farewell, september

alexandra:

i can always count on monthly wrap-ups to remind me of the passing of time. *sips tea* i’m honestly unsure what i accomplished this month aside from submitting assignments and going through the motions but that’s,,, a little cynical. in all honesty, i haven’t been in the best mental space this past month. but we continue.

earlier in the month, i met up with tiffany @readbytiffany and breana @milkyboos in real life for a picnic and it was so refreshing to see people. i hadn’t realized how much i missed my friends until i saw them. aside from that, i online shopped way too much, spent too much time organizing my notion, and staring at screens. zoom is really a blessing and curse at this time, but mostly a curse. but i’m definitely grateful for discord and all the communities i’m able to a part of through it.

haley:

especially compared to the slow pace of the past 6 months of quarantine, this month was an absolute flurry. i finished my 2-week quarantine in queens and moved into my VERY FIRST apartment on the 1st! i have never felt so adult with signing leases, opening a credit card, buying groceries, renting a moving car . . . etc. and then of course, school started which means non-stop zoom and way too much screen time.

but overall it’s been a month of new opportunities! i joined the columbia ballet ensemble which i’m so excited about, secured a spring internship at an animation company i’ve really wanted to work with (!!!), and just joined way too many clubs. also with being back in the city, i’ve surprisingly still been able to meet a lot of new classmates and strengthen my freshman year friendships — while keeping my covid bubble small, getting tested on a weekly basis, wearing a mask anytime i’m out, and socially distancing of course!!! i don’t want to get into a whole rant but if you’re in college and going to parties . . . don’t. <3

priscilla:

what xan said is literally so real haha. at the every month i’m always shocked at the fact that another month has passed. i’m pretty sure i’ve said this before too, but time feels simultaneously fast and slow – it’s so strange. part of me can’t believe that october and fall are here, but the other part of me feels like september has been quite long because i’ve been SO BUSY. my whole life is basically classes + clubs + social life (somehow i still manage to call at least 2-3 people a day, it’s a little bit insane). thankfully classes so far aren’t too bad, and i’m not hating online uni as much as i though i would haha, although i have had to wake up at 6:30am for my 7:10am classes.

a recap of this past month:

• started classes
• had a ridiculous number of zoom calls
• baked (too many) matcha things
• hung out with my cousin a lot (including one trip to the beach!)
• painted, watched some movies, read a little
• had a mini crisis (but doing okay now hahaha)

media consumed

alexandra:

i recently finished reading the burning god, by r.f. kuang (coming out nov 17!) and it destroyed me lol. :’) it was definitely one of the best books i read this year (if not the best book i read this year). now i’m just a bundle of sadness and trying to cope with series endings.

in terms of films/shows, i finally finished watching avatar: the last airbender, which is one of my new favorites! i’m very excited to watch legend of korra, although keeping my expectations low. the days following ruth bader ginsberg’s death, i watched RBG and was even more in my feels than usual. and to pack the punch, i rewatched princess mononoke and am,, clearly emo!!! the things i consumed this past month are an accurate representation of my mood.

haley:

some of the classes i’m taking include cinema history 1930-1960s, nonfiction digital video production, and topics in world cinema: china so i’ve been watching a ton of movies for school and in my free time! this month, i watched mulan (don’t get me started), m (dir. fritz lang), cameraperson (dir. kirsten johnson), the goddess (dir. wu yonggang), ratatouille (seen it before but forgot how amazing it was), crows and sparrows (dir. zheng junli), 42nd street (dir. lloyd bacon), la règle du jeu (dir. jean renoir), the hurt locker (dir. kathryn bigelow), two sister stages (dir. xie jin), and maría candelaria (dir. emilio fernández).

of the movies i watched in class, i absolutely loved the goddess, a film about a chinese prostitute struggling to raise her son, and highly recommend it if you’re looking for an old foreign film to watch! i also absolutely and unexpectedly loved cameraperson, a compilation of shots kirsten johnson kept over the course of her career as a documentary filmmaker. i feel like this film made me feel so so so inspired and i started to really consider documentary filmmaking. either way, i absolutely adore kirsten johnson now. lastly, i also really enjoyed the hurt locker but i was so tense during the whole film and the end absolutely devastated me. also, disappointed that bigelow was the first woman to win best director in 2010 (like why did it TAKE THAT LONG) and is STILL the only woman to win it. but i digress.

as for books i read, i’ve only been reading textbook excerpts and plato’s republic. not the most fun reading!

priscilla:

i didn’t watch/read/listen to too many things this month, but i finished indian matchmaking (very fun and entertaining) with my friend and also watched the lovebirds (super silly and quite weird but comedic) with a few friends! in terms of books, i’ve been kinda inundated with book recommendations, but i finally started homegoing by yaa gyasi, which i’ve heard really amazing things about. so far, it’s really sad but also really beautifully written, and i’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the book unfolds. transcendent kingdom by yaa gyasi is next on my list!

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foresights of october

alexandra:

with a new month coming, i’m trying to have a positive mentality. new month, new season, new beginnings!! i’m keeping my expectations low and mostly focus on: keeping up with work and school, but also finding balance in terms of self-care. although honestly, it doesn’t look like it’ll be so great; it’s the month leading up to america’s election and i just want to get that ordeal over with. but!!! i am excited for spooky season and (hopefully) actually cooler weather!

haley:

in all honesty, my mental health wasn’t the best this month and i think it was mostly due to a hugely different pace in life. of course i kept busy in quarantine, but i went from tons of downtime and relaxing with family and no strict deadlines, to nearly maxed-out credits, meeting a ton of new people (over zoom) every day, surrounded by my roommates 24/7, and way way too many extracurricular commitments (i love them all but i definitely overloaded) . . . i’m not sure if anyone else feels this way, but life seems to be advancing as “usual” now that we’ve adapted to this “new normal” but if you needed it, this is a reminder that we are still living in a global pandemic and it’s okay to not be okay!!

anyways, my hope for next month is that i’ll be a lot more adjusted to having commitments again and continue to do well in my classes! i also hope to read ONE (ambitious, i know) book for pleasure and just generally stay positive. this sounds cheesy af but sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in assignments or commitments or deadlines, but the most important thing to me is to take actions i believe will enrich my life and above all, stay true to who i am. so looking forward to a happy october and excited for ~fall~ things!

priscilla:

fall is my favorite season, so i’m glad october is finally here (but also can you all believe quarantine has lasted two entire seasons now?). i’m excited to make myself hot drinks (hot cocoa, coffee, tea, etc) and bundle up in sweaters and burn candles all evening long :))

also hoping to set aside more time to rest intentionally, since i realized that’s something i’ve been lacking.

i’m also very excited because i’m visiting boston/nyc for a couple days in mid-october – i feel slightly nervous and also irresponsible for traveling when i don’t have to, but i’ll be social distancing as much as possible and trying to stay safe / keep other people safe!

how was your september? let us know in the comments!