Mountain Day!!!

At 7am this morning I awoke to the bells ringing joyously throughout the quad as though it were Christmas Day. But in actuality... IT'S MOUNTAIN DAY!

Mountain Day is a day chosen at random by our President, Carol Christ, to cancel classes and give students a well-deserved day off. Originally this was so Smithies could go climb Mount Tom, but now the day is often used to go apple picking, hiking, or bike riding, or to do homework and catch up on some much needed sleep.

I will admit, last night I didn't want Mountain Day yet. I wanted it to be next week, thinking the day should be saved for when I'm really going crazy. But now that Mountain Day is here... I'm totally thrilled!

I'm not sure yet what I shall do with my free time. I think this morning I'll go to the gym and do some homework, and then, since it's sunny and will be close to 80 degrees today, I'll lay out in the sun for one last time before fall really starts to set in.

What a beautiful day for a Mountain Day!

Stop, look, and listen: here come the Smithereens!

I'm officially a Smithereen! Friday night around 11:30, I was walking back to my dorm with my friend when all of a sudden I got a phone call. I picked up the phone to hear "Amy! You need to get back to your room quickly!" Thinking it was an emergency, I ran back to my room and opened to door... and the Smithereens came parading out of the bathroom and serenaded me with their theme song! Then they gave me a pair of their signature Smithereens sunglasses, told me to put on my shoes, and whisked me away to collect the other new members. Afterward we all went down to the dock at Paradise Pond, where the newbies were given cake and champagne and were serenaded some more.

I've never been sung to before! It made me feel so special!

The rest of my weekend had its ups and downs, but I'm working on clearing out my head before I face the new week.

SO MUCH TO DO! So little time...

I GOT MY RADIO SHOW!!! I'll be the DJ of an all-metal mashup on Saturdays from 12-2pm! Or at least those are my hours right now, but they may change due to music censorship issues. Apparently we can't play any songs containing profanity unless it's between the hours of 10pm and 2am, and since my show is in the middle of the day and my genre is composed mostly of bad words, I'm not so sure it's gonna work out... I have training tomorrow morning, so I plan on raising that issue with my department head at that point.

Also... I GOT CALLED BACK TO 2 OUT OF 3 OF THE ACAPELLA GROUPS! Tonight I'll be auditioning again for the Smithereens, and Sunday for the Smiffenpoofs. I'm really excited and I hope I make it! If I do, however, I may run into conflict with my radio show because both activities are quite time consuming. I can't exactly wait it out to see if I have enough time for both because finding a replacement for me for either organization is a pain in the rear. But I'm not even officially in acapella yet, so I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

More updates to come as I receive them!

Movies, clubs, and getting buff

So much for posting frequently! I suppose that's what happens when life gets in the way. I'll do a few quick updates to get me up to speed:

Friday: I went on a movie "date" with my neighbor. We went to see Easy A but ended up seeing Going the Distance instead because the other movie was sold out. I'm actually really glad things ended up that way because the movie was really good! We laughed, we cried, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to Jordan, we stayed up talking until quarter of 4 in the morning! My ass was dragging the next day for sure, but it was well worth it. I love one-on-one bonding sessions and old-fashioned fun!

Yesterday: I auditioned for three acapella groups. I was REALLY nervous, which ended up affecting my performance at the first two auditions because my nerves made me really out of breath. My third audition went really well, and if I get a callback to any of the groups, it would probably be that one. I hope I make it into one of them! I'm trying not to get my hopes up because I feel the groups are pretty selective.

Ongoing: getting buff! The drop-in fitness program "Get Fit Smith" has been making this pretty easy by providing me with fun exercise classes that fit into my busy schedule. I've been working out at least 5 days a week for the whole time I've been here. I think I'm well on my way to reaching my goal of losing 5 pounds by Halloween!

That's all I have to say right now, I think.

Oh wait! I got a tumblr account! Check it out: a sullen riot penetrating through her mind

CocoRosie

Last night I went to see CocoRosie at the Pearl Street Ballroom. At first I was wary about going because the tickets cost $21.50 (damn internet fees!) and I didn't even know the band. But I decided to go anyway because my friend really wanted to and I wanted to have some quality bonding time.

I don't regret a single penny I spent. The show was awesome! The music isn't my ordinary style, but I think that's why it was so refreshing. I got to experience something entirely new and not have my eardrums blown out for once!

Here's a video of CocoRosie's "Lemonade":




They're really weird, I know, but they're extremely talented. Their live shows are incredible for several reasons, among them being:

- They are accompanied by an AMAZING beatboxer
- They run a projection of cool artsy video clips behind them instead of having traditional stage lights
- They remix their songs for live performances

So yeah, totally glad that I ONCE AGAIN stepped out of my comfort zone and went to this concert!

It's a small world after all!

I love it when small-world things happen!

Yesterday my roommate commented on my neighbor's shirt, which showed the logo of what used to be the student events planning organization here. Then I commented on how I remember visiting their booth at Open Campus last April and how they gave me a free flashlight key chain. And then my neighbor goes "OH MY GOD I TOTALLY REMEMBER TALKING TO YOU! YOU WERE WEARING A LEATHER JACKET!" And then suddenly, in my memory, I saw her standing at the table, asking me about why I wanted to transfer and giving me the key chain, and I was like "OHMYGOSH! THAT WAS YOU! AND YES I WAS WEARING A LEATHER JACKET WITH LEOPARD PRINT ON THE INSIDE!"

I just love it when things like that happen! It's so funny how we ended up being neighbors and friends. As my neighbor said to me later, "It's like it was meant to be!"

The first week of classes

This was the first official week of classes here at Smith, though for me it was barely a week as I only had classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (that's right - NO FRIDAY CLASSES! BOOYAH!).

I really like my classes so far! This semester I'm taking Abnormal Psychology (which is gonna kick my ass!), Research Methods, Children's Literature, and Modern Biology for the Concerned Citizen. I already have a buttload of reading to do, but reading is never really much of a burden to me.

I also finally got a work-study job! I'm an office assistant for Student Affairs. The work environment is really relaxed, and the people I work with are really young and chill. It's going to be a good job, I can tell.

I best be off or else I'll be late to my INTERVIEW WITH WOZQ RADIO! I applied for a specialty show focusing on heavy metal. That would be pretty sweet if I got the gig.

Convocation is clothing optional

Convocation was CA-RAZAYYY! Jordan house got dressed up as our theme, Safari (I wore a snakeskin shirt with leggings and gladiator sandals), and paraded down to the John M. Greene memorial building while shouting out our cheer. The hall was SO LOUD! Everyone was dressed up... well, most people were wearing at least a bra and undies, we'll say that much. There were a few nips here and there, some daintily hidden behind electrical tape. But it was so cool to see the entire school squashed into one building, screaming their heads off for the houses that they love. I am completely in love with the amount of spirit here at Smith.

School starts tomorrow. Yikes!

Weekend update

I am totally burnt out! Today I'm taking most of the day off of orientation activities because if I don't, I'll be no fun at all. That's kind of what happened yesterday when a group of transfers went to the Three County Fair.

Normally I love fairs, but as soon as I stepped foot on the fair grounds, I regretted going. I mean, fairs are kind of a weird place to go if you don't really know the group of people you're with anyway, especially if it's not even nighttime (when fairs really come alive), but I was just so exhausted from socializing and running around and trying to remember people's names that I just kinda sucked into myself. We ended up leaving early, and when we got back to campus I went off on my own. I laid down on the grass near the pond in a patch of sunlight and closed my eyes for a half hour, appreciating the silence and warmth.

I felt much better afterward and enjoyed the rest of my night hanging out with some girls in my dorm.

Friday night we had game night with Sessions House. It was a blast! I managed to make some Sessions friends who also happen to be transfers, so that was pretty cool.

I'm about to head off to the gym for the first time, but beyond that, I'm not quite sure what my day will hold! (Besides a barbecue later)

Common Ground

While I had a superb day and all, it doesn't even compare to what happened tonight.

Tonight, Jordan House participated in an exercise called Common Ground. Everybody got in a big circle, and our House President read us a list of categories. If we identified with them, we stepped into the circle.

The categories started out pretty light, with things like racial identity, nationality, geographic origin, et cetera. Then they got a little more personal, asking about things like religious affiliation and financial status. And then it got heavy: sexual orientation, suffering from a disability or mental illness, struggling with or living with someone who struggles with an addiction...

It was incredibly eye-opening. I was inspired by the girls who stepped forward to admit things that most people are ashamed of, and I was humbled to find that many of my assumptions about some of the girls were wrong. I felt relieved to be able to share some of my burdens with others, and I also felt vulnerable. But at the same time, I felt surrounded by a bunch of supportive and non-judgmental people, and I feel safe with them.

I am extremely lucky to be amongst a group of such diverse women, and I can't wait to learn from them.

Day 2: Water balloons and Paradise Pond

After a delicious breakfast of fried eggs, potatoes, and yogurt, I started my day of academic advising meetings and summer reading discussions.

Between all that administrative stuff, I managed to stop by the Lyman Plant House and pick up my free ivy plant (and one for my mom)! I think I shall name them Nadine and Rocko.

I've got all my potential classes picked out - I'll update with which ones I actually get on Friday. Get this, though: there's a class offered in the Spring called "Roll over Beethoven: A History of Rock" that examines the growth of rock music from blues to heavy metal, grunge, and techno! How freaking awesome is that?!

After an extremely hot and long summer reading lecture, we met in the Jordan house living room for some ice breakers and a WATER BALLOON FIGHT! I didn't want to join in at first, but then I got over being a big baby and got in my bathing suit. It was a blast! And then we spontaneously decided to go jump in Paradise Pond, another thing I wouldn't have ordinarily done because of my fear of leeches and dark water, and that was even more fun! I'm so glad I forced myself out of my comfort zone tonight.

Lesson of the day: stop being lame and just do it!

More tomorrow!