weeks. TWELVE WEEKS. And yes. Everything. Leviticus, 1+2 Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the whole shebang. And that's not including the really really thick textbook that gave me about a 100 pages of joy every week. (Ok actually though, the textbook was really interesting) And I did learn a lot and was probably one of my favourite classes because the professor was just amazing and made all his lessons so intriguing. 

Hermeneutics ~ basically just learning how to interpret the Bible. And make lots of observations. Like...lots.  

Christian Formation ~ A mini-course on living life to the fullest as a Christian. Actually had already done a lot of the stuff that was taught here...budgeting, scheduling, managing time, avoiding procrastination, etc. But we got to do some community work which was really fun (including carolling!!!) and I'm looking forward to doing more next semester! 

Music Fundamentals III ~ HAHAHAHAHAHA. OK. This course was...INTERESTING. I mean, I learned a lot, that's for sure. But my first class I just sat there with basically 3/4 of the content going over my head. And then I found out that it was a second-year course. And that there was a Music Fundamentals I and II that came before III. Makes sense I guess. Except that I hadn't taken those courses because apparently my theory scores were high enough for me to skip I and go into III. And yet somehow I could barely keep up with what was going on. And II was for ear training and sight singing. Hehe. Also hadn't taken that. Imagine my shock when my teacher gave me a sheet of music and said "Ok sing this out loud using solfege!" Soooo yeahhhh...this course was definitely a learning experience. But! I have survived it and completed it so YAY!

Anywayyyy...here's a look at the past four months through some pictures ^_^ 

// Studying 😄

// New York!

Super amazing experience although yeah, I'm not meant to live in the city. Too much stuff going on. And so many people. It's crazy. But we got to go to Central Park, walk through some rather expensive stores (Tiffany's is craaaazy), go to a street food market thingy at night and go to Times Square at night. And then the highlight of the trip...Carnegie Hall! It was so much fun and the architect of the building was breathtaking. 

Our College Choir!

Following 2 photos are not mine and were taken by a professional photographer :D

After the performance at Carnegie, the choir and orchestra were taken on a dinner cruise and it was so. much. fun. We passed the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge and eeks walking on the top deck with the wind blowing in our faces was amaaaazing.

//Babysitting

Cause I mean...I can't go without kids y'all. I sometimes scare my roommate by coming into our room and randomly saying out loud "I want a baby" :P But yeah anyway, I ended up babysitting for one of the seminary students who attend the same college I do and my first time was so much fun. I carved pumpkins for the first time, although I was a little taken aback by all the teeth I had to cut out for one of them :P I love the kids to bits and the parents are absolutely amazing, godly people who are honestly just a huge blessing in my life.

// Reading Week + Midterms 

Having fun with filters xD

Lookit all those notes :O 

I had been warned by some second-year students that the Hermeneutics midterm exam was one of the hardest exams ever so I tried to be as prepared as I could. I ended up memorizing all eight lectures word for word. My brain was absolutely fried at the end of it, but during the exam, I honestly just flew through it :P 

// Community Work

Part of one of my courses is to do community work, so the class is basically split into groups and then assigned certain areas of the village nearby to care for and witness to. We did a food drive in early November and it was quite the experience. Some of it was very encouraging, other times, not so much but all in all it was really fun and a great way to bond with the rest of my group as well. 

// Christmas Banquet

This is an annual event the college holds every November and goodness was it fun! I wore heels for the first time and can you believe it...didn't break an ankle!! xD

My Parakaleo Group

All my roomies 💜

// Christmas Concert(s)

The college choir had been practising for this event since the middle of October and the closer to the date of the concerts, the more intense practice became. It was a really big event at my music professor's church and normally all four concerts were always sold out, which meant there were a couple thousand or more people coming every year. The last week before the concert, we had rehearsals on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then two concerts on Saturday and two concerts on Sunday. It was craaazy. There was sooo much singing I thought I was going to lose my voice. Weirdly enough, it ended up strengthening my voice instead and on Monday during my vocal lesson, my teacher and I were both surprised to find that I could still sing :P

Love this girl 💛

// MY FIRST PAID GIG

Ok so I was soooo excited to find a PM asking if I was able to play at a Christmas banquet with one of the college graduates at a church nearby. It was very last minute and I only had one night to learn six Christmas songs (which happen to have chords at every single beat, but I found a way around it xD) but it was so much fun! I know I made a ton of mistakes, especially when I was nervous, but it was a great experience and people were very forgiving. And Julia, the one singing, was amaaaazing. Honestly, she has an incredible voice and it was so exciting getting to perform with her. Definitely made a lot of memories that night! 

// Finals

My dear, dear sister gave me this box to help me through finals. Isn't she the sweetest? 😉💕

I caved and bought ice cream and consoled myself with it during studying because well - it was just necessary xD 

Aaaannd yesterday, I had my LAST exam and it was the hardest but I finished it and I'm still alive and AHHHHH I'M DONE THE SEMESTER. So so so so SO so so so happy!!!! And then we made spaghetti and got people over to share it with and it actually tasted good and *happy sigh* it was a nice way to end the semester.

Honestly, this semester has been amazing even though at times it was so crazy busy I didn't think I could do it anymore. Work was relentless and never ended...until now. And boy oh boy. The feeling of no homework is AWESOME. I'm so thankful to God that I was given the opportunity to come here and I'm hoping I can continue it the next few years, but even if I don't, I'll still be glad for the memories I made here. I'm not the most extroverted person and tend to stay in my room a lot - partly because I'm an introvert and also because honestly, I had SO much homework :P I've learned so much and the people here are amazing. The relationships I've formed here are precious and they've taught me so much about life, God, and myself. I've found clarity where before all I could see was a tangled mess of pain and depression. I've found love and understanding and endless encouragement and support. They're amazing and I don't ever want to leave them 💕

But for now, we're all gonna take a nice Christmas break with NO SCHOOL and it's going to be absolutely positively amazing. 

Now for home and the holidays!🎄⛄

My Earliest Memories

Hello everyone!

Bethany from A Great God and Good Cocoa tagged me for The Earliest Memories Tag.

Thank you, Bethany! This is going to be so much fun! :D

A picture of yours truly all dressed up for a wedding
Apologies for the quality; it's a photo of a photo :) 

1. What is your earliest memory?
My earliest memory would be of being at a friend's birthday party when I was 3-5. If you mean what do I remember by myself, not using the help of videotapes or anything ;) It was a tea party and I remember pink walls, brown ceilings, pretty pink cups with white decoration, a white teapot that a lady taught us how to pour from ("always put your hand on top of the pot before you pour". That's what I remember her saying). That or it was dressing up my cousin (my boy cousin, same age as Tiger Lily) in a princess dress. And adding earrings (those ones that always pinch so horribly on your ears) and pretty yellow high heels that, if I remember correctly, did not go at all with his fiery red socks! 
I'm not sure which memory comes first. . . . . .

2. What is your earliest memory of a birthday?
The earliest memory of a birthday would either be the same one as what I mentioned in Q. 1, or another time when I woke up and found my room positively bursting with streamers, and balloons, and banners! Again, I'm not sure which memory comes first :) 

3. What is your earliest memory of a food?
A food? Hmm....I'm not sure. Let me think. Pizza. It was a loooonng time ago, and I had my friend come for a sleepover. And Mom let us make our own pizza. Squares and circles and even some shapes that I don't think even have names :P And tons of toppings on it. Especially cheese. Because I LOVE cheese on pizza! :D 

4. What is your earliest memory of a gathering?
The earliest memory of a gathering is of hiding behind a curtain while lots of strange people were coming into the house. They're not strangers to me anymore, but back then, I was a shy little mouse (still sort of am ;)) and liked to hide behind curtains when people came :) 

5. What is your earliest memory of family?
I think my earliest memory was when I held my first ever little sister. Tiger Lily. Who really isn't so little anymore! There are pictures of it, actually. The way I was holding her...well, made it look a bit like I was choking her, but hey! I was only two then! :) 

Which reminds me...since I was two, that would make this my earliest memory! I'm trying to reach as far back as I possibly can, and though it's really fun, it's also kind of hard to! Kind of reminds me of Long Term Memory from the movie Inside Out

All those memories. . . 

6. What is your favorite memory?
Well, I know I have a lot of favourite memories, but there are 6 especially favourite memories. One for each time I got to meet a new sibling :) 

7. What is your earliest memory of a gift?
Getting my first Bible. It was for my 7th birthday. Loved it to bits! :) 

8. What is your earliest memory of an embarrassment?
Probably when I was in public school. I didn't know anybody there and as I mentioned before, I was a very shy person. Was perfectly miserable there. Mom and Dad knew how unhappy I was in public school, so they decided to home-school me. And now all the rest of my younger siblings too ;) 

9. What is your earliest memory of when you were scared?
This one came to mind right after I read the question. A friend of Mom's was babysitting me and she had a son that I considered much older than me. He was probably only 7-8, maybe even 6. I was very little :) Anyway, you know those little foil wrapped chocolate eggs? Well, I found this massive one on the table (or maybe it was shelf, I'm not sure) and started unwrapping. But as the first wrapper fell away, I discovered another foil underneath, not the chocolate that I expected. So I unwrapped that too.  A couple of minutes later, I was surrounded in multi-coloured foils. That's when the boy came in. He was really mad. Turns out he had been collecting foils and adding them to the ball that I had just wrecked. I got really scared and hid behind the sofa. His mother found me later on and gave me a little brown bear with a plaid bow tie to comfort me :) But I didn't enjoy unwrapping chocolate eggs for a looonnngg time.  

10. What is your earliest memory of a camp? 
Quite a few years ago, when there were only four children, we went camping and it rained really hard. There was so much rain that our tent started to float. It was fun, scary, and very ....wet! 

11. How young were you when you received Christ? (optional)
Six years old. We had finished devotions and all us children had been sent to bed. I lay in bed thinking and thinking, and then I realized that I really wanted to let Christ into my heart. So I went to Mom and Dad and we all prayed on their bed. 

Thanks again, Bethany, for tagging me! It was so much fun! :D 

I nominate:
Victoria N. from Blessed Beyond Measure
Olivia N. from 9 Kids plus 2
Tiffany C.
Shai Ireland from Thinking About. . .
Rebekah Raub from Rebekah's Blog
Heidi from Along the Brandywine
Rebekah Morris from Rebekah's Reading Room
Hamlette from Hamlette's Soliloquy
Sarah from Trusting in the Lord


If any of you aren't able to do it, that's totally fine! :) And anyone else who would like to do this tag, you are SO welcome to do so! You can do it in the comments, or on your blog. I'd love to see everyone's answers, so if you do it on your blog, please leave a link in the comments section so that I can visit your blog :D

And here are the questions:
1. What is your earliest memory?
2. What is your earliest memory of a birthday?
3. What is your earliest memory of a food?
4. What is your earliest memory of a gathering?
5. What is your earliest memory of family?
6. What is your favorite memory?
7. What is your earliest memory of a gift?
8. What is your earliest memory of an embarrassment?
9. What is your earliest memory of when you were scared?
10. What is your earliest memory of a camp? 

11. How young were you when you received Christ? (optional)

Have fun! :)