Good morning everyone! Thank you to everyone who read the last article both here and on Facebook. Yesterday was a fun day, and I am now awake, and ready to recount the events. Let's discuss what happened!

Day 2

A humorous audition, a club fair, and a hammock

Waking up and getting breakfast

Yesterday I woke up (admittedly not willingly) at 7am. Ever since I got back from Germany, I have had trouble with sleeping through the night. Though it has been getting better. Instead of waking up at 5 or 6am like last week, I woke up at 7am. So that's definitely an improvement.

I got ready, and went for breakfast with my roommate. For breakfast, I had eggs, sausage, and cereal. Though the eggs were so bad that I did not finish them.

After breakfast, I wrote the article about the first day of college, and then practiced piano for a little over an hour.

Audition

After breakfast, I went back to the dorm and got ready for my singing audition. Everyone in the college has to sing something for the choir directors to be placed in the choirs for voice part, and be selected for some of the ensembles. I decided to sing Frühlingstraum from Schubert's Wintereisse. My thinking was that I had spent so much time working on the cycle this summer with Hinrich, that doing one of those songs would be the best. Though Frühlingstraum wasn't even one of the songs I sung.

I got to the audition around 11:20am when my audition was at 11:35am. I sat down and some of my friends were there waiting for their auditions so we talked. The girl before me really did well, and made me nervous to be following her. When it was time for my audition, I walked in, and handed the accompanist my music to sight read (wow must she be good). I started with the song. At first I was nervous about singing with the mask, but while singing I realized that they probably thought I was being really expressive because my eyebrows basically move with my thoughts, and I was really into the song. That is, until I missed one word. Instead of saying "and awoke my eyes" which is in the first verse, I said "and awoke my heart" (in German obviously) which is in the second verse. That one word change made me forget how the first verse went. So I started singing the second verse until I could remember, and so while I was singing, I was doing open heart surgery on the lyrics trying to get back to the first verse. Meanwhile, the accompanist started messing up (probably because she was reading the words as she played and I started singing a different verse. Eventually, I managed to get back to the first verse, and then thought "At least they're not going to make me do the repeat so they won't know I started singing the second verse." I then heard the major chord that leads to the repeat as opposed to the minor chord that ends the song. As you can imagine, I wanted to die (metaphorically). Meanwhile, I can only imagine what my eyebrows looked like. Where they had been expressive, they probably at this point looked like two caterpillars that were sentenced to death by electrocution. Overall, I'm grateful that I didn't start singing gibberish. I may have gotten the verses disordered, but at least it still sounded like I was singing German.

Surprisingly, the audition didn't go too terrible even considering that story. I think I did well for the rest of it, but I'm worried they will make me a tenor.

Getting Lunch

After the audition, I went off to get lunch. I asked my friends if they wanted to go, and there wound up being a pretty substantial group of us getting lunch together. We told war stories from last year on zoom, and overall just talked about the silly stuff that college kids find interesting. For lunch, we went to the better food area on campus, and used meal exchange. I got a hamburger with fries. It was quite good. I have begun putting vegetables on my burgers, and surprisingly enjoy it.

Getting a parking permit

After lunch, I went to get a parking permit for my car. That went smoothly except they didn't give me instructions about where to put the stickers they gave me so I have to ask a friend.

The club fair

Around 3pm there was a fair on campus of all of the college's clubs. Each club set up a table, and had information about their clubs.

The first club I saw was an investment club which discusses investing, and how to decide when to invest and when not to, and even does simulated investments week to week to track how well you are doing. I doubt that club will discuss crypto much at all, but I would still like to learn more about investing so I signed up to join.

I also saw a computer club where programmers get together to discuss what they are working on, and do challenges and events together. So I signed up for that to build some connections, and try to learn more about the art of programming (which I know very little about outside of some basic knowledge of python and java).

I also saw a Christian club that meets on Wednesday nights so I signed up for that. It will be good to continue to build relationships with other Christians, and to discuss the bible.

Some huge athletic guys also gave me the information for their club to play a large variety of sports. I took a card, but I'm not sure how well I'd fit in there so I haven't signed up yet. I definitely would enjoy playing sports though if it's low pressure, and I won't be mocked for my lack of skill.

There were also a bunch of fraternities and sororities. My friends are trying to get me to join a fraternity, but I frankly think it's a waste of time and energy, and I don't really see the point. I also don't want to be netted into party culture by joining one. Perhaps I will join the music fraternity, but I have a lot on my plate as it is.

Hammock

There are three hammocks by the lake, and I love them. They are very comfortable, and a great place to just relax. I sat by the lake talking with a friend, and I sat in the hammock. I hope at some point to go there alone and try to take a nap.

Bedwars and Dinner

After that, I went back to my dorm and played bedwars with two friends in my room. It was really cool playing with the people right there next to me because communication was really easy, and I had a lot more fun playing. Though I suck even more on a laptop unfortunately. I do not plan to play video games too often while I'm in college, but since I got some free time yesterday, I decided to.

For dinner, we went to the better food area again. It was good! I once again had a burger and fries, but from a different restaurant. I really liked the burger I got.

Going to Target

After dinner, my roommates and I went to target to get stuff. I needed hangers, but also wound up buying a new chess set. I really hope I meet some nerdy people who enjoy chess soon. Even if I get crushed every game, at least I can justify buying the chess set. In the car, we listened to the Beatles which is nice because I don't often listen to the Beatles. I'm discovering more music by the day.

Going to the gym

When we got home, I went to the gym and worked out. I was moderately annoyed because I left my phone in the room, and the gym required me to show them the covid app we have where you click that you don't have symptoms, and then they check to make sure you clicked it. Instead of just asking if you have symptoms. Yesterday I did back and biceps. Both are sore today so I must have done a decent job.

Going to bed

When I got home, I got ready for bed. My friend was streaming and so he introduced me under a pseudonym to his stream. His viewers liked me and want us to play a game together sometime. That might be fun if we ever get free time. I went to bed around 11pm, exhausted, but satisfied with how much fun I had had during the day.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it!