Snoop Dogg and Shakespeare

Last week, I had the privilege of attending two very different shows on the same day - a Snoop Dogg concert and The Taming of the Shrew. They were both offered at the Columbia campus and I'm sure they've already been talked about to death by our students, but I wanted to add my voice to the mix. So, to start off, I ask you: what do you think Snoop Dogg and Shakespeare have in common?

Butler Library (alt. My Life In Pictures)

Although it is sort of a cop-out, this week's location was Butler Library!
I always find that Butler is a really nice place to go do work in because everyone is there for the same thing. Every head is bent over a computer screen or a notebook, the pages are being filled or read through, there is a communal silence that people take on in the library...
So it was really interesting to spend the time working on (at least partially) my story for fiction class. We (meaning Liberty and I) snagged a really great little corner table with an outlet and just fidgeted and worked/wrote in the time. It was very calming, actually.
My only caveat is that the place has no signal to the outside world. So if you're wanting to get a snack or if you want to move locations or if you want to grab a friend, you have to go around the library to get signal or out into the front door. I know that is for a reason (considering that people are studying and you don't want to bother them) but sometimes it gets really frustrating not to be able to text when you want someone to meet you in a certain section. Plus, leaving your things with strangers can be good or bad depending on your choice of person.
Overall, I really liked the academic atmosphere, so I think I would go back when I wanted to seriously focus and not just put some words down on the page.

Also, I need to put up pictures! I've been taking photographs of some things that characterize my life right now, so there are three sample ones (the first one being Butler's main entrance, the second was the Mother Tongue Day celebration in the middle of the night at the U.N. and finally there is a replica of The Thinker in the snow - which I think is my most favorite picture of all)

Read more of my writing in strange places reviews.
And check out some more posts featuring my photography.

Pride

I have printed my first assignment, gone on my first excursion, attended my first production meeting, and done my first load of laundry at Barnard College! [mostly in one day]
I don't know why, but these little milestones like moving in and sleeping my first night with a roommate and working out in the Columbia fitness center just make me feel great. The little things make independence seem so alluring [though I probably won't be singing that tune when I've done this for more than a few weeks...]
Even just the fact that I am able to go wherever I want without anyone is wonderful. I am working now on a few photography projects for the Barnard Bulletin and I am ready to just explore the city without restraint. The excursion to Spamalot yesterday was extremely funny, but viewing the New York night life was the truly amazing part. The fact that there are so many different people makes you feel a lot of different ways - sometimes dangerous, sometimes included, sometimes lonely... I think that breaking the monotony of my summers is a trend that I really could get into.
On a side note, the Columbia campus is beautiful. Barnard is a wonderful place to live, but right now they ripped out their courtyard and are doing some crazy construction (which will be finished by the time I graduate and [hopefully] arrive here) so they are less glamorous than I saw last summer. Columbia, on the other hand, is a sprawling piece of green in the tall and cramped city (ex. the two-inch wide hallways of the supermarket). I have not yet been to the parks, such as Central and Bryant, but for now Columbia is my oasis of grandeur.
Anyway.
As you may have already noticed, I'm having a fantastic time here. Despite all the little challenges of being a 'freshman' [ex. not knowing where to buy a laundry card and having to run around worrying about the load of clothes you left in the machine...] there is so much reward in getting to be here.
Also, if I do become a freshman here, I will take those lessons wisely.

Read more posts about my awesome Barnard pre-college experience.
You may also be interested to read about what happened when I started college at Barnard.