(no subject)
I just got back from Orientation!
And I'm pretty much in love. The Village is such an amazing place. It was indeed risky to commit to a school without even having visited it before, but I don't regret that decision in any way.
Orientation was basically just for taking placement exams and registering for classes with a few social things thrown in there for fun. I really enjoyed how it was 'structured': we were given a booklet with a schedule at check-in which read to 'meet at this building, this room #, and this time.' There was no 'Let's meet up in the the lobby then go together' sort of thing. It was great because you had to find these buildings and rooms by yourself.
I think that aspect of Orientation will reflect the independent nature of going to school at NYU. And I'm completely for it. For me at least, that independence is a really good thing.
The Village is wonderful. Whenever I had free time before a meeting with an advisor or what-have-you, I would just go to Washington Square Park and sit and watch people. This park is always active and incredibly interesting. Kids are playing in the fountain, a Creole band is playing, teenagers are skateboarding, old ladies are enjoying ice cream on a park bench, and people are just generally chilling out. It's such a awesome place just to sit down for ten minutes.
In fact, when I got off of the subway and arrived at Times Sqaure, I already wanted to go back downtown. Times Square is so commerical compared to campus and that experience only reinforced the notion that I made the right decision to go there.
Academics-wise, I'm super excited. People kept telling me that "YOU'LL FEEL LIKE A NUMBER" and shit like that, but my experience was very different. It seems that people who feel that way are the ones who don't go out of their way to NOT be a number. I mean, my advisor knew me by name. So did the Chair of the Classics department. It's all relative, and now I know I can do it.
As for my classes, I'm currently registered for Greek I, Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, and Conversations of the West: Antiquity and the Enlightenment (this is one of the "MAP" courses that everyone must take no matter what. I'm excited for it though). Luckily, I placed out of the foreign language requirement, the math requirement, and can go directly into the honors level courses of science, all with the help of both AP scores and the placement exams offered during orientation. I'm good to go academically, compared to the other freshmen there.
The plan right now is to double major in Classics and Biology with a minor in something that simply interests me, like American Sign Language or Dance. Still on the pre-med track, though.
Anyways, now to the people. It was nice in that pretty much every kind of person existed there. And this was only a small portion of the freshmen class. I made about 10 pretty good, new friends and about 50-100 acquaintances. I have a black girlfriend(Monet), finally! And, by some divine mediation, met someone, Killian, who knows one of my best friends, Mary, who happens to live 4 hours away. It was very fortuitous that we met at this very session in the middle of Manhattan. Either way, I'm planning on going to up to visit him for the first time and Mary for like the ... fifth time. Anyways, we flirted a bit and he's definitely hot so we'll see where this goes. (=. And then there's James and Victoria and Hannah and Michelle and Rebecca and Nick and Joey and all the others.
And I've already had so many 'typical New York' experiences. Those are worth another entry.
I'm not going to divulge details of every day's events as that would be exciting to no one except me. However, I will proclaim that I am now more than ever excited about going to NYU. I cannot wait to go back, see everyone, start classes, and live in the Village again.
And I'm pretty much in love. The Village is such an amazing place. It was indeed risky to commit to a school without even having visited it before, but I don't regret that decision in any way.
Orientation was basically just for taking placement exams and registering for classes with a few social things thrown in there for fun. I really enjoyed how it was 'structured': we were given a booklet with a schedule at check-in which read to 'meet at this building, this room #, and this time.' There was no 'Let's meet up in the the lobby then go together' sort of thing. It was great because you had to find these buildings and rooms by yourself.
I think that aspect of Orientation will reflect the independent nature of going to school at NYU. And I'm completely for it. For me at least, that independence is a really good thing.
The Village is wonderful. Whenever I had free time before a meeting with an advisor or what-have-you, I would just go to Washington Square Park and sit and watch people. This park is always active and incredibly interesting. Kids are playing in the fountain, a Creole band is playing, teenagers are skateboarding, old ladies are enjoying ice cream on a park bench, and people are just generally chilling out. It's such a awesome place just to sit down for ten minutes.
In fact, when I got off of the subway and arrived at Times Sqaure, I already wanted to go back downtown. Times Square is so commerical compared to campus and that experience only reinforced the notion that I made the right decision to go there.
Academics-wise, I'm super excited. People kept telling me that "YOU'LL FEEL LIKE A NUMBER" and shit like that, but my experience was very different. It seems that people who feel that way are the ones who don't go out of their way to NOT be a number. I mean, my advisor knew me by name. So did the Chair of the Classics department. It's all relative, and now I know I can do it.
As for my classes, I'm currently registered for Greek I, Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, and Conversations of the West: Antiquity and the Enlightenment (this is one of the "MAP" courses that everyone must take no matter what. I'm excited for it though). Luckily, I placed out of the foreign language requirement, the math requirement, and can go directly into the honors level courses of science, all with the help of both AP scores and the placement exams offered during orientation. I'm good to go academically, compared to the other freshmen there.
The plan right now is to double major in Classics and Biology with a minor in something that simply interests me, like American Sign Language or Dance. Still on the pre-med track, though.
Anyways, now to the people. It was nice in that pretty much every kind of person existed there. And this was only a small portion of the freshmen class. I made about 10 pretty good, new friends and about 50-100 acquaintances. I have a black girlfriend(Monet), finally! And, by some divine mediation, met someone, Killian, who knows one of my best friends, Mary, who happens to live 4 hours away. It was very fortuitous that we met at this very session in the middle of Manhattan. Either way, I'm planning on going to up to visit him for the first time and Mary for like the ... fifth time. Anyways, we flirted a bit and he's definitely hot so we'll see where this goes. (=. And then there's James and Victoria and Hannah and Michelle and Rebecca and Nick and Joey and all the others.
And I've already had so many 'typical New York' experiences. Those are worth another entry.
I'm not going to divulge details of every day's events as that would be exciting to no one except me. However, I will proclaim that I am now more than ever excited about going to NYU. I cannot wait to go back, see everyone, start classes, and live in the Village again.