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.

College News and Reflections

I apologize for the lame title. :)

So, today was a fairly wonderful day. I got admissions decision from both the University of Miami and NYU, along with admission to their respective music schools, which is really great.

However, I am yet to hear about any scholarship awards for academics or vocal ability, which is really what is going to make the decision for me at the moment, meaning that CSU is still in first for my heart and future.

I know that a lot of people will be shocked that I would choose CSU over NYU or Miami... or even DU, considering the great scholarship package they offered me. But really, as far as undergrad goes, the cheapest university is going to win. I'm already definitely going into a graduate program to get my Masters in Music, and that's when I'll be going for the big name schools. Especially considering that grad students also get great consideration in scholarships. Let's look at Eric's life as it stands right now:

Eric goes to CSU for four years and gets his BM in Vocal Performance in a program that is excellent, if not as well known. He's had a great experience at CSU and has beefed up his resumé considerably (especially when one understands that CSU is one of a handful of universities in the world that has been known to grant Freshmen leading roles in productions- something that's really winning me over at the moment.) Four years have passed, and it's time to apply to grad school. Eric has decided that while Colorado is a wonderful place, it's time to maybe break the mold and go out of state to a conservatory. If things go as planned, Eric will apply to the Manhattan School of Music and the San Francisco Music Conservatory, on top of some other possible schools for a two-year program to get his Masters. In addition, he will reapply to NYU and Miami's graduate programs in hopes that he'll get a good scholarship and then spend the next two years studying his butt off and hopefully starting to establish a career. Once he gets his MM, he leaves school forever and starts pursuing an operatic career. He might start out in the Denver Opera (which, for all intents and purposes, is a fairly well-respected program) or start in some other smaller opera companies before finally making his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera. After Eric sings opera for a few years and fully matures his voice, he will then transition to Broadway, singing the bass roles that are really only offered to older people (because young characters in shows are almost always tenors because the world is unfair.) After Eric makes his transition to Broadway, he eventually gets the part of the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera (which I'm assuming will still be running at that point) and then dies happily shortly thereafter.

Well, I'm hoping I don't die that quickly as I'm hoping to live to be like 105, but you get the point. I basically have my life mapped out.

The reason why I don't want to go to NYU for undergrad (unless I am offered significant financial aid) is because I don't want to be in debt for the rest of my life. College loans are hard enough to come by anyway in this tragically sucky economy, and paying them off at the same time as waiting for a performance career to spark would be suicidal (both literally and figuratively). My parents are, thankfully, helping me with college, but they have also told me that if I want to go to a private university (which happens to be 8 out of the 9 colleges I've applied to) and I'm not offered significant scholarships to cover a majority of the costs, I'm out of luck. And, unfortunately, federal grants are very difficult to come by and those that do exist will go to people less fortunate than I. I'm not guaranteed a performance career, and I don't want to pay off loans for undergrad. I might be willing to take loans for graduate school, but that's four years down the line.

So, the moral of this blog entry is that if I'm going for a big name, I'll save it until grad school. I am fully confident that CSU's program is just as good as any of the "big-name" schools' programs are- it just comes at a fraction of the price. Another bonus about CSU is, of course, that it's close to home and I've familiarized myself with the program quite nicely. I know the instructors there fairly well, and I have done a lot of research and found that the opera program is very well-respected across the state. I'm not making any commitments yet, of course (I imagine I'll be doing that all the night of April 30th... :P), and I tend to change my mind every two minutes as far as college is concerned, but, at the moment, this is my mindset.

Back in September, I would have jumped instantly when I found out that I was admitted to NYU. And now, though it's fairly painful to let this opportunity slide, I think I'm making a great decision in the long run. And NYU isn't going anywhere. Neither is Miami, or any other opportunity. I've proven to myself now that I can get into both schools and their respective music programs. Transferring is always an option, and so are graduate studies. I've waited 18 years to go to these schools.

Certainly four more won't be too difficult.