The passing of music history

Two blogs ago I mention how much I loved music history and talked about all the neat and interesting things I had been learning.

This week, however, I had to drop the course. Due to some rather pesky illness that I've been fighting all summer I felt that it would be better to drop one of my most time consuming courses and take time to get better, rather than be dead at the end of the semester and not be able to come back.

I am slightly, but not overly, saddened that I had to drop music history. It is such an insightful course that has taught me boundless loads of information about where Western music came from and how it is what it is today. Also, now I don't have to study my brains out in an attempt to pass the nearly impossible listening tests that are once a month; which makes me very happy.

School is a wonderfully amazing thing and I think I would be a student forever if 1) I didn't have to pay such an exorbitant amount for tuition, 2) I didn't require final exams to pass classes (final exams hate me and I hate them), and 3) if I could keep everyone roughly the same age so that I didn't feel like one of the Golden Girls every time I walked into a class room.

Pictures

I finally took the pictures of my room I told you about. So here they are. And yes, it's a mess.

A colourful closet of clothes

Our palm tree

 My cool Tibetan birthday present from Chris

 

Work space

Our desk. See how much stuff we can fit in one small space?

Plainchant

As a music student, I spend a lot of time listening to, playing, and experiencing different genres of music. In my music history class we've been looking at the history of plainchant or Gregorian chant (think monks from the 12th century). As much as people talk about how boring that style of music is (I mean after all, they just keep going back to the same note all the time and between that they only go up and down within an octave), I love it. Like really, really love it!

I have been listening to plainchant all week and enjoying every single minuet of it. My favorite composer thus far is Hildegard von Bingen. She was an extrodinary woman, focused on her Creator and on the obtainment of knowledge. Various books on science, medicine, music, theology, and many other topics are accredited to her name. She was one of the first people to write an entire musical production. She's my hero.

To say the least, looking at music in a very simplistic form has been a wonderful eye opener for me. I'm enjoying every minute that I get to spend learning about the various aspects of music; all the way from Biblical times to present day.

In the Swing

So I'm back at school; trying my best to get into the swing of things here and trying hard not to think about the fact that in a few months I'll be trudging across the road in -50°. So cold!
I have moved back into the same room that I had last semester and also have the same great roommate. Kylie and I get a long so well it's almost like a match made in heaven. I'm both enjoying and not enjoying dorm life at the same time. Sharing a poorly functioning bathroom, having to open a million doors just to get anywhere (especially when your arms are full), always eating cafeteria food, etc, can get a little sad after a while. Then again, our door room is very cozy and I have a wonderful roommate. Plus the girls on our floor are amazing, funny, and generally quite great!
This semester I'm taking 5-6 classes. I have 5 academic classes (all music classes except for one psych) and piano lessons. Plus an on campus job, volunteering at the Blaurock Cafe here on campus and Wednesday night worship. I'm quite pleased with all my classes thus far (I will finally have my psych class for the first time tonight and find out how much work that entails). Music History 1 will be just as much of, if not more than, a challenge than last year. I wish I could upload the pieces into my brain with all the little details that go along with them. But I guess I'm stuck with old fashioned memorization until that technology comes along.
Kylie and I, along with another friend of ours, Nils, are attending the Faith Covenant Church here in town. It's just a quick bus ride (45 minuets) away. The pastor speaks well and uses lots of Bible verses (that's important, right?), the music thrills my soul (nice and loud on this last Sunday), the congregation is very welcoming (met some really great people, but darn it all I can't remember their names), and they gave us FREE food (we get fed leftovers on Sunday afternoons here at school so the BBQ was a thousand times better)!
Soon I'll try and put up some pictures so you can all see what it looks like around here without the snow and cold winds blowing.
Karissa

Free Food

Tonight I was craving some Chicken McNuggets (I know, I know, not the healthiest craving) so I told Korey we should run down to McDonald's and grab some. After giving our order in the drive through, I thought it was funny that the girl never gave us our total. Once we arrived at the window we were both pleasantly surprised to find that all their tills were down and the food was free. Seriously, they were just giving food away! It made my day. I love free food.