Posting from Yale
I've been at Yale for a little bit more than 48 hours and I already absolutely love it! It is incredible! The people here are so fascinating and the atmosphere is charismatic and exciting. My suite is amazing - it's downright palatial! I have my own room off the suite and it's awesome; it's small but it's all mine, and I've heard that some dorms have two people living in the same amount of space. We truly have the best freshmen dorms on campus (and what an absolutely beautiful campus it is!). My suitemates are soooooo cool! We get along really well, and we've already become fairly close with each other. We all have really divergent personalities and backgrounds, but we get along great.

I just got in contact with a guy I went to high school with who now goes here (he was a year ahead of me, and spent his freshman year at UB then trandferred here), so there are two Sweet Home people here! He's from South America. The diversity of this place is absolutely astounding! There are students here from every corner of the globe - it's so enlightening. I've already had so many cool experiences.

I love my residential college - JE has a beautiful courtyard and dining hall! I'm in "Harry Potter"-glory. I'm planning to play intramural volleyball for the JE team, because field hockey doesn't start until the Spring.

I may not be able to post with any degree of regularity or frequency because I'm having trouble hooking up to the school network, and the Computer Assistants are slowly helping me work out the problem; I've been relying on my suitemates' computers. But I am having an amazing time! Classes start on Wednesday, and I'm actually really looking forward to them.
- posted by Nicole @ 5:56 PM

 
Crazy!
So much to do, so little time! I feel so overwhelmed! I leave on Thursday and there is still so much to be done (which is why I have been posting with decreasing frequency). I went back to my high school one last time to say goodbye to my coach and choral director. It was nice to see them, but the visit confirmed to me that I'm completely ready to move on to the next phase. Assembling and packing will take up the next 48 hours; I'm even giving up free tix to the Goo Goo Dolls concert at Darien Lake cuz I have too much to do! AGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! Make it stop! Make it stop!
- posted by Nicole @ 11:12 AM

 
Yale #1
The Princeton Review just came out with their lists of the best schools (out of 351) in various categories, and Yale was ranked #1 for overall academics. In extracurriculars, Yale was ranked 3rd for great college theater and 5th for great college newspaper. It was also ranked 4th in terms of hardest to get into and 6th for best library. Go Bulldogs! You can see all the results at www.princetonreview.com.
- posted by Nicole @ 6:33 PM

 
Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom Teeth suck. That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter, as I got all four of mine ripped out of my mouth yesterday. All they gave me was novocaine, too! No laughing gas, no sedatives, NOTHING! I was completely conscious the WHHHHOOOOOOOLLLE time. But I did survive, and am thoroughly milking the recovery-process-attention for all it's worth. I mean, hey, after what I went through. . . ok, so I'm being a little dramatic. It wasn't awful (certainly not something I'd wanna do on a regular basis, but thankfully it only has to be done once). Oh - and a tip for anyone who is getting theirs out in the future (or knows someone who is): BRING HEADPHONES! This tip - which my friend shared with me - got me through. It gives you something else to focus on, especially if all you have is novocaine . . .
- posted by Nicole @ 10:27 AM

 
The Count of Monte Cristo
"What is marvellous? That which we do not comprehend. What is truly desirable? That which we cannot have. Now to see things I cannot understand, to procure things impossible of possession, such is the plan of my life."
-Chapter 42
- posted by Nicole @ 5:36 PM

 
Meteor Shower?
Maybe I was misinformed (by Channel 2!!!!), but I thought there was supposed to be a meteor shower last night. It was supposed to peak on the 12th and 13th of August, and so I went out to go see it (away from the lights of the city and suburbia, of course) but to no avail. I was really disappointed! I didn't see a single one! I heard that the shower would be difficult to see because the moon is so nearly full - and consequently very bright - but I still expected to see something. Very sad . . . But there was Mars, which is closer to the earth this month than it has been for the past 60,000 year and will be until the late 2200's. After I finish my astronomy class first semester hopefully I'll be able to write about this subject with a greater degree of intelligence . . .
- posted by Nicole @ 3:21 PM

 
Roman Holiday
I finally got around to seeing Roman Holiday (my mother had seen it a couple weeks ago and recommended it to me), and I loved it from beginning to almost end. I'm gonna need therapy to help me deal with the ending; I kept telling myself that it couldn't end the any other way, but as Gregory Peck was walking (and walking and walking and WALKING) out of the enbassy I wanted to scream - TURN AROUND AND GO GET HER! *sigh* it broke my heart, but I guess that's what it was supposed to do. Audrey Hepburn was incredible - I didn't realize she could be that funny! And Gregory Peck was just classic and gallant and everything a leading male should be. The movie was absolutely perfect in all aspects of its construction, and the chemistry between Hepburn and Peck was charming. And how can you go wrong with Rome?
- posted by Nicole @ 10:07 PM

 
Our Lady Peace!
I attended my first Our Lady Peace (not Our Lady OF Peace, which my mother persistently tries to call them. . .) concert yesterday in Cleveland, and all I have to say is wow, Wow, WOW! It was absolutely INCREDIBLE! The whole day was fabulous, though travelling with four guys was . . . um . . . interesting. We went to a Cleveland Indians game at Jacobs Field, which is a really beautiful stadium, and it was my first major league baseball game - very exciting. And they won, which made it even better - in extra innings, in fact.

Ah, and then the concert. I cannot belive how close we were to the stage. I was literally 6 feet from the bass player the whole time! Then the lead singer (Raine Maida) came down to the edge of the crowd, and I was two feet away from him! He has the most amazing blue eyes! They played a really great set, a great mix of songs - including two songs from the cd that they plan to release in 2004. The best part of the concert was when I went up on the shoulders of one of the guys I went with during "Somewhere Out There" - what a truly magical moment! All I could see was people in every direction, and then the stage and Our Lady Peace was right in front of me! They put on a fabulous show! The bass player was filling in, but he was terrific (and bore striking resemblence to Colin Farrell, I might add), and Raine Maida was awesome. The other bands on the concert were Shinedown (the warmup band, which I liked - surprisingly; the lead singer was very charismatic and interesting to watch), Seether (who I didn't much care for), and 3 Doors Down (who I wasn't that familiar with, but enjoyed nonetheless, love the song "Kryptonite" though). I've never had a better time at a concert; yesterday just may be the best day of the whole summer!! OLP is now officially my favorite band!
- posted by Nicole @ 4:16 PM

 
Drop Trou
My friend and I are assiduously searching for the meaning of a phrase which she read in a magazine: "to drop trou". We have our speculations, but no concrete, definitive answers. (Though Jacque swears that "trou" is short for trousers and . . . well . . . you get the point . . . ) But we're not satisfied. If anyone can shed some light on this lexical mystery, do enlighten us!
- posted by Nicole @ 11:48 PM

 
The Phillips Collection
I finally got a chance to go see the Phillips Collection at the Albright Knox Art Gallery today, and it was truly as wonderful as everyone has said. My taste for art is maturing - I remember when I used to hate it - but trips to the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have fostered a greater sense of appreciation in me, and so I was able to thoroughly enjoy this exhibition. The most famous painting on display being, of course, Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, and though I've seen prints of it dozens of times I was in no way prepared for the size and vibrant color of the real thing. Wow! My favorite painting in the collection was a Monet; I think it was called Val-Sainte Nicolas near Dieppe, and it depicted the Normany coast at dawn in light pinks and blues. It was really cool! I liked the couple of Delacroix paintings too. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to see the collection. I can't get over the fact that the collector (who went to Yale, by the way) had these painting, like, just hanging in his living room! It blows my mind . . .
- posted by Nicole @ 9:25 PM

 
Quintet
I'm a member of a woodwind quintet; we started playing together a couple years ago. We play various venues, and yesterday played a Bar Mitzvah at the Brookfield Country Club. The group is composed of three other musicians I went to school with and a teacher in the district. We have so much fun! At rehearsals, we laugh as much as we play, and though I would willingly play gigs for free, the fact that I can get paid for doing something I love (ie: make music) still boggles my mind. Our group has real chemistry and we play really well together. I always feel priviledged to play with such fantastic musicians, and - in addition - we're all friends. It's always a really cool experience whenever we play together. Speaking of really cool, Lindy Ruff (the coach of the Buffalo Sabres) was at the Bar Mitzvah because he was a friend of the family's - how awesome is that? Lindy Ruff heard me play oboe!
- posted by Nicole @ 10:00 PM

 
Full Throttle
Last night I went to go see Charlie's Angels 2 with my friend (you know it's a chick-flick when the audience is composed of three pairs of girlfriends!), and I must say that I was impressed. Sure, it's just a lot of frivolity and violence, but it's just plain fun and is absolutely everything a summer blockbuster should be! Great special effects, witty dialogue, pretty decent - I would go as far to say inticate - plot, and three leading ladies who are just awesome! It's light, filled with wonderfully choreographed action sequences and funny mishaps. It's quick pace never allows the audeince to get bored, and - of course - there's a happy ending. My only complaint is that they didn't get Colin Farrell to play the Irish bad-ass, but I can forgive them this one fault because the guy they did get was pretty good.

. . . on a side note, I watched a little bit of the movie Chocolat this afternoon, and I was stuck by the irony of Johnny Depp's gyspy character Roux being considered a pirate by the townspeople. Ah, foreshadowing . . . .
- posted by Nicole @ 7:02 PM