Adventures of a Carillonneur: Connecticut

I ran out of time to publish this during finals week. I'm currently in New York, so more travel blogs soon!


For those of you who haven't heard, I take carillon lessons at Wellesley. I know I've talked about the Guild of Carillonneurs before - here's a link to a blog I wrote my first semester about a carillon trip I went on then. (Here's a helpful article about carillons too.)

One of my favorite things that we do in the Guild is go on road trips. Basically, we drive around to different towers and play concerts. Its really fun because every tower is unique, and every instrument feels very different to play. Plus, carillons tend to be at the top of towers, so inevitably we have our fair share of climbing steep ladders and narrow spiral staircases. I always feel like I'm delving into the past and going on an adventure.

The day after classes ended, we took a trip to Connecticut to play three different instruments - one near the University of Connecticut in Storrs, one in a church in New Britain, and one at Yale University. It's really cool that we got to go to Yale - Wellesley and Yale are the only carillons in the country played almost exclusively by student guilds.

Here are some pictures from the day! Overall it was a 13 hour trip, including driving time, playing 3 concerts, and eating lunch and dinner.

A church across the street from the
University of Connecticut

To get to the carillon we passed the clock
and all the gears and machinery

A church in New Britain

The bells from below - there was a thunderstorm going on,
I felt a little foolish for being up in a tower.

Harkness Tower at Yale

I really wanted to climb these stairs, but
we weren't allowed...

What I've Learned: Part 1 (Academics)

As of today, my classes are officially done for the semester! For me this has always been a bittersweet time - I tend to become very invested and interested in what I'm learning throughout the semester, so it can be hard when it ends. Not to mention it can be hard to leave my professors and classmates I have been spending so much time with!

In honor of the last day of classes, I wanted to share with you some of the most interesting random facts I've learned in my classes this semester. A vast majority of my time every week is taken up by classes and homework, but I feel like I don't actually talk to other people very often about what I'm learning. (I'm planning on writing another post soon about other things I've learned this semester outside of classes.) This post might be completely boring to everybody else, but here goes!

Computer Networks

• I learned that it's really not very hard to do "mail spoofing" - that is, sending email from other people's accounts. The most malicious thing I've done with it is send a friend an email from their own address, but it baffles me that after about an hour I was able to figure out how to do something that could be potentially very damaging. (That class made me kind of terrified in general about all of the security issues with the internet.)
• I'm a big fan of crime shows, and the impression I've always gotten is that an IP address is basically the permanent identification of your computer. But, did you know IP addresses change quite frequently? In fact, if you disconnect your laptop from one wireless network and connect to another, you very likely have a new IP. (So how do they always find people based on the IP address of their computer?!)

Latin 102

• The United States has 3 mottoes in Latin (if you look on a dollar bill you can see them). Probably the most well known of the three is "e pluribus unum", which means "out of many, one". The phrase has the strangest context - it is found originally in a poem written about a farmer preparing a dish of food. The quote refers to the colors of the different ingredients mixing and become one. I guess when America was called the "melting pot" they were being a bit more literal than I thought...
• When Harvard University was established, proficient knowledge of Latin (and Greek) was required for all applicants, and in fact students were not allowed to speak English on campus.

Classical Mythology

• Maybe this is old news, but I never realized that Mt. Olympus (the mythical home of the Greek gods) is a real mountain in Greece. I guess I always assumed it was made up. Wouldn't they have eventually figured out there were no gods living up there if they could climb the mountain themselves?
• You know the Disney movie Hercules? I learned all sorts of interesting things about the real story of Heracles (his original Greek name). His story wasn't so much a love story, but a horrible tragedy - because of the jealousy of one of the gods, he ended up going crazy and killing his entire family. When he does his labors and kills all the monsters, it is punishment for the murder of his family. (I don't think I'll ever be able to watch the movie again without picking apart every singe flaw in the story...)

Math (Combinatorics and Graph Theory)

• Suppose there are a group of people in a room. Assuming friendship is mutual and we only consider friendships between people in the room, it is mathematically impossibly that an odd number of people in the room each have an odd number of friends. For example, there is no possible situation in which there are exactly 3 people in a room who each have 5 friends.
• There is something called the 4 color theorem which says that any map can be colored with only 4 colors so that no two touching regions are the same color. (Even more interestingly, it can be shown that if the world were shaped like a donut instead of a sphere, 7 colors would be needed. It's actually a lot easier to figure out the case with a "donut-shaped" world.)

see - only 4 colors!

People of New Orleans

As I discussed in my previous post, over spring break I was in New Orleans on a trip called ServeUp, with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I met a lot of wonderful and interesting people from the city, and I want to tell you a little bit about some of their stories.

I'm going to tell you about 5 specific people I met (there were many others, but these are the main ones who stick out to me): Mami, One Love, Ms. Maxine, Maxwell, and Pastor Rob. (Unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of these people.)

Mami and One Love
I spent a lot of my week repainting a house. The woman who lives in the house is an adorable old Haitian woman; everybody calls her Mami. Sometimes I could barely understand her because of her accent. She has a small store in her house, and people from the neighborhood came by all the time to buy things or just to talk to her.

The sign out in front of her house

I didn't personally get to talk to her very much, but we did hear a little bit about her life. She has 7 children, 3 or 4 or whom have died. Most of her children currently live in Florida, so she only has one son living close to her. Which brings me to the most interesting character I met: One Love (Mami's son). He also grew up in Haiti so he had quite an accent, although not as much as Mami. When he showed up on the first morning, he informed us that we should call him One Love, and that he would call all of us One Love because he's horrible at learning names. (And yes, he actually did.)

Overall he had a very loud personality, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not. He occasionally became really angry, mostly at his mother, and none of us knew how to respond. At other times he was happy, in a completely infectious way. He also told us many powerful stories about his own life. I don't feel comfortable sharing all the details here, but suffice it to say that he has had some major medical issues (he told us about many accidents and injuries, including once being shot) and some issues he ran into with the law. He told us he was extremely grateful for us coming to help out his family, because we were the first ones to offer them any help after Katrina. The last morning we were working at the house he told us he wanted us all to carve our names in the wall, but unfortunately we ended up leaving early due to rain and never got the opportunity. One Love is the type of person you actually have to meet to believe somebody like him exists. Our week never had a boring moment!

Ms. Maxine
One of Mami's frequent visitors was Ms. Maxine, we saw her a few times throughout the week. A group of students from a different ServeUp team had painted her house a few weeks before. It was really nice to talk to her and hear the impact their work was still having on her life. Going on trips like this you don't often get to stay in contact with the people you work with. Her story gave me some hope that we were making a real difference in the neighborhood, and that what we did would still be remembered and appreciated after we left. She was SO thankful for what they had done for her in painting her house, as small as that might seem.

Maxwell
One day a couple of us went on a walk around the neighborhood, to see if we could meet any of the neighbors. A man was just leaving his house when we walked by, and we ended up stopping and talking with him for at least 5-10 minutes. He had a really interesting perspective on the city before and after the storm. He said he felt like the city was much less dangerous now, and specifically that there were fewer deaths related to crime and gangs. (Of course, he also told us about a man who had been killed a couple days previously just down the street. Afterwards I started questioning the wisdom of walking around the neighborhood by ourselves...) No matter how much we talked among our team throughout the week about the problems New Orleans faces, there's nothing quite like hearing it directly from somebody who has always lived there. I appreciated his transparency and willingness to talk to us and give us his opinions on the city, and specifically the neighborhood where we were working.

Pastor Rob
The church my group was working with to paint the houses is called Journey Ninth Ward (the Ninth Ward is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city). The main person who was working with and directing us was Pastor Rob. He is originally from New Orleans, but for several years lived in California. He moved back to New Orleans to do ministry there in the summer of 2005, only a couple months before the hurricane hit. His wife was pregnant at the time, and actually gave birth 3 days before Hurricane Katrina, just enough time for them to get out of the city with their newborn daughter. He didn't give us a lot of details about his life, but he did mention the fact that he spent time in prison and in other kinds of trouble. From the way he acts and lives his life now, you'd never know. I thought it was a really amazing testimony that there really is hope, even in individuals (or neighborhoods) that may seem hopeless.

New Orleans 2014

A couple of weeks ago, during spring break, I went to New Orleans, Louisiana. It was a service trip, so much of my week was spent out in the community doing physical work (my group painted a house, others did construction or worked on an urban farm). I've been to New Orleans twice now, and both times I have been surprised by just how much rebuilding work there still is to do. In some of the neighborhoods we worked in and visited, there was certainly evidence of the fact that the population still hasn't recovered from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (Here's some more information about the storm, if you're interested.) Many houses are clearly still uninhabitable, and there are many empty overgrown lots where houses most likely stood 10 years ago.

Now, don't get me wrong, many parts of the city are beautiful and flourishing. Coming into a city like New Orleans as an outsider, I feel like its so easy to focus on the negative, to think about the huge tragedy that happened there. Especially since we went there with the purpose of rebuilding, its hard not to think of the city as a broken place, and a place that needs to be repaired. It makes me really sad that I was never able to see the city before Katrina; I feel like I'll never be able to fully appreciate it because I'm always so focused on the negative aspects.

But, its an incredibly beautiful city, and unlike anywhere else I've ever visited. I highly recommend you visit if you ever get a chance!

Most of my week I spent painting a house. This house, to be exact:

This is after we washed the house and before we started painting

Our leaders put a lot of emphasis on walking around and meeting people in the neighborhood. Hopefully I will be writing about some of the people I met in another post, but here are a couple pictures of the neighborhood I spent a lot of time in:

I love the bright houses

A Streetcar Named Desire, anyone?

A garden next door (the white wall is a cemetery)

The trip definitely wasn't all serious. I spent time eating beignets (yum!) and hanging out in the French Quarter:

The trip was an exhausting, but amazing, experience. (It didn't help that I was sick for most of it, so I crashed when I got back to school the day before classes resumed.) All that to say, life was a little difficult after coming back! I wanted to update you all much sooner but had many other more pressing things to deal with (like the housing lottery and registration, stories for another time). Please feel free to ask me questions or bring up the trip! I love talking about it, but sometimes I don't even know where to begin.

I'll be writing another blog post soon about the trip, so look out for that!

Ramblings

I really don't have a clear idea of what to write about, so you're just going to have to bear with me. I've been wanting to write for a while though.

Spring break starts in less than a week. Wow! It really snuck up on me this year. (Snuck? Sneaked? Oh, whatever...) I only have 3 days of classes left. I'm really excited, because I have the privilege once again of going on a service trip to New Orleans with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I'm looking forward to it, not least to get out of this cold for a while... (Yes, Minnesotans can also get tired of the cold. Lately I've been getting lazy and not dressing warm enough, so I'm feeling it more than usual.) I have a lot to get done before then, because I know I won't have much time on the trip to do homework. So, I'm trying to stay focused for the next few days! Not an easy proposition with freedom looming so close on the horizon.

Speaking of which, it has been an ongoing struggle for me in general to find a balance in how to spend my time. Sleep and extracurricular things are very important to me, as is being overall happy and not stressed out. At the same time, I do have a lot of work that needs to get done!

This past Wednesday was one of my busiest days in a long time. I had a TON of work to do, and throughout the day I kept thinking about which homework I could skip and get away with, and which I actually needed to have done on time. Never a fun decision to make. However, by some miracle at the end of the day I had finished all of my work. And, despite all I had to do, it was an awesome day. I focused on my work, painted my nails, and listened to a lot of Disney music.

I'm still searching for a way to have more days like that. It was the best of both worlds: I was productive, but also happy. I'm a very analytic person, and sometimes I wish life had an algorithm. Couldn't there be a specific sequence of components to add to a day to make it productive and happy? If so, I have yet to figure it out...

Anyway. Happy pi day everybody! A foolproof way to know you're a math nerd: your friends post on your facebook wall in honor of pi day. Thanks guys :) Alas, I did not eat any pie today, but I celebrated in spirit nonetheless.

Despite the cold and snow that still lingers, I have seen definite signs of impending spring! Rarely have I been more excited than when I spied the first new plants of the season poking up out of the ground a few days ago. One of my favorite things about spring is how shockingly quickly the world transforms, and new life comes about. I've also seen 2 chipmunks in the past two days! They tend to disappear at the end of fall and not reappear until this time of year.

This morning I had an unfortunate (but admittedly funny) incident. In my dorm, there's a door between two flights of stairs. As I was hurrying down the stairs, I turned the handle and walked through the door. Except, apparently I didn't turn the handle far enough and the door didn't open, so instead of walking through it I smacked my forehead into it. I was just glad nobody was around to see. I have a bruise on my eyebrow, and I'm hoping it doesn't turn too dark. That would be unfortunate to have to explain...

Anyway, I should get going. I will hopefully be updating you soon about my trip coming up!

Snow!

Snow.

I LOVE snow.

At this stage in my life, snow is hardly an inconvenience at all. There are wonderful people who shovel and plow the entire campus for me, and I never have to drive anywhere. I'm trying to enjoy it while I can, before I move back to Minnesota and actually have to be responsible and travel places (besides on foot).

Today I had about an hour between class and work, and I couldn't quite stand the thought of staying inside all day. So, I went outside. It was meant to be a very short walk, but I didn't wander my way back to the science center for over half an hour. These pictures are a result of that excursion. (Pardon the terrible phone photography. It all looked a lot cooler in person. You know, when I could see anything through the blowing snow...)

The Academic Quad (Pendleton Hall)

Our beloved bell-tower

Is it just me, or does this make anybody else
really want to run down that path too?

untouched corner

pop of color

poor guy...

I'm really bad at taking selfies

I feel like snow in some way helps people come together. Sometimes it's because everybody is stuck inside together, and sometimes because people need to help each other out. Sometimes, though, it's just a matter of people enjoying the beauty together. I was walking along, pretty slowly, stopping wherever caught my fancy. At one point a girl walked past me, as I was standing just staring out towards the trees and pond. She said something about enjoying the snow, then proceeded to mention she had been taking pictures and that I ended up in one of them. So, I gave her my email and she sent it to me, and we each went on our way. I love the picture, but I love even more that she would stop and start a conversation with a total stranger about something like snow.

That little speck of red is me. 

Another Post about Airports

Snow and the sunrise in Wisconsin
somewhere

Today I flew back to Wellesley for the beginning of another semester. Overall, it was a fairly eventful day (featuring nearly empty flights, a giant de-icer machine, and turbulence). I also had an interesting experience at airport security this morning in Minneapolis. Before I could even get in the line, they pulled me aside and swabbed my palms, testing the swab with a large machine before I could move on. They then directed me to one of two lines - the other line had normal security procedures, but in my line we didn't have to take off our shoes or coats or take out our laptops. It didn't feel like airport security without shuffling through the line barefoot and scrambling to get all of my stuff back in my bags afterwards. Has anybody else experienced differences in airport security recently?

I had a layover in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and explored a little bit to stretch my legs.

I love how much cheese paraphernalia you
can buy in Wisconsin.

I have often noticed that travelling can bring out the best and the worst in people. There are always the vocal complainers, who make standing in lines and waiting for delayed flights even more frustrating. However, there are also the people who strike up a pleasant conversation, or reach out a helping hand when you're struggling with a suitcase.

For example, there was a businessman behind me in the security line this morning who just couldn't understand why the other line was moving faster. He kept asking the employees about it, and getting angry about the wasted time. In total, our line took at most 15 or 20 minutes. That was still too long for his taste, I guess.

On the other hand, I met a wonderful couple this afternoon. I took the train back to Wellesley, and from the train station it's about a 15 minute walk back to my dorm. With approximately 65lbs. of luggage (plus a heavy backpack), that 15 minutes can feel like an eternity. As I was walking, a woman approached me asking if I was going to Wellesley. At first I assumed she was going to ask me for directions. However, she then offered me a ride to my dorm. They had been driving past and saw me walking with all my stuff and pulled over just to offer help. I probably should have been a bit more cautious about getting in a total stranger's car, but it worked out fine, and I was extremely grateful.

One things airports always mean is change, and new beginnings. Another trip, another airport, another semester.