Well bells turned out to be interesting. I think that somebody at the church decided to donate a bunch of money to buy a set of bells and all the equipment and everything, so the members figured they had better learn how to play. It was pretty obvious that none of them were schooled in handbells. They knew how to read music and everything, just not the stuff specific to handbells. They made up their own names for certain techniques. Those of you who know how to play will find this amusing. Instead of "mart" they call it a "smack." I had to keep myself from laughing out loud everytime they talked about "smacking." And I don't think they realized that I have played for ten years, but they kind of figured it out by the end of rehearsal. They have five octaves! That's two more octaves than we had at CITD. They put me at the very top so I had these little itty bitty bells and I was reading notes way up in the ledger lines. The people are very nice and welcoming. I think I'll probably stick with it at least for this quarter.

This church-hunting has really made me appreciate our church back home. We really have a lot of talented people who know what they are doing (for the most part). I have been spoiled growing up at the church. I never realized that not every church has members who are willing to direct choir or bells or the band or whatever. Daniel and I both kind of have the philosophy that we are going to try to help these groups improve and just have a good time. It doesn't matter if they are terrible or really incredible, it's all just having fun.

Today all the upper-classmen are moving in to the dorms. There are three major dorms for upper-classmen. Towers is on the North side and also has some freshmen living in it. On the south side is Nelson, where Daniel lives, and it is full of sophomore suites. Right next to Nelson is the brand new dorm, Nagel. The first three floors are sophomore suites and the top two floors are junior and senior apartments. There's also some little apartment buildings on campus that are really old and not very many people choose to live there. Daniel and I spent this morning renting out dollies for people to use at Nelson. We went over to Nagel and had lunch in the food court. The food is really good, but also very expensive. And just like all the other dining on campus, I'm sure it will get old.

Daniel and I also spent some time looking around Nagel. In all the hallways and study rooms there are paintings that were bought by the University to make the dorm more 'cultured' I guess. They have a phone number you can call on your cell phone and the artist tells about the painting. The artwork is really beautiful. I hope that the students realize the care that went into the buliding and take care of it.

The theme in Nagel this year is Harry Potter. It's really appropriate because our colors are crimson and gold (just like Gryffindor) and the parts of the dorm really look like the Gryffindor common room. Some of the common rooms and study rooms have the dome ceiling with big red cushy chairs just like in the Harry Potter movies. I'll try to post pictures eventually. And they even sell these awesome scarves in the bookstore that look EXACTLY like the scarves that all the students wear to quidditch matches in the movies. The RA staff at Nagel printed out a bunch of pictures of characters from Harry Potter and put them up on the walls around the desk. Each one has the name of a person on staff at Nagel. My name is on a picture of Cho. It's kind of funny because I'm also sort of staff at Nelson (Daniel's dorm). We took staff pictures this morning and I was in Nelson's because I help out so much behind the desk and stuff. I love how all the staff really get into the decorating. There are welcome signs and pictures everywhere in the dorms. It really feels like they are excited for us to move in and excited for us to be there. It feels like home. I love it here. I am so glad to be back at school!!