A Week of Firsts

Wednesday was the first day of school for the New York City Public School District (I overheard a little girl in my neighborhood eagerly shout "You know why I have this backpack? I went to Kindergarten!" Wouldn't Mom have loved hearing that?)

This week was the first week back on the hill for my many friends still at St. Olaf!

Tuesday was Judge Sonia Sotomayor's first day in her new Supreme Court robes as she attended her investiture ceremony (isn't it interesting that her fancy collar given to her by Judge Ginsberg made headlines? No one cares what the men wore!)

AND....Wednesday was my first day of class at NYU!

So yes, it's been an important week of "firsts" for me. It's been too long since I last blogged so I have a lot of news to share...

I am taking 3 classes this semester and so far I am very excited about the subjects, but rather intimidated by the work load. My first class was History and Theory of Museums. This class will be the most work because of the heavy reading requirements, weekly museum visits to be done on your own time, maintaining detailed museum observation journals, and weekly essays analyzing the reading's arguments. The second year students have said that it is the hardest class of the program. My second class is Museum Exhibition and Collections and my last class is Conservation in Contemporary Culture. My professor for Conservation is a very interesting man who used to work at the Getty in L.A. but now works 4 days a week as a conservator at the Museum of Modern Art! I am overwhelmed by the many interesting, important, and well-connected people that I am meeting and being taught by. It is quite thrilling.

In other, less academic news, I am missing you all! Adjusting to a new city with SO many new people is a challenge, but it gets better everyday. I have tried to attend as many of the welcome receptions and events as possible even though they are terribly awkward. I'm glad I did this because I have met many wonderful Masters and Phd. students this way.

Earlier this week my friend Laura (from St. Olaf) came to stay for a few days while she had a few interviews in the city. She, like many of my St. Olaf peers, is still searching for a job in this depressed job market. I was thrilled to have my first real visitor and be able to show her around my neighborhood. Laura is applying for arts administration positions at music organizations so we spent one day exploring the Lincoln Center and surrounding neighborhood on the West Side of Central Park. We had a great time together and it was wonderful to see a familiar face and talk to someone who knows me and St. Olaf. That being said, I would LOVE to have more visitors!

The kittens are doing well. Unfortunately, they came to us with "cat colds" which evidently is very common of young cats from shelters and such. They are both on antibiotics and so I hope that they are better soon. Dorian was the worst with terrible sneezing, wheezing, and trouble breathing. Oscar has had a milder form of the cold, but still sneezes occasionally. I was glad to find a nice vet in our neighborhood who was really wonderful and even saw us on a Sunday! Oscar continues to be a very loud kitten with very high pitched meowing that is almost a whining squeal. It's hard to describe, but at 7:30 a.m. when he is hungy it is unmistakable.

Last week I auditioned for NYU's choirs and was happy to learn that I was accepted into their Madrigal Singers. It is a small mixed ensemble of older undergraduate students and gradate students that performs a wide variety of a capella music. I have not been in such a small group since high school so it will certainly be different, but I am happy to be able to continue singing . I am hoping that it will be a healthy break from the stress of classwork and an opportunity to meet new friends.

While I still have more I would like to tell you, I need to start my reading assignments for next week! I hope to write again soon. Please keep me updated on how you are doing this fall. I really appreciate hearing from each of you. I've heard that the comment feature of the blog isn't working well--I don't know why this is, but if it doesn't work please just send me an email. I would love to hear from you!

Much love,
~Maren