It's Been a While!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lateness of this blog... I guess I became busy and distracted and forgot about my updates! I will try not to let that happen again... :)

So much has happened since the last time I blogged, so I will just try to condense it a bit! First of all, my normal class schedule has commenced, and it's been really great! I was asked to be a "tutorial host" which means I'm just the go-to person for my tutorial classes. There is a tutorial that goes with each lecture, just so that we can be in smaller groups to further discuss what we learned in lecture, or if we need help with our assessments (aka: assignments). So that's been going really well too! Our tutorial groups stay the same for the whole semester (or maybe the year... i'm not sure) so we get to know our group of 25 people pretty well! I think it's an awesome idea because you really start to build community within that!

One of my classes is Worship Band/Music Excellence. This class is based around learning to work together in a band setting. So within our tutorial groups, we were divided into 2 bands (yes, quite large bands!). For our first assessment, we had to choose 3 songs out of an allotted 6 and learn them together in order to perform them in about 3 weeks from now! We have one class that is dedicated to rehearsing each week, and then outside of that we have to find our own time to rehearse. So far, it's going really awesome. My band is super talented... Actually, everyone in my "in-take" (the people that came at the same time as i did) are really talented. It's pretty awesome!! So as far as classes go, things are really good! I have a few assessments due on Monday (2 days from now) so I have to finish those up tonight. They're not too hard yet, but we do have to keep a Practice Journal to record what we're practicing each week, which is good for my procrastinating nature! haha.

Tonight at church I played piano for Kids Worship for the first time! It was really fun, and an awesome opportunity that I got to play already! I guess that isn't the most usual occurrence for new students, which made me feel kinda good :) although, it's most likely because I'm a piano major and they need us haha. Either way, it was awesome! The kids are really cute and super fun to play with and worship with! It's cool to see how God is touching their lives already at such a young age, and seeing them respond is really amazing. I get to play piano again tomorrow morning for their service again, so I'm looking forward to that.

I suppose that's my life here in a nutshell right now! Things are still awesome with my roommate and flatmates! I'm still meeting more new people and developing the relationships I already have. Community is such an awesome thing :) Miss you all at home, and always feel free to comment on here, send me a facebook message, or send me an email and fill me in on your lives as well!!

Love you all!

New Involvements!

So classes have started and it has been crazy busy around here! For 2 weeks (one week is done) we have "intensives" which is 2 full courses jammed into 2 weeks. Hence why they are called intensives. We are in class all day with short breaks in an auditorium style setting. It can make one somewhat antsy! But the classes are good. Some of my trainers (aka: profs) are phenomenal speakers and teachers. Right now the information is more focused on leadership training as opposed to learning "new" things. That will come when classes start and we get to study Old Testament, etc. I'm really looking forward to getting my schedule for classes!

Also, I got a job! Praise the Lord! :) I handed out a few resumes and got word back from a local cafe around the corner from my apartment. I will be starting this Wednesday as a new barista at Cafe Two Baristas! It's a really happening little place that is really really busy in the mornings and fairly steady throughout the day. It's going to be really fun working there. There's a couple other students from Hillsong that work there too so that'll be nice to get to know more people! They make coffee/lattes/etc. a bit different here so it'll be cool to get trained on a different way to make things! I'm pretty excited about it.

Today is Sunday here and to be more specific, it is "Vision Sunday." The day where the church explains it's vision for the year. It's a really big deal here so I'm excited to see what the service is going to be like! Speaking of church, I found out what my service is going to be here at Hillsong. Every student has to be involved in a "Church Life" and "Fieldwork" throughout the year. Church Life is something you're involved with over 2 services on the weekend, and Fieldwork is something you're involved in during the week! My Church Life is Kids Creative Ministry! Which essentially means I'll be helping in Kids Ministry over the weekend doing worship or other "creative" ministries (i'm not entirely sure what that looks like yet). And then my Fieldwork is Wildlife which is the Sr. High age youth group here! I'm SO excited that I get to do that because I've been missing all my students at home! (Don't worry, you can't be replaced!)

So things are still going really well here! I have my days of really missing home and friends, but I know God has called me here. Through the trials or troubles I know that God is working out His will for me here, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store.

Much love!