Hiatus Ended....Fall in NYC

Hello dear family and friends!

Well, I'm back in the land of cyberspace now that midterms are over. It's been far too long since my last update and a lot has happened this fall that I should tell you about!

School
Classes at NYU are great so far but I can't believe that I'm half-way through my first semester already!! The time just flew by. Like I've mentioned before, I am taking 3 classes this semester which may not sound like much but since they are each worth 4 credits I am at a full load and very busy! The hardest and most time-consuming class I have is History and Theory of Museums with Professor Trask. Unlike some of my professors who are current or former museum professionals, Professor Trask is an intellectual and scholar through and through. He is very serious and demanding and frankly, rather intimidating. However, I appreciate his high expectations and demanding workload since I know I am becoming a better student and writer every week. At this point, I am very nervous though since I just turned in my first substantive midterm paper to him on Friday. I don't know if I've ever been so anxious when submitting an assignment. My other struggle with Professor Trask is that he gives almost NO positive feedback or encouragement--he just keeps pushing for "more analysis," "articulate and thoughtful participation," and "deeply critical reading." Two weeks ago he said at the end of class, "most of you are finally moving in the right direction with your analysis, but we have a long way to go." After that I didn't know whether I was more proud or petrified/intimidated--the rest of the class just sat there with wide eyes and sweaty palms. The good thing about his class is that I'm not shy about participating in class discussion and asking questions when I'm confused.

Ok, so enough about History and Theory. My other 2 classes? In sum--they're good but thankfully not as time-consuming or intense as Trask's class, but still very interesting.

Free Time
Living in NYC provides many opportunities for just about every person and every interest group. For me, this means that I've been able to see some wonderful concerts! Earlier this month I heard Haydn's "Creation" at Carnegie Hall and in September I went to the New York Philharmonic's opening season concert of Mahler's Symphony 3 at Avery Fisher Hall! For both concerts I was thrilled to be able to get student tickets for $15 each for great seats! I have tickets for quite a few other concerts throughout the year including concerts by MN Orch., Chicago Symphony Orch., Philadelphia Orch., and quite a few other New York Phil. concerts. I'm so excited about all of them and can't believe that I can get such cheap tickets! On Halloween I am going to hear Emanuel Ax play Beethoven with the New York Phil. and my seat is 4th row center!!

Um Ya Ya!!
So I knew there were other Oles living in NY but I had no idea how many! Two weeks ago I attended my first St. Olaf Alumni event at an art gallery owned by a 1992 graduate. I expected that Ben Baker (a fellow 2009 Ole also at NYU) would be the only person I knew and that everyone else would be older alums but boy was I wrong! Not only did I see people I knew (or recognized) but there were over a dozen recent alums and in total there were over 100 people there! We had an amazing time and now I have made friends with a groups of Ole who all graduated between 2006 and 2008 who are all living, working and going to school in NYC. What a find! I couldn't believe my luck!

So just when I thought things couldn't get any better, I was invited to a fall pumpkin carving party hosted by 2 young Oles, Kelly & Sean, last weekend! It was great! Ben and I met down by Union Square, bought 2 pumpkins, and then road in the subway lugging them with us! We got a few curious looks, but mostly people didn't seem to think it was out of the ordinary especially since people carry far stranger things on the trains! Anyway, we had a wonderful time eating fall foods, drinking apple cider and reminiscing about fall on the hill in Northfield. After eating, Kelly, our brilliant hostess, had us push all the furniture to the sides of the room and spread 2 huge disposable plastic tarps on the floor, making the perfect place for messy pumpkin carving. Here's a picture of my happy jack-o-lantern in my kitchen:

Fall in NYC
What kind of South Dakotan, or Midwesterner for that matter, would I be if I didn't tell you about the weather?! Interestingly enough, NY weather is strange and equally as noteworthy as the reports I've heard from some of you in MN & SD about early frosts, October snow showers, and weeks of cloudy days. Here's what I've learned about NY weather so far:

1. Weather here is schizophrenic and completely unreliable. For example, today is an absolutely perfect fall day with sunny skies, a high of 60 and a low of 44. Yesterday, on the other hand, was cold and rainy ALL day long with a high of 50, though it felt colder because of the rain. Thursday was the oddest day of all because it was sunny with a high of 73!!

2. New Yorkers don't know how to dress for the weather. Though they do know to carry their unbrellas with then everywhere, just in case, they seem a little misguided in the area of cold weather attire. In late September when it the temperature dropped into the low 60s from the hot humid days I've written about before, New Yorkers immediately got out their furry Ugg boots, wool coats, and knit hats. I, on the other hand, put on a sweatshirt or sweater and was fine. I was still wearing sandals and was getting looks. I couldn't believe it!!! How could they need so many layers when it's only 59 and partly cloudy?!?! What in the world are they going to wear when it actually gets cold--say, anywhere below 40??

3. Conclusion: Perhaps New Yorkers were not raised, as I was, by avid followers of The Weather Channel and weather.com. Maybe they just wake up in the morning and put on whatever strikes their fancy. I have no idea. I've stopped trying to understand.

Kittens
Oscar and Dorian are cuter than cute and I absolutely love having them around. They are now around four and a half months old and at least twice the size of when we got them in late August. I haven't written a detailed account of the chaos surrounding their health, but I will summarize by saying that they both had upper respiratory infections, ear infections, eye infections, and possibly worms when we got them. How terrible!!! I was so angry with the cat ladies we got them from who gave us so much trouble but promised that the kittens were healthy and had been to the vet. So now, hundreds of dollars and many ear drops, eye drops, and oral meds. later, Oscar and Dorian are healthy. One of Dorian's ears still needs special cleanings and drops on a regular basis, but other than that, they are growing and healthy. Here are a few pictures of them from the last week (note how much they both like sleeping on or under my quilts!):



If you're still reading this, thanks for hanging in there with me for a rather long update. I'm going to take a few pictures this afternoon of the fall colors around my neighborhood so I'll upload those soon! I hope you're all having a lovely fall. I miss you all a great deal. You're welcome to visit anytime!

Much Love,
~Maren

This is where I live....

The management company who owns Peter Cooper Village & Stuy Town, my apartment development, is in major financial trouble and is expected to default on HUGE loans in the next few months. Yippy. We don't know exactly how that will effect us, but here is that latest news plaguing my management company, Tishman Speyer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/nyregion/23stuytown.html

MIDTERMS

I'm dreadfully behind on this blog. Last week I had two midterm projects/papers due. This week I have my last midterm paper due. It's the scary, super-hard History & Theory class that I will write about more after turning in the paper.

Look for an update this weekend after I recover from midterms.

Alex took this great picture of Oscar.

The Kittens are Growing...

Neal and Oscar getting to know each other. Neal has never had any pets before so this is a new experience for him!

Oscar hiding in one of his favorite paper bags.

Brotherly love.

Academic Reflections

I've been thinking about the anxiety of beginning a new school year and have discovered that it's not the first day of class that I worry about--it's the second.

Today was my second day of History & Theory class. Ugh.

On the first day of class, students appear and are presented with a syllabus (which can be intimidating) and the professor generally gives an introduction to the course. This is easy. All you have to do is show up and listen. Nothing is required of you. The second day, however, is anxiety-ridden because we've just spent the last week pouring over our readings in isolation and now must come to class prepared to discus lofty ideals on complex theory. We were also required to write a brief (2 page) analysis of our 6 readings to turn in to the professor. It was so hard to write just two pages when attempting to analyze hundreds of pages of theory. I hate turning in that first assignment because I have very little idea what the professor wants or how he will be evaluating our work. Hopefully he will provide useful feedback.

So today after class I rewarded myself by taking a break from school work. For most people this would involve watching TV or taking a nap (and I will do those things at some point), but today I took time to organize my planner and to re-pot my herbs!

How do people garden in NYC? On the kitchen floor of course! I was able to find a tiny bag of potting soil and used a soup spoon as a spade.

The kittens were so curious--especially Oscar.

My newly potted plants (basil, mint, and aloe vera!) They have grown SO much over the last month!

The view out my kitchen window. My building looks just like the ones you see here. A small park is in the middle where you see trees.

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