I call this a summer update, but actually I only had a month off. I’ve been back in school since the end of June. I decided to hold off until now to give another update, and as expected, quite a bit has happened since I last posted.
- I moved into my new apartment. It’s down the street from my old one and right across the street from where Taylor Swift lives. I’ve graduated from a cramped, dark studio to a spacious and bright one-bedroom without having to pay any more. Overall, I love the place and I’m really glad I moved. On the 4th of July, I watched about 3 sets of fireworks from the rooftop pool area; all of us had a great time without having to go all the way down to the riverfront.
- The National Baptist Congress in St. Louis was fantastic. As I said in my last update, I sang with the young adult choir as part of the iROCK (I Rely on Christ the King) program. It was great to meet so many people my age with a passion for worshiping God. Because I’ll be on rotations by the time Congress rolls around next year, I doubt I’ll be able to meet them in Dallas, but I’m praying that it will somehow be possible
- In July, I spent a weekend in White Plains, NY, for a street renaming ceremony for my grandfather. When he pastored in the city, he did a lot of work outside of the church, and the city decided to honor those contributions to the community–a few days shy of his birthday, at that.
- The class of 2017 arrived a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t met many of them at the time of this writing, but the ones that I have met are really nice.
- The Friday after the new first years arrived, we had a student events fair. As representatives of the a cappella group, two of my classmates and I prepared an “on-the-fly” arrangement of Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know” and sang it a couple of times at the event. It was very well received; it created quite a buzz and generated a handful of signups for our email list. I’m really excited for what we’re going to be able to do this year.
- Other groups that I’m a part of have been planning for introductory events. With the second-years finishing classes in December and entering the hospitals in March, we’re all recruiting as much as possible so we can fill board positions when the time comes. Even with that looming stress, we’re all excited to get started with our respective activities.
- Speaking of activities, I’ve been trying as always to keep up with my life outside of school–sometimes it seems to overshadow my academic life.
- Since I get up so early in the morning, I’m making an effort to go to bed early every weeknight.
- I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen (the latest addition to my repertoire: mixed berry corn muffins. sometime this week I’ll be making Greek yogurt blondies).
- I’m halfway through Les Miserables (and I can’t wait until I’m done, ugh).
- I’m choreographing a new piece for a community dance class the VMS dance group is doing for the month of August.
- I’m also hoping to crank out some new arrangements for the a cappella group soon; we worked on “I Knew You Were Trouble” during our first practice last week, and I can’t wait to start on other songs.
Eni, MD 