Switcharoo
Hello all!
So I have decided to switch blog services from wordpress (here) to blogspot… I like the flexibility that blogspot allows with my profile and whatnot, so I created a new account on there. I will be posting on that account from now on.
However, this site will still exist because I am too lazy to take the time to switch all of these posts from here to there (an arduous task indeed).
The link to my new blog: http://erinmwhite.blogspot.com/
(Please update your blogrolls accordingly. 
)
LOVE!!!
♥ Erin
J-Term
“Pressure, pushin’ down on me, pressin’ down on you, no man ask for.” ~ Under Pressure, Queen + David Bowie
This essentially sums up my first J Term here at PLU. Sooooooooooooo insanely busy! The way it works is that students can take up for up to 5 credits (one class, pretty much) and cover a semester’s worth of a class in the month of January. I decided to take Religion 190: New Testament. It was a freshman inquiry class, meaning that it contains only first-years and is meant as a kind of exploration of a subject you (as a student) might be interested in pursuing. I took it to get one of my religion requirements out of the way… heh.
Don’t get me wrong here. The class itself has been really interesting and enjoyable…. but with “6 to 7″ hours of reading every night, combined with a couple big projects and a paper, things can get overwhelming pretty darn fast. My roommate, Brooke, took Chemistry. She’s had an even harder time than I have – I don’t know how she’s done it!
Luckily, we’ve got weekends, and some great friends to keep us sane. Although, “keeping us sane” is probably debateable. You see, college in Parkland changes people…
Before...
After!
Haha. We went to Old Main Market after dinner last night and got these “Grab Bags” that they’re selling (to get rid of stuff is our theory). We all ended up getting these ridiculous temporary knuckle tattoos that say things like “More Beer” “Game Over” “This Hurt” and silliness like that. Telise - the tall, gorgeous blonde 
- got really excited and said we should use them and dress up gangster…. and we did! Yay Friday nights! haha. The people are me (duh), Jeff, Telise, and then Sara (left) and Brooke in front. Mine said “Riff Raff”…. SO hardcore. Lol.
I’ve also been taking a credit of voice lessons, as the religion class is only 4 credits. Holly and I have focused most of this month on my aria “So anchi’o la virtu magica” from Don Pasquale by Donizetti. I’m going to be singing it at her recital on Vashon Island on the 31st of January and at PLU Opera Night on February 9! It’s been going really well and I’m excited to perform it at the end of this month. Yesterday we also started looking at some musical theatre repertoire for audition pieces….. because I’m thinking about auditioning for Leavenworth Summer Theatre!
Makenzie (a girl in my wing) and Brianne (my wonderful project partner in my religion class) are both from Leavenworth and have been talking to me about the town’s summer musical program for the past week or so. The program puts on three musicals every summer, one of which is always The Sound of Music. This year they are also doing Crazy for You and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The exciting part is that the cast is paid - as in, it’s a summer job! As in, one that I would really love to do! Thus, I was both excited and intrigued when I heard about it. The auditions are by appointment on March 10 – 14. I don’t know much more than that about them at this point, but I can get more info starting February 2. It would mean, though, that if I got cast, I would be essentially living in Leavenworth over the summer. That’s going to be the thinking point for me (and my family) if everything works out. I’ve talked with my parents about it a little bit already, however, and they actually seemed receptive to the idea! I was surprised, but pleased. We’ll see what happens with all of this…. I will always have KCDA to turn to in case things don’t turn out or if I change my mind, but right now, the possibility is fairly exciting.
Hmmm… let’s see. Oh! My Christmas break was really wonderful. The holiday itself was fun and break consisted of lots of seeing friends and enjoying time with my family. College really makes you appreciate home more. I’ve been missing it a lot this month, as I won’t be home until the 30th. But my family is wonderful and sent me a funny little care package with chocolate hearts, “love” socks, and a card. It made me so happy! I’m also really thankful for the friends that I have made/am making here at school. I remember feeling so weird about getting to know new people at the beginning of the year, but now I can’t imagine being here without the people I’ve gotten to know!
So, J-Term has mostly left me feeling like this:
Makenzie, me, and Rachel
Thug lyfe.
And I’m staying true-to-self.
College rocks.
Word.
hahaha.
Love and “Riff Raff”,
♥ Erin
(Oh, and for those of you who may be curious…. there was some advancing towards something with a certain gentleman towards the beginning of this month, but things were about as vague as I have just described and have henceforth stopped advancing. I was confused for a while, and still am a little bit, but I’m doing fine now. Friendship is a lot more important to me. And, as Brooke so wisely put it, I have 4 years here … no hurry! )
IOU
November 22, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: bible study, college, job application, PLU, Thanksgiving
I owe you one photo blog. Said blog will probably not happen for a while. Just fyi.
Oh my goodness I am SO ready for Thanksgiving break. I want to go home so badly! I’ve only been here for two straight weeks, but I think the prospect of seeing my family, being at home for more than 2.5 days without much homework to do, and being able to see some of my friends from high school is driving me up the wall with anticipation. I miss everyone!!!
haha. It makes me feel wimpy, being all anxious about going home when I have friends who haven’t been home since their schools started in August or September. But I think I underestimated how much I would want to go on break. Oi. Thank goodness that I don’t have any major assignments due before break starts. I’m not sure how I lucked out on that one, but I only have reading or music studying to do for my classes…. THANK YOU MY LOVELY PROFESSORS!!!!
The biggest thing I have to work on this weekend, actually, is my application to work in PLU’s Writing Center. It’s where students can go for help with any of their written work, from proof-reading to just getting an idea on how to begin. I haven’t actually used it for any of my papers, but – since we’ve done some peer correcting in class – my Writing 101 professor mentioned the job opening to me and said she’d recommend me any time! So I’m going to go for it. There’s no harm in filling out the application, right? And I really wouldn’t mind getting out of the dish room. Really. It’s not awful, but it’s not great either.
Life here finally feels really steady. Of course, now the semester ends in less than a month….. AH! December is going to be crazy. I have six choir concerts in the course of one week. Dec 5, we’re in Portland. Dec 6th, one at PLU. Dec 7, one in Seattle. Dec 10, 11, and 12 here at PLU. Except for Sunday the 6th, all of those are evening concerts, meaning that we will get back from Portland early on the morning of the 6th and we will get back from Seattle hopefully by midnight on the 7th. GAH! I think it will be fun, mostly, but it will also be very insane. And, I have juries for voice and piano on the 11th and then finals week is the 14th to the 18th. Dad and I are going to Indiana on the 18th for my cousin Jana’s wedding on the 19th (which I am singing at). I pretty much won’t be able to breathe until I leave PLU on that Thursday (the 17th) to be home for a night before leaving for Indiana Friday morning.
*sigh* Oh well, no use in worrying about it until it’s here. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6: 33-34
I really need that quote on a poster or something. It consistently applies to my life. haha. Luckily, I was really able to relax yesterday. The thing I worked on the most was actually the collage journals we are making as a part of my bible study group. We are reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge and discussing it. Everyone wanted to make the journals after they saw the one I have that I bring along with me just in case I want to write something down. I guess you could say I also worked on increasing my list of favorite movies… haha. I ended up watching 10 Things I Hate About You in the early afternoon with my roommate Brooke and a couple girls from my hall (one had to analyze it for a class), and then Brooke and I watched Juno with two girls from our bible study last night. We were up a little late but it was worth it. Yay for crossing movies off of my list (that exists in my head)!
So far today I have completed all of my homework and I’ve read ahead for the classes I have reading in. All that’s left is the job app!! GO TEAM GO!
So, I leave you with thoughts of warm turkey dinners and the joy of going home. Please pray for those who don’t have a place to go this holiday weekend…
With love,
♥ Erin
Music Nerd
I just got excited while filling up my waterbottle because I realized, when filling it up slowly, you can hear an ascending chromatic scale.
Yes.
Obnoxious
Obnoxious is a good word for the majority of this week. Not bad… just obnoxious. This was my first stressful week of college, with two projects, a test, and an essay all due within three days of each other. Except for the test, everything turned out okay (I need to talk to my teacher about the test because I wasn’t able to finish… I’m just doing my best to not worry about it).
Work on Tuesday was just ridiculous. There was a new girl who had no idea what she was doing and just didn’t seem to understand dish room work etiquette. Granted, she was new, but you don’t just encroach on someone’s workspace until they just move over and when the manager says to pull trays faster, you actually are supposed to attempt to work faster. It was just frustrating. Luckily, my manager is on my side and let me have a break later in the evening. Thursday was really quite fine except for obnoxious catering people coming in at the end of the night to run their dishes through. They tried to “help” me stack kitchen pots and pans that came out before their own dishes did, but it really would have been better if they had just not crowded around the end of the dishwasher, with the two girls acting like hyper junior high kids. :/
Yesterday was pretty good though. I only had my Music & Culture class at 12:30… Fridays kind of rock. haha. I had a voice studio meeting at 5:30 where we got to hear a few girls from Holly (my voice teacher) and another voice teacher’s studio sing the songs they are preparing for juries. I think I am going to sing in the next one sometime in November. After that, I went with three other girls from my res-hall wing to see the play. It’s called Wintertime by Charles Mee. It was quite good – crazy, but good. (The entire cast strips to their underwear in the second act… heh.) After that we went and visited the “octoberfest” celebration in the Cave (an on-campus hang out). There were root beer floats and – for serious - a live polka band! haha. Then a group of girls from my wing watched The Proposal. We had reserved our lounge for the event and there was a group of guys in there who were going to watch Gladiator. Luckily, they were really nice and about half of them ended up watching the movie with us anyway! The movie was pretty good… definitely a little corny, but still enjoyable. (Yay Sandra Bullock!)
I am pretty much free this weekend. I have a very small amount of reading to do and practicing music (of course) but other than that I am free to read for fun, write, be on facebook, eat, etc. all while listening to the marvelously wet rain. And the thunderstorm this morning was quite enjoyable to listen to. This next week holds new units in both Writing and Music & Culture, my two choir concerts (!!!) and then we have mid-semester break this Friday (pretty much a three day weekend), during which I will be going home and visiting KW.
Yep yep.
All in all, things are pretty good.
♥ Erin
P.S. I will get on that photo blog, I promise!! But probably not for a while now… the rain is unpleasant for taking pictures in, seeing as I would get very very wet.
I can’t believe…
September 25, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: autumn, candy corn, college, PLU, tea
Electric kettle, waterbottle, mug, Ricolas, peppermint tea, Purell.... avoiding illness? Priceless.
… I forgot the Throat Coat! (raise your hand if you thought I was going to say “it’s not butter!”)
I went home last weekend and went shopping with my mom on Sunday to replenish my college necessities – aka FOOD. Of course, Fred Meyers was completely out of Throat Coat (hello flu/cold season), but we had some at home, so we figured I could just take the box from there. Of course, I entirely forget about this later….
I almost left my room key/card, but I remembered it at the last second! But did I remember the tea??? NOOOOO. And I woke up with a very, very slight sore throat this morning. I had my peppermint tea and am now toting my bag of Ricolas around and drinking even more water than I have been… but is it gone? NOOOOO. >.< I’m just hoping it will go away if I keep downing all this stuff. gahh. Thank goodness for what I do have, though. *Note to self: HOME = THROAT COAT!*
End rant. haha.
Anywho… I redid my profile for autumn. I love autumn!! It’s probably my favorite season. It’s crisp, cool, colorful, and usually not too wet (at least, at the beginning). It reminds me of apples, cider, pumpkins, spices, homemade applesauce (!), sweaters, Thanksgiving, and – of course – CANDY CORN. hahaha. (If the Szabos are reading this – I love you guys so much!! ) <—- They gave me a large jar of candy corn last weekend because I always steal theirs when I visit them around Halloween.
Let’s see, what all have a I done since the last time I blogged?…. Sorry for the 3-week absence, by the way - lots of busy-ness now! Firstly, updates! I got into the University Chorale! It’s technically the “intermediate” choir of the three main ones and it’s the one I wanted. It is such an AMAZING class! Dr. Galante is a hilarious and wonderful director and everyone in the choir is always focused, working hard, and sounding spectacular while they do it. Our fall concerts are on October 20th and 21st. There are two because so many people come to them! (Such an exciting thought!)
My voice teacher is Holly Boaz and she’s quite wonderful. :) I’ve only had two lessons so far, and we’re currently looking at 9 songs – 4 German, 1 Italian, and 4 English. I don’t think I’ll be working on all of them at the same time, but I’ll narrow down to about 5 to work on for juries. Then for piano (which I started this week) I’ve gotten 6 to 8 things to work on this week. I feel like I’m going to start going a little music crazy and be singing songs in my head all the time (like that hasn’t been going on for years anyway)….. heh heh.
My job in the Dish Room with dining services is going fine. On Tuesdays I mainly unload trays/scrape & stack dishes for washing. On Thursdays I mostly unload the washer and stack clean dishes. Tuesdays = messy. Thursdays = wet w/ potential small finger burns. Woot woot. But I really don’t mind it. It’s only 5 hours a week and, at worst, it is similar to KCDA in monotony. So I just sing quietly to myself (no one can hear anything that is said unless it is at normal volume or louder) and avoid looking at the clock.
I have used lots of smilies in this post….
From the Ordal retreat... the boat behind us in the harbor. I liked the whale.
As for fun things, I went with my residence hall on a “retreat” a couple weekends ago. We went on a boat! (Cue the song that I strongly dislike). It was definitely fun just cruising around with some of the coolest kids on campus! OHHHHH! I got to know a few more people, played cards, and just relaxed. Brooke and I have made it a habit of watching GLEE together. Yay! We’ve even had a “Glee Party”. There are some girls from Tinglestad (another hall on lower campus) who we’ve started getting to know and they all came over after dinner one night to watch it on my laptop with us. Hopefully that will be happening again tonight! (Hoorah for Hulu.) Brooke also got me to go to the first Swing Club meeting with her and I got hooked! We started learning the Lindy Hop on the first night… so fun! The meetings are Mondays at 8 (probably one of the only clubs I can actually go to) and this coming Monday we’re having an actual dance! I’m excited to put on my dress and heels and go. The girl-boy ratio is still rather uneven, but they do a good job about rotating partners, so I’ve met a few nice guys. (And that is it for the boy department – no, really. )
Ahhh, the laundry calls. But I am planning to take some time to get photographs of campus this weekend and pretty soon I will do a photo blog w/ commentary for those of you who have never seen PLU! Of course, those of you who have been here will want to see it again anyway. haha.
Love and candy corn,
♥ Erin
Waiting for 9AM
Bonjour, mes amis!
I was going to go to breakfast this morning with the girls across the hall, but I figured that it would probably be a good idea to review for my Music Fundamentals placement test that starts at 9:15 today. But then I finished doing that with 15ish minutes left before I need to head for class…. so yes, here I am! haha
Life has been pretty good. Like I’ve said before, I’m making plenty of new friends and enjoying this whole “independence” thing. hah. That being said, yesterday I experienced my first bout of college anxiety. No fun at all. I have currently tested out of both my Ear Training (which is apparently difficult to do) and Intro to Keyboarding classes. However, there is no room in the next level of keyboarding so the professor said to get the second-level books and sign up for private piano lessons for the semester, so I would be prepared for Keyboarding 122 in the spring. But every half hour (one credit) of any private lesson is $200… and I’m already in an hour’s worth of private voice lessons ($400!)…. I wasn’t sure if my scholarship would cover it. Luckily it will, but that moment of panic was NOT enjoyable. I also had tons of reading left to do for my Music & Culture class and I wouldn’t be able to go into my first shift of work because I had a music orientation meeting that night (a wonderful, wonderful new friend subbed for me… I owe her a smoothie. ). Because I don’t know what choir I’m in yet, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep my 5pm Tuesday shift (which gives me 5 hours a week), I don’t know if the time I scheduled for my piano lesson works, and I don’t know when my voice lesson will be.
And, of course, I’m going to have to practice for all of these classes and have 2 juries (similar to Solo & Ensemble, but my private lessons grade rides on my success). MEH! Lots of stress yesterday.
Luckily, things worked out for the most part/I calmed down. Writing a list of things to do and crossing them off is always makes me feel better. So, this morning I will just take things one part at a time. We’re doing a Chinese Lion Dance in Music & Culture today – that sounds really interesting/fun! I also will know my choir placement sometime in the mid-afternoon. I hope it’s Chorale! But I keep telling myself that I’ll be satisfied with either…. still….
Peace, harmony, and all of my love,
♥ Erin
Ahh, college.
September 6, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: college, new friends, Ordal, PLU, residence hall, roommate
this is Jeff, my plant from my voice teacher to remind me to practice!
I’ve been here at PLU now for pretty much 4 days. And I decided on the second night that I really love it here. Everyone is incredibly kind and helpful and I’ve started making some really awesome friends. Of course, one of those friends is my roommate Brooke. She is from Portland, OR, and is so wonderful. We can talk and talk and talk! It’s definitely not a bad thing. She went to a high school that was slightly larger than mine, so our experiences were similar. She is interested in art and biology. As for our regular lifestyles, we seem to have a lot in common – such as not really digging college parties. haha. My family met her parents on move-in day and they are such nice people! I’m really thankful that she is who I’m living with.
I have also been getting to know a girl named Kelly, who lives a few doors down from me in our wing. We have the same writing class and both have an interest in singing. She is also into art, but more of the abstract side. She hasn’t decided between pursuing art, anthropology, geosciences, or maybe writing. She loves music/singing as a hobby though and is auditioning for choir tomorrow! She is also going to be working in dining services like I am.
It’s been really great to see how most people seem to let their guard down a little in college (or maybe it’s the PLU vibe?). Everyone seems pretty genuine, if not a little shy, but I figure that once everyone gets into the routine of classes some of those awkward freshman/newbie feelings will evaporate. My residence hall is called Ordal and, from my impression of the other halls, Ordal is the “hyper” one. All of the RAs and RHC people (residence assistants and residence hall council) are pretty crazy and super amazing. This is definitely the best hall ever! haha. Hall pride is a big deal. Last night we had the annual hall “Sound Off”. Each hall on campus has a theme and then comes up with songs that express our pride (hall and Lute pride!). At Sound Off, all of the halls get together and have a huge shouting match with our songs, with a winner being decided by the Residence Hall Association folks. Ordal was a major contender last night! We’ll see who wins! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (That’s what we yell).
Overall, I am happy, kind of tired, and still way excited to be a Lute!
Til next time,
♥ Erin
One Short Day
September 2, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: college, orientation, Pacific Lutheran University, PLU, school
Just one day left! It’s such a weird thought. I’m insanely excited and admittedly a little nervous, although I think it’s nervous with anticipation more than anything else. Tomorrow I will become an official Lute! For the first time in my life, I will be living away from home for more than one week. I’m finally taking a tangible step into growing up and becoming the “real” me.
Not that I haven’t been the real me of course, and not that I am expecting to change into some entirely new person. But I’m finally going to be (mostly) responsible for myself, all by myself. I’m taking that step off of the bottom stair of the front porch to begin walking in the “real” world. It’s scary, and big, and adult. But it’s my time. I’m so excited! And not just for me, for everyone who’s starting college or life on their own. My friends, we have some big things in store for us and I can’t wait to see how we change the world around us.
So, my basic schedule for Thursday through this Sunday:
Thursday, Sept. 3:
- 9AM: Move in!
- 9AM to 3PM: After moving is complete, a day full of exploration of what PLU has to offer. Woot.
- 3:30PM: Meet “Just Ask Me” group. An orientation group of people from my writing 101 class.
- 5:30PM to 8PM: President’s Welcome and New Student Picnic
- 8PM to 10:30PM: Ice Cream Social, “Lute Follies”, and Residence Hall meeting/social time
Friday, Sept. 4th
- 8AM: JAM group breakfast
- 9:30AM to noon: Academic Success presentation, academic advisor meeting
- 12:30PM to 1:30PM: New Student photo
- 3:14PM: CHOIR AUDITION!!! AH!
- 4:30PM: JAM Group dinner
- 6:30PM to Midnight: Residence hall meeting, “College Life… Explained”, and Red Square block party (Woot!)
Saturday, Sept. 5th
- All Day: On the Road trip — Salsa dancing!!!
- 6PM to 8PM: Dinner theater and “Sound Off” practice
- 9:30PM to 1AM: Sound Off at Foss Field, “Trucker Hat” dance (lol)
Sunday, Sept. 6th
- 8AM to noon: Dining Services job training
- Rest of the day: Take a breather! Maybe try to find Our Lady Queen of Heaven for mass??
Monday, Sept. 7th
- 10AM to noon: Various campus activities
- 1PM: Common Reading Program reception/discussion
- 3:30 to 8PM: More various campus activities
- 9PM: Residence hall wing meetings
Tuesday, Sept. 8th
- 8AM: Classes begin! (Although mine won’t be until 9:15)
- 8:30AM: New Student gathering
- 9AM: University Convocation
- 11:50AM: Classes resume
And there you have it!! Oh man, such craziness! And that was the summed up version! But hopefully I will have some free time intermixed.
Oh, and my schedule is–
- M/W/F: Music Fundamentals 111/113 from 9:15 to 10:20AM; Music and Culture from 12:30 to 1:35PM
- Tu/Th: Intro to Keyboarding from 8 to 8:50AM; Writing 101 from 9:55 to 11:40AM; Ear Training from 1:45 to 2:35PM
With love,
♥ Erin
Hello Erin’s Blog Reader!
Yes! Hello! This is very exciting indeed.
Here is my blog. Isn’t it lovely?! It will be devoted primarily to my updates and musings on college life. I am currently moving out to Pacific Lutheran University (40ish minutes from home) in approximately 5 days. AH!
There will definitely be more to come as my college life actually begins to happen….
That’s it for now, I suppose!
As always, with love.
