I've condensed these two weeks into one entry, since they sort of elided into each other in my mind. The highlight, besides more sleeping, eating home-cooked food, and hanging out with high school friends, was going on a week-long trip with my family to see my great grandma Torkelson, who turned 100 on New Year's Eve this year. She is amazing, and looks remarkably healthy. I hope I can say that I've lived through a century someday.

I look towards my second semester with some apprehension and excitment. I will only have a 16-credit load, as opposed to a 20-credit overload, so I should be able to have more of a social life. One would hope.

There's not much more to report, so here's a picture of my room at home in South Haven, MI, in a state of significant mess:

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and a picture of one of my less exciting Christmas gifts (although still considerate...), which I'm sure you're just dying to see (cough, cough):

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Well, this was sort of my first week back. Classes didn't start until Wednesday, so I only had three days of classes. This semester should be much more workable for me, since I only have 16 credits, so I'm looking forward to it. My classes are: Music Theory II, Musicianship II, Texts and Contexts II (CC), Kantorei, Studio Lesson - Voice (and Voice Colloquium), and Studio Lesson - Composition. I'm pretty excited, especially about the composition lessons, which will be totally new... And of course I'm excited about CC, that being both a large reason for my applying to Valpo in the first place and a program that I've just really enjoyed. There aren't many programs like it out there, that's for sure.

The Bach concert was definitely a highlight of the week. St. John's Passion was performed by the Chorale/Bach Choir and Symphony Orchestra, which was amazing. Being able to follow along in the program (with English translations) made it a very emotional experience. It also made me hope that I get into the Chorale next year.

Alex - I hope my e-mail helped. I do recommend Valpo's music program, but obviously personal fit is a strong factor, so keep looking at colleges, and get as many on-campus visits in as you can. I visited about 16 different colleges from my sophomore through senior year before I decided on Valpo.

I picked up my books at the bookstore when I arrived on campus on Monday, and here is a picture of the stack:

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Here's a picture of my brother Ben, who I realized that I don't think I have on this site yet, tragically:

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This was a good week for me, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was definitely the highlight. There were no classes, which was nice, but what was really great about the day was the variety of activities related to King and his mission which dominated my day's schedule.

The chapel was full for the morning convocation, which included a truly spirited and charging speech by Dr. Julia Hare, a well-known guest speaker. Then I had a box lunch in the chapel with the Lutheran Leader interns, after which time I walked around the sanctuary and looked at a variety of black-and-white photographs from Dr. King's day, many of which were very powerful and moving images. After that I attended a fascinating two-hour focus session with Dr. Hare and an intimately small group of students, faculty, and community members, in which we spoke about Dr. King's legacy and what still needs change today. After that I went to a one-hour focus session, this one about environmental issues which was held by the chemistry club. All together during the three hours, somewhere around 20 focus sessions on different topics were held on campus. I'm glad to see that Valpo is dedicated to diversity and justice.

I also discovered this week that both of my private music lessons, voice and composition, have been scheduled for Monday. This means that on Mondays, from 9:05 until 8:45 in the evening, I have two breaks: one during morning prayer, and one half hour between work and my composition lesson. Those are the times when I will have to eat.

AHHH!!!!!

Thankfully, Tuesday and Wednesday are really quite laid back for me, so I should be able to recuperate...

Picture time! Here's Immanuel Church, a big blocky beast of a building, where I conduct a middle school bell choir as my internship this year for the Lutheran Leadership Internship:

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and a close-up of the "steeple" structure:

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And here's a picture (kind of blurry) of the Chirstopher Center (library on campus):

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It has seemed like a long week. The new union construction site has been particularly busy this week, and it seems that the site is always expanding. Composition lessons are proving to provide a lot of work for me to worry about, but it is sort of fun, and I'm just starting to feel my way into them. I'm up very late tonight (2:30 in the morning now) because I procrastinated yesterday by going to Alumni and playing Apples to Apples, Cranium, and 4 Fingers with a bunch of people, and today, after singing at the service with the Kantorei and grabbing some brunch, I travelled to Chicago on a CC trip to hear Stravinski's The Rite of Spring performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which was amazing, and the first half of the concert was a "Beyond the Score" presentation on the influences and development of the composition, which added a whole new depth to our understanding of the music. It was great.

Picture time; here is a picture of a masterful snow rendition of the Abraham and Isaac story, which was found in the Mueller courtyard, made by a couple of masters in their field (whatever it may be):

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and here is a couple of pictures of the construction site, especially focusing on a cool zigzag concrete pourer machine that was out there one day:

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