These are a few of my favorite things...
What can I say? I love it here. From the minute I stepped off the plane two and a half weeks ago, things have been working out very well for me. I decided to take a taxi from the airport to my apartment because I had several pieces of luggage and did not want to take them on the T (the subway). It was only about a fifteen-minute car ride to my apartment, but I had a chance to see some of downtown Boston and the Charles River area. I experienced no problems once I arrived at the apartment, but I decided to take a nap for the rest of the day because I couldn't get any sleep on the red-eye flight. I don't know how anyone sleeps on an airplane; it's so uncomfortable. The next day, I decided to get out and see my neighborhood. In proximity to the college, I couldn't have asked for a more ideal apartment location. It's on a fairly quiet, tree-lined, side street overlooking the Fens (a park). I'm on the first floor and my room looks out toward the street and adjacent park. If I look out my window, I can see one of the Berklee buildings (in fact, I have Music Tech. there). So, basically all of the Berklee buildings are around the corner from where I live. It's not more than a five minute walk to any of my classes. Since Berklee is in this urban setting, there's no "campus" except for the city itself. In that respect, it's much like NYU in Greenwich Village. It's pleasant, though, because it offers many stores within walking distance.
Orientation and registration went very smoothly. They had us attend a few events, a couple of which were held in the Berklee Performance Center, which looks like an amazing venue for productions. Also, we had to take our placement tests for theory-related courses and our audition on our primary instrument. During orientation week, I gave myself a tour of Berklee's facilites, which are, in a word, unbelievable. First of all, there are dozens of practice rooms in just one of the buildings. At UCSD, there were like 7. I need to check out several of the other buildings' practice rooms, but I just haven't had time. State-of-the-art recording studios, music equiptment, and instruments are all at the students' disposal, and I plan on taking advantage of that. I guess I should have expected all of this-- it IS a music college, and it does cost enough to go here. During registration I also picked up my new PowerBook G4 and Oxygen-8 keyboard. My computer is amazing, and from having it for less than two weeks, I can already tell I prefer it to the Windows platform. I used to use Mac way back when I was in middle school, but things have changed drastically since then. In any case, I can see why they require us to purchase the bundle-- the software and properties for creating and editing music are far superior with Apple products.
I just finished up my first week of classes, and I couldn't be happier. Right now I am taking nine classes (all of which were scheduled for me in accordance to my placements and audition), which total 15 units. I've had good impressions from almost all of my professors/instructors, who are, for the most part, very laid back. What's more, the class sizes are quite small, and this makes for a good hands-on experience. Unlike UCSD, where my largest class had upwards of 400 students, my largest class here has about 25 students. My smaller classes have about 5 students each. I'll probably write more on my classes next week, because I'm still in the process rescheduling and, most important, trying to decide if I should switch my primary instrument from piano to voice. I've been thinking about this for some time and here's my logic: I've been playing piano for 12 years, and I have a pretty decent understanding of the instrument. I've been singing for less than half that amount of time, and I would really like to build upon my vocal skills. Since I'm not going into performance, I'd like to broaden my musical experiences and knowledge of multiple instruments. It's not like I would be leaving piano behind at all. I still would have the opportunity to play quite often; the only difference is that I would be taking 4 semesters of vocal lessons, instead of piano lessons. And I could take piano lessons on the side if that's what I wanted. Every time I think about it, it sounds like a better idea. All I would have to do is audition for the vocal department. Plus that would give me the opportunity to be involved in musical theatre productions.
The weather here is unpredictable. I've heard from multiple people that there's a saying about weather in New England: If you don't like it, just wait 15 minutes. It's somewhat true. One day it will be completely sunny (although 5 degrees) and the next day it will snow. I'm quickly getting used to the weather. Some days the wind chills bring down the "feels like" temperature to -15 degrees, and although I'm not very far from classes, I can't feel my face by the time I get there. I made the awful mistake of walking to Shaw's supermarket, which is about 15 minutes away, without my gloves, so on the way back when I had to carry my groceries, my hands were numb. By the time I got back, I could only feel my arms, not my hands. BUT, here's to snow that I don't have to plow or shovel! Right now there's a huge blizzard in the Northeast and we just got over 2 feet of snow. It's supposed to be one of the largest snow storms Boston has had in decades. In fact, I just found out that classes are cancelled tomorrow, and the college is closed. My first snow day! It's just as well, I have a lot of homework to do. That's another thing--the workload. In addition to countless hours of practicing, there's no shortage of written work. But it's all worth it, I think. Just from walking up and down the halls of the practice rooms for entering piano students, I can tell there's some huge talent here. Sure, you've got your deadbeat musicians, but there's so much talent and energy overall. I feel so comfortable walking around the Berklee area because 3 out of 4 people are carrying an instrument. Everyone knows music, and everyone loves it.
My roommates are cool, if reserved. One is a fourth-year Music Synth major, and the other is a first-year Music Synth major. We all get along, so things have gone very smoothly. The apartment doesn't have a living room, just three bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen which, apparently, is typical for a Boston student's apartment. Another thing-- the architecture. It's exquisite-- so historical and preserved. Just around the corner from my apartment is a Catholic church in the Gothic style. It plays tunes on the bells that I can hear at night. While the Berklee buildings are very old and intricate on the outside, the insides have been completely restored and look virtually brand-new. I've spent some time on my room, fixing it up. I bought a lot of posters, a futon, and everything else I need. My digital piano just arrived yesterday, so I set it up and now everything's good to go. I'm hoping to go out of the Back Bay area (the region of Boston in which I live) and see downtown and the harbor sometime in the coming month. I'll just have to steer clear of the drivers, who are worse than LA drivers. Pedestrians are pretty bad, too. Everyone blows red lights and pedestrians just walk through the intersection even if it's not their turn and full traffic is coming at them. Horns are abundant here.
I've been so busy lately, and I feel bad because I have a dozen phone calls to return. I should do that now. I know I'm starting to ramble, so I'll wrap it up. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well.
Good luck this semester, everyone.
Orientation and registration went very smoothly. They had us attend a few events, a couple of which were held in the Berklee Performance Center, which looks like an amazing venue for productions. Also, we had to take our placement tests for theory-related courses and our audition on our primary instrument. During orientation week, I gave myself a tour of Berklee's facilites, which are, in a word, unbelievable. First of all, there are dozens of practice rooms in just one of the buildings. At UCSD, there were like 7. I need to check out several of the other buildings' practice rooms, but I just haven't had time. State-of-the-art recording studios, music equiptment, and instruments are all at the students' disposal, and I plan on taking advantage of that. I guess I should have expected all of this-- it IS a music college, and it does cost enough to go here. During registration I also picked up my new PowerBook G4 and Oxygen-8 keyboard. My computer is amazing, and from having it for less than two weeks, I can already tell I prefer it to the Windows platform. I used to use Mac way back when I was in middle school, but things have changed drastically since then. In any case, I can see why they require us to purchase the bundle-- the software and properties for creating and editing music are far superior with Apple products.
I just finished up my first week of classes, and I couldn't be happier. Right now I am taking nine classes (all of which were scheduled for me in accordance to my placements and audition), which total 15 units. I've had good impressions from almost all of my professors/instructors, who are, for the most part, very laid back. What's more, the class sizes are quite small, and this makes for a good hands-on experience. Unlike UCSD, where my largest class had upwards of 400 students, my largest class here has about 25 students. My smaller classes have about 5 students each. I'll probably write more on my classes next week, because I'm still in the process rescheduling and, most important, trying to decide if I should switch my primary instrument from piano to voice. I've been thinking about this for some time and here's my logic: I've been playing piano for 12 years, and I have a pretty decent understanding of the instrument. I've been singing for less than half that amount of time, and I would really like to build upon my vocal skills. Since I'm not going into performance, I'd like to broaden my musical experiences and knowledge of multiple instruments. It's not like I would be leaving piano behind at all. I still would have the opportunity to play quite often; the only difference is that I would be taking 4 semesters of vocal lessons, instead of piano lessons. And I could take piano lessons on the side if that's what I wanted. Every time I think about it, it sounds like a better idea. All I would have to do is audition for the vocal department. Plus that would give me the opportunity to be involved in musical theatre productions.
The weather here is unpredictable. I've heard from multiple people that there's a saying about weather in New England: If you don't like it, just wait 15 minutes. It's somewhat true. One day it will be completely sunny (although 5 degrees) and the next day it will snow. I'm quickly getting used to the weather. Some days the wind chills bring down the "feels like" temperature to -15 degrees, and although I'm not very far from classes, I can't feel my face by the time I get there. I made the awful mistake of walking to Shaw's supermarket, which is about 15 minutes away, without my gloves, so on the way back when I had to carry my groceries, my hands were numb. By the time I got back, I could only feel my arms, not my hands. BUT, here's to snow that I don't have to plow or shovel! Right now there's a huge blizzard in the Northeast and we just got over 2 feet of snow. It's supposed to be one of the largest snow storms Boston has had in decades. In fact, I just found out that classes are cancelled tomorrow, and the college is closed. My first snow day! It's just as well, I have a lot of homework to do. That's another thing--the workload. In addition to countless hours of practicing, there's no shortage of written work. But it's all worth it, I think. Just from walking up and down the halls of the practice rooms for entering piano students, I can tell there's some huge talent here. Sure, you've got your deadbeat musicians, but there's so much talent and energy overall. I feel so comfortable walking around the Berklee area because 3 out of 4 people are carrying an instrument. Everyone knows music, and everyone loves it.
My roommates are cool, if reserved. One is a fourth-year Music Synth major, and the other is a first-year Music Synth major. We all get along, so things have gone very smoothly. The apartment doesn't have a living room, just three bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen which, apparently, is typical for a Boston student's apartment. Another thing-- the architecture. It's exquisite-- so historical and preserved. Just around the corner from my apartment is a Catholic church in the Gothic style. It plays tunes on the bells that I can hear at night. While the Berklee buildings are very old and intricate on the outside, the insides have been completely restored and look virtually brand-new. I've spent some time on my room, fixing it up. I bought a lot of posters, a futon, and everything else I need. My digital piano just arrived yesterday, so I set it up and now everything's good to go. I'm hoping to go out of the Back Bay area (the region of Boston in which I live) and see downtown and the harbor sometime in the coming month. I'll just have to steer clear of the drivers, who are worse than LA drivers. Pedestrians are pretty bad, too. Everyone blows red lights and pedestrians just walk through the intersection even if it's not their turn and full traffic is coming at them. Horns are abundant here.
I've been so busy lately, and I feel bad because I have a dozen phone calls to return. I should do that now. I know I'm starting to ramble, so I'll wrap it up. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well.
Good luck this semester, everyone.