THEORY PLACEMENT

Ok.

So.

Music theory.

Haha.

No.

True story. I took my music theory placement tests today, which included both written and aural theory. Both of which were somewhat sucky. Now, I'm not saying that I'm some grand master of music theory, but I legitimately thought that I could work my way through a theory test and get maybe half of the questions right and then figure out the rest for myself.

But no. Because college music theory is much different from the rest of music theory that I've ever actually used. For instance, there are these things called modes, which are scales with different steps. I sort of learned them this summer but immediately forgot them upon returning to school. Basically, there is a mode for every note in the C-major (or A-minor!) scale, played on just white keys. For instance, a D scale played ONLY ON WHITE KEYS is a Dorian mode.

But here's what I want to know... WHY?!?!?!?!

I really doubt that there is a single song written with the Dorian mode in mind. Last time I checked, songs are written in major or minor keys. Nothing else.

Perhaps it's the frustration of failure talking, but I obviously failed both tests. Luckily, however, I automatically will default into Theory 101... there is no remedial class that I have to take... thanks to the good lord Jesus. So even if I failed every question (which I didn't... I did well on scales and basic chords... and maybe intervals), I won't have to pay. The instructor did say, however, that "basic theory" will be quickly reviewed in the first two days of the semester. Depending on what he defines as "basic," those two days may be stressful.

I'm beginning to think that being a music major is definitely not going to be quite as easy as I had anticipated.

Less Difficulties

Well, I'm all moved into the dorm. And now it's 7:35 am and I'm already getting up early for orientation shenanigans. Wait. LET ME TELL YOU OF THE CONFUSIONS OF COLLEGE.

So, I get an email from one of the music admins saying that they're looking forward to seeing me at the "Dean's Breakfast" this morning... which I assume is specifically for Frost School of Music students. But then I get my orientation schedule, and instead I'm listed as being at the BankOne United Center (basically their big auditorium... Obama apparently has spoken there) for something else Frost-related. Essentially, I'm hoping that they're the same thing.

Anyway.... moving in was fairly painless. We had to park a while away, but we managed to pile my entire life into one cart and drag it across campus. In the heat. And humidity. Which I keep telling myself I'll get used to.

Luckily, we were able to get our way in before my roommate, Dominic (who is actually used to Floridian heat) showed up, so we managed not to get in each other's way, which was probably good for starting a healthy roommate-ship.

(Is that a word? I feel like it is.)

And now I've woken up and experienced my first dorm shower experience. (There was like, no one in there... that was pleasant. haha.) And now I hopefully will find out if the Frost School thing is the same thing as the "Dean's Breakfast." I hope that it is, because I'm taking my roommate... and hopefully I'm not leading him astray. haha.

COLLEGE HAS STARTED!!! :D :D :D

In What is Perhaps the Most Difficult Non-College College Experience I've Had So Far...

So... I haven't blogged in a while, which is really a shame, because the internet community really needs to hear my every whimsical thought in order to function as a whole. Seriously. Without my interference, I doubt that the Internet would still exist. True story.

Anyway.

I move into college tomorrow. I feel like I haven't blogged about my feelings of leaving for college enough. It is definitely a mixture of good and bad feelings, but after leaving my house this morning (at 5am, mind you), I felt like I was ready to take on the world.

Though let me tell you, I might have just been through the most difficult day-before-college experience of my entire life today. Allow me to outline the entire experience in excruciating detail for your entertainment.

So we arrive at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport (we flew in through there because it was cheaper than flying straight through to Miami International... plus it's only about 40 minutes away). We obviously did not want to have to ship a whole bunch of stuff, and so we decided to do a lot of shopping here. Hey, there are Wal-Marts everywhere, right?

WELL NOT IN FLORIDA.

My dad's phone kept taking us to what my mom and I later christened as the "Invisible Wal-Marts." On two separate occasions, my dad's phone found a Wal-Mart in the area (about 5-6 miles away) and then proceeded to take us to a place that contained not such Wal-Mart. The first time, it took us to the exterior of what appeared to be a shopping mall. We figured that there wasn't a Wal-Mart inside the shopping mall (not that I'm judging Floridian architects) and so we took a guess that there maybe had once been a Wal-Mart there that had, since then, been removed in order to place a shopping mall there. A bit of a far guess, but we went on.

Well, after that, we found another Wal-Mart on my dad's phone, which then proceeded to take us into the middle of a seedy-looking residential area... with no Wal-Mart. Apparently, the invisible Wal-Mart was on top of two small houses. An excellent disguise, but I have to wonder what Wal-Mart's management teams are thinking. Surely if they're disguised, they can't generate a whole lot of revenue.

Finally, we give up and start taking I-95-- the main highway that takes us from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami and Coral Gables (the actual location of the college)-- south in hopes of finding a Wal-Mart to the side. At this point, I've started texting my roommate desperately asking him if he knows the area. He was able to locate a few Wal-Marts and Targets in the Coral Gables area, so we started heading in the direction of those. Then, as we're heading south, we suddenly see a Wal-Mart to the right... and then miss the exit for that Wal-Mart. So, we decide to just take another exit and back-track. Unfortunately, the next exit was for another highway (just a side thought: Florida has a lot of state highways. Like all connected in this cornucopia of state highways, all of which have speed limits of 50 mph at the highest, and all the old people drive about 20 under.)

But we finally find our way into the Wal-Mart, which, for the record, was very difficult to deal with. It had quite a messy organization and was not entirely easy to navigate through. To top this all off, we were in a heavy Spanish-speaking area, and very few of the management was actually fluent in English. So, even with my Spanish-speaking skills, it was difficult to navigate through. For instance, how do you say "printer" in Spanish? Hold on a second, I'm curious. Let me go check.

It's "impresora."

Anyway.

So we finally are checking out after having spent about two hours finding every little thing I might ever need in four years of college. We are finally all scanned through... and my parents' bloody credit cards aren't working. NOT A SINGLE ONE.

Seriously. Visa, MasterCard, Discover... all from three different banks. None of them worked. My dad's debit card didn't work. We even tried writing a check... it didn't go through. And obviously, we didn't have the cash to pay for such an inordinate amount of paraphernalia.

Essentially, God didn't want me to check out.

And so, we finally get the Discover people on the phone, and we get that card validated for use in Florida. Keep in mind, also, that I was serving as the translator between my parents and the management at this Wal-Mart, who spoke in very broken English. And then, for some reason, we have to SCAN EVERYTHING AGAIN.

WHAT.

And so finally we go through scanning everything again, and PRAISE THE SWEET GOD JOSEPH AND MARY AND THE DISCIPLES AND BLESSED ALLAH AND THE PRECOCIOUS BUDDHA IT WORKED. And we finally get out and head to the hotel.

But, despite this harrowing experience from which I probably never will fully recover, I am way way WAYYYYY excited to be moving in tomorrow. The next chapter of my life is starting... the rest of my life is starting... etc etc. I sound like a Hallmark card.

(Interesting thing about Hallmark cards... they make cards for literally every occasion. I've learned this based on experiences with certain theater kids who I hope will read this.)

I'm naturally a bit nervous. But I'm also really excited because Florida has palm trees.

(That was a big selling point for me.)

So I'm sure I'll update you on that later. Stay faithful, my four faithful bloggees.