Adventuring in January

Last post I talked a lot about last semester, and this time I want to give an update on this semester! I have had a crazy busy few weeks in Boston thus far, filled with loads of classes and lots of exploring.

Cello wise, I have been preparing for my Boston University Symphony Orchestra audition and beginning my repertoire for the semester.

School wise, I have been going to what occasionally seems like endless amounts of class. However, I do have some particularly exciting classes this semester! My Secondary Methods Music Education class is amazing. My professor has incredibly high expectations of us, and gives us assignments that really provoke thought and self initiated learning. My favorite part about this class is that I get to go out into a public school every Friday and observe a full day’s worth of music classes. At the moment, I am at Boston Latin.

Boston Latin is an exam school that draws from the “best and the brightest” of Boston’s 7th-12th graders. They have 5 orchestras and multiple bands as well as a massive amount of general music offerings! I have been observing 2 teachers primarily, the orchestra teacher and one of the general music teachers, but I’d like to branch out and also observe the band, choral and jazz ensembles.

I am also an officer for NAfME which had its first successful meeting of the semester! I will be dedicating a lot of my free time this semester to meeting and organizing. The good news about all this school work and organizing is that it has led me to take advantage of the gorgeous study rooms at the Boston Public Library. The BPL has become my favorite place to camp out on Sunday afternoons and cram in hours of reading, writing and planning.

Besides studying, I have been spending my weekends filled with lots of fun things! Last weekend was Cora’s birthday, so we went down to a vegan restaurant called Red Lentil in Watertown. They had amazing vegan desserts and delicious veggie filled entrees. This past weekend my suite had a roommate bonding night where we talked for hours about social justice, slam poetry, Miley Cyrus and mechanical intelligence. On Saturday Cora, Ally and I all ventured to Frog Pond in the Boston Common and went ice skating!

By the end of the hour we spent skating I had almost gotten the hang of it!

I also had the pleasure of attending a couple of friend’s performances this past week. On Wednesday night I saw my friend’s dance band: Honey Bee Dance Language!

Saturday night, I went to Brittnee’s Junior Clarinet Recital at Boston Conservatory. I met Brittnee at ARIA this summer, and we became fast friends. Now that we both live in Boston, I get to see her more frequently!

For the past 2 weeks I’ve made it over to the Arlington Street Church! It is a beautiful old Unitarian Universalist church built in the 18th century.

I’ve found a welcoming, supportive, progressive community here and I’m excited to build a support system outside of BU! In other self care news, I’ve been going to the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism’s “Self Care Sundays” where we drink tea, knit, and talk. I’ve been working to branch out in my activities. I am also in the final stretch of the training I’m doing to be a Boston University Tour Guide! I get to learn to walk backwards, speak loudly and tell lots of fun stories.

I’m going to try to make this blog a consistent weekly thing, so hopefully I can get that done! Although the weather has been terribly cold, I have been surviving and having a fairly smooth start to my semester.

BU so far

Since this is my first (real) post, I figured I’d do a quick run down of what I’ve been up to this past semester. I am now a semester into my Music Education degree at Boston University. I transferred this fall as a junior from the University of New Mexico. I arrived in Boston at the end of August with my mom and my boyfriend, Michael. She helped us move into our dorms and afterwards we adventured through Boston. Here’s a photo of us in a T station. The T is the public subway system here in Boston, and I’m quite proud of myself for being able to navigate it successfully!

I went to orientation and met lots of people, learned where the important buildings were and registered for classes. Then, school started. I’m living in a part of campus called South Campus. Its a little removed from the main part of campus, and is home to many of the upperclassmen. I’ve really enjoyed living in South, and have a fantastic group of roommates. I live in a suite style dorm which means that while I don’t have a kitchen, I do have a common room and a private bathroom that I share with 4 other girls. This is my dorm after it snowed earlier today.

Chloe and Riley live in the first double room, a girl named Ally has just moved into the single, and Cora and I live in the other double room. Cora, Chloe and Riley have become some of my closest friends here in Boston. They are all Chemistry majors so its been fun to hang out with people outside of the music department!

This is a picture of Riley in the center, and Chloe on the right! We were at a comedy show.

I think this photo captures Cora and my relationship fairly clearly.

Outside of hanging out with my lovely roommates, I’ve been keeping myself quite busy. Last semester I took a bunch of music classes, a developmental psychology class and a writing class. One of the most exciting part of my academic life here has been my cello professor. Marc Johnson is a phenomenal cellist and teacher who has supported me throughout my transition here and will continue to be my cello professor until I graduate in May 2016. I’ve been playing in an orchestra through the School of Music, and I will continue to do that for the rest of my degree.

I spent Thanksgiving with my grandmother in New Jersey. I also got to see Aunt Janet, Uncle Don, Zach and Nick! It was really great to be able to spend some time with people now that I’m out on the East Coast. Besides some slight drama at the airport concerning my cello, it was a relaxing and fun holiday. I am so grateful to all of them for housing me and spoiling me with food and warm clothes!

Other notable moments were visits from Kyra and Ella (unfortunately not at the same time). It was fantastic to get to see them outside of breaks in Albuquerque!!

After a stressful finals week, I flew home and spent an amazing 3 weeks soaking up the sunshine, warm weather and eating my weight in green chile! I’m excited for this semester. I’ll keep you all updated on what happens!

Here are a few more photos that sum up my semester:

With the Dean of Students and School Mascot:

Michael’s Birthday dinner:

Gorgeous New England Fall:

The Prudential Building the night the Red Sox won the World Series:

View of campus from the dining hall:

Hello!

I’ve decided to post periodically to a blog this semester to update all the lovely people in my life about what I’m up to in Boston! I figured this would be the easiest way to share photos and stories for those who do not have Facebook, or don’t talk to me on a consistent basis.

I will try and do a real first post with cute photos and some general updates, but until then this will have to suffice!

Love you all lots!
Cailin