Never get tired of the view from my roof.....color of the Empire State Building changes depending on the holiday or celebration :)
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First week of school

Well I had my first week of school this week. I am going to class Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have one morning class and one afternoon/evening class both days so I am hoping that the library will become my best friend and I can pass my time by doing the readings that I have that are not online or in my books but in reserve in the library. I am enrolled in 5 classes, but only meet for 4 classes because the 5th class is my internship. Class itself seems like it will be interesting. Class is only once a week for 2 hours and it seems like the first half hour or so will be lecture and the rest will be class or group discussions. It seems much more hands on than undergraduate where you just copy down what the teacher says during lecture. There are no tests in my graduate program (at least not in the classes I'm in) I have a midterm and final in each class but they are papers. I have weekly reflection papers about racism and ethnic issues and then a few papers I have to do about my internship. I am in Practice I (which is the class that ties in lecture with our internship, I have a adviser that will come visit me at my placement and we discuss each others placement each week. Anything from a certain situation that we didn't know what to do in, to a good experience we had.) Then I have Human Behavior in the Social Environment I (I'm not sure exactly what we will be learning, but I'm thinking it is just learning about human behavior and development.) Next I have Ethno-cultural Issues in Social Work (which is dealing with minorities, and all different ethnic issues past and present in the social work field) and my last class is Social Welfare Programs and Policies I (which we look at all different kinds of policies and learn how no matter what field of social work you go into, policies will effect you and what you are able to do)
So far I have found class interesting, but outside of class is where the majority of the work comes from. We have 3-4 reading per class per week. I have spent about 9 hours reading so far and I will spend another I would guess 3-5 tomorrow finishing the rest of the reading at the library! It's a big change since I didn't even open some of my books in undergrad, but since we have weekly discussions I actually have to know whats going on and can't rely on the professor to actually lecture on it. I still haven't found out where my placement is, but I start my internship next Monday, Sept 21. I will be working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday....we have to do 21 hr/week. We have daily verbatim journals we have to do to give to our supervisor which can get a bit lengthy, but I am so excited to start my placement and get to start working with people. I guess starting our first week we will be doing therapy with our clients, either group, family, or individual depending on the setting at our placement. I am also attempting to get a part time job as a babysitter in the evenings because I do not have enough loan money to live in NYC for the semester without some kind of part time job. That's about all that is going on over here, just school and more school. Need to learn how to network, I guess that is a huge thing in the social work field. I met a couple people in my classes but I'm not sure if I will ever see them outside of class, I will have to talk to them more to see what I think. I did finally meet my next door neighbors yesterday and we went out with them which was fun. I am slowly meeting people, which is nice, but soon I wont have anytime to do anything with any of these people I am meeting. Well back to reading!
<3 bye for now

Central Park

Went to Central Park the other day, people are laying out soaking up the sun in the middle of the park! Then found this cute lake that you can rent rowboats and ride around the lake! I'm gunna go back hopefully sometime soon and rent a boat!! Also, uploaded more pics to my picasa account :)
<3
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First few weeks

Here is my link to where I will be uploading pictures for everyone who doesn't have a facebook. The pictures will also be on facebook for those who do have it. http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121

I will try and update my pictures frequently so you all can see what is going on in the city! :) I have been here for 2.5 weeks now and still am loving it. I have been to Central Park, went to the Statue of Liberty. Walked the Brooklyn bridge, then had to figure out how to get home from Brooklyn. And went to Time Square the other night. My roommates are great and we have so many similarities, yet so many difference that I think we will all learn and grow from each other. We start school in a week and a half, the 9th of September is my first day. I am starting to get a little worried about it, but I know that everything will be ok. It's just the anticipation of whats to come, the unknown. I received a call earlier this week from my advisor who told me she would be calling me back this up coming week to fill me in more about my placement for my internship, I am eager to find out where I will be working for the next year. I am finally starting to get used to this not having my car thing. I have walked between 2-6 miles a day since getting here and my body is starting to understand that this is what I will be doing. My feet on the other hand, well I need to buy some new better suited for walking shoes, so I can get less blisters in a day. The weather is defiantly different here, it's rained a few times already and is suppose to rain all weekend, a thing I rarely saw in California. I also will soon have to start shopping for a winter wardrobe, I have never had to live in the cold and I guess it will come sooner than I expected it would. As now I'm just waiting for school to start to get into a routine of life, I know that this sleeping in til noon, staying out late, and wandering the city and sightseeing all day will soon come to a stop, so I am trying to get as much of it done now before reality starts up again. Well I'm off to school to print out my list of books I have to buy, all 16 of them :( And there may be more once I start class and get the actual syllabus from my teachers :(
<3 bye for now

My Apartment in the East Village :)

Here is a video of my place, there is commentary but it's hard to here. I will update later this week again...so excited to get the internet finally working at my place :) yay!!

Here are some pics from NYC

So in order, my view from the roof of my apt, I can see the Empire State building, then the fountain people were cooling off in, and then the view from my roof at night.
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The move

hi everyone, Just wanted to update real quick about how life is going in the big apple. Most of you I have either talked to or have facebook and have seen the pics/status updates. I am living in the East Village in Manhattan and have been here for 4 days now. I do not have internet so I am sitting in a internet cafe as I type this....It is defiantly a different way of life out here. I will be getting into great shape fairly quickly. I have walked about a mile or more each day since being here. I wandered over to Union Square, down Houston St., and over to Washington Square Park, and all over most of the Village. There is people out ALL the time, and lots of places are open 24 hours a day. It has been really hot and muggy, so walking everywhere is not fun in the heat either. My plan is to go up to Central Park this week and maybe out to the Statue of Liberty. I have started to get used to the neighborhood and kinda know my way around. I have been to the grocery store twice and still need to go back again, because I can't carry enough food at one time. The store is about 2 blocks away, so not too far. Yesterday I went over to Washington Square Park, which is the center of my campus. It only took about 15 mins, so I will be walking to and from school once school starts. On my way there I past 3 street fairs, and once at the park saw people sun bathing in the grass and jumping in the huge fountain to cool off. There is so much new and different things to take in here. I still have unpacking to do, and once I finish I am going to take a video of my place and post it on here for everyone to see the tiny apartment, which I guess for NYC is actually big, that I live in. I get internet on Thursday, so I will update again next weekend with more info about what I've been up to.
Bye for now <3

Hello

I thought that it was so much easier to just update this whenever I had a chance in Europe than remembering to send emails, I decided that I would start one for my adventures in New York City. I will be updating this whenever I get a chance about life in the big apple, how New York University is, and how graduate school is treating me. I will be starting my first semester as a graduate student for Social Work on September 8th and will be going to school 2 days a week. I then will be starting my internship on September 21st at a location I have yet to be informed about, and will be working there 3 days a week. I am not sure between school and my internship how much free time I will have, but I am planning on updating this as often as I can with info about everything back east. I will also post pictures and videos on here occasionally. You may always comment on the blog here or email me with questions, concerns, or just a quick hello. :) I am looking forward to the new experiences that will cross my path in the next few years.