A Dance Study Break

Finals are approaching and it's getting down to the wire so to relive some stress I attended the MMC fall dance repertoire, and it was fabulous. I was very impressed with my peers who performed and those who helped put it together. I would write more but like I said.. it's cruch time!

A Dance Field Trip

Friday night I had the pleasure of going to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance for free through MMC. It was an unforgettable experience. The costumes, lighting, and choreography all came together to created a whole new experience for the audience members. All I had to do was sign up at school by showing my MMC ID and then confirm via e-mail and I was set. My friend and I walked the 5 avenues over to City Center where we met fellow MMC goers , received our tickets, and gathered our seats. I am so grateful for the experience because it enlightened me and saved me a buck!

Halloween, NYC Style

Halloween in the city! Wow, what an experience. Starting off on Friday night I noticed that New Yorkers had no problem waiting to go from hard workingmen and woman to ghostly ghouls and celebrity look-a-likes. I had certainly never seen anything like it before! Coming from a small town I am extremely used to young trick-or-treaters going from door to door looking for delicious treats. However, New York City seems to be the host for all of those who didn’t leave Halloween costumes to childhood memories, but brought them to adulthood as well. The Big Apple is a phenomenal city to enhance self-expression and that was certainly true of this past October 31st. I remember going down to the subway around 9:00 Saturday night and being overwhelmed with the amount of costume extravagance. I saw everything from a traditional nun to all the Lady GaGa personalities imaginable. I, dressed as a geek, could not help but feel like a kid enjoying the greatest Halloween ever!

Duchess Gabby... I Like It

I am excited to say that this past weekend we had our yearly homecoming game where I played in our flag football game. It was a ton of fun because it's the Griffins vs. the Griffins, therefore we never loose! This year it was a lot of fun because it rained and we played in the mud. I know it sounds messy and believe me it was! we also declared the winners of our homecoming court. The way it works is that each class has a winner i.e., Freshman: Lady and Lord, Sophomores: Duchess and Duke, Juniors: Princess and Prince and Seniors: King and Queen. I am honored to say that I was given a crown and awarded the title as the Duchess of MMC!

All in all it was a great weekend and I am looking forward to next weekend where I will be celebrating Halloween in the Village!

Study Break Update

It is 3:30 on a Sunday and I can’t help but think about everything that I will be doing this week. With midterms and presentations you’d think that I would be stressed to the max, but that just isn’t true. This is a very exciting time for Marymount because we are gearing up for our annual Homecoming/Family weekend and I look forward to playing in the flag football game over on Roosevelt Island. But before we can even get to Homecoming there is so much occurring before hand. I have been working with 6Train acapella group for our debut at the MMC Talent show on Friday and we are very excited. On top of that there is going to be a job fair this Tuesday allowing students to meet with representative from NBC Universal, Fox News Network, the Archdiocese of New York, and many more companies. These are all testaments to the benefits that we receive here as Marymount students. Well, I’m off to study! Have a great week everyone!

A Mid-Semester Addition

Everyone, say hello to the newest member of the blogging family, Joey!

Name: Joey Goulart III

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: New London, NH

High School: Proctor Academy

Major: Communication Arts

Involved In: Peer Leader, Treasurer for the Choir, Residence Hall Council, and Yearbook

Favorite Thing About NYC: Ellis Island

Fall In NYC

Hey guys!
Sorry I haven't written in so long. My life has been a little crazy but in a good way! From what I have seen Marymount tends to keep things that way! Nevertheless, Life is good and thus, the good times are rolling.
Mid-terms are coming up and tests are getting a little out of control by my professors are preparing my classes pretty well for these big tests. Had a psychology test about a week and a half ago and the teacher prepped us so well for it I got a 108! One point shy of a perfect score. My professor, Rachel Brandoff, prepped us really well. Told us every topic she could find that any question was on and told us straight forward the topics she was thinking might be the short-essay questions. It was a really thorough test but from what I heard from my peers alot of people did pretty well. & I'm pretty happy with ym score. Lol. :-D

It's the Fall in New York City and the weather is as awkward as Fall weather here usually is. In my opinion, based on everyone's ensemble's, everyone in NYC looks confused because the weather jumps from cool, to freezing to that very rare slightly warm day--which ends up to really be, at this time, around the high 50's. It's pretty funny--every day I'm bound to see one person with a winter coat on and one person with a little pea coat on. One person with a hat and gloves and another sporting a scarfless neck and bare hands.

The upside to this Fall are the wonderful fall boots everyone's got that make me so incredibly happy. lol. I love that about fall--cuz u can't really wear these boots in the winter and you def. can't wear them in the summer--a Fall Exclusive. Makes ya love being a New Yorker.lolol. Materialistic joy! Spoken like a true city girl.

I can't wait until the end of Nov./beg. of December when the Christmas booths in Bryant Park go up selling all this incredibly unique stuff. Hats, jewelry and up and coming fashion designers with weird designs and clothes u've never seen. Sometimes it can get pretty expensive but it's so fun to be around you can go through it with a smile and not buy a single thing. Plus, there's a little restaurant in the middle and an ice skating rink. All this in the middle of the city! I tell you, it can't get any better than that--and if you think it can, you obviously haven't experienced what New York City is all about.

'Til next time!,

Nina

Rockin' and Rollin'

On Friday I took my FYM (Fist Year Mentoring) to the Museum of Natural History and boy was I excited!
We arranged to meet in the lobby at the 55th street resident hall at 9:15 and of course that didn’t happen due to my oversleeping. I arose at 9:30 and threw on my Chuck Taylors and some jeans when I heard my phone alert me that I had received a text message (and we all know my texting dependency comes before all) so I checked it and it was from one of the students in the class that said, “ you haven’t left yet… have you!?” I freaked out and ran to the lobby to see five of my students sitting there and they then proceeded to tell me that they could not afford to take a cab and that they would be a little late due to the fact that they were waiting for me!
We all finally arrived to the museum and began walking through when and even though I knew I was surrounded by all of these great artifacts I could not stop thinking, what if I was alone and Night at the Museum was real!
But all in all it was a great day and fun trip to the west side!

A Month In...

So, now classes have been underway for about a month. One thing I’ve learned, it’s not fun to have an 8:30 class on a Friday. I’ve made a note about that for when I pick my classes next semester. Other than getting up super early, I really like all of my classes. They are all interesting in different ways and the teachers really seem to care about the students.

Now..on to city living. Needless to say I’m past the whole “touristy” stage of living here, although I do still take a picture of the beautiful scenery once in a while. I have already become acquainted with the New York City rats who are about the size of small yorkies. I’m also proud to say that I’ve learned how to get around the city on my own. It was a proud moment for me when I took the subway by myself for the first time. I also love my dorm. I have a private room at de Hirsch and although it’s small, it’s MY space. I can leave the door open if I want, or I can close the door and have time to myself. I also love the fact that once a week we get maid service. It’s wonderful to come home after a long day of classes and find that your messy room now looks beautiful, complete with a new trash can liner and a made bed.

After the month of living here, I am still in love with the city. It really is the most wonderful city ever. It’s so amazing to know that if you’re in the mood to see a show (which is a regular occurrence for me), you can just hop on a subway and rush or lotto a show. I mean, just yesterday I saw Shrek for $25. It doesn’t get more awesome than that. Another awesome thing I did yesterday was I tried gyros from a street vendor for the first time. Those things are delicious..and I bartered to get the price of my juice down and succeeded. The best place in the city though is Crumbs. It’s pretty much heaven on earth. In this little store you can get cupcakes the size of your face in about 30 different flavors.

Well, I would love to go on and on about the amazing things here, but I am a college student and I can hear a few books calling my name! So, I will talk to you all later!

Back In The City

Hey everyone!! So I am in the middle of my second week at Marymount and finally getting into the flow of things. Tomorrow is Apple Fest!--and I am so excited to attend. From what I hear it is going to be one giant block party with food, games and music. But before I continue you should know that I am originally from Astoria, which is in Queens, New York but went to school in Jackson, Mississippi. So I've got both angles. Before I left for school I did not want to stay in the city because I'd been here all my life! When I went away to school, I liked it, but absolutely missed the city and everything about it. Now I'm back in N.Y. and taking advantage of all the free stuff you can do here!! So rest assured all you city and out of state prospective students alike. New York City is definitely always the place to be!

Here's what I discovered and experienced my first week at Marymount and in the city:
-Met a bunch of new people in my classes and realized how easy it was to make friends.
-Discovered the awesome library--that smells really good--(if you like book smell) and has an awesome orange carpet on the stairway. LOL.
- Java City on the first floor in the Nugent Buidling has really good Mayan Hot Chocolate.
-Got a haircut for free at the Bumble&Bumble Hair Salon as a Volunteer Model..and it looks really good!!
-Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a friend for a total of $10..that's not the suggested donation..but this is the recession.. :-P

Let's see how the rest of the week plays out!

Nina C.

Another Blogger Comes on Board!

We are delighted to have Nina join our blogging team! Here's all the basic info:

Name: Nina Chong

Year: Class of 2011 Transfer

Hometown: Astoria, NY

High School: Evangel Christian High School

Transferred from: Belhaven College

Major: Pre-Dance, Minor in Psychology.

Involved in: Writing for the newspaper and participating in clubs.

Favorite things about NYC: STEPS on Broadway, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Lawn at 42nd St.

My First Week In The City

Hey readers..I’m Lexy Alvarez, or as my relatives call me, Alexandria Alvarez. I’m a transfer student from Miami, FL. I’m a communication arts major, but I’m thinking of changing it to theatre arts so I can study to be a stage manager. This is actually my first time in the city EVER. So, I’m coming in with a whole new outlook. I’ve only been here for a week and already have so many stories to write home about. I love it here so much. It is the most unique city ever. Where else can you walk around and see a very strange opera being performed in the middle of the park? Or accidentally run into the set of Sex and the City? No day is boring here..it can’t be, there are too many unexpected things happening. For instance, today was my first day of classes. After class I decide to look in the black book in the basement of MMC for a job. I found one, called the lady up and she wanted to interview me..now, at the end of the day, I have a new job. It’s funny how things change so quickly. Well, I’m exhausted and I have a FULL day of classes in the morning..so I will say goodbye for now.

Meet Our Next Blogger

Another Griffin has signed on to write about her life for your reading pleasure... I present to you Lexy Alvarez!

Name: Lexy Alvarez

Year: Class of 2012 Transfer

Hometown: Miami, FL

High School: Pensacola Christian Academy

Transferred from: Miami Dade College

Major: Communication Arts

Involved in: Humanities Club

Favorite thing about NYC: Walking around with friends and seeing Broadway shows.


Stay tuned for Lexy's first blog entry!

Movin On Back To The East Side

So, you would think that moving into the same location for the second time would be easier than the first right? NO. I had some how accumulated almost double my wardrobe and shoe collection. I knew that living in the city would open my eyes to shop and update more frequently but then I just have to wonder, where did I get the money to buy all of these items!? and then.. I remembered... The glorious checks that came to me, with my name on it,and the hours I had worked over those long summer days and how I always felt it was necessary to treat myself. I also remembered the days like today where I would sit here looking at the heaping piles of merchandise thinking," that's the money for my lunch and dinner for the next week" and the ever so popular, "my mom was right." In any event I moved everything into my new room, with a gorgeous view of the upper east side when I again had a revelation that I had more than enough apparel but that I had no items for the kitchen. How am I to make ramen without a pot,or a fork!? You see, this is all just a hot mess of a situation I had gotten myself into but luckily for me I have 3 other roommates who brought all of the kitchen items. Moral of the story (or shall we say blog) is to spend money reasonably. There are MANY temptations here in New York, so when you are feeling like that black cardigan sweater will really be great cause then you can get rid of your older one. Think, "if I buy this right now, will I be able to eat next week?" If yes, get it! If no, save the money and budget shopping into your next paycheck. Enjoy!

Gab

Welcome!

Greetings, thanks so much for coming by the Marymount Manhattan College blog! Here you'll be able to read about the lives, experiences, and random thoughts of the MMC Griffin community living, studying, and working in the city.

Meet Gabby, our first contributor:

Name: Gabby Wright

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Havertown, PA

High School: Haverford High School

Major: Business Management with a marketing concentration, Minor in Environmental Studies

Current Internship: New York City Dance Alliance

Favorite thing about New York City: Student rush tickets for Broadway shows.


Be sure to come back often to meet our other bloggers and to see what they and Gabby have to say!