Follow Catherine as she documents her first year at UChicago!
I’m always surprised at how quickly time seems to pass once half of something is over. The second half of books pass by in what seems like a fraction of the time you spent getting through the first half, and the second half of movies act in a similar way. I may be counting my chickens before they hatch here (because yes, I know the quarter isn’t actually half way over) but I feel like it is time to start thinking about the quarter as if it is simply to get some mental stability around here.
Apart from mountains of work and the stress of doing well, (or not doing well) in classes, I’ve managed to discover my inner artist this weekend. Yesterday, my roommate and I went to Joffrey ballet where I took my first ballet class at a professional studio. The excitement at mere idea of having the opportunity to dance at such a famous studio has yet to wear off and has me pumped for UChicago’s ballet performance this February 25th (evening show) and 26th (matinee) which everyone should go to! It will be in Mandel, and from what I saw last weekend at the run through, it will be beautiful.
After spending the rest of the day shopping downtown, I returned to Hyde Park to attend the SightSoundSpace FOTA event at a small gallery space called SHoP which is right on Woodlawn. The art displayed ranged from pen drawings and photographs to projected videos and sculptures and bands travelled from as far away as Northwestern to grace us with their music. Several people from my house showed up, and joined in the fun. Further, we learned some new things about each other after one of my friends decided it was a good idea to steal about 20 of the matchbooks that were being used to advertise FOTA at the event. Luckily, we managed to get them out of her hands before she set the old house on fire.
To backtrack a little bit, I also attended Court Theater’s production of Invisible Man last Friday night. It was phenomenal. If you’ve read the book, you will find the stage show to be a thoughtful adaptation, and if you’ve never heard the story, you will be confronted for 3 hours with a type of story you weren’t expecting. Although the cast was great, my favorite part of the show was the light installation that was overhead the stage. Hundreds of light bulbs hanged from the ceiling and brightened the stage in a beautiful way. I would definitely suggest checking out the show sometime over the next few weeks.
Although it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in going to different events and enjoying yourself on the weekend, when Sunday rolls around, I am confronted with the fact that I still haven’t stricken the perfect school-life balance. Weekends simply pass too quickly to make them productive spans of time, and my Sundays become hectic and stressful. I’m debating the merits of slinking away into my room for the rest of the quarter to immerse myself in school, but I don’t think I could manage it. The fact of the matter is that I chose to come to a school in a vibrant city that offers me a seemingly infinite number of things to do, and a student body which plans events regularly. The idea of missing out on everything offered around me is something I can’t come to terms with. So while I may be happy that this quarter is halfway over and is passing by in the blink of an eye, I’m trying to hold onto every last minute of it and use the time wisely to explore, and to study, and to enjoy everything I have around me.