Ends and Beginning

Hello all, it’s been a while! College has been really really crazy but I just submitted my last project yesterday so I’m officially done! My parents are getting here, and I’m taking them for a little tour of DC and New York before they get here for commencement. The semester went in a whirlwind – been a really crazy one.

Since my last blog post, I have successfully played a senior recital, sang in some more choir concerts and played in chamber music, finished some big projects and decided I’m going to attend a program in Carnegie Mellon University for grad school! It has all been very exciting and overwhelming, so I’ve been just getting sleep for now.

It was immensely relieving and still kind of unbelievable but I finished my senior recital! Now, for those of those who doesn’t know me, I have a history with “chickening out” the whole act of playing piano. I haven’t played for four years in high school and was seriously quitting by junior year of college since school work got the best of me. I will be eternally grateful for my piano teacher for convincing me to persist. A senior recital was also something that I wasn’t expecting to do when I first came to Holy Cross, as I wasn’t even taking piano so seriously. But I ended up playing a great program of Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin that I adored. As exciting as it is, I’m really glad it’s over and I got to focus on other things.

My Senior Recital Poster!

I have officially accepted an offer for Carnegie Mellon University during Easter Break! I’m really excited for the future opportunities to work with the amazing people in those programs. The program’s called Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and I get to use my music knowledge (for sound design) and my Computer Science knowledge (for developing games)! I have started chatting with people and looking for a place in Pittsburgh.

I also gave a talk at the academic conference about my experience in Ireland and showed the VR video that I did for my new media class! That same day, we had the orchestra concert. I played the cymbals once during the entire 1.5 hour concert when there was a climatic moment in the Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony and oh it was fun! Oh, the audience all had a good laugh about it after the concert ended.

Under Doctor Martin’s “cult-ish” influence, I rejoined the college choir because I did miss it a ton. We sang an oratorio (a sacred music composition for orchestra and choir – sort of like sacred opera) called Jephte composed by a Renaissance composer. I had a little 10 measure solo with my fellow altos Elizabeth and Hannah. It was my last choir concert at Holy Cross which made me feel really emotional (and I cried when we sang the alma mater, oops). I also performed Friday of my senior recital with my chamber singers of more Renaissance repertoire by Palestrina and Victoria, and Saturday in Worcester’s Trinity Lutheran Church where we performed with WPI next year (where we had three audiences this time – but it seriously felt good when we all sang for ourselves) 🙂

So apparently I left UCD a year ago today, and it feels really weird. It didn’t feel like such a long time ago but so many things have happened senior year! It was a semester full of expectations and insecurities for the future. I also felt weird from time to time about if I should’ve stayed on campus. But I’m really glad I went there, and I think I’m more prepared for grad school for that experience.

I tried on my cap and gown the other day. Wow, man, it feels really weird to be leaving this place I’ve been to for four years. I have made great friends, had great experiences, cried because I can’t finish a project, learned about working even harder towards the things I want. I made mistakes but I believe that they are crucial for me because I end up learning lessons and grow up. I believe my time at Holy Cross have been wonderful, but all wonderful things need to end in order for the next to happen. Please dm me a message at xzr0918@hotmail.com or social media if you want to keep in touch with me 🙂