So, if you've been to campus within the last year you've seen our "Walking to the Sky" statue.

Well one morning, I woke up to the sound of screeching metal. I took a peak and saw that the statue was being ripped down...

I don't really know why it was getting ripped down...well...maybe I do. It kept swaying in the wind.

No worries, someone has replaced the pole that support the people walking to the sky and the new statue is back up.

Just thought I'd share with all you lovely readers since this statues seems to have become a big part of Carnegie Mellon's community.

:)

Hey there art lovers,

So something really cool happens in Pittsburgh during the fall and spring. It's called Gallery Crawl! All the galleries in the Pittsburgh's cultural district open up FOR FREE to the public.


(A model of Pittsburgh's cultural district)


My sorority goes every year and this year was so much fun!!!! We stopped by the culinary school where I had chilli, mac&cheese and a brownie; we watched a charter school play Carribean music; stopped by a jewelry store that had beautiful paper imported from Italy; checked out models made of Pittsburgh's cultural district complete with lighting that mimics the actual sun; and last not but not least...checked out some awesome modern art.

(Squirrel made out of sugar over at the Pittsburgh Culinary Institute)

So when you come out to Pittsburgh, make sure you check out these awesome offers. My girlfriends and I took the $5 limo downtown, were dressed up, and made it a girls night on the town. Definitely one of my favorite things to do here in Pittsburgh!

Hi Everyone,

Pittsburgh is so pretty in the fall! Perfect time to give you some updates:

I ran the 10K!  I got it together and the Pittsburgh Great Race. I ran it the entire way and I even met my goal - to run the 6.2 miles in less than an hour. In fact, I clocked in at 57 minutes and 42 seconds. I'm really happy with the results. I was a cross country runner in high school and stopped when I got to college. It's been a big struggle trying to get back into running. Finally, four years later, I ran a race and my first 10K ever! I'm totally addicted... :) Here are a few pictures from the race!!


This is at 7 in the morning! It was raining and actually started POURING in the middle of the race. I had just received my little tabby thingy which clocks your time as you run the course.

As you can see, there are A LOT of runners! Over 7,000 people came out to run the 10K!

What's awesome is that all these runners are running for a cause. I think community service is super important which is part of the reason why I decided to train.

My next goal is to train for the Pittsburgh Marathon in May. Lofty goal but I've been running to get myself in shape. I want to run for an organization's team. The idea is that we run the race for fun and raise money to support the organization. I think it's an awesome cause so I'll be sure to keep everyone updated!

Hey all,

So I know I'm guilty of a writing hiatus, but I have plenty of exciting updates about Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh so do not worry! I'll go in order...

Senior year has kicked off with sorority recruitment. I'm very proud to say that my house, Delta Gamma has 25 flawless new girls and we're SO excited to have them! As a senior, I'm very proud of the girls - especially the younger ones. They're really pulling together and stepping up to the plate. We've done some wonderful updates to our house including paint two of the walls light blue! It makes our whole first floor feel a lot more "homey." The picture is outside our house on the last day of recruitment.

I'm sure I"ll have more updates so check back soon!

:) Ida

The first week of college as a senior is not yet done. AH. It's been a LONG week too.

The first week of college is all about getting settled. Well, I take that back. The first time you meet with your professors that's the getting settled. After that, you are guaranteed to have work!! I'm taking around 70 units worth of classes, so it's going to be a VERY busy senior year. Let's see, as a senior I'm taking:

Italian
Organizational Design and Implementation
Writing for Multimedia
Creative Enterprises: Systems and Structures
Fundamentals of Fund Raising
Applied Economic Analysis
Yoga (okay, it's not a class per se...but you can fail gym classes!)
Strategic Presentation Skills

and...research/writing/trying to put together my senior thesis.

I must say, I do like my classes. I feel engaged and challenged. I especially like my Organizational Design and Implementation class. It's all about looking at power/relationship structures in organizations, analyzing the flaws, and creating a strategy to help the organization run more efficiently.

I haven't attended enough classes to really elaborate too much on what I think about my schedule. All I know for sure is that I will be busy. But that's a given.

I AM excited to be back at school, but already wiped out and ready for the weekend. :)

Our football team has a scrimmage later tonight and some of my friends and I are going to go watch. So I better get some work done before then!!

:) Ida

Hey everyone!

I'm baaaack! Back in the 'burgh and sloowwwwlyyy getting through my first week of classes. Somehow I tacked on 72 units this semester. SEVENTY-TWO. So forgive me for not having blogged last week.

Every time I finish writing a blog and hit the little button that says "Publish," I notice that Diversity is a topic that I remains un-highlighted. I guess that means it's something that hasn't come up directly in my blogs. I think the topic is super important so I wanted to dedicate a blog to the question, "Are we, at Carnegie Mellon, diverse?"

For those of you who want to skip my rant, feel free to jump down to the bottom and reference the last paragraph.

There are two parts of diversity here at Carnegie Mellon that I want to touch base on. Diversity as in ethnic identity/race and diversity in study. You come into this school knowing that you are at a world-class university. That means you have peers, educators and mentors from different ethnic backgrounds and professions/talents.

I'm going to talk about my experiences with both. Please know this is just my experience and I certainly don't speak for Carnegie Mellon as a whole.

Ethnic identity/Race. Yup. We're diverse. We've got students from ALL over the world. Literally. To name a few, I've got friends who are Ethiopian, German, Brazilian, Jamaican, Polish, Nigerian, Dominican...the list goes on. As for the 50 states, they're well represented too: Hawaii, Washington, Cali, PA, Texas, etc. I have found a large number of students are from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

The question is REALLY, do we interact? That's where I've got a critique of Carnegie Mellon. Yes, you can have a diverse group of friends here. I certainly do. But I'll admit, I went to a really diverse high school; I never noticed the ethnic background of my friends. They were simply my friends because they made me laugh really hard and I had a good time with them. Same here in college. I think my sorority really sums that up nicely. I've observed that at some colleges, sororities are thought of as "historically this and that race" but I'm here to tell you at Carnegie Mellon, with the Panhellenic sororities, that stigma doesn't exist. We all come together because we enjoy each other's company. I hang out with my friends cause they are my friends.  End of story.

However I don't think that my experience is representative of how our community interacts as a whole. I've observed that there IS a separation. There are students who primarily choose to only reach out to those from a similar backgrounds. And if you are an outsider trying to step in, you feel ostracized because you don't have the same similarities. You also have students who judge other people because of their culture. That is particularly sad and frustrating to see. It's 2009 people! It's kind of sad, but I've come to realize that not everyone out there sees race as blindly as others. It needs to change.

I'm NOT at all saying that Carnegie Mellon students are filled with judgmental peers or that I'm miss perfect when it comes to identity. I'm merely saying that *I have seen* that a separation exists. And I'd like it to merge a bit more.

Then we have race in terms of study. It's indisputable that Carnegie Mellon is a world-class institution famous for its strength in a range of disciplines. Computer science is what we're probably most famous for...to the general public. But let me tell you, our acting department boasts really big name graduates! Our design alums include the founders of Juicy Couture. Let's not forget our economic professors who have won countless prizes. Randy Pausch, PLEASE read "The Last Lecture." I even saw an article in the New York Times the other week about a Carnegie Mellon student, who's legal name is "Jon Doe" (go research the article). It goes on...

But once again. MY complaint is that we don't mingle college-to-college that much. Perhaps it's because Carnegie Mellon IS a high stress school (DO NOT let anyone tell you otherwise) and we simply don't have the time. Or maybe it's because we're so focused on our studies we don't always branch out. Well, cough, except if you are in the lovely BXA Department that I adore so much...just kidding. Well, sorta. If you've got varied interests Carnegie Mellon has world-class teachers to help you hone your skills. YOU just have to take the initiative to enroll in the class. It's so easy here to do that here, so do it.

Enough ranting. Here's my summary:

Those who seek a diverse college experience are the ones who actively pursue a diverse college experience. I know I sound like an annoying fortune cookie, but I mean it. YOU need to take the incentive to get out there and meet as many people, DIFFERENT people...race, educational background, socio-economic status etc as you can. You might just be surprised at what, and who, you find. 

It's my birthday month!! This means summer is ENDING. In fact, tomorrow is my last day at the Lincoln Center and I move out of the city on Sunday.

I've been gone from Pittsburgh since December 2008 and now I will return in less than a week to embark on my senior year and other things. I honestly can't even wrap my head around these "other things." But I wanted to balance my more - dry? honest? okay, negative-toned post (hey! we all have our off days) with a positive one. So instead of focusing on all that I will miss in this lovely, bustling, busy, HOT, smelly, diverse, glorious, decidedly favorite city of mine....I wanted to share things that I'm looking forward to and I hope YOU readers out there are looking forward to also!

(okay, I WILL miss Pinkberry and my coconut frozen yogurt flavored parfait...trade the kiwi for mangoes...and I'm floating on cloud nine. Click the link. Your mouth will water.)

Ah so here we go:

HOME. This coincides with, sleeping in my own bed for more than two nights in a row. Funny how happy being home can make a person...mmm home-cooked food, fam and friends, and my bed.

Reuniting with old friends. My bestfriend spent her spring semester abroad in Australia, I haven't seen some friends since December, and it feels like everyone I knew lived in DC this summer. Finally, a handful of us are back in our hometown and it will be much-needed R&R to catch up on their lives.

Running. Regularly. Working long hours really threw off my running...I'll be happy to get back at it.

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! It's on the 22nd and I'm turning 22!!!!!!! I keep thinking I should do something to celebrate the fact that I'm turning 22 on the 22nd. Any ideas??

Sunny Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands tall as a tough competitor to any sunny city, that is, when Pittsburgh decides to be sunny. I'd say Sunny Pittsburgh lasts until the first two weeks of September. Then were back to Pittsburgh Weather...(adj.) gloomy, cloudy, cold and dreary.

...Dave and Andy's....ice....cream...birthday cake...in a homemade waffle cone.... Please reference my past blog if you don't know what I'm referring to.

Oh, on the note of food. Here are others: pad thai at Bangkok Balcony, soy chai latte's from Kiva Han (taste like Christmas), creme brulee from Lucca's, anything from Crepes, morning after breakfast at Pamela's...I better stop while I'm ahead. HA! Well at least, I hope my list of tasty delights will help any of you who are new to Pittsburgh figure out some good places to eat.

COLLEGE, aka the happy bubble that I adore so much.

Spending time with family and friends. Really haven't been able to do this since December. It's about time to surround myself with their company. :)


And there you have it.
Ta ta everyone!

I think I've had my first bout of Senioritis. Only I'm pretty sure college Senioritis is not the same thing as high school senioritis. When I was in high school, senioritis was partly funny, partly trouble and partly a rite of passage. Funny because teachers knew at a certain point that they could push us to turn in those papers and homework assignments, but knew that they would probably get a joke for a response. Trouble because the joking could only go so far, until teachers reminded us that we needed to pass our classes. A rite of passage because FINALLY - we were SENIORS.

I don't think college senioritis works that way. At least today I don't. I think college senioritis is stressful.

Today was my first day that I really started to doubt all my plans I have worked so hard at putting together since high school. I was reading articles online about our economy, the worth of a college degree and master's degree, the job market today, predictions on the economy and the job market in five years, looking at other universities - I even when on Payscale.com and tried to calculate a prediction of my salary...

Ugh, I realized I'm a senior. And for most seniors, the journey of happy College-time, as I blogged about so joyfully below, ends in less than a year. In less than a year many seniors transition into full-pledged adults. Earning a salary, paying rent, obtaining health insurance through their employer, paying alllll those bills.... the list goes on. And  I'm saddened to realize - I'm a senior.

For others, they are looking to extend their education. Some might argue that graduate/PhD pursuing senior have an opportunity to have senioritis has the opportunity to be like high school senioritis. I mean in theory we're stressing about standardized tests, interviews, applying to the perfect program and waiting for those fat/slim envelopes for next spring.

But I'd argue it's not the same thing. Graduate/PhD study means still being in the happy bubble surrounded by a plethora of people who may not want to party like its undergrad anymore. Some may have families, careers, etc. So I'd argue it's not the same thing.

Best thing: Enjoy College.

Okay kids, thats all I can muster on this topic for today. I promise to write about something more positive soon :)

I love College. I love everything about College. College with the capital C, because it's not about Carnegie Mellon - it's College. College is absolutely glorious because it's those few years that someone straddles play-time and adulthood.

Think about it. When ELSE in someone's life do you live with a bunch of your friends? When one of your biggest concern is passing your test? When you still get your student discount? When you pull useless all-nighters studying, but probably, part of that studying time includes any of the following: a) ordering food to share with friends b) bonding with friends by complaining about your work c) study breaks..frequently d) reliving the horrifying memory of an all-nighter a few weeks later and laughing about it. Or when else do you get to go to silly theme parties? Walk across the street and play racquetball because you feel like it? Actually attend lectures by brilliant people, for free, because they are presenting down the hall? or what about all those absolutely ridiculous moments college students seem to get themselves into...that would never, ever, fly in the Real World.........

When else do you have access to thousands of other peers who are pretty much on the same page as you?

I've come to embrace the fact that College is one of the few times that you have those peers who are on the same page as you. You are all dreaming, scheming, trying, failing, succeeding and looking for more. You're looking for something beyond the classroom. And that yearning is brilliant.

Take it from the college student who has virtually been removed from such an environment for the last 6-8 months. Yes, when I was in London I was studying abroad, but I was also working. I was working in an environment and field that I thoroughly enjoy, don't get me wrong, but it is a working world nonetheless.

In those 6-8 months which I've been uprooted from working and surrounded by my peers, I've done a few things. I've definitely been forced to grow up, I've really learned I have a true passion for the field I am in and I've gained incredible experiences while working.

At the same time, I've missed the silliness that goes along with being a College student. Silliness that is captured and summarized in the quick appearance I made, inbetween working in London and working New York City, with a trip back to Pittsburgh. Once again, I got to sit with friends and catch-up about all the learning and growth I had done while abroad, but inevitably turn and extract the juiciest gossip, catch up on the latest pop-culture trends, and just laugh for absolutely no reason at all. Or even silliness that is captured at any fraternity formal!

In short, *I* love College and I hope you will too!!