excerpts from an IM chat on Wednesday
Sep. 13th, 2003 03:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaThe friend is someone I knew at Mt A who graduated last May.
* * *
[15:56] [friend]: how are you?
[15:57] [me]: okay, had a run of bad luck today, but okay
[15:57] [friend]: oh? what happened?
[15:58] [me]: my bicycle lock suddenly broke quite coincidentally at the same time as the padlock on the fence around the bicycle lock-up area broke as well
[15:58] [me]: for starters
[15:58] [friend]: right
[15:58] [me]: just various stuff
[...]
[16:13] [friend]: so how do you like queen's?
[16:15] [me]: I wish I had friends.
[16:15] [me]: especially in the music department, since I'm there so much
[16:15] [me]: Aside from that, it's pretty good
[16:16] [me]: There are advantages to a bigger school: more resources available, more places to eat, more flexible meal plans, more selection in classes
[16:16] [friend]: oh well, it is still young in the year, time to meet people
[...]
[16:16] [me]: There are also disadvantages of course, namely that one gets a bit lost in the crowds of people
[...]
[16:18] [friend]: I'm sitting in on a class at dal. it's so weird, as there are so many people around
[16:18] [me]: How many people are at Dal?
[16:20] [friend]: 14,000 or something
[16:21] [me]: about the same as Queen's
[16:21] [me]: though my music classes are generally quite small
[16:22] [me]: so I'm in a weird situation. Outside of music, I feel lost in the crowd. Inside of music, I feel excluded from closely-knit cliques
[16:24] [friend]: yowza
[16:24] [me]: The people in my house are really nice and friendly though!
[16:25] [me]: Only problem is, they are all graduate students so I don't see them very often
[...]
[16:27] [friend]: courses get transfered ok?.
[16:28] [me]: Yes, most of my courses got transferred. There's a limit to how many they can give me credit for and a couple courses that overlap with Mt A, so I'm considered a second-year student (barely) again
* * *
It has been a very uneven first week of classes, with both very good high points and very unhappy low points. On Wednesday, I was plagued with doubts about my decision to transfer, as I have been on and off for most of the week.
Now that I'm actually here, I'm seeing it from the inside and naturally my pessimistic and negative mind can pinpoint each and every shortcoming of Queen's compared to Mount Allison.
Things have gotten slightly better on the social front, however; that is, I've found some people in the School of Music who, if they aren't exactly friends (yet?), are someone to talk with. Most of my classes--with the notable exception of theory and ear training--do not repeat material I've already covered and are therefore interesting. My so-so ensembles audition managed to get me into the higher level band too. This band apparently specializes in new music, Though none of the music was as challenging as that played in high school band, it was certainly more interesting than at Mt A. The director appears to be really committed to the band as well, so that's good.
* * *
[15:56] [friend]: how are you?
[15:57] [me]: okay, had a run of bad luck today, but okay
[15:57] [friend]: oh? what happened?
[15:58] [me]: my bicycle lock suddenly broke quite coincidentally at the same time as the padlock on the fence around the bicycle lock-up area broke as well
[15:58] [me]: for starters
[15:58] [friend]: right
[15:58] [me]: just various stuff
[...]
[16:13] [friend]: so how do you like queen's?
[16:15] [me]: I wish I had friends.
[16:15] [me]: especially in the music department, since I'm there so much
[16:15] [me]: Aside from that, it's pretty good
[16:16] [me]: There are advantages to a bigger school: more resources available, more places to eat, more flexible meal plans, more selection in classes
[16:16] [friend]: oh well, it is still young in the year, time to meet people
[...]
[16:16] [me]: There are also disadvantages of course, namely that one gets a bit lost in the crowds of people
[...]
[16:18] [friend]: I'm sitting in on a class at dal. it's so weird, as there are so many people around
[16:18] [me]: How many people are at Dal?
[16:20] [friend]: 14,000 or something
[16:21] [me]: about the same as Queen's
[16:21] [me]: though my music classes are generally quite small
[16:22] [me]: so I'm in a weird situation. Outside of music, I feel lost in the crowd. Inside of music, I feel excluded from closely-knit cliques
[16:24] [friend]: yowza
[16:24] [me]: The people in my house are really nice and friendly though!
[16:25] [me]: Only problem is, they are all graduate students so I don't see them very often
[...]
[16:27] [friend]: courses get transfered ok?.
[16:28] [me]: Yes, most of my courses got transferred. There's a limit to how many they can give me credit for and a couple courses that overlap with Mt A, so I'm considered a second-year student (barely) again
* * *
It has been a very uneven first week of classes, with both very good high points and very unhappy low points. On Wednesday, I was plagued with doubts about my decision to transfer, as I have been on and off for most of the week.
Now that I'm actually here, I'm seeing it from the inside and naturally my pessimistic and negative mind can pinpoint each and every shortcoming of Queen's compared to Mount Allison.
Things have gotten slightly better on the social front, however; that is, I've found some people in the School of Music who, if they aren't exactly friends (yet?), are someone to talk with. Most of my classes--with the notable exception of theory and ear training--do not repeat material I've already covered and are therefore interesting. My so-so ensembles audition managed to get me into the higher level band too. This band apparently specializes in new music, Though none of the music was as challenging as that played in high school band, it was certainly more interesting than at Mt A. The director appears to be really committed to the band as well, so that's good.
