2nd Year in College

Hello fellow bloggers and audience,

    I know it has been a while since I have posted, but my life has been filled with crazy things. For example, I was in a relationship for 3 months, I had piano concerts, and the craziest exam week for my last semester.
   
    This year however is not that much different than last year when it comes to business. In fact I'm more busy now than ever in my life. I work in the music department still at the university I attend, I'm a cellist in the university orchestra, and I still take piano lessons. The only thing that has changed is the amount of things that I tacked onto my busy life.

    Being a music major is already crazy enough at this university. I have had 18 credits for the past two semesters and I have 18 credits this semester as well. I joined a women's choir here as well as the New Student Showcase here. The New Student Showcase is my new dilemma where I rehearse 5 days a week (not including Monday and Wednesday) from 7:30pm to 10:30pm. I am the musical accompaniment where I play the music for all the musicals that take place during this theater showcase. Unfortunately, the music isn't all that easy but I think I will get through it. The only thing is that sometimes the Women's choir and the New Student Showcase collide with each other when it comes to performances. Lord knows how this is going to work out but hopefully it will work out for the better.

     I have a lot of busy days where I only get 2 to 4 hours to do homework. It is pretty hard for me to focus in one hour let alone finish all homework in 4 hours.

    So all I am asking for is for your prayers. This semester so far has started off really stressful. I'm almost two weeks in but I already want it to end. Please pray for me so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

    Thank you guys for reading my blog. I will try to post one monthly to give you my progress

~Kristina Joi~
#Godspeed (new sign-off ;) )

Blog #2

Hello viewers,

      I just want to thank everyone first who has seen my blog. Thanks. It shows that you actually care about me and I truly appreciate it. Although my writing style isn't top notch, I try to communicate the main things to you.

     So what has happened in the past week? More than you can believe. I work in the Music Department at the university I attend and there are many skills that are applied to this job. Not only am I answering phone calls or helping whoever that walks in the office, I sort through books, libraries, and even do some gardening. Yeah, it is strange that my job requires gardening, but whatever can pay the tuition is fine with me. I didn't think that I would have time to go on Facebook or text on my phone, but at my job it's completely fine. I love it and what better way to get experience for owning my own shop then working in a music office.

     I also took a brief shopping trip with one of my friends to Kohls. I was looking for comfortable shoes to wear. Instead, I bought a Snoopy t-shirt. I don't know why every time I go shopping I buy something that I don't need.

     I've met lots of new people. It seems like I can never meet enough people. Today my piano professor decided to have everyone that gets lessons by him would have to play in front of all of the other students. That was pretty interesting. I felt like everyone was judging me on every single note I played. I got through it thank God, but that's going to happen again in a couple of weeks. Pray for me.

   Also this week is midterm week. I had an essay exam in my class Seeing Disease on Monday. I literally had to rush through that exam since it was only one hour long. When it comes to writing, my ideas don't come that fast in my head. I got through it though. Hopefully I did well. I also had a Music Theory exam on Monday. I got 100% on it. That is the third time in the row. I feel so accomplished. I took Midterm part one for my Business Geographics yesterday. We had to create a map using a program called ArcMap. It's pretty interesting, but I think I did well. There will be Midterm part 2 tomorrow where there is multiple choice, true or false, and matching. Pray for me. I also took my Business and Econ Statistics Exam yesterday. I was really concerned about that class since I never had a math class above Algebra 2 before. I have a B- in the class right now, but I'm aiming for an A.

     One club that I'm in is called the IMANI Gospel Choir. We rehearse every Wednesday night. I'm pretty excited since the director said he found a perfect piece for me to sing as a solo. Most of you that know me know that I don't like singing or talking in front of people. Wittenberg has definitely making me grow in those aspects. I thank God for providing me with opportunities like that so I can step out of my comfort zone.

     That's all I have to blog about today. Your prayers are helping me get through every day and I thank you for that. I will be coming home this weekend so if you want to here more stories just come visit my house. Love you all!!! :)

~Kristina Joi~

First Couple of Months of College

Hi everyone,

       My name is Kristina and I'm a freshman/junior in college. This is my first year in college yet I have transfered over 63 credits due to this awesome college program I did in high school.

      It's awesome and sad to be away from home. I can do things on my own and I have my own responsivilities. I don't have to worry about drama back in Michigan. I can focus on my homework and working towards my career in Music and Business.

     Even though it is awesome to be away and think about myself, there are benefits of living in a house with family that I have taken for granted in the past. One thing that I mainly miss is everything for me being FREE!!! Since I'm in college now, I have to pay for my food, classes and other necessities. At home, my parents would cook or pay for the food that I was going to eat. I also miss my bed. Even though the beds here at the university aren't that bad, I still miss my comfortable bed and sheets.

     I really do miss my family. I didn't think I was going to admit to that, but being alone has made me miss the togetherness of my family everyday. When I was at home, I would always see my parents and my siblings everyday. I would take that for granted a lot of times. I would spend time in my room on my computer or sleeping the whole day away during the past summer. I realized after coming to college that I want to spend more time with them. I always get happy when I receive mail or even a phone call with my family. I really miss my older sister. She is the sibling that I get along with better. She has been through college and pretty much has dealt with things that soon I will have to deal with. I look up to her a lot and sometimes I feel like she looks up to me too. We have a great relationship and I thank God for her being in my life.

     I also miss my church. I remember the final prayer before they sent me off to college got me so emotional. There is no other church like them and I also thank God for raising me up in an environment with such lovely people. I also thank God for the relationships I formed with a lot of the teenagers and kids there. My best friend LaDonna is someone I miss truly. She is the closest friend that I have at my home church. I miss being able to see her everyday and tell her all of the crazy things that I have been through. I also miss all of the youth of DDY. I grew up with mostly all of them (Jameelah lol) and I like everyone's quirks and personalities.

      I also miss my bestie Elizabeth. She has been my best friend since freshman year. We have helped each other through great and horrible situations. We have had a couple of fights but that is what sisters do. She is definitely a great Christian example and someday I will be as bold as her when talking about my faith. I have a high respect for her. Thanks to her I met my best guy friend Jakob who is an awesome person. He is the only person I know that will get weird when I'm weird.

    I can go on and on with people that I miss but let me tell you about my life here at college. That is technically what this blog is about. Life here is pretty interesting. I have met the great people with great personalities and those who are bad. College life here is associated with partying. There is always a party off campus everyday and they always gets busted by cops. There is also a lot of great things that happen here. For example, I have been to many concerts on campus, due to being a music major, and they are all pretty awesome. It's amazing to here how talented people are here. I always feel like I have to step up my game every time I hear a piano or cello player playing so well. The homework life is crazy. I feel like my teachers like me to suffer everyday with homework and never give us breaks. One thing that is definitely crazy is my class called Seeing Disease. Although it may seem interesting, it's definitely not interesting for a music and business double major. None of these things pertain to my future. I pray that God brings me through that class.

     I have met a lot of new people here and I am in a bunch of clubs and organizations here on campus. I'm always busy so sometimes it may take me a while to reply to your responses. I have been participating in bible studies, Cru (which is a Christian group), IMANI Gospel Choir, Concerned Black Students, American International Association, The Torch (School Newspaper), Common Ground (group that covers all of campus ministries) and Colleges against Cancer. I think that's all I participate in. I will describe in detail every single club and organization I'm in for the next blog. Hopefully I can keep up with this blog.

~MusicalGenius~