Long Time, No Blog

“You guys speak English there right?”

— Girl in my Music Therapy Intro class

Hello and welcome back, fellow inhabitants of the earth! There’s nothing like mid-term exams, tripping around the country, colds, life upheavals, procrastination, and excessive excuses to keep a girl from her regular blogging. Yet, here we are, and the show must go on, even if my parents are the only ones reading it (love you guys).

Since my last post, I've done a whole bunch of stuff. Most of it is documented fairly well through a certain social media outlet, here is a recap:

Trip no.2 to NYC was a lot smoother than the first! Once one has the hang of the subway systems, getting to desired locations is a breeze and it made the trip to get coffee that much easier, which is of course the priority. Highlights included failing to get into the replica Central Perk Cafe from Friends, taking a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge that was sort of relaxed (although it’s hard to be completely relaxed when there are so many people. Damn tourists), and having to endure the absolute least appropriate music played in a cafe on a Sunday night. I also checked out the NYC Aquarium, which is still on the mend from the ravages of Hurricane Sandy, and had a nice wander down the boardwalk of Coney Island. I am now the proud owner of a unicorn wheat pack, which is currently utterly useless as I have no microwave, but despite this I anticipate many future times of happiness together.

Arriving back in New Paltz by myself, I was immediately forced to complete all of the work I had put off finishing the previous week! Somehow everything turned out OK and I got it all in. Apparently along with the actual content of my courses, I am learning how to do projects with that content really fast. Due to unforeseen circumstances I also had to fight a fierce battle against the desire to constantly consume chocolate baked goods and alcohol, which I mostly lost. Many thanks to my darling friends who were there to bake, drink and chinwag with me when I needed it!

This is the point where I end up asking myself “What DID I do for the last month?”, which is always a bad sign. One thing I have done is spend a lot of time loudly appreciating nature.

Fall in New Paltz is, in a word, stunning. It’s been achingly beautiful. Right now every couple of days brings a whirlwind of new colours and even more crunchy leaves for me to play in; the view outside my window changes every day. Very soon all of the leaves will be a squishy mess on the ground, the trees will be naked and I suppose the area will be all ready for winter! I was just about to write that it has been rather dry, and as if the weather heard my thoughts, it immediately started to pour (all over my washing on the line. Woops).

I took another fascinating excursion last week with a friend Amanda, who periodically volunteers at the Planned Parenthood site in Poughkeepsie on the day they perform abortions. This is needed because there is a group of anti-choice protesters who stand right outside the grounds of the clinic with ridiculous slogans and boards showing cereal-box science, and make an environment so uncomfortable that some users of the clinic require escorting past them. I thought the whole exercise would be a bunch of standing around and not particularly enthusiastic protesters; boy was I mistaken! On walking past them to enter the grounds with Amanda and another girl from SUNY, we were told “Don’t do it!” and “We can save you!”. This theme continued for the rest of our time there, with the anti-choicers loudly praying for our souls, trying to offer rosaries to entering and exiting cars, and conspicuously filming us with a tripod camera mounted in the middle of the footpath. There was my brush with the more unsavoury side of this country that I had previously not been exposed to; freedom of speech is a two-sided coin. While they have the right to be assholes, I have the right to call them assholes on my blog. Social justice, everyone!

As evident through the book of faces, I was part of an international student trip to Washington D.C. over the recent long weekend. I didn’t quite manage to get to the zoo like I wanted, but powered by Starbucks and nut mixes we were able to get a whole lot done! The first evening included dinner in an Alice in Wonderland themed bar (it even had a room where everything was upside down), and a moonlit stroll by some of the nearby monuments.
Day two brought more monuments, even more pictures, an informative look through the Air and Space museum, tasty Egyptian food, hipster coffee, amazing free gluten-free brownies, cocktails and tipsy late night karaoke.
Day three saw us back in town for a tour through the Capitol Building and the Spy Museum, both of which were entirely different but awesome but completely stuffed with tourists like a platter of tourist club sandwiches.
Days of navigating metro, huge crowds of people, hours without sitting and exhausting selfie taking made getting back and shutting myself in my room one of the nicest parts of the trip. It’s funny how much New Paltz feels like home when I have been away. Plus the next morning I got to wake up to this view outside my window:

So that’s all for now, lovely humans! I hope your day is as beautiful as your face. Go forth and be excellent.