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!

Busy bee

Lately, I feel like I’ve been working 4 jobs. They are:

1)      Student: obviously the most important.

2)      Student Communications Worker: This is the only one I actually get paid for, unfortunately.

3)      Operations Manager: I’m still a DJ at WMMC Griffin Radio but now I’m also the operations manager. That means I keep track of scheduling, train DJs, handle technical issues as they arise, keep the station orderly, and much, much more.

4)      Carpenter: This semester I’m taking Stagecraft, which is a requirement for all Theatre majors (yes, I got in! Stage management, baby). I know why some people aren’t fond of it, but I love it. As part of the class requirements, I work in the scene shop and help make the scenery for MMC’s productions (the next, Time and the Conways, starts March 9^th- come check it out!).

Somehow they combined my love of tools with my love of organization. 

 

   Working in the scene shop has definitely re-ignited my love for learning. Every second I’m there, I learn how to do something new: use a miter saw, fake a cornice, take out a splinter, etc. I show up at my job covered in sawdust, but it definitely makes me happy.

   My new job at the radio station has also left me in awe of how funny, cool, and creative the students at this school are. Just listening to the station for a couple of hours makes me glad that I took a chance last semester and joined a club I knew next to nothing about. I’m in the process of making the station cozier for my DJs. Any suggestions on how I should decorate the place?

Unfortunately, no one but me likes this idea. Even though screwguns are gorgeous.

 

     Sure, I usually leave the house at 8:30 and don’t get back until about 6-7:30, but I’m almost always enjoying myself, and avoiding boredom. I’m convinced that when I’m bored, my brain must be dying.

Now, it’s about time for me to leave school and embark on my relaxing, but very boring weekend. I hope you have a great one and I’ll update you later.

-K.M.

Spring Semester!

Lady Gaga lives her art through her life

Hello everyone! The classes this semester are going fantastic so far.

My Sociology, Writing, and Costume Design class are probably my three favorite, because they are all so different and interesting.

In Sociology, I am studying how women are viewed and placed in society and I get to read a lot of feminism works, which is surprisingly really fascinating.

"Superbowling"

My Writing class's theme this semester is Novel and Film, where I can finally put my film nerdiness to good use!

Costume Design is really hard and a lot of work, but I’ve learned so much so far, and it's only been my second class.

Aside from enjoying all of my classes, I’ve been enjoying the down time when I do have some.

I tuned in and watched the Superbowl, despite the fact I had no idea what was going on, and the Grammys, to see Lady Gaga in an egg, which she supposedly had stayed in for 3 days… 

In other news, I did get to see the lovely Johnny Depp again, this time near somewhat on Marymount headquarters, meaning on 55^th street at P.J. Clarks.

Again, he was amazingly kind and generous to the MMC community, who had waited in the cold to catch a glimpse of him.

So amazing. No words <3

Valentine's Day was extra special this year, and I really wanted to find a way to express how much my friendships mean to me here at MMC.

Unfortunately, all my friends were able to figure out that I was their secret Valentine, but nonetheless it was really rewarding to see their expressions when they received their envelopes in the morning.

Well that’s all folks! Counting down the days to the Oscars, the best part of the month of February for me. 

I think that its between Black Swan and Kings Speech for best picture. King Speech for the win :)