I only had the one to go to, but it was still fun (some people didn't go to any at all - there seems to be less classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays than the rest of the week). My Japanese professor actually is Japanese, which I think is going to be totally awesome, especially in terms of learning pronunciation and the actual usages of words in daily conversation. The class is probably about the size of a small high school class, but we meet in a very small classroom, so it's a little on the cramped side. Also, I'm glad I started studying over summer, because it looks like we're going to be powering through material. There's so much to learn... After finally reaching I-can-carry-on-a-basic-conversation level in French, I can already tell it's going to be a little frustrating to start over. But I really want to learn Japanese, so I can do it.
What else... oh, I guess I can go back to yesterday. Yesterday was Pumphandle, a Knox tradition where all the students and even some of the faculty go through a line and shake hands with everyone else at the school. It's kind of cool; you get extremely tired of saying "Hi" by the end of it, and it's a bit unnerving for a germophobe like me, but it's fun to feel like I've met everyone on campus, and they brought a bottle of hand sanitizer down the line at the end, so it's all good.
Then tonight, I went to go listen to a visiting musician who played a set in the lounge in our hall. He was a good singer and a fantastic guitarist, so it was pretty fun. Actually, halfway through his second song, I realized that he sounded almost exactly like Gabe Dixon (I'd thought he sounded oddly familiar somehow). Like, even down to a couple vocal mannerisms. This guy's diction was awfully weak, though (I stopped really trying to understand what he was saying pretty quickly), and he wasn't quite as inviting a performer as Gabe (yes, I treated an evening concert like class and took mental notes). Still, a lot of fun to listen to. Especially up until his fourth song, at which point I thought of a concept for a song I really want to write, which kind of made me want to just go back to my room. When I got back here, I tried to work it out on Laura's guitar, but it's got a different kind of strings than I'm used to, and it's obnoxiously out of tune, so I'll just wait until this weekend when I go get my own guitar. Not having one has really made me really miss playing. Maybe if I can't get voice lessons, I'll see if I can't take guitar this term instead.
'Cause, see, I got an e-mail earlier today from the music professor saying that I (and one other girl) had somehow not done all of the steps to sign up for voice lessons, because she hadn't heard from us about teachers yet. Apparently, she's not sure if she can still fit us in with teachers for this term. Which irritates me a bit, because the school has known all along that I planned to take private voice lessons here - it was on the class preference card I sent in this summer and everything - but no one ever contacted me about taking any other steps to make that happen. I'd really like to be in lessons still, since I'm still just finishing up my recovery, but I guess whatever will happen will happen. I sent her an e-mail back explaining my situation and that I do want to take lessons, so who knows? Maybe she'll find me a time and a teacher after all.
One of my boxes came today! It was the one from home with my clothes, tea, etc. in it. I somehow had it in my head that we sent two of those boxes right before I left, so I sent the guy in the mailroom back to look for the hypothetical second box. Hehe... go me. I don't know when his hours are, but it's possible that I'll get to know him and his co-workers pretty well as I keep going down to collect all the boxes I have coming in the mail. Jeans and contacts from home, a pair of boots, my posters, a couple other boxes... The mailroom is going to become my home-away-from-my-home-away-from-home for the next couple weeks. The mailboxes are kind of cool looking, though. Maybe I'll show you a picture sometime. You guys could use a photo tour. Maybe tomorrow...
For now, to bed. I have all three classes tomorrow, so I want to be awake.
No comments:
Post a Comment