Salsa Adventure and Settling In

So, yesterday was pretty eventful. I went to two more classes. History & Development of Theatre in Ghana and Intro to Drumming. Before I went to my theatre class I ran over to the music department to try and find out about choir, which I found out they don't have a set time yet cause they plan it around the students. The professor I talked to asked about my repertoire and what experience I had and when I told him about my lessons and my repertoire book, he asked me to come in with my music. So on Monday I have a sort of audition so I've got some preparing to do this weekend for that. But I am very grateful now for the Voice Repertoire class I took last semester, and I am glad I brought a sampling on my music. After talking to that professor, I had to run to my theatre class which was halfway across campus, AND I got lost so it took a little longer than expected. But when I showed up the professor wasn't there, and there were only a few students in the room. It was an excellent class. Discussion based and pretty interesting for the first day. I was pretty tired though so I nodded off for a few minutes, and the professor totally called me out. It was somewhat embarrassing, but now I guess I know that I definitely can't get away with that in his class. lol. After that class I had to run back to the music department so that I could go to my drumming class. It was awesome! I got some drumsticks, which are really just two arm-length-ish pieces of wood. It was a really fun and very cool class. I am not the best at keeping rhythm, but I have known that about myself for a long time. I am better though when I practice more consistently, so I think this will really help me AND I think it'll help in my dance class as well (which is part of the reason I wanted to take it). It's a pretty large class, but I think it'll be good.

After classes I went back to the hostel and found Wilder quite upset, as he just found out that a bunch of the classes he had scheduled had their timetables re-arranged so that everything was messed up. He's gonna be here for a year, so he kinda needs to make sure he's getting credit for the classes he is taking which makes things somewhat restrictive. So, I went around to some different departments with Wilder, trying to help him out and keep him from freaking out too much.

After all that, I had red-red (which is red beans and fried plantains) for dinner. I'm pretty sure this is my favorite Ghanaian meal, and I have decided I have to learn how to make it, since I eat it so often. Then after dinner, I got a dressed up and went out with some other ISEP students to salsa night at a hotel called Coconut Lodge or something. One of our Ghanaian friends, Fifi, took us. It was sooooo much fun, and I danced so much. There are some freaking amazing Salsa dancers in Ghana. One of Fifi's friends, Ike, who is from Cote D'Ivoire, said that some of them are International Competitors. You can really tell too, these people are seriously fantastic. I learned so much in just a few hours. It was awesome. They also have some amazing line dances in Ghana, and those were also featured at salsa night, which was a lot of fun. To be honest, I couldn't keep up with half of them, but they were really fun. It was a pretty amazing night overall.

However, it ended somewhat bitter-sweetly. I found out that my roommate is moving out. She moved up to the 4th floor, which means I will be expecting a Ghanaian roommate sometime soon. It's exciting that I'll be getting a Ghanaian roommate, but it was sad to sort of say goodbye to my roommate. I mean, it's not like I won't see her, but still it's weird coming back to the room and having it always be empty. Oh, well.

Today, I spent most of the morning unpacking and rearranging my room. It actually looks lived in a bit now, which is exciting. Feels more like home than before I think. After working on that for a while, I decided to run to the dance department to buy some black leggings and a white shirt for my dance class. I also stopped by the ISEP office to ask about where to find tape and stuff. So, I have a little shopping list forming. I also had to get a new form for registering for my classes, which is a huge mess right now.

We just found out last night that we are all required to turn in our final registration papers by tomorrow. They originally were giving us until the 24th, but for some reason they changed their minds. That has sent a lot of people into a frenzy of sorts, myself included. I just recently decided rearrange my schedule to take 400 level courses instead of 300 level since I really wanted to get credit for my History and Development of Theatre in Ghana class, which is 400 level (and you can't take course in different levels unless you are just auditing them). So, I had this whole plan to take dance classes and this one theatre course and then audit a bunch of other theatre courses that were yearlong, so I can't get them for credit. However, I started thinking about my scholarships and realized that when I go back I need to have full-time student status in order to keep my financial aid. After looking at my WVU and ISEP contracts for study abroad I found that my audited classes won't even show up on my transcript to FSU. And because I am not getting credit for them, just auditing, they can't count towards full-time student status. So after realizing all of that, I have had to reassess my schedule. I am definitely keeping my drumming course, my dance course, and my theatre in Ghana course. But that's only 8-9 hrs of credit and I have to have at least 12. So, I am just about to head over to the theatre and dance department and figure out what other 3 credit hour class I am gonna take. I may have to take 2 more 3 credit hour classes actually to insure that I have enough credit transferring back to Fairmont. Anyways, that's the update. I gotta go do some shopping and figure my scheduling issues. I might post again tonight to let you know how that goes if I have time.