Voices

SO, my first semester is pretty much over, except for my Political Science exam in the morning which I am actively procrastinating studying for. I was just thinking today how much I have learned this semester in the majority of my classes and I how I feel a lot closer to Heavenly Father then I did before. As I was thinking of this, I remembered this post that I wrote a month or two ago, but never posted. I figured now was a good time to share it since this semester has come to an end, so here it is...


Hello friends! I just wanted to share a really cool experience that I just had in one of my classes. First off, let me just say that I love BYU! Truly, it's such an amazing place and I love it more and more every day. Okay, no I'm in a Voice Phonetics and Diction class. It is a class that technically I don't need to be taking since I changed my major, but I just decided to keep it because I figured it would be a good class that I could learn from. At first, things were a little different and I wasn't really enjoying it, but then there would be good days. Today was an absolutely fantastic day. This morning, while walking to campus, I was saying a prayer to myself because I'm a failure and forgot to kneel down and say one before I left. Anyway, I prayed to really feel the spirit with me today because there were some things going on today that I knew I would need a little bit more spiritual guidance and help. Immediately I felt the spirit and that was awesome and I went off to my 8AM Book of Mormon class. I love that class too and my professor, who is hilarious. That's just back story, so I go to my voice class at 11 and I walk in knowing we are working on our poem performances. We got into groups and started working. I was in a group and our professor was leading our group. This class is a lot about releasing tension, breathing, and just letting go of things to allow our voices to reach their max potential, so we were all supposed to get up in front of our group and recite our poem and allow the other group members to show us where our tension was and to help us release it. We had done this on Monday, but not quite like this. This professor is simply amazing. Person after person, she was able to identify where they hold their tension and why. The reasons ranged from not feeling you're good enough to just hearing the negative instead of the positive. Each person, she would tell them where the tension was and why it was there and it was completely true on every account, which lead to a few tears and positive reinforcement. My professor just kept saying how much she BELIEVED in each person she was working with and how amazing they were and how they are capable and it was completely sincere. There was never a moment that I thought she was just saying these things because she had to. She was saying them because she meant them and she wanted each person to know she was there for them! I didn't even get to go and I was completely overwhelmed with the spirit and a new love and appreciation for each person in that group, as well as my professor! It was simply amazing! It's hard to even describe how I felt or even what happened, but it was something I really needed. She said that we were meant to be where we are and with the particular people we are with and I know that is 100% true. I have never been able to feel anything like that in any of my classes and I am so looking forward to the rest of what this class has in store to teach me. I have learned a lot about myself from this class, which I really didn't think would happen. I could not be more thankful to go to a university that doesn't just allow it's students to move forward secularly, but spiritually. It's absolutely amazing and I KNOW without a doubt that this is where I am supposed to be and that makes me happy. Really and truly happy.

That class seriously did change me and the way that I view myself and others. It sounds cheesy, but I was really able to find my "voice" in this class. It was exactly the class I needed for this first semester at BYU and I am so happy I got to take it, along with all my classes... well, except Political Science which I could have easily done without. Anyway, this place has been good for me and I am happy that I get to stick around here and learn so many new things for the next couple years! For now though, I am going to enjoy not doing any school work for the next two weeks... after my last final tomorrow, of course!

-M. Philly