Just the way they like it

In case anyone missed it, it snowed yesterday. There was minimal snow on the ground by the time my 8:30 class commenced, so I wasn't expecting class to be cancelled. I stared out the window throughout class and noticed that it was building up. Very few people were walking by the window, no one was really coming in and out of the parking lot. I smiled, classes must be cancelled, snow day today! No, really the reason nothing was happening was that by that point it was 9:00 and no self respecting college student does anything before 10:00 and even then it's usually by force. After I got out of class at 10:00 I walked up to the campus center to find that the BMC world was alive with movement, classes were clearly still on. Oh well. I did some last minute homework at the computer center before catching the bus to Haverford for my second class of the day. At the Ford I slipped my way down to my class, satisfied that the increasingly heavy snow would definitely cancel my Penn class that night. After class I skiddaddled (is there a proper spelling for that word? or can you just make it up as you go?) over to the Blue Bus to get back to BMC in order to meet with some people about a presentation. I was busy as a bee. All throughout my meeting I kept checking my e-mail for updates about the class. Still not cancelled, still not cancelled. I logged into Penns student portal or whatnot and checked if it had been cancelled, no word. I tried and tried to log into my Penn e-mail but every combination of password I usually use didn't work. Keep logging into BMC e-mail, activities listserve, come to the Vagina Monologues, stuff like that, but no e-mail canceling class. It gets to the point where I have to leave for my train. I make myself pretty and rush off through the snow to the station. Hop on the train and bitterly make my way into the city. Once there I brave the snow and trek the eight blocks up to Penn. Everyone is making a mad dash to the train station while I head the other way. I get looks of "you're crazy" "turn back now" as dozens of people in scrubs run by me. Side note, are scrubs warm? I get the impression that they are thin and incredibly chilly, yet all of the doctors weren't wearing sweatpants over them or anything, just their scrubs. I finally make my way to Penn and barrel into Au Bon Pain for some soup. I am cold and hungry and I want some soup. They're out of everything except Rice, Bean and Sausage soup, or as I like to call it "throw some stuff in a pot" soup. You know what? It was delicious. I meet Ari over at our building and wait around until it's time for class. At 5:30 we head into our classroom and find that it's empty. A sinking feeling hits me. We both sit down, neither of us saying what we both know is happening. Another girl joins us, she hadn't checked her e-mail all day so she doesn't know if there was a class is cancelled e-mail or not. Another boy joins us, he just registered for the class yesterday so the prof doesn't have his e-mail yet. Another boy joins us, he is without a doubt an idiot so we don't trust him for anything. Ari finally broaches the subject.....do you think class was cancelled? The three whip out Blackberries and frantically search through their e-mail. Another guy goes to the podium computer and frantically searches his e-mail. Another guy comes in and does an "is class cancelled?" jig like thing. Finally a text message comes through on someones phone from a friend that class has in fact been cancelled. Much rejoicing from the Penn kids, lots of cursing from me and Ari. We bundle up and head back to the streets. By this point it's dark and instead of snowing is wintery mixing. It is disgusting out. The streets are slush filled, the wind is whipping ice into our faces, and we have eight blocks to walk. I am very angry. We curse the Bryn Mawr registrar for not passing on the e-mail like she is apparently supposed to (I did not know this, but Ari claims it's true). We get to the station to find that the next train is the Bryn Mawr express, which is a minor win for the day. We and every other snow and ice soaked business executive get on that and zip up to the Mawr. We step outside and it's like a whole new world. Whereas Philly had been icy, wet and grey, Bryn Mawr has a good five inches of fluffy, white, untouched snow. It looks almost like a painting. We're a bit taken aback. We trek through the snow back to school, passing the Baldwin School along the way. "ah, look at Baldwin" Ari muses, "Covered in a blanket of white...just the way they like it". burn.

I got back to my room and fired off a few changes to my presentation to the girl that's putting it all together. In my inbox was a frantic e-mail from the registrar sent just minutes after I left for the train "Ari and Marianna, your Penn class has been cancelled, I hope I'm not too late!". Points for effort. I guess I need to get myself a Blackberry. I then went to take a nap, or just to lie down. It was about 7:00 at this point. Next thing I know it's 2:00 in the morning and I'm wide awake. I look outside, the snow as stopped but there is at least seven inches of snow on the ground, streets included. Maybe classes will be cancelled tomorrow, I ponder. I get back to sleep around 4:00 and sleep until 8:00. I wake up and notice I haven't heard the Blue Bus at all. No one's walking down the halls. Cars aren't outside. Holy Crap! I exclaim! Class has been cancelled! I log into my e-mail to find that telltale message from Head of Public Safety Mike Hill "classes ARE in session today. Please use caution". Damn you, Mike Hill, you win again.

EDIT: At least some people (er...dogs) enjoyed the snow

Judging people I don't know

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I take a class at Penn once a week. I've done this a couple times before and have enjoyed it. Going into the city once a week (although I say I go to school in Philadelphia, I actually go to school in "fake Philadelphia" as Chiz calls it) gets me off campus, forces me to plan ahead and be organized and allows me to meet people who are different than me. I mean different, very different. The kids in my Penn classes are NOTHING like the kids you meet in the Bi-Co. I have to take time before getting on the train to the city to plan out what I am going to wear. I can't wear sweats, nothing stamped with the word "Princeton" (which rules out half my wardrobe) everything down to my shoes has to look respectable. I'm never going to get to the level of fashionable that most of the people are in my classes, but I can at least look respectable. Even pulling my hair up into a ponytail gets a disapproving look sometimes. As a result, no matter how hard I try I always end up looking like a crazy cat lady when I walk into the class room. This week I sat across from 5 guys who each dressed in a completely different style, each one of them looking like a tool. While I didn't know it, I was in the early stages of bronchitis at this point and was totally unable to focus on anything other than the fact that I was staring at five of the biggest tools ever. So I of course wrote down everything I could about them and made up what I believe to be their backstories. Other than their wardrobes, none of this information is fact. Here we go.

Guy # 1

Style: European

Clothes: Scarf, shiny black ankle boots (what?) Tight pants, vintage jacket

Hair: Carefully gelled into a slight faux hawk

What I think his name is: Mark

Possible alternative for names: Evan

Where is he from: New York

Level of toolishness: Clothes and personal grooming were very tooly. My buddy Ari thought he was incredibly attractive, I disagree. He didn't say anything stupid during class, however, so we'll put him down as just a tool.

Guy #2

Style: Grunge, but stylishly grunge

Clothes: T-shirt with a picture of some famous musicians mug shot. I could see who, but I've seen the t-shirt around. Black zip-up sweatshirt, khaki pants that were surprisingly not ripped or torn. Black sneakers with white socks (bad choice)

Hair: Under a baseball hat

What I think his name is: Adam

Possible alternatives for name: Dan

Where is he from: Lower to Middle Bucks County, PA 

Level of toolishness: Least toolish of the five. He made me in my sweatshirt (it was cold!) look good. Spent all of class with a smirk on his face. Minor tool

Guy #3

Style: Caroline's ideal man (I get one dig at Caroline per every 4 entries)

Clothes: Black blazer, faintly blue collared shirt, finely pressed khakis, loafers, pink tie

Hair: Short, perfectly styled. Strangely flat on top

What I think his name is: Michael (not Mike)

Possible alternatives for name: Alex

Where is he from: New York City suburbs, most likely Westchester County, possibly Connecticut

Level of toolishness: Massive tool. He wore a blazer and tie to class. His shoes were polished. He didn't speak at all during class but instead snickered to his buddy (see Guy #4). Obviously Wharton. 

Guy #4

Style: Preppy

Clothes: Yellow oxford shirt under a black fleece North Face pullover. Khaki pants, sneakers with no socks (there was an ice storm going on outside, bad decision)

Hair: A bit tussled, most likely grown out after a haircut at the beginning of winter break

What I think his name is: Andrew

Possible alternatives for name: Kevin

Where is he from: Massachusetts, probably Newton. Also perhaps from Virginia, Arlington area. Also, it just hit me, maybe Maine.

Level of toolishness: I was going to put him at massive tool, because he was friends with our other massive tool, but he won my heart when he was answering questions. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry our professor teaches by asking open ended questions that no one knows the answer to. Guy #4 was so flustered by this that he began shouting out random answers just to end the awkward silence. It led to such exchanges as:

Professor: So when you build a town around a company the first thing you'll need is a......

Guy #4: Fire truck!

So I'm downgrading him to tool. I will also spend the semester trying to woo him. 

Guy #5

Style: Dorky cute (I despise those who use the dorky cute as a fashion sense. Unless you are a clueless dork, it doesn't work! If you are fully aware that you look like a dork, then you are a dork)

Clothes: Collared grey knit longsleeve, jeans that were slightly flared at the bottom, glasses, new sneakers with yellow laces

Hair: shaggy, brown and curly

What I think his name is: Jeff

Possible alternatives for name: Charlie

Where is he from: I'm going with St Louis just because I have no clue and the random people are always from the midwest. 

Level of toolishness: As a person, he's only a minor tool. But he kept butting in to add his own two cents on everything which bumped him up to a big tool

I had more to say on all of these guys, but I was unable to write it all down when I got back from class because I was so sick. I picked a good week to get sick, our entire campus is completely covered in ice. So I'm not going anywhere, but it's all good because if I did go anywhere I would slip and die. Merion Green, a nice lawn in the middle of campus that everyone likes to hang out on when it's warm, is completely covered in snow that is then covered in two inches of ice. As it is on a bit of an incline, it is possible to stand at the top of it and with a bit of momentum slide your way to the science center and/or gym. That could be a fun experiment if I wasn't so afraid of pain.

C's get degrees

It's the final countdown!! (dun nuh nuh nuh....duh nuh nuh nuh nuh....duh nuh...ok this could go on for awhile)

Last semester of college began today. For some reason during my last semester, the semester I'm supposed to just screw around, I have to take 5 classes. We won't get into that, but rather quietly accept it in exchange for being allowed to graduate on time. I'll just leave you with this word of advice, make sure you know EXACTLY what your schools course load requirement is when you go abroad, otherwise you're in for a fun e-mail around July. 

I'm going to preface talking about my classes by saying that my three classes today were fantastic. So if any of my profs stumble upon this, I truly mean I am excited for these classes. That didn't stop them from being hilarious.

My first class is at 8:30 in the morning. I haven't had an 8:30 class since high school. I haven't gotten up at 8:30 without being paid to do so since....God knows when. I woke up this morning and trudged down to the science building, a building I haven't taken a class in since freshman year, to learn about GIS, a computer program for mapping. While OMP told me it wasn't possible, I will actually be graduating with a skill. One would think that a computer class would have a very straight laced, to the point professor. Our professor instead began class by giving us all brightly colored pencils "just because they're fun" before handing out the syllabus. The syllabus began with the sentence "we are about to embark on a journey together". I smiled, this class was a bit daunting at first with all the technology, but I'm getting a good feeling about it. The second half of the syllabus is blank, we are supposed to "fill that out together". This is going to be a wild ride. In an effort to get us to understand "place and space" the professor had us tell the person next to us where we were from. That person was then supposed to blurt out the first three things that come to their mind. The Michael Scott approach to mapping. The inauguration clearly weighed in on everyones thoughts.

My Partner: I'm from outside Washington DC

Me: Barack Obama.

Girl behind me: I'm from Nairobi, Kenya

Girl's partner: Barack Obama.

We were let out early to go enjoy the inauguration festivities. I returned to my room to find that most people were just getting up to shower. That was freaky. I flip on the inauguration and am quickly sucked in. As my friend Nicky would later tell me, "It's like the Golden Globes, only with politicians". LOVED the arrivals. Loved the angry looks on some people and the others that were just bouncing up and down the stairs. Was surprised at how well the ex-presidents are looking. Bush Sr. Was moving slowly, but looked fantastic. Shaking hands with everyone, hugging Bill Clinton, like a giant party. Definitely thought Gerald Ford was still alive, apparently I was wrong, very wrong. I think that Dick Cheney and Joe Biden should have a sitcom together. While I don't want to make fun on Cheney in a wheelchair, there was nothing funnier than Biden getting a little too excited and moving a bit too quickly then looking back and realizing that he was at least 5 steps ahead of Cheney. I was dying. Also have drunk the Joe Biden Kool-Aid, the man is hilarious. He should have a song and dance variety show. Basically I would like for all TV networks to form Joe Biden related television shows. Variety shows, sitcoms, crime dramas, game shows (he would either host or be the star panelist that comes back every week a la Charles Nelson Reilly in Match Game). Also the Obama girls are without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to this country. 

I had to catch the bus to Haverford at 12:35. I began to worry as the clock began to tick closer and closer and Obama still hadn't been sworn in. He finally appeared at 11:55. I was banging my hand on my desk to get them to move faster. Benediction, introduction, Aretha Franklin, my man Joe Biden, Obam....no wait, musical interlude (loud cursing from me, clock ticking) finally he gets out there. Come on, come on, come on! I'm shouting. As he's pronounced president I look at the clock, 12:10. I do some quick math and decide I can listen to 15 minutes of his speech before I have to get ready and go. I quickly Google "How long will Obama speak for". 15 minutes, replied WikiAnswers. Perfect. I watch in silence, I didn't want to go to that damn celebration the school was having where people would cheer and offer their own commentary, just a moment of me and my president, mano y mano (did I spell that right?), tell me what you are going to do for the country that I am about leave my protected little college world for. Good speech, enjoyed the quote that everyone else enjoyed "You will be remembered for what you build, not for what you destroy". Really, really enjoy that quote. 15 minutes come and go, and he's still talking. crap, crap, crap, I can't leave him now. He's probably going to go for some big finish, I can't miss the big finish! I hang on for three more minutes and am disappointed with the lack of a big finish. I was nearly late for the bus for that? I grab my backpack and book it to the bus. When it gets warmer I'll walk to H-ford, but it's damn cold now. 

I'm taking a history class on the west at the 'ford. I am not a history major nor have I ever been to the west, but I felt I couldn't leave the Bi-Co without ever taking a class over at the 'ford. After booking it to the bus and fretting about missing all of the inauguration fun, the professor holds a class that lasts no more than 15 minutes than dismisses us. Now I have to book it back to the bus or else I'm stuck there or walking home. I'm not a fan of running on the first day back. 

I returned to my room to watch the parade. The parade was lame. Maybe I missed....everything...but it was lame. I was disappointed. Again, I had to book it to the train station for my class at Penn. Where do I go to school? Bryn Mawr? oh well, I'll take classes wherever. The train to Philly seemed shorter than usual. Maybe it was because I was tired and had a great playlist going on the iPod, but I was almost disappointed to reach the city. As we pulled into 30th I saw news vans surrounding the station. This is usually not a good thing in Philadelphia. "Oh crap" I thought "Someone's been shot". Turns out they were waiting for people returning from Washington on the busses and trains. Oh. Well then. I skipped up to Penn, cursed Drexel out for shutting down the sidewalk in between the schools making me take the long way around. It.was.cold. Very, very cold. I raced into the Au Bon Pain to join my friend Ari for a bowl of soup. It did not warm me up, at all. I noticed I was getting funny looks from people that boardered on angry and disgusted. I looked down and realized that under my jacket I was wearing a Princeton sweatshirt. I'm sorry, it's warm, I'm cold, deal with it. I still took it off, I'm against offending people on their own campuses, one of my trivial rules for life. 

The class itself was a bit...odd. Looks good, I think. The professor was very vague and spoke in "and_______" terms. As in: 

Prof: "So of course we're looking at short term AND________" 

*Class looks around, confused*

Brave Soul: "Long...term..?"

Prof: "Exactly"

Try this for EVERY sentence. He was funny though, so we'll stick with him. He didn't say much about himself, such as his qualifications, degrees, etc. He did casually mention that he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild...so I plan on exploring that for the rest of the semester. He also didn't realize that there were Bryn Mawr students in the class and completely went off on how we are an inadequate college.

Prof: "You can have a college in the country. Those sister places. Sisters, sisters, seven of them I think, like that Bryn Mawr place. Great school, great academics, but no resources! No medical school! This is why we need cities"

He was saying this sarcastically, but the rest of the class (all Penn students) were nodding eagerly as if they completely agreed. Ari and I just surpressed our laughter. 

A cold walk back to 30th St ended my first day of classes for me. I have been spending the rest of the night. exploring possible spring break plans. I'll say this....a road trip to Dinosaur Land is not out of the question. 

Links of the week:

Christmas 2009 comes early as Caroline makes a fool out of herself in the Washington Times

People from Arizona are idiots (Megan and her friends and family excluded)