Mike the Tiger videos

I went back to see Mike the Tiger yesterday and got a wonderful closeup picture and two short videos of him walking around his habitat.

Mike the Tiger

Yesterday, I found out that Mike the Tiger, LSU's mascot, is a real tiger that lives on the LSU campus in his own habitat. We went by today to see him and take a picture.

Second Home Game

Today is the day of the second LSU home football game. Once again there are thousands of people tailgating all over campus with hundreds of tents set up. I wish I could get an aerial photograph of the enormous crowd, but I have taken the picture above as a small sample of what you would see on campus today.

LSU Marching Band

Well, the first month of school has been plenty busy! I've had lots of reading assignments to do. Also, I'm the teaching assistant for the third year Music Theory class, so I've done some grading, run some quizzes, and met individually with students to work on music sight-singing.

The first home game was on Saturday. There were an unbelievable amount of people tailgating and setting up tents from early in the morning up until game time. I will remember to take some pictures during the next game day so you can see what it looks like.

We are still settling into our little apartment. The marching band practices across the street from us. The first time Holly saw it, she was so excited that she wanted to go play with them!

Around the LSU campus

I am posting these pictures so you can see some of the places that I am visiting on a regular basis. The top picture is the Music and Dramatic Arts building where my office is located and where all of my graduate courses meet. The second picture is the School of Music building where my teaching assistantship course meets. The third picture is the Greek Amphitheatre which is located next to the Music and Dramatic Arts building. The fourth picture is two Indian mounds that have been preserved in the middle of campus. They are believed to be have been made about 5000 years ago. The football stadium is visible in the background of this picture.

Classes began this week and things are already busy. I have several reading assignments and have already written and turned in an essay assignment for one class. Of course, I didn't expect anything less from a PhD program! I am taking courses in Music Theory History, Intersections between Art and Music, and Russian Music. I am already learning a lot of things and remembering things that I had learned before and forgotten! It seems that it is already shaping up to be an interesting semester.

Sights in Baton Rouge

Last weekend, we saw some sights around town in Baton Rouge. First we visited the old Capitol building. Then we walked along the Mississippi River and saw where the USS Kidd museum is located.

We're here in Baton Rouge!

Well, we made it to Baton Rouge after a very challenging move!
Baton Rouge is really beautiful but very hot and humid right now!
I have attached a few pictures from the LSU campus. They have some really great giant oaks here and plenty of Spanish moss. I really like the architecture of some of the buildings, too.