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Finals, Fun, and Apartment Hunting

Hey Y’all,

It’s been a while since I posted, but school and life have just been overwhelming!

Classes are coming to a close at Marymount Manhattan, which means… FINALS. My finals include: a paper for WRIT 102 (freshman writing 2), an Accounting exam, an Art sketch book, a paper and exam for Religion, and then a final scene/monologue for Acting.

Last week was MMC week at Marymount and boy was it a good time! There were free events (like Strawberry Fest), free food (like Taste of Culture) and there was even a dance on a cruise boat! (I didn’t get to go to that one, though… it was sold out.) SIDE NOTE: As a college student, you will learn to take advantage of the FREE events at your school and within the city, especially the ones with FREE FOOD.

(Photos courtesy of Luisa Matalucci.)

About two weeks ago I began the search for an apartment to live in this summer and next year for college. Let me tell you, finding and securing an apartment is not the easiest thing to do in the city. Be ready to have a background check and have your whole life history laid out on paper. But on the bright side, I finally got an apartment on York Ave. and can begin moving in on May 15! Yes... :)

Sorry I don’t have many photos for you all… Since I’ve been focusing on school, not much has happened with me. But Marymount’s student newspaper just launched a new website, http://www.mmcthemonitor.com/, with some great articles and photos of what’s happening at Marymount Manhattan. I even came across my photo for The LYT (Live Your Truth) Campaign… it’s a student movement created to encourage diversity and awareness on the MMC campus. One day, G-SNAP set up a table to advertise the campaign, and they were taking photos of students with “LYT” on their bodies… check mine out!

Until after finals...

@austinnelson

I CAN SEE THE END!!!

Hi! Wowzers, guys. I only have 14 days of school left in the semester! Not that I counted or anything...ha! So, you know that point when you realize, oh wow! Only 14 days left! Yay! Then you think...oh my GOSH!!!! How in the life am I gonna finish everything I have to!?!?! Yeah...I'm at that point now. Thankfully, I realized it earlier than I usually do and I planned out everything I have due until the very end. Each week is written out so I can look ahead of time and actually do what I need to. This week, I have a final research paper for American Art, a research presentation, and an art project. I can do this. (:

This is also the part of the semester where I realize how much I actually do...and try to reconcile that with how much is physically possible to do. Since I also work every day that I'm not in school, and I intern all day Thursday, and I'm adding things like Student Ambassadors and Treasurer of Alpha Chi next semester, I figure planning is what it's all about. Plus balance. Physical, spiritual, and emotional balance. That's what I'll been striving for this week.

I don't want it to seem like it's all work and no play! I do things for myself sometimes and especially with my friends. The other night, I went after class to help a friend who is scenic designing a new off-Broadway show--he was picking up a table and chair from a Craigslister. That was QUITE a fiasco. You try pushing a huge Ikea table on two wheels, then breaking one side and having to wheel that sucker 6 blocks on one wheel. Plus carrying a chair and the other two legs of the table. :D We rested once we got back...

Foof!

Yayy! His show opens tomorrow! :D

I also really want to see this new photography exhibition. Its all about the Civil Rights era...which I'm supremely interested in. Civil War and Civil Rights have always been really interesting for me...I'm thinking about secret, mysterious ideas for my senior studio art thesis show... ;) Can't tell, but it may be partially inspired by that.

Besides all this, the weather has been nutso here in NY. One second its rainy...

...the next, sunny and gorgeous!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy, blessed Easter Sunday! I was at the sunrise and 9:30am services at Astoria Community Church and then worked all day at FAO Schwarz. Seems like everyone was gone that weekend--I was wishing I was at home with my family. But alas, duty calls! I'm was just excited to break Lent and my fast--I can finally have chocolate and eat junk food again! :D

April Showers!

I hope everyone had a nice Spring Holiday. This is the first year in a while that Passover, Easter, and even Greek Easter have been during the same week!

The I.S. Club at Columbia last summer

I received an email last week from the International Studies Club asking for our votes for next year’s executive board and in the e-mail, a list of the nominees were included. It turns out that I had been nominated for President, Vice President, and Secretary without even knowing it! In the end I ended up winning the spot for Secretary which I’m really happy about because I’m not sure if I’m ready to handle some sort of Presidency yet. It should be a good way to get my foot in the door and maybe run for a higher spot next year!

And I have officially decided where I will be studying abroad. Next spring, I will be studying on campus in…..

... figure it out???

GREECE!

I found out that Marymount just recently accredited the American College of Thessaloniki (link to study abroad page website) as a sister school, which means that students are able to keep their financial aid and scholarship packages awarded to them at Marymount! Basically, you’re still going to pay Marymount to go to school, but instead of living in New York City, you take a flight to Greece and live in Thessaloniki, which is the 2^nd largest city in Greece and has a big student population. I’m really excited to be able to take advantage of this really great relationship that our college has with ACT. So maybe next year, I’ll be sending posts from Europe!

Every time I realize that there are only X amount of days left of school, I remember that I’m taking a class during the Summer I Session, which starts the week after the last week of spring semester. Ugh. Oh well. At least I will have Friday-Tuesday off before I have to come back to the city for my Wednesday/Friday “Tragedy & Religion” class. It’s going to count as one of the upper level courses of my general education requirements, and it goes well with my newly declared major: Philosophy and Religious Studies (w/ a Religion concentration). Is anyone else taking a class during the summer and staying in the city?

On another note, along with the new spring weather, I decided to have a new hair color. My mom and I picked out some boxes from the store and I planned to get a dark, mocha colored brown (first time being a brunette again after dying my hair red for 3 years!). However, after I got out of the shower, there was no doubting that my hair was BLACK. Haha, oh well. I’m sure it will wash out a little bit and hopefully lighten up from all the sun I’m planning on soaking up. What do you guys think? Can I pull it off or does it just look like a wig on my head???



Black Hair                        Red Hair                      Natural Hair 

Well, good luck everyone with these crazy days ahead of us in school! Any plans for end-of-semester celebrations?

Marymount Living

This week has started out rough, as I have a bad cold. Trying to get myself to do work while I’m feeling so bad isn’t fun!

I’ve been thinking a lot about where I’m going to be living next year, and I finally made a decision. I’m going to be at de Hirsch, the residence hall at the 92nd Street Y. Many people I know don’t want to live there because it has communal bathrooms, but I had those at my last college and it didn’t bother me. It’s worth it for the other benefits, like the fact that it’s within walking distance to the Met and Central Park! Who could say no to that? I can’t wait for the fall semester to start so I can move in!

The 92nd Street Y!

I’ve also learned a lesson in finances this semester. My first time at Marymount (fall 2008), my meal plan was gone by December. I was afraid it would happen again, so I spent more wisely – a little too wisely! I ended up under-spending, and I still have a fair amount left, meaning I get to buy a lot of non-perishable foods at the 55^th Street C-Store. The fall will be my test: can I balance it all, without spending too much or too little? Only time will tell.

The C-Store at 55th

Does anyone have any good money-budgeting tips?

It's been ages!

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a delightful spring break! I spent mine down south...I flew to Virginia for the day, went shopping for Italy clothes (!), drove down to North Carolina with my mom and spent the night at her sister's house. I got to see my super cute cousins, Makena and Trey and Chelsea, and Chelsea's son Caden. 

Caden James (:

Makena Elizabeth!

After that, we drove down to Beaufort, SC where I was born and spent a total of 6 years of my life. However, the weather was not optimal--it rained pretty much the whole time. It was pretty cool to see how everything is changing, though! Unfortunately, we did get bored with the weather and decided to come home early...but we stayed the night in Myrtle Beach, SC in this awesome hotel...it had a lazy river! Overall it was a very relaxing vacation away from the busy, busy, ever busy City. (:

A plantation house for sale in downtown Beaufort.

View from our hotel in Myrtle Beach!

Once I got back, there was a whirlwind of stuff to do. Advising appointments (a bit of a nightmare since I'm feverishly trying to graduate as a transfer student, double majoring, on time...), two research papers due, and interning made for a crazy week. It felt like I hadn't really gotten a week off. Oh, well. What can ya do? I'm just happy there are only a few weeks left until the freedom and excitement of summer!!!!

Registration went well, I got all of the classes I need--I'm taking Michelangelo, Senior Art History Seminar, Senior Studio Art Seminar, Drawing II, and Visual Arts Seminar. So many seminars!

Work is going well, nothing much to report. Internship is as well--Katy is finally so much better than when she fell at Christmastime and broke her elbow. Dont remember if I told yall, but I intern with Katy Martin--she's a contemporary artist who lives/works in Tribeca and owns her own printing business. I intern for 8 hours every Thursday before my 7pm class. We went the full 8 hours last Thursday and got so much accomplished! She wants me to bring in some drawings to play around with on Photoshop, so I'm working on that. I finally finished my best friend's birthday painting...which was supposed to be January 29. Ha, here it is!

From a picture of us, silhouetted and paint spattered.

I also got an email the other day about volunteering for a bereavement center gala and I decided to do it. I used to volunteer all the time in Virginia and I was happy to be doing it again. Here's all of us lovely ladies at the gala, dressed classy and sophisticated for the guests! It was awesome to see philanthropy at work. The proceeds went to such a worthy cause: http://www.acaringhand.org/. It was awesome!

We're so elegant.

I'm a member of the Student Ambassadors at MMC, too, and yesterday I spent my day off for freshman/sophomore advisement at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts representing Marymount! It was fun to see all the high schoolers like some of y'all getting geared up for college! Hit me up if you have questions! (:
Have a lovely week!

PS A riddle for you! Here's some text from a Gullah New Testament I found in Beaufort...can you figure it out?

PPS I got my nose pierced! :D

Coffee. Friends. Security. (& JumpStart)

It’s been a while since I’ve updated y’all on my adventures as a Marymount student. Classes have been going just dandy and work is good! I’ve been having a lot of those days that you wake up at 9am for class and turn off your alarm, get back in bed and then wake up again at 9:59am for a 10am class… TAXI! (It will happen.)

I’ve been enjoying class and the city, traveling to new places and trying new things. A few weeks ago I went to a Ron Pope concert with Devin and Bron the Lower West Side. We were able to get front row seats, about a foot from the stage. (If you don’t know who Ron Pope is, look him up – great music.)

When you come to college you will quickly find that coffee will be your best friend, and you’re always looking for the best “cup of joe.” Well I’m pretty sure I found the best coffee shop with Devin and Liz. It is in the Village and called Bourbon Coffee. Amazing drinks and a great environment to hang out, chat with friends, take photos, and just enjoy. I just became the Peer Mentor for the Jump Start program, so maybe if you do Jump Start I’ll take you to get some coffee at the shop! I’ll be leading  the Jump Start freshmen around NYC for activities, as well as teaching their FYM class!

On another note… I was able to sign up for my fall 2011 semester courses. WHAT? Fall 2011? I feel like it was just fall 2010! Time flies when you’re having fun. Looks like I’ll be taking 4 business classes and 1 religion class. My business classes are Accounting 2, Microeconomics, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. Maybe I’ll have a class with you!

Until then… Message me on the blog or come visit me in the Admissions Office!

-@austinnelson

PS: I’ve gotten to know lots of the security guards at the 55^th Street Residence Hall. We are “tight,” as Jacquie says (security guard), so we chat a lot on the in room intercom system. Haha. Goodtime.