It's Sunday evening and I'm starting to realize that it's May, which means freshman year is coming to a close. Where did this past year go? I've always thought that the passage of time was a fascinating thing, something I never fully understood. How can a day or a week feel like it's dragging on forever, yet I look back and a month has passed in the blink of an eye? Wasn't it just April like, yesterday? And now here I am, going into my last full week of classes for freshman year. I just went to a floor meeting where my RA talked to us about the checkout process. Weren't we just checking in?
And now I'm thinking about finals, memorizing music for my juries, writing the last rough draft for my last essay in what might be my last writing class at NYU (relieving thought). It's bittersweet, but at the same time I'm so overloaded with end-of-the-year tasks that it's stressful. I don't really have time to sit and reflect on the past year because there's so much I still need to do. I have to figure out how I'm going to pack up my life here and bring everything back to California. I have to organize rehearsals for my production final on Friday. I have to study for my musicianship final. I have to write another paper for my comic book class. There's so much I have left to do that it's all I can really think about.
As much as I've loved being here in New York, I'm more than ready to be anywhere but here. I want nothing more than to be back home in my own bed with my own room and my own bathroom. I'm actually really excited to start work, too. I've spent enough time working backstage or behind the table; I'm ready to start performing again. And even though it's May, I don't think the weatherman's gotten the memo yet. It's 60 at best, maybe sunny but windy and muggy. It's the grossest combination I can think of, and it makes me really miss California weather. And maybe I miss my family, a little bit.
When I start thinking about everything I have yet to do, it starts getting a bit stressful. I have to keep telling myself to take things one battle at a time. I'll tackle one project, then another, then another. I don't have to do everything at once. I think my main motivational factor is the fact that in two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be on my way back to sunny California (and In-n-Out). In a way, I'm glad to do all this work because I know that once it's done, that means I get to go home.
On a lighter, happier note, I went to Ikea yesterday with my friend Kaitlyn to help her shop for stuff for her new apartment. Her place is soooo close to campus--she's even closer than I am! We took the subway to Brooklyn to what we thought was the stop for the Ikea shuttle, but when we got there we didn't see it so we decided to walk there. It only took about half an hour, and it was a nice day so I didn't mind. The only upsetting part was when we were crossing the street, right in front of Ikea, and a bus turning left almost hit us. We had the walk sign, and I think it was the type of situation where the driver had a green light but he had to wait for the crosswalk to be clear. Obviously he didn't see us, or he didn't care. Luckily I saw the bus coming and grabbed for Kaitlyn and we ran to get out of the way but it was a pretty close call. People sitting in the bus saw us run and looked as shocked as we probably did. So that was my near-death experience for the day.
The rest of the day was much better. We got there around 1 and decided to get some food before we shopped, and you know what that means-- SWEDISH MEATBALLS!!!!!!!!! So yummy! Kaitlyn treated me since I was helping her and I had no argument! We also got Swedish Fish (hehehe). It wasn't a painful experience, shopping there. We picked out a bed, a mattress, a bookshelf, and a set of shelves that she ordered and had them deliver the next day, so we didn't need to worry about carrying them or anything. Trying out the mattresses was fun, some of them were so squishy and comfy! I could've fallen asleep on some of them. I found one I thought was suuuper comfortable (this is my not so subtle hint that perhaps I need a new bed at home...). After we finished finding the furniture, we went downstairs to the marketplace to pick up some cups, wine glasses, silverware, knives, cutting boards, and drawers to go inside the shelving unit. We ended up carrying all that back to her apartment, but between the two of us it wasn't too bad. I'm sure we were a sight on the subway back to Manhattan though, with giant bags.
