Happy Spring Break!

Alligators in South Carolina (from a safe distance)

Hello from South Carolina! I am spending my very last spring break at Fordham down south with my roommates. So far, I've seen about 20 alligators (very scary), three gorgeous sunsets, and more palm trees than I could count. It's the ideal place for some rest and relaxation before out sprint to graduation.

Exploring Little Italy (the Manhattan version;
it's not as good as Arthur Avenue) my sophomore year.

Spring Break at Fordham always gives students a lot of opportunities. Freshman year, I flew home to celebrate my birthday with my extended family and catch my cousin's play. Some students stay at Fordham over break, and that's what I did my sophomore year. I took advantage of the extra time to explore while helping finish a volume of the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal. Although some residence halls close over break, students who stay can relocate to on-campus apartments. I lived in Salice-Conley and got a taste for the still-new apartments that seniors (and some juniors) get to enjoy.

I spent my junior year abroad in Granada (you might be able to find a few posts about my study abroad experience here or here), so spending spring break in Paris was a no-brainer. A lot of Fordham students jump at the chance to travel a little further during break. I know friends who have paired off to explore Europe (spending today in Ireland, of course), grouped up to head to a Caribbean resort. or signed up for GO! projects to devote their breaks to immersion and/or service. Some GO! projects this break include San Jose, California; the Adirondacks in upstate New York (which you may hear about later this week-- stay tuned!); and Les Cayes, Haiti.

There is no wrong way to do spring break, but I've found that the best way is to spend it with your Fordham family.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In NYC, the Oscars Come to Us

Getting ready for the show!

This weekend, I braved the frigid temperatures to attend an only-in-New-York sort of event—and I loved it. With a group of my friends, I went downtown to the School of Visual Arts in Chelsea and watched all of this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts. Most people use the short film acceptance speeches as time to get up and stretch because so few people go to the film festivals where most of the movies play. The quick movies ran the gamut from animated to live action and from tragic to uproariously funny. In between, directors from some of the shorts spoke about their inspirational process, animation, casting, and the difficulties of filming.

Feast Poster

We listened to Patrick Osborne, the director of Disney’s entry Feast, explain that the animators had spent a full day doing “research” (actually watching coworkers dogs romping around the office) on how dogs moved before they began animating the canine protagonist of the short film. The French producer and Chinese director of Butter Lamp, a movie exploring the question of identity through Tibetan nomad families, detailed the immense difficulty of shooting film at 15,000 feet high with a reluctant Chinese government. The effort that goes into the films is incredible despite their short length--Israeli creators of Aya spent a full 6 months in post-production for a total of 3 years working on the film. 

A scene from Butter Lamp

This isn't an activity that I would normally do—I don't watch a ton of movies and knew absolutely nothing about short films. But when you go to Fordham, opportunities to do things like this literally come knocking. Last week, CAB (Campus Activities Board) raffled off tickets to watch every single Best Picture nominee, back-to-back. If my luck were better, I would be doing that, too. When Fordham makes it so easy to explore the city and learn new things, you just can't say no.

"Ramily" Summer Vacation

In high school the furthest I had to travel to see my school friends over the summer was fifteen minutes across town. Interestingly enough, in college, one can spend twenty four hours a day, seven days a week with his or her friends and, yet, never know what their houses, families, and friends from home are like. Now, at Fordham, my school friends live all across the country. Fortunately enough, this summer I was able to visit some of my friends from Fordham for the first time.

In June, I traveled to New Cannan, Connecticut to attend my friend Caroline’s sister’s graduation party. I was so excited to be reunited with all of my friends from Fordham since I had not seen them since we packed up our dorms in May. We spent the day meeting her family members and close friends. After dinner, we hung out by her pool and caught up on everything that had happened to us in the past month. Although we talked on the phone and texted frequently, it was a nice change to be able to spend time with them in person.

A roommate picture at Caroline's sister's Graduation Party.

The second trip I took this summer in July to see my Fordham friends was to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. My roommate, Yasmin, and her twin, Laura, showed me around Philadelphia the first day I was there. I felt like a true tourist when we went to see the “Love” Statue, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I stayed at their house for the weekend and we went to many cool and different places. We had brunch in the little town near their house with some of their friends and afterwards went flower picking at a “Pick Your Own Flower Farm." Before dinner one night, we even went for a walk on a nearby nature trail. I was glad that I was able to meet their family and friends and see what a typical day in their hometown is like.  

Philadelphia, City Hall 

Picking flowers in a flower field. 

My friends and I in front of Independence Hall. 

It is important to know that the friends you make at Fordham will never be more than a phone call or text away over the summer, but given the opportunity it is always nice to be able to see where they come from! I am hoping my friends will have the opportunity to come visit me, as well, over an upcoming break!