Greetings everyone! It's still hard for me to accept the fact that we've already been here at Columbia for 3 weeks now! One thing I learned is about the "New York minute." Although people argue about the length of a New York minute, everyone can certainly agree that a New York minute is much faster than a "normal" minute. It seems like it was just yesterday when we first dragged our bags onto campus and glued our noses to our personal campus maps. Thank goodness we have these blogs to refer to whenever we want to reminiscence about the fun days that have blurred into one mega adventure that is in itself, timeless.
In the morning, I ran into a couple of classmates in the Hartley computer lab, as I was trying to print out my essay. It was great getting to know them a bit better over the course of the three weeks. Rather than discussing common readings, we focused on the topics of our papers during the morning session. I thought it was really great not only because I learned so much about the different topics, but also because I am now motivated to read more in depth on some overlooked issues that are quite interesting.
During lunch, I resisted my temptation to nap and make up for the time I lost the night before. Instead of heading right back to my dorm after eating at John Jay, I headed to the Learner Auditorium to listen to a Columbia admissions session. Although I really didn't learn much more than what I had already learned, I did get some useful tips on applying to Columbia, and other schools in general.
The afternoon was both fun and emotional. To celebrate completion of the essay, we watched "Wag the Dog" as a treat! It was really funny and extremely successful as a political satire.
Thus, despite the rough parts of the course, we ended on a fantastic note. The atmosphere also began to change as some students began to start checking out of the dorms to go back home. Sadly, our suite lost two girls today -- one from Greece and one from Brazil. To some extent, everyone in our suite, RAs included, is beginning to feel emotional about splitting up our family. I can only imagine what everyone will look like tomorrow morning by check-out. But not to worry, tissues are more than welcome to be our best friends for a few hours.
Tonight, I used my free time to go to watch one of my friend's theatre production. The performers were all very talented and integrated acting with a bit of music and dance. I definitely do not regret spending a bulk of my time attending that. There was also a Black Light Dance for the students in the high school program. It looked like it was quite fun, and I do regret a bit about not dressing up, but making a quick visit still allowed me to feel the energy and happiness of the crowd. Since I still had a good amount of money left on my Metrocard, I decided to go to Times Square one last time with Winston. Finally to end the night, our suite had our last curfew meeting. At first, I hated how we had to talk everyday for a good 15-30 minutes, but now I've grown so accustomed to it that I will definitely miss it. And to make the last meeting our best one yet, we had some delicious pizza and ice cream!
It is quite late now and I should definitely be packing... however, I feel extremely exhausted! I think I will go take a nap before I start packing! Goodnight world, one last time from the wonderful city of New York!
Yueming,
ReplyDeleteAHA!!! Finally one of you admits in writing that the blogs have merit—even if it’s only so you can go back and read your recollections about your adventures back East. After nearly 700 blogs so far this year, we’ve finally found someone to admit that they have a value.
Ah, those New York Minutes. When referred to by non-New Yorkers it’s not really a compliment. It suggests a lack of patience and thoughtfulness when a person demands action without thinking or without respect for others.
The way you all write about “Wag the Dog” you’d think it was a Hollywood movie and not a documentary! Can’t you bright students tell the difference between reality and ‘entertainment’? ☺
That’s still a classic movie even though it’s 13 years old—and even more relevant in these times than it was then.
We welcome you home, Yueming. You’ve absorbed just about as much new stuff as your head can take so maybe it’s time to bring it back to us, plug it in to your computer and download all of that newfound information before your Senior year starts and you need to start downloading some fresh data.