Aaron
Aaron: Up and Running
This last week has been filled with lots of interesting twists and turns. Things are starting to intensify academically which I’ve been taking pretty well but still am amazed at the work still needed to be done. Needless to say, I definitely needed a break so going up to Portland to visit my friend at Lewis and Clark was a great way to do it. Seeing them all pack up getting ready to go home made me realize how close summer is coming back at Linfield. For my acting class, I went to the Linfield musical “Spring Awakening” here at Linfield. It was, ultimately, a play about character’s upcoming sexualities which was a controversial twist to the tamer plays and musicals I’ve been exposed to.
In my Critical Thinking class, we participated in an interesting experiment trying to test “the sixth sense” otherwise known as feeling the presence of someone there without using any of the other five senses. We tested this by using a blindfold and putting someone in a sound proof room to which someone would either be staring at you through the window or not be. From then, us students are meant to say whether we felt that we were being stared at or not. We have yet to wait on the results but it is interesting to see whether there is any correlation.
In my singing class, we have been working on Italian opera songs to which mine is a beautiful ballad piece titled “Vaga Luna che Inargenti” which even Pavorotti has sang in the past! Ultimately, I am glad to be exposed to a kind of music I’m not usually comfortable singing to, if even to listen to. I’ve luckily received positive feedback on my work so far and am now wondering what I have to go from here after class is over considering I would really like to be in more voice classes.
Hopefully these weeks will be manageable and I can come out with the grades I want. I am still interested to see how I will be able to fly all of my things back to California but am sure I can figure out some way to make it work. Three more weeks! Summer’s almost here!
Aaron: Family Weekend Spent in Roseburg
With the second family weekend, my mom found a way to get to Linfield to visit with the airline ticket being $90 round trip! However, with my grandmother now unable to drive we decided to drive to Roseburg (a 3 hour drive) to her house rather than participate in the amazing events planned for the weekend here at Linfield. I heard that there was a luau that was full of great festivities and authentic Hawaiian food! With a large number of Hawaiian students, I heard a lot of families came up bearing beautiful flowers, foods and clothes to help enrich the luau experience! Although I wasn’t able to bring my family to the luau, we still made the best of our time in Roseburg helping her garden, cook and just keep her company which we ultimately all appreciated. I am so happy that now living at Linfield I am closer to my grandma who is now over eighty years old as well as many other family members that live now only 3 hours away instead of two days away like when I was living in San Diego.
After the great weekend, I’ve just been trying to settle down and focus on finishing strong in my classes. Luckily, I only have one final, but I still am on edge to make sure I can get the grades I am looking for. I find with the more self-confidence I have, the better I do in my classes which is a lesson in a life I am trying to always remember when I misstep or forget something important or not do well on an assignment. I have found myself becoming much more stable and reliable in my abilities. I find that it becomes easier everyday to become more self reliant here which is so nice. The best kind of learning is the kind you do without noticing it, because you then you can translate it without having to think about it. And for someone who thinks about everything they do before they do it, this trait I very much appreciate. 
Aaron: Good times had by all
This last week has been finally full blast sunshine which is comforting to say the least. Being from San Diego, being able to lay out on the grass with just shorts and a tank certainly reminded me that summer is here. Which means, I’m almost done with my first year of college! Crazy! Last weekend I had probably the best weekend of my life spending it with my best friend in Portland attending a Dr. Dog concert, a Talking Heads gathering at Reed, and stayed up all night talking about creating a television show. Certainly, it’s been refreshing to know I can take the bus from here to Portland anytime I need to get my “big city” fix.
This weekend, I’ll be traveling again, as my mother’s coming up from San Diego and driving us to Roseburg, Oregon to visit my grandmother which will be ultimately a really nice thing to do. With things becoming a tad stressful in school, I do hope I can have time to complete everything I need to and be there for my family.
Overall, I find myself in a place that is ultimately appreciative of the sun, my classes, and friends/family here to support me. It’s a great feeling to know you’re at a school where you are taken care of. Hopefully, these last few weeks will be the best to come!
Aaron: A Drive through McMinnville
This last week I got a visit from some distant relatives I haven’t seen in years. That’s one of the greatest perks about moving from Southern California up to Oregon since a majority of my family’s up here. They came from Beaverton and fixed a nice picnic, and we went to the downtown park which I’ve always thought was a perfect place to have one. They were blown away with how beautiful and interesting McMinnville is, with it’s interesting houses that could date back into the early 1900′s and the fun downtown center. They took me for a drive before they left, past the red brick houses in downtown, all the blossoming apple and cherry trees, and even past a very modern looking elementary school near campus that I’d never seen before! When they left, I even had a better understanding of the town I was in which was a great way to end my weekend.
Other than that, I’ve had a pretty calm week trying to memorize my first Italian song in Beginning Class Voice (easier said than sung!) and a scene from a play called Key Exchange for Acting class! While I’ve enjoyed doing both, I will not lie, I’ve been frustrated trying to remember all of the intricate details of both pieces but, overall, know it’s just a necessary part of getting better at these crafts. But, man, is it hard at times!
Today feels like the first day showing that summer is coming, the sun was out without even a hint of cloud covering, and a sense of ease that comes with it. But, in a strange way, I will be sad to be done with my classes, seeing as I have enjoyed all of them in different ways as well as them playing to the things I’ve loved such as philosophy, psychology, music and theater. I can only hope my future semesters pique my interest as much as this one does!
Aaron: To Portland! (:
This last weekend I found a way to go to Portland through bus which only ended up being $3.75 both ways to get there! I was able to visit my friend and check out a lot of great architecture and culture there! I suggest visiting the main hospital there called the OHSU which has beautifully intricate buildings with different layouts of brick, glass and metal which look spectacular next to evergreen trees and the rainy sky.
My only suggestion if taking bus, and it is an important one, to always ask more than one person when taking advice of where to go in the city to get back to McMinville. For I was told the bus was open on sundays when it wasn’t! But overall, as long as you are cautious and have a backup plan, going by bus to Portland can be fun and enriching to your college experience!
I have been still enjoying my psychology class and have loved discussing all of several topics now involving language which is fascinating! We even watched almost an entire episode of the Big Bang Theory to emulate the topics we’ve been talking about! I’ve been finding myself much better at memorizing materials in my acting and voice class than I previously thought was possible, which has had me gain a lot more confidence in my abilities as a performer. That is the great thing about Linfield is that you get to reassess your abilities and sometimes realize that if you believe you are inadequate in a topic…you will never be able to be more than the bar you set for yourself. That lesson I learned has caused me to feel much more positive about myself and how I am doing in my classes which is very exciting for myself. I just can only hope to keep moving forward and try my hardest in everything I do.
