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

busy busy busy

So it’s been 7 months now that I have been living in the city!

I cannot even believe it!!

NY is slowly but surely getting warmer, and I cannot wait to whip out the spring wardrobe.

I hope you all watched the Oscars. Of course, I was thrilled that The King’s Speech walked away with best picture.

It was well deserved, and if you haven’t seen it, well, what are you waiting for?

The Oscars are known to be the biggest fashion red carpet event of the year, but in my eyes, it’s an opportunity to see actors express themselves. We, as the audience, constantly see them in another element, as another character, but rarely as themselves.

Helena Bonham Carter never fails at truly embracing her quirkiness and what makes her unique. Just check out this dress she wore, which was specially made for her by costume designer, Colleen Atwood!

People judge Helena Bonham Carter for her eccentricity, her wacky outfits, and her birds-nest-of-a-hair, but I think that her quirks really make her one of the most beautiful people in the world.

I’ve been working 24/7, which I love because I work surprisingly well under pressure.

I volunteered to take pictures of Honors Day at school (check out the photos of me near Pete's Cafe!), I write for Artfusion, and of course, I write for you and update this blog on my life. 

The downside of all of this work is that I’ve been finding that I’m not reserving much time for myself.

So I decided to pick up my camera and brainstorm some new creative projects, something I haven’t really done since entering college.

I’m really fascinated with people and what makes them unique both physically and mentally, so I’m attempting to capture both of these characteristics through a photograph.

I’m really happy with the results so far and cannot wait to shoot more people!

Spring break is almost here….. I think?

Well that’s all folks, I have some more homework to finish J

It's finally feeling like spring!

Hello everyone! My name is Erica and I’m a new blogger for City Lights. I’m a sociology major currently living at the 55^th Street residence hall. This is my first semester back at Marymount after three semesters at a college back home (New Haven, CT). I’m happy to be back!

 

Our apartment’s door. I love the fish!

The semester has being going smoothly so far. I’m taking four classes: Dance & Cultural History, Sociology of Race, Marketing, and Becoming American. I’ve been lucky and all of the classes are great. For example, one of my recent Marketing homework assignments was to smile at people throughout the day! There were other more traditional assignments that week, but naturally that one was the most fun.

Getting to re-explore the city has been great. Two of my suitemates and I went grocery shopping last weekend, and to get there we strolled through Central Park. We also had waffles from the Wafels & Dinges truck -- a must-try for everyone! 

Seals being fed at the Central Park Zoo

Someone put grapes & strawberries on it to form a peace sign!

I’ve also been taking advantage of 55^th’s proximity to the 54^th Street Barnes & Noble. You can sit down anywhere, relax, go online, and read some books without anyone bothering you.

 

(You can also take photos of people book-shopping, hee.)

That's all for this week. I'm thinking of going to MoMA on Friday, since every Friday is free from 4-8 PM! There's an exhibit on 80s and 90s music in NYC that I just have to see. Are there any other cool exhibits I should check out while I'm there?

Ciao! 

New York City… Center of the Universe.

Since the last time I wrote an entry, a lot has happened with the city’s weather and with me. My father visited me in the city this past week and it was so nice to have him in town. We were able to go to the Top of the Rock (my favorite NYC tourist activity, photo attached). When I was there I was looking over the city and realizing that I live here. I live in one of the largest cities in the world. I have access to Broadway/corporate headquarters/culture all the time and I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to live here (kind of like a “pinch me, is this real?” moment).

After going to the Top of the Rock, we decided to go to the new Broadway show, “The Book of Mormon.” It was AMAZING, brilliant, and had me laughing the whole show. It has an original score that exceeded my expectations. (photo: curtain @ the show)

Midterms are right around the corner (lucky me) and things are just moving along @ MMC. I love my Intro to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam class. For a class, project I had to go to a Synagogue and observe the service. This class is opening my eyes to different religions and cultures within New York City. My acting class has been a lot of fun, too. I’ve enjoyed doing improv activities and various acting games each week.

I’ve been taking advantage of our two-story library at Marymount a lot this semester—both on weekdays and on weekends—to write papers and do research for my courses. On the brighter side…the weather in NYC is warming up and now we can shed our coats for spring. Spring break is coming, and I can’t wait to travel to Arizona and get some sun!

Be thankful & stay in school.

-@austinnelson

SPRINGGG!

Spring has begun to spring! There was a lovely bird singing to me on my fire escape the other day and I've been waking up to sunshine at 8 in the morning! Its definitely uplifting after so much snow this year. We must have had about 25 blizzards. Snowpocalypse '11. (: But now its getting nicer-- I can even go running outside, although its not quite spring yet...we still have random downpours.

I've been sick for the past week and I finally had to break down and go to the ER. It turned out to be a viral infection in my throat, but it was ROUGH! I had a sore throat and then a nagging chronic cough, and finally I lost my voice for two days. That was slightly entertaining because I work as a salesperson at a toy store. I was trying to talk to customers and I ended up squeaking at them...I got a lot of funny looks. Unfortunately, I seem to be a trend setter and everyone now has it. Sorry y'all!

School is back in full force...winter break seems like a distant memory. I feel like I have been writing and will be writing papers for my whole life. What I don't mind is that I'm now interested in all of my classes! I absolutely love my African and American Art classes and I'm learning so much. I also love how the professors care about how their students learn. Today, we took a class vote to see if she was teaching too slowly or quickly or what and we decided to cover the material in a much more cohesive way. It really makes you take part in the structure of class so you can learn better!

Lately, Ive been so sure of my majors. I'm so happy as a double major in studio art and art history. It truly interests me and Im definitely doing what I love! I was walking home from work one day and I saw this absolutely fascinating gallery on 5th Avenue...unfortunately it was closed, but I snuck a picture of this awesome sculpture--I couldn't figure it out but I love it!

Later on I saw this random foot sculpture outside of a brownstone on the Upper East Side...so much art in this city!

 On a side note, Ive been having roommate issues, which is never fun. A word to the wise: DO YOUR DISHES. Or you'll end up like me--dealing with 3 weeks worth of standing water and a clogged sink that you cant talk to your roommate about. Communication is key.

Luckily for me, Adele released her new album! Its AMAZING and you should all buy it. Heres a little preview: (:

                       

Anyway, I hope you are all having a lovely week/month/new year! Happy March! I am desperately searching for a glimpse of Spring Break--I'll be off on a brilliant holiday to my old birthtown of Beaufort, South Carolina with my mom for a mother-daughter week. I cant wait! I'm living for this:

When is Spring Break again?

Well, the Spring Semester has definitely been underway for some time now and I still can’t accept the fact that I have tons of homework to do :/ Maybe because I’m not entirely thrilled with my choice of classes. I’ve been thinking for some time about switching my major from International Studies to Religious Studies. I think that it’s really so important to be knowledgeable about different cultures and traditions. I could still possibly keep International Studies as a minor too. Luckily, the advisement center at Marymount is really helpful. I found out that they have a type of meeting that you can schedule to map out a 4 year plan of everything that you’ve done/should do for the rest of undergrad. It seems like a great way to map everything out and feel comfortable about the future.  So hopefully everything goes well with that meeting this week!

In other news, my boyfriend has been coming in from Rutgers University in New Jersey to come visit for the past couple of weekends and we came up with a new plan for having fun in the city!  We decided we wanted dumplings one afternoon and just took a train down to Chinatown to wander around for a couple of hours.  We got all different kinds of dumplings, had some green tea, and bought a weird scary fruit for the fun of it! 

We also went to the Upper West Side for coffee and people-watching and the Financial District to go to the Ace Hotel to escape the cold and my apartment (it’s a really chill hangout where people study, eat, and get the best coffee in the city). Venturing off into unknown parts of the city is pretty unpredictable and fun. I found this perfect map to really get an idea of where I’m going and what’s nearby:

Does anyone else have some city adventure experiences that were really amazing? Share it with me!