Relax? What do you mean?

I thought that after my class on Friday I would be able to relax and enjoy my weekend...boy, was I wrong! Yesterday I had my architecture field study class and we got our midterms back. I was very happy with my grade, but now I know what to work on for our final. After sitting in class for a little bit, we made our way to the Upper West Side for our tour. We walked all around and ended up at 79th and Broadway, so at the end of the tour I walked up a block to get H&H Bagels. I've had it on my list of things to do for a while now and I finally got them. I brought back 6 bagels to the apartment and have already been through two.

After I got back to my apartment I had to finish a response for my art history class. After hours of reading and writing, I went to post it online and the website wasn't working. I waited 45 minutes for it to finally work and then as I was about to post it I realized I did the WRONG response. I was so close to screaming at the top of my lungs, but I resisted. Instead, I sent an email to my professor telling him what happened and hopefully he won't mark me down for turning in my other response late. Since I had to do another response, I was forced to cancel my Friday night plans with my friend at Columbia and sit inside all night and do work.

Now it is Saturday and I'm done with my response and trying to post it online and it isn't working! Ugh...why does this have to happen to me?? All I wanted this weekend was some relaxation and so far I have gotten NONE. After I finish this post, I'm going to start some other readings for my Sex and Gender class and then maybe tonight I'll be able to have some fun and leave the apartment. Hopefully I will end up relaxing a little in the next day and a half before another week of school/work begins. Hope you are all having a more relaxing weekend than me so far!

Love and miss you all.

Love Always,

Jess

Almost Friday!

This week has been very intense. Many conversations about life and death, especially after what happened on Tuesday. Yesterday, I had my art history class and then my drama class in the afternoon. At the very end of class my drama teacher had us do a meditation in class. It was called A Meditation on Grief. (This is pretty much the meditation we did--> CLICK HERE.) We had spent the entire class talking about sickness and death and the meditation was very emotional. Everyone had their eyes closed and the entire time I was wiping tears off of my cheeks. I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I spent the entire 10 minutes with tears rolling down my face. At the very end before we opened our eyes I wiped the tears away again and tried to hide the fact that I was so emotional from the meditation, but when I left the classroom I couldn't hold it in any longer. I let out a huge sob and could not stop crying. A few people from my class comforted me and I walked most of the way home with a couple of guys from my class. It was nice to be able to talk to someone else who lost somebody close to them and I just felt very supported.

After I returned to my apartment, I had to get some work done so I tried to forget (or at least push away for the time being) all of the emotions that I still needed to get out. I feel like I still need to cry just to make myself feel 100% but it will take a little time. Last night I wrote an essay for my Sex and Gender class while everyone was out on the streets celebrating the Yankees victory. I heard so many people banging drums, playing music, and singing "We Are The Champions." It was a loud night.

This morning I had my Sex and Gender class, had my usual coffee and conversation with friends at Starbucks afterwards and then I came back to the apartment. I tried to get some work done after I got home but then I had to run off to a play in Brooklyn tonight. We saw a crazy show called "The New Electric Ballroom." The location of the theater/warehouse was beautiful. Right by the Brooklyn Bridge and near the Manhattan Bridge. (The neighborhood is called DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.) I can't even explain what this show was about. There was nudity, peeing, faces being shoved in cakes, and many other bizarre moments. If you was to see more about the show, CLICK HERE)

After the show, I hopped on the subway back to Manhattan, got a slice of pizza with my friend, Stephanie, and then we went back to her apartment. We did some tarot card readings with her roommates and then I realized it was 11:30 and needed to head home. I just got back to my apartment and now I'm going to get in bed! Hope you all are having a good week so far. I'm so happy it is almost the weekend. I can't wait to actually relax a little and not have to worry about midterms.

Love and miss you all.

Love Always,

Jess

A depressing day.

Last night I spent hours in Starbucks like always doing my readings. Liz, my roommate, ended up joining me around 9:30 or 10 and then they closed at 11pm. This morning I had Sex and Gender from 11-12:15, and then I had recitation from 12:30-1:45. However, we thought we wouldn't have recitation because an NYU junior committed suicide this morning, at 4:30am, in the library. Supposedly there have been a lot of suicides at NYU and a few of those have occurred in the main library. (CLICK HERE for the NY Times article about today's suicide.)

The library was open though, so we still had recitation in the library. It was very weird though walking through the atrium when someone had just committed suicide there 8 hours earlier. But I want to stop talking about this because it is such a horrible topic.

Anyway, I got back to the apartment, had some lunch, and then headed to Starbucks (like always). I finished an essay and now I'm back at my apartment with Liz, and I'm trying to get in bed soon. Hope you all had a better Tuesday than I did.

Love and miss you more than you know!

Love Always,

Jess

Done with my midterm.

So, it is 12pm and I am done with my Art History midterm. I feel sort of confident about it (I know I missed one date because I accidently switched the dates of 2 churches, but that it only a minor detail). I will have no idea how well I did for a little while though.

Anyway, Saturday night my roommates and I just walked around St. Mark's and the East Village looking at everyone's costumes. They were AMAZING. Both of my roommates were feeling sick, however, so they went back to the apartment at around midnight. I had spent so long doing my makeup that I needed to stay out a little longer, just so it would be worth it. I ended up meeting up with my friend, Emily, from my Sex and Gender class and then I walked to my other friends' apartment before heading back home. It was about 2am when I left their apartment, but an hour was knocked off so I ended up getting back to St. Mark's around 1:15am. Below are pictures from Halloween!

Liz (Flower Child) and Emma (Twitter) before hitting the streets.

Me with my creepy zipper makeup on St. Mark's.

Me and Erica (another Flower Child)

My makeup at the end of the night...it even scared ME to look in the mirror!

I woke up Sunday morning to do all of my studying for art history. I have a great new way of studying where I send in the pictures to Walgreens, have them print all of the pictures out, and then I write the names, dates, and all the info on the back. It is fast and easy! I stayed up late studying and then woke up this morning to take the exam. It went by really quick, and I am so happy it's over. Although, now I have to go to Starbucks to do my normal hours and hours of reading for Sex and Gender. (I couldn't do any of the readings this past weekend because I was focused on art history every day.) Hopefully by at least Thursday I'll be able to relax and celebrate being done with midterms/work.

Love you and miss you!

Love Always,

Jess

Happy Halloween!

Last night I stayed up REALLY late just doing work. I probably should have gotten to bed earlier, but whatever, that's what naps are for. However, I set my alarm for 9:45 because I wanted to study a little bit and then go to my hair cut appointment at 12pm. I must have turned off my alarms this morning and gotten back into bed because I woke up at 12:04!!!! Oops. So, I rushed to get dressed, call the salon, and then catch a cab. I really did not want to spend money on a cab, but I had no other choice. Anyway, I got to the salon by 12:25 and everything was okay. They took me right away and the woman was so nice. I told her exactly what I wanted and she went to work on my hair. I got a little color and now I have bangs. It's really weird to have bangs straight across my face now, but I'll get used to it. After I left the salon, I got on the subway to Union Square, picked up some pictures I had developed at Walgreens, and then walked home.

When I got back to the apartment I started to do some more studying and then Liz came home. We wrapped ourselves up in aluminum foil and walked across the street to Chipotle. They have $8.50 burritos but on Halloween if you come dressed up like a burrito they'll give you one for free! I'm saving my burrito for later.

Tonight we have NO idea what we are doing. I don't even know if my Halloween makeup is going to work. I'm praying it does. I hope all of you have a great time tonight wherever you are for Halloween...I'll hopefully talk to some of you soon.

Love and miss you all, like always...

Love,

Jess

Staying in tonight

Well, last night I didn't get a lot of my study guide finished, so tonight I'm staying in and working on my art history study guide and I'm going to study, study, study!

Today I had my architecture class and we were toured around Ladies Mile. This is the area where all of the big department stores were opened in NY and they had an elevated railway for people to travel down Sixth Avenue to get to the department stores. It was a good walk. After that I went to Trader Joe's and did my grocery shopping, walked home, walked back to the post office, and then walked to do some more errands. I did A LOT of walking today, I'm sort of glad I'm staying in tonight. Anyway, now I'm back at my apartment, sitting in the living room, about to start my work for the evening. Then, I'm going for a haircut at 12pm tomorrow and when I get home I'll start applying my Halloween makeup. I'm really hoping it works and the blood/craziness that I plan to glue on my face/body stays on. I will upload pictures when I can. We will probably be going to the Halloween parade and then to some bars around the East Village. I'm ready to freak some people out with my makeup!

Hope you all had a nice Friday. Happy weekend, and Happy (Early) Halloween!

Love and miss you all.

Love Always,

Jess

Anna Deavere Smith

So, first things first, last night I did not get eaten by a wild animal in my room. I couldn't find anything under my bed and I haven't heard any scary noises. (Maybe Liz was just hallucinating. haha) Anyway, today I had my Sex and Gender class (boring as usual) and then my friends, Victoria and Emily, and I went to Starbucks and talked for an hour while drinking our lattes and coffee. Emily had to go to class, so Victoria and I just stayed there for a while doing our homework.

After getting some work done, we headed towards Broadway and 11th to go to Blockbusters (they were having a storewide sale) and the Halloween store. I still don't know what I'm going to be, but right now I have zombie makeup, gauze, and a fake knife in my room...we'll see what happens with that. I will be sure to upload pictures.

I walked home after shopping at the Halloween store for a little bit and then I got ready to go to my performance at 8pm. I am now back from the show and it was UNBELIEVABLE. We saw a show in Times Square called "Let Me Down Easy" with Anna Deavere Smith. (CLICK HERE to see what she has been in.) The show was absolutely amazing. It was a one-woman show but I felt like I had seen over 20 different people tonight. The play talks a lot about medicine and health care and she has interviewed so many fascinating people. (Hopefully I can take my family to see the show when they come here for Thanksgiving.)

Now I'm back at my apartment, my roommate just carved a pumpkin, I'm about to work more on my study guide for art history and then I'll hopefully go to sleep in a little while. Hope all of you had a good Thursday.

LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Love Always,

Jess