Semester Down

Well, mimicking the many Facebook statuses I have seen recently, I have survived my first semester of college! I returned home on Friday after a six hour bus ride from Oxford. 

First thing after I returned, I attended my brother's holiday band concert. I was glad to see so many of my friends there who are still in high school. After then, it was clear that my dog, Maggie, clearly missed me again as well. She has not been as attached to me as during Thanksgiving break, but apparently she has just been more attached to everyone in general since I left. I made her a more snuggly dog somehow!

While I am home for four weeks, I will be back to work, turn nineteen, and see plenty of people that I have not seen for months. I already had one day of work and I have begun to visit some of my old high school activities. 

So far, I love visiting everyone! Yesterday my friend Krista and I went to visit the newspaper we worked on, but it was their deadline night so they were too busy to stop and talk (as we expected). We just wanted to say hi anyway. Today I stopped in at Student Council's holiday party, and when I walked in, everyone that I knew from last year were so excited to see me! There was literally a line to come give me a hug. Now if that does not make someone feel special, I do not know what would! They were having a gingerbread house making contest, and they made me the judge, haha. I am so glad I chose to go. I am also planning on stopping in again tomorrow with a group of alums. Hopefully they will appreciate this surprise visit!

It is still the beginning of my break and I cannot wait to catch up with everyone and relax. This is my first winter break in four years that I do not have any homework! I can also officially relax now since I was able to view my grades yesterday and I finished my first semester with a 3.57 GPA! It is not official yet, but I think that is Dean's List qualifying! I am so happy and glad that I took it easy my first semester so that I have a nice cushion for my GPA before I have to take more challenging courses. 

Anyway, I am ready to sit back and relax at home, but I will definitely be video messaging Ashton and Courtney during break, I think I may miss them too much if I do not at least once during this month!

~ Valerie 

Home Again

After living in Ohio since the end of August, I was so excited to finally go back home. I had already made some plans with my friends beforehand, and I was so ready to see them again!

I took a bus from campus all the way to the various oasises around Chicago last Tuesday afternoon. I was very impatient along the ride since I did not have enough motivation to do anything besides listen to music.

When I finally arrived where my parents were meeting me, I was thrilled to see that they brought along our dog, Maggie, to meet me there as well. I had missed her so much! And the way she was clinging to me the entire time I was home, it was clear she missed me too.

Along the course of the break, I was able to see my friends Robert, Megan, Krista, Hannah, Daniel, and Gaby. It was so nice to see everyone again!

On Saturday specifically, Gaby, Krista, and I went to go get piercings. I got my ears double pierced, Krista got her tragis pierced, and Gaby got her belly button pierced. Mine did not hurt too bad since it was not cartilage, but now I want to get a cartilage piercing so that I can wear earrings like this that connect to a cartilage piercing! That would be so cool.

Even though it was nice to be home, I was ready to come back. Being the abnormal roommates we are, Ashton and I were so happy when we got to see each other again! We even decorated our door for the upcoming holidays! I also put up some lights in our room while Ashton was working on a project. We're cool, haha.





















Now, unfortunately, I have to focus on all of the essays, assignments, and exams coming up these next couple weeks. Only three weeks until winter break and we will all be home again!


~ Valerie  

Counting Down

I literally cannot wait to get home. Ever since I finally received my bus ticket home via email on Thursday, I have been very impatient for Tuesday to come.

Going home is going to be so surreal, I already have plans with my friends on three of the days I'll be home, I'm so excited to see them again! Some students have already gotten the chance to go home this year, but I have not. I haven't set foot in my house or driven a car since August! I'm going to be so anxious on that bus ride home, it's crazy.

Especially since all of my big tests and assignments due before break were due last week, now I just have to choose what to pack, and survive.

Blah, well I just have to be patient and wait for Tuesday to come. There is still some work I can try to accomplish before then, so I guess I'll try to keep myself busy.

Side note:  My friends and I went to Kroger yesterday and all bought ourselves these little rubber animals, I thought the picture was too cute to resist adding.

From left to right: Chantel, Ashton, Courtney, Lindsey, and me. I'll miss them all, but right now, we all just want to go home. 

~ Valerie

Hockey and Birthdays

Well, it's about time something worth writing about happened in my life! I have basically been taking things day-by-day, nothing too exciting.

But! Finally, I had a pretty eventful weekend!

First of all, some of my friends and I went to a hockey game on Friday. For Courtney and I, it was our first game; but for Ashton, it was her second since she is in the pep band. Since Miami is a major hockey school, I had fun in the student section. It is way more intense than football here! Plus, Courtney and I sat right next to the pep band so that we could still talk to Ashton. Even though most of the cheers that get started are derogatory, I could tell that the players were used to it. I still felt bad for the opposing team's goalie, though. So many negative cheers are directly aimed at him...

...Oh well, we won 5-2! So that made it better.  



Since Saturday was Ashton's birthday, Courtney and I were going to leave the game early to go decorate my dorm room door, but the game would end too early for that plan to work, so we asked our friends Lindsey and Chantel to do that for us while we stayed with Ashton. Also, since we went to the student center directly after the game to watch "The Dark Knight Rises" at 11pm, by the time we got back, it was Ashton's birthday. So the plan worked out well! She was sufficiently surprised.

On her birthday, instead of being the norm and going out to the bars, we went Uptown to eat dinner and go to the movie theater to watch "Pitch Perfect."

Even though she could not go home for her birthday, she said she had fun. I'm glad we could make sure that she did not have to spend the whole day wishing she could be home!


~ Valerie 

Wake Up Call

Throughout high school, I always tried to be as studious as I could (actually... I couldn't help it, it was in my nature to be crazy about my grades), and the one goal keeping me going senior year was to have one of those honors ropes at graduation. My Grade Point Average was far from receiving the Highest Honors sash that my friend Daniel earned, but I was in between the Silver Honors and gold High Honors ropes, so I could not let senioritis get to me because I was so close to the gold one! Luckily, all of my hard work paid off, and my crazy studious tendencies led me to the gold High Honors rope for graduation!

However, now with college upon me, I fear that that nature has temporarily changed (although I can't let it persist). With all of the distractions of having friends literally a hallway down and in my room, I have not been able to focus or let myself worry about grades as much as I did at home. I mean, at home, I would just be texting my friends, but it was simple enough to just say that I had to study and then I was alone. In college though, being alone in your room studying all the time, it is much more difficult to get that concentration, and besides, who would want that?

I still do not procrastinate and of course I still do all of my homework in a timely fashion, but studying... not so much. I have been pushing off the fact that I have gotten a few Cs on exams because not all of my teachers actively update their grades online, so I do not see proof that my grade could be falling. However, today when walking back from a class, I really started to recognize and evaluate this problem and I am going to do my best to get back into my old scholastic habits despite the closer distractions.

On a related note, I have not experienced much legitimate home sickness, but last weekend during "Fall Break," (I put it in quotes on purpose) when everyone left and I stayed, I was starting to get really sad that I could not go home. Even now, this weekend, some of my friends from home are leaving their colleges to go home, somewhere I have not been since before I moved in. I mean, I could have gone home, but our "Fall Break" was only a three day weekend, so I didn't think it was worth the transportation cost. True, I do love how Oxford looks in the fall, but I really would not mind going home either. I have been gone for so long!

Although, Family Weekend is next weekend! So I'll finally be able to see my mom, dad, brother, and aunt again! I'm so excited. Even though I will not actually be going home until Thanksgiving, having them come down here will be a taste of home in itself.





~ Valerie 

"Miami Takes Manhattan"

Well, I figured it would only be appropriate to follow up on my previous blog post about prepping for the New York trip, I cannot just leave that hanging!

After leaving Thursday morning for an unbearably long bus ride (we were in that bus from 8 am to 11 pm, with some stops), we finally arrived at our hotel! It was located in New Jersey, right across the water from New York City so we had to take a ferry to get there. The level of independence we had was crazy, especially for a bunch of college freshmen.

Friday, the Symphony Orchestra was the only group to not have rehearsal that morning, so my friend Stephanie and I set off at around nine in the morning since we had all day to explore the city. I basically had a "go-with-the-flow" mentality, which I realized that I should not ever have again when it comes to trips. I like structure and organization, so I'll keep that in mind for the next time I travel. Stephanie had some idea of what she wanted to do that day, so I was fine with whatever she wanted to do.

Anyway, we took the ferry and walked to Times Square, then to Central Park.  After we explored those two areas for a bit (feet already dying), we decided to try to take a taxi to China Town and do some shopping. We survived the taxi ride, but our experience there was much more questionable. For anyone who has not been to China Town or any sort of area where the store vendors actually bargain prices with you, this would be a crazy experience...well, it still was for us, but still. We went to this one store and Stephanie was only looking at their perfume stock, so a lady working there basically tried forcing her to buy some perfume even though she did not have enough cash on her. It was getting pretty intense, so she said she would show us where the ATM was so we could get more money and she could buy the perfume. While we were doing so, I noticed that the guy who was working that store was waiting outside to make sure would come back and buy the perfume. That is when I was getting a little scared, but when we left the store we booked it away so fast and we heard him yelling after us. Nothing like that ever happened when I went to China Town last time with my orchestra in high school!

After visiting a couple more stores, we caught a taxi back to Times Square and spent the rest of the evening there. I realized all day that Stephanie had tickets to a Broadway play for that night when I did not, but she claimed that her friend had someone who I could go back to the hotel with, so that concern was merely in the back of my mind. However, when we met up with them later so that they could go to the show, there was a miscommunication and everyone had a ticket to play but me. Long story short, one girl ended up not going and coming back with me. This, however, included going on the subway and finding ourselves going on a train in the opposite direction than what we needed, getting out, going into a TGI Fridays to have someone help us get a taxi, and (somehow) safely arriving back to the hotel. There were some honest moments there when I was concerned about getting back, but I tried to stay confident and to not freak out that we were basically lost in New York City.

Saturday, luckily, was not as crazy. We had rehearsal in the morning and then spent the day at the Natural History Museum (with a successful subway ride this time) and Times Square shopping. I had this amazing Thai food dish that evening for dinner though. It was definitely I nice change from dining hall food.

Sunday, the big concert day! We had a very structured schedule for that day, in contrast to the complete freedom the days prior. I was so amazed when we arrived, Carnegie Hall is an amazing concert hall, and playing there was definitely something I will never forget. There was a point when we were performing that I was legitimately having fun, and especially when we played Miami's Alma Matar to close the concert and I briefly looked up to see the entire audience standing and singing along, it was just amazing. I'm so greatful to have been allotted this experience. Not everyone can say that they performed in Carnegie Hall!

Monday was just another entire bus day, and I was going crazy as usual. Oh well, I somehow survived two independent days in the city that never sleeps, but now I must work to catch up with my school work. Especially for a midterm that I have tomorrow!



Valerie 

Carnegie Bound

Well, the time has finally come to leave for "Miami Takes Manhattan"tomorrow!! This banner picture is on the home page of Miami University's website, it's kind of a big deal.

In the Spring, when I realized that the Symphony Orchestra would be going to New York city within the first two months of school, it had me hesitant to try out because I was not sure if I would be adjusted well enough at that point. Right now, though, I'm really glad I chose to go for it anyway because I'm really excited! Carnegie Hall is one of the best (if not the best) concert hall, and I get to play there! It's amazing, and I'm not even a music major!

Starting in the summer, I started practicing some of the music for auditions, but more kept piling on once school began. Ever since then, we have practiced three times a week for the purpose to blow New York City away!

Yesterday we performed in a preview concert designed to have us perform our music for an audience before Sunday when we play in Carnegie Hall. Also, then college students and professors could see us perform without having to go to New York.

The Symphony Orchestra is not the only group going. The Chamber Singers, the Collegiate Chorale, the Jazz Ensemble, the Choraliers and the Men's Glee Club are also in the upcoming concert. We will be hosting a caravan of eight buses for all of us, that will be a sight.

Even though we have the main event, the Carnegie Hall concert, on Sunday along with a dinner cruise, we have some free time in the city on Friday and Saturday. I am still not sure what I will be doing during those times. I mean, when I went to New York with my orchestra junior year, we had a set schedule the entire time, so it will be weird being independent in the city, choosing how we want to spend our time.

I'm also supposed to get some pictures for The Miami Student while I'm there with my phone and point-and-shoot camera. We'll see how that goes, I don't want to be too much of a creep.

Until then, though, I must finish packing and prepare myself for a 12-14 bus ride at eight tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will be able to convince myself to get some work done over sleeping the entire trip!




~ Valerie

Published

Despite the fact that I am not actually on The Miami Student's staff, I have still successfully gotten five pictures published in the paper in the last two weeks!

Remember that bar photo shoot event that I brought up before? Well, I did not go through that craziness for nothing! This picture made it into the following issue, and this picture of a squirrel just made the front page today!

As I said, I'm not technically on staff, I'm still under this "trial run" and I have yet to meet anyone on the paper. All of the assignments and photo-sending has been through e-mail. It's interesting that I have not met anyone yet, but I can tell a few of the photographers are not on staff yet either.

Oh great, competition, we'll see how this goes. I am getting quite a lot published for being a pre-member, however, so it's definitely a positive sign!

Here are the pictures that I got published! I included the original of this picture of the seal because it was put into a collage-type design on the front page last Friday, so it's hard to see.

Left: Bell Tower

Right: Presentation about avoiding fraud while studying abroad.














**Sorry, formatting these pictures is a pain**

~ Valerie

Stereotypes

One aspect about Miami University that I worried a lot about before my arrival was its "preppy" stereotype. With the dominant greek life and typical rich white kid presence, the nickname "J Crew U" loomed over my head, making me worry that I would not fit in.

However, after living here and experiencing the University first hand, I realized that it is really not as big of a deal as everyone makes it. I may only own a few clothing outfits from J Crew (I had to from when I worked there for two weeks), but my wardrobe is perfectly fine here.



I mean, I have not seen many people wearing pajama clothes to class. Although, I have seen girls wearing Nike running shorts with tank tops or t-shirts, but still. The fact that most students actually try to look decent when they go to class sends another signal to me other than preppy. It tells me that students actually care about school and at having others perceive them professionally. Especially since I already care about how I look, and I would never be able to wear sweatpants to class, I fit in just by not looking like I just rolled out of bed.

Although, my friends did have me buy a couple shirts that would be considered more preppy, so I thought it would not hurt to play along every once in awhile. But my mom also had me buy a pair of Sperrys and riding boots so I could have a more typical "Miami" look at times. I was not worried about fitting in as much, but I really did need more shoes.

However, I am surrounded by all sorts of people already. My roommate Ashton reminds me a lot of my friend Gaby from home. They both care about fashion and love wearing dresses, and are willing to help me out in that fashion regard. However, my friend here, Courtney, primarily wears t-shirts. I am a bit in between. So, you really can be yourself here despite the stereotype. Nobody is going to judge you for not wearing designer clothing. Sure, I see people wearing polos and J Crew, but it is not as dominant and pressuring as I had worried.

~ Valerie

Drunken Photojournalism

I can honestly say that my idea of a Thursday night did not used to involve a pit of drunk people and an electronic band, but yesterday, it did.

After not hearing back from The Miami Student, the school newspaper, about joining, I decided to email the Photo Editor so they knew I was really interested in getting involved. She replied to me yesterday afternoon, asking if I could take pictures at the Savoy concert at Brick Street (the main bar Uptown) that night so they could see my abilities.

Even though the concert supposedly started at 9pm, no one started performing until around ten, and the main band they needed pictures of did not go on until 11:30. What time did I get there? 8:30. The guys at the door probably thought I was crazy. I thought I was being a good early journalist, but I just felt like an awkward freshman for a couple hours. After awhile though, one of the bartenders asked me what I was taking pictures for and offered me a chair. He was probably the only sober person I spoke to from then on.

Once a DJ started performing and some people starting arriving, I decided to test out my camera lighting before the main act. Some random guys would talk to me, asking if the camera I was using was mine and what I was taking pictures for. After awhile though I just started to assume everyone who spoke to me was drunk, so I just smiled and nodded until they went away. I started keeping count of how many drunk guys spoke to me, and by the end of the night, I got to ten.



To avoid the drunk people surrounding me, I stood by one of the security guards for most of the time, and he seemed amused whenever a couple of drunk guys wanted me to take their picture. I just did it anyway because they would be too drunk to realize that it did not come out at all. So many of them thought I was the best person ever for taking their picture, it was amusing. Although this one relatively came out, haha.




After awhile, the fake smoke and alternating lighting became impossible for my camera to get through, so I decided to leave. By then it was just a little after midnight, and I had to get up at 6:30 that morning. How great. Ashton offered to take a bus to meet me Uptown so I would not be alone, but there is a nighttime shuttle bus that you can call to take you home. So after some confusion, I got on the bus and arrived safely at my dorm. Thank goodness. There was a moment there when I was concerned on how I would be able to get back.

Oh well, it was definitely an experience, and I can say that I never experienced a photo assignment like that in high school. I sent some pictures to the Photo Editor this morning, so we'll just have to see how this plays out!



~ Valerie

Weekend Life

After experiencing relatively typical, homework filled weekends, I finally had one more memorable. This past weekend began with a concert on Friday! This made me wish I was with my concert-junkie friends at home. Concerts just are not the same without them...

The headliner was Parachute, but a few of my friends here at Miami looked into the band directly under Parachute, called South Jordan. Excuse the quality of this picture of them, but concert photography with an iPhone is not always the best. We ended up leaving a bit early because my friends are not used to surroundings involved with a concert. After the fact, I was kind of upset because we did not meet any of the band members, but I know that once I get home and go to a concert with my friends there, it will be another great experience.







Saturday was definitely where some memories lie. My friends Courtney and Ashton joined me to attend the first home football game against Southern Illinois University. Although we did not stay the whole time since we had to get some work done, I still enjoy getting together with friends and attending those games. Besides, we won! Although, I cannot wait for hockey season to start! Hockey is the main sport here, so those games will be intense and so much fun.

That night, we got invited to go to a party at an off-campus house. A little hesitant, we got ready and went anyway. I guess we were feeling adventurous. And boy, did we get an adventure. Well, we actually did not even make it to the party because us three got separated from the other people we knew who were in the group. We were not about to follow a flock of people that we did not know to some house party, so we left the group and went to a coffee house instead! It was perfectly fine with us, and that hot chocolate was delicious. Ashton and I kept saying that we wanted to go out just to get dressed up, anyway, and we got to do just that!

Sunday, there was an afternoon get-together at my orchestra conductor's house for the new members to attend. It consisted of information about our New York trip as well as what was coming after. However, the most amusing aspect was when his two young boys took us on a "ghost tour" of their two sheds and bathroom. They were so enthused and pent up on scaring us. We had to crawl behind this shed into that fenced area to the left, which was interesting because I chose to wear a dress that day. The some of the boys in the tour group with me were really getting into it and making it even more entertaining. I'm sure my conductor's sons enjoyed taking us on the tour, I definitely enjoyed experiencing it!








Oh well, now that that craziness is over, back to school. My first Spanish exam is tomorrow, I better start studying!



~ Valerie 

Courseload

 What would a college experience be without plenty of Ramen noodles? My brother always figured that the college life was not complete without it, so clearly, he made sure it was included in my care package the other week. I finally got around to making some last weekend, which pleased my brother as well! Anyway, there's one typical college stereotype I have encountered.

As my primary news, I am glad to say that I dropped my BMZ (Botany, Microbiology, Zoology) course!!! I had not really considered dropping it before since I do not give up easily, but after going in for help a couple of times and realizing that passing the class would not be plausible for me, I decided that it was not worth it. That class was primarily filled with Pre-Med inclined students and I only took it because my Academic Adviser suggested it when I said I was interested in Zoology. Nonetheless, it is clear that Zoology is not my calling and I shall stick with Psychology for the time being. It is such a relief to be out though. It is similar to when you walk out of taking an AP test and you realize that all of that work and stress is finally over. Thank goodness.

After this decision, I realized I would only have 12 credit hours (the minimum to be considered a full-time student), so I decided to take up viola lessons since I would have much more time and plus, it is a two credit hour class. Those lessons will be pretty intense, but it cannot compare to the insanity that that BMZ class was to me.

Another interesting event is when my parents attempted to send me a credit card through the mail. After  almost a week of not receiving it in the mail, my dad realized that there were purchases on it, from the Miami University book store. Funny, since I did not have it, looks like someone else got it in their mail box by mistake and decided to take advantage. After my parents promptly cancelled the card, they sent me a new one. When Ashton and I went to check the mail on Wednesday, what do you know, both of them were in there. One envelope perfectly fine and one previously opened and severely crumpled up, but with the credit card inside. To me, it looks like someone opened it and crumpled it in the trash, but when they discovered the card was cancelled, they decided to send it to its rightful over. Either that or it got run over by a truck. I cannot really tell. Oh well, at least I finally have that problem credit card.

Until next time!


~ Valerie

Living with Friends

I do not know about you, but when I was in grade school (high school included), I thought it would be awesome if all of my friends lived in the same neighborhood or if we had least had secret underground tunnels that would lead to each others' houses. That way, it would be way easier to hang out! Now, living in a college dorm, I kind of know how that would actually turn out. It is quite easy to hang out with friends, which is awesome! ... Except if you have a lot of work to do.

I got so behind in my BMZ (Botany, Microbiology, Zoology) class this week because I would continuously get distracted from being in a dorm hall. On Wednesday evening, I was planning on catching up on all of my BMZ notes, but my friends and I ended up hanging out with the girl who lives in the single next door to me instead. I ended up studying in the building where my Philosophy class is held to have a more quiet study area temporarily. At least the building's view is beautiful!

I feel like a nerd, but the main reason I'm thankful for this three-day weekend now upon us is so I can catch up, and maybe even get ahead, on my homework. Plus, most of the Ohio residents in my hall have left for home since it is Labor Day weekend (my roommate and my friend Courtney's roommate included), so it should be more quiet and easier to concentrate than usual. Although, I am really happy that Courtney is also an out-of-state student (she's from Georgia!) and is not going home so that I will not be alone!

I'm planning on video messaging in some way with my family, and my best friends Gaby, Krista, and Hannah this weekend. So, I suppose it can almost be like I'm going home, but not really. I'll get a taste of home at least. 

In other news... (sorry, I rarely have the spare time to write, so these might be long). My roommate walked into the hallway the other day and saw this.

How does that even happen? We're on the third floor, I really want to know who carried one of the construction cones from outside up three flights of stairs and left it toppled over in the hallway. Oh well, we didn't question it much, my roommate just described it as "so college!"

Our hall also all had a day where we went outside and painted doorstops for our dorms. I thought they were going to be bricks, but apparently that is not allowed anymore for some reason. By the time that anyone shared the paint with us, we only had three colors: red, white, and black. School spirit? Ashton (my roommate) had to make her own pink, and she also made the black one for our Resident Assistant, Stephanie. My awesome art skills went into the red one (note sarcasm).



Oh, and how could I almost forget how intense the Miami University Symphony Orchestra is so far. I had an appointment with the viola teacher, and apparently taking lessons as a class is an option. However, the lessons are way more intense than any I have ever taken, and if I also plan on joining The Miami Student (Miami University's newspaper) along with my course load, I would probably lose my mind if I took them. So I decided to hold off on lessons, which I hope is okay. It is just weird because I'm the only violist who is neither a music major nor a minor, so everyone else is way more intense than I am - I hope the environment will not overwhelm me.

I love playing in an orchestra, but when it comes to personal performances and even just singling us out during viola sectionals, I tend to get stressed out. I hope I'll be able to handle everything I'm getting myself into. There are just so many options in college, it is hard to not do them all!



I'll leave you with a picture of the Center of Performing Arts in the distance.

Until next time!

~ Valerie

Getting Involved

Anyone who knows me knows that I stress out over anything and everything, even when it is completely unnecessary. Fortunately, my roommate aims to be as studious as me and she's hoping to avoid procrastinating, so at least I do not have to combat her convincing me to go out and party instead of completing my homework. Although, our two friends from down the hall have the tendency to procrastinate, so we always feel like bums when we say we have to stay and do our homework. Gladly though, I've finally caught up with my homework and I'm trying to figure out an organized schedule to avoid becoming too stressed out. I want to be able to go out on the weekends (I did bring a couple party/club dresses after all), so I want to be organized and on top of my time management in order to have time to do so.

My family sent me my first care package on Friday! I was excited, not so much for the couple block hike to the mail center, but still. I figured there would be food, and there was plenty. Candy, chocolate, and of course, Ramen (what every college student lives on, in my brother's opinion). 

The only area we have to put all of this lovely food is in my overhead compartment above my closet. Good thing my roommate is going to bring a step-stool when she goes home for Labor Day weekend next weekend because we can barely reach it! Short people problems.









In other news, I made the Miami University Symphony Orchestra!! We're going to New York City to perform in a concert at Carnegie Hall in early October. It's exciting, but I really hope the school is funding the trip :p. I'll have more information about it tomorrow. Although I'm excited to be a part of this group, I know it will be difficult because orchestra was such a slack off activity in high school, so now I actually have to go out of my way to practice outside of scheduled rehearsal time. I mean, the orchestra primarily consists of music majors to start with, so I really have to step up my game if I want to be able to perform well compared to them.

Everyone says that it is important to get involved right away once you begin college, it helps in making friends and finding a place at the University. So yesterday, when the annual "Mega Fair," which hosts all 400+ student organizations one could join, was held, I signed up to be more involved on campus. I found the school newspaper (who seemed pretty excited that I was a photographer with some experience, yay Spokesman!), the badminton club, a wildlife volunteer club, some environmentally green club, and I signed up to get more information to become a Resident Assistant. I do not want to overwhelm myself, but these just seemed like some activities I would love to be a part of.

So anyway, let's hope I can discover a way to manage my time well while still having time to have fun. After all, college is more than just grades and a grade point average!

~ Valerie

Stress Control

I've been here for almost a week now! And I already had a near stress attack yesterday, but that is not unusual for me.

Monday, the first day of class, I didn't want to risk taking the bus, so I decided to leave early to make sure I'd get there on time. Typical me, I ended up arriving forty minutes early. Awkward Freshman problems.

At least it was a beautiful day to be outside and to be early for class!

One thing I have learned that is greatly different than high school is that a majority of students are early for class. Like more than a half an hour early. I always think I'm awkwardly early and will be the first one there but nope, I have yet to be first, which is fine with me!

My main stress happened yesterday because of my audition for the Miami University Symphony Orchestra. I think it went pretty well, but I can never help but freak out over auditions. I will definitely know by Friday if I made it though!







Though currently, I've controlled my easily stressed tendency and I'm up to date on my homework and I'm now hanging out with friends in their room eating some pizza we had delivered. We're waiting for the hall to envy us ;D

Anyway, the construction outside our dorm windows has been much more of an issue than we had originally anticipated. I was aware that it would cause us to walk even more out of the way than necessary, but they start working at six o'clock in the morning, so they wake us up. And the trucks sound like alarm clocks when they back up, so it's great. It's also great when trying to study. Oh, and did I mention that they're building three new dorm halls so that they won't be done until 2014? It's greatttt. Above is the lovely view from our room.

My mom is concerned that I'll get so wrapped up in studying that I won't have any fun or do anything else than worry about my grades, so she'd be happy to know that I'm not fulfilling my nerd tendencies and I am not doing homework right now. Besides, I only have one class tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time! In the mean time, I think I'll just hang out with some of my new friends!

~ Valerie