The leaves turned brown, the air turned crisp, and the calendar turned to November. I enjoy November because there aren't too many expectations or traditions other than Thanksgiving so it leaves space for new adventures. And November 2023 was no exception.
The first weekend in November was a busy one! Friday November 3rd was my friend's 21st birthday party so we went down to his suite and celebrated. Then the following day was MY 22nd birthday party! But in case that wasn't enough for one day, we also arranged a trip to Salem.
It was a goal of ours to go to Salem this year but we hadn't had time in October so we decided to go the first weekend in November. We took the train into North Station and then like clockwork, got on another commuter rail train that stops in Salem. Even though Halloween had come and gone, we decided to still dress in costume so I reprised my role as Waldo.
In Salem, we walked around the city and went to a monster movie museum that featured sculptures of creatures from movie history. We weren't allowed to take any photos in there but here are some from us out and about in Salem. A lot of people yelled out "We found you!" when they saw me because of the "Where's Waldo" costume and a mom asked if I could be in a photo with her daughter. I felt like such a celebrity.
We looked around at the many gift shops in Salem and bought some souvenirs. Even if you don't buy anything, its worth it to go to the gift shops because they have all kinds of amazing halloween decorations. We got lunch at a pizza place and then looked at some more shops including a comic book store where I got the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book!
After the fun day in Salem, we retraced our steps back to Brandeis. I had to leave my suite so that my friends could set up for my party. The theme was a suprise and they wanted to plan and set up the whole thing (My friend Emma is an expert party planner). My friends Lauren and Jennifer had been sending me photo hints while I had Covid but they were so cryptic, I only became more confused about what the theme could be. My friends Michael and Tanner went with me to dinner at the dining hall and then a drag bingo event the school was holding while the others set up the party. After bingo (we didn't win 😕), we returned to Michael and Tanner's suite where I waited until I was allowed to come up for the party.
When I arrived in The Party Zone, everyone was zonked out on the couch and I was pretty confused but then everyone came to life and I learned it was a pajama party (so that's why they were sleeping)! My friends Lauren and Jennifer had gotten me a kangaroo onesie with a little joey in its pouch as my birthday gift so I changed into that and the party began.
We had wonderful snacks, did a lot of dancing including to Cotton Eye Joe (I learned the dance to it!), took pictures at the fabulous photo booth and sang along to songs such as 22 by Taylor Swift (fitting for this celebration).
I had never had a birthday party before at Brandeis so this was very special for me and I felt so grateful for all the wonderful friends I've made here. One friend, Jacob, has actually known me for seven years, the longest of anyone at the party, because we both went to high school together.
So that was the excitement at the beginning of November but it was time to get back to the school grind. I finally returned to graduate school research and discovered that some of the schools I was applying to required GRE exams and I learned that one school I was applying to had a December 1 deadline so I had to scramble a bit to secure my letters of recommendations and begin studying for the GRE.
I also continued my work at the Sound and Image Media studios. We got a lot of new products in November including high end cameras and lighting equipment so it was like a huge Christmas morning on one of my shifts where I spent three hours opening boxes full of new equipment. I also continued editing the video of my cousin's grandfather's art and worked on editing the new dance video.
I also continued volunteering with Brandeis Buddies. One of our programs was a self care day and I tried my first self care face mask.
In my screenwriting class, we had gotten into the swing of reading a third of our classes' scripts each week and providing feedback. My comedy story about a couple traveling to New Zealand and being joined by a strange man developed a lot through writing it and when the class read my second ten pages, there were a lot of laughs in the room which was exciting.
We got quite behind in Oral Communication compared to the goals in the syllabus. After the "Life in Pictures" presentation, we did a "Teach us Something" presentation. I spoke about how incredible newspaper cartoons are, especially because unlike other mediums, you get new content every single day, 365 days a year.
Japanese Film class continued to be time consuming with roughly two movies a week to find time to watch and in Natural Language processing, we were given the hardest assignment of the semester which was implementing Viterbi decoding. I also continued rehearsing for the directing class scene I agreed to be in.
The weekend before Thanksgiving,the Brandeis campus activity board hosted a party in the library so my friends and I headed over to check that out. It was pretty amusing to be dancing in an area where one would typically study. I'd walk down the stairs to another part of the library and see people still trying to get work done!
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, I took the GRE. I cleared off my desk and had to move my computer around to show the proctor my room. She even asked to look at my ears so I had to hold my laptop up to show her. I did ok on the test, hopefully well enough! There was a math section, a reading and spelling part and a writing section.
My suite and our friends from the surrounding suites held a Friendsgiving right before break. It was pretty last minute and we drove out to a pizza place to pick up some 'za for the party. We had a fun time and it was wonderful to hang out before we headed home for break. During the party, we reached an agreement with my friend Michael who doesn't live in our suite but has claimed a spot on the couch that he can have the rights to that seat any time he wants so long as he cleans our bathrooms and showers once a week. Surprisingly, he was very enthusiastic about the deal and before we knew it, we were drafting a contract.
In October I wrote a script for a short film I want to create this year and I wanted to film one scene this semester so with the help of Lauren and Jennifer, I crafted a "Casting Call" notice I posted on Instagram so students could sign up to be extras in the first scene I'm filming. We successfully filmed the scene in December so more info to come in the next blog.
I headed home on the train on Tuesday evening. Thanksgiving break always feels like it will be such a long break but in reality, it isn't much...
I had a few main goals for the break: I wanted to finish my last Natural Language Processing assignment, work on my first grad school application, memorize my lines for the directing class scene, keep up with other schoolwork and enjoy being with family.
On Wednesday, I went with my mom to Whole Foods to pick up the fixin's for our Thanskgiving. Elina and Kaba arrived that night and my dad, Elina, Kaba and I cooked apple sauce, and mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. Elina was baking an apple cake so I stayed up with her watching a movie while we waited for it to finish cooking.
For Thanksgiving, we went over to my grandparents Marian and Irwin's house in the morning and took a walk with them and then returned home to have Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents Grammy and Grandpa. Grammy made delicious stuffing and we had the food we had cooked and the food Whole Foods made. It was great to see everyone!
The next day, I drove with my dad to Bedford and we biked from there to Lexington, picked up lunch from Via Lago and visited Marian and Irwin outside before biking home.
On the weekend, we visited family friends and I continued to work on my various assignments. On Sunday, before being dropped off at Brandeis, we went to an outdoor dinner in Belmont with Marian, Irwin, my aunt and cousins. It was a bit chilly but we made it work.
Upon my trimuphant return to Brandeis, I revealed that I had brought both a ton of halloween candy and juggling balls from home (many friends had previously expressed interest in juggling). None of us were able to master the juggling but a few are getting close. Fun Fact, one juggling ball landed in a cup of mac and cheese.
At this point, November was almost over. My mind was focused on submitting my first grad school application (which I did!), continuing to work on homework and planning my short film scene. I met with my cinematographer Yair for lunch on the 30th to plan and then did a rehearsal with the main actor in the scene that evening.
Michael and I also returned to yogalates class to complete our fifth and final session that we missed due to Covid back in October. We went up to the instructor at the end to show him that we really came back to do it and he shook our hands. And with that, we finished our Health, Wellness and Life Stlyes requirement.
And then, out of nowhere, November concluded.
See you in December!
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