A short piece of advice following a long story

The following short note is a piece of advice to any current or prospective student at Davidson... and I suppose at quite a few other colleges and universities around here.

So, here's a story. Yesterday, Wednesday that is, after having reassured myself that Fall Break had given me the opportunity to get a little bit ahead on schoolwork, and after having created a perfect daily & weekly schedule to help me maintain this advantaged position for as long as possible, I had planned to have dinner with most of Davidson's international students in the international lounge of the Duke residence hall. This basically meant I would get free dinner, so I made sure to spend my meal-plan money for that day stocking up on cereal in the Union (non-Davidson students: I will explain what I mean by "meal-plan money"... sometime). I then happily proceeded to Duke at 6pm, met with the international students that were there and got really excited to see them while we all waited for the food to come.

I had even been holding and sort-of playing a guitar while walking to Duke, since that guitar belonged in the international lounge and my friend Blanca, whom I met on my way there, wanted to return it. Anyway, the reason why I was holding a guitar is not important. My point is, you can get the picture; I looked, and honestly was, very happy and excited for that dinner.

Then, I saw Erik.

I don't really want to precisely narrate what happened right after I greeted Erik and sensed that he wasn't nearly as excited as I was, mainly because most of the story involves me whining around, in and out of the international lounge, trying (but failing) to find comfort in Erik's hugs and begging him to wake me up from that "nightmare"... which was, unfortunately, reality.

Long story short: Erik and I (and, by the way, Jourdan) are in the same writing class. It was that same class that we had a midterm on due this Monday, three days ago. It turns out, we had another assignment due for that class - on that Wednesday, 8pm. It was written on the syllabus. Erik hadn't noticed until a classmate texted him shortly before the international meeting started. Neither had I, until shortly after the international meeting started, which was when Erik told me.

Needless to say, I did not have dinner with the international students on that day. After seeing that the line for food was way too long, I just dashed to the library and, after announcing with desperation to another ignorant classmate that she (as well as I) would have to write 1,000 words on this freaking video in one-and-a-half hour, grabbed a seat in front of a computer and, while miserably chewing on the cereal I had gotten earlier as my new "dinner" option, started wondering how in the world I would be able to submit that essay by 8pm.

Which, of course, due to my annoying and unconquerable perfectionism, I failed at doing. Around 40 minutes before the 8pm deadline, I e-mailed the professor to ask for a 3-hour extension, explaining and apologizing for completely forgetting about the assignment since it was due 2 days after the midterm for the same class, but I never heard back from her. I ultimately wrote and submitted my essay in the class' blog at 11:00pm (I know, this took me way too long, but, as I said, perfectionism sucks, especially when your result ends up to be nowhere near perfect), but I still don't know what is going to be done with it. I feel ashamed.

Moral(s) of the story:

1. THE SYLLABUS IS YOUR BIBLE. I sadly had to learn the hard way that teachers will not always remind you about assignments, as many of them assume that, since those written on the syllabus, which -ehem- you check regularly, you know exactly when they are due. I generally am this kind of regular syllabus checker, as assignments for classes usually follow a steady pace (e.g. one paper per week), but, this time, the possibility that a paper would be following the deadline of a midterm by such a short length of time was beyond my imagination.

2. If, sometime during the semester, your day's to-do list feels pretty easy to manage in your given time, check again - this is not normal! If not always, in most cases there is something you've forgotten to include in the list. The earlier you check, the least likely you are to find yourself 2 hours before the deadline of a paper you haven't yet started!

Sigh. I know, it's all my fault...

Taking a deep breath...

It's me, Natalia. I know it has been a tremendously long time.

I'm in the Union right now, just finished with my writing assignment that was due today... Monday of Fall Break, that is. I was initially (and maybe a small part of me still is) frustrated and angry to probably be in the only Davidson course that had a midterm assignment due during the break - OK, Dr. S, everybody knows Fall Break is an illusion, since pretty much everyone has homework, reviews (ps: a "review" is a test in Davidson terms, just saying) and other stuff to study for; but at least you could have helped us maintain that illusion and find internal peace by formally assigning the midterm deadline a bit later - but, now, I'm actually quite thankful for that deadline being there, since it helped me hold myself together and to build a break schedule that I - sort of - kept to to a reasonable extent.

Apart from feeling relieved to have finished my essay on Queer Culture right now (I'm so proud of it I'm giving you you the link to read it here if you're bored and have nothing to do; which I doubt is the case if you are studying at, or planning to apply to, Davidson), I can actually say I have enjoyed the break so far. The whole campus is admittedly much, much emptier; there are only four of us still left on my hall, my roommate Tyler is coming back tomorrow and the Union is almost as quiet as the library - however, I'm lucky enough to still have a handful of my very good friends (including our Luna) staying here.

Best thing about fall break: SLEEP. Worst thing about it: You actually have to figure out a way to feed yourself on your own, since the meal plan is not going on during the break. Suggestion: Walk to Harris Teeter (or drive there if you mind walking uphill with grocery bags stopping your hands' blood flow) and find stuff to cook or microwave, or go to El Paraiso for some tasty fajitas or chicken with rice.

By the way, yes, I belong to the minority of students who actually stayed on campus for Fall Break, although I did not originally plan to do so. Until two days before the break, I had been signed up for an environmental service trip to Ashville, which was a collaboration between our student organization "Alternative Breaks" and the environmental project team "Greenworks". I do feel irresponsible to have dropped out of the trip at somewhere close to the last minute, but I'm still strongly held to the opinion that I would probably be dead by now if I hadn't. As the weeks from the time I signed up for the trip went by, I gradually realized how much I needed that break. I might sound healthy and refreshed right now, but this is precisely due to my decision to stay here. Up until that very last Friday, I was exhausted. Like, really, really exhausted.

Which brings me to my point, and to the reason why the Meow-obsessed me hasn't posted a single "purr" since August 27, the first day of classes, although my first two months here have been far from devoid of news to share.

I don't get much free time around here, to be perfectly honest. In between doing Calc homework, writing essays about queer culture, trying to find time to study for Organic Chemistry which I love, going to classes, shooting and editing videos for my work-study, procrastinating by playing the piano in the Union, taking a break by learning how to fence (HELL YEAH), going to the Lake Campus for my Waterskiing class (DOUBLE HELL-YEAH), pulling all-nighters writing about Ancient Greek philosophy and ironically sleeping through half of an "extraction of caffeine from tea" lab on the next day, I try to make as much time I can for my friends and beloved boyfriend. Not that they are in a much better position than me, either. At least I'm happy not to be alone on that matter; I admit it, I have had a couple of break-downs (like, for example, last Monday, when I missed Commons lunch for 3 minutes working on a pre-lab and could not eat at the Union since my work-study on that day was from 2 to 5pm, i.e. exactly the period during which you could have lunch there), but I by no means regret my decision to come here.

Why is that, you ask? Because I have finally found myself in a place where I'm not afraid that showing who I am is going to hurt me. Also, I find that people here are much more open; although Davidson is, of course, not a perfect place with perfect people, I generally get the feeling that there is far less "labeling" and far more honesty in my relationships with other people than in high school... Probably because we are all more or less on the same boat. I don't feel bad "nerdy" for spending more time in the library than in my own room, because the vast majority of people I've met here don't feel any "shame" in working hard and admitting that they do so.

And, for those of you who could be reading this and not have visited or known about Davidson before, no, this is not a nerdy place where everybody sleeps in the library, has breakdowns and wants to kill themselves after the first month. It's definitely NOT that kind of college. I can't really explain why, but, somehow, one will always find something fulfilling for them here, whether it will be a new passion you discover, a new person you meet or a new crazy club you've never joined before but suddenly had the urge to.

Oh, and another reason Davidson is awesome: if you walk near the woods around campus at night, you are mostly certain to see a deer. Or Two. Or More. Enough said. Picture time!

Photo taken by my friend David, near his house, just across the parking lot.
"It's true; Bambi lives in our backyard"

If you look very closely, you can see me and Lauren  Lu in fencing suits.

Somewhere early September, studying Calculus
 at too-late o'clock.

My favorite place

One of my favorite moments at Davidson: the sun that comes  after heavy rain...

The Mistakes We Make In College

One concussion, case of alcohol poisoning, and overnight hospital stay later, I'm still alive. Somehow.
I was probably who Luna had in mind when she mentioned the ones who say screw it and just party. It was how I was raised, and I really don't know anything else. Not to mention I've always been a bit self-destructive.

So after about a gazillion shots and more random dance-floor makeouts than I care to think about -- I really am ashamed of myself -- I'm finally starting to settle down.

The ambulance was kind of a wake-up call. Kind of.

The good news is, I don't have any midterms. Unfortunately, however, instead of crashing on the futon gossiping with my roommate during my newfound free time, I'm writing this post. Mostly because she's essentially moved out and I need to vent. And maybe whine a little too. Don't get me wrong, I love having time to myself with just my guitar, and I love the friends I've made. But not having a roommate gets lonely.

So to anyone else out there who feels like they're all kinds of stupid sometimes, come visit, misery loves company right?