Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!

Tonight we met up with some guys for dinner. Instead of being normal and eating in Gracie's we got take out once again and wandered until we found a nice sunny spot... in a parking lot. This would have made a great picture but unfortunately none of us had our cameras so you'll just have to imagine 4 people eating dinner out of styrofoam containers in a parking lot. After dinner we made our way over to the quad outside of Sol. There's this giant cement thing in the middle (picture is further down) and we all really wanted to sit on top of it. Walked around campus some more and took pictures by the tiger and various other interesting things. Came back and ichatted with mom, dad and sarah :) After ichatting Ashley and I went and sat in the lounge to watch the beginning of school fireworks. Andrew ended up coming up to watch them with us since he lives on the 3rd floor and there is a horrible view down there. 

I wish I could say that this next picture is the first time that I have come across something like this walking across campus, but sadly this is not the case. Of course, it is quite humorous. And yes, this guy IS in fact wearing a computer monitor on their head. They even stopped walking to pose for me so that I could take a picture!

(l-r) Eric, Andrew, me, Ashley hanging out on this giant cement thing in the quad outside of our building.

Andrew on the tiger

Ashley and I refused to sit on the tiger so we just got our picture taken in front of it. 

College Day

Okay, so i'm really sucking at this whole updating thing. It's orientation week which means they pack our days from about 7 am until midnight or one with things and then everyone always wants to hang out afterwards so there is really no sleep/blogging time. 

Anyway, Friday was "College Day" which meant that each specific college (college of art, college of business, etc) went on a field trip or something fun. The college of art and design (CIAS) went to this place called Artisans Workshop which is basically a giant warehouse full of art. The place was literally jam packed with stuff, it was pretty awesome. We spent from 10 am until 3 pm just wandering around looking at stuff. I felt like we were in kindergarten again, we all piled on the big yellow school buses with our matching purple shirts and name tags.

awesome wheel made entirely out of wood...

i actually stopped and talked to the artist that created this piece for a while. he was pretty awesome. (in case you couldn't tell in the picture it's a 16 ft by 16 ft painting.)

Came back from the museum and Ashley and I crashed on our beds for an hour and a half. This week is really exhausting! After sleeping for a bit we met up with Eric for dinner at gracies (yumm, more salad-- i'll explain that later...). Ended up meeting up with Phil at dinner two and the four of us went back to the lounge on our floor to play Disney trivia and Uno (yes, we really are lame enough to do that on a Friday night). Decided to go roam the tunnels and find some ice cream. By then Phil had left and Andrew met up with us  and since he's a 3rd year he took us on a "tour" to see the large unrecognizable statue in the main quad. Had an interesting experience while we were standing there... about 6 guys jumped out of bushes and ran as fast as they could around the quad chasing each other and throwing things (Don't worry Mom and Dad, it's perfectly safe here! And we've found ourselves some body guards just in case) 

The Day I Wished I Was A Man

You know, I'm generally happy with my life. I have a great family, amazing friends, i'm healthy, and the list goes on. But then there are those days that you wish you could be something you're not... a guy. 

Original Plans For Tonight: Eat dinner from Gracie's in our room. Get ready. Go ice skating at 9:30 at Gordon Field House.

Actually Done Tonight: Ate waffles and yogurt from Gracie's in our dorm room while watching tv and talking. Hung around then Andrew stopped by for a while. We get dragged to a "woman's event" against our will.. This "women's event" is more specifically referred to as "Lighting the Way: Welcoming ceremony for new women students to RIT". Now don't get me wrong, they had this thing very well planned out, spent lots of time and energy on it but a "mandatory" thing doesn't really fly well around here. Plus it ruined the plans we've been making all week for our night out. The event consisted of 4 different "opening speakers" followed by a closing speech. I was rather amused how there was no middle to it. Afterwards we all paraded down the "quarter mile" behind bagpipes while all holding lanterns. I have to admit it looked kind of cool, however, it was nasty and rainy and misty (this rain mist stuff around here looks more like snow than rain-- it's AUGUST!). Walked back in our soaked pants from the huge puddles and now we've put on dry clothes. I think we're going to gather some people for a movie night or something after we run up and down the halls saying hi to people. 

Tomorrow the college of imaging arts and sciences (CIAS) is all going to this art gallery in a giant in downtown Rochester.  We get to sleep in until 8! Woohoo. Hopefully we'll get to bed before 3am for once. There's some job fair tomorrow morning at 9 and then the art gallery "field trip" is from 10am until 3pm. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures. 

Tunnel Adventures

Tonight Ashley and I went on an adventure in the tunnels that connect all of the residence halls. Our original plan was to just go check out where our mailboxes were for future reference but we ended up running up and down the tunnels creating havoic.
The tunnels connect all of the dorms to each other. There is a corner store down there as well as a post office, laundry rooms, a game room, fast food type place called Sol's and lots and lots of paintings on the walls. I think that's the neatest thing about the tunnels is being able to look at all of the different paintings from different clubs and organizations at RIT, it makes them a little less grim.

(shot of the mailboxes)

I thought the sky was exceptionally pretty tonight. In our tunnel hunt we ended up coming out at the NTID buildings (national technical institute for the deaf) which are really amazing. I'd never seen them before but they look brand new and have really awesome places to sit and read. Plus the advantage of it being in the NTID section is that it is abnormally quiet so it might turn out to be an excellent place to study.

After our adventure we just hung out in our room/on our floor some more until I got a call from my friend requesting technical support. That's one of the things I really do love about college life so far is that if someone wants to meet up with you or asks for help you're literally a 10 minute or less walk away. I ended up going over and helping her set up her new laptop and such. Came back to the room to hang out some more before the WOW event. This third year guy at RIT that Ashley met at College and Careers last summer ended up coming over for a while to hang out too. The magician was pretty good, it's really overwhelming the number of activities they have on campus this week. Each night there is a main WOW (week of welcome) event as well as ice skating, rock climbing, sign language classes, and concerts at the coffee shops and they're unfortunately all at the same time which means we really have to pick. Every night so far has been pretty good though. 

"Come on Let's Twist Again, Like We Did Last Summer."

Day 3 and college life continues. 

Last night after my post I did not end up getting to sleep until nearly 3:30. Oops. Woke up at 7 this morning to an alarm that sounded much too loud. Rolled out of bed and got in the shower quick before heading off to Kodak Quad for more "fun" get to know you games with our OA groups. Had a 2 hour lecture type thing after that about using drugs and alcohol (or refraining from using them rather). Ate lunch at Gracie's (again). It's hard to believe that it's week one and we're all already sick of it. They say that you start becoming more and more creative with the combinations of food you make. Headed back over to Kodak Quad for "connect & explore" which basically meant we just had to play games like Twister with other art kids. We ended up having a giant Twister tournament with 10 twister mats which was pretty exciting. Played another game called Catch Phrase and then I eventually got bored of that and wandered back to my dorm. It's a really nice day out, I love being able to wear pants in the summer and not be hot at all! 

There's a happy hour comedian which I need to leave for in a few minutes. Going out to dinner with Ashley and probably some other people afterwards. There's a magician as tonight's WOW event so that'll be interesting. Hopefully I'll get to bed before 3:30 although I don't have to get up tomorrow until 8 so it'll be nice to sleep in for once. 

I'm kind of eager for classes to start because right now I feel like i'm at camp and being directed everywhere at certain times, I'd rather be able to make up my own schedule. It'll come soon enough though and then i'll be begging for another orientation week so i'll enjoy it while it lasts. 

"You're a HEART major?"

Woke up at 7:30 this morning for yet another OA meeting. Basically spent all day in the school of design learning where everything was and such. Had a discussion group on a book we all read over the summer which was really not as bad as a feared. It kind of got me in the mood to start classes. I got to meet my academic advisor and ask questions about classes.  Hung around with a bunch of people on my floor this afternoon. Took a nap (finally! i'm so exhausted from this week and it's only Wednesday morning...). Went to dinner at Gracie's with some more people from my floor. Had a floor meeting in the tunnels which basically consisted of them telling us to be careful and respect our roommate. Ashley and I were originally planning on heading over to this sign language class at 10 but then we ended up meeting up with some other people and going to the concert at the Gordon Field house. Except, that was a mistake. I REALLY wish I had had my camera at that particular moment because there were about 20 people at the concert in this huge place. It was kind of sad and pathetic so we left after 5 minutes. The two of us went up and visited some friends on the floor above us and decided to watch a movie. We saw 300, which is not exactly a chick flick.. not that I was expecting that but still, it was kind of gross. Hung around for a while up there and talked. These guys are in a quad and have an amazing sound system/tv thing so it's fun to go up there and watch stuff. Now it's a little past 2 am and I have to wake up at 7 so I should probably go to bed soon. 

Oh yeah, so funny story. Tonight I was really tired and we were talking to one of the guys we were hanging out with & talking about majors. When I said I was an art major he thought I said HEART major and was like "wow you're going to be up really late you're going to have to get used to getting paged at 4 in the morning and carrying a beeper around with you all of the time " haha at least I thought it was funny maybe that's just because it's so late and i'm delirious :) 

Happy Birthday, Boo!

Happy Birthday Boo! Sorry I couldn't be home to help celebrate with you :( But I trust that Alison took care of that. Love You <3 
Okay, so living at college is quite a bit different than at home. For one, I used to have my own trashcan. Not that I mind sharing or anything but within the past 10 minutes two people have walked by and thrown garbage in the can holding open our door. Thanks guys...

Anyway, Today was day one of orientation week. I'm exhausted already! Had to get up at 7 this morning to shower and get downstairs before the "tiger walk" Of course, we were given a false time because we actually didn't have to be down until 8:50. Oh well, only 2 hours of sleep lost. I guess I was already up at 6 anyway. Went to the Tiger Walk at 9 which is basically when all of the faculty line the road in front of the gordon field house and we all walk down it while they clap for us. Had convocation and other stuffs this morning. Said goodbye to my parents this afternoon and headed off to a REALLY BORING meeting. I feel like my day was filled with really boring, unhelpful meetings. Again.. oh well. Hung around the dorm with Phoenix, Emily and Ashley before we headed off to dinner. We decided to bend the rules a bit and take out gracie's so we could fit our dinner group of 16 outside since gracie's was so packed. It was actually pretty chilly out, we were all in pants and freezing. After dinner and an OA meeting we hung out with people on our floor-- and learned some sign language! And then a group of us all went down to Clark Gym for a hypnotist. It was a pretty good show, although I was so tired I nearly fell asleep. 

It's now 12:34 and I have to get up for another OA meeting at 7:15. They have not really left a whole lot of time for sleeping this week. 

All Grown Up and Savin' China

Moved into college today, so far so good. Drove up yesterday morning-- made quite a few stops for such a short drive. But seriously how can you pass up Clyde Pelling's Reptileland?! Or Jones Kones?! Anyway, made it up here around 4ish.. went to barnes and noble on campus and got my books and art kit. Checked in at the hotel and then drove over to a greek restaurant just down the street to have dinner with a bunch of people from RIT. Of course, I didn't know any of them but it was pretty cool to get to meet people before actually moving on campus. This morning woke up early and went to grab breakfast before heading over to campus to register for orientation and what not. I even got my picture with the tiger! Move in was at 12:30, it was SO HOT. My dorm doesn't have air conditioning and the fan I packed was the last bag to make it up. It didn't help that we couldn't open our window for a while either. Got all unpacked and moved in. Went out to dinner with my roommate Ashley, and a couple other people who i met at the dinner last night as well as Phoenix who I had met at the last accepted students orientation. I ate the entire meal with chopsticks just for the heck of it (I had tofu ravioli and green beans). But hey, it's college who says you can't eat with chopsticks. After dinner we came back to the dorm for a while until our floor meeting. Played survivor during the meeting.. which turned out to be rather interesting. Around 10 a group of about 12 of us walked over to see a comedian, Buzz Sutherland. It was pretty amusing. Now we're back in the dorms just chilling and getting ready for bed. I'm SO exhausted, I won't even be able to complain about the bed being uncomfortable because i'm so tired. Actually, it doesn't feel that bad. And for anyone who has been commenting on the size of my room, yeah it's a little small but it seems to be working out. We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow morning we have to wake up at 7 to get ready for some convocation thing at 9. I kind of get the feeling I won't be getting much sleep this week :) There is another 10-midnight thing tomorrow night too. Oh well.

last night at home

me and the tiger!

thanks guys for the help moving in! 

moving in 

dorm room

my side of the room

closet

Happy Birthday to Me

I'm officially 18! I gotta say being 18 doesn't feel any different than 17 or 16 or 15 or 14 except that now I can buy endless amounts of lottery tickets (not that i ever wanted to... ), sign forms and drive after midnight.

Okay, so for starters Alison came over yesterday and we stayed up until midnight because she has a thing for making me open presents at exactly midnight. Megan had brought over some birthday cake before she left for college Tuesday morning too. It's so tasty! (Thanks Megan!!) 

Fell asleep and then woke up around 7:30 to make some blueberry muffins! After the muffins were done we headed over to Centennial Park to eat them and play on the playground. Alison's parents asked her to stay at her house for a few hours to wait for a package so we all ended up going over there and swimming. Sarah had volleyball practice at 12:30 so it was just Alison and I for lunch. Drove over to Royal Farms to get some gas and then went across the street to pick up some pizza and slurpees. Took it back to her house to eat and watch a movie.

Around 2:30 Alison got me in the car and blindfolded me. For a while now she's been telling me that there was a "super secret birthday surprise". Turns out that we were going to a petting zoo! There is a petting zoo on 108 that has a bunch of stuff left over from the Enchanted Forest (a really old amusement park type thing in ellicott city). There were also bunches of farm animals to pet and feed. There was the cutest cow there! I wanted to bring him home with me. 

After my dad got home we all went out to dinner at the Olive Garden for some tasty pasta, breadsticks and salad. Came home and played a game called "In the Pickle" Ate some cake and now we're watching Little Miss Sunshine. Actually only i'm watching it, Alison fell asleep :) 

It was a pretty awesome birthday :) 

Pre-Birthday Pancakes

About a year or so ago Ever (our next door neighbor) came over for pancakes one night and we all had so much fun that we decided to do another one. This time we had both Ever and Lux over. We ate lots and lots of pancakes, colored, played with some dolls and ate some plastic (fake) food.

You Jump, I Jump Jack

Sunday we had a going away/late graduation/early birthday party... complete with a Tigger moonbounce! Yes, I realize that i'm turning 18 but come on, everyone loves Tigger! It was pretty awesome, we did tons and tons of bouncing and consumed lots of tasty burritos and cake. I think pictures pretty much do the justification on this one for the level of fun we had on the moonbounce. After a slight misunderstanding with the company, we got Tigger just in time for the party and actually got to keep him until this morning so I did have an 8 am bounce.

eating breakfast on the deck

ever (our next door neighbor) and lane (ever's cousin) 

it's moonbouncing time!

(l-r: megan, alison, ever, me, carolyn... taking a break from bouncing)

(my favs)

elisa and corey :)

munching on some tasty burritos

the whole gang (l-r: corey, elisa, megan, alison, ever, me, sarah, ariel, carolyn, jen)

carrot cakeeeeeee

<3

poor tigger with no air

sarah and i bouncing late at night

tiggers enormous head

sarah, alison, liz and megan during our late night bounce