sweet as...

i know i say this a lot... but i LOVE going to an art school. seriously... i can't even describe it. you might think i'm exaggerating, but i'm really not! people are always playing instruments and singing and dancing and practicing plays all over the place... it's seriously awesome. my favorite day of the week is thursday, because on thursdays they have concert practice. i have my theological foundations class on thursdays, which is miserable because it's so hard and overwhelming. but right after it i get to go watch concert practice and it brightens my day! basically for 2 1/2 hours every thursday all the music students have this class where they just put on performances. they'll put together a band of other students, or they'll just go by themselves and show what they can do. seriously, the talent here is incredible. it's so fun to just sit in on the class and see people doing what they love to do.
i think my favorite part about it all, though, is not necessarily the fact that i get to hear awesome musicians all the time (which, trust me, is glorious), but it's the fact that none of them are snotty about their talent. they know that they are good at what they do, but they just do it because they love it. and no one walks around talking about how great they are... they let their music (or acting or dancing or drawing...) do the talking. and they all collaborate! seriously, one person will start singing or drumming on a table and soon there are 5 or 6 people all harmonizing. it's like a freakin movie... and it's awesome. another thing i love about this school is the fact that, even though all these people are super cool and artsy and trendy and talented, they don't look down on other people who aren't (namely: me--completely talentless). i was seriously intimidated for the first week or so thinking that everyone would question what i'm doing here... but after getting to know some awesome people, there is no part of me that feels like i don't belong (even though, really, i guess i should not be at an art school).
today during concert practice i realized just how much i love this. there's this kid here who is wonderful: james. he's this crazy outgoing, super tight pants-wearing, funky hair, loud, funny kid who is just out there. today was his day to perform, and he played the piano. he was all fidgety and funny up until his turn to play. he got up to the piano and it was like an instant transformation. he played a medley of 4 hymns, and it was absolutely beautiful. you could just tell by watching how much he loves to play, and he was fully worshipping God with the whole thing.
it's just so awesome to me to see so many incredibly talented people who really have every right to be cocky just using their talents for God's glory. there is no comparison or competition--they all just lift eachother up and help eachother out and glorify God with the things they are passionate about. it's really just so encouraging to be around, and it really challenges me to think about what i'm passionate about and how i can use it for Him.
you should think about that too... :)
ps: so, sometimes aussies will say something like "cool as" or "cold as" or whatever to describe something. for example, we're going to canberra tomorrow and one of the leaders said "it will be cold as!" you don't say "cold as [whatever]." you just say "as" and people know that it's really cold or really good or really cool or whatever. so during concert practice there was this girl and she was really good, and this guy was like "that was really good! sweet as!" and i thought he said "sweet ass." it was funny... haha