Reflections on Fall 2010

Wow.
Fall semester is over.
My first 6 months in college...and they just flew by.
The last thing I blogged about was my radio show, the Bruins game and my first frat party in September 2010.

Oh, if only it were that simple.

If only I could have methodically listed and discussed everything that's happened since then.

I can't.

When my mom walked away from my dorm room and left to go home, I didn't know what to expect.
I was on my own now. I had responsibilities. I had nobody to turn to if anything went wrong...

Yeah, it was a little scary.

But it was also awesome.

So much has happened.

I went to a drag ball, (who would have thought?) got completely sloshed with one cosmopolitan on a night meant for "classy monopoly," I learnt to make burritos and now spend ten hours a week doing so.
I learnt to think like great thinkers like Aristotle, Bentham, Kant and Socrates.
I know much more about Roman civilization than I ever thought I would know.
I wrote a 100 page portfolio about life, death, existentialism, modernism and identity crisis.
I photoshopped 50 arms onto my body to depict my own identity crisis.
I went to New York city and spent a day at Times Square.
I ate more Pringles and Doritos than anyone possibly could.
I personalized t-shirts and shopped online.
I enjoyed way too many Starbucks frappucinos.
I saw snow fall.
I went to a book signing.
I read James Joyce for fun.
I wore high-heeled boots.
I fell in love with my best friend.
I let go of (some of) my inhibitions.
I spent a ridiculous amount of money (my first paycheck) on a Juicy Couture bag.
I now have a gay best friend.
I learnt to live within my own space and respect it.
I once did my laundry without detergent.

I bought an iPod touch cover.

I use my debit card all the time.
I have a Furby.
I have Victoria's Secret underwear.
I took yoga classes.
I got a Blackberry.

I can't really list everything I've done here because that list would go on for years.

At the end of this semester, I can safely say that I have no regrets.

I grew. I flourished. I'm new and old.

I came here with hopes and dreams. I wanted to reinvent myself, because I could. I could be anyone I wanted to be because fate had basically just handed me a blank slate.

I took a risk with this - I chose to be me. I chose to be the person I always was. Even the parts I used to keep hidden in Bombay. I chose to be me in Boston and I was happy. I am happy.

It's been an amazing four months.

Long Overdue Updates

Let's just say I've been having too many experiences to find time to blog.

But tonight, at 2 AM after chilling on the BU beach with Tanya, I finally decided to stop being such an inactive little jerk and write my loves a long post.

So...where do I start?

Should I tell you about my first hockey game? About the cheers, the vibrant atmosphere, the rush of a win?

Or should I tell you about my radio show? About the powerful feeling of knowing that people all over the world are listening to you, and the music on your iTunes playlist? (Radio show promotion #1: Left of the Dial - www.wtburadio.org, Tuesdays 4-6 :))

I could probably tell you about my first frat party. It was...well...an experience, to say the least. When I wasn't getting sexually harassed by random beer-breath-thumbheaded frat boys, it was actually fun. Matt, Megan, Inez, Ashley and I danced on the bar and got home at 4 AM.

I went to a Raas Leela Indian event, too. And it was pretty awesome. More of dancing all night. Better than some of my navratris in India, surprisingly enough...

Maybe I could fill you in about the crazy amounts of work they're assigning. Midterms all the time,  1500 word essays every week, assignments, readings, requirements, scholarship constraints...
ugh.
OK, maybe I won't tell you about that.

My most recent experience was seeing drag queens pole dancing to Lady Gaga. Yes, I went to a drag queen monster ball and watched a drag race. One of the drag queens actually stroked my arm and told me I was hot.

If the drag queen thinks I'm hot, then I probably am.

Awesome.

I just got back home from watching the social network. I have to say it's one of the best movies I've ever watched. Worth the 20 dollars I spent, even though I don't  know if I love or hate Mark Zuckerberg now :/ I think a little bit of both.

It's 40 degrees outside (About 5-6 degrees in celsius) and I just spent half my night lying on the BU beach, just staring wondrously at the little clouds that were emerging from my mouth with every breath. We just lay there and stared at the long, silvery ribbons of city lights reflected in the Charles River. I don't know if I'll ever get over how beautiful this place is.

On my way back with Tanya, two super-cute guys rolled down their car windows and yelled "How are you ladies doing tonight?"

I actually yelled right back at them, saying "our night just got better. Thanks guys!"

Really, Sasha? Really?

I guess I'm just so happy I don't care what I'm doing or saying or how I'm coming across- because nobody's judging me. Everything's changing. Some things are awesome, some things are not so awesome.

But I love it.

I love it all.

(:

BEST NIGHT OUT EVER

Lowdown on the Roomies

So BU put me in a quad. I have three roommates. I was a little disappointed at first.

From left to right: Me (extremely tired. judge me not bitchez), Megan & Rosie :)

But now I'm starting to realize that it its AWESOME!!!

I absolutely love two of my roomies, Megan and Rosie. The third...well...I'll get to that in a bit.

For now, here's a cutesy photu.

Megan is possibly the most chilled out person in the world. She sings into hairbrushes, occasionally brushes her teeth while still in her underwear, says 'sex' and 'penis' probably more often than is legal. She's awesome. Period.

Rosie is the cutest little thing ever. Her voice is a high soprano, like a little child. She wears the cutest little dresses and flouncy skirts. She's so sweet and she's really such a caring person. I'm so lucky I have her as a roommate! I absolutely love her - how can anyone not?!

OK. Now the bad news.

So the other roommate...is something special. She's Korean and Skypes/talks on the phone to other people in Korean CONTINUOUSLY which is pretty annoying. She's completely loaded (only wears Marc Jacobs, J.Crew, Louis Vuitton, Juicy Couture and only eats dinner at places that cost more than $100 per head,) And she can't seem to stop rubbing this in the faces of us, the less-fortunate half of society.

As if that isn't bad enough, she practices something of a naked ritual every day.

Yes, you heard right.

A naked ritual.

No, I'm not kidding. And trust me, she is NOT pleasant to look at naked.

This is how it goes.

• Step One: She gets out from the shower and imperiously walks into the room.
• Step Two: She drops the towel (*CRINGEFEST*)
• Step Three: She opens up a bottle of sharply scented lotion.
• Step Four: She now proceeds to SLAP this lotion (LOUDLY) onto her face. 
• Step Five: She does this weird dance and slaps MORE lotion on weird parts of her body that I will not mention here just in case you're happy with your lunch/dinner inside your stomach. 
• Step Six: She sits around naked for, like, 10,000 hours. (OK more like half an hour)
• Step Seven: She puts on something amazingly expensive and completely wasted on her rather large figure.

Oh well. It makes for an entertaining anecdote, I guess.

Aaaalways look on the briiiight side of life!

Mine!!

OK I cannot stress this enough.

BU IS GORGEOUS!!!!!!


IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PRETTY!

Pretty enough that I typed all those "O"s!!!!!

All the gorgeous architecture and intricate stone carvings everywhere take my breath away every time I pass by. And just knowing that I'm in this for four years...well...it's not a scary thought anymore.

There's greenery everywhere....pretty little stuff dotting the sidewalks, and there's this constant dynamism and vibrance that characterizes the campus. So much color, so much beauty...it's overwhelming. Which is why I sound kind of illiterate and inarticulate right now. But seriously, I just can't encapsulate the feeling in words. I love it here.

My dorm is pretty awesome too. And get this - it's the second largest dormitory in the United States of America. That's right, it's BURSTING with people. And I love it (of course.)

Warren Towers (My dorm)

I love having my own space. I have my own bookshelf, my own desk with my own photo frames and my own bulletin board. I have my own lavender striped bedsheets, an erasable whiteboard-style calendar pinned right near my lofted bed. I have wall-pops (which are absolutely adorable) and my own wardrobe with my own colour-coded hangers and my own handbag holder. My own shoe-holder. My own POSTERS (Bob Marley, Andy Warhol, Muse and Alice in Wonderland). Having lived in a one-room apartment my entire life, this is amazing. I can't complain - I love it. I love every last thing that's mine, from my bedsheets down to my own pen stand.

So, here's a picture I could get of the awesomeness that I'm describing:

My bed (lavender stripes - top bunk. The weird blanket thingy belongs to my creepy roommate.)
You can see my awesome erasable calendar, wall-pops and happy pictures too :)

Boston

OK. Where do I even start?

So much has happened since I got here, I think I need to post a series of separate posts about life here.

I'm sitting here, trying to retrace my steps, and wishing that I had blogged earlier. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make my brain work some more!

I'm trying my best to find words that do justice to the beauty of this city.

You can't Google Image Search "Boston" and expect to find anything that comes remotely close to it.

It's gorgeous. I discover something new everyday, and thanks to my awesome new bestie Helen, my transition from desi to pardesi is not as bad as I expected.

Aaaaah!

OK guys. Be prepared for a post explosion.

In fact, I don't even have the energy to condense all my experiences since I landed here into blog posts, but I will certainly try.

The Countdown Begins

I have 7 days left in the country.

The finality of it hasn't sunk in yet, and I'm obviously scared. At the moment, I'm sitting at my desk at my tiny little hot pink laptop with a bowl of good old Maggi Atta Noodles and wondering when I'll ever get to do this again...if I'll ever get to do this again.

I don't know if I'll get to have photobooth sessions with Vera in her messy room with a pink beanbag again.
Or play Harry Potter and gossip with Sanj again.
Or stay up till 3 in the morning with AdhiPee again.
Or wave at security cameras with Woosh again.
Or get piss-drunk and have Chumbles tuck me into bed again.
Or bug Soodatron about his nose again.
Or have Aashna look at me with that oh-my-God-you're-my-role-model-forever expression again.
Or have Pigeon grin that happy pigeon grin at me again.
Or have my self-proclaimed little sister Aditi B's huge squirrely eyes look up at me again.
Or have Satchit randomly stroke my hair again.
Or stay up all night just to exchange silly wall-posts with Alex again.
Or eat donuts and cupcakes with Aparna again.

It's a bittersweet feeling - I'm saying goodbye to the people I love and the people I've grown up with but at the same time I'm heading towards a bright future with new friends and new beginnings.

This is my chance to discover and reinvent the person I am. This is my chance to tap into potential I don't know I have yet. What if I am, on the inside, a very good swimmer? Or what if I could dance all along, but never tried so I never knew? What if I turn out to be good at playing a musical instrument?

What if, by some ironic twist of fate, I end up being good at math after all?!?!

OK, maybe that's going too far.

But I know things are going to change, and some things are going to change drastically. And I welcome the change.

Bring it on, Boston!