Welcome back Obies!
So, I had intended to just take a break from blog posting for the week that I was away for fall break and then pick it up once I got back. Well, I inadvertently let two whole weeks go by without writing anything, so, here I am! I'm back! Huzzah! Oh joy, oh rapture unforseen!
Here's a brief recap of the various things I did during fall break:
•Ate all of my favorite foods. Literally. I don't know how, but my parents did an EXCELLENT job planning this, so that all of the meals I had missed the most were incorporated into the week. For that, I give both of them extensive gratitude.
•Celebrated my mother's half birthday (umm, totally normal, right?) Six months ago, when her actual birthday happened, she was so busy and overwhelmed with things to do that her birthday celebration got put off and it was in general a not-so-enjoyable birthday experience. So we decided to give her a redo birthday, with a special dinner and some "half" gifts.
•Spent some time with two of my closest friends from home, who I had missed very much. We went out to dinner at The Lost Dog Cafe (i.e. the greatest restaurant in existence, famous for it's Rigatoni a la Vodka), watched the DVD of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (the epically amazing one starring Brandy, Whitney Houston, Bernadetta Peters, etc.) and bought some wonderful/tacky sweaters at the Salvation Army. Pretty much the three standard activities necessary for spending time with friends in Binghamton.
•Watched "Waiting For Godot" for the first time (an excellent film version of the Samuel Beckett play). I did this in preparation for the upcoming Oberlin production of the play (stay tuned, I will most likely be reviewing it after I see it). It was a fascinating piece, although for the first hour or so after watching it, all I could think was "Wow. So that's 'Waiting for Godot.' Whooooaaaa...." It was certainly an experience.
•Did some epic catching up on laundry, sleep and episodes of "How I Met Your Mother," all of which have been seriously neglected since I arrive at Oberlin.
•Spent a night in New York City with my older brother, who I hadn't seen in quite a while and missed like crazy. (Thanks for being such a great traveling assistant, Ned!)
So, after a wonderful relaxed week in Binghamton and then an incredibly hellish traveling weekend (two completely separate awful bus experiences in one weekend...stupid snow...) I finally arrived back in Oberlin. I've been here for about a week, and I must say, it feels absolutely amazing to be back. Even though I loved my week in Binghamton and definitely needed the break, stepping off the bus and walking back to my dorm filled me with an extremely intense feeling of "Ahhhhh, at last. I'm finally home." I guess that's probably a sign that I'm at the right college, right?
And now, a recap of the busy week I've had since I've been back in Oberlin:
•On Monday, I had a really fun (albeit somewhat odd) Halloween night with a bunch of my friends. Costumes included Snooki, a flapper, a fairy, a "cat" (I use quotations because he really didn't look much like a cat...), a cowgirl, Mimi (from "Rent"), and several other wacky outfits that I randomly saw on campus. I was Bellatrix Lestrange. I know, totally badass, right? (If you don't know who that is, you clearly have not been making efficient use of the past 14 years, and have some serious reading to do.)
•I discovered on Tuesday that I had, indeed, caught the cold that my brother had warned me he was dealing with. As a result, my trash can is completely full to the brim with used tissues, cough drop wrappers, and wet tea bags. Yep...
•On Wednesday, I auditioned for the Winter Term productions. In January (aka, Winter Term or J-term), classes are not in session because all Oberlin students are required to do an independent project of their choice. It can be anything from an internship, to a research project, to a trip abroad, to learning a new language, etc. Basically anything that you can prove has some sort of educational merit. During this year's Winter Term, there will be three student-directed plays in rehearsal, which can count for J-term credit for all cast/crew members, so I decided to audition for all three of them. This would require staying on campus for the whole month (most people decide to go off campus for J-term) but I think it would be a really fun, interesting process, so I decided to go for it. And I discovered this morning that I got a callback for one of the shows, so I will keep you posted on how that goes!
•Also on Wednesday night, I participated in the Acapella Study Break Concert, a concert by all five student acapella groups in the middle of midterms week, intended to give people an hour of stress relief from their insane, hectic study/homework schedules. It was such an amazing concert, and I had an absolute blast. I sang with my all-female group, the Acapelicans (not full voice though, because of my cold) and we did a fabulous job with both of our pieces ("Java Jive" by Manhattan Transfer, and "Walking On Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox). This was also my first opportunity to hear the other groups perform, and they all did amazingly as well (other groups included the male barbershop quartet "3 Dudes and a Guy," another female group called "Nothing But Treble," a co-ed group that does primarily jazz and folk called "Round Midnight," and the ever popular all-male group, "The Obertones.")
•Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time looking through the online course catalog, trying to decide what classes I want to register for next semester...Wait, next semester? Already? WHAAAAT??? Yep, that's right, registration starts in a couple of weeks. Yikes! Since I have a several distribution requirements to fulfill (3 natural science course, 3 social science courses and 3 humanities courses, not to mention the requirements for Quantitative Proficiency, Writing Proficiency, and Cultural Diversity), I really want to try to balance my schedule out well, so I made enormous lists of classes in each area that I was interested in, making sure I have plenty of backups prepared (since many of the classes I wanted to take this semester filled up really quickly and I didn't get to take them). I won't tell you what any of them are, because I don't want to jinx it. But don't worry, you'll find out once I'm registered.
•Next up: this weekend, I'm going to be seeing two Oberlin productions, the aforementioned "Waiting for Godot" and Suszan-Lori Parks' "Topdog/Underdog" (the second of which I am required to see as a part of my Theater 101 class). More on those later. In addition, my callback for the J-term show is on Sunday night. Wishes for broken legs would be much appreicated.
So there you have it. I'm already pretty much back in the full-swing of Oberlin work. And I'm kinda loving it. Busy, yes. But still so amazing. God, I missed Oberlin so much!
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