Blogger didn't work for me during this whole week, so I was unable to talk about all of orientation. I can't believe it's finally over, and classes start tomorrow morning. I went through one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters of recent memory. I have been so stressed out lately, it's crazy. Mostly because of all the buildup to choosing classes, and then thinking did I make the right choice? And then, am I ready? I finally identified the source of the stress as the fact that I haven't done any schoolwork in more than 7 months. Then I talked to my mom about it, and she made a very good point: people in Israel go to the army for 3 years before going through law school, med school, or any sort of higher education. 3 years > 7 months (at least I remember that!). So now I'm feeling better, especially as I'm making more friends. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be the first day since tuesday when I will sleep well (ie not wake up 3 hours before my alarm clock after going to sleep at 2 the previous night/morning).
On saturday night I went to my first MIT frat party. Party is a very loose term here, since we got there after it ended. The Sigma Nu guys were very nice, though; they had rented vans to drive freshmen around during rush week (their house is sort of far away from campus), so they picked us up from the bus stop and then drove us all the way back to campus. Don't worry kids- it was dry, and we just talked, got a tour of the house, and played pool & ping-pong. The following night, ie last night, my roommate went out again and came back at 3:30am, which was not very good for my sleep.
My classes right now are Calculus II, Women's Studies "Social Construction of Gender", History of Jazz, and French 201. Actually it's 205 right now, but I have to wake up bright & early tomorrow for the beginning of online add/drop to get 201 instead. Never listen to smiling French professors who tell you that you should take a higher level. That was dumb. My earliest class is at 9:50 3 days a week, and on tuesdays & fridays I only have one, at 2:50. Now the trick will be good time management...
I guess I am obligated to talk about the whole Women's College thing I've got going on. It's actually quite nice, even for me. Yes, Ezra- I use the same bathroom as everyone else and no one calls the police if they see me. Everyone is very friendly, really. We don't make out with each other randomly. Girls here are more out than I've seen before, though. They don't mind talking about it, being excited about their dates, etc. I like it, it's a more honest environment in my opinion. Like, live and let live. Some are really boy-crazy though. The hall I live in, Munger, is... different. It's "the only hall without a complex", meaning it's the only one by itself. Look at a map of campus and you'll understand. We're close to the Quad though, which is good since we don't have a dining hall. For people in other colleges that seems like a silly thing, but when most people on campus don't have to go outside for meals, and we have to get fully dressed (especially in winter) to get breakfast, it's an issue. But it's growing on me. There are no huge living rooms like in many of the other dorms, and it's not very gothic-style. There are 3 smaller living rooms on the first floor, which makes it feel more like a house . Our room is not huge (like in the new dorms, but maybe they deserve it because they're so isolated from the rest of campus), but it's not especially tiny. It's just right, and we don't want to bunk our beds. My side is sort of messy right now... I feel bad. Munger is fairly close to the campus center (Wang or Lulu, depends on what you want to call it), the academic quad and the science center, which actually makes it a convenient location. Fun fact: Wellesley was built on hills in order to improve women's figures. It is a bitch to walk around sometimes.
Frisbees appear to be the gift of choice here- I already have 3 or 4 from all different organizations. First open practice is on the 12th, right on Munger Meadow. How convenient! There was a Labor Day BBQ today, which was nice. I'm beginning to eat more (I barely ate the last few days. Stress does no good), and there are a lot of veggie options. Pomeroy (aka Pom), the closest of the Quad halls, is kosher vegetarian, and Cazenove (aka Caz) usually has a lot of veggie options too. Those are mostly the two I've eaten in, except for last night's dinner at Tower Court. Tower is beautiful, but rumor has it that it's not the best place for lowerclasswomen. Neither is Stone-Davis (aka Stone-D). Fun fact: Hillary Clinton lived in Stone-D and was college president. If she runs for president this entire school will be on its feet, for sure.
Alright, I have to go form friendships. Fun, I know. It's not like Israel at all- I don't know anyone. My roommate's best friend goes here, and her roommate's best friend goes here too. Weird. But it gives me the feeling that I'm the only one who doesn't have anyone from highschool here. It will get better, I know.
Toodles!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Less than a week left
I've sat in front of my computer for the last few days, watching as more and more of my fellow bloggers arrive at college. After spending the weekend with one at Maryland, it makes me wonder whether, by next Sunday, I will be ready to begin my college life at Northwestern.
Despite being largely packed, I'm still missing my laptop, have no way to get a TV, and will probably be out shopping for the next few days preparing. Yet, as I've sat watching random movie after movie at my dad's home (recommend: Skeleton Key and Pretty Persuasion), I've become slightly fearful that I might not be prepared to go to college and make new friends that will need to last me for four years.
For the last thirteen years, my friends haven't changed that much. Three of my closest friends have remained constant, another I've known for 8 years, and the rest have been minor additions. I am scared of whether I will be able to make the same close friends that will last a lifetime, just like my high school friends.
But, then I visited Ben at Maryland, and at first I wasn't too encouraged. Over the course of Saturday, it was mostly me and him spending time together, and many of the people we met seemed off kilter...until Sunday morning.
As we sat in the cafeteria, eating the worst french toast known to man, a kid walked by, stopped, and said in excitement, "Hey Ben!" We proceeded to talk for a few minutes, and by the time we left, I felt better already about making friends in college. The excitement that the Maryland student showed when seeing Ben was one that wasn't false or fabricated; it came straight from the heart and showed general enthusiasm at seeing him. While I don't know whether or not they will be friends as college proceeded, it made me realize something: while I might not make friends initially, I know that there will be people who I'm excited to see and are excited to see me, and they will become my friends in college, just like my friends in high school. And to be able to see that in a little more than a week at Maryland, some random person already feels that way about Ben, makes me excited to go to college. I will have the opportunity to run into 8,000 students, each of whom could become a close friend of mine. And the prospect of the new friendships I can forge, and the lives I can change, makes it difficult to patiently wait for September 12, and the start of orientation.
Until that point in time, I hope you all continue enjoying college, and I look to begin that enjoyment ASAP.
By the way, my school, Northwestern, opened its football season with a victory, unlike my contemporary at Duke.
Despite being largely packed, I'm still missing my laptop, have no way to get a TV, and will probably be out shopping for the next few days preparing. Yet, as I've sat watching random movie after movie at my dad's home (recommend: Skeleton Key and Pretty Persuasion), I've become slightly fearful that I might not be prepared to go to college and make new friends that will need to last me for four years.
For the last thirteen years, my friends haven't changed that much. Three of my closest friends have remained constant, another I've known for 8 years, and the rest have been minor additions. I am scared of whether I will be able to make the same close friends that will last a lifetime, just like my high school friends.
But, then I visited Ben at Maryland, and at first I wasn't too encouraged. Over the course of Saturday, it was mostly me and him spending time together, and many of the people we met seemed off kilter...until Sunday morning.
As we sat in the cafeteria, eating the worst french toast known to man, a kid walked by, stopped, and said in excitement, "Hey Ben!" We proceeded to talk for a few minutes, and by the time we left, I felt better already about making friends in college. The excitement that the Maryland student showed when seeing Ben was one that wasn't false or fabricated; it came straight from the heart and showed general enthusiasm at seeing him. While I don't know whether or not they will be friends as college proceeded, it made me realize something: while I might not make friends initially, I know that there will be people who I'm excited to see and are excited to see me, and they will become my friends in college, just like my friends in high school. And to be able to see that in a little more than a week at Maryland, some random person already feels that way about Ben, makes me excited to go to college. I will have the opportunity to run into 8,000 students, each of whom could become a close friend of mine. And the prospect of the new friendships I can forge, and the lives I can change, makes it difficult to patiently wait for September 12, and the start of orientation.
Until that point in time, I hope you all continue enjoying college, and I look to begin that enjoyment ASAP.
By the way, my school, Northwestern, opened its football season with a victory, unlike my contemporary at Duke.
Greetings
Hey! It's high time for a female voice... :-)
So this is my second night of Hopkins. I still am not getting wireless and hoping not to pay for ethernet--yet--so I am at the computer lab in the basement of my building.
So...I don't even remember what I did, so I am writing this out of the orientation packet.
Yesterday I moved in, went to a mandatory security meeting where all these police officers gave us a ton of information that I won't remember. I just know not to go 6-8 blocks into the city (versus along the length of the street where there is a sprawl of jhu buildings...does that make sense?) my building and I am good. We got beautiful brightly colored whistles that if we felt so inclined, we could wear as bracelets, to use in case of danger. Ezra (UChicago)--my mom mentioned she had a similar situation at Chicago. Anyway, lots of other fun things happened, then we had a floor meeting, with bonding activities. My RA gave our floor an Alice in Wonderland theme. I have to say, it is actually amazing. There are all these posters and collages everywhere. On the door to our suite, each person's name is on this huge card (as in, a card from what must have been a giant sized card deck) in glittery puffy paint. Every suite's door is like that. I'm kind of in love with it. I am in a suite--my roomate and I share a little hallway, bathroom, and kitchenette with two other roomates. Yesterday it felt like everyone was tucked away behind the suite door,and then in their room. But it is nice because I can go out and have fun in the regular dorms on the freshmen quad and then come back to my own space. Plus there is a lounge so that's good...
This morning was hillel bagel brunch, it didn't dissapoint. JHU is only about 12% jewish, but from what I've observed, there is a core group of active people. There's also an Israeli shlicha for the baltimore area schools.
Convocation was alright. All 38394 deans walked down the aisles in these grand robes and talked, and I kind of nodded off, and then it was over. It was kind of grand, in a way, and nice I guess. Then I had an SA meeting, met even more people, met more people on my floor. It does take effort initially, because everyone is kind of tucked away--but it's a lot of fun, and exciting because we can all cook. Actually let me explain something about my building. It's not on the main part of campus. There's the main part, then North Charles Street, and I am across the street, with some frats, some new sophmore/upperclassmen housing, and the hillel building. It's the part of campus that's actually in the city. But all I have to do is cross the street to get on to the main part, and there are plenty of other jhu buildings around.
Here's the thing--this environment is unlike that of anything I have ever done before in my life. It's really diverse, which makes it interesting. I knew almost no one coming here. At times, it seems really random...I'll find myself thinking 'my life/home is..here? Why?' I have to remind myself that it's not a summer program--I'm not going back to my house in two weeks. (I actually am for Rosh Hashanah) But it's been less than 48 hours, so that just takes time and adjustment. Creepy side note: I see faces I recognize--as in, the 60 jhu people who randomly friended me when I set up facebook a few months back. I see these faces everywhere. Can anyone relate?)
In conclusion, Baltimore is clearly the place to be...
Until next time--later!
So this is my second night of Hopkins. I still am not getting wireless and hoping not to pay for ethernet--yet--so I am at the computer lab in the basement of my building.
So...I don't even remember what I did, so I am writing this out of the orientation packet.
Yesterday I moved in, went to a mandatory security meeting where all these police officers gave us a ton of information that I won't remember. I just know not to go 6-8 blocks into the city (versus along the length of the street where there is a sprawl of jhu buildings...does that make sense?) my building and I am good. We got beautiful brightly colored whistles that if we felt so inclined, we could wear as bracelets, to use in case of danger. Ezra (UChicago)--my mom mentioned she had a similar situation at Chicago. Anyway, lots of other fun things happened, then we had a floor meeting, with bonding activities. My RA gave our floor an Alice in Wonderland theme. I have to say, it is actually amazing. There are all these posters and collages everywhere. On the door to our suite, each person's name is on this huge card (as in, a card from what must have been a giant sized card deck) in glittery puffy paint. Every suite's door is like that. I'm kind of in love with it. I am in a suite--my roomate and I share a little hallway, bathroom, and kitchenette with two other roomates. Yesterday it felt like everyone was tucked away behind the suite door,and then in their room. But it is nice because I can go out and have fun in the regular dorms on the freshmen quad and then come back to my own space. Plus there is a lounge so that's good...
This morning was hillel bagel brunch, it didn't dissapoint. JHU is only about 12% jewish, but from what I've observed, there is a core group of active people. There's also an Israeli shlicha for the baltimore area schools.
Convocation was alright. All 38394 deans walked down the aisles in these grand robes and talked, and I kind of nodded off, and then it was over. It was kind of grand, in a way, and nice I guess. Then I had an SA meeting, met even more people, met more people on my floor. It does take effort initially, because everyone is kind of tucked away--but it's a lot of fun, and exciting because we can all cook. Actually let me explain something about my building. It's not on the main part of campus. There's the main part, then North Charles Street, and I am across the street, with some frats, some new sophmore/upperclassmen housing, and the hillel building. It's the part of campus that's actually in the city. But all I have to do is cross the street to get on to the main part, and there are plenty of other jhu buildings around.
Here's the thing--this environment is unlike that of anything I have ever done before in my life. It's really diverse, which makes it interesting. I knew almost no one coming here. At times, it seems really random...I'll find myself thinking 'my life/home is..here? Why?' I have to remind myself that it's not a summer program--I'm not going back to my house in two weeks. (I actually am for Rosh Hashanah) But it's been less than 48 hours, so that just takes time and adjustment. Creepy side note: I see faces I recognize--as in, the 60 jhu people who randomly friended me when I set up facebook a few months back. I see these faces everywhere. Can anyone relate?)
In conclusion, Baltimore is clearly the place to be...
Until next time--later!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Down at the Watering Hole
Taking a good idea from Daniel (Michigan), I decided to include a picture in this post - if only for the glorious amounts of colors it adds. DISCLAIMER: This isn't my cafeteria. I think it's from Purdue. I found it using a Google Image Search. It's just there to get the idea across. And to give you a picture (if not an accurate one) of the setting.And that's where I'll start. I bring you two stories, with only one thing in common - they took place at the cafeteria.
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the SETTING: Down at the Watering Hole
the CHARACTERS: Me, The Fourth Musketeer (so nicknamed because he was the last roomy in our apartment to move in), two former HS friends, and two mysterious older students, to our left
the PLOT: As it happened...
I wasn't prepared for this. I couldn't handle it. The fact was, I wasn't anticipating the chicken to be this big. I had filled up on bread and lemonade before the chicken was served, because I had remembered that I had gone home hungry the weekend I had visited UMD as a senior in HS. I was preparing to pack in the pre-meal so that the chicken would just be the topper. But I was already mostly full, and three-quarters of the chicken still sat on my plate, staring me in the eye, daring me to eat it. This was going to be a test of wills. The chicken had it's expansiveness, and I had my only two allies: and both were made of plastic. But no matter - I sawed away with my knife, and pinned the chicken to my paper plate with the fork. Gasping down bite after bite, determined not to give in. And that's when I heard it.
It floated into my ear, from the left. I wasn't sure if it was the Fourth Musketeer, or the people sitting next to him. "Your dad still doing OK?" It couldn't be the Fourth - that question wouldn't make sense from him. And it couldn't be directed at me - that question wouldn't make sense to me. I turned my head slowly, not trying to tip off mysterious students #s 1 and 2 that I was eavesdropping.
"Uh, I guess. Haven't talked to him for awhile."
"He's out of prison though, right?"
I dropped my fork, with a soft plastic clatter to the floor. That's not really the kind of thing you expect to hear while fighting a war with a chicken. (I suppose you don't really ever expect to fight a war with a chicken, either, but hey, we live in trying times.) I leaned down slowly to retrieve my fallen weapon, making sure not to miss anything from what was now the sole focus of my attention (the chicken had flown out of my mind, in the exact opposite way you'd expect a flightless - and cooked - bird to do).
"Ya, been out for a couple weeks now."
"He was in for six months, right?"
"Yeah."
At this point someone they knew (mysterious student #3) came over, and the conversation shifted. Needless to say I neither finished my chicken nor embellished this story in any way.
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Writing that story was too exhausting to write the second anecdote (which is quite different, but hopefully equally interesting) right now. As always, stay tuned...
(And just some food for thought - where does that story end up? What the hell are the details to it? That's just and odd thing to overhear.)
College is fun, I bet
If Daniel and David's posts are a ying and yang, I feel a little dot kinda far away that's sitting by itself. I will be in college soon enough - less than 2 weeks - but until then, I'm not, and it's pretty boring. There are still people here - a few of us Chicago people saw a movie together earlier today - but as I IM more with people who are now in college I get more and more impatient.
It's strange to think that I'm I talking to people, people I used to go to school with, who are now all over the country. Some people are in California, some in Michigan, Boston, New York....the list goes on. But from where I am, they're all still there in my AIM box, in the same order they always are, with the same mysterious screennames we've all used for years. It's hard to believe that they are living lives totally different than they were a month ago, because I am still in the same place and it seems like they might as well be talking to me from their homes here in Washington. This could be the end of any summer, when all my friends are on vacation but going to come home soon and we'll all go back to school together.
I wonder how it will feel when I'm in college. I'll still e-mail them the way I do now, talk on facebook like I do now, and on AIM I will still see them as their screennames. But I wonder, when I get to Chicago, once I join their world of new college kids, will it feel like we are all in different places, talking about similar experiences? Or will it feel like I've gone away, and they are still here, still at home, talking to me while I'm off in college? I really wonder.
Until then, of course, I'm still here, waiting until September 15th, when everything changes.
It's strange to think that I'm I talking to people, people I used to go to school with, who are now all over the country. Some people are in California, some in Michigan, Boston, New York....the list goes on. But from where I am, they're all still there in my AIM box, in the same order they always are, with the same mysterious screennames we've all used for years. It's hard to believe that they are living lives totally different than they were a month ago, because I am still in the same place and it seems like they might as well be talking to me from their homes here in Washington. This could be the end of any summer, when all my friends are on vacation but going to come home soon and we'll all go back to school together.
I wonder how it will feel when I'm in college. I'll still e-mail them the way I do now, talk on facebook like I do now, and on AIM I will still see them as their screennames. But I wonder, when I get to Chicago, once I join their world of new college kids, will it feel like we are all in different places, talking about similar experiences? Or will it feel like I've gone away, and they are still here, still at home, talking to me while I'm off in college? I really wonder.
Until then, of course, I'm still here, waiting until September 15th, when everything changes.
One Team. One Goal. One Win…well not yet
My latest entry is the “ying” to Daniel’s entry’s “yang.” Yesterday was also the beginning (and subsequent end) of our football season. Although you may only know the Blue Devils as a basketball powerhouse, we actually have a longstanding football tradition. As I entered Wallace Wade Stadium (Does that makes us Wallace Wade Wackos?) I noticed several banners touting our previous pig-skin success: ACC Champions 1956; Orange Bowl 1923; Highest Division 1 Football Graduation Rate 1963,1967, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1988, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2005.
OK, so things weren’t looking too great, but luckily our season opener was against the Division 1 AA Richmond Spiders. According to the school archivist, Duke had not lost against a Division 1 AA team since 1953 and had not lost against Richmond since…1920! So, let’s just say we really made history last night.
I took a seat with a group of friends in the student section where we jingled keys and used spirit fingers (both Duke traditions) to taunt the other team. And it worked…we held the Spiders to just 13 points. Of course, they held us to…wait for it…0! Yes, we were shut out, and it was terrible. There was a missed 25-yard field goal, a blocked field goal, 4 fumbles, and 3 missed opportunities on the 2-yard line!
However, I think my roommate took it the hardest. You see my 5-ft. roommate played high school football and expected that he could just walk on the team. During Orientation he met with the coach who first laughed at him (politely) and then offered him a position as a team manager. He’s very dedicated, going to 7 AM practices and setting up the game field 4 hours before the game. Unfortunately, when I returned to my room after the game I found the little manager lying on his bed eating Cheerios out of the box. All he would say was “Don’t want to talk about it.” There is an upside—at least for me. He gets to travel with the team, which means I have a single for the next 3 Saturdays.
I wasn’t originally going to write this entry (it’s very embarrassing) but then I found out UNC also lost—Woo Hoo!
OK, so things weren’t looking too great, but luckily our season opener was against the Division 1 AA Richmond Spiders. According to the school archivist, Duke had not lost against a Division 1 AA team since 1953 and had not lost against Richmond since…1920! So, let’s just say we really made history last night.
I took a seat with a group of friends in the student section where we jingled keys and used spirit fingers (both Duke traditions) to taunt the other team. And it worked…we held the Spiders to just 13 points. Of course, they held us to…wait for it…0! Yes, we were shut out, and it was terrible. There was a missed 25-yard field goal, a blocked field goal, 4 fumbles, and 3 missed opportunities on the 2-yard line!
However, I think my roommate took it the hardest. You see my 5-ft. roommate played high school football and expected that he could just walk on the team. During Orientation he met with the coach who first laughed at him (politely) and then offered him a position as a team manager. He’s very dedicated, going to 7 AM practices and setting up the game field 4 hours before the game. Unfortunately, when I returned to my room after the game I found the little manager lying on his bed eating Cheerios out of the box. All he would say was “Don’t want to talk about it.” There is an upside—at least for me. He gets to travel with the team, which means I have a single for the next 3 Saturdays.
I wasn’t originally going to write this entry (it’s very embarrassing) but then I found out UNC also lost—Woo Hoo!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Its Football Time
Hey so I thought that I would post something, after all I did tell Ben I would try. So today (Saturday) was our first Football game and of course the might Victors beat Vanderbilt. The reason I am writing however, besides being bored, is to tell you that when 109,668 people (the most Michigan and the entire country has ever had at one game) are all yelling GO BLUE, its an incredible feeling. To know that you are a part of that huge community, it is a really great way of starting your freshman year. There is a very nice sense of belonging and well family. Also, this week has been welcome week which is essentially a party week. I hope you all get to have that experience because it is a great way to meet people and just have a lot of fun. Hope all is well.
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