More College updates.

Last week I visited Central Washington University.
It was interesting because I had a very clear impression of what it would be like. I imagined it would be something like my school now. But, while there were some similarities, it was mostly very different. Which was a good thing.

General Information:
CWU is in Ellensburg Wa. Small town but it has some character from what I can tell. It's a public state school on the small side of medium sized. :D I was pleased to find a school in my home state that was not Eastern, and had the things I was looking for. All three interest areas seemed really strong.

Important stuff:

Music: The music building most be fairly new. It's all... shiny... Seems like a pretty nice building and it was full of people every time we went in. The faculty was very nice. However, I didn't actually get to meet the people who would be important to me. The voice teacher was sick and the composition program director was invisible or something. We couldn't find her. So that was a bit frustrating. My audition went well. The program seems to be a good balance for me. It's solid but not too intense. The composition program takes two years despite the two year degree I will have by the time I get there. That's okay with me.

Art: We had a sort of mixed experience with the art department. The secretary, who didn't know much about anything really, gave us a tour. The building was totally deserted. We were assured that there were usually people around. We talked to the head of the department about the programs later. She didn't give us a stream of impressive selling points and details like the teacher at Adams State did but she was equally excited about the program. They have a good variety of things to offer. They have a really great jewelry studio it seems, and a wood design program. Good stuff. She was all for me designing my own major since I have too many interests. I've always been very uncertain about that idea. More on that later.

English: They have a very intensive writing program that looks very impressive. One of the things I really like about it is that it takes students through the whole writing process from drafting to publishing. There are required classes on prepareing a manuscript for publishing etc. Lots of opportunities. The director of that program met with me and let me sit in on her class. I liked the class and she seemed like a good teacher. On a side note, why are all creative writing teachers poets? I guess it's supposed to be harder to publish fiction than poetry. And they all act like fiction is this dark, dangerous world. It's just too complicated. And of course I have very little interest in poetry. I want to write fiction. I'm sure the fiction teachers exist, but I seem to have a talent for not meeting them. Anyway. The English department is in this amazing building. It's an odd sort of shape when you are inside it but it sure looks cool on the outside.

Campus Ministry:
The draw back of the self guided campus visit is that you don't have someone to ask about things like this. Dad said he saw signs of a strong Catholic ministry on campus. They have daily mass and rosary once a week or something like that. That would be pretty awesome. I found their website recently and that was kind of funny. I get the impression that they are just getting off the ground. The front page said "You are not alone!" in bold letters across it. They're a real underground movement I guess. That's alright. Just as long as I can get the sacraments often and have some Catholic friends, I'm good.

Other noteworthy factors.
I unexpectedly ran into Ben, a friend of mine from CYT, who would be in my class. So that's kind of nice. I'm excited to make new friends next year but it would be really nice to have an old friend around.

• Student life: I really don't know much about this. The student body seemed similar to the one I am in now but with less druggies and dropouts. That's to be expected but it's kind of nice. I didn't get the same "extension of high school" feeling that I got at Adams State.
• The campus is really nice and pretty. Lots of rd brick with a healthy does of more modern looking buildings. They manage to look new and not ugly but elegant, which is impressive.
• The Library was pretty cool. It seemed extensive and, because there were so many different rooms and floors for different purposes, it was really quiet in the study aria and stacks. They have a whole mini library for music. The music librarian was a selling point in himself. He was the sort of person who is a campus legend.
• The Theater was where we ran into Ben and he told us a bit about it. Sounds like a strong program that might even talk to the other departments (music, English) despite being on the other side of campus. It's a nice old building. One of those theaters that might have a ghost. It looks like a government building or a church. Kind of Greek temple-ish. The show line up for this year had a good variety of classics (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) and shiny new stuff. I really hope I'll have time to dip my toes in there once in a while.

That kind of brings me back to the student designed degree that the art teacher brought up. I would have the freedom to take some theater classes if I wanted to. This system works best for someone who has a specific goal in mind and none of the conventional majors offer proper preparation for that goal. Someone doing art related writing can tailor the art and English majors to get what they need. Seems like the story of my life in too many ways. I have a pathetic desire to fit into a box for once in my life. Just declare a major that is established and handed too me with all the classes dictated. The draw back of this is, of course, that I want three of them. And I Do Not fit into the overachiever box. I swear I don't. I just want to study all the interesting things in the world. So if I were to do this I would have to make some decisions about what exactly I want to study. I would have to present a capstone project that demonstrated why I'm not crazy and these things can go together and make something in some way justifiable. So... I could write a story... and set it too music... and make it into an art exhibit... Lots of possibilities. It would be perfect if I already knew exactly what I wanted to do with all these creative processes. But I'm never that practical. So it would be a little scary. I know that I really want to have a solid, well rounded education in art and writing. Music is sliding in my priority list of late. This may be a passing mood related to my dislike of my voice teacher though. I have so much music in my life already. I know there is a lot I have yet to learn but right now I just want the ability to get started in composition as a hobby. I will always sing but I don't think I could make it my life, even for three years.

Overall: I felt more at home here than Colorado. But I feel like I got an incomplete view since I don't know what campus life is really like. I think this decisions is going to come down to what I decide to study. If I decide to go the designer way, I will end up here. If I end up determined to double major, I will head for Adams State. And of course, there is still my long shot, Linfield in Oregon. I don't know what that will be like. It seems unlikely because I don't really want to have giant dept when I get out, but it will be interesting to have the comparison.