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30 August 2012

Orientation 101

It is impossible to describe to you how awesome Mount Holyoke is. It's not just the gorgeous campus, the great food, or even the fact that I don't have to take math. Mount Holyoke is awesome because of the PEOPLE.

Throughout the day, I kept hearing how fun "O-101" would be this evening but I didn't know what to expect, what it would be about, and I didn't have any compelling reason to go. But I went. And it was one of the best things I have ever experienced. From the 5-college sketch to the ear-shattering chants, O-101 could not have been any more fantastic. If Princeton Review had a category for most school spirit, Mount Holyoke would be at the very top. That's a no-brainer.

Everyone here is so nice and energetic and lovely and awesome and I love it. This time next year, I'll be up in the balcony screaming my head off. Tonight is something I will remember for a long time. That, and this is something a person will only get to experience once in a blue moon.

2016!

P.S. There's a blue moon tonight.

Books

Before I arrived on campus, three of my professors emailed me with a list of books to get ahold of for their class. Magically, I managed to get all four books for $38. The best part? My Microeconomics textbook was $5 and my Geography textbook was $8 (both including shipping). It was great.

So here I am, all happy and chipper that I spent a measly $38 while a friend at a state college spent a whopping $500! (thank god i'm not taking any hardcore science classes)

THEN all of sudden, my Intro to Cultural Anthro professor emailed this morning asking for three books. After a quick search on Amazon for the cheapest find, the total cost for all three (used) books ended up totaling $65. I cried a little inside. Once I clicked "Confirm Purchase" my heart sank and I cried some more. Oh well!

But on the bright side, I didn't have to spend $500, and $103 isn't terrible considering I bought 7 books altogether. Oh boy, I can't wait for classes to start :)

Any Advice?

I just met my advisor and he's quite attractive, not going to lie. I spent about 25 minutes chatting with him and ended up leaving his office when my appointment officially began. The thing about Mount Holyoke professors is that many of them are shy academic types. This rule applies to my advisor. He's an economics professor and also teaches the seminar class I'm taking this semester, but for some reason we didn't really hit it off. It was almost like pulling teeth with this guy! I felt like we switched roles and I was facilitating conversation rather than he.

But he's handsome, so that's okay I guess.

29 August 2012

Room 247

I can't believe I'm here! Plus, I have a great view!


Okay, you can't really see the view, but the windows! And the window bench that is currently occupied by random stuff!

Now that I'm actually here, it's so hard to believe that I'm staying. It feels like I'll be heading back home tonight with my mom! Everything that once was seems so distant even though everything changed just this morning. Soon enough, mom will leave and I'll be here alone to fend for myself and hopefully not die. 

You know what? Even though I'm coming from a big, badass city, I feel like such a small fish among 2200 other students. Heck, that's smaller than Bronx Science and I still feel like a small fish. It also feels like I don't have enough stuff to occupy my room. Sure, my room at home is probably only 1/3 bigger than my dorm here, but it seems like I only brought clothes. Wait, that's right, I did.

I also forgot to bring my pillow this morning (oops!). There are also a lot of bugs here.

Moving In

The day has finally come, and I am finally moving in!

5:38 AM--
Waking up before the crack of dawn isn't very pleasant, especially if you didn't have a very good night's sleep. I wonder what 4:30am crew practices will be like when you can't even see what's going on outside without a flashlight. The sky looks actually quite lovely right now. It's a beautiful shade of blue that comes with the Sun inching toward our corner of the world, and I love it.
On another note, it shouldn't concern me that I haven't gotten my supply of contacts or driver's license yet right? Or that I didn't return my library book? Or that I should've gone to the post office yesterday? Also, there is a mess on my bed.

27 August 2012

About the School


Mount Holyoke College is a small liberal arts women's college in the western Massachusetts (the Pioneer Valley, to be exact). In 1837 it was the first women's college to be established in the United States, and the first of seven sister colleges. Of the original seven, four are still independent women's colleges. Fun Fact: One of Mary Lyon's prospective names for the college before it was founded was Pangynaskeia.

At the time of my college applications, Mount Holyoke wasn't my first choice or my second or my third or my fourth. In fact, I never gave it a number. 8 of the 10 programs I applied to were professional architecture programs, lasting 5 years and a whole lot of coffee. One of the two non-professional architecture schools I applied to was Mount Holyoke. The other was NYU. Mount Holyoke was a school I admired and could imagine myself attending, but was never really a top choice at the time. It was my safety school, the place I would go if no one else wanted me, and the thought of going there always lingered in my head through the application and waiting processes.

By the time decisions started trickling in, I began to feel unsettled by the idea of going to architecture school. It began with the lists of classes and courses that I wanted to take, the activities I wanted to do, the clubs I wanted to commit to, and everything else that architecture students didn't have the time for. Alas, I didn't get into my first choice school. Or my second choice, or my third (although it was close). At that point, I was just waiting for my NYU decision, as it had become my first choice with the decision to direct away from architecture school.

The day before NYU decisions were scheduled to be released, I went online and logged into my NYU application. Guess what? They never received my transcript. That, and decisions were about to be sent out. So, there went my first choice school, out the window and into the garbage dump. By then, there was nothing to be done.

In the end, I was deciding between RPI, Pratt, and Mount Holyoke. RPI offered me a $30,000 annual scholarship, Pratt was the option my parents nudged me toward, and Mount Holyoke is the school I chose. Pratt gave me the least money, I had to fight for more aid from Mount Holyoke (I also would not have to spend another year of tuition), and RPI is 70% male/nerd/geek/dork/unsociable/cave-dweller. But you know what? I am completely happy with my decision. I love Mount Holyoke. It is a beautiful school sprawling across 800 acres of land, there is a very prominent sense of sisterhood, and I don't have to take any physical science or math classes (thank god geography is considered a science). The students are the nicest people you will meet, the professors actually want to help you, and the faculty are your friends. My first-year dorm is 223 sq ft with a large window and window bench, I'm joining the novice crew team, and there are group spin classes that I don't have to pay for. Mount Holyoke is everything any student could ever ask for, and more.