Week Two

On Wednesday we had our first REAL orchestra rehearsal! Yay orchestra! I was so happy. Right now we've got the music for a Sibelius Romance (gorgeous) and the Mendelssohn string symphony no. 10. I'm excited to play them both...I'm not sure if we're getting more music later or if we combine concerts with the other university groups. I guess I'll find out soon. We found out chair placement, and I'm the third chair out of six, so I'm pretty content. We have a HUGE bass section....there are four of them! I look behind me and there is a forest of bass players. We're a small orchestra (6 firsts, 7 seconds, 6 violists, 6 cellists) so I'm not sure how the massive bass section is going to balance with the rest, but I'm sure that will work out somehow.....I have to say, though, I think I'm going to have to infuse a little OPAYCO spirit into these guys. ;)

Wednesday evening was also the first Campus Crusade (fondly known as Cru) meeting! I think it's going to be really good. I went up to the 5th floor lounge where they were holding it, and there were about 10 of us by the time we got started. Those who had been there in previous years thought that was quite the turnout. This is the first year that the UMSL chapter has really been established....in previous years there hasn't been a leader for the Bible studies, and Stephen and his roommate Ryan led them. This year there are a couple of leaders from Campus Crusade to lead Bible study and to run things. The 10 of us started out by playing an ice breaker in which we each took some m&ms. Each color of m&m stood for a different thing (ie, yellow = favorite vacation spots, brown = nicknames, orange = quirks about yourself, etc.) and for each m&m of each color we had to tell things about ourselves. Some people took a lot of m&ms, so it was going to take a while, but as we began playing this ice breaker, more and more and more people kept coming in until there were about 25 of us plus the leaders. We barely fit in the lounge! They definitely weren't expecting that many people, and since there were so many of us, our "quick" ice breaker took about 40 minutes to get through! After that marathon was completed, we read from the gospel of Mark and Karl (the Cru leader) spoke a bit about it. We prayed and then Ryan led worship. It was so wonderful to finally begin to meet other believers on campus! Oh! Vin and Casey, I met a fencer at Cru! I talked with him a bit about fencing, and it made me think of you guys. :)

Thursday was my first lesson with my new teacher, Joanna Mendoza. She is really great...I think I'm really going to learn a lot from her and I think we're going to work really well together. She gave me the Carl Maria von Weber "Andante and Hungarian Rondo" to learn and to get ready for the Saint Louis Youth Symphony Orchestra's annual concerto competition on Nov. 5th. I've got some work to do!

Here's a picture of my "spot" in the music building. It's nice and quiet here and I can be alone to think or do homework, it's close to my classes and some practice rooms, and I get good cell service here, so if you talk to me, you have an idea of where I might be. :)

My quartet is in the process of deciding what to play...I think we're going to do a Haydn, but it has yet to be determined which Haydn we will play. There are quite a few of them, after all.

Thursday night I also cooked my first meal at college! Aren't you all so proud? Cortney and I made spaghetti........which consisted of heating up sauce in a pan and cooking some noodles. But hey, it was still warm, and NOT from a microwave. We're practically chefs now. (The thing I'm not telling you is that it actually took us 45 minutes to heat up sauce and cook noodles........but shhhhhhh! No one needs to know that.)

(I hope all you OPAYCO people notice my shirt. See, I'm representing, even in Missouri!)

I'm finally getting into the groove of things, I think. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable and free to be myself. I'm getting the hang of what life is going to be like here, and I'm learning a ton! I can't believe that I get to study music (with the occasional writing break) all day! Seriously, how rad is that??? I am so blessed!

With all my love,

Maren