Who Are You?

This particular Christmas holiday has me doing some soul searching. My mother underwent major surgery and for the first time in almost two years, I'm staying in my hometown the entire break with no fancy vacation planned.


And that really got me thinking about all the opportunities I have when I'm at Tulane. I can definitely say that I'm not the same person I was when I left Friendswood for Tulane exactly two Christmases ago-- I think I've grown up.


At Tulane I've gotten to find out who I am without any pressure to be a certain way. When I was in high school, being a liberal arts major for example was highly frowned upon for the "bright" students. Yet now I find English as my passion and certainly my favorite major. When I was in high school, there were only a certain number of organizations I could join. Even at the University of Texas in the Indian Association I was one of a thousand students and had no significant role. But at Tulane I got to dance on stage, help plan functions, and be as involved as I wanted. Finally, in high school I made friends with people with very different personalities and backgrounds but none similar to my own. At Tulane I've found friends with whom I have cultural, religious, personality, ideals, and value similarities. I've even found a guy who meets both mine and the people close to me's criteria of a good match--he's Indian and Hindu and laid back in contrast to my go-getter attitude.

So now that I'm back here I'm thinking . . . . I've really found out who I am at Tulane because of all the people I've met, clubs I've joined, and classes I've taken. Tulane offers such a diversity of options that every single person can find his or her niche here.


So for those of you still applying over Winter Break please think about it . . . . who are you? And if you don't yet know, which is totally normal, then come to Tulane and find out!


This is me and one of my best friends representin'- I so would have never pulled this off in high school!

Hornets Game

So last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a New Orleans Hornets game. A friend of mine won tickets when we were out to eat at a famous restaurant where the Honeybees, the Hornets dance team, was signing autographs. The seats weren't great but the experience certainly made up for it.















There is so much tradition associated with every event here in New Orleans-- Mardi Gras, jazz, the streetcar, and even sporting events. At the Hornets game, the tradition was to stand until our team made its first basket. Even if this meant standing for five or six minutes all of the fans all the way up into the third tier of stands were on their feet. Additionally, the Star Spangled Banner wasn't sung like everywhere else- it was played on a saxophone, truly representing the city. I didn't realize a basketball game could instill such New Orleans pride in me but by the end of the game I found myself screaming and cheering like everyone else.

The game was a close one as the Hornets were against the Dallas Mavericks, a team with a very strong season so far. The odds were against the Hornets but a few moments of truly impressive playing and the rallying of the fans pulled New Orleans through. At the very end of the fourth quarter with 5 seconds left, New Orleans tied the score when one of the players sank a 3 pointer from nearly the sidelines. The game went into an exciting overtime in which the Hornets really scored, making them the ultimately winning team. When the colorful confetti and balloons poured from the ceiling of the New Orleans Arena the cheers were deafening and it seemed like the entire city was celebrating the incredible win.

The last time I'd been to a basketball game before that was a Comets WNBA game with my father. We had gotten box seats and I was about 12 years old. I was excited about the food and paid no attention to the game whatsoever. Eight years later, I can honestly profess that I enjoyed watching basketball and the Hornets game was an experience that I would certainly repeat!





Only in New Orleans . . . .

An RA Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the first I've ever spent away from my home and family. Part of the job of Resident Advisor requires half of us to remain on campus for Thanksgiving and Mardi Gras while the other half stays for Spring and Easter Break. I chose Thanksgiving, thinking I could go back to Russia with the longer springtime break and hence, I'm here.

I thought at first that my Thanksgiving was going to be very lonely. I was worried that without my friends here, I'd really have no place to go. I was invited to friends' houses off campus but because of desk shifts and duty, it was much more convenient to just stay on campus. As part of our programming duties, some of the RAs had decided to have a dinner for ourselves and all of our residents that were staying for the week and we would each contribute a different dish.

I didn't really understand how much time this would take until we actually started shopping and cooking. Three Winn Dixie and one Walmart trip and four hours later, I realized how long I'd spent with my fellow RAs and how much I had enjoyed their company. We spent so much time giggling and laughing over little things as we prepared for our feast.

We ended up having an awesome day together. The guys you see in the pictures- David, an RA in upperclassmen Aron Apartments, Corrina, an RA in Modular Housing, Jenny, also an RA in Aron, and I spent time on Thanksgiving cooking, going to a Housing and Res Life party, and finally, just hanging out.

We ended the night at Corrina's place, where she made us excellent soy milk chocolate espressos. We spent hours chatting, sharing pictures of our families, and discussing books we all wanted to read and borrow from Corrina, an English major with a diverse collection of literature. After that David had a shift at the desk and we all trooped in after him to watch a movie, even though the desk might not have the same comforts as someone's room. The point was we were a band for this one day and we all flowed wherever one of our members wanted to go.

George Burns once said, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."

All I can say is it was a happy Thanksgiving for me after all.

Exams Week

So this week is MIDTERMS WEEK!!!

Beware incoming freshmen . . . the middle of the semester suddenly creeps up on you while you’re still stuck in “summer mode” and then you’re sitting at your laptop typing notes for a class you skipped all semester long thinking the midterm was far away. There was always a reasonable excuse . . you weren’t feeling that well one day . . . you had a paper due another day . . . you thought you’d go in early to work . . . your friend just got dumped and needed a shoulder . . . . you had to take care of dropping a class . . . . you had to meet with your advisor . . . . this is college, the excuses are creative and endless. It’s very easy to convince yourself not to go to class and then you end up with about half the material you need to know in your notes and the other half in the notes of other people who DID go to class on those days.

Luckily for you, you have good friends and sorority sisters who are there when you need them . . to give you all those notes from all those lectures you missed.
And now, you have exactly two days to learn everything you need to know.

Welcome to college, ladies and gentlemen, because the all-nighter, the cramming, the borrowing notes, the energy drinks to keep you up, and the general lack of sleep pretty much describes it! =)

I promise you guys will hear more from me as soon as my midterms are over!

Sex Signals

So last week my Office of Multicultural Affairs little sister and I attended a presentation entitled Sex Signals- a funny show on college dating. Many others had the same idea- our University Center was PACKED with people wanting to see this show. It was put on by the Newcomb Institute, which is dedicated to furthering women’s education at this school.

The show was HILARIOUS. It asked for a lot of audience participation in terms of pick up lines to start scenes and defining stereotypes. For example, the beginning scene was a guy hitting on a girl at a party. Someone in the audience came up with the winning line, “Are those space pants? Coz baby your ass is out of this world . . .” And the scene proceeded from there. The next scene worked in the stereotypes that often define these interactions, with the women expected to be docile and sweet and the men expected to be macho and tough. Somehow these presenters managed to capture the awkwardness of trying to impress someone of the opposite sex in an intense situation like that and every single person in the audience understood!

But then the show took a more serious turn and started addressing the topic of rape and what exactly constitutes rape. We learned that any slightest lack of consent is all it takes and the legal and social implications are very severe for someone who doesn’t realize that. I was honestly impressed that the majority of the audience, my fellow Tulanians, stayed through this portion of the show. During our Resident Advisor Training we had to attend a seminar on Louisiana laws in terms of sexual assault and rape but this presentation was purely voluntary. The people at my school cared enough to sit there and listen and the presenters did an awesome job informing while at the same time exposing how confusing the issue can be. The Newcomb Institute did well in picking this show to bring to Tulane.

So if you want to go to a school where people will work to guide you even through even the most uncomfortable subjects, Tulane is the one for you. An issue like this has to be addressed and it was frankly amazing the way it was done.

Only at Tulane . . . .

My Little Sisters

So this year I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a big sister through both the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Newcomb Institute and its been a very rewarding experience. My two littles are named Asha and Meg and they are both amazingly smart and talented girls. They really make an effort to hang out with me and I call them and check up on them every couple of days. One of them is working at the desk in her dorm, a very low key job, and is interested in joining my sorority. The other is already pledging for the business fraternity. They are two examples of girls who have made the best out of the opportunities that they have had so far and I’d like to think that they can look to me as an example of someone who also got involved early freshmen year and now is doing well managing all her activities.

(Here is Meg trying on some crazy glasses at Funky Monkey on Magazine Street!)

The best thing about having little sisters is being able to show them all the interesting places to go in New Orleans and on campus. I did have a Newcomb Big but I rarely saw her my freshman year- only when I went out. She answered all my questions on the actual day of the ceremony but never called me to eat or go with her someplace after that. I make it an effort to call my littles when its a new place from which I think they can benefit. For example, we’ve gone to Magazine Street, Target, out for dinner, and tomorrow we’re going to Barnes and Noble. Most of these are things I need to do anyways but having them around always makes it so much more fun!

So incoming freshmen make sure you remember to sign up for a Big Brother or Sister. You’re going to make some awesome friendships in the process!

(Here are Sangita, Sona, Me, Meg, and Asha out at Reginelli’s on Magazine Street)

The Life of a Leader

Sigh . . the life of a leader is certainly a tiring one!!! So here was my day today:

I got up at 9 in the morning for Cell Biology, to which I was only two minutes late. I then had lunch with a friend and worked on RA stuff for about an hour. Immediately following that I had a one on one with my supervisor (RA), and then office hours at the OMA Office since I’m an Office of Multicultural Affairs Ambassador and we are all required to do one hour a week. And then I had class, then service learning for that class, and then rushed to check in for duty, which I am on tonight.

And then I hosted a meeting at 9, went on rounds with my duty-buddy (basically checked my area to make sure everything was safe and secure) and then rushed to the gym before it closed. I managed to set up my laptop in my lounge to get some studying done . . . and then my friend called.

So now its 12:34 am and I have an 8 am class which I’m determined to attend even if it kills me.

And then I’m going to the medical school for my research job, then I have sorority stuff in the evening.

The life of a leader has me running from place to place . . . and loving every second of it!

Take advantage of your opportunities at Tulane, guys! It’s so worth it!