So there have been zero blog updates from this year thus far...whoopsies. I guess I have just been waaaaaay too busy to even begin to start writing stuff down. Luckily, today is actually a day that I don't have that much to do, so I guess there is no better time than now.

Classes this term are kicking my butt. When I'm not doing orgo, I'm doing some very strict composition for my music class or the never-ending busy work that is my German class. I LOVELOVELOVE my German professor (he is legit one of my favorite profs here thus far) but I am really just not good at understanding German, abstract, post-war poetry, which is the majority of the homework. And then orgo is just constant work and then when tests come around, I basically stress out like no other. I like the prof a lot too, but he's not the best lecturer. Like he is a great guy and really funny but I feel like he seems so confused sometimes during lecture...and personally I don't want to be learning a difficult subject from someone who seems confused about the material as well. I like lab, even though it is 6 hours long, just because of the rhythm and regularity of the work. True, I am usually itching to leave 4 hours in, but overall I like the experience which is quite promising since I want to be a researcher hopefully in life. And music class is so frustrating sometimes. My class is full of these crazy pianists, singers, and musicians that can just write the most beautiful melodies and mine are always just okay. They follow 18th century counterpoint rules...but they don't do much beyond that haha. Thankfully we aren't graded on creativity but we do have some ridiculous assignments sometimes (like listening to the entirety of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier which meant listening to 5 hours of piano preludes and fugues while keeping a listening log). So overall, classes are difficult but I'm getting by. The only time I really hate them is when all the work piles up in each of the classes at the same time (aka this past Monday and Tuesday).

Sophomore fall is really different in that everyone has rushed and pledged frats and sororities. None of my girl friends are in sororities except for Clau (rush is a very weird process and way too long to explain); Andrew and Paul are both in frats. Sometimes I think about whether or not I'd like to join a sorority because you just feel so left out when they all go to tails together or have to go to meetings or are all decked out in crazy clothes. It's never fun being on the outside looking in, plus everyone is OBSESSED with their house right now (aka the honeymoon phase) so it seems like such a big deal. But then I remind myself that I'm just not that type of person and that you can be an amazing person without a greek affiliation. You don't need to be prolific on campus to make a difference. We have a thing at Dartmouth called "facetime". Since we're such a small school, you know a good majority of campus by sight, if not more. There are people who you just seem to see everywhere and those are the people that maximize their facetime. The ones who study on First Floor Berry cause everyone has to walk through there to get to the rest of the library, the ones who eat on Collis porch cause everyone can see you there, the ones who are always waving hi and stopping to chat with everybody. And I know I'm never gonna be one of those people with lots of facetime and popularity, but some of my favorite seniors last year were unaffiliated and completely disconnected from the Dartmouth bubble. Not that they weren't invovled on campus, they just didn't fall into that side of Dartmouth that gets showcased at Dimensions and freshman year. They were the people in orchestra, Cabin and Trail, and the LDSSA. I just need to keep reminding myself that I can be a big part of Dartmouth without needing to subscribe to the Greek culture.

Overall, the year has been exhausting but fun :) I love rooming with Damaris and Lilly and living literally 10 feet away from Jing, Anne, and Natalia. I love making more new friends and getting to know lots of people better. Life is great!