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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.

Lots of papers, but city fun!

I’ve been really busy with schoolwork lately. The semester started off very slow for me, but I have tons of work in my classes now – oh, the joys of college!

I’m currently working on an oral history paper for my “Becoming American” class (about immigration novels), and I get to talk about one of my ancestors who did some crazy stuff back in late 1800s Italy. I’m also trying to think of a topic for a dance history research paper. So far I’ve considered burlesque and vaudeville dancing, dance in Germany, and dance in the LGBTQ community as topics I might want to write about. I’m still unsure!

Last week was amazing for me in the city. Last Monday, I went to a screening of “Who Took The Bomp?: Le Tigre on Tour” at the Museum of Modern Art. Two of the band members, Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman, were there. They’re two of my biggest idols, and I got to talk to them briefly after the screening! It was incredible. Thursday was even better, though! I saw Stephen Sondheim’s Company at the New York Philharmonic. Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks, Patti LuPone, and Jon Cryer were all in it. It was the best live theatre I’ve ever seen.

Has anyone else seen it?

NPH & Christina Hendricks!

The weekend was lovely, too. I went to SUNY Purchase, where my girlfriend Amanda attends school, for a zombie prom. It was interesting, and the dressing up was tons of fun! I needed a really long shower to get the fake blood and makeup off my skin, but it was worth the fun. It also made me really excited for the boat dance Marymount has each year! It’ll be my first time going and I can’t wait.

I’m not excited for all the work I have to get done this week, but I’m going to make it happen regardless! Is anyone else going through the almost-end-of-semester work overload?

So much for it being Spring... Or a break!

Well, I guess for Spring Break my body decided to take a break from being healthy as well. I’ve spent the entire time back at home in New Jersey on the couch. At least I had my mom to cook some real food for me and drive to the store to get medicine. It was also nice to see my puppy! She sat by me a lot of the time kissing me and taking care of me.

In other news, I got a job last week! I’m only working a couple of days a week right now because I’ve never had a job during school before, but so far, it’s really great! All of those days and weeks of sifting through Craigslist ads finally paid off in an interview. It’s pretty simple if you’re looking for a job somewhere in the city. You just go to Craigslist NY, choose the Part Time option and filter the results based on what neighborhoods/boroughs you’re willing to travel to or what kind of experience you have or are looking for (i.e. hospitality, retail, advertisement). Most of the time you just send over your resume, along with a brief explanation of why you want the job. Don't freak out about a resume if you don't have one yet - The Office of Career Services will sit down with you and go over all the things you should put down on your resume.

Anyway,  the place that I’m working at is called Café Charbonnel and Walker. It’s a small little dessert/coffee café on the 8^th floor of Saks 5^th Avenue that also sells chocolates. Everyone that I work with is super nice and the job isn't that difficult. We even get to try the chocolates so we know how to describe them to customers!


My boyfriend’s birthday is coming up next Friday on the 8^th and I’m planning a surprise birthday party for him with his friends at Medieval Times in NJ. I’m still not sure how we’re all going to get there/meet up but if you haven’t been before, I think it’s a really fun thing to do. There’s even a bus that leaves from Port Authority and drops you off two streets away from the castle, so it’s very possible to do from the city.

Has anyone else noticed that we have about 46 more days of school left???

Paper Project

This year, I’m spending my spring break in the city. That way, I get to continue working and also do some fun stuff: a friend’s birthday brunch, a play, dinner out, etc. But even with those things, I still have a lot of time to kill without any classes, especially because I’m kind of a homebody. Luckily, I love doing projects. Case in point:

I was a little bored the other night. My roommate was out and I decided to construct something to surprise my suitemates.

One of my suitemates, Starr, had a birthday in September and I had made her a sign. It was still up. Time to change that.

 

I took some of the letters off and made some new ones… 

See that box of Chips Ahoy? Just to let you know, it is absolutely imperative that you eat cookies and drink milk whilst you do this project.

 

You must also watch Tyler Perry movies. Yeah, I know. I’m classy.

 

When all of my letters were cut out, I went to the wall in front of our bathroom door and put them up.

Backwards. No, I didn’t make a mistake, and no, I didn’t flip this picture. See, our bathroom door has a mirror on it…

 

My suitemates loved it, and I think it gives everyone a little pick-me-up.

I hope everyone’s having a great spring break!

-K.M.

Spring break fun (and studying)

This week past week has been a lot of fun! It’s nice to be living in the city, because it means I can do a lot more exciting things. On Tuesday, I went to see the autobiographical one-woman show of Daphne Rubin-Vega, Frequently Unanswered Questions, at the Living Theater on the Lower East Side. It was great!

Donald and Gillian, my comedy heroes (not taken by me – I wish!)

Then, on Thursday, I went to the taping of Donald Glover’s Comedy Central special, Weirdo. He’s one of the actors on the TV show Community, and his costar Gillian Jacobs was sitting in the audience right behind me – I was definitely star struck! He was hilarious, and the special should air sometime this summer. I can’t wait to see it and check out if they show me in the audience!

My mother is having foot surgery tomorrow morning, so I will be spending my spring break at home in Connecticut. I’ll be helping her recover, studying for my Dance History midterm, and writing a paper for my Sociology of Race class, all while taking care of a very needy dog. This time next week I’ll be back at Marymount, preparing to take my big midterm. Wish me luck!

Lorelei, the dog

Well, I’m off to study. I hope everyone is having a good start to their spring, even if the weather doesn’t feel like it just yet!

Spring Break!!

Hey guys! Sorry I dropped off the face of the planet...I had SO MUCH TO DO! Lately, my notes have been more doodle than note...

Luckily, I'm finally done with my pre-Spring Break preparations. I am done with my papers, homework, classwork, presentations, artwork, extra art projects, my last day of work for the week is done...it feels so GOOD! And it looks simply marvelous outside today...it's a balmy 34 degrees but the sun is shining and the sky is perfectly light blue--or celeste. I'm teaching myself Italian in preparation for my summer trip to Italy. (: Its called Instant Immersion and its AMAZING--just like Rosetta Stone, but like $30 as opposed to $600.

So...that paper I was working on and drafting, and drafting, and drafting...and drafting...got accepted for Honor's Day! It was so much work, I was really glad that someone actually read it besides me. After it was accepted, I had to work on my presentation--thirty minutes seems like a long time until you have to present a ten page paper! But I rehearsed it and wrote my speech and made my powerpoint. Phew, it was so much work but on the actual day, it went so well! My day started at 8:45am with Alpha Chi inductions--its the top 10%, and you have to have a 3.75 gpa or greater, which apparently I do. Great! Turns out I get the honor of serving as Treasurer on the executive board next year! I got to see four other presentations for Honor's Day too! One was the winner of the highest award--the Deans Award-- then two on art and one on the veiling of Muslim women. It was superb to see how much work we all put into it and to be recognized for it--its a great feeling! Heres a video from my presentation!

Two days ago, my friends Carly and William came over to Astoria and we played with makeup--this was Williams creation:

I've also been working on a project for William's very belated birthday and I finally finished (see below)! One more thing to check off of my to-do list!

Last night, I sang for the praise team again at my church in Astoria. Lately I've been working on Sundays so I haven't been able to go to the morning service--but I got to sing last night and it was so fun! We checked out La Papa (also in Astoria) afterward and apparently, Barack Obama comes quite often. (:

Have a good spring break--be safe and come visit NYC! I'm off to South Carolina, where I used to live, for a nice, relaxing beach vacay...see ya!

Hello crew!

So it’s currently raining/snowing and it is the middle of March… and this makes me very confused.

Anyway, I had my very first Honors Day experience at MMC on March 16. It was pretty cool to see some of the students’ work, and how some of them just took a class assignment and expanded on it in their own time. It inspired me to submit something for next year. Check out some of the photos of the event!

As of now, I am trying to figure out where I am going to live next year. My first choice is the 55^th street dorms, just because of the location and the overall vicinity. However, I am going to take a peek at Roosevelt Island and the 92^nd street Y dorms. Decisions, decisions!

Dr. Bombay :D

I am still excitedly counting down the weeks and days to spring break! I think everyone is, though –  everyone has been working so hard on papers, projects, and homework. For the break, I decided to head back to Long Island to spend some quality time at home, just me and my cats :)

In other news, it was my roommate's birthday the other weekend, and I got some karaoke experience. We found this great and cheap karaoke place downtown by St. Marks. It was a lot of fun and it was definitely something different to do.

St. Marks!

On St. Patrick’s Day, I locked myself in my room, away from all of the craziness outside and caught up on GLEE and the final episodes of The Bachelor. It was the best St. Patrick’s Day EVERRRRR!!

I am also on a job hunt for this summer, whether it be internships, apprenticeships… just anything! I applied to an apprenticeship at the Powerhouse Theater upstate in Poughkeepsie, and should be hearing back from them soon. I hope I get it!! 

P.S. I highly recommend on going to the Orchid Show at the NY Botanical Gardens. The flowers there are gorgeous! Check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/alidaxrose

Broadway Fun and Admitted Students Day.

Lately, I’ve been trying to make it a personal mission to attend a Broadway show every weekend. So far it is going great… but my funds are lacking. Last weekend I went to see Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. I was blown away by how amazing this show was. The music was terrible, but the flying made up for everything. (Right: Spiderman musical)

Two weekends ago, I saw The Addams Family and loved it. Such a fun musical, and it adds a twist to the original story. The music was very catchy and the actors did an amazing job. I give both of these shows two thumbs up and would recommend them to you (when you visit Marymount). (Left: Addams Family musical)

As a Marymount student I also have access to FREE theatre and dance shows on campus. Our theatre department just finished the show Time and the Conways, which I heard was a wonderful production! Plus, the Campus Activities Board is constantly planning special FREE outings for students. Next week students can attend Daniel Radcliffe’s new Broadway show, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying… FOR FREE!!!!

On another note, this past Saturday was Admitted Students Day, an event for students who have been accepted to MMC. Since I work in the Admissions Office, I got to spend time with about 70 future Communication Arts majors and talk to them about Marymount! They asked me everything from why I came to MMC to what I do on the weekends. We also talked about other random topics like Twitter, Facebook, and Rebecca Black’s new video Friday.

 

My students @ Admitted Students Day!

 In the afternoon, we had karaoke and ice cream in the Commons – two of my favorite things. The students were really shy at first, so Gabby Wright and I warmed up the room with Justin Bieber’s “One Time” and “Raise Your Glass” by Pink. The students started singing everything from Rent to Oldies. Lots of Singing/Ice Cream & FUN! I finished up the session by singing Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never.” YES! Omar Mack + Austin Nelson + Never Say Never = SUCCESS.





Omar and I singing "Never Say Never".... YES.



Did any of you guys attend the event? Did you hear me sing? Comment below!

-@austinnelson