9 posts tagged “college”

In 5 words or less, who are you? 
Submitted by dejablu503.

...a vassar college alumna.

(Well yes, I am an alumna since a few weeks ago, but the grass walking officially takes place on sunday. Today I took my very last final of college.  There are no words. No words.  They should have sent a poet.)

In the era of digital cameras (and in the case where one '.tiff' seems to break/loose/destroy/malfunction any digicam she gets her paws on) two packs of developed box camera pictures from the local 1-hour photo can actually be quite refreshing.  There is a certain aura of candidness about them that digital photos lack, regardless of whether the pictures are posed or spontaneous. It seems that the local Rite Aid also used 'digital technology' to 'enhance' the photos that I refused to use flash on.  This left the few of them oddly pixelated and grainy, but with an eerily enjoyable aftermath.

 I bought two cameras after I got back from spring break and had the joy of exposing them between my house mates, Chico, and I early this afternoon.  There were some convocation photos, some 'display o' sauce's and some other nice photos too.

Things that were accomplished yesterday:

• Attended my very last class of college.  It was a lecture on Vermeer. Not bad.
• Collected my final drawings and wrote a final script. Turned in my Media Studies thesis.
• Bought myself (and my house) a congratulatory gift.
• Took a nap.
• Celebrated with said gift in the company of good and great friends.
• Took a hardcore sleep.

To accomplish in the following weeks:

• Finish my Studio Art thesis.
• Finish a 10-page paper on Tank Girl.
• Take a Dutch and Flemish painting final.
• Party hard.
• Graduate.

Yesterday was Founders Day, the first saturday in May and the celebration of our founder's birthday.  The celebration is marked with a giant fair on the grass field only a minute away from my house, filled with circus rides, attractions, music, dancing, and plenty of folks just lying back and enjoying the fun

 
I started my day off with a bottle of Andrés Champagne at my friend Claire's annual Founders Day brunch.  The rest of the day involved dancing to our very own folk band The Powderkegs, enjoying the five varieties of organic beer, strolling along the orchard by the lake with dandelions between our toes, and sitting on the grass hill taking the scene in.

We carried our day deep into night, launching a whole new direction after a somber walk through the golfcourse.  We came back to my living room where we were joined by my friend Sarah and lived through the night with layers of high-c music and low-c music...from Yelle, MSTRKRFT, and GUNS'n'BOMBS to Bob Dylan and Ottis Redding.

best.founders.day.evar.
Now it's time for a 10-page paper though.  *le sigh*.

I returned from my 3 hour seminar to find my housemates all collected in the swanky living room on my floor.  I was greeted by baked goods, wonderful music, intense music, and drew on giant playing cards during comfortable conversation.  The night was complete by a group viewing of The Big Lebowski.

I have made it to the east and it is wet.  It has been pouring all day long as the entire student body moves on to campus.  Only after I have moved everything into the kitchen, picked up my keys, had an official 'back to campus' party evening, and recieved three backed up issues of Wired from my school mailbox do I have time to post. The desk is set, the speakers at moderate blast, my keychain is full but my room is empty, and this is only the beginning.  There is much left to do.

Leaving  home was a bit more difficult than I had imagined.  Everyone from work gave me a tremendously warm goodbye, and I still wish that I didn't have to clear my desk and run so quickly back home on the 5:30 train that evening.  Immediatly after, I drove to have my last family dinner at a favorite Chinese restaurant Chef Chu's.   Both of my siblings then left the house for the evening before I left; my brother was in socal for his freshman year orientation and my sister was at her first highschool's dance.  Packing to leave a vacant house is somewhat unsettling, so I took the opportunity that evening to get a few snapshots of the dying hours of sunlight that hung over my backyard all summer. 

Its always hard to follow up an incredible summer with a window view of soggy lawns and dripping street lamps.  I'm not entirely in my element yet, but I know I will have to get on the boat and start racing before I can  get my senses together.  I've only been here two days and I already have four meetings set up for thursday and friday.  It's going to be a long semester but its going to go quick.

In two weeks, the summer will be officially over and I will be flying away to the East to finish off my last year in college.  As was expected, summer will finish before it barely begun.  I'm pleased that I chose to come back home for the summer.  I read more books on my own than I ever have before, had amazing opportunities, and remembered what it felt like to be in California again

I had time to think and rest, something I desperately needed before I start my senior year.  As soon as I get back to the east coast I'm going to be living in a house with four incredible guys, taking three courses, working on my senior art project, working a part time job, and working an internship in the city two days a week.  I'm excited to get back in the busy swing of things, but I'm scared of everything flying by too quickly.  I always get nervous before I go back to school, but this time (unless, I go to graduate school at some point) will be the last summer before school starts, so I'm a little more anxious than usuall.  It'll be exciting and wonderful, but I really don't want to grow up yet. 

So I have two weeks to get my ultimate rest on.  Two more weeks to maybe read a couple more books, hang out with my sibbies, say goodbye to a few more friends, and maybe do a few paintings.  So its the final countdown, but just to make things fun, this is too:

Harrison graduated this morning.  It was sort of weird watching his High School graduation ceremony a summer before what will be my College graduation ceremony.  In some ways, I felt like it was a mental recap of the certain accomplishments and experiences I am supposed to have gone through in College already.  To practice what I would be thinking a year from now, I inserted 'career' or 'rest of your life' whenever 'College' was said, such as in "Today, you are making the transition to your next step in life, the adventure of _the rest of your life_"  Maybe I'm overthinking things.  But until then, I'm going to pretend like this next year is the longest, most productive, and most fun year ever. 

It was a decent ceremony, but I had to jet right after he accepted his diploma to head up to work in time to complete everything for today.  I worked hard and got a lot done, and I met a few more people in the office today which when combined were great accomplishments for me.

Only 20 more pages for my book.  Its finally started to get really weird, but a little less weird than I expected of Murakami.  I guess I'll find what I'm looking for in the Wind Up Bird Chronicles, which according to Luke, makes Chuck Palahniuk's stories read like 'Sesame Street'.  Excellent.

Only 3 cups of coffee for me today.  That's another accomplishment.