The school of music and dance consists of 5 floors and 5th floor is the place where all practice rooms are located. It has a L-shaped design with about 100 practice rooms in total.
Last night, I went to practise violin and piano after a concert. There were only a few students practising since most people went out to have fun on weekends. Everything was fine except for bumping into a stranger along the corridor. He seemed to be quite high and he sang while walking. I first found an empty room and went to the locker to get my violin. And I saw him again but I didn't really pay much attention to him. After practising the violin, I put back my violin. There was a strong smell of alcohol in the corridor. I saw the stranger walking along the corridor. To be more precise, he was wandering, not walking. At that moment, I started to feel skeptical of this person as I had never met him before. There are lots of students in music department. Of course, it is impossible to know them all but I can recognise most of them but not this stranger. Perhaps this person was drunk and he just entered the building randomly?
I felt a bit afraid but I still went to practise piano. I stayed alert to the sound coming from other rooms because I felt more secure if there were some other students. Usually, I leave the department at around 11pm and some students are still practising. But yesterday was saturday and people left earlier than usual. The floor was totally silent by 10:30pm. This dead silence made me shiver and I immediately grabbed my bag and left the department. It was mainly because I subconsciously believed that the stranger was drunk and I had no idea whether he was still on the floor. No one else was inside the music department and in case the stranger misbehaved, nobody would come if I needed help. Thinking of this possible consequence of practising for a bit longer, I decided to leave as soon as I could.
It was my first time to walk so fast in the music department despite for nearly being late for classes on weekdays.
21.2.08
Food & Music
I played Bach and Liszt for my teacher yesterday. He used a very interesting simile to compare the music of different stylistic periods.
"You need to have lots of characters when playing Liszt. It is not right if you just follow the score. Just like, um..... in Hong Kong, you have goose, right? And there are other food such as carrots, chicken etc and you have to choose what to eat. Unlike Bach or Mozart, you have to look carefully what the composer has written on the score. It is just like you eat what you are served. You have no choice."
"You need to have lots of characters when playing Liszt. It is not right if you just follow the score. Just like, um..... in Hong Kong, you have goose, right? And there are other food such as carrots, chicken etc and you have to choose what to eat. Unlike Bach or Mozart, you have to look carefully what the composer has written on the score. It is just like you eat what you are served. You have no choice."
16.2.08
An impression on college
Time takes the bullet train noiselessly. It is going to be week 5 of this semester next Monday. Looking back my first month in college, it has been filled with ups and downs.
I didn't study A-Level. My academic level is around form 5. Usually, form 5 graduates attend community colleges and then transfer to universities. Yet, I go to a university directly. Most universities in the US require freshman and sophomore students to take English class. Among all the subjects that I take, freshman English is definitely one of the toughest subjects. Overall, it is English course for local students and the standard is much higher than that of HK. We have to read very often and write papers. It takes me ages to do reading because I need to look up words in the dictionary from time to time. The topics of the papers are usually about social issues. My first paper is about global warming and the one that I am working on currently is about the conflicts of education in the USA. I can still vividly remember how frustrated I felt when reading the syllabus. The requirement for the paper is 3 to 4 pages. Later, when I wrote the first paper, it was not as much as I expected. It is because of the format of college paper which is double-spacing everything with a header on the first page. I wrote around 1000 words at last but I only wrote 300 words when I was in form 5.
Another subject is music theory. I have theory class every day and we are given lots of homework and tests. Frankly, this subject is pretty challenging. I skipped theory I and I went to theory II after coming to this school. I must perform well in this subject. If not, I won't be able to take musicology class next semester.
Going to audition for a scholarship two weeks later. I really need to spend more time on piano practice.
I didn't study A-Level. My academic level is around form 5. Usually, form 5 graduates attend community colleges and then transfer to universities. Yet, I go to a university directly. Most universities in the US require freshman and sophomore students to take English class. Among all the subjects that I take, freshman English is definitely one of the toughest subjects. Overall, it is English course for local students and the standard is much higher than that of HK. We have to read very often and write papers. It takes me ages to do reading because I need to look up words in the dictionary from time to time. The topics of the papers are usually about social issues. My first paper is about global warming and the one that I am working on currently is about the conflicts of education in the USA. I can still vividly remember how frustrated I felt when reading the syllabus. The requirement for the paper is 3 to 4 pages. Later, when I wrote the first paper, it was not as much as I expected. It is because of the format of college paper which is double-spacing everything with a header on the first page. I wrote around 1000 words at last but I only wrote 300 words when I was in form 5.
Another subject is music theory. I have theory class every day and we are given lots of homework and tests. Frankly, this subject is pretty challenging. I skipped theory I and I went to theory II after coming to this school. I must perform well in this subject. If not, I won't be able to take musicology class next semester.
Going to audition for a scholarship two weeks later. I really need to spend more time on piano practice.
12.2.08
Masterclass
A very famous pianist and teacher, Professor Zitta Zohar holds masterclasses at my school these two days. I was very lucky that I had a chance to play Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 for her.
Usually, masterclasses are held in a hall. Yet, Professor Zohar's masterclass is held in a small room. There are a few good things to hold a masterclass in a small room. One reason is that most students tend to feel nervous when playing on stage and besides, the teacher help you polish the piece in front of lots of people. This is tough because all the audience put their attention on you. Sometimes, you may want to work on the things taught by the masterclass teacher but you are not able to do it because of the nervouness. You will probably feel awful and this will be even worse if the masterclass teacher is mean. Besides, if a masterclass is held in a hall, the audience rarely ask questions because they are not supposed to do that. It happens that it is like spoon-feeding in which the student works on the piece with the teacher while the others just sit and listen.
Professor Zohar prefers teaching in a small room because she likes to work on details. Namely, to have a lesson with the student. This afternoon, my professor, another professor and his wife came to the class. During the one hour class, the two professors raised questions occasionally. They were not trying to challenge Professor Zohar but to share their different ideas. The learning atmosphere was very good because everyone was so devoted into the class. For me, I couldn't feel that the masterclass teacher was "teaching" at all. Instead, it was like a discussion. On piano playing, there are many possible hand movements to play the same notes. Every pianists have different hand size, flexibility and shape and we don't play with the exact hand motions. We discussed different hand movements and then tried to figure out which one was better.
It was such a wonderful experience. Participating in a masterclass is quite boring for the audiences (if it is held in a hall). However, today's masterclass was definitely exhilarating. Though I was not satisfied with my playing, I still enjoyed the lesson very much. I was not nervous but I did feel insecure because I only practised the piece for about one week and then I had to play it in a masterclass. Professor Zohar worked on the piece with me in a very fine way and her suggestions were very helpful. She explained everything clearly whenever I asked her questions. No wonder she is so popular among students.
Usually, masterclasses are held in a hall. Yet, Professor Zohar's masterclass is held in a small room. There are a few good things to hold a masterclass in a small room. One reason is that most students tend to feel nervous when playing on stage and besides, the teacher help you polish the piece in front of lots of people. This is tough because all the audience put their attention on you. Sometimes, you may want to work on the things taught by the masterclass teacher but you are not able to do it because of the nervouness. You will probably feel awful and this will be even worse if the masterclass teacher is mean. Besides, if a masterclass is held in a hall, the audience rarely ask questions because they are not supposed to do that. It happens that it is like spoon-feeding in which the student works on the piece with the teacher while the others just sit and listen.
Professor Zohar prefers teaching in a small room because she likes to work on details. Namely, to have a lesson with the student. This afternoon, my professor, another professor and his wife came to the class. During the one hour class, the two professors raised questions occasionally. They were not trying to challenge Professor Zohar but to share their different ideas. The learning atmosphere was very good because everyone was so devoted into the class. For me, I couldn't feel that the masterclass teacher was "teaching" at all. Instead, it was like a discussion. On piano playing, there are many possible hand movements to play the same notes. Every pianists have different hand size, flexibility and shape and we don't play with the exact hand motions. We discussed different hand movements and then tried to figure out which one was better.
It was such a wonderful experience. Participating in a masterclass is quite boring for the audiences (if it is held in a hall). However, today's masterclass was definitely exhilarating. Though I was not satisfied with my playing, I still enjoyed the lesson very much. I was not nervous but I did feel insecure because I only practised the piece for about one week and then I had to play it in a masterclass. Professor Zohar worked on the piece with me in a very fine way and her suggestions were very helpful. She explained everything clearly whenever I asked her questions. No wonder she is so popular among students.
5.2.08
A parcel
I feel happy every time I receive a parcel from my family. This morning, I got a parcel again. There were lots of food, two red packets and a cute teddy bear in Chinese costumes.
I am thinking how much time it will take for me to eat all the food. This photo only shows the categories of food. For some of the snacks, my mom has sent me a few packets.
Mrs Fields cookies and the fluffy teddy bear. Sadly, the box can only fit in two pieces of cookies. I have to remind myself not to eat all of them in one time.
I love the biscuits and the box. The box looks so ellegant.
Red packets!
I am thinking how much time it will take for me to eat all the food. This photo only shows the categories of food. For some of the snacks, my mom has sent me a few packets.
Mrs Fields cookies and the fluffy teddy bear. Sadly, the box can only fit in two pieces of cookies. I have to remind myself not to eat all of them in one time.
I love the biscuits and the box. The box looks so ellegant.
Red packets!
3.2.08
Roomate
The first two days of school were not bad. However, these two weeks were completely a nightmare to me. There were lots of assignments and quizzes. Homework seemed to be endless. Besides, my first piano lesson with the professor was not very good. I got very frustrated and stressed and my parents were so concerned about me.
I didn't feel happier until yesterday. I had my second piano lesson and it was great. The professor told me lots of things to interpret the 3rd mvt of Beethoven Sonata Op.109. My professor performed Beethoven Sonata Op.109 many years ago and I was so impressed by his thorough understanding of the work. Yet, at the end I had to give up playing this piece because the professor thought that it is too difficult for me. I got to understand why my first piano lesson was a bit disappointing. The reason is that I was the last student on that day. Teaching students for hours is definitely not en easy job for my 6X years old professor. He didn't speak much during the lesson. Meanwhile, I was the first student yesterday and he taught me many things. I discussed with him about an audition for a scholarship and he was so enthusiastic about it. The audition required two contrasting works, one Baroque or Classical composition and one Romantic, Impressionistic or Modern composition. I decided to play Bach Prelude and Fugue and Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody. I opted for doing an old piece because I was not confident in refining and memorising the Liszt Paganini Etude within one month. Besides, I performed the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody before and I knew what I needed to improve.
My roomate doesn't know how to respect the others at all. She keeps on doing something that bothers me a lot. Everytime, I just turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to it. It is because I don't want to have any quarrels with her. However, this morning, beyond doubts, I couldn't just remain silent anymore. Her boyfriend stayed overnight in our room but she didn't tell me before that. She went out quite late last night and I didn't expect her to come back. After I had fallen asleep, I barely heard the sound of opening a door. I was too tired to take a glance at her at that time. Nevertheless, I never expected that she would bring her boyfriend to sleep in our room because he didn't make any noise. At the middle of the night, I was waken up by loud snores. It was so strange because my roomate didn't snore. I couldn't see anything since it was too dark. Then I went back to sleep. This morning, I heard a male voice when I got up. I immediately looked round and I saw my roomate and her boyfriend lying on the bed. That was getting on my very last nerve. I couldn't stand a stranger of opposite sex staying in my room overnight, especially I was not told about it. In no doubt, it was my roomate's problem and she didn't respect me at all. Indeed, every time her boyfriend came to our room, they made so much noise which disturbed me a lot. They kissed loudly and turned up the volume of the TV even when I was doing assignments. And I couldn't take a shower as the door of the bathroom can't be locked from inside. Every time I told myself to bear them. But having a male sleeping in my room is beyond my tolerance. I talked to my roomate after the guy had left. She just said, "Ok." I had no idea if she would listen to me. Just hope that this will not happen again.
I didn't feel happier until yesterday. I had my second piano lesson and it was great. The professor told me lots of things to interpret the 3rd mvt of Beethoven Sonata Op.109. My professor performed Beethoven Sonata Op.109 many years ago and I was so impressed by his thorough understanding of the work. Yet, at the end I had to give up playing this piece because the professor thought that it is too difficult for me. I got to understand why my first piano lesson was a bit disappointing. The reason is that I was the last student on that day. Teaching students for hours is definitely not en easy job for my 6X years old professor. He didn't speak much during the lesson. Meanwhile, I was the first student yesterday and he taught me many things. I discussed with him about an audition for a scholarship and he was so enthusiastic about it. The audition required two contrasting works, one Baroque or Classical composition and one Romantic, Impressionistic or Modern composition. I decided to play Bach Prelude and Fugue and Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody. I opted for doing an old piece because I was not confident in refining and memorising the Liszt Paganini Etude within one month. Besides, I performed the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody before and I knew what I needed to improve.
My roomate doesn't know how to respect the others at all. She keeps on doing something that bothers me a lot. Everytime, I just turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to it. It is because I don't want to have any quarrels with her. However, this morning, beyond doubts, I couldn't just remain silent anymore. Her boyfriend stayed overnight in our room but she didn't tell me before that. She went out quite late last night and I didn't expect her to come back. After I had fallen asleep, I barely heard the sound of opening a door. I was too tired to take a glance at her at that time. Nevertheless, I never expected that she would bring her boyfriend to sleep in our room because he didn't make any noise. At the middle of the night, I was waken up by loud snores. It was so strange because my roomate didn't snore. I couldn't see anything since it was too dark. Then I went back to sleep. This morning, I heard a male voice when I got up. I immediately looked round and I saw my roomate and her boyfriend lying on the bed. That was getting on my very last nerve. I couldn't stand a stranger of opposite sex staying in my room overnight, especially I was not told about it. In no doubt, it was my roomate's problem and she didn't respect me at all. Indeed, every time her boyfriend came to our room, they made so much noise which disturbed me a lot. They kissed loudly and turned up the volume of the TV even when I was doing assignments. And I couldn't take a shower as the door of the bathroom can't be locked from inside. Every time I told myself to bear them. But having a male sleeping in my room is beyond my tolerance. I talked to my roomate after the guy had left. She just said, "Ok." I had no idea if she would listen to me. Just hope that this will not happen again.
20.1.08
New school life
School started on thursday and I moved into the dorm the night before.
I live in a double room and my roomate is an American girl. I can't say whether I like her or not because our communication is almost none. She rarely stays in her room. I have lived in the dorm for three days already but every night I slept alone. She always goes out late and she just chooses not to come back if her friends don't give her a ride. To be honest, I prefer not seeing her in the room. My roomate has a television and she loves to turn up the volume. It is annoying to me as I am very sensitive to loud sound. Even when we are both in our room, we don't talk to each other. Our conversations are only limited to "hi" and "bye". If she doesn't make any noise, I may forget about her presence. I have heard of many cases of roomate problems before. Yet, for my case, we have no arguments because we just don't chat.
Living in dorm is acceptable. The food is edible and I manage to eat much food every meal. However, my dorm is a private one and everyone knows that it is a "party dorm". My room is located opposite to the elevator and it is very noisy. I can hear people shouting or banging the door in the middle of the night.
I still haven't ompletely adjusted to the American English. For the past two days, I was lost during classes sometimes, especially I came to school in the spring semester which was the middle of a school year. I felt upset on the first day of classes because I didn't know anyone in the class and I couldn't seek for any help. Fortunately, on the second day, I met some a few freshmen and schoolmates and they were very nice and helpful. And I started to enjoy my school life in university.
I live in a double room and my roomate is an American girl. I can't say whether I like her or not because our communication is almost none. She rarely stays in her room. I have lived in the dorm for three days already but every night I slept alone. She always goes out late and she just chooses not to come back if her friends don't give her a ride. To be honest, I prefer not seeing her in the room. My roomate has a television and she loves to turn up the volume. It is annoying to me as I am very sensitive to loud sound. Even when we are both in our room, we don't talk to each other. Our conversations are only limited to "hi" and "bye". If she doesn't make any noise, I may forget about her presence. I have heard of many cases of roomate problems before. Yet, for my case, we have no arguments because we just don't chat.
Living in dorm is acceptable. The food is edible and I manage to eat much food every meal. However, my dorm is a private one and everyone knows that it is a "party dorm". My room is located opposite to the elevator and it is very noisy. I can hear people shouting or banging the door in the middle of the night.
I still haven't ompletely adjusted to the American English. For the past two days, I was lost during classes sometimes, especially I came to school in the spring semester which was the middle of a school year. I felt upset on the first day of classes because I didn't know anyone in the class and I couldn't seek for any help. Fortunately, on the second day, I met some a few freshmen and schoolmates and they were very nice and helpful. And I started to enjoy my school life in university.
15.1.08
Orientation (2)
One thing that the USA required all the international students to do is to have a tuberculosis (TB) screening. For the health centre at my school, they use TB Gold blood test instead of X-ray as the TB test.
In my memory, it was my first time to take a blood test. That was definitely a "disaster". The foreigners always think that I am really skinny. On the day, when the nurse pulled up the sleeves of my T-shirt, she immediately said, "Oh gosh! Such a tiny hand!" She then tied my upper arm of my left hand with a rubber band in order to engorge the vein. However, my vein didn't bulge out and the nurse could hardly see the blood vessel. Then she tried with my right arm and it was slightly better. A very small blood vessel appeared. Again, the nurse said, "And such a tiny vein!" Finally she injected the syringe into the really tiny vein. I didn't look at the syringe and I didn't know what was happening until I suddenly felt great pain. I started to wonder if there was something wrong because there was also another student in the same room and I found that her blood was drawn within a few seconds while mine took so much time. I asked the nurse, "Done?" I turned around and the I saw the nurse frowning. She murmured, "I'm sorry, honey... I know that's not nice but your blood has stopped coming out and I only got a few drops...." She started to draw as much as blood as she could as she wanted to prevent me from taking the blood test again. It got really painful and I almost wanted to yell. I ddin't measure the time that the syringe was injected to my vein but I estimated it to be around 30 seconds. I suffered and at the same time, the nurse was having a hard time too. It was worse that I was asked to take the blood test again. I was then taken to the laboratory. The staff of the laboratory let me lie on a very comfortable sofa. This time she could get an adequate amount of blood. Afterwards, she gave me a few kinds of cartoon bandages to choose from. They looked really cute actually but I thought that I was too old to get a bandage with a cartoon character on it. Therefore I answered, "Uh... I think I prefer the normal bandage..." At last, she did give me a normal bandage but she drew a rabbit on it......
My right arm was quite painful throughout the whole day. There was a bruise with two "holes" on it. To some extent, I really looked like a drug addict. I have never imagined that taking blood test is totally an "nightmare" to me.
In my memory, it was my first time to take a blood test. That was definitely a "disaster". The foreigners always think that I am really skinny. On the day, when the nurse pulled up the sleeves of my T-shirt, she immediately said, "Oh gosh! Such a tiny hand!" She then tied my upper arm of my left hand with a rubber band in order to engorge the vein. However, my vein didn't bulge out and the nurse could hardly see the blood vessel. Then she tried with my right arm and it was slightly better. A very small blood vessel appeared. Again, the nurse said, "And such a tiny vein!" Finally she injected the syringe into the really tiny vein. I didn't look at the syringe and I didn't know what was happening until I suddenly felt great pain. I started to wonder if there was something wrong because there was also another student in the same room and I found that her blood was drawn within a few seconds while mine took so much time. I asked the nurse, "Done?" I turned around and the I saw the nurse frowning. She murmured, "I'm sorry, honey... I know that's not nice but your blood has stopped coming out and I only got a few drops...." She started to draw as much as blood as she could as she wanted to prevent me from taking the blood test again. It got really painful and I almost wanted to yell. I ddin't measure the time that the syringe was injected to my vein but I estimated it to be around 30 seconds. I suffered and at the same time, the nurse was having a hard time too. It was worse that I was asked to take the blood test again. I was then taken to the laboratory. The staff of the laboratory let me lie on a very comfortable sofa. This time she could get an adequate amount of blood. Afterwards, she gave me a few kinds of cartoon bandages to choose from. They looked really cute actually but I thought that I was too old to get a bandage with a cartoon character on it. Therefore I answered, "Uh... I think I prefer the normal bandage..." At last, she did give me a normal bandage but she drew a rabbit on it......
My right arm was quite painful throughout the whole day. There was a bruise with two "holes" on it. To some extent, I really looked like a drug addict. I have never imagined that taking blood test is totally an "nightmare" to me.
13.1.08
Orientation (1)
First post in 2008.
I can hardly believe that I have been in the USA for one week already. The semester break still hasn't ended and school will start on next thursday. We had orientation programmes for the past few days. Before I went to the USA, I always thought that the orientation programmes in the USA universities are very crazy. However, when I attended the orientation at my school, I found that it was not too bad. We had lots of things to do every day and they were not very exciting.
There were many students from China. Probably more than 1/3 of the orientation participants were Chinese students. I could hear Mandarin all the time. On the first two days, I felt quite happy to meet so many Chinese students. However, later time, I got to feel a bit annoyed because they didn't talk in English at all. The main reason was that their English standard was lower than other international students. They preferred making friends with students from their own country and of course, they communicated in Mandarin. I found that my Mandarin has improved a lot, but not my English. It was really ridiculous. Sometimes, the mainland students didn't understand what the speaker said and they asked me to translate for them. I never thought that I had a chance to be my mainland friends' "interpreter". That was another type of language exercise for me.
I can hardly believe that I have been in the USA for one week already. The semester break still hasn't ended and school will start on next thursday. We had orientation programmes for the past few days. Before I went to the USA, I always thought that the orientation programmes in the USA universities are very crazy. However, when I attended the orientation at my school, I found that it was not too bad. We had lots of things to do every day and they were not very exciting.
There were many students from China. Probably more than 1/3 of the orientation participants were Chinese students. I could hear Mandarin all the time. On the first two days, I felt quite happy to meet so many Chinese students. However, later time, I got to feel a bit annoyed because they didn't talk in English at all. The main reason was that their English standard was lower than other international students. They preferred making friends with students from their own country and of course, they communicated in Mandarin. I found that my Mandarin has improved a lot, but not my English. It was really ridiculous. Sometimes, the mainland students didn't understand what the speaker said and they asked me to translate for them. I never thought that I had a chance to be my mainland friends' "interpreter". That was another type of language exercise for me.
24.12.07
Disappointed
I feel quite disappointed with you. Perhaps you can't see the reason why I have this feeling since I never tell you. You may wonder why I have chosen to hide my feelings. It is because I know you will definitely do all the things that I have expected in order to please me. But this is not what I want. It is meaningless for me to tell you what I wish you to do. I just don't want to be let down for so many times.
I am not going to tell you why I am disappointed. You shall find out the reason by yourself.
I am not going to tell you why I am disappointed. You shall find out the reason by yourself.
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