time alone

when you are a music major you must practice.  it is not optional.    

when you are a performance major, you must practice many hours a day.  

when you practice, you are alone.  

alone with your instrument. 

i'm here for improvement. truthfully, improvement in everything. communicating, writing, playing, learning, connecting, reciting, performing, thinking... sleeping....

for me, much of that improvement has to be done alone. 

i can study in a group, but i study better alone.  i get through material faster, i complete assignments better, and i memorize much quicker.  of course i still need to study in a group.  sometimes.  college offers a unique availability of people.  if i want to study in a group, i  can, if i need a secluded area i can have that too.   

and, if i'm lucky, i can have a big, resonant room to practice in.  

there is a lot of people here

yes there is.  i graduated from a class of 46, if i remember correctly.  i knew almost everyone there.  that's not very many.  it would probably only take just over fifteen minutes to take individual selfies with each one of them.
here, there are 900+ entering first year students.  that's a lot more people.
so many names.
i've re-met people many times.  "oh, you're another kate!" is usually what i say.  there are more than a few kates here.
i already see people that remind me of others that i have known.  it almost makes me feel as though i know them because i knew someone like them.  such is only partially the case.
so many people are joining organizations because "it's a good way to meet people."
bull.
you can meet people anywhere you go.  they're everywhere.  
my first assigned paper was a comparison between my new experience at college and the circumstances of immigrants coming to ellis island in the 19th century.
there are a lot of similarities.  we are both dealing with an entirely new environment; we have heard what this new place is like, but have never seen it; we are finding out what it is really about; we are living with entirely new people; and even eating new food.  both our new worlds promise prosperity.  and with work, that will come.
 it will come.

the benefit of distinction

i recently lost my favorite shades. they have brought me many compliments. they look a lot like the sunglasses john lennon used to wear.  you know, circular.  i was at dinner.  i got up to get more food; when i got back, gone.   i think the cleanup people cleaned them up...
that was yesterday. i was not happy, but it was raining today.  the absence hurt less because i did not need to wear them.
however, as i was walking across campus, someone got my attention and called me over.
yep.
they had my shades.  they saw them at the registers for the cafe.  and, they knew they were mine.
how?
no one else has those shades on campus... that i know of.  my individuality made me memorable.  which is nice.
but that is what you always need.  something to set you apart.  sometimes you are born with it: a unique name, extra hight, or charisma.  but you do not have to be born with it.  you can find it yourself.
so that's what i will try to do.