If only it were as simple as being a housewife.

For my first blog, I would like to begin by setting the mood. It is, as I type this, a calm Thursday afternoon, around 5:04, and I am leisurely sitting in the lush green Quad outside of Williams Dormitory gloriously basking in the warm sun. To passersby, it would seem as if I haven’t a care in the world. And apart from being a bit on the hungry side, they’re right! I haven’t a care in the world, aside from the 50 hours of MacGamut due for Dr. Taylor with that wonderful program born during the times of Pong, the 60 Sanskrit names for Yoga (all with way too many syllables), learning how to play piano-with both hands at the same time, breaking in a new horn wile worrying of others who may be judgmental, trying to find the time to practice 25 hours a day as a Performance Major should--while simultaneously trying to find the drive to practice in the tiny musty rooms alloted for music majors to live, and, of course, poorly attempting to block out the Upperclassmen Music Major Tales of Doom and Dismay to Come. All this combined with the unique feelings of moving into a place, sharing my room space with another person, ...having to keep it clean..., and missing family and the comfort of hugs from those you love most put together makes Erica a very care free girl!! Even upon meeting new people, when it becomes known that one is a music major, the common response is, “The Lord be with you” or even reaching to, “Mmmmm, cool... That sucks for you.”

But don’t get me wrong! I’m super exited about majoring in music. My love for playing and excelling in music is what has driven me to study further, and upon deciding that I wanted to major in Performance, I knew right away that it would be a tremendous amount of work and it would require immense persistence, dedication, and passion, not just love, for the art of music. Although I know that I’m no where close to being prepared to sit in front of a Jury, or even to walk into Symphony rehearsal on Monday afternoon, I possess the three aforementioned qualities and have enough passion to share. Some feel their calling is literature, some politics, some Spanish, and some biology. My calling in life, I am quite certain, is music. To play it, to study it, to learn how it’s formed, to learn how others perceive it. To understand why exactly it is that music attracts me so and to use this information to satisfy my future, for absolutely as long as I can: until I lose my hearing or my lips fall off, whichever happens to come first.

So now, why Converse? Erica, if you wanted to study music, why would you do it at Converse? What’s so special? The first thing that jumps to the forefront of my mind is the people. More specifically, the music faculty. Because the class sizes are small, each student gets personal attention and really gets to know the professors (not to mention the simple fact that the professors are awesome). The horn professor, also, really gives me the sense that I can succeed here, as does the rest of the music faculty. Here, I feel that not only will I want to succeed, but the professors also would through and through. This combined with the beautiful campus, fantastic admission staff, and wonderful campus involvement organizations had my mind made up instantly.

As for college in general, not going to college was never an option for me. Not because my parents drilled it into my head, but simply because I always held myself to higher standards than they did. A good life choice, I know. Neither of my parents went to or finished college and throughout all of my schooling thus far in my life, I have valued my education highly. Continuing onto college from high school has always been my plan, and it was never an option for these plans to falter.

And now, for the hardest question I’ve had to address.

If I could no longer do anything with any relation to music, I would choose to follow either one of two very different paths. I would either become a college professor of Philosophy, or a housewife. When I was younger, I always said I wanted to be a mother when I grew up and there is a part of me that will always want that for myself. Of course, being a mother for me means doing things “the right way,” getting married, then consummating our pure marriage, and then, when we’re both ready we’ll discuss and have children. I would love to be the mom that can truly be there for her children as my mom was not. Being able to read to my children and tell them bedtime stories would be a highlight of my life. Other than that, I would love to study, and teach, philosophy. I have always been intrigued by the process of thought and philosophy and would simply love to wrap my mind around it. I love to imagine, and thrive on developing thoughts into stories, or images. Impossible things, through the process of thought, suddenly become not only possible, but attainable and begin to move into the realms of reality. So, I leave you with more darling words to live by from the wonderful world of Alice:

“There is no use in trying,” said Alice; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your

age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as

many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

--Lewis Carroll