College!

Hello!

So my attempt to update this the first week of college obviously didn't make the cut. I, very quickly, became a lot busier than I expected to be in the first few weeks - from moving in all of my things to meeting new people left and right to getting settled in with all of my classes. I'm hoping that I can quickly update all of you about what's been happening here at Goshen with some subtopics:

Dorm Life

I am living in Kratz, which is one of three underclassmen dorm buildings on campus, along with Yoder and Miller. Kratz it said to be the "nicest" in some aspects of all of the dorms because it is the newest and sits right in the middle of all the dorms, which also makes it very easy to get to anything you need around you. All of the dorms have 4 floors and each floor can have, oh, maybe a good 12 - 15 rooms. I live on the second floor with my roommate, Emma Brooks from Littleton, Colorado, who I am very blessed to have! She is very fun and outgoing and we definitely mesh very well together. We like many of the same types of music, clothing, life passions, and activities, and share our experiences on campus with each other. She is majoring in Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design, so it's always fun to watch her drawing or working on a new project for her classes. Our room is extremely spacious with a bed, dresser, closet, shelves, and desk for each of us. I think when I was packing up all of my stuff to leave for Goshen, my family and friends were a bit worried that it might not all fit, but thankfully, it all has been actually doing just fine. Compared to the other girls on campus and on our floor, I could have had it a LOT worse. Kratz only occupies 3 of the 4 floors in the building: the first and second floors are girls, the third floor is guys. Yoder and Miller are both filled with 4 complete floors of students. Another neat thing about living in any of these buildings is that they are all interconnected, so you don't have to go outside to travel from dorm to dorm. This, I'm sure, will come in handy when there is a few feet of snow outside and it makes it difficult to walk around. In addition, there are lounges with couches and TVs on every floor, as well as Java Junction - a student-run coffee bar on the first floor - where many students (including myself) go to study and socialize. There's also a piano in there too, which has been fun to play and sing along with. I'm so far very pleased with my living situation and can't complain about the "rough" college living. It's not too bad for where I'm at.

Food

Thankfully, Goshen just switched to a brand new food service company called AVI Fresh, who organically makes all of our food with no trans-fats or unhealthy oils, which is very rare for colleges. They uniquely make their food actually very healthy: for example, most of their pasta and pizza crusts are all whole wheat, they always have a full salad bar, fresh fruit, and some type of vegetable available with the entrees, and have a wide variety of choices. I haven't eaten the same thing twice yet, which is a good sign! They also promote healthy well-being, of course, with a good balance of everything, even though I've noticed some students choose to NOT eat balanced meals...but I refuse to get the Freshman 15!

My Classes

So far, very great! Mondays are definitely my busiest days, but Tuesday follows up with being one of my slower days, so it equals out. I'm taking 9 classes, which all add up to 15 credit hours - the maximum amount allowed to freshman! So I'm definitely not ever bored and VERY rarely have no homework. To name a few, I'm taking Human Biology (as a General Education requirement, since Goshen is a liberal arts college), Transforming Conflict and Violence (a class that focuses on our ways of communicating in a wide variety of situations), Music Theory, Keyboard Theory, Aural Skills, Choir (Chorale), and my piano lessons and voice lessons, which are once a week. All of them are pretty difficult, but Transforming Conflict and Violence and Human Biology have had the most reading / workload so far. In addition, of course, to all of my pieces I'm playing for piano. I'm in the music center everyday practicing piano and/or voice on average around 2-3 hours per day, sometimes more. Like today, for instance, being a Sunday, I got to spend a total of 5 hours practicing different things. And while some people might think that it sounds like a lot (which it is, don't get me wrong), I really actually enjoy practicing quite a bit since I've been here. It allows me to get a new perspective on where I'm going with music and definitely motivates me when I get to live less than a one minute walk from a $24 million performing arts center! It is known all over the United States for being one of the very best concert halls and music facilities, and professionals from all over the world come to perform at Goshen College JUST to experience Sauder Hall. It's incredible. Check it out at http://www.gcmusiccenter.org/.

Indiana Weather

The midwest is a definite change from Oregon, that's for sure. The summers are very warm and a little too humid at times, but pretty normal for what we are used to back at home. Our "really nice days" are practically what it is everyday here when it's summer, which lasts until the end of September/beginning of October. I really enjoyed the nice weather while it was here, but now we have been quickly making our way into a very sure fall. Temperatures are dropping and I've found myself not daring to wear shorts since September. The coldest temp so far has been around 34, and it's only October. Eeeeek. December will be chilly, dropping even more past freezing into predicted negative numbers. And lots of snow, I hear! The colors of the leaves are extremely gorgeous, however, so it definitely makes up for the freezing wind and sleet that may blow in your face every morning. I've got plenty of warm clothes, so I'm just taking advantage of the beautiful sights around campus. The sky has revealed a few hundred stars, it seems like, a few nights since I've been here, and it makes me appreciate what a wonderfully stunning campus I get to live on.

My Major(s) and Minor

I have also decided exactly what it is I will be declaring as my major/minor, which will be "officially" happening in just a couple weeks. I am currently a double major in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy, with a minor in Vocal Performance. Piano Pedagogy, which I'm sure many of you haven't heard of, is a music education degree that specializes in just piano. So, it's a lot like "piano education". This degree allows me to teach either in a public institution of whatever level I choose OR open up my own teaching facility or studio if I wish. The Piano Performance degree solidifies my chances of getting a job in the education field because it proves that I have a significant amount of experience in music (piano specifically, obviously), which makes me more qualified than those who obtain just a Music Education degree. My minor in Vocal Performance wasn't planned before I came to Goshen, but looking at my schedule, my voice professor and I discovered that the only thing I would need to qualify me as a Voice minor would be to take applied lessons, which I had already planned on doing anyway, because all of my other music classes overlapped with my Piano majors. How convenient! And, for those wondering, I do not feel overwhelmed with being a double major with a minor. Because they are all so closely interconnected, I not only have a unique undergraduate degree, but I am also saving myself a lot of money and class time in repeat courses. If I would have double majored in something like Piano Performance and Engineering, I would definitely find myself struggling a lot more than I am with all of my current music classes because they are so incredibly different from each other. I'm so excited to see what the future years here at Goshen have to offer me with music!

On campus / off campus activities

Last night (Saturday, the 4th), we had our very first choir concert, where I sang in both Chorale (which sizes around 105-110 people, men and women, freshman and sophomores) and Women's World Choir (50-55 women, freshman-senior). Chorale sang both acapella and with our orchestra, who is awesome as well, with selections by Felix Mendelssohn and Randall Thompson. Women's World Choir sang two songs that were in southern African and Bulgarian languages, one of which I had the opening solo! The Women's choir always performs barefoot with colorful fabrics around their necks, shoulders, or arms, making us all look unique but unified also. I very thoroughly enjoyed both choir's performances and couldn't believe how lucky I was to be singing inside of Sauder Hall with a full house of 1,000 people.

Another activity that I've been to twice now is First Fridays in downtown Goshen. First Fridays are hosted all over the US (including Portland!) where on the first friday of each month, shops stay open later and food and entertainment is provided right on the streets for all of the general public to enjoy. Goshen definitely takes advantage of their Amish-Mennonite cultural quirks and likes to show them off during First Fridays, which has been exciting for me to get to witness. There are horses and buggies tied up right on the sidewalks for all of the Amish families, fresh apple fritters, a band or dancing of some kind, and little shops here and there that are fun to poke around in. Both times I've gone so far have been a blast!

I will (hopefully) be more on top of keeping you guys updated on all of the Goshen adventures. Don't forget that you can ALWAYS email, call, or write to me anytime. In fact, I would love it if you did! Here's my contact information:

Email: emilymt@goshen.edu

Cell: (971) 322.7836

Mailing Address:

Emily Trapp

Goshen College, Mailbox #455

1700 S. Main St.

Goshen, IN 46526

Also, please be praying for:

- All of my family in Canby/Portland area

- A clear focus on my studies as midterm exams come up

- Lots of sleep, good food, and staying healthy

- Happiness with new friends, a new location, and a new chapter of my life

- Comfort when I'm feeling homesick (yes, it does happen from time to time)

- Opportunities for me to strengthen my relationship with Christ

- To have tons of fun!

Hope all is well, hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Emily