Barnard: The Early Days

Monday, June 30, 2008

Ta da! I am still alive after a trip to New York (a shockingly smooth and timely flight o_o) and now I'm rockin' away at my dorm in Barnard [Sulzberger Hall].
Strangely, it was a pretty easy transition. Ruby's house was cozy (and cold because we were in the basement) even though the outside was humid and - at times - oppressive. However, other than the gigantic headache that I got from dehydration after the flight, everything has been pretty swell. New York is still beautifully grungy, and there is still an air of grandeur around Barnard that I just can't shake (even though now I've been around a bit and the awe has slowly faded, it's become sort of a comfy second home). Da has been palling around with Ghosh the entire time, so it seems that they are having fun (a big reconnection after all these years).
After getting to NY, everything became just a little BIGGER. In comparison, we don't have extremely huge shopping lists for the drugstore [obviously, not at home], nor huge Indian breakfasts, nor gigantic seafood dinners [go Sammy's!]. After being here, it seems that the way we live in Seattle is very frugal and very small (and here I thought we were living large, ha!).
For now, however, the scene is much different. My roommate has a big personality [although she's from New Mexico - the ghetto nonetheless], there is 200+ people here, the room is bigger than I expected... and the adjustment was surprisingly small.
Our classes started today, and its been the first time that I've really been away from Da since we got here [and during a semi-school year, for that matter] (although he did show up to drop off my charger this afternoon... I love parenthesis!). I have to write a 7-10 page paper for psychology [which is perfect for my Extended Essay] and then there is a free-form style writing class with a culminating zine which actually seems pretty cool, but we just have to work on it.
Other than that, I've slowly been meeting people (after kicking out calc kids from our room this morning, there was a little bit of a bond going around) and starting to go out on the town. We have a pretty piece of freedom here (sign in/out but whatever) and we also have some fun organized things called "excursions" [lame name] and so our time is either full or pleasantly plump so that we can meander and do things. I'll probably start working out either tomorrow or the next day, and I started (barely) Gulliver's Travels along with the million other books I have to read. Well, now it's off to a little planning and some other fun stuff.
I feel like a college student sometimes. Trippy...

Read more posts about my awesome Barnard pre-college experience.
Also, you may be interested to read about what happened when I began going to college at Barnard.