An update from the east coast!

Well, I’m here at college. In New York. Almost 1000 miles from home. Yikes.

As many of you know, the plan was to leave between 3 and 5 pm on Friday and drive straight through to Poughkeepsie to arrive at around 8 am when move-in began. Great plan. Didn’t work. We left at 4:30 pm and were making good time until we rounded Chicago and headed for Indiana. From southern Chicago to Indiana was a HUGE traffic jam. We went MAYBE ten miles in 3 hours. It sucked. And we had no idea what was causing it, none of the Illinois radio stations were talking about it at all. We finally tuned in an Indiana station and they informed us that I-84 in Indiana was completely flooded so they had to close it. This necessitated a 10 hour detour south. Needless to say, I was late for check-in. It sucked.

Day 1 at Vassar College:

I arrive at 5:30 pm, about 3 and a half hours after official check-in time is over. i have to sign in at some random office where they hand me a billion pieces of paper with important information, and a couple keys, my ID, etc. I run to my dorm, meet my House Fellow (like an RA but w/out the disciplinary capabilities), and begin to unpack the car. My House Fellow (Anouska), tells me that the rest of the dorm is meeting downstairs in 15 minutes to go to the presidential welcome. So basically, I meet the entirety of my dorm for the first time in clothes that I’ve been wearing for two days, greasy hair, and it was super hot, so I’m sure I didn’t smell too great. I’m sure I made a super 1st impression. But they did all talk to me, starting with a boy named David who, after sneaking glances at me, said “I’m sorry, are you in our dorm?” so then my whole nightmare of a drive came out, and everyone was sympathetic. The presidential welcome was long, and sort of boring, and stiflingly hot. And after that, I came back to my room to unpack. It was around 11 pm that I was feeling settled in enough to get ready for bed. Then I realized I had no idea where the bathrooms were. So I wandered the hall for a little and found a room labeled “bathroom” which is all well and good, until you recall that my floor is co-ed. So was it a girl’s room or a guys room? I wandered indecisively in and out of my room, toward the bathroom, toward Anouska’s room, for about half an hour, until I really just needed a bathroom. So I went over, pushed open the door, and was staring at a guy brushing his teeth. He looked at me, not at all surprised, but looked confused when I started to shut the door. So I had to ask, “is this a co-ed bathroom?” yes. It was. They all are. Showers and everything. It takes a bit of getting used to.

Day 2:

I woke up at around 6 am, mostly because I figured no one else would be using the showers yet. I was right. My roommate, Jordan (who is really cool, by the way. But I don’t see her a whole lot because she does soccer), was already gone for practice, so I made my way down to the Jetson’s lounge for breakfast and a house meeting by myself. Sat with a bunch of girls in an awkward semi-silence, punctuated by brief questions whenever anyone had the courage to speak. Went to diversity training after that, which was pretty boring. Mostly because they kept asking us if we’d noticed anything discriminatory at Vassar, and since it was the morning of our 2nd day… yeah. Boring. Went to my “Build Your Own Adventure” activity after that. Mine was Ultimate Frisbee which was incredibly fun! And I’ve learned that while I may not be particularily good at Frisbee, I’m really good at the random other games that the team plays like “WAH!” and “mingle” and I can embody vegetables and kitchen appliances supremely well. I’m actually considering joining the Ultimate Frisbee team because they’re such a fun group of people, and I really do like to play. Was outside for about 5 hours, and then went in to take a shower before supper. Planned on eating with Jordan and some of her soccer friends, but we got separated and I ended up sitting with two random juniors. They were really nice, though, and were telling me all about the drama department, so that was pretty fun. Then I went back to my dorm and, passing up the opportunities to go to a party with the Ultimate Frisbee team, a Freshman Mixer party, and an improve show, I hung out in the hallway bonding with the people on my floor for a really long time. Everyone is really, really friendly.

Day 3:

Woke up early again because we had to be at breakfast by 8 am so we’d have time to take a two hour survey afterwards. However, for once being young worked in my favor, and since I’m under 18, I didn’t have to take it. Which is cool, because everyone was complaining about it for the rest of the day. I spent the time handing in paperwork that I hadn’t been able to on check-in day, and finishing the new paperwork they gave me. Went to my Freshman Mentor for a meeting to get my class schedule. I only got 1 class that I really, really wanted, so I’m seeing if I can switch a bunch of classes. Also, my major’s changed already, because Vassar only offers theater as a major. So I’m a theater major now. I get the feeling no one is surprised by this news. At least my parents weren’t at all when I told them. After the meeting I biked around for an hour looking for the building my campus job is going to be in. I’m working in the Infant Toddler Center, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t exist, because I asked 4 or 5 different people, and they either didn’t know where it was, or told me to go in completely opposite directions, and I never did find it. So that could be a problem. I went and got my mail, which was exciting, cuz there was actually stuff in my box. But it was rather disappointing because it was all flyers for stuff at Vassar that I’m not very interested in. And a letter telling me that I had defaulted on my loan and that it would be put on my credit rating. Wtf? So I had to call the customer service number for the place and explain that the had the wrong address. But I was seriously panicking for like ten minutes because I had no idea what they were talking about. Went to lunch and sat with some random freshmen who were really nice and funny. Then I went to the Student Employment Office to fill out more paper work and ask where the ITC was. The guy said he’d email me directions. I haven’t gotten them yet. And my future boss keeps emailing me and telling me that I have to stop by. Blech. Went back to my dorm to finish even MORE paper work, but didn’t end up doing any of it because David’s roommate was sleeping, so he came down and hung out in my room for a couple hours. At 4:30, Andi, another girl on the floor, and I went to the Drama Department introductory meeting where we met a lot of people and were able to get a lot of questions answered. Andi is really nice and funny, and since her roommate, Rachel, is also in soccer and gone a lot, we decided to be surrogate roommates when our real ones were away. We got back to the dorm in time to go out to eat with our house fellow group (Anouska, me, Jordan, Max, Teo, Katie, Chelsea, Rachel, and Andi). We went out into Poughkeepsie for the 1st time and ate at this great little Vietnamese restaurant. It was delicious! Then we came back and Jordan, Rachel, Andi, and I went out to the quad where they were playing a double feature. We only stuck around for one movie, Rules of Attraction or something, and it was one of the most messed up movies I’ve ever seen. After that, we headed back to Noyes and worked on fixing our schedules and went to sleep.

Day 4:

I have so far showered, gone to breakfast, and written this note.



A couple funny words that I’ve had to explain: “bubbler” that one’s not surprising. “bumper crop” and “window well” also drew knitted eyebrows and looks of confusion, however. And that I wasn’t expecting. I have also learned the word “hella” (or “hecka” if you don’t swear).



I hope you’re all having fun wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!!! Feel free to contact me any time! And my new address is:

Box 1076

Vassar College

124 Raymond Ave

Poughkeepsie, NY 12604



Day 1 of classes:
My day began when my alarm went off at 7:10. I showered leisurely and got ready. We finally bought a mirror, so getting ready on the morning is MUCH easier!!! Jordan and I headed over to AC/DC (the dining hall) at around 8:30, and had a quick breakfast, then proceeded to Chicago hall, which, in my opinion is the one and only ugly building on campus. But cripes is it ugly! All squat and grey, it looks more like a detention center than a building on Vassar campus. Ah well, I only go there for classes every day. *sigh*
I walked into my Elementary Italian class and the professor immediately began rapid firing unintelligible Italian at me, I eventually discovered that she was asking my name because she’d made name tags. My name is now Domina, btw, because otherwise I’d be a man… Before class began I introduced myself to the boy sitting next to me, Mark, and asked if he knew any Italian. He said he’d been to Italy twice and his sister had majored in it so he could understand it ok. That made me feel like I was pretty much screwed, because I know abosolutely no Italian, barring “ciao”, “pizza”, and “crescendo” of course. The entire 50 minutes of class was like a living nightmare. The professor just kept spitting out the Italian and making us repeat it, tho I have NO CLUE what we were saying! It was only at the very end of the class that she took pity on us and spoke English and told us what our homework was, etc. I walked out of the room stunned. However, I felt somewhat better when Mark turned around with an astonished expression on his face and asked if I’d understood any of what just happened. It’s gonna be a tough class.
I had a 3 and a half hour break before my next class, but I had to get a check-up at the Baldwin Medical Center before I start my job since I’m working with kids. Went to Baldwin and had the fastest check-up in the history of the world, which was nice considering I’d just gotten a physical in June.
Went back to my dorm and worked on Italian homework until Andi dropped by to invite me to lunch. Headed to AC/DC with her, ate lunch, and then went to my next class.
I had Comparative Politics, which I think is going to be an incredible class! The professor is super nice, and the class material all sounds really interesting. We spent the whole first class getting to know each other and going over the syllabus.
Next was Linguistics and Anthropology, which is a lecture style class, which I didn’t know about. But I think it’s gonna be a good class regardless. We introduced ourselves, went over the syllabus and then took really fast-paced notes. I need to work on my shorthand.
Headed over to Skinner Music Hall after class to audition for private voice lessons. I sang I Cain’t Say No, and I think it went really well! Certainly better than my choir audition, which was the previous day, and the choir audition didn’t go badly, but it didn’t go fabulously, either. I think I should find out either today or tomorrow whether or not I got in. I’m nervous!
Came back to the dorm and did homework for about an hour. I ended up taking about 6 pages of Italian notes that weren’t assigned at all but writing it all out has made me feel a little more confident about the content.
We’re having a celebration of the 1st day of classes in a little bit, so I should go. Only one class tomorrow! And work for two hours, so that’s not too bad.
And I’ve decided not to do the theater class this semester, it would make my Tuesday-Thursday schedule WAY too crazy. Which is a little disappointing, but that means I already know I’m gonna have some good classes next semester!