My First Orchestra Concert at FSU

September 21st, 2012

One of my favorite parts of Florida State University is the University Symphony Orchestra.  Directed by Dr. Alexander Jimenez, the orchestra consists of Doctoral, Master's, and upperclassmen Undergrad students.  One of the things I love the most about this orchestra is that it is quite professionally run and the orchestra members are rotated around for every concert so that there's not the feeling that any musician is better than the other.

For our first concert we played Beethoven's 3rd Symphony "Eroica" along with a new piece  composed by a local violinist and a Debussy Rhapsody performed by a Doctoral Clarinet student.  Here's the poster from the concert:

What made the concert even better was the support of people from my ward.  Here are some pictures they took from the evening:

 

As you can see, we had a great time!  And I think they really enjoyed the concert.  And it made me feel so loved knowing that even though I have no family close by, there are still people here to love and support me!

Jumping Into Institute Activities

August 31st, 2012

One of the wonderful things about Florida State is the LDS Institute Center.  On the edge of campus lies the Tallahassee Stake Center with a little Institute building behind it.  I can tell you that going to that building has been a spiritual lifeline for me this semester.  Without it, I don't know where I would be.

On Mondays, when I don't have orchestra rehearsal, I go to Family Home Evening there.

On Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesdays, I go to Institute there.

On Friday at 12:30 we have what is called Forum.  This is like the BYU equivalent of Devotional.  We have a speaker come and speak at the Institute center and following it we have an amazing lunch provided by the senior missionary couple, Brother and Sister Johnson.  The Johnsons are wonderful people and remind me of what my parents are like constantly helping others.  I could definitely see my Mom and Dad being a senior missionary couple someday cooking big meals on a weekly basis for an Institute Center somewhere in the world :)

Here is a picture of me doing promo pictures at Friday Forum for an upcoming Institute Tennis activity.

Later that Friday night we had an Ice Cream Social where we played some interesting games such as

Do You Love Your Neighbor?

 A game where you sit in a circle with a person in the middle.  That person goes up to a person of their choice and asks them if they love their neighbor.  If they say yes then the two people on each side of them have to trade places while the person in the middle tries to take one of their spots.  If the person says no, they say that they love everyone if the circle that have a certain characteristic such as having a blue shirt or being from out of the state of Florida and so forth.  It's a simple game that is really fun.

To end the activity, we played something I have never done before:

A Flour Snowball Fight!

 What we did was fill pantyhose with flour and hit each other with it.  It was actually very fun!  And man were we covered!

This is one of my roommates: Edgar Gomez

After the activity, we went to a swimming pool and jumped in fully clothed.  I went swimming for over an hour in jeans.  I loved it somehow!  

This was a great start to my Institute experience!  And started me on the road to falling in love with Tallahassee!

Discovering the Campus of Florida State University

After 5 years at a private LDS university I was curious to see what Florida State was going to be like.  On first glance, it was quite different.  Most of the buildings are old-style red brick buildings under the cover of the trees of the Applalache forest as opposed to the open campus of BYU under the rocky mountains.  Here are some pictures I took of the main campus:

In front of the Strozier Library (the main FSU campus library)

FSU is a gigantic campus that takes about 20-25 minutes to walk across and it just happens that the LDS church I attend is on the opposite edge of campus from the music buildings.  I have done the walk and it is quite the trek.

Talking about the music buildings.  FSU has four music buildings:

THE HOUSEWRIGHT BUILDING

THE KUERSTEINER BUILDING

THE LONGMIRE BUILDING

THE WESCOTT BUILDING

(my favorite building)

with

Ruby Diamond Hall 

(where we have our big orchestra concerts)

FSU has a big music school and therefore needs the facilities to house it and I feel like it adequately does that.  When I tried out at FSU I was very impressed with the Wescott Building and the concert hall inside it that I would have the opportunity to perform in.  It's a wonderful venue.

My First Hike in Florida

August 25th, 2012

On my second weekend in Tallahassee I had the opportunity to go hiking with single adults from my ward in the swampy woods near Tallahassee.  Now, this may sound really silly, but when I thought of Florida, I had this fear that I would have unexpected encounters with alligators.  The thought terrified me.  I have come to learn that even though alligators certainly exist in Florida, they will mainly just be found in bodies of water.  Otherwise, there's nothing to worry about.   And thankfully, on this hike, I did not encounter any alligators.  Here are the people I went with:

Top Row Left to Right: Arletta, Rebekah Nelson, me, Mark Ohlen, Brian Farkas, Kyle Lind, Caroline Ogden, Ellie

Bottom Row from Left to Right: David Reynolds, Jayne Reynolds, Chase Jones

And here are little bits of our hike:

 

I had a great time and it was a cool introduction to the wonders of Florida!

Tallahassee: My New Place of Residence

Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, population: 3,000

My first night in Tallahassee was not the best first impression.  Even though my roommate, Brian, the first person I met was incredibly nice, I was a bit creeped out when I made a trip to a nearby Wal-Mart to get me some food for the week.  First of all, there were a lot of sketchy people hanging out around the entrances and there were some very angry ladies yelling at each other.  Also, there was not too much light in the parking lot leaving me with a bit of a foreboding feeling.  As I was getting my food, there were quite a few people in the store that seemed a bit intimidating.  Luckily, nobody felt the need to mug me or anything :) I found out later that out of the 6 Wal-Marts in Tallahassee, this is by far the sketchiest one. Just my luck, huh?

Tallahassee is a college city with 3 main college campuses containing 100,000 college students.  There's Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and Tallahassee Community College.  Florida State specifically is one of the top ten party schools in the nation.  Therefore, this city can be a bit unsafe at night in certain parts.  You just need to be careful where you go sometimes.

One of the first things I noticed about Tallahassee was the huge number of trees!  And many of these trees are unlike anything I've seen before.

Driving through the streets can sometimes feel like you are driving through a forest, which has some truth considering Tallahassee is on the north end of the Appalachee forest.  In that aspect it reminds me of Washington where Amman has been living.

Another thing about Tallahassee that will come as no surprise is the high amount of humidity.  When I go running here or even walk for a long distance I come back completely drenched in sweat.

I thought Kansas was bad . . . it can definitely be worse here :)

Also, when it rains here, you need to be ready.  Without hardly any warning the rain sprinkles on you for a few seconds and then the rain comes down in BUCKETS AND BUCKETS OF WATER.  It is insane.  After experiencing this many times in my first little while here, I came to understand why this is hurricane country.

And speaking of hurricanes, after only two weeks in Tallahassee, I was told that  hurricane Isaac was going to hit Tallahasee.  Then that hurricane turned into a Tropical Storm Isaac.  I was just a bit worried about this, because I had never been in a hurricane before, but my roommates assured me it wasn't too bad.  In the end, Tropical Storm Isaac didn't even hit Tallahassee and I was spared.

To add to that the bugs are of a considerably bigger size here.  Recently, I was reminded on this unfortunate fact.  I woke up one morning, went to the living room and started doing some sit-ups. As I was hitting my 40th sit-up I saw something crawling towards me. To my dismay . . the largest cockroach I have ever seen was only a foot away from me. I jumped up and hit it with my shoe twice. I took it and put in the trash can. Later when I went to throw something away, I saw the cockroach crawling around the trash can. So, I grabbed a knife and tried to stab the cockroach. But, he scurried down into the trash.  I decided to just leave it there and go to school for the day.  All I could think about that morning was the cockroach lurking in my trash can.  When I got home that night, my roommate, Rich asked me why I put a cockroach in the trash can.  Thankfully, he had sprayed cockroach killer in the trash can.  Death to the cockroach!!!!  YES!!!!

Another feature of Tallahassee is the large amount of stores and restaurants!  Among these are some key Southern restaurants   For example, there are 7 Chick-o-Filets here and for some reason, I find myself being tempted to eat there at least once a month.  I also have had the chance to eat some wonderful Southern BBQ and wow!  Huge quantities and lots of good meat!  Also, I've noticed an unusual amount of grease and butter in southern food.  I have found myself getting used to a bit unhealthier way of cooking and no freaking out about it.  Of course, when I cook I do not follow this example :)  Let's just say though, I have to be careful about my expanding waistline.  The sweaty exercise in the morning is most certainly important!

Overall, even though some of these things I've explained my sound terrifying I absolutely love this city.  I love how different it is from what I've experienced before.  Of course, I've met some wonderful people to help me fall in love with being here.  Keep reading and you'll find out about a bunch of wonderful people I have met!

Welcome to Tallahassee!

August 2012

As I left Kansas I knew I was off onto a new adventure: an adventure unlike anything I'd done before.  To add to the stress a lot of work had to be done on my car and it cost a pretty penny.  But, thanks to the generosity of my parents, I was able to get my car full-serviced and on the road safely.  I left on August 17th in the early afternoon with my car completely loaded with all my stuff.  It was a tight fit and I couldn't see out the back of my car, but it worked.  Over the course of two days (I stayed in a hotel in Mississippi) I drove for about 20 hours and arrived in Florida.  How did I do it?  Well, I listened to the Hunger Games on audiobook CD's.  Thank goodness I had those, because I wouldn't have been able to make it.  On Saturday night, I arrived safe and sound at my new house.

When I first arrived I was overwhelmed.  I was in a city I had never been in before.  I didn't know how to get anywhere.  I didn't really know anyone.  I felt very alone.  I was asking myself . . . 

"What am I doing here?  Why did I drive half-way across the country away from everybody I knew to get a Master's degree.  Will I be able to adjust to this?"

I sat in my room on Sunday night wishing I was with my family at Sunday dinner, but knew that wouldn't happen for a while.  Depression engulfed me and I found myself staying up late into the night watching episodes of Merlin, White Collar, Once Upon a Time, and so forth.

It wasn't easy for the first month and it was hard to get used to a completely new city, climate, and culture (Tallahassee is very different from Provo :).  I've had to make new friendships.  I've had to adjust to a new financial situation.  But, the adjustments eventually started to sink in.  Just keep reading my entries to find out!

A Highly Eventful Summer

After arriving in Kansas in late April, I jumped right into preparing for a violin recital that I wanted to play for my friends and family in the Kansas area.  Now, I can honestly say that I must have been crazy to do this recital, because it was the hardest recital of my life and I was not very well-prepared.  Here is the recital poster that my sister-in-law, Chanda helped me make:

As you can see from the poster I played two Paganini caprices, Recitativo and Scherzo by Fritz Kreisler, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughn-Williams, and to end the recital, Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto.  It was wonderful music, but I wasn't incredibly happy with my performance.  Somehow, though, the audience enjoyed it.

Earlier in the month of May I took a trip out to Maryland to spend time with friends and had the opportunity to look around the sites of Washington D.C.  I also saw an incredible performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony.  While I was there I had the opportunity to spend time with my surrogate big sister, Amy Norton who was out there on a tour with a choir.  Here's a picture of us in the Washington D.C. temple visitor's center:

After my recital and Washington D.C. experience, my summer had only just begun.  My brother Jeremy and I took a three week Europe tour through England, France, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  Now, this trip was truly amazing and I could make a TON of blog entries about it, but instead I made a lengthy slideshow that I would love to show anybody who has not seen it.  This described the trip well.  Unfortunately, the millions of pictures I had I left in Kansas.  So . . .I have nothing to post.  But, please, see the slideshow.  There are plenty of pictures there :)

After I got back in late June, I had a little bit of time at home in Kansas where I taught a few violin students, took a few viola lessons from my father, but the biggest event of my time right after my Europe trip was being able to spend a week up at my sister, Angela's house before and after she had her new baby, Anna.

My niece, Ariel and I got to babysit Angela and Russell's kids: Sam and Lily

They were such a joy to babysit.  All kids have their quirks, but all I can remember from babysitting them was how adorable they are and how much I love them.

In mid July, I went with my parents on a trip to Dellafield, Wisconsin to visit my Aunt Heidi and her husband Randy.  I truly enjoyed this trip and was grateful I finally got to see Heidi in her post-Utah environment.  I can say that my aunt truly makes a difference wherever she goes and it seems that the people there truly love her.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from our trip, but I promise you we had a blast!

About a week after my Wisconsin adventure my family drove out to Utah for family reunions on both my mom and dad's side of the family.  I admit that it was a bit weird to return to Utah.  I was excited to go out there, because I already really missed the people I had come so close to over the years.  When I arrived there I felt like I was home, but after a while I realized that I was leaving all over again and I was suddenly very confused about where I belonged.  I had felt like I belonged in Utah, but now I had to move on.  I didn't feel like I really belonged in Kansas anymore.  So, there over the summer, while it was great to be with family, I felt a bit lost.

As the end of August approached, it started to hit me that I was going to be moving to Tallahassee, Florida to start my master's degree at Florida State University.  For the first time in my life I was going to move to a place where I had no family and friends close by.  I knew I would make friends eventually, but I was still terrified of the transition and adjustments I was going to experience.  At the same time, I was excited to experience a new place.

When I look back on my summer I could focus on the uncertainty I felt as I transitioned between a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree, but there was more to it than that.  I had the opportunity to spend time with my family a lot more than I have been able to in the last few years.  To all members of my family that I spent time with this summer, thank you for the wonderful lives you live.

Adam, Chanda, Ariel, Courtland, Bryant, and Faith

  Thank you for a wonderful summer.  Thank you for letting me spent countless hours at your house making theEurope slideshow.  Thanks for letting my hang out with you at Worlds of Fun, BYU, Boondocks, and so forth.  Thank you for always being excited to have me over and being so hospitable every time I was at your house.  And a shout out to Ariel . . . thanks for babysitting Angela's kids with me and letting me show you BYU.  Wherever you decide to go for college, I am glad I was able to share an important part of my life with you.

 Jeremy

 First of all, thanks for a very eventful trip to Europe.  It couldn't have been nearly as fun and meaningful without you.  Thank you for your generosity of my making it possible so that I could even go to Europe again.  In a time of my life where I am so low in finances, you gave me a present I could have never dreamed of.  Thank you, thank you and thank you again.  And . . . please forgive me for any of my rude behavior this summer.  I was going through a lot of emotions that I was having a hard time understanding because of the time of my life and you had to witness a lot of those emotions.  Sorry for that.  When I look back, all I can think about is that wonderful experiences we had.  

Jacob, Tonya, Aurora, Leia, and Violet
I am struggling finding a picture of your family on-line.  But, I just want to say how grateful I am for the time I got to spend with you this summer.  Thank you for the lunches at Amanda's, the dinners at your house, the chance to babysit your children , the deep conversations about life and about movies and theater.  Thanks for the game nights and thanks for raising adorable children.  I'll see you at Thanksgiving!

Angela and Russell

It was such a pleasure making trips to McPherson and witnessing the wonderful lifestyle you have set-up for your family.  I was so grateful to get to know your children in a new way and have some good talks with both of you.  Thank you for the food, the hospitality, and the support in things like my recital.  I look forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving.


Mom and Dad
It was truly a blessing to spend time with you both more this summer.  I really couldn't ask for better parents.  Thank you for your continuous sacrifice to me and the rest of the family.  On top of that, I can't express how grateful I am for your continuous generosity in supporting me financially so that I can achieve my greatest academic dreams.  Even when I think I have things under control financially life has its surprises and then I find myself in a tight financial situation.  Well, in these situations you two don't hesistate to help all you can.  Thank you, thank you, and thank you again.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.  It hasn't gone to waste.  I have had some many wonderful experiences at BYU and now at Florida State.  I wouldn't trade these experiences for the world.  I love you both and can't tell you how thankful I am for you and how you have lived your life.

My Master's Audition Journey

In my last semester at BYU I had the opportunity to audition at five universities around the nation in hopes of pursuing my master's degree in violin performance at one of them.  I tried out at:

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

 

 

  UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

INDIANA UNIVERSITY: JACOBS SCHOOL OF MUSIC

AND

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

It was a crazy semester full of lots of traveling and stress.  I learned a lot about myself as a performer and my eyes were opened to what music schools are like around the nation.  After the expensive, intense process that I paid a lot of money out of my pocket for, I was accepted to 3 schools:

University of Maryland, Florida State University, and University of Illinois

These were all three very good choices for music schools and I had a hard choice to make.  But, in the end, only one of the schools offered me a graduate assistantship where my tuition would be covered: Florida State University

I thought long and hard about this and prayed about it a lot . . . but in the end the decision was clear.  In mid April I declared that I would be attending Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL for my master's degree in Violin Performance starting in Fall of 2012.

With that part of my future clear I graduated from BYU in April and drove all of my stuff home with my parents to Emporia, KS with a bit of an open, somewhat clear summer ahead of me.