June 17, 2008
Grammar and Conversation; nothing too interesting. I know Russian fluently and speak without mistakes, but now, as we are learning the syntax rules and the prefix/suffix forms, conjugations—I find it difficult to follow. I cannot imagine how non-native speakers learn this language. Unbelievable! It’s such hard work! And I see they try so hard; I almost feel guilty for cruising through this and feeling bored. Stanislav Anatolyevich is such a funny character! I think his teaching style involves acting, because he’s so animated and annunciates each word exactly as it is written. I think he is very talented—it is incredibly frustrating trying to beat Russian grammar rules into students who do not have a Russian background. If anybody is interested, however, they can go to www.rusradio.ru and listen to some Radio straight from Moscow or St. Petersburg…
We were talking about the correct way to pronounce “leisure”, and our professor reminded us that “leisure should rhyme with pleasure, and not with seizure” and that is really quite funny.
For conversation, Ekaterina Lionidovna broke us up into groups according to level of proficiency, and spoke to us about what we would like to see brought into class to make it less boring for those who do understand the language. So far, we read some personal ads, and were assigned to write our own. Of course, I wrote that I am looking for a grandfather ages 75-85 for my amazing grandchildren....hehe. I wrote that this grandfather must be able to hammer in nails, whistle, wash his own shirts, tolerate my cooking, and be ready to dance tango every night. Of course this is just for entertainment, since when my husband will be the grandfather of my grandchildren, I will continue to wash his shirts!
I decided to buy my breakfast and dinners during lunch at the campus diner, since the cafeteria by the dorms where we are supposed to buy food in the morning and evening, is a heart-attack lab. The food is so dreadful—all fried, baked, or mayonaised. They don’t even have yoghurt for breakfast or dairy, and the only fruit are oranges or really unripe bananas…
I really pray that this program will help me at least somehow. I hoe it was worth giving up my ticket to Europe for 6 weeks here. My roomie is delightful as always, and another girl and her visiting boyfriend invited me to join them bake cookies—and then I ate all of them…haha
We have homework; I am told to learn some type of forms of words, but since I don’t even know them in English (as I said, anything more complex than noun, adjective, verb makes me confused…) I have to learn both English and Russian. I am however recalling that a preposition is anything a bunny can to do a fence, and that really broadens up our options, does it???
My mother was supposed to come by and visit me, and possibly bring me apples…but I think Nick is tired, and has just gotten into town from a trip, so I think it’s best if they rest together.
I did manage to go for a brisk walk after I did my assignments. Our life style here is very sedentary. After we wake up, we eat, and then sit in class from 9—12PM, when we eat again and from 1—5:30PM we continue with Russian. At this time, we are supposed to eat again, dinner, and then have study hall from 7—9PM and then there is absolutely no energy or time left for any physical output of energy…and that unhealthy cafeteria makes me very paranoid about all my efforts to get into shape…
SOooo…good night…

June 16, 2008
I forgot to mention that my mother and I surprised Nick with Alex the Palm Tree on Saturday night for Father’s Day. I captured it on film, too, and it’s very sweet footage of my mom’s boyfriend being very happy to see her. We used to have two palm trees (one in my room, and one in the living room). As I’ve said before, we were joking that nobody in our family has normal names, so at least our palm trees could: Michelle and Nicole. My mother asked Nick what one of the names was, a unisex name, and he guessed “Alex”…Well it was Nicole, (Russians name their sons and daughters this), but for a long time my mother was hoping to give him a palm tree named Alex. It was all executed quite successfully: I actually can’t remember if it was Friday night or Saturday, and where we were coming home from, but we dropped off my grandma and sped off to Home Depot to buy Nick’s tree. We only knew approximately where the billiards place was where Nick was playing pool with his sons, so by my mother’s instructions, I called to say goodbye, as if I wouldn’t be able to talk to him before I left on my SLI trip. In my goodbye, I incorporated slightly interrogative phrases, like “You’re in the Hollywood Billiards, right?” He must have suspected something, because he told me the cross-streets, but the phone broke up the name of the second street. So I hung up (as I am a terrible actress and really can’t lie unless I’m in deep trouble), and then began guessing what the name of that second street was…we asked some pedestrians. The valet in front of the Billiards were quite tolerant of the crazy woman and her daughter; my mom put the palm tree into a stroller that Transkaya lent us, and put a diaper around the pot. My mother got balloons earlier that day, and tied them to the stroller. We waited for about 15 minutes before Nick and his sons left the game hall, and my mother began walking up to them in the parking lot. Nick was so pleasantly surprised, while his kids stood lamely by, wishing us to not have been there. It was all quite sweet and my mother and her boyfriend are the nicest couple in the world!
Today at SLI, we had quite an intense program. Tatyana Ivanovna took us all to breakfast, where we were served the unhealthiest, most boring, saturated meal that I have ever seen at any cafeteria. It was all fried, or really oily, but there was a cook that was preparing custom-made omlettes, and so I got one with bell peppers and mushrooms. I had to stand by, though, making sure he only used one egg—the others he made were so huge, that nobody was able to finish. There is no yoghurt or cottage cheese, or anything healthy except some fruit, so I was very disappointed that my breakfast was oily…
Our first class was with Stanislav Anatolyevich, grammar. Grammar is confusing and I really commend all these non-Russians for taking an interest in this impossible language. There are charts and tables and pages and volumes of conjugations…I conjugate and form sentences naturally because I grew up with it, but if I am told “glogol” in Russian, I won’t know (except now I do) that it means “verb”, and I’ve only just gotten the basic “noun”, “verb”, “adjective” although I can’t remember what they are in Russian as I type this. Once we move on to “prepositions” and “adverbs” I am quite in a fog even in English…But finally, when we reach “hard verbs” (WTF???) “accusative”, “genitive”, and “infinitive”, I am completely lost, because I don’t know what those terms mean in English. My mother never taught me grammar and I never attended a formal Russian school; my speech is excellent, and I write well, but I have no idea about the rules of sentence structure…I can only feel if something is wrong or right by putting it into context…
Ekaterina Lionidovna came to teach us “Conversation” after lunch. Finally I found some yoghurt, and there was also salad and a nice array of choices, but I was afraid to exceed the charge limit and only got an apple, yoghurt, and green tea. The prices are not as high as at my college, but maybe I can’t feel the money strain since the food is provided to me free of charge. I am getting to know my classmates better. Since it is quite awkward to speak Russian only, most just keep quiet…but it is also “lame” to remain silent, so sometimes we sneak in a bit of English…It’s a game we are playing, so we must overcome the awkwardness and really get into it for 6 weeks.
During our classes there was a lot of “Where was she born?” “How many siblings does she/he have?” “Where to his parents work?” All three teachers asked us the same questions. We had two exams, one in “Grammar”, and also in “Conversation”. In the first one, we had many fill-in-the-blank types, and there was also a short humorous story about a Russian doctor who is leaving for a few months and who is writing to potential thieves about how few treasures he has… Our second test consisted of Russian advertisements and how-to labels. We had multiple-choice questions which we had to select, and we were given 35 minutes. Ekaterina Lionidovna insisted that nobody would finish, that it was not meant to intimidate us…I finished, however. She wanted to assure the people who were struggfling that nobody else was proficient enough to complete the long test, and asked to raise our hands if we had finished…but I didn’t want to make the girl feel uneasy or seem as if I wanted to be smarter than everyone; of course when the teacher grades the tests, she’ll see that I got through to the last question…
Oleg Nikolaevich is a USC graduate student and he’s very young at heart. He was in charge from 4—9 PM, ensuring that we were using Russian and accompanying us to our revolting cardboard dinner. We watched “Beloye Solntse Pustini” (White Sun of the Desert) before going to the cafeteria, and afterwards, we started our first homework assignments, which include translations, autobiographies, word memorization ( I still haven’t gotten to it), and reading. It wasn’t as difficult as it was tedious, although I can’t complain. The teachers show very big enthusiasm and I appreciate their work. The students in our class are at very different levels of experience in the language; we have heritage speakers, and complete Americans, and the gap is a large on for all to tolerate. My rommie is very studious and sat down after dinner and is still studying!!!!!
I suppose I need to make time for more yoga or dancing or going to the pool…I also need to start the Tower Project, and think about the project that has been mentioned (though not yet assigned) to us from this SLI program.
Otherwise, here we are, sitting, munching on trail mix, blabbering away in Russian. And look at me! I’m done with my scheduled blog!

June 15, 2008
My mother is wondering if this is the right choice…was it the right thing to give up my ticket to Europe? What will I learn? How is this relevant to what I am studying at my own college? Will this Russian Immersion program be good for me, or will it worsen my Russian due to the other students’ accents? Will I come home after these 6 weeks speaking English less “good”, or more “worse”! The professors don’t speak English fluently, while most of the students struggle with Russian. They seem very nice, though…except for the handful of “блядей”. My roommate that has so miraculously agreed to “chaperone” the underage minor that I am, is an American Pasadena College student whose ex-boyfriend got her into Russian. Her attitude and she herself are beyond lovely. And her wardrobe is really pretty: she has a million sun dresses and zip-up hoodies, and high-heeled shoes—while I brought visibly-old T-shirts and sport pants, ordinary jeans, and a few skirts…Oh well, hehehe, I have waaay more lotion bottles than her! I’m just kidding, of course, but so far we haven’t gotten the chance to get to know each other except from the things each one of us packed. I got her a purse from Victoria’s Secret as a pre-program ‘Thank you’ and she looked pleased at the gift; only later I saw that she has a very nice style. She has a purse with a pattern on it that is very similar to the one on the hoodie that Olya+Borya got me on Thursday.
We were introduced to a few of the teachers in our residential area, given forms to sign, and two binders (one for Conversation, the second for Grammar) and given a tour of campus by a very lazy, un-organized, and useless guy named Martin, who has no connection to our program and who seems to just live on the first floor. We saw the cafeteria and the pool, and also the laundry, and that concluded the exclusive tour around the “time-share”-look-alike part of the university we are staying at. I’m not exaggerating—everything is painted either icky orange, brown, or dirty yellow. Free time until 2 pm allowed me to shuffle around some more of my stuff, while my room mate went to get herself a bite to eat (I came prepared for a non-cafeteria day with avocado, tomato, cucumber, kiwi, prunes, and even my Brita filterD). There was not much progress with organization in my dorm because the wireless kept weakening on me, and it is still misbehaving frequently—I have to type in MS Word for fear of losing big parts of the entry. Another girl across the hall speaks Spanish and English, and for some reason is fascinated with Russian; she came in after the “бляди” abandoned her and left, so we waited for my roommie and then hurried off to our classroom where the group was supposed to meet. The residential halls are a mile’s walk from Sierra Hall, so it would be a shame to forget anything in the future—as I did today with my phone… I can’t be a slacker on this program, though, because I’ll be kicked off!
I am very excited about the professors, as they were very enthusiastic and quite funny. There is the woman that speaks very quietly, but we have “ZLODEY!!!!” and “GEROY!!!!!!!!!!” and of course the coordinator, and another cool lady from St. Petersburg. They spoke about themselves; we must address them formally as people do in Russia: their first name with their father’s first name conjugated into a second title. So this means they are serious about this course! Since the session officially starts tomorrow, we had all the time after 4, free. Tatyana Ivanovna was our 4-6 R.A. , but because everybody sped off to extend their personal lives while the commitment to SLI hasn’t come into effect yet, she sat in the main room chatting to only me and a Mexican boy who is in this class. He is the only guy out of 12 students, so he must be a bit disappointed, having to stay in an apartment by himself and having nobody to talk to…
We talked about the architectural composition of St. Petersburg, which according to this teacher is “the prettiest city in the world (with Paris and Rome being the other two, statistically speaking).” I introduced him to the different characters on the wrappers of Russian candy which was laid out on platters along with “pryaniki” by the coffee/tea pots. Then the girl from Santa Barbara came along, talked a bit about immigration, and then left, so Tatyana Ivanovna and I took a walk to find the cafeteria which that lazy Martin did a lousy job of showing us. We were trying to find the way from the cafeteria to the classroom, because punctuality is a “key to the success of this program”, and the campus we are on is HUGE, and those boring “time-shitty”, oops, “time sharey” complexes are IDENTICAL. She is outdoorsy, and decided to walk barefoot the entire mile. At the last moment, right before we arrived by the clock tower, she got stung by a bee! She pulled the stinger from the bottom of her foot, and even though she refused the cucumber remedy suggestion I offered her, she was in a lot of pain. Anyway, we walked to the parking lot—by her car I would have been able to tell that she was sporty—and she opened the top and started driving me back to the dorms. Well—she reached a place where the car could no longer to, and drove up onto the wide sidewalk. As soon as we were sliding through, the psychedelic sprinklers turned on and swept over the car, spraying us! This is where she put the top up, and where I got out to run back by myself…But Tatyana Ivanovna said she was looking for a tennis buddy, as well as somebody to go swimming, walking, and exploring with, and I’m up for it anytime…except now! I’m tired. I dragged all these suitcases, ran, did yoga, and cleaned the dorm AND!!! wrote a blog! I am super duper! Hehehe
My wrists are very frustrated from typing on the laptop! I can’t stand it. I literally have to write with fully extended hands, not bending my elbows, because the other position hurts my wrists…So this is it for today—except…I HAVE ACNE! ME!!!!!! CLEAR-SKINNED JULIA HAS ACNE! It’s not over my entire face—thank G-d it’s not on my forehead or my right cheek, but my left cheek and chin are spotty…and it’s due to teenager-ism, as I am so careful with my face…Maybe by the end of this session, they won’t be as painful, as I’m eating healthy…
Righty, I am going to sleep. I’ve decided not to access MSN! I will re-ignite my responsible habits (reading, writing, blogging, and cleaning)! Enough of mindless chatting…

My mother took Raya, babushka Kira, and me to see The Musical Classic "Singing in the Rain" at Glendale Center Theatre on Wednesday. It was quite delightful, with lovely voices, and their costumes were great. Usually, small theatres have shabby costumes, but this one had all new ones, nothing torn or stained. In a little theatre's intimate environment, the audience can notice very well the imperfections of the props...but here there were none, and they sang, danced, jumped, played instruments, and really entertained us:-). After the show, the cast stood by the doors, and I got a few pictures; they were all very welcoming and grateful, and posed for my grandma and me...Another important persona walked up to us himself! There are a lot of talented people who deserve superstardom, but who seem to prefer the connection between their listeners and viewers...

And tonight, after Dodik came and took away my desktop pc with a dead harddrive (with all my Harvard essays and desktop items lost most likely:-(, we went to Westchester to see "A Murder is Announced", a comedy based on Agatha Christie's novel. My gradmother adored it! And my mom and I had quite a bit of fun...it was spooky, I must say.
Then walking back to the car, my mother thinks she saw the guy who crashed into us back when we had our huge car accident in 1997 or 1998...It's exactly the area where it happened and where that guy lived...and it sort of made my mom uneasy. We had parked by these dense bushes, and right when I was going to go around to the passenger's side, a big animal scuttled out of there and ran away--and although I can't recall exactly now, I'm sure I must have screamed
We had a really great laugh, because even though I am a Trakhtenberg, I do not even have the slightest gist of Triskaidekophobia!
My mother's grandfather always thought 13 was a lucky number. His birthday was November 13, and my mother has always loved it too! Our apartment building, however, has no unit #13, the #11 is followed by #14!...

Went to Cecil again this morning, and she arranged an appointment for me so that I didn't have to cancel. She's a real sweetheart, and I must remember to bring her a whole load of candies, as whenever I go into her office, I eat all the good ones in the jar...

Wow, lookit-choo Julia, you wrote another blog on a concecutive day! 13 is surely a lucky number.

Welcome to the blog of the biggest slacker on this site why can't I devote a few minutes before bed to write a note about the day?
Incorrigible, no? Ooh, but if I write this blog in Firefox, my misspelled words get underlined; this way, even though I am a slacker, nobody will dare think that I commit grammatical errors...
I still owe a large account of blogging to my Florida and London trips. But really I am so convinced that G-d loves me and I think my life is quite blessed.

So shall I break the ice by admitting that I decided to listen to some Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, music before I agreed with everyone else in the [older] group range I am associated with that she was terrible?
I figure she is for the current tween age group what Hillary Duff/Lizzie McGuire was to us...I enjoyed Lizzie McGuire quite a lot, although I have never seen Miley's show, hahaha (after all, I'm a college sophomore now according to the amount of units I've passed). But Hillary Duff has weak songs which she writes herself...that is harder, I know...while Miley's songs are written are by her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. My point is--Miley has tolerable songs and a very strong voice. I don't like her performance behavior (I watched a vid, and she's being so tacky, flailing her self and arms around and opening her HUGE mouth)...but I was so pleasantly surprised about these two songs that I found "Let's Dance", and "I Can't Wait To See You Again", that I sort of find her lovely...and...here they are:

And now you can laugh ALL YOU WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!

So I have completed my first year of college:-) *Hard to tell, no?* I am quite excited to be considered the sophomore that I mentioned I was, because it means I'm getting somewhere. It's so strange to think that I would still be a senior (or just graduating this week)...but who knows maybe I'd be getting in to university straight away...
I'm not upset, like I was in the last blog because I'm generally a very happy person and I am in a terrific mood!
So I got an A in Business Calculus Part I (with Part II in my schedule for next semester), and an A for Political Science/Philosophy, and a B for Hebrew II. My mother was very upset about the B! And I've never seen her upset over my grades....It's just that I've been an irresponsible slacker, and the whole point of me taking Hebrew was for the "easy" A...BUT!!!! The final was worth 40% of our grades. It was so difficult. My professor has very hard major-tests. I didn't get an A on the midterm either. And in the last two weeks before the exam she dumped the whole "future-tense packet" on us...And Hebrew has a million types of conjugations for different words with certain vowels in the center and you have to memorize ALL of them....So Hebrew has brought down my G.P.A...

Finland

Netherlands

Turkey

Bulgaria (SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I wrote an EXCELLENT essay (I got an 88% on the paper) for polit-sci-phil comparing Karl Marx and John Steward Mill regarding the concepts of HUMAN FREEDOM...I sat down on Thursday in front of a blank computer screen...On Friday, I wrote the heading of my paper and retyped the essay question and the bibliography just in case and then finally, Friday night, I managed to write a thesis! I hate American essay structures! THESIS? Well it was a very well thought out sentence, which introduced my all-time favorite punctuation mark--the "; SEMI COLON! It was a very long sentence but it was brilliant. Only on Friday I sped up my typing, and managed to not only cook up a first sentence...but compile some of my previous essays about Marx and Mill into this one...I needed to write 6 pages...and thank G-d I managed. I didn't sleep the night of Saturday to Sunday, and was quite along at 8 AM, when I went to sleep! To my swell luck, the wonderful neighborhood of West Hollywood, which I call my home, chose precisely that our to blast out "WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU" as the gay residents and my neighbors hopped outside on Santa Monica Blvd (about 100 feet from where I, so exhausted, had collapsed in bed) to celebrate their Gay Pride. This year, the choice of music was very good. I don't remember what they played except "Queen", but it didn't bother me at all, although they had loud mikes and I could hear the announcers. Some of our neighbors decorated the patio with a huge rainbow balloon, and all the people were in a great mood. There were police to keep them safe and all the haters out, and to control traffic. And this year, everything was cleaned up so quickly. I didn't go outside, though; and finished all of my 6 pages, except for the last paragraph including examples of animals and humans as species-beings (crazy Marx) and other instances where Mill would say I was exercising my human freedoms and expanding my higher mental capacities...
Then Nick picked us up with his sons and took us to the Dodger's Stadium, where the home team lost to Chicago Cubs (WHOOHOOO! I rooted for Chicago because when we went to visit Zefa, the tube (how do we call it in America?) would pass the Cubs stadium on the way to Wilmette, and once we saw it full of fans! Plus, L.A. teams don't impress me at all--although since in 4th grade the Lakers funded our trip to Sacramento and we got to meet Kobe, I will root for them almost always! Lakers
At the game, a blind girl sang the anthem very powerfully. The anthem always touches me; and I think it is a very good tradition to sing it at games--as we don't sing it anywhere anymore. And..the fans cheered, so that was a lovely American punch before the game started...and I've never been to any game other than the Laker one in 4th grade To be honest, baseball is boring. I much more prefer soccer (or as my family calls it "futbol") so I amused myself by eating lots of peanuts and popcorn.
Driving back, Nick's sons talked about Russian politics, and future careers and all the other things that mom's boyfriend's sons and dad's girlfriend's daughters find awkward.

Finished my 6 page pager that night...although I don't know where I found the strength to write such a great paper...I am actually proud of it...and it wasn't BS...
Went to work on Monday, found my professor in his maze of an office to turn in the essay, and got picked up by my mother and grandmother who had just arrived from San Jose...

Throughout the week, I had a few appointments with Cecil, working out my academic schedule for next year...and it's quite complicated because I have to squish chem in it...And I have one tomorrow at 9 am....and I am so puzzled about the way our rapid buses run. Usually to be at work at 9, I get up at 6:30 to stand at the bus stop by 7:20. This whole last week, I kept oversleeping, and when I got on the bus at 7:40 I was 20 minutes late, but the second time, I got on at 7:50, and arrived at 8:20 at work, with the shuttle and all other inconveniences...
I notice that on Mondays and Wednesdays, roads are much more packed than Tuesdays and Thursdays. I really hope that I"ll be on time tomorrow regardless of traffic....

Today, Raya, Misha, and Oga + Borya came over to see our England pictures, which I've got on the computer. We arranged chairs in my rooms like in a private movie theater and started explaining in detail the amazing things we saw...Well the old farts didn't enjoy it and started leaving. Then my dad's parents came and sat through all 350+ pictures eating pizza and drinking wine, spoiling me with a new dress (from Armani) and a horrid shirt from there too, which I told them to return...The dress is really delicate, though, and it's more of a winter dress. Warm, and woven, but I am not used to such expensive tangible gifts...
For example, the trip to EU would have been enough...but they want to spoil me, and I always feel very uneasy that they spend and spend, because I've never asked for shopping sprees or expensive things.

And now I come to my long-awaited trip to Europe...It was been delayed for the reason that I got accepted, last-minute, (the reply came today) to SLI (Strategic Language Incentive [though the 'I' could stand for Immersion]. At Northridge, there will be a 6 week Russian program, living in the dorms and studying with Russian economists and other professionals. During the school year, I'll continue at my community college, but will take an online component to this Russian series. The program will end next summer with a six week study session in either Moscow or St. Petersburg. It is absolutely a brilliant program, and the government has funded it with $3 million. It's a once-in-a-life-time project, probably, and I am very lucky to have been accepted ahead of the 11 candidates in line...The lady in charge like my essays and situation, and Russian proficiency, and I may have charmed her at Tuesday's interview...
BUT! I am so embarrassed, because I had to "betray" the amazing Dutch people. I feel terrible, because they made plans to show me around and devote time for a whole week showing me their Netherlands. Hopefully I"ll have more news about how long these tickets have been delayed for...and I am absolutely dying to go to Europe and especially to meet those Dutch...

Last Thursday, we went to the Steve Allen theater where Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys were a sensation. It was so lovely and enjoyable, and here is a taste:

And yesterday, we went to Glendale to watch "Singing in the Rain" the musical, which I will rave about in the next entry...

"You are a person of imaginative, yet honest intentions," according to Panda Express. Are they mocking me? Well, anyway, I ate some delicious eggplant and tofu, veggie rolls, and rice, and then I treated myself to Haagen Daas in a peanut cone with Something-ala-mode and strawberry cheesecake. Diana convinced me that going out would be fun--and it sure was. I haven't been out with my friends in ages--community college is a bummer in that people come and go, I sit in my work cage, and although most are sweet-they nod and smile-do I really have friends at college? Is there someone to "hang" with at lunch? Who do I meet by my locker, like in high school? WOW! If I think about it-NOBODY! I mean there was, of course, Stalkish, but that is not a friend--I'm trying to avoid this person. There is no genuinely friendly person at college who I can tell things, who will wait for me after class, who I can "chill" or gossip to...I really don't notice it, or long for a friend to split my food with, but they say the college phase is the best part of your life--and to be frank, the first year has been boring and no bonds have developed. It is also quite strange to think that if I had stayed in high school--or at least gone to Pali--that I would be in a completely different place! For one thing, on the 19th, I'd be throwing a graduation hat into the air. I'd also probably have applied to a university and possibly been going out of state or at least to UCLA. Next, I wonder who I'd be friends with! I went to prom in my Bat Mitzvah dress(did I blog about that?) and to clubbing at afterprom. I kissed and hugged everybody that I had known in middle school and said "you look gorgeous/handsome" as socially expected. And then I came home a bit down in the dumps, though I had some very good cheesecake and though I had rocked the dance floor as if I wasn't the self-conscious, never-dancing-in-public Julia who this blog belongs to.

Truth is--I like the time that I spend alone! OH YEAH I'd love to be invited to other people's events and to have my cell phone ringing a few times a day, and possibly have a study group but everything is quite stagnant in that department. At first, you're so friendly, and smile, and offer your textbook to the losers that don't have theirs. You email the people you met the first class to fill them in on what happened when they don't come to the fourth, only to realize it's all a waste, since they've dropped the subject. All the excitement about "omg wat's yur numbr?" and exchange of emails in the first month of class is pointless. Before the new year starts I always have to go through my contacts and delete names whose faces I can no longer even imagine. And yet--It doesn't upset me--it's not even "strange", since it happens all the time! It's normal! And I think with all the things I have to do daily, I'd burst if I had to worry about all the other people! I think I'm free if I'm not upset by these things. I am free if I don't depend on others to constantly be around me. I can't go "Deep" and say that I've learned so much from myself in this lonesome first year of collegeD. I've just enjoyed myself! I have a huge break during which I take a four-mile walk to a specific point on the beach and I don't listen to music then, or talk on the phone. I drift in my thoughts, periodically looking left and right. I really enjoy peaceful time without other people. I guess such an outlook on freshman year of college can't be considered "cool" by many. How boring, and unpopular! BUT Oh my G-d, do I love being by myself on those walks. I love being able to think without the phone ringing. I love seeing the beach. I love the sun and breeze. I am not sad at all. I am my own friend.

I have hundreds of acquaintances. I have lots of phone numbers. People call me when they break up with boyfriends, when they want answers, when they forgot formulas, and oddly when they don't know what to wear. When I get curiousity phases, I may reactivate a facebook--I get flooded by "OMG, there you are. Where were you? I miss you. I love you. You are my BFFL! We should hang out." And after two days of looking at everyones pictures and thinking "Fuck--they're getting so grown up!" I disactivate the social networking and go on a walk and sort of chuckle, because it's so fake! You missed me? You loved me? You wanted to hang out? Yeah? I sort of have a little theory that at this point in my experiences--it's up to the other party to contact me. I am quite tired of keeping friendships going. It's so frustrating, because behind the Los Angeles School District fence you were family. Once you let go of that graduation cap as you chuck it into the sizzling air--you let go of everyone else around you! And most won't keep in touch--truthfully. Give it a rest, don't call them the next day, and you'll never hear from them again.
At CTY, when you live in the dorms and really befriend your hallmates, you exchange contact info and AIMs and "like omg, add me on facebook". I've been part of CTY for 5 summers, and each summer after the camp session, I'd email these "friends" who cried on the last dance and last day of it, and by the start of September, it's all fizzed out. (Or 3 years later I'm still getting chain letters from these distant email addresses.) I go on retreats often: other than CTY Johns Hopkins, I've been on a few Jewish ones too, and I've gone to 3 high schools. I'm in clubs and workshops, and I vounteer. And it really is funny, how they ask for your information first, and then never stir. I wish all of that was unnecessary. After CTY 2007, I didn't write to anybody! I thought--what do I need them for if they'll never write? They were all younger than me, most still in middle school. But I was wrong--Sigal wrote me a letter and our snail mail connection is going super well. But with everyone else? Forgotten and long-gone.
I think maybe this is also fine, since we all had fun together, and it made the saying "What happens at CTY stays at CTY" quite true. It also means that in general, I never have to plan my day around that of anyone else. Out with Diana, she kept texting Karina, who kept texting her, about a potential retreat to Palm Springs in august. Really? How frikin irritating. And would you like to go--it's gonna be so so cool, and there'll be boys boys boys and food and no parents and fast cars and alcohol and also mary and johanna! "Nah," I say. Because I hate those types of things. I am very hopeful that one day I will go on a road trip with a group of friends and we can stop along the way at great points and also swim and camp. But with a group of high school juniors? What would I, an almost-sophomore-college student want to do in Palm Springs with a group of drunk, spoiled, loose high school boys? *can you hear my inserted big laugh here?* I see who I want to see, and get very good welcomes if I go places--and especially enjoy the authority being a college student brings--but I find it more relaxing and restful to be without them. For example, I spent the three-day Memorial Day weekend cleaning my room. With parents out of town for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, any other person would rock themselves out. I wore myself out by carrying out loads of papers, high school homework assignments, old magazines, and piling up a big Salvation Army box of clothes. Just Koty n' Me! It was a blast, with my own choice of music, room temperature, and bedtime. And after going out with my "Biffles" on Saturday, my mobile stayed plugged into the charger almost the entire time. Where did they disappear to? Knowing them, they're surely on the internet. Surely they're not cleaning their rooms! After I while, I learned that if you claim to be my best friend, but don't bother to pick up the phone and call me within two weeks, then you don't need me. If you don't need me--then I, surely I, can get on with life without you. It's not a selfish thing. I'm not babying myself. I'm setting myself free from the gossip that matters to my friends that are still in high school. They'll always be in high school. I am tired of the people that don't care about culture or "higher capacities (how tragic that Polit Philos John S. Mill's term fits here)." I know I no longer read constantly, or play piano. But I still value if others have interest in art or history or lanugages, and all that the perfect Europeans I have envisioned in my mind are interested in. After following SKINS on youtube, and obviously knowing that all teens are the same everywhere, somehow I still think that Europeans are so smart and intelligent, and that here with the empty Shalhevet kids, I am lacking something. I wish that American culture, or at least that of Los Angeles, made room for children to really be friends--to grow up with your peers and have them be so close they're like family--but genuine family, of course. But it's hard, becuase kids are cruel, and everybody is very unconcerned.

But I am blown away by the city of London. I think it is beautiful. I think the magnificent city is enough to set anyone "free". I'm being so redundant when I think "freedom", but this is my blog, and I know exactly what I mean even if I can't explain it. I have a feeling I"ll read this again and be mortified by the bs, but it makes me sad that it's hard to find people who are like me. Where can I find someone who will have a sense of humor so nicely developed, and balanced between light and dark with a touch of sarcasm and wit as to be able to laugh at me and also not mind me teasing them? Where do I find friends that will recommend books to me? Where should I apply to school to be surrounded by healthy, mentally stable, motivated, knowledgeable people? Where can I find a social circle that will elevate me, where others will be interested in what goes on around, and where I won't have to be the one carrying the group's 'togetherness' on my shoulders? I wonder.

I am currently experiencing energetic tingles in my back, triggered by lots of potentially-blogable thoughts.
The Spring semester is dwindling down in regards to how much time is left--but I think the pressure and amount of occurances is at a steep crescendo....
Of course I am overdue in my bedtime, and my favorite person has just logged into MSN, but maybe I will write about today?
In our ehem...beloved...Polit Philosophy class, the long-awaited project about Karl Marx was "executed". And it was very successful!
We turned a very boring chapter from Das Capital into a funny skit, with lots of costumes, fake mustaches, and cupcakes.
Behold:
The common laborer, that is C...
The capitalist, that is myself.
The fully bearded Karl Marx, that is M....
and Stage Hand/Crew that is/are G...

Nah, we had a really nice presentation, and every other project pales in comparison.
As far as my experience in this group--I had a blast.
I didn't have to apply much mental efforts, as everyone took ahold of their responsibilities immediately...actually, I think I sort of sailed along...
I was in charge of the costumes, which maybe required a bit of creativity on our part, like making Marx's beard out of skillet scrubbers, or putting together the Siberia/Sahara ensembles, but really, I didn't contribute an ounce of sweat to the preparation of the presentation. I did have to wear a very heavy, long fur coat, to embody the capitalist fully, and found myself dripping in sweat with the projector light shining off my glossy face in this unbearable L.A. heat, but as far as any group project I have ever had to do, this one was a G-d send, pure fun, and I could not have asked for anything to have turned out differently.

M made lovely cupcakes (look I am according to blog etiquette which preserves the privacy of all parties involved ) which strangely the whole class refused. We even offered them to the group coming in--nobody took any. So we packed them up, and I ate A LOT at one time....and on Wednesday, when our class meets again, everyone will be able to see how much those gluttonous capitalists like to eat...

There are a whole series of blogs about FLORIDA, ENGLAND, my new camera, and other housekeeping news that are in the process of being spewed out...unfortunately the engineer that constructs legible, orderly, and interesting blogs has lost himself in thoughts with lots of errands to complete and finals to take before he can fully devote himself to updating his blog.....

There is actually a lot on my mind these days, but now that I am sitting in front of this blank entry box I don't know what to write.....

A Catholic Priest, the leader of a Baptist church, and a Rabbi went golfing together, only to find themselves waiting for hours for the green to become available. The three walk to the administration building, from which the entire golf park is visible, and ask about those people that have taken such ages to finish a game. "They are blind," says the person at the front desk. "Wow, how inspirational, I am going to include them in my sermon," exclaims the priest. "Yes, indeed, my congregaion will be moved by the determination of these golfers," agrees the Baptist. The Rabbi says: " Vat? Zey ar blind? Cood zey not play at nite time?" Bit of soft Jewish Humor...
Deb Filler is a Jewish comedian from New Zealand, who entertained us last Monday. She was hosted in the basement of Fields Piano, where we saw Earl Okin--the British Jewish Comediant a while ago; Her show was quite fun, and she has some funny stories about encounters with Leonard Cohen, but Earl has much more wit.

I did get to leave Hebrew class earlier, so that was lovely. I used to hate missing class--and I still try not to be absent--but once in a while I permit myself to go out with my mother someplace nice.
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The very pricey 75 cent bananas at the gas station on 2oth and Pico now cost a full, expensive $1. Maybe I had the nerve to splurge my heard earned money on a banana then, but there is no way I would waste a dollar on a banana today.
---

YAY for Yoga, which is absolutly amaing at City Yoga. My favorite instructors are Steven Espinosa, Tony Giuliano, and Karen Byers. I go to Hillary Rubin also, but she treats me like I'm in middle school, even though when I signed up I wrote that I was 18 to eliminate annoying paperwork. If I use a block to elevate the "ground level" my arm has to reach for stability, she'll ask why I am using one--well obviously becuase in that pose, for example Half Moon, ARDHA CHANDRASANA, when one foot is 90 degrees in the air and we stand on one leg and one hand, and where to keep the hips open and prevent collapsing (short people have so many problems
) one may use a block under the hand, I can achive more space in my body if I do use one. The block helps keep the arm highter, elevating the shoulder, which in turn creates allignment for the whole torse, and thus opens the hips.
....What am I complaining about? I love Yoga.
--

On Wednesday I took such a long walk that I came back to college fifteen minutes before Hebrew started! It was such a nice walk--I walked all the way to San Vicente and Ocean (which turns into PCH) from college--and then I walked back.
Days when I don't walk or don't do yoga, or actually if I don't do both, I feel like an old sardine with dry crusty bits...

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Nick came back from his trip to Russia last night. My mother shipped me off to Alexanra's, where I was fed very well and where I chatted to her son about life and politics and anorexic models in magazines. haha

Meanwhile, my mother dressed up as a bunny (her boyfriend calls her "Зайка", which means 'bunny') and drove to the airport. As soon as she got into baggage claim, in her poofy skirt and little poncho, with bunny ears and an apron, (of course with the other accessories), with a basket of carrots and cabbage, an Isreali limo driver started talking to her and telling her to go home with him! My mother does everything in very good taste. She was not a playboy bunny, she was a very nice, sweet bunny, and Nick came down the escalators into baggage claim (escalators in LAX lead down to Baggage claim and the outside) holding a bouqet of flowers he bought in Russia. It was probably very nice to look at them, him with his bouqet and her with the carrots and cabbage and bunny ears. The Israeli guy started telling her that she doesn't need Nick, and that he has a limo. It's so funny, because before embarking in this tourism-business project, Nick was a limo driver for a long time. It's even more funny, that my father was also a limo driver.
Anyway, I had to sit in Hebrew, and couldn't come a greet him from the plane, but I can just imagine how pretty they looked there. My mother says that when they kissed, the people waiting for baggage claim wanted to clap! When my mother is cute and in a very good mood, I just want to run and hug her right away! But don't worry, Julia, in a few days, things will get back to normal, Nick will have come back into a normal state after all the travelling and being in Russia, and mother will not be so ecstatic.
I hate to end on a sad, teenage-mother-issues note, so here is a little something for mommy:

Harvard College: ADMISSIONS

Dear Julia,

I am sorry to have to report that Harvard College is unable to enroll any transfer students for the next two academic years, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Following the most thorough examination of our residential housing in Harvard’s history, the Dean of Harvard College, Professor David Pilbeam, has concluded that our Houses cannot successfully accommodate any new transfer students. Instead, the College has embarked on a planning process for substantial capital investment to renovate and revitalize our residential spaces.

In important respects, undergraduate education at Harvard College is residential in character. Students learn a great deal from the residential experience and contact with one another, complementing the experience of our classrooms and laboratories. We do not admit transfer students to non-residential status.

Within the next few weeks, we will return your application fee. As you make your future plans, you might wish to consider our Visiting Undergraduate Program, which enables students to enroll in Harvard College for academic credit at their home institutions. Visiting Undergraduates are not ordinarily offered College housing, and they are not permitted subsequently to transfer to Harvard as degree candidates. For more information about the Visiting Undergraduate Program, please consult our website.

We very much regret the disappointment and inconvenience that this decision may cause you. We are honored by your interest in Harvard College and we wish you great success in your future academic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Marlene Vergara Rotner
On behalf of the Transfer Admissions Committee

This message sent to [my email] by adm-tran@fas.harvard.edu.
Harvard College - Office of Admissions & Financial Aid - 86 Brattle Street - Cambridge, MA 02138