Olivia’s Blog

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Break Season!

I kind of can’t believe it yet, but this semester is well and truly nearly over. Thanksgiving Break is next week—New York! Food! And … other stuff I guess, but mainly food!—followed (for me almost immediately, because I am a final-week-skipping schedule ninja) by Winter Break. Followed of course by another semester, but I am not going to be particularly enamored of being reminded of that fact during the next couple of months, thanks very much. I’ve been having a really good time in DC, but I am still definitely looking forward to heading home; 5 weeks of New Hampshire, my friends, my family, and nothing on my schedule but karate classes.

In the meantime, I’ve been fairly busy; my school workload has picked up a bit, as we’re coming up on finals, although it’s nothing unmanageable, plus I’ve been apartment-hunting with one of my friends (no, dorm life doesn’t suck here, but I’m irked by the food and the guest policies, so I’m looking at other options), plus people keep inviting me out to lunch and things … so I’m comfortably busy. I hope everybody’s doing well

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OBAMA!

This is a beautiful day in America. That is all.

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Another Quick Update

Just another brief entry, as I’ve not got anything new and earth-shattering to report. Aikido is still going well; my rolls are starting to look a bit more roll-y and a bit less like a collection of sharp edges hitting the floor, so that’s good. I’ve got a semi-ridiculous amount of homework to contend with at the moment (we’re talking 3 papers plus reading and problem sets due next week alone), but I’m managing it all OK.

I’ve got classes all next week, and am then heading up to New York on Thursday for the weekend (yes, my weekends start on Thursday—I love my schedule!). I’m looking forward to the elections, even though I (obnoxiously) can’t vote; I’ll definitely be needing some coffee before my Wednesday morning 9 AM class, because I’m sure to be up pretty late on that Tuesday. And 3 weeks after that, it’s Thanksgiving break in NY, immediately followed by winter break in NH (I’ll be home starting December 4th, for anyone that didn’t know), which, considering how much work my professors seem intent on piling on us in the last month of the semester, I am definitely looking forward to. Hope everyone’s doing well!

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Basic Rundown

Just a quick update to say that I:

Survived the GJV weekend, which was intense and physically uncomfortable, but a valuable experience.

Am doing fine in my classes, just trying to keep up with the crush of midterms-season homework, and am looking forward to having this Monday off (yay for the historically inconsequential psuedo-holiday that is Columbus Day).

Get to see Daddy when he comes down this weekend, so yay!

And am doing pretty well with Aikido, it’s a lot of new stuff to learn (like, for instance, how to do a forward roll without landing on my head, my neck, my elbows, my knees, and every other part of my body simultaneously), but I’m enjoying the process. Also, I got my weight back up, for those that were privy to that particular fun episode and might have been worried. But that doesn’t mean you can’t all send me food

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Ow.

I’ve officially done my first full week of Aikido: class Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. It’s been good, I’ve met some really nice people, and I’m starting to get a feel for the rhythyms of the dojo, although I’ve still got a long way to go before it begins to feel really comfortable for me. But I’m worked out and happily sore (the “ow” would be referring to my knees, my back, my shoulders … no, that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good workout), so it’s good.

As a reminder, I will be gone this weekend, Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. This means no cell phone availability (shock! horror!), so if you call or text, expect a response no earlier than Monday afternoon. And next weekend, assuming everything works out, Daddy should be coming down to visit me, so yay! Then it’s less than two months to Thanksgiving break, which I am looking forward to; it’s not like I don’t like school, not at all, but I can tell that I’ll be somewhat burned out by November, and will welcome the time off. In other news, this week and next week is MIDTERMS oh boy! Most of my teachers aren’t doing actual midterms, but many of them are taking the opportunity apparently presented by there being midterms to start handing out assignments like they’re afraid we’ll float away if we’re not weighed down by 5-foot stacks of paper. Thus, having just finished 2 papers, about 30 pages of reading, and 2 assignments for my geography class, I still have homework left. I’m just determined not to get bogged down and burned out on this schedule; if I can manage to keep my head up, I think I can maintain the really good grades I’ve been managing to garner so far. That’s all for now, wish me luck as I go off to brave the wilds of West VA

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GJV/Aikido

I just got confirmation today that I will be participating in the Global Jubilee Village, which will hopefully be fun and interesting! Practically, this means that I will be gone and without phone/email/etc, October 3-5.

Aside from that, I went to my Aikido trial lesson last night, which went pretty well, and I’ll be starting classes there next week—there are some areas where it’s pretty different from karate, so I’ve got some adjusting to do, but hopefully training there will be a positive experience nonetheless! I’m also somewhat buried in homework at the moment, and am still missing home quite a bit, but I should be fine. More verbiage to come at some later point

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Aikido!

So, I went in to an Aikido dojo here in DC to watch a class and meet with the instructor, and it went really well! It’ll definitely be a challenge starting a new art, especially having done karate for 5 years, but I really feel the need to be training in something while I’m here, and I think that this is a really good dojo. The instructor seems like a super nice person, he’s got a good rapport with his students, and the atmosphere at the class was serious but positive, which is great. I’m still training in karate on my own, and nothing’s going to fill my karate space, but I think that training in a dojo will really help restore some of my equilibrium while I’m here. So, I have a trial lesson on Thursday, and then will probably start classes next week; fingers crossed I don’t fall on my head the first day

In other news, coffee with my cousin Raina was lovely, and she actually lives in the same neighborhood as the Aikido dojo, so maybe we’ll get together again soon. I’m going to see Romeo and Juliet with my friend Aracely tonight (I’m sure I’ll have pictures to post), I’ve got reading to do and essays to write (woo?), and then Cap and Gown is this weekend; which, due to an obnoxious policy engineered by the administration here, at least 75% of the freshmen class has to participate in, or we don’t get visitation in October. So yeah, hopefully everybody shows up that needs to show up, because no visitation is stupid. And FYI everybody, pretty much none of my teachers are doing midterms, so I’m liable to be fairly available through October/November, around all of my regular classes and fabulous extracurricular activities. So if you want to chat, ring me and I should get back to you in pretty short order.

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One Month In, The Reality Hits

So, I’ve now been at college for a little over a month, which means a couple of things. The first is that I’ve now settled in academically and have started getting grades back, which is the more positive note. Unless everything suddenly goes way south for some reason, I am apparently not destined to have a suckish GPA - I got an A on my geography paper and a 9.5 (out of 10) on my communication journal this morning, a 10 out of 10 on my math quiz last week, and a comment on my critical reading journal by my professor that included the phrase “well done!,” so I think I’m doing pretty well so far.

The second is that I am now very, very, desperately homesick, and am generally feeling like I’ve thrown myself out of whack in every possible way. It’s hard, because school itself isn’t going badly for me, and socially I’m doing fine here. But I would be lying if I said that I was really doing OK, because I am honestly having a really hard time with being away from home. I was truly thriving at home, with my stable, stress-free, karate-filled life, and I’m having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I have essentially forsaken that in favor of what my life is now, which I have not yet managed to construct in such a way as to have it make me even remotely as happy as I was before. Yeah, homesickness is normal, it’ll (probably) pass eventually, etc etc. It still sucks.

So, on balance, I’m doing fine, I’m getting by. Yes mom and daddy, I am eating. No, I have not just fallen apart and given up here. But for the record, I am not currently content with my life, and I am not going to be really, on-balance happy until I am.

In other news, I’m meeting up with my cousin Raina tomorrow for coffee, and headed to see Romeo and Juliet with my friend Aracely next Tuesday, as facilitated by my fabulous aunt, who works for the Shakespeare theater, both of which should be fun. I also put in a registration form today for a Global Jubilee Village, which would be pretty cool if I got to go; I’m not sure yet if I’ll get in, but it would be October 3-5 if I did.

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NYC Next Weekend!

I’m headed up to NYC for a visit with my dad and (some of) the rest of the family … leaving Thursday (the 11th) afternoon, coming back to DC on Sunday (14th) afternoon. I can taste the bagels already School is going pretty well, it’s super hot here but most of the classrooms are well air conditioned so we’re getting stuff done. Annnd that about covers everything!

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Smithsonian Visit!

It being a three-day weekend due to Labor Day, a lot of people have gone home, my roommate included. Having done most of my homework, and pretty much run out of intersting things to do in my dorm, I decided to head downtown and check out the Smithsonian this afternoon. I originally thought I’d end up going by myself, but I met another Trinity girl on our metro shuttle who was headed there as well, so we went together. It’s really a cool place, just huge, pretty buildings everywhere … I went to the National Museum of Art (gorgeous), very briefly into the Air and Space Museum (ridiculously overcrowded), and lastly to the Hirshorn (sculpture museum, very cool architecture). It’s a bit of a pain to get down there from here (shuttle, metro, Metro Center transfer, metro, and then back again), but certainly worth it, I’m sure I’ll be going back. Requisite touristy photos are below.