Well, it seems that my first year as a collegiate music student has ended, and now I spend my summer away from school. Much as I was dying to end classes and to (for the first time in several months) leave the quarter-mile radius that I know as campus, I now look back at school with desire to return the obvious truth is that college students often hate school when they are there, but miss it even more so when they're away.
Now at home, I spend all my days indoors, composing music and playing video games, waiting for the start of my job as a camp counselor. Not to say that I don't enjoy writing music or a good fight in Skyrim, but these do not make a weekly schedule. After two weeks back in my small home town, I find myself yearning for my beloved music classes and students.
Welcome to a summer of months away from school. My current goal is to find what to do until work starts.

Second Semester Swing

It's the middle of my second semester at the University of Vermont, and it's a lot of work. I just got back from spring break, and I feel like I've been buried alive already. I've just finished my homework for the first day back, and I have a large paper due this coming Thursday. Needless to say, I have only written the opening paragraph and still have to do all the research.

I need a break. Not the kind I just had, but one where I have no work. No worries. A break that seems like time doesn't pass in the real world, where neglecting my studies and practice won't hurt me. Sadly, that doesn't exist. I'm stuck here at school (a place I love) doing work (something I don't love) that will quite quickly take my sanity and self-respect. Still, I'm going to love being back.

School screams fun and excitement. I get to see my friends, play music, and generally enjoy myself. It'll be good to be back.

Vacation Days

What can be said for a vacation? People always await breaks from work and school, only so that during said vacation, they are often bored and wish to return to their normal activities. That's the exact case for me during this winter break.

Although each vacation from school holds some entertaining activities, so much of this time is devoted to being indoors, bored on one's couch. In the last two weeks, I've already spent seemingly endless hours on my couch, playing video games, composing, facebooking, and generally doing nothing.

Luckily, I will be going on an adventure tomorrow...

A few college friends and I will be meeting up in Manhattan tomorrow afternoon, and will spend the next couple days in the city. Since one of us lives just a few blocks from Central Park, we'll be crashing there. For about three days, the bunch of us meeting up will go to shows, exhibits, and restaurants, having some fun in the city (as long as our budgets hold up).

Finally, vacation's getting exciting.

Hi, My Name is Josh

My name is Josh. I'm a college freshman studying music education, and I'm just out of my first semester. In my last two years of high school, my dream was to audition to collegiate music programs, and with luck, get into one. I wanted to study music education, with my primary instrument being trumpet. After many roadblocks, including a concussion, which I had to audition with, I made it into several music programs, one of which was my first choice. Due to scholarships I am currently going to said school.

When I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to be a doctor. More specifically, a cardiac surgeon. Well, I'm obviously not too interested in that anymore. At the time, I was not very good at trumpet, or any other musical instrument. I loved my high school band though. Over the next years greatly due to a devoted and inspirational high school music teacher, I found that I was becoming more and more interested in music. All I wanted was to understand music better. I began to play more and more, and through practice over a relatively short period of time, I became a much better musician. In eleventh grade, I decided that I wanted to study music. That year, I began to formally prepare for college auditions. That led to where I am now.

So now study trumpet with my dream teacher. In the last few months, I've made unbelievable leaps in my playing, and it's only getting better at this point. Next semester, I'll be studying music composition as a possible concentration. I can't say the work isn't exhausting; each school day is from sun up until well after sun down in the music building. I love what I'm doing, though, and I feel it's important.