Class Registration

Last Thursday was my registration enrollment date for Fall 2013! I'm glad that my final schedule worked out after a bit of emailing and constant pestering of other departments.

Something that I hate about SU's registration process is the fact that you don't always know whether or not you can take a class until you click enroll and find out on enrollment day. Granted, you can get around the roadblocks that revolve the administration after a bit of persuasion.

Fall 2013: Presentational Speaking, Reading Popular Culture, Photography in Broadcast News, and various news and media related classes?! I'm psyched!

Plethoric amounts of rain in Syracuse

plethoric \ple-THAWR-ik, -THOR-, PLETH-uh-rik\, adjective:

1. overfull; turgid; inflated: a plethoric, pompous speech.
2. of, pertaining to, or characterized by plethora.

I don't usually say this, actually, I've never said this, but Syracuse has a plethoric amount of rain right now.  Seriously, there's thunder and lightning and everything. 

So.  Much.  Rain.

Syracuse University Relay For Life 2013

I participated in my first Relay For Life yesterday,  hence the late post. Let me tell you, it was nothing like I had expected. I didn't realize that the event was an all night soiree with performances and ballroom dance lessons and things to buy and make and play in addition to the given walking and the speech giving.

My experience is best documented by this video I threw together last night/this morning.

It's a small world.

I took this picture last November-- my first experience of all four seasons on the East Coast! Today I went through my files just to find and show my mother this picture.

What compelled this, you ask? My mother was talking to her CPA (certified public accountant) when the subject of families/children came up as most small talk turns towards. Turns out the accountant earned her undergrad accounting degree from Syracuse!!! And after that, BOOM instant bonding time! They compared experiences (my mother speaking on my behalf as I wasn't there to witness this event) from outdoor activities to studies and reputation, etc.

One thing the CPA specific mentioned was how beautiful the city was in the fall with the autumn leaves. My mother asked me about this later when she came home, so I just had to expose her to this picture I took when I stood in awe at the colorful autumn leaves.

"Tenting"

Layers of blankets in our homey tent!

It's the night before the Syracuse vs. Georgetown basketball game, as Jillian had mentioned in one of her earlier posts (I think). And of course we camped out starting 8am this morning, separating our friends into different shifts so that representatives from our groups would be in line 24/7.

I took the 6:30pm-10pm shift. My next one is the dreaded 5am-9am shift. It was my first time "camping out" per say even though I didn't have to spend the night out in the cold. I was with my friends Josh and Skye and we had a fantastic time making up words (like "tenting"), watching Midnight in Paris, and eavesdropping on nearby "tenters" who were obviously drunk, loud, and obnoxious blasting their rap music and playing beer pong outside.

I had originally thought that camping out meant taking nature by its full force, but I couldn't be more wrong. The school had staff people passing out free ice cream and pizza to campers. Occasionally they'd take roll call to make sure each group had present representatives in queue. Group numbers 67, 68, and 69 REPRESENT! :)

Somewhere umber the rainbow

umber

\ UHM-ber \  , noun;

1. North England Dialect.  shade; shadow.

2. an earth consisting chiefly of a hydrated oxide of iron and some oxide of manganese, used in its natural state as a brown pigment (raw umber) or, after heating, as a reddish-brown pigment (burnt umber).

3. the color of such a pigment; dark dusky brown or dark reddish brown.

4. Ichthyology.  the European grayling, Thymallus thymallus.

adjective:

1. of the color umber.

verb:

1. to color with or as if with umber.

 

Today's word is rather a tricky one because of the plethora of definitions.  I believe this is the first time that I've gotten to choose from six definitions.  I've decided to choose from #3, the color umber.  Below is what I found when I googled the color:

 

 

It's kind of a deep, rich brown color, as you can see.  I like to think of it as the color of the mud here in Syracuse after it's been frozen over and sloshed in.  I know it's a pretty gross description for such a rich shade of brown, but that's really all I can think of.  All the brown things around here are trees, and they all have a sort of bleak look about them because of this thing snow does--it makes everything cold and shades the world in this sort of clouded winter wonderland.  Well, that's the opinion of a girl who comes from 50 degree winters, at least.  

 

Umber is a very nice color, for furniture.  But it makes me appreciate my orange nation all the more.  :) 

A "Casual" Afternoon

I believe that an important part of going to college is trying new experiences. Spending four years cooped up in a dorm room every weekend is no way to enrich your life. So, a major goal of this semester for both Jillian and I is to try something new (and fun!) every weekend.

Despite spending a whole semester at Syracuse last year, most of the time was invested in getting to know the school and its people. We didn't try exploring the city of Syracuse (that seemed a world away from us) because taking a bus to get anywhere seemed like a hassle. After much internet research about "Things to do in Syracuse," we walked a mile off of campus to the Syracuse Stage where we watched a play called Two Trains Running!

The experience of attending this play seemed much different than that I had before. With my family, attending plays meant driving an hour to Los Angeles to watch big name musicals like The Lion King or Les Miserables for birthdays or company Christmas parties. They were never local productions chosen on a whim.

Watching a play in a casual environment was quite amusing... mostly because the people who went to plays at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon were old white folk, despite the play's black history/Civil Rights Movement theme. We were one of a few young people there by choice (no parents). It was also amusing to see how attending a theatrical production is a social event for a community. During the intermission, I walked around the lobby to stretch my legs, and I overheard people introducing people they know to their friends. For the older folks, attending these plays was means of getting to meet others!

To be honest, Two Trains Running was okay. While I loved portions of the dialogue and appreciated the historical background, the pacing was a bit slow at parts, and the play itself was very dialogue heavy. One has to pay careful attention to what characters are saying in order to understand the whole story. There were many subplots, but I could not identify one main plot line for the entire production. On a more positive note, the acting was phenomenal! The actors were invested into their roles the entire production and showed emotion effortlessly.

3/5 STAR RATING