We Like Grass

By Tamika Whitenack Things have officially picked up, and I am officially very busy! I think the most effective way to give you a sense of my life right now would just be to give you some comprehensive lists of things that happened this week/things happening next week/my schedule. My Weekly Schedule (normally, this is subject to change a little depending on the week): Monday: 7:30 Pilates 9:00 Sociology 10:30 Spanish 11:40 Flute 12:30 Lunch, HW 3:10: Environmental Studies 4:30 ? 5:00 Yoga 6:00 Dinner 7:00 ASA meeting 8:00 HW Tuesday: 7:45 Run 9:30 HW 10:30 Spanish 11:30 HW, Lunch 1:30 Bio Lab 5:30 (but usually we end lab earlier): HW, dinner 7:00 Wind Ensemble 9:00 HW Wednesday: 7:30 Pilates 9:00 Sociology 10:30 Spanish 11:40 Flute, "lunch" 12:30 Wind Quartet 1:30 Gym + Swim 3:00 HW 6:00 MBSA meeting? 7:00 Dinner 8:00 HW **tbh Wednesday afternoons are kind of one of my flexible days and may change around a lot Thursday: 7:45 Run 9:3...

By Jae-An Wang Ahh…it’s Friday once again. The weekends here feel so much longer than they do at home, but even so, it’d be nice to have another three-day weekend like last week. Holidays on Mondays are the best, since you get both an extra day of rest and one less day of work the next week, which kind of eases the transition a little bit. Speaking of last weekend, I guess I should mention that I went home! I flew back Friday night, which wasn’t very fun because of delays and the fact that I had completely forgotten I’d be flying into SFO instead of Oakland and BARTing home. I had wanted to bring my model rockets home to store, but decided against it since I wasn’t sure about Southwest’s policy about missile-shaped objects in carry-on bags, and was too lazy to check. I wondered what would have happened if I had brought them with me…? Fooey I couldn't get a better pic Anyhow, not much happened. I tried to be sufficiently productive. We went bowling. Meeko was an a...

By Cameron Rusin Hi friends! I apologize as it’s been a long while since I’ve blogged. I just read my last post to see what needs to be covered and longingly look back on being able to write “I am left here with a lot of energy but nothing to do.” Those were the days! As per usual, I’m gonna split this up by topic because my brain is too tired to format in a more interesting way. School Things have definitely ramped up. Right now I’m in the middle of midterm season number one. As of yesterday afternoon I have finished my chem midterm and my spanish midterm and still have my comp sci midterm next week. I think they went well, but also who can ever tell. This week was also the first week this semester that felt really hard, and I may have felt the stereotypical college grind the most I have yet. What caused this change? Only computer science. We have homework every week which usually consists of writing three programs. Up until this week, these programs were not too difficult, but...

By Tamika Whitenack There isn't actually going to be any romantic love in this post, in case you were getting excited. Romantic love is really just not part of my life, unless you count the fact that my daydreams about future life with kiddos baking/dancing in the kitchen probably implies a romantic partner. But all that aside, this post is still full of love! I am full of love and happiness and all that good stuff and I will share some of the reasons why this is so in my life. My exercise regimen this semester is awesome! I was really quite nervous about returning the cold north, and feared that I was not going to get adequate running or exercise. But it was in vain. It really hasn't been that cold, first of all. Secondly, I've been incorporating more varied workout types and am feeling very good about it! A typical week for me looks like this: Monday-Pilates, Yoga (small treadmill run?); Tuesday-midlength run outside; Wednesday-Pilates, treadmill run/workout, swimmi...

By Jae-An Wang While I'm writing this, I'm listening to some orchestral performances of Studio Ghibli music. It's super nostalgic and I really want to marathon some of the films when I have time (spring break, basically).The best thing ever, especially the violin solo (this and the opening to Nausicaa, that is): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4LrW5f4dyc ... I guess I have some explaining to do as to why it’s been so long since I’ve posted. I have excuses, except that time passes absurdly quickly when you’re in college. We’re already starting week 6 of the 2 nd quarter here, meaning that it’s precisely half way through the year for us. Isn’t that crazy? So many things have happened already that I feel bad for not documenting them. But better late than never, right…? Ahaha… Rain is nice Coming back from winter break was probably the smoothest transition I’ve had in years. Usually going back to school is the worst thing ever, since all I can ever think ab...

By Tamika Whitenack I know, I posted yesterday. But last night, before I went to bed, I had the pleasure of reading two lovely letters: one from Jae-An and one from my Bachan. Letters are such a treat to find in my mailbox, and I usually try to wait to read them before I go to sleep. I can reliably count on reading letters to make me smile. It is so nice to hear people's voices through their writing, and it just makes me feel good and want to smile in a quiet way. And I think that smiling in a quiet way is a good state to be in when falling asleep, so I read my letters before bed. Yay for letters, yay for smiling, yay for sleep. I felt like this was worth posting about. PS enjoy some pictures of rose cupcakes/cake and appreciate the geometric heart cake  

By Tamika Whitenack Can you believe my spring break is only a month away? It's kind of crazy. I truly believe this semester is going to fly by. I've been doing well this week though, and am excited for the semester. Last weekend I went on a hike with a friend on Mt. Beacon. It was somewhat steep and icy, so it was a bit of an adventure, but the view from the top was nice! I don't think I've ever seen so many winter trees! We climbed up the top of the fire tower to maximize our view, and the wind chill factor really increased as we were ascending. Next time, I need to remember gloves and my warm headband. There has been a fair bit of precipitation since I last blogged, which has made for interesting conditions. We've had snow, freezing rain, normal rain, and more snow, so everything is sort of a mix of snow, ice, slush, and salt. On Wednesday, the school was pretty much closed down as a snow day (the gym and all the admin offices were closed), but I still had a...

By Tamika Whitenack 'Tis Thursday evening, and almost the end of my first full week of classes! The week has definitely felt long...I forgot how long each day here can feel! But, I am also feeling a lot more adjusted and back into the routine of Vassar life, so that is somewhat reassuring. On the academics front, I am enjoying my new classes very much. There is a lot more reading for Sociology and Environmental Studies than there was for CogSci and Psychology last semester, but I find it really engaging and enjoyable to read. Shout out to the word "inchoate" for showing up in all the academic writing that I read! Haha. If anyone is bored, my readings for Sociology are Micheal Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma   and Agriculture and Food in Crisis  by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar, which is actually more of a collection of essays. Environmental studies has been more of a broad range of various essays and such, including the letter Columbus wrote upon reaching the W...