life’s not a paragraph

roommates are often times the one thing about college that students get the most nervous about. they are truly an important element of college life. a great roommate can make a great semester even better, a mediocre roommate can bring you down (that’s why you make other friends and then you can go to their place!)

i’ve done so many different types of roommate set-ups. the orientation requests, the random “roommate-needed” situation, good friend and now a mixture of good friends and friends of friends. every single year has been great, even though my roommate situation has changed and shifted between not-so-great to awesome.

i have to say, though, that this year might just be the best of them all. i’ve never lived with so many people before, and although all five of us have to share one bathroom, we’ve all had so much fun! between (almost) always having someone home and the awesome conversations we’ve had, i’d say it’s fare to judge that i am pretty lucky to have landed this place with these people. we’re all nesaders (we all go to the new england school of art and design or NESAD as we like to call it) which adds an extra layer of awesome because even though we all are different majors, we can reference an artist or ask for an opinion and everyone knows what each other is talking about. we all have the critical art eye that makes talking art stuff together so much better than trying to discuss it with anyone else.

our latest roommate bonding decisions have been to go out dancing on friday night and to have a two-song dance party every night at 10:45 pm. we had one last night and it was an awesome break from homework. i suggest it to anyone (even if you say you don’t know how to dance).

my mom had told me a few weeks ago that mixfest (a free annual concert held by a local radio station by the charles river in the half shell- if you don’t know where that is, think boston pops on the fourth of july) was going to be during the first week or so of school. she had told me a few of the acts, and no offense to them, i wasn’t very interested. but i was unaware that grace potter and the nocturnals were playing!

i found this out around midnight on friday night. i had already made plans to catch up with a friend from home and after, a few friends from spain, so i was a little panicked that i would miss out on this perfect (and most importantly, FREE) opportunity to see one of my new favorite bands. early yesterday i checked the line up and it said grace potter wasn’t going to be on until 5:45, which was snuggled right in between the plans i had already made. it was fate!

after a lovely coffee date with my friend jen (who i’ve known since sixth grade!) i hopped on the t and ran down arlington just in time to catch grace in the middle of her first song. i found some other friends from home who came into the city to see the whole concert, and we rocked out to grace potter and the nocturnals. she only played four songs, which was disappointing, but she was awesome live and i could tell she was just having the most incredible time on stage. next time she’s in boston, i don’t care how much the tickets are, i am going because i know it’ll be an amazing show.

i am really glad i went. usually i end up forgetting about things like this, choosing to ignore the fact that there is always something going on in this city, and sitting at home wasting time. i am going to try to pay more attention to the flyers that are up around the city and attend some more local events. and next time my mum tells me about an event, i’ll write it down.

classes are now back in full swing. projects have been assigned. thumbnails are being sketched. and in my graphic design three class, we learned how to bind books…miniature books to be exact. i am now the proud creator of four books that are smaller than four inches by four inches. the smallest one is 1×1! it’s so small and so cute! 🙂

you might be wondering what the point of this is. well, our first project in this class is to design a poetry book (it can be about any theme or poet that we choose) and in the end we have to assemble the book… that’s where the binding comes in.

in binding a few mini books during our class period, we were able to try out a few different types of simple book binds that we could use on our big books at the end of this project. i haven’t even decided for sure what the theme of my poetry book is yet (i am bringing two concepts to class tomorrow: e e cummings and poems by refugees) so i am far from deciding what binding i am going to be using. but i would love to start binding more books, including this new technique into other projects. it’s a great thing to do to break up the monotony of computer work.

yay! mini books!

i am sad to admit it, but i am now officially a senior in college. as exciting as it sounds, i actually wish that i wasn’t… i am not ready for the real world!

my fears aside, i think this is going to be a pretty great semester. my first impression of all my classes are good. i like my professors, and our first projects are all awesome. i only have studio classes at the new england school of art and design this semester (actually i am completely done with all my liberal arts/minor classes– it’s NESAD from hear on out), so i am going to really be able to focus my attention on my design work and building a respectable portfolio for when i graduate. i am going to make my way to the art store tomorrow and purchase a brand new sketchbook along with all the other supplies i need and i am going to carry it around like it’s my third arm.

i am hoping that sketching will become a natural, everyday thing for me. for some people it is. i know a number of people who are always drawing in their sketchbooks. i doodle, sure, but sketching i usually just save for projects, it’s not a part of my everyday life… well, at least not yet. i’ll make that a goal for the year… to sketch more. two of my classes are requiring me to “collect” design (from magazines, newspapers, photos on the street, etc) this semester. i’ll have a pretty incredible cache of imagery by the time december rolls around! after looking over all of it, i am hoping i’ll have a better idea of what kind of design i like, what kind of designer i am and what i’d like to do with this creativity that i have been given!

well i have skipped the official moving day in boston, but tomorrow is my own personal move in day. boston is a nuthouse on aug 31 (move out) and sept 1 (move in). i am perfectly fine with never having that experience. so i have postponed my moving in day til tomorrow when, hopefully, everything has calmed down a bit.

after a relaxing week at home with my parents, i think i am finally ready for the new school year start. a full semesters work load was not really what i wanted to do this summer, but i’ve had a solid three week break. a needed refresher time for my brain. i am really starting to get excited to get back to the city and see all of my friends! most of my roommates are moving in tomorrow with me so it will be a bunch of us climbing three flights of stairs over and over again. my legs are going to hate me sunday morning!

but getting settled will be the hardest part. but i cant wait for that moment when everything has got its own spot and we can completely relax in our new home! i have a feeling that it’s going to be a great last year (and if it isn’t, i am going to make it great!).

so bon voyage until school starts next week! have a great labor day weekend!!

one of the downsides of college: moving.

it’s a pain in the butt no matter how excited you are about your new comforter. boxes and packing bubbles (if your me, you use plastic bags), bags and bins of STUFF. you never realize how much stuff you have/accumulate over the semester or year until you have to make it all transportable.

i’m moving tomorrow and i’ve been in the process of packing for three days now, starting with what i use the least to the stuff i use daily. i’ve finally got all my clothes and shoes packed, my kitchen is almost completely bare (except for the few dishes i used for dinner tonight) and with the exception of a few last minute zip-ups tomorrow morning, i think i am finally ready for my parents to come with the uhaul tomorrow to take all my stuff home.

the whole packing (and then unpacking) business is so frustrating and time consuming. i really wish i was just staying in the same apartment another year; it would make my life so easy! darn rent increase. so i am moving apartments and moving areas– 1 bedroom to four bedroom, back bay to allston. i am looking forward to living with all new people. everyone in my new apartment is from the New England School of Art and Design, so it’ll be really nice to live with a bunch of people who understand what it’s like to be an art student and we can bounce ideas of each other and get opinions. plus we’ll probably have the best decorated apartment in allston… just saying.

i’ll just be more excited once i finally get into my new apartment and i can start unpacking.

i was so excited for senior year of high school to start (and be done really quickly) but i am really not looking forward to starting my senior year in college. not that its going to be bad or anything just it means after this year (and it’ll go by fast i am sure), it’s over. my 16 or so years of education is done for and the question on everybody’s mind is “now what?”

the world is our oyster or so they say, but it’s a pretty darn big oyster– an inconceivably large and overwhelming oyster. i can literally do anything once i graduate (i mean, there are limits, but you catch my drift). and the options, the vast array of options, which can be most simply divided into doing something with my degree or doing something that has nothing to do with my degree, is terrifying, especially since i have no real idea what path i’d like to take.

sure, i am excited with all the potential my post-grad life will have to offer, but i am not in any rush for it to come. hopefully, with all of my design classes and my internship this year, i’ll create some sort of plan (or at least have an idea of a plan) for the days after i’m handed that diploma. at least that’s what i am hoping will happen. for now i am just going to try to suck every bit of summer out of these last few weeks– since it’s the last “real” one i am ever going to have– and try not to worry too much about where i will be in a year. maybe an epiphany will come while i’m relaxing on my parents’ back porch!

my family threw a graduation party this past weekend. it wasn’t for me (not yet anyway–thankfully), it was for my sister’s high school graduation! we made it a little later in the summer because in june, there is at least 2 grad parties a day. by mid-august there are no conflicts! woohoo!

it is very strange to know that my younger sister is going to college next year. it really doesn’t seem like that long ago that i was flying off to spain to start my freshman year (well it does and it doesn’t– it’s one of those things that feels far away and close at the same time). but it just proves how quickly college goes by. realizing that she’s going to school means only one thing for me– i am at the end of my college career. 😮

i am not letting my senior jitters get in the way of my excitement for her. she’s going off in less than two weeks! i know she can’t wait (sunday was 2 weeks to the day she moves in and she let everyone know). i am going to help her move in. the whole thing is a little surreal. it hasn’t really sunk in yet. it’s going to be more than a little strange for me because it’ll be the first time that i ever do the dorm move-in. i guess that will eliminate that whole deja vu thing that most older siblings and parents go through but it’s going to be something so new for me even though i am past that point in my life. i will never move into a dorm. i don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but she’s going to experience something that i have never and will never experience. up till now, we have kind of followed the same path. this getting older bit brings you into some different territory… i guess this is only the beginning.

sickness in july ≠ christmas in july.
being sick in the summer is probably one of the worst things. the combination of feeling awful and not being able to curl up in a bunch of blankets because of the heat is just plain uncomfortable. all the traditional remedies– hot tea, hot soup, comfy blankets and sweaters– don’t really translate as well into the warmer months. the tea is okay unless its 104 degrees like it was last week (thankfully i am sick this week!). i am glad i only have a cold. i took my day off to lie in bed all day and rest and i think i was able to fight off most of it. but today i have to suffer through the head congestion part of the cold. :/ meh. it’s like bad allergies.

hey but i am thankful for an excuse to take a break and spend some time on my couch. at the rate i have been going lately, it’s not really surprising that i have gotten a touch of something. i am going to just settle into it and be lazy for the weekend. i’ve got another beach day lined up tomorrow for after work (yay! making good on my promise in my last post), so i am going to try to get most of my homework done this afternoon and tonight so i can really relax tomorrow and take a nap in the sun! mmmm it’s going to be so nice! hopefully i can kick the last bit of this cold and spend the rest of my summer sickness-free!

in my attempt to make my summer in the city more like my summers at home, i have been taking every free moment to make the trek to the beach. so far i’ve only gone a few times but i has been so nice to escape the concrete for a few hours. my friends and i have been going to carson beach in south boston. it’s pretty nice! seeing as i am not a huge ocean-beach fan (i’m partial to lakes personally. i like being able to open my eyes underwater), it’s clean and the perfect for beach fix.

if the t is working properly, it’s less than a half hour. just a simple green to red line switcheroo, and then i’m there! the summer is already halfway over 🙁 so i am going to try to get there at least once a week… well that’s my goal at least.