grad school is hard

welll i know i haven't updated in forever and thats because i barely have time to shower nevermind write on this! and to think- i still havent had all of my classes! monday was labor day so there was no class/work. I can only imagine what it'll be like when I'm juggling all 5 of my classes!

So far I like all my classes and its true that grad school is very diff from undergrad. some of the professors in particular really push you and force you to think in a much different way than i've ever done before. its not even a different perspective than normal, but they want you to think just differently and i can't describe it.

funny side note is that so many people in my cohort (aka the people in my program who are first-years like me) are people who were lawyers and now changing careers. makes me glad i realized law wasnt for me before i spent 100s of 1000s of dollars in law school debt!

my job is also still really cool. i'm working on booking a comedian for the spring and the talent guy sent me some really awesome possibilities so i'm excited to spend time on youtube watching clips and then suggesting the best ones to my bosses!

right now there is a huge party in the courtyard behind my building and its super loud and currently playing beyonce's single ladies...therefore making it hard to study. soO just wanted people to know i didnt die , i am alive and (semi)well and just trying to get through all my work!

xoxo

sandy

no matter where i go i just cant escape gin

hia!

this week has been crazy and hectic! tuesday was orientation all day as well as the TC block party which was basically all of 120th between amsterdam and broadway being filled with food and other vendors. orientation was much more pleasant than undergrad or hs orientation.. the faculty here is so legit and scholarly . not to mention the different auditoriums and such are so beautiful and marvelous that i feel like i'm at hogwarts sometimes.

like all good days, after orientation was a happy hour down at the Pour House by 111th. the place was SO overly crowded with all the columbia alcoholics..i mean students.. that a bunch of us ended up going to a dive bar across the street. after dinner we figured hey lets keep the night rolling , so we went down to an awesome bar called The Gin Mill on 81st i believe. kate and i both needed things back in the apt so we walked back to 120th then hoofed it the 40 blocks south. woof! it was awesome weather and super nice out but everyone else thought we were out of our skulls for walking it. anywhoo the gin mill was fun and i loved it bc it reminded me of ramapo and gin buckets ... somehow gin always finds its way near me. i headed back with a few others around 11 or so and took the subway home haha!

wednesday was my first real day of work and it was awesome! the staff members are very upbeat, helpful, down to earth, and have senses of humor. it was a hectic day and i was definitely busy (check out the bulletin board near 160 thorndike for proof of my work haha!) but it was awesome. i stayed late to help work the wine & cheese welcome event for student organizations... and let me tell you... columbia catering is legitttt. as was the wine! there was no franzia blush here ... i guess those days are gone! after that .. kate's futon finally arrived! so we somehow put it together (im afraid to actually sit on it) and then we headed back down to the upper west side and did some shopping. a fun day indeed!

today ... ive been a total bum. i have my first two classes tonight and i'm excited and nervous! they both sound awesome though - the american college student , & women in higher education. i just got into the women in higher ed class this week because its a special topics course and was offeredkind of last minute, but im so excited for it!

im sure ill have lots more to say after classes...and i have to upload pictures still.

aurevoir!

xoxo

sandy

itsss a beautiful day in the neighborhood

oh hey! today was absolutely beautiful. it also happened to be my first day of work! i only went in for a little over an hour but i get an awesome vibe from the office and all the people working there. its the office of student activities and programs at TC, so it'll be cool doing programming on a graduate level!

also, further proof that the world is small: one of my supervisors used to be a director of greek affairs at another institution and knew the former president of theta, mari ann callais! and knew all about her freakin guitar. bahaha.

i had some problems with my loans so after work i went to financial aid and they were soo nice and helpful... downside of that was i spent a good hour this afternoon running all over morningside heights to get the right paperwork sent to my lender. ahh gotta love it. also spent a good 45 min in the columbia bookstore/b&n with my suitemate kate, who shares the same nerdy adoration for school supplies that i do. fortunately i managed to practice some frugality and only picked up a well-needed binder.

i promise i will have some awesome pictures of the campus up soon i just keep forgetting my camera... and this place is a zoo right now with the undergraduate convocation happening today. their move-in was so calm and organized looking... strange compared to the nuthouse i remember ramapo being.

yesterday i did some wandering around the neighborhood and found some awesome stuff on the broadway side of campus... decided i DO NOT LIKE pinkberry (too tart!).. and even went to the gym (we all know how monumental that is). the gym is 4 floors and all underground , its quite bizarre but super cool!

tomorrow is orientation alllll day followed by a happy hour ... i will be sure to report back obvs, and my first class is thursday night! eek! the juiceball extraordinaire cucch is supposed to be visiting me wed for a wine tasting so more to come on that as well, and seamus is being forced to venture to central park with me on friday! (dont worry mom its only 10 blocks away)

alright like i said, def more pictures ASAP!

xoxo

sandy

nyc theories!

soo as i keep observing everything going on the past few days i've noticed a few things such as:

1. in new york city, EVERYONE has an iphone...

2. or a blackberry.

3. i've met more people attending the columbia grad school of education from california than anywhere else.

4. on that note, californians are to LA as new yorkers/jerseyians are to NYC. if you are not good at analogies, that means that they think LA is the coolest hottest spot, the center of the universe just like we think our area is.

5. I HAVE MET NO ONE HERE FROM NYC!

6. being from NJ makes me the resident nyc expert. for you betches who know me, you know how scary that is.

7. i love my mac even more than ever for the ability to video chat with all my loves... here's looking at you spanspi, sarahbetch, seamonster, kgrap, little, etc.

alright i'll save the rest of my theories and generalizations for when they've panned out more.

leave me comments!

xoxox

sandy

picturetastic

oh hey! so i took some pictures of my plaaace. here's a few shots of my roOm:

view from my window of the courtyard

kitchen area the classroom picture is a classroom in the MBA building where a ton of movies have filmed, including a scene of spiderman. cool right?! andd the final picture is myself with 2 of my suitemates and a few other girls we have befriended and i've been yapping about. we were waiting for our tour guide to show up for a tour of local bars and hot spots but they never showed! so we made our own tour which was pretttty successful. we hit up a few bars including the heights on broadway which was super cool cause it had a rooftop bar. and across the street is the diner from Seinfeld's , not that i like that show but its noteworthy nontheless!

xoxo

sandy

ain't no sunshine when she's gone

oh whats up! so i moved into my city digs yesterday. of course, despite the weather forecast being sun, it was pouring rain all day! luckily it managed to lighten up to on-and-off drizzling when we actually got here. my parents and seamus helped me move in and get my stuff (mostly) unpacked and set up. i couldnt wait to check in at the front desk (which looks like a hotel lobby btw.. but i will post about my building in a diff post) and go check out my room! my room is part of a 6-person suite; the suite itself is pretty damn big! theres a kitchen area with a little table and chairs, the kitchen appliances themselves are probably from the 40s and kinda woofy. but the building was built in 1901 soo... yaknow! the elevators here are half the size of ones at ramapo by the way... so its weird! anyway so my suite- the shower/tub and a sink are in one part of the bathroom, then there are two separated sinks... then in an entirely different room is the toilet . soo thats pretty cool.

i met four of my suitemates so far. so many people here are from california! 2 of mine are from california, the LA area i believe, and other one is from the carolinas. the other two have been living here since last falll - one is an international student from taiwan, and i havent met the 5th yet. everyone is super nice and cool. its weird meeting so many people from CA.. one of my roommates came into my room, saw my air conditioner in the window, and asked what it was and how it worked! she had never seen one before. i know its hot out there so most people probably have central AC like i do at home but.. come on! never seen a window unit??!?! crazy. will def be fun to see them react and adjust to the snow this winter baha.

like i suspected, i am def a baby at this school- almost everyone i've met is 23-27, and all have like really awesome life stories like having lived in japan for two years to each english and crazy stuff like that. as long as they are still dtf for happy hours and a glass of wine here and there, im sure i'll befriend them in no time.

speaking of wine... of course i broke out the beringers white zin after the orientation meeting! and a little bit after that i went for a drink with a group of girls from my building at some place a block away that i cant remember the name of. go figure. on the way back we got caught in a downpour, so i ended my first living in new york looking very much like a drowned rat. but hopefully a cute drowned rat. whatevs!

other interesting things--- i have a gilted gold mirror on my wardrobe, which probably sounds ridiculous BUT I LOVE COOL MIRRORS LIKE THAT so i'm happy. and, housekeeping here cleans our common areas including the bathroom weekly! which was just so random i had to share.

ok i willl be posting pictures soon so if anyone is bothering to read this they can visualize it !

xoxo

sandy

t-2

welll its 2 days till i'll officially be living in nyc! will be so weird hearing the constant hustle and bustle outside my window, taking subways and buses or simply walking instead of driving myself, and living in arguably the most famous city in the world!