still into you

Have a fun weekend, lovelies!!

to do before june

I will be leaving for the city in exactly a week and a half. WHAT?! HOW CAN THAT BE?! I know, it’s only week 8 here at Union (meaning we still have week 9, week 10, and finals week left to go), but my summer internship begins on June 3rd so I have to finish my spring term early. I can’t even think about the fact that this might be my last spring term on the Union College campus (if I go abroad to Irkutsk, Siberia next spring) — there’s too much to do!! In the next nine days I have to:

1. Wrap up my classes – finish up one humongous International Economics homework assignment, complete two Econometrics problem sets, prepare and give a 65-minute Econometrics presentation, write a 25-page Econometrics paper, finish my Russian independent study, and take an International Economics final…

2. Blog and do all of my other thousands of jobs – I plan on blogging while I’m down in the city (hello, blogging is my life blood and a great source of stress relief for me), but before then I have to tutor a ton of anxious economics students and tie up any loose ends with my other jobs…

3. Pack – Oh yeah, that little thing called packing up my room (and taking everything down off of the walls)… that shouldn’t take any time at all! (if only!!)

4. Shop – I know, “Boohoohoo, poor Cat!” But really, even this is a source of stress in my life! I need to buy work clothes ASAP and my wallet is absolutely bleeding… shopping isn’t as much fun when spending too much means you literally won’t eat during the first few weeks on the job…

5. Complete pre-work – As if rushing through the end of my term in an accelerated fashion wasn’t already enough, Morgan Stanley sent me electronic learning modules AND AN ENTIRE BOOK to complete and to read before I start work… AHH!

6. Stay alive in the eyes of my friends – I have the best friends in the entire world and they are so understanding, but even then it is important to keep my sanity during these next few days and enjoy my last few moments with my school friends before we’re all off for the summer. They deserve it and I need it!

The task ahead of me is daunting, but I know that somehow when the calendar turns to June it will all be completed… Here’s to hoping I have a chance to breathe in between now and then!!

city living

Last week I signed the lease for my summer apartment in the city (Meow! Manhattan!) I will be living in midtown (noisy, but close to work) with my beautiful twin sister, Julia. I haven’t seen the place in person yet (let’s just say that in my world a picture isn’t worth a thousand words, but a trip to the Big Apple…), but I’m hoping that it won’t disappoint! I’ve already been cooking up some pinspiration in terms of how I want to decorate the place… what do you think??

before

after

before

after

before

after

YouOnlyLobsterOnce

Last Friday was Union’s annual Lobster Fest. Every year in May the school treats the students to an afternoon of free lobsters and other lobster-bake-related-goodies. As if Union didn’t already rock enough during the spring, this event just pushes the term over the edge. Friday’s weather was absolutely perfect and it was so much fun to see literally hundreds of Union students all sitting out behind our Reamer Campus Center sharing lobsters and laughs. We received beautiful free t-shirts, were served by some of our newly elected student government leaders, and got to unwind after a long week; it was the perfect way to start the weekend!

(p.s. “YOLO” or “You Only Lobster Once” credit to my beautiful bestie )

niskaday

In my younger years, I helped run our high school’s Horticulture Club’s table at Niskaday. We sold home-grown herb and vegetable plants!

Tomorrow is a very special day for my home town and Schenectady’s neighboring town, Niskayuna: it’s NISKADAY! Niskaday is an annual celebration of the town of Niskayuna held for the purpose of entertaining and bringing together its residents and the surrounding community. The day begins with a parade through town at 10am (and lots of candy to catch!!), followed by loads of entertainment, games, crafts, and, of course, lots of delicious food! Finally, the day is capped by the most incredible fireworks show that has seriously spoiled fireworks for me forever. Nisky is a hop, skip, and a jump away from Union and you’d be crazy not to check it out tomorrow!

fun rides and fun friends at Niskaday!

gatsby

Last week I saw “The Great Gatsby.” It was, well, great! The film was extravagant and outrageous and romantic and glamorous and dramatic and beautiful and mesmerizing and funny and tragic. I really enjoyed it so so much. Other than the sets and the music, my favorite parts were when Nick Carraway (played by Toby Maquire) was narrating; as an avid fan of the original novel, I have a certain attachment to the exact words used by Fitzgerald, and it was during those moments of narration rather than dialogue that his words could be fully appreciated.  However, my favorite Gatsby quote (if not my favorite quote of all time…) was abridged in the movie! Nonetheless, I would definitely recommend seeing the film in theaters. It promises to be enjoyable to those who have read the book and those “West Egg” Gatsby-newcomers alike! If I could watch it every single day, I sincerely would. “I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”

waves

Most students at Union fear week 5 — it marks the halfway point of our term and, more notoriously, midterms. But it usually isn’t week 5 that gets me, it’s the few following weeks; by about week 7 (i.e. NOW) I really start to burn out. The work is finally well under way in all of my classes, we’re way beyond any review periods, and end-of-term projects begin to loom ominously in the not-too-far distance. It’s weeks like these that I have to remind myself why things are the way they are. As irrational and as pointless as the hectic schedule of college appears sometimes, at its heart there is a method to its madness; crazy future work schedules obviously come to mind most immediately, but what about future life in general? Whether we decide to get married, or embrace single life forever, or live with our parents, or avoid our extended families completely, or have children, or just have a lot of cats, we will inevitably be faced with many more all-nighters in our futures that don’t involve midterms or finals (technically speaking). It is important to remember that, “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” So pull up those anchors and push on forward!