Saturday, October 15, 2011

Typical College Life?

Hello internet friends!
So, I realize that I haven't been nearly as dillegent about this blog as I told myself I would be. Maybe after marching band is over, I will gain the semblance of a normal life and be able to write more. I know this has been long in coming, so I again apologize to all the readers that have been telling me to post more.

Well, it is now fall break (huzzah!), and I am going to be headed home to Columbus within the next 2 hours. This is probably for the better, I've only been home once and am starting to miss my friends and family and dogs again, so this break couldn't have come soon enough. For those of you who I might not get to hang out with over break, I apologize, but I have a huge compositional deadline to meet, and plan on being antisocial after today.

Sitting here on my couch in my dorm room, I've been thinking about some things. Namely, the fact that people are liars.
I was told that when I arrived at college I would:
1) Have so much free time.
2) Not have to pull an all-nighter until semester exams.
3) Get to skip classes occasionally.
4) Get really sick of campus about a week before fall break.
5) Not make as many friends because I opted to live in Knoll vs. the traditional style dorms.
6) Eat so much and have a hard time keeping off my freshman 15.
7) Eat nothing but pizza for about a week.

I am sure there are various other things that belong on that list that aren't on there, but I'm a bit groggy from an entire week of extreme sleep deprivation, so please forgive my lack of recall.

I'm going to disprove every single one of the above in the next list. Get ready.
1) HA. HAHAHA. HA. Free time? That is the biggest joke I've ever heard in my life. Double major, marching band... Free time is as elusive to me as unicorns are.
2) Already took care of that one this week. Gee, I sure do love it when professors run their classes on the basis that you have nothing else to do.
3) I don't know how or why this happened, but all of my classes are partially graded on attendance of said classes. So even when I'm really stressed and would LOVE to skip ONE time so I can get more stuff done, I can't. Yay me.
4) Truthfully, even though I've been rather stressed out lately, I'm not sick of campus at all. I love how much there is to do here, I'm never bored, and my mind is always engaged. I feel like I'm really learning things here, unlike high school where everything was far too easy.
5) In fact, I probably have a larger network of new friends than many kids who live in Abel or HSS or any of the other traditional style dorms... This probably has a lot to do with marching band and being a music major, but, seriously? Come on folks, I'm a social creature. Making friends is not that difficult for me. Plus, as social as I am, it's nice to go back to the quieter atmosphere of my dorm, and have a living room, full sized fridge and bathroom to boot. So I'm actually EXTREMELY happy with my decision.
6) I hardly have time to eat at all some days. So, a combination of stress, not eating, marching band, and running around campus has actually made me lose about 7 pounds. Yay!
7) I've actually only had one slice of pizza since I've been on campus, and I've gotta say, it isn't really that great.

I don't know if disproving all of these general rules makes my college experience atypical, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Well, ok, I'd trade it for the same with less stress, but you can't have everything I suppose. The plan on Sunday and part of Monday is to get all the assignments with extended due dates done all at once, and to finish composing the first movement of my duet for cello and piano.

On a side note, this movement will be premiering on Wednesday, November 2 here in Lincoln. You all should try to go, it will be a fantastic concert of great music written by myself and my fellow composition majors.

I've also realized something rather recently. This past Monday, Columbus' mens choir came to Lincoln for the men's choral festival. It was great to see all of my friends.... But I now know the reason I was voted least conforming in the senior class. I had a general idea before I left, but being here has made me realize how completely and totally different I am from almost everybody there. This isn't a bad thing, not at all, but it sure explains a lot.

This period of self-inflection also makes me realize this: I'm actually rather happy with my life right now. I'm always stressed out, and my friend Sarah Ebner knows that my love life situation is... Less than ideal. (That is a story not for the internet. In case you haven't noticed, I don't even have my relationship status on Facebook, because I believe that it's nobody's business but mine.) But despite that and the stress, everything else is great. I've made some really awesome friends since I've been here, and although I occasionally have to trade sleep for social life, I find that it's well worth it. College has been rather good to me, and I'm much happier now than I EVER was in Columbus. Something about that town actually really depresses me, but I'm not going to say exactly why at the risk of offending anybody besides my current readers who happen to stumble upon this.

Unrelated note, my song of the day is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2J-0EtsCpo
It's entitled Rivers and Roads, and is by a band called The Head and the Heart. I've actually recently done an arrangement of this one, and it helps me get through the more stressful and crappy of days.

Well, that's everything on my mind right now, thanks for reading!
With love,
Gilmore

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