SO MUCH STUFF.

My Thanksgiving break was absolutely perfect. I got to see all of my friends, my boyfriend, and of course my family. I helped put up Christmas decorations at my mom’s house too before I left. Something tells me there will still be some for me to put up when I get back on the 16th.

The week after the break was horrid. It was the week of the annual Trinity Christmas Concert so, I had rehearsal Monday night (usual), Wednesday night (not usual), Thursday night (usual), and then the concert was Friday night. On top of that I had a lot of aural skills homework to do that was not only lengthy, but pretty difficult and then a psychology paper due that Friday. My suitemate and I took about three hours on Tuesday night trying to finish that aural skills assignment. We are working on something called “harmonic dictation” which is where you hear 9 or 10 chords played in succession and you have to write the soprano and bass notes (for now, eventually we are going to have to write the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass notes). Needless to say, it’s very difficult.

Anyway about the Christmas concert. I honestly wasn’t very excited about it for a couple of reasons: 1) the viola parts are so easy on this holiday music that I probably didn’t even need to go to rehearsal 2) being raised in a mixed religion household (mom is christian and dad is jewish), I didn’t like the idea of a “Christmas Concert” when I don’t attend a “Christian School.” Trinity used to be a christian school way way way way way way way back in the day, but that was way way way way way way before they started putting on the Christmas concert. What was cool about it though was that we performed in Laurie Auditorium (the largest one on campus) and it was not only the orchestra, but the band, combined choirs, and handbell ensemble as well. And the Trinity fine arts department does this as sort of a gift to the San Antonio community. So, there were a LOT of people there. But I still was happier when the concert was over than I was during the actual concert. Mainly because the idea of a “Christmas Concert” at a non-religious based school bugs the hell out of me.

As for the present, Wednesday and Thursday (the 9 & 10th) are “reading days” in which we have no classes and use this time to study because finals start on Friday. I only have finals on Monday the 14th and Wednesday the 16th (THEN I GO HOME!!!). My aural skills final is on Monday which is probably the one I’m the most nervous about. I think I’ll pass it, I’m just not sure by how much. My professor gave us a lot of practice examples so, I’ll try to take full advantage of that. Then later that day I’ll have what is called a “jury.” Which is where I perform the piece and etude that I’ve been working on all semester in my private lessons for my teacher and probably another member of the string faculty. I’m not sure how grading works with this, but I’m pretty sure most of it is just to prove that I came to lessons and have been working on the music. Then on Wednesday I have my music theory final in the morning, a thirty minute break, then my psychology final. And what’s cool about the psychology final is that it isn’t cumulative. It’s the same length as all of the tests we’ve been taking. That’s a huge relief seeing as I only have to study what we’ve been talking about in class since the last test. AWESOME. And then I also have a final paper to turn in for my writing workshop, but it only has a 4 page maximum. So that’s nice.

I have my flight that night because I don’t think I’d be able to survive staying in my room that night knowing full and well that I could be home. And I’m ready to go. It’s almost cruel having Thanksgiving break because it reminds you what amazingness you’re going to encounter in just a few weeks. And you have to wait those few weeks…..it’s killer. Only one week from today though!