how i really feel about college

a lot of people have been asking me lately how college is going.  that can potentially have quite a long answer, so i usually just say that i really like it, or something along those lines.  but if you want the full answer, here it is:

i love living here.  i love the beautiful campus.  i love my teachers.  i love my classmates.  i love my classes (well... mostly).  i love the many many opportunities to learn things i love learning about--things that are directly applicable to my own life.  for the most part, i have never been so unencumbered to just go for whatever it is that i want to learn or do.  and since i love learning and doing lots of different things, this is fantastic.  when it comes down to it, i'm really only limited by my own energy and time (which are real limits for sure, but they can be navigated to an extent).

also, i'm loving having all these music-education-related experiences that keep getting kind of served to me on a silver platter (or dumped in my lap, either way) without my having to work and search for them.  the fact that i'm even going here with this major was not exactly plan a, but it just kind of worked out that way.  i blame God for this--it seems like His type of scheme. :)

i suspect that i may never have a time in my life when i won't have multiple things going on, because there are so many things i want to learn and experience.  the difference here is that most of the things i'm involved with now have to do with school in some way, whereas before, i had commitments to multiple different things and people on a daily basis.  before it was very like a collage of different things; now it's more like a puzzle of pieces that pretty much fit together.  it's nice to have so much cohesion--the down side is that the things that aren't pieces of this puzzle fit much less neatly than they did before (things like old friendships, church commitments, family, etc.).  it's all a balance, of course.

one more thing i've noticed is how many people i'm finding i really want to know on a personal level (a sensation that isn't always common for me--not for so many people).  there are just so many unique and interesting individuals i interact with every day here.  it's a little sad because i still only have a limited amount of time and energy, and i know that the likelihood of getting to know all (or even most) of these people is not very high.  it's like Thanksgiving, when you eat just a little of everything, and you want more of everything but you're already stuffed.  and sometimes that social time needs to be spent with people whom i already know well (and who already know me well) instead of growing new friendships, just because i miss them.  but it's still exciting to be around so many people i legitimately enjoy and look up to.

anyway.  that's the majority of it.