NEW SITE

For those of you who actually use my website, I have moved from Angelfire to Google Pages.
It's an easier interface for me, and it looks more professional.

KIMBERLY'S NEW WEBSITE!

I Love Canada

Stephen Lewis came to speak at Stern a few days ago. He's a Canadian-born UN envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He came to discuss this at our school, and his experiences and opinions with the whole lot of crises in Africa (as well as what corporations are doing to help).
The man was one of the best public speakers I've ever heard! First of all, I was completely captivated by him and what he said for about 1.5 hours. His stories and viewpoints were so strong! It made you feel like it's time to fix this now, somehow, somewhere.....but he didn't give any ways to fix it. Just that it needs to be fixed.
Secondly, his words were amazingly eloquent and beautiful. He didn't speak as someone would normally do with others....it was like listening to a Shakespearian actor give a speech in prose! The format was just.....almost poetic. I felt as if I had stepped back in time to Greek or Roman times, to Socrates giving one of his philosophical speeches or something. It was amazing.

And, of course, Stern lectures would not be a real lecture without their infamous receptions afterwards. The food was glorious, and plentiful beyond belief. While Danielle, Tigist, and I excitedly babble about what we could do to help out the crises, we stuffed our faces with catered gourmet goods. It was amazingly glutenous.

Yoga is still fun. I'm still sore from it.

Lots of stuff to do this weekend....

Holy Flood!

Be surprised, yet another week of complete mayhem.
So, let's start the easy way; last Monday.

After a long, long, not-so-pleasant day of lots of school and work and whatnot, I called my mom while studying in Deej's room to talk and vent my discouraged self away. I get off the phone with her around midnight, and wait for Deej to get done with the bathroom so I can go to bed. But I hear water trickling in a peculiar way, so I go to the bathroom to hear if he was taking a shower. No...the sound sounds more like rain....in my room...
I turned on the light in my room to find the hanging lamp pouring out water all over my room. A huge pool of water has accumulated onto the floor, and my bed is gathering a good pool, too. At first, I gazed at it, thinking how interesting it looked, almost photogenic. Then reality bitch slapped me back and I got Deej to call the emergency maintenance hotline while I run upstairs to see what's going on.
My neighbors upstairs, 2 charming NYU guys (one's BRITISH! imagine that!) are frantically running around in their boxers because their toilet (located directly above my bed) has clogged and flooded all over the place. Awesome. This is when I start to laugh hysterically, and don't stop laughing for a very long time.
By the end of the night, I had two strange guys in boxers on my bed holding a bucket to the light, hoping for it to stop. It did finally, but my stuff was all wet. And the bed was a mess.
The boys were super apologetic about it all, and ended up buying me a bottle of French wine in apology. They were really sweet, I told them we should have a dinner party together sometime. They seemed up for it.

It's alright, I had to do laundry the next day anyways.
I'm still waiting for the landlord to come over to check the ceiling. And my light still doesn't work.
Tuesday I walked to school to see some airplanes in the sky writing continuously "UN For Taiwan." It was awesome!

Wednesday I had to work at the IBEX fair during lunch. It was intense! I met up with Manon and got at my table to set it up. People swarmed us for about 45 minutes, asking us what the difference between Sciences Po and Uni. Paris Dauphine was (Harvard vs. Wharton, basically). And all of the French requirement questions. Luckily Paz came over and helped us out a bit.
I got a free meal out of it, so I'm contented.
That night, I was not looking forward to it, but I told myself I would go to FIAF for their Rendez-Vous party. Basically, the institute has this big cocktail event monthly where you get together with the other patrons and speak French. I was SHOCKED at how much fun I had! And I realized how good my French actually is! I was correcting people's French a lot! I met some really great people, got some business cards from some sweet people, and looking forward to next month.
And what more! But across the street from FIAF is a French bistro, Bistro 60, that had my FAVORITE French dish, Steak Tartare!!!! I was soooo excited, and bought myself dinner to go (where I got WAY too much beef tartare, fries, and bread....soooo good!).

Thursday started off with an interview to be an escort at the International Emmy Awards Gala. They seemed to like me a lot, gave me a huge folder, and told me to call them November 1st to see what French person I could be put with.
Then I had a meeting, then classes....
Chambers started, and it didn't start on the best note. Granted, I love my Chambers group, but it was poorly ran by certain someone, especially considering that most of the group is new now. We joked and laughed a lot, and it was fun, but I was not fully comfortable.
Afterwards, Rob and I met up and got a glass of wine at WineBar. It was a FABULOUS rosado wine from Riajo, Spain. So so good.... We had a fun time talking, he's all about helping me out with life. He says that he's here to teach me about how people work, while I teach him how the world works. We are even thinking about working together to make a nonprofit trip for some vacation soon. We'll see!

Friday I had to go the Yankees Game (against the Blue Jays). I am not a huge fan of baseball what-so-ever, but it was for the sake of IBEX. Let me tell you, though......DON'T bring 30 international students to a baseball game 1 month into their stay in the US. BAD IDEA. Things were not smooth for them.
I hung out with the French kids, spoke some Franglish, tried to explain the game to them (and gave up), but in the end, I was not feeling the game. So, with a Mexican girl, I left at 5th inning...after buying a HUGE bag of Cracker Jacks. Now, I felt it necessary to buy some, but THAT MUCH? I ate 3 hand-fulls and was done.
Later, a homeless guy on the train started begging for money for food, and I handed him my (mostly full) bag of Cracker Jacks. He looked so shocked and confused, it made me chuckle.
I met up with Lauren and watched "Across the Universe". Great experimental musical with the Beatles music!!!!! But don't go see it while tripping on something, it's QUITE an acid trip without the added supplements. Man, 3 hours of thinking I was on shrooms.......Lauren proceeded to talk about it for an hour after, but I was incoherent so I couldn't indulge in the conversation.

Saturday I woke up for a Chambers meeting with Darrell and Christina, that went alright. I ran to my next school meeting that lasted me for 4 hours......and I got a text from Nate. Poor guy was bored all day, so we went out for dinner at Negrille (oh so good...) and joked around. Afterwards, we walked uptown to a bar where we met his friends and had a few drinks and joined a party of 30 kids in the back. It was a really fun night, actually. I talked with his friends a lot, and I stole a lot of cherries from the bar.
In the middle of the night, José-Louis from Paris calls me up to tell me he's in the city. Last minute, eh?
I got really tired early, though, so I left, with Nate. Nate asked to crash at my place for my night, so we had a fun ride on the train home together.

Sunday I woke up completely exhausted.
I ran up to school to meet up with José and have a walk around for a little while. I think I can safely say that only the Europeans (French, in particular) can say, "It's 2pm....I'm parched......I need a beer." Alright, alchy......But I did have a nice time with him, and we rolled in between languages.
Chambers went by a lot better than the last time, thank goodness! I was delirious the entire time, though, so I brought much entertainment for my fellow singers, I guess.

Yesterday! Was alright. Cassie bought me lunch, where I found out that she's close friends with this guy I've known since 2nd grade and who just recently transfered to our school. WEIRD!
I had a very informative and helpful advisor meeting.
And, Neil came over late at night. We wrestled for a while, but I was bruised so he had to be gentle. I am learning so much about jiu jitsu!

Today was alright. I started Yoga. It's a great class (and OUTSIDE!). But I'm shocked to realize just how much of my flexibility and strength I lost from not doing dance or yoga in France. Ouch.......
Otherwise, my day was done early. Had a presentation on Metro in Spain. Fun....
Now I'm trying to apply for a job with Eli Lilly. Just in case.

Just A Thought

I have been having a lot of really funky dreams lately.

A lot of them have to do with me making panic flights to London, or really missing the place.
A lot of them are dealing with death, bizarrely.
A lot of them have people being very personal with me, even if I haven't seen them in a while.

I really just want to go to someone who can tell me exactly what's going on. Yup, that's what I want.

To The Point

I love Marion. And Thomas, too.
Marion and Thomas from Sciences Po came into NYC to visit for the weekend.
Well, Thomas went to NJ for the weekend, but I saw him at the beginning and end of it all.
Marion and I walked A LOT. And we talked a lot. I did the tourist things all over again, but it was fine because we had fun. And I spoke in a lot of French.
We got to walk through the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy and get called at by Italian guys on the overly crowded streets. And we made a lot of friends on the street while we sang and dance all over the place. We were such goofballs!
It was Guacamole Day in Times Square and we got free guac on the street! And it was good.
We met a very kind old British guy on the Staten Island Ferry, who told me that my accent was very interesting because it was not entirely American, but just American enough that he couldn't place it.

Chambers had auditions. I'm Vice President now (be excited....), which means more responsibility, but mostly just being as influential as I've been the entire time. We had a lot of fun during the auditions, since we're all friends. We made a lot of awkward comments during auditions, and got sidetracked a lot. I think, though, that our joking around made it a lot easier for us to tell who would actually work out well with the dynamics of the group. One guy was good enough, but he did not bounce off well with us, so we aren't going to take him. Easy cuts, easy finds. And (what a miracle!) we got 3 more men! I don't think we've ever had that many men try out for us!

Otherwise, school is school. Lots of work to be done, lots of work has been done. Enjoying some of it, not enjoying some of it whatsoever.

Welcome To Seniority

I have 7 classes. All of which have a lot of homework and reading.
Some which have constant 100 pages a week.....

And I have a part-time job.

And I am in a singing group, VP type officer.
Auditions were yesterday. Some people were great. Others....not so much. It's sad that thick accents even hinder the ability to be blend-able in a group.

And I work out.
And I want to dance.
And I want to do yoga.
And I have to sleep.
And I have to eat.
And I have a social life.
Too much to talk about. Just say I've seen a lot of people lately, lots of tea talks, lots of dinners, lots of parties, lots of plans....

And I have to make a career change for my job hunt where instead of doing business things as a business major, I'm trying to look at being a diplomat or a nonprofit runner, which has absolutely nothing to do with my major and school, so I have to start thinking about how to approach this so I won't end up screwed in May!

......Life is busy. I'm alright. I just can't talk about it right now. I have to go to the gym.

Word of the Day

Lugubrious (adj) looking or sounding sad and dismal.

Not because of the meaning, but just the word itself. It sounds squishy. I think it needs to be incorporated into everyday life.

I don't like the word moist very much.

Happy Labor Day

So, tomorrow my vacation ends and I officially begin my Senior Year at NYU....also known as slavery. Before I become overwhelmed with work and work and work, I have concluded to give an overview of what has been going on this week.

I got back from Boston Wednesday night, and I went straight home. That was that.

Thursday, I met up with Neil, at last! We went out for a walk and for lunch. Good old rapper Chaz joined up with us to go to VP2's (which is one of our key favorite food joints on campus). It was a great few hours getting back in touch with them all and talking about old times.
The funny thing was that it really hit strongly just how much different we were from 3 years ago. I met Chaz and Neil on Goddard 4th floor our Freshman Year, and we still are good friends. Which is nice, because to me that shows that my first year in school wasn't a complete wasted. But, I mean, we're not the young ones on campus anymore; in fact, we're the oldest undergrads now! And how old do I feel hearing that. The kids coming in now are SO YOUNG, and COMPLETELY CLUELESS AND INEXPERIENCED! It was shocking to watch them all lump together in awkward, insecure, showing-off crowds and find out how lost they all were. And here Neil, Chaz, and I are, walking around, an odd group of old friends (white rapper from MN Chaz, AsianAmerican jiu jitsu folk artist Neil, and me), walking around quickly, talking while looking straight ahead, blowing off street marketers, and making it across the street before getting hit. It was kind of a movie moment for me, realizing how much we've grown and how different we are from each other but are still able to enjoy our company.
For dinner, Andy and I agreed to meet and eat at a nearby Moroccan café. Never tasted it before, but it was absolutely amazing! I loved the meal, and we overate (as always) while discussing his new boyfriend and his first year at Med School and his moving out of Manhattan. After splitting dessert, I had to be rolled out of the café.
Craig picked me up after that, and we went for a walk and chit chatted a bit. The walk helped me get over my full stomach. I noticed, though, that I sure miss a lot while I'm in Europe, huh?

Friday, I worked until 6pm at work. There are a lot of us girls working at this place, and we had some nice talks. But most of the time I was too busy to stop moving or writing. It was nice that my boss bought us all lunch, but I have to stop this pizza-eating habit.
Marion then called me and we talked about how she was doing in Boston so far. In French, of course. People in WSP kept giving me funny looks.
Afterwards, I realized just how little people I had to hang out with, so I went to campus to bother Deej at the Freshmen's Welcome Week Beach Ball. Basically, I sat around with Deej and directed all of the freshmen to where the party actually was. We also had to direct them in how to use their cards to enter the building. A lot of them tried putting up a fight about how unfair it was that they couldn't get in without a card, but we kept telling them "get used to it, that card is your life here". Which is true. I also went upstairs and made a B-line to the food table to grab some treats for us older kids working the dance. You could tell I was older because I walked in straight through the crowds, got the food, and left. I noticed people oggling at my determination and ease with my mission. Yup, I'm a bit seasoned.
At the end, us older kids decided to dance a little bit. Another distinction between us and the freshmen: they didn't carry drinks. Being more used to the city's dance and club system of constantly carrying around a drink and dancing with it on the floor naturally, we held our Pepsi's and punches and danced away. The freshmen seemed to be still stuck in Prom mode, and tried to awkwardly manage dancing with other people and not looking too awkward. They were too caught up in the cool-ness to be thirsty, I suppose. They'll learn.

Saturday, I woke up a bit early to meet up with Lauren so we could grab breakfast at this adorable place on her street, Cloister Café. It was great! The outdoor patio was simply wonderful, with grape vines as the canopy and a beautiful brick floor. And the brunch was super! My challah french toast really hit the spot! And we talked about boys. I also got to see her apartment (which is massive! especially for the price she's paying for it! a bit more than half of the rent for my place! boo) and help her with some decor decisions. This was quickly followed with a mission to help her buy essential room objects nearby.
During this, Danielle called me and met up with us at Union Square. Soon after, my dear Dante (!) met up with us and Lauren abandoned the group with her heavy load. Us 3 went for a great and picturesque walk on the East River down to my apartment. On the way there, we stopped in Alphabet City at a (quite sad looking) Latin concert. There, we saw an old plump lady dressed in bright pink spandex and leotard (with a waist belt), bright pink velvet mules, and a pink hat gyrating her hips to the music. It was by far the best thing I've seen yet in NYC.
I thought my night was over, and I was ready to settle in, when Nate called me to tell me he was at a pub nearby. So I walked over to join him 15 blocks up. He didn't know anyone at one of his friend's parties, so he wanted me to go to keep him company (story of my life, right?). We ended up talking to one of the girls all night, and having a really great time joking about life and everything in between. We had a few drinks and I managed to meet most of the party and told them all a completely made up story about myself. Now, people think my name's Teresa, I'm a classical composition music major in Gallatin who plays the harp?!!? Nate was impressed, and amazed at the huge hole I dug for myself.
Afterwards, he walked me home and we grabbed a pizza slice nearby. Which Chaz bought for me, since he was unexpectedly there. It was a fun night!

Sunday started off slowly. Very, slowly. I woke up, put on my gym clothes, went to the Container Store to buy some cubes for my wall to put things on, went to the gym around 3pm, came back around 5pm, put up the cubes, and then showered.
Somewhere in the middle of this, my BFG, AARON! came to visit. He literally had just gotten into the city, and I was flattered. He's such a great kid, and I don't feel the need to always make conversation with him. We ate dinner at Cafe Brama nearby (cheap, easy, delicious health food) and then went for a walk. The walk was actually to the movie theater, but we ended up not seeing a movie and I went to see his place instead for 10 minutes.

Today was Labor Day, of course. Deej and I started it off with a long gym workout. Then I fell asleep for an hour before heading off to Brooklyn for a BBQ hosted by Shana. Once we got to the BBQ, we found out that Shana had forgotten to get the BBQ things, so we ordered some pizzas and watched some shows. And yet, we always manage to enjoy ourselves. The pizza were especially delicious. But I really musn't eat them anymore! THE CHEESE!!!
One funny thing, the one day I decide to wear a dress out in public is the one day a dog decides to sit on me and go to the bathroom. Awesome, made me feel special. Maybe that's a sign?
I had to leave early to meet Nate up in his area of Brooklyn for another Bourne night. I got there and he noticed my uncomfortable self in my dress, so he handed over some of his PJs to wear while I was over so I could be more comfortable. Green tea, male pajamas, and Jason Bourne; what a miraculous trio! I enjoyed Matt Damon, as always, and we cracked some jokes, and I finally came home to write this very long blog.

Tomorrow, the beginning of the end commences.