rpd's lj!

Hahahaha, so I've been at Bard for over a full week now, and I love it. Never before have I been able to get so well-acquainted with people I don't know. When I went to Simon's Rock, I was so held back and I only made a couple close friends, both of whom I am very fond of, and when I started DS, it took me a long time to get to a place where I could hold a conversation with anybody.

But here? At Bard? I'm in my element, it feels like. I can smile at people I don't know and get a response. I can introduce myself and have a conversation. I can hang out with the same people and also feel confident enough being by myself at times. I feel comfortable speaking up in my workshop class, and I've already been complimented on my eloquence and writing abilities by my classmates, which makes me feel so much more confident in myself. My instructor felt bad to point out flaws in my writing when he spotted them, but I didn't mind making mistakes. I feel unafraid here. I can wear the outfits I only thought about wearing back home and I can say the things I kept to myself before. I can get excited without feeling embarrassed. I can say yes and no and not worry. I love it.

I saw Equilibrium on Friday and everyone was clapping when Christian Bale was on screen, when he kicked ass in the movie, when he saved a puppy. I saw Aladdin last night and everyone was singing along and clapping when Aladdin was being badass, and getting grossed out at Jafar's advances. Seeing movies here is the ultimate, because snarky commentary is applauded and nobody's going to kick you out for it.

Let me give you a glimpse of my general life here. I live in an old toaster, the nickname for a group of dorms on south campus that resemble toasters in their appearance. I live in an all-women's toaster, though I didn't request one, but I am perfectly fine with that. There are only 13 or so people in it at the moment, and we'll get maybe 6 more when the upperclassmen show up. I live in the third floor (there are only three floors) and my roommate Julie is from California. Our next-door neighbors, Ariel and Michelle, are from Pennsylvania and China, respectively. We don't have laundry facilities (I have to hulk around my laundry later and either ask the Shelovers to let me use theirs or use Honey House's), but we have an adorable little kitchen area. The dorm itself is nice. It's big enough for the two of us, so I approve.

Last Sunday we had a ton of lectures, mostly about rape. It was, er, fun. Not particularly. We all received rapewhistles. Very hip. And I'm going to leave that subject alone for now because there's nothing to do with it.

We also had a lecture from the President of the college, the well-known liberal Leon Botstein. I like him. He seems like a reasonably opinionated guy, a good figure to have a college president, especially at a college like Bard, that has a reputation for being extremely liberal. Also for smoking a lot of pot, but I haven't witnessed that activity yet. We're just all very open about that topic. We spent a lot of the lectures hearing about alcohol and drugs too, of course.

Anyway, we started our Language and Thinking workshop classes on Monday. I really like my group. They're all intelligent people who can articulate their opinions and we each give differing points of view, although we can all usually find a common ground. There are 12 of us and we're led by Rob, a Professor of Poetry from San Francisco. Commence the accusations, we're all curious as well.

Currently I'm reading Antigone for class tomorrow. I've got about twenty pages left. And then I need to write an essay and also read two other materials relating to Antigone. Wewt.

The food isn't bad, but there isn't a whole lot of variety. Also, their tofu is absolutely terrible. You'd think it'd be decent, but no, it tastes like rubber. But I've eaten most of my meals in the dining commons, although I did buy some potatoes and soup for future use.

There are many other excellent happenings that have gone down at Bard so far, but all I can really say is that I am so glad I decided to come here. It is such an excellent fit for me, and I am really looking forward to the next four years. I hope that they follow the example of this first week, while adding in new elements, of course. I haven't yet been to any of the parties. I have not done any walks of shame. I haven't taken up smoking. I don't exactly plan to do the latter two, however. >.>

Regardless, Bard rocks. The end. :D