Here we are

Well, it has been quite some time since last I updated this blog. For the few of you that do read it, I'm sorry it has been so long.

A lot has happened since last I wrote. Midterm came and went. I'm doing well in most of my classes, though there are a few that could use some greater dedication. We are nearly to Spring 2011 registration time, which is an exciting thing as well as a kind of scary thing. I hope to get the classes that I want, though I suppose we'll see.

It has actually been a difficult couple of weeks. I have had some major ups and downs as I attempt to navigate my way through life here in NYC. I continue to make some great new friends through my church, which has been great, but I have yet to find that really solid community that I enjoyed and grew from while I was at home. With time, I'm sure it will come.

I sleep very little...it has come to the point where three hours of sleep is a lot for me. I don't know how I feel about it, but there really is not a lot I can do about it. It will just have to be that way for a little while. School has got me working a lot on homework. I suppose that's a good thing, but I feel really overwhelmed sometimes.

Financially, I'm having some troubles. Despite having a really strict budget, supplies for my classes are quite a lot, so it is difficult to manage that on top of buying food and everything else. I'm looking for a job right now, so hopefully everything will work out until I can go home on winter break and regroup.

I had a minor meltdown on Thursday night. I lost something very valuable to me in a cab and it was as though that was the cherry on top of a horrible week. I then stayed up all night finishing a project for class on Friday. I just feel so pathetic these days...

I've been really considering what I'm doing here. Why did I decide to come all the way out here? Here I am...broke, no free time, doing projects in school that seem completely pointless, competing with hundreds of other kids all vying for the same mediocre jobs. Or at least, that's how it feels sometimes. I know God has me here for something, but right now it's hard to see that. At times, I think very fondly of just going home and working at the coffee shop where it's safe and small. But I know I can't do that...even if I do crash and burn miserably in New York, I can never go home. There is nothing there for me.

I had a dream once...a big dream. I guess in my mind I figured it would be easy. I thought that all I had to do was come to New York, step off the plane, and the life I imagined would just fall into my lap. I'm now realizing that is not in fact the case. There's a long road ahead of me before I reach my goals. Challenges, failures, and obstacles are only a part of that road. I need to embrace them and learn from them. I'm not a person who usually finishes things I start, but I'm gonna finish this one. Whether I succeed or not, I'm certainly going to try.

Besides, I've only been here three months...it'd be silly to give up now.

Anyway, enough boring talk. I have a barbecue to attend this evening, so that should be a lot of fun.

Till soon...

MIDTERM!

Wow...can you guys believe that it is now officially the middle of the semester? It's kind of hard ot believe that it's already so far into the year. However, I've only actually been here in New York City for two months, which is kind of depressing. But oh well...I shouldn't wish for time to move faster...it already feels like we're blasting through.

I'm trying to think of all of the things that have happened in the past few weeks....a lot has happened actually. I've been getting more and more plugged in at church and I'm making some great new friends, which is exciting. I'm definitely starting to feel like part of a community now as opposed to an island. I'm also falling more and more in love with the city, which is exciting. There is such a vibrancy and life here that is hard to replicate.

I do miss home a lot though. I miss being able to just take off and drive into the mountains whenever I want to, but it's alright. It's sometimes hard to remember that there is an actual world outside of Manhattan. It has more than enough to keep me occupied, it seems. Though I haven't really had much of an opportunity to explore, which I'm sad for, I have gotten to do some fun things.

I've had some visits from friends that I know from Noah's, which has been cool. It's nice to hang out with people I've known for a while.

It is definitely finally getting colder here, which is good and bad. It's good in the sense that I'm used to cold weather, being from Colorado of course. However, there is the small factor that I hate winter, so oh well. Plus, I'm told that the cold here is brutal, unlike anywhere else. We'll see...

Other than that, not a whole lot to report. I've been trying to keep up with school, so that has taken up most of my time and effort. It has been a bit of challenge at time, but I feel like I've been managing alright. However, today I'm pretty sure that I failed an art history test, which was really bad. I have to get the grade up by the end of the semester in order to keep my scholarship. But I only have a B, so it's not like it's the end of the world.

Yeah...so I'm off to an art history lecture. See you all later...

Weekend update...

So, I am well aware that it has been quite a while since I last updated the blog. This is mostly because I have neither had time, nor the memory skills to remember to do so. However, here I am with a small amount of free time, so here we go.

This weekend was a good one for me. I actually went on a men's retreat with my church to Pennsylvania. It was really good to get out of the city for a while and I feel like I have made some friends at the church, which is nice. I think it's kind of hard sometimes when you're the new guy to figure out where you stand and what your role is in a church community, but it was a good time of fellowship and I think it was a good decision to go.

I had very god intentions of taking some photos, but sadly, that did not occur. It was beautiful, however. It was no Colorado, of course, but it made a commendable effort. The trees are barely starting to turn, which is exciting. I'm glad fall is on the way, but the bitter cold of winter right behind it is not quite as pleasant of an idea. Oh well...all of my winter clothing is coming tomorrow, so I shall be prepared.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I'm still trying to establish a good sleep pattern. School has my typical schedule all messed up. I find myself going to bed in the early hours of the morning due to the homework load most nights of the week. I'm pretty sure time management is the most important thing, but as a chronic procrastinator, it's difficult to figure out.

Today I have to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art again for art history. I do love the museum a lot, but today I'm in more of a sleeping kind of mood. Oh well...after church tonight, I can come home and sleep. I just feel very tired and uninspired today. I also have to go view a couple of art installations for class that are happening on 14th street, so that should be interesting.

Oh, and I just want to take a second to thank you for reading this. I know the number isn't huge, but apparently some people read this fairly regularly. I certainly appreciate it and hope that you find it interesting. It's nice to know people care.

Until next time...

P.S. If you are one of the study hall peeps (*cough* josette *cough*) who find this entertaining, I say hello.

New space...

Well, my roommate and suitemates are all gone, so I thought that I would go ahead and take some pictures of my new room and such. It's awesome. Case in point:

HUGE ceilings and tons of open space...bamboo floors are cool too:

TONS of storage and desk space:

A bigger kitchen with more counter/cooking space:

...and the absurdly long hallway that we can't explain. Seriously, none of us know what to do with it. Yes, it is literally in our room:

So yeah...it's awesome. Plus, it's in the Financial District, which I love the most.

Fall has officially come to New York City. It is actually getting cold, which is quite nice considering that I come from a place where it is winter for 10 months out of the year. I get to start breaking out my winter clothing. Excited.

Well, I need to go take care of some assignments before bed. Thanks for reading!

Changes...

Hello everyone. So, I'm so sorry for leaving you in the dark. In fact, right now I'm a little bit pressed for time. (very sleepy) This will be a short update.

Well, I am now officially a resident of the Financial District. I am a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Kinda cool...

I love it down here. It's nice and quiet and I have a lot of older students living around me in the building. This part of the city shuts down on the weekend, so it's quite nice. The only challenge is that I have a slightly longer commute via subway, but I really don't mind. It's actually less walking than I had in the other building. So yeah...I'm loving.

Also, my new room/suite mates are fantastic. They are all grad students, so they're very respectful and mature...qualities that were very lacking in my other building's residents, to say the least. So, it's fantastic. My room is HUGE and has tons of storage space. It's a much more comfortable space to be in. I love it so much.

Plus, the BEST part is that I'm now literally right around the corner from Kristie and Liz. I love it so much. I'm also a lot closer to a lot of my friends from church, which is great.

So yeah...I'll try to do some pictures and other fun stuff later on. I just wanted to let you all know I haven't died.

Longer update later. Peace out..

Wow...been a while

Hey guys. Sorry for the serious lag in updates in the past few days/weeks. To say I've had a lot of work is a gross understatement. I have had so much work to do in the last couple of days that I've barely slept. It's been crazy. But I need to not complain. There are a lot of freshmen who have it a lot worse than I do, so I suppose I should be thankful for that.

Not a lot to update on. The trees are sort of starting to turn colors here. (as in, I saw three leaves that were yellow. It's a slow process) It has been cool, but today it was hot again, which was a little bit frustrating, but oh well. I hear it's crazy hot back home, which is odd to me.

You know, I have come to realize that I may be a little bit too cut off from the outside world. You would think that living in New York City would make one constantly stay informed on things, but actually the exact opposite is the case. It turns out that when you don't have TV or a newspaper subscription, the world outside the immediate Manhattan island is actually quite a mystery. Case in point: a tornado happened in Queens. I had no idea. It's sketchy.

So yeah....I suppose I'll have to start reading the New York Times online so I can have the semblance of a balanced and well-informed adult.

I went to the metropolitan museum of art again today for class. I really love it there...it's so peaceful and when one is surrounded by art, it becomes the best therapy for a very stressed day. It's nice.

I also got the chance to hang out with Derek and Greg down in the financial district last night, which is awesome. We ended up going over to Brooklyn with Greg's girlfriend Tracey and went to this tiny little restaurant on Front Street that was very good. It was their Harry Potter book club night, so I basically just sat there and didn't really contribute, but it was really nice to get away from people not from the school for at least one night. I get kind of claustrophobic in my dorm sometimes.

Tomorrow I'm going to the beach for the afternoon while it's still partially nice outside. It's supposed to be warm and sunny, so let's hope.

It has also come to my attention that I should probably start being better about taking pictures. But here's the thing peeps....when I take my camera out into the city, you know what I end up looking like? A tourist. Yes, that's right. That's when people start to think that I don't live here, and believe it or not, you actually do get treated very differently. It's strange. However, I feel that I have put in my time and been initiated enough to call myself a New Yorker. Why, I've even gained a solid understanding of the subway and use it often. You'd all be so proud. But at any rate, I will do my best to take more pictures for you guys.

So yeah...I suppose I should go try to find something to eat. Thanks for reading!

SUCCESS!!!!

So, you know how I suck at drawing? And you know how I have no formal art training? Well...I've had a really hard time in drawing class because I've never done the human figure before, and we've been doing a LOT of human figure drawing. Plus, the class is six hours long every time it meets, so it takes a lot out of me. HOWEVER, today I had the pleasure of receiving positive feedback from my teacher in Drawing Studio! She actually used the words "excellent eye" and "incredible improvement" and "beautiful line". It was so cool...very encouraging.

So anyway, we've been using a live model for the past few weeks and today was no exception. Below are some of my new and improved gesture drawings! So proud...