New Find!

BASSHUNTER /(LFO meets techno)

Nothing pumps me up more than listening to great music...

...or finding a remix epic enough to make you want to explode out of your body:

Enjoy this! I know I did (i.e. spontaneous dance party) :P

S.C.S.U. I miss you

Here is the post I promised, a bit more brief than originally planned but regardless! Some little details about St. Cloud that I miss:

• my friends & being able to hang out on only moments notice (i.e. going down a floor to the friend who lived below me)
  
• waking up 15 min before class and still getting there in time
• seeing people I know everywhere, all the time (it was a good thing and a bad thing)
  
• the beautiful library just minutes away (we have 40+ libraries... a nightmare for indecisive people! ;))
  
• caribou coffee
• having a third floor bedroom window (my window now faces the parking lot right on ground level = horrible view & lack of privacy)
• having a bedroom door (currently I have a curtain, which is not a huge complaint but not the greatest noise barrier - surprisingly the heat stays in though!)
• the small orchestra & being first chair (think 24 cellists vs. 5 cellists)
• smaller class sizes & normal scheduling (none of that discussion/section/lab crap, or the fact that if I'm not 10 minutes early to class I will have to sit on the floor in the back because there aren't enough seats in the lecture halls)
• The very nice fitness center & equipment (it's free here.. but that doesn't quite make up for it)
• Group fitness classes (which we have here, but the cycling class is so popular that you have to get a "bike claim ticket" 30 minutes prior to the start of class, and even then you aren't guaranteed to get in! Plus who has that much time to spend going early just to get a ticket (maybe) and then wait around for class to start??)
• Better parking - this may be a surprise to you, because even parking there sucks, but it's even WORSE here.
• Getting gigs - musicals, academic ceremonies, church events, etc
• Private cello lessons
• The ongoing debate about "bubblers" and "pop"
• Unlimited supply of hot water for standing in the shower for an excessive amount of time after a long day
  
• Frequenting the St. Cloud Public Library & Crossroads mall
  
• Knowing exactly what events are going on on campus because you are likely going to walk right through them or past them on the way to class sometime during the day
  
• Walking along & across the Mississippi whenever I felt like it
  

I could keep adding on to the list but as you can see, there is nothing major that I'm totally missing out on (save the missing my friends, of course), St. Cloud will always have a place in my heart as a little home away from home, but as they say: when one door closes, another one opens. And besides, change is healthy and the important thing is making the most of what you have when you have it, and believe me when I say I will be taking advantage of all the new opportunities here! Cheers to optimism & creating your own luck!

NeverShoutNever

I have been in Madison now for approx. 16 days and I absolutely love it. So here are a few things about my life now and about Madison in general:

Coffee shops EVERYWHERE!! Just to name a few: Ancora Coffee Roasters, CoffeeBytes, Starbucks, Steep & Brew, Barriques Coffee Trader, Fair Trade Coffee House, Victor Allen's, Electric Earth, Espresso Royale, Java Cat, Gloria Jean's Coffee, and the lovely Caribou Coffee (although there is only one and it is not exactly convenient for me to get to so I haven't been there yet) & most - if not all - with free wifi :)

(where I spend most of my downtime between classes)

Night life & meeting new people... let's just say everyone is very friendly & welcoming (or at least the people who aren't creepers) and there seems to ALWAYS be something to do, especially on weekends. (Unlike St. Cloud where the campus turned into a ghost town at night and on weekends)

Me & Allie (roomie) with the Bouncer ;)

For the first time ever, I have found the perfect roommate! She is easy to live with, respects my space, is clean, sooooo friendly and non-judgemental, and she is a TALKER! Which works so well with me because I enjoy listening :) Honestly, I have yet to find something about her that I don't like. Her boyfriend lives with us and he is so nice as well, again, no complaints. :)

This is my first apartment & I just paid my first rent yesterday! Which was pretty exciting I have to admit (I don't mind writing out that check because I know I'm getting an extremely good deal with everything here) AND my kitty gets to live with me :) ....I just feel bad for my roomie's man-cat Tazz who is afraid of Lola.

(Boy meets Girl)

And something else I really love: being close to home - 2 weekends ago I was able to attend a wedding reception for one of my friends who just got married, and go to a Ladies Wine Night at my friend's apartment in Milwaukee. And just last weekend I was able to go watch my nephew for a few hours while my brother and his wife went out.

I got into the classes I actually need to take, which means I can apply for my major this semester & be that much closer to graduating!

NO FRIDAY CLASSES! For each class, I have a lecture section (50 min twice a week) accompanied by a 1-2 hour discussion section/lab ... at a really random time/place during the week... which makes it quite difficult to memorize the schedule!

MacBooks! I can check out a MacBook from almost any of our 30+ different libraries on campus, and keep it for 3 days at a time (which is more like 4 days, because if I check it out on Monday, I can keep it until 11pm on Thursday) I just brought it to my lectures today to take notes on (instead of pen & paper) - Do any of you do that? What do you think? It makes taking notes so much faster & getting supplementary information down from what the Prof is saying, but at the same time, I had soooo many typos... But, this form of note-taking is certainly a growing trend and I wouldn't be surprised if taking notes by hand will soon become a thing of the past.

I realize this is getting pretty lengthy of an update so I will wrap it all up for now with a song by a band I just discovered which is reminicent of Jack Johnson/Jason Mraz/Joshua Radin/Eric Hutchinson and be sure to watch for a Part 2 on things I miss about St. Cloud coming later this week! What's on the agenda for tonight, you ask? Going to a group fitness class "Zumba" (latin dancing) with Allie! Cheers!