Trinity University

I’m sure you guys know my roommate, she is my co-blogger. I feel like I should formally introduce you to her. Bianca (or Bianca Bear) is my roommate, best friend, and other half at Trinity. Since I am leaving next semester, I will not be living with Bianca for four months. I wonder what that will be like. After living with Bianca for so long, I am quite attached to her. No, not all roommates at Trinity are best buds but some are. Perhaps you will find a roommate like my Bianca Bear. Let me tell you the story of how we met.

I bought these bears at school for some friends. The one in purple (Bianca's favorite color) went to Bianca and the one in orange is me. This is the origin of the name "Bianca Bear."

Flashback to 3 years ago: I was a high school student and I had just gotten housing information from Trinity after I matriculated. I was horrified when I learned that Trinity did not allow you to choose roommates, even if some people you know from your high school are coming with you. There were 4 other people from my high school coming to Trinity. Surely I would be allowed to live with them?? Some people do end up living with friends they knew from high school but most people are separated all over the many dorms Trinity provides. We were given questionnaires to fill out. There were only 7 questions. Yeah, I know. How could Trinity possibly find a compatible roommate for me with only 7 questions? I answered as honestly as possible. No, I don’t party. Yes, I sleep early. Don’t touch my stuff, silence is golden, the usual. So, I was told a few weeks later after I filled my questionnaire that they would give roommate assignments during the summer. Argh! I would be in Vietnam for a whole month. My roommate, whoever she was would have to wait for an e-mail from me. So, I got back from Vietnam and I checked my e-mail and of course I found one from Trinity, telling me about my roommate and another from my roommate. I’m sure she was upset, I would be. I must have seemed like a terrible roommate, not replying to her e-mails for about 2 weeks. So, I found out her name was Bianca, she was from El Paso and we would be living in Miller. Ok. El Paso?? I have to admit I had stereotypes about El Paso. So, El Pasoan = Party Person to me. When I actually read Bianca’s e-mails I was so surprised. Surely she just happened to be in El Paso for military reasons or something like that. She doesn’t party. She reads a lot (actually… too much…way too much for a normal college student) and she drinks tea (most heavenly beverage). How perfect!

After many e-mail exchanges during the summer, before our freshman year, Bianca and I officially met on the first day of orientation. After a long drive (9 hours) and frantic move-in experience, Bianca was understandably exhausted. She was really tired and she had on her worst outfit. I felt like we were old friends when we met face to face (thanks to the lengthy e-mails) but there was still so much we would find out about each other over the years. We both slowly changed from those innocent little freshmen to mature juniors this year. I picked up some of Bianca’s habits and sayings. We kind of dress the same (sometimes I force her to do it on purpose…but I don’t have to try too hard because we have a lot of similar things in our wardrobes…that or we both have waaay to much clothes). Our schedules are basically the same. We wake up at the same time (around 6:45-7:00am) and get to bed at 11:30pm. I make sure Bianca and I brush our teeth at the same time. It is bonding time for me. We can talk about things that we are working on or the different flavors/ingredients in our preferred Listerine mouthwashes. We have dinner together on Fridays. We’re still trying to find a proper café and bakery. We both love fine dining and French food is our favorite. We both love tea (loose leaf, no sugar/honey/sweet additive) and we watch very little TV. When we do watch TV, we watch Pushing Daisies or Desperate Housewives. Our tastes in movies are similar, we both hated the Twilight Movie. But we both think every good girl should have an Edward Cullen. See how similar we are?

I know you must think Bianca and I are basically the same person at this point. Well, almost. We do have our differences. For example, I have very little interest in cars. Bianca loves them. I love Asian culture and Bianca likes Moroccan culture. I definitely have a greater appreciation for all things Moroccan, Hispanic, and Spanish now. I didn’t even like Mexican food before I met Bianca. Now I can go to a Mexican restaurant and tell a waiter what I like (anything fried). I wonder if I would still dislike Mexican food if I had not met Bianca. We’ve never taken a class together at Trinity. So if Trinity did not put us as roommates, I would have never met my other half. How did Trinity find her with the seven questions I responded to? I don’t know but I hope it happens for everyone else.

I think college roommates are really important. They are there to listen when you think you did poorly on the last vertebrate physiology exam. They will listen to your favorite Korean boy band and try to keep you up-to-date with what’s hot in American music by making you listen to iTunes “New Music Tuesday.� They will drive from lower campus and pick you up from upper campus if you are ill. They will send you homemade cookies for Christmas and allow you to sing Christmas carols in July. They will go trick-or-treating with you even though you both have a chemistry exam the next day. They will tell you your outfit is not suitable to be seen outside of the room. They will support your academic career goals (doctor, lawyer, politician, environmentalist, etc). Most of all, they will be your best friend. Bianca has done all those things for me and so much more. When I go off to Tokyo next semester, I will miss Bianca Bear a lot. But, it will only be four months. What is four months when we still have the rest of our lives to be best friends?

Us, getting ready to go to Mad Hatter's Tea House.

Posted by Nancy at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Okay, let me just gush for moment and get it out of the way:
In the last two movies I saw, Quantum of Solace and (don’t laugh at me) Twilight, the car scenes made me so jealous! I want an Aston Martin so bad!!
Just look at it!

(picture courtesy of supercars.net)

I keep telling Nancy that if only I could have that car for a week – to drive it and just go…man! Unfortunately the price of that piece of heaven is more than that of many houses. Where, o where is my Edward? Edward really is the perfect man – aside from being a vampire and all that. He was the only reason I read the whole Twilight series – it turns into something so, so strange at the end that it’s hard for me to believe there was a lengthy thought process involved in the making of this series. Anyway…

I have lost my ability to function as a normal human being now that finals are over. It seems that I had myself trained for so long to be constantly analyzing and assessing my schedule and attempting to work in one million extra things that in this sudden freedom I am lost.

I’m sure that my mother won’t let that feeling linger – apparently she has promised my brother’s fifth grade class some cookies for their Christmas party. I guess I’m making them since I keep hearing many odd stories about mishaps with the oven when anyone else touches it. I hope I get some credit this year for making them. Last year my brother – ever the storyteller – told everyone, mothers included – how he made the brownies he brought from scratch. I asked him what that meant, “from scratch.� He said he’d heard me say it, but that he didn’t really know what it meant. Another time it was my mother who made the gingerbread men. As if testing them is the equivalent of baking them – hmmph!
I try to be above it all and just spread more Christmas spirit. It’s hard being a saint sometimes.

Here on campus, I would say it seems like a ghost town, but I think people are just hiding. Yes, the campus population has thinned out a little, but Mabee is still serving a sizable amount of dinner. Maybe everyone is studying. When I went to library to study (I don’t usually do that, the unusual silence was bothering me), there was hardly a place to sit. I was quite astounded at the diligence of my “colleagues� (as the professors say). I was there for an interminable 3 hours writing essays for my PoliSci exam (I cannot tell you how relieved I am about finishing that class!) and one table from me there was someone more focused than myself. Stacks of study notes all stapled and ordered, 20 pencils neatly lined up, two different types of paper, binders – he brought his whole desk with him. It must have been some kind of math thing. Quite amazing we all become when finals hit, but now they’re all over for everyone, so again there is the problem of remembering how to relax. See, I’m writing a blog, because writing is what I’m used to and luckily for me this is an approved recreational method of finals rehab.

I get to leave tomorrow and will arrive in El Paso at lunchtime. Thankfully, I will be picked up and taken promptly to lunch because I already warned them that I can’t bake right when I’m hungry. Actually, I have a theory about that. One time, I was feeling a mite depressed and guess what came out of the oven? Completely flat cookies…I swear. My food could possibly be sympathetic to my mood, or more likely, I am imagining myself to be the fantastic cook Tita in Like Water for Chocolate who was truly able to inspire any emotion she wished with food. If only I were that talented…

We’re going to Arizona for Christmas to visit the rest of the family and I don’t know what I’ll do with myself when we’re driving for five hours to my grandparents’ house. I will have lots to discuss with my sister – she’s just now getting her college acceptance letters. I don’t know why, but she didn’t apply to Trinity. She’s crazy, I know. Hopefully she’ll end up at Incarnate Word across the street there. I could keep an eye on her – make sure she won’t go wild. That’s what my father thinks, that college turns you inside out and somehow I have time to have a new boyfriend every week and dance all night. Oh dad, it’s hard not to laugh at your worries. I think anyone going off to college is facing entirely different challenges as far as freedom is concerned (like time management of having an absolutely non-wild social life and making good grades), but that’s my father for you.

I must finish packing so I wish you all peace and blessings for the holidays. I hope everyone has a fantastic time and a memorable New Year’s!

Posted by Bianca at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

…I recently made a presentation in my Vertebrate Physiology Lab Class…It was a bit hard. I worked on it for days but the result was poor. Oh well, such is life. There are chances for redemption. The presentations were for us to gauge where we stood with our research proposals and allow Dr. King and our peers to help us improve them. I think I received adequate help but I will probably talk to Dr. King so I can make my paper really awesome. I am a bit sad about it because I think Dr. King was expecting something really good from me. Please allow me to wallow in self-pity for a moment and then I will resume my top-notch standards on the final research paper (10 pages…due next Tuesday).

Lately, I feel like I have been a lazy student. There is very little due at the moment so I am being quite unproductive. Perhaps it was due to the long Thanksgiving Break? I did very little academic work during Thanksgiving. I shopped, wrapped presents, ate, and baked baklava. I was very impressed at how well the baklava turned out. So, my break was fabulous but unproductive.

Yummy baklava! Don't be shocked. I did take this picture and it is my baklava. Bianca brought me some of her baklava as well. I thought it was super delicious. Perhaps she will make more for me??

In my last blog, I said I would take advantage of all this free time. The free time has gone and I am busy trying to finish everything in time. I have my final paper in Impressionism due, the research proposal in Vert Phys, a research presentation on Friday, and two more Japanese exams (one Friday, the other on Monday). Oh, and I need to finish my vert phys lab notebook. Of course December is a time when Trinity puts on lavish productions and also a time to hang out with friends before the long break. It is a busy time indeed!

Last Friday I had a Japanese exam, then I had to give a presentation for my lab research in front of some strangers who owned the property we were working on. After that I had lunch at a little Belgian place called "La Frite." It was so cute! I had something called "skate." It was a fish that came in fresh and was recommended by the chef. I don't consider myself a very gutsy gourmand but I tried the skate and I loved it! I have made Bianca promise to take me there before she leaves.

Skate. :)

I loved this so much I bought one for Bianca. She is a lover of all things rhubarb.

On the same day, my friends threw a going away party for me. It was really wonderful. The tea party was held at Mad Hatter’s. Bianca and I were introduced to Mad Hatter’s our freshman year when our Resident Mentor, Rachel, took us. Mad Hatter’s is a strange place that mixes tea with café type foods. Actually, that is a poor description of it. Mad Hatter’s is just very…interesting. They put weird foods together that taste pretty good. I shared a “Tea For Two� with my friend Ellen. Tea for Two includes a wonderful tea of our choice (loose leaf, freshly brewed) and a nice tower of petite fours and tea sandwiches. Advice to all: Salmon and cream cheese sandwiches rock! My friends also sang me a birthday song and N’Sync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye.� It certainly brought back memories that I wanted to suppress. Nonetheless, we had a really awesome time. I should mention that the goodbye party was for a farewell to me for going to Tokyo next semester.

A free raspberry cake that came due to a mistake in the orders. Lucky!! At Mad Hatter's you get to choose your own tea cup and saucer. Bianca and I magically chose the same ones (there were maybe 30 sets out there) and we got them at separate times. I knew we were meant for each other. Hehe.

My lovely friends chatting over afternoon tea. We are so sophisticated.

It is official, I will be going to Tokyo in the Spring. I am very excited! I got pictures of my homestay family. They seem so sweet (and young). Their house (or rather apartment, auspiciously located on the 13th floor) is 80 minutes away from my school. Isn’t that crazy? I thought it was very close but others have told me it is far. Land in central Tokyo is so expensive that I think anything within a two-hour radius is close. Anyway, I also got my visa back from the Japanese consulate in Houston. I had to mail in my passport so I was very worried the mail people would lose it somehow. Fortunately, they did not. So, I am going to Japan!!!

So, after the fabulous tea party, Bianca and I attended the Christmas Concert (and so did all of Trinity and all alum living in Texas apparently). Laurie auditorium was packed! Bianca and I got there an hour and a half early just so we could get good seats.

On Saturday, I attended a Christmas party at Dr. King’s house. He is my vertebrate teacher. It was a cute party. We decorated gingerbread cookies. I attempted to make an anatomically correct reindeer…it didn’t turn out so good so I made Bianca a gingerbread man with some peppermint buttons. We also made smores outside by a fire, sand karaoke, played Jenga, and ate some wonderful homemade food. Dr. King’s wife is an amazing baker! It seems so normal to hang out with all your professors at Trinity. Dr. Ribble (head of Biology department) was there. Dennis (the lab professor and safety inspector) came with his wife, Dr. Bushey (who was head of the chemistry department). I also saw Dr. Blystone, Dr. Brodl, and Dr. Roberts (who were all in the bio department).

So, today is Sunday and we just got back from a really cool event. Vespers!! There was a service at the chapel. The choir was amazing. We sang and lit candles. It was wonderfully spiritual and made me very happy. After that, we went to “Christmas on Oakmont.� Oakmont is a street that is kind of on Trinity property. Most of the houses on the street belong to Trinity anyway. They are given to the president and vice-presidents of the university. So, during this event, they open their doors and invite everyone on campus to attend. The president and vice-presidents greet everyone and invite them in for cookies and wassail (a personal favorite of Bianca’s). Other houses had cake, tamales, and chocolate-coated peanut butter balls. You just come in, take some food, stand around for a bit, enjoy the décor and then move on to the next house. When the lines got too long, Bianca and I left.

Bianca and I dressed to the nines for this event. Aren't we pretty? Yes, I think so too.

So, now that my busy weekend is over, I really need to finish my research proposal. Socializing time is over. Finals start Thursday evening so we all need to start working extra hard to finish the semester on a high note. Bianca’s family sent me a postcard wishing me luck on my finals so I will try my best. Thanks guys!!!

Posted by Nancy at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)