Tuesday, September 11, 2007

This article is about one of my professors this semester. He is from Uganda and does development work there. Feel free to take a look if you are interested. It is really fascinating hearing his examples in class.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/socpol/socpol09121.php

Monday, September 10, 2007

Hi!

In typical New York City fashion so much has happened since I got here. A synopsis:

I arrived to find seven people staying in my apartment, two friends from Paris who I told at the beginning of the summer that it would be fine to visit in late August, my subleaser, whose new lease did not start until the first, a friend of ours, whose apartment fell through the day before she moved from California to New York, and my two (patient and kind) roommates, Jenny and Kerry.

My flight got in in the evening on Sunday and I began work as an orientation leader at 8am Monday- without a schedule (the program was not very organized). I ran around Columbia and New York with my orientation group and my french guests all week- which was a blast. I was all over the place, downtown, uptown, the east and west village, a cruise around the NY harbor, soul food in Harlem. Needless to say, I was definitely ready to get some sleep and unpack my bags by Friday. Everyone was out by Saturday evening after which I promptly got sick and lost my voice for three days:( Not fun for a talker.

So I began school last week disorganized and unhealthy. Note to self: not a good plan. I was a bit overwhelmed because of work I've been doing for a caucus (glorified name for club) I will co-lead this year. The caucus is called Harlem Connect (harlemconnect.blogspot.com) and is dedicated to bridging the gap and improving the relationship between Columbia and the Harlem Community. We've had a couple really successful events and a couple mishaps but overall a lot of first year students are showing interest so I am excited.

Classes are good but will be BUSY this year. I'm taking Program Planning and Evaluation, Macro Community Practice, Social Work and the Workplace, Human Resource Management, and Social Work Practice with Children. My internship, which starts next week (already??), is at a great non-profit organization in East Harlem. I will be doing program planning and evaluation as well as grant writing (http://www.palladiainc.org/).

This weekend I went to Shakespeare in the Park on Friday. It was amazing. The cast performed A Midsummer Night's Dream really well (I wasn't impressed with the movie). I think the best part was the huge amphitheatre in central park overlooking Turtle Pond and Belvadere Castle- a perfect backdrop. Later in the weekend John and I had a relaxing picnic in central park (MUST take advantage of the good weather). On Sunday, Harlem Connect gave a walking tour of West Harlem for interested students. We had a good group and I felt like the tour made students more comfortable and aware in the neighborhood. We later made to it Amy Ruth's Soul Food for some delicious honey dipped fried chicken, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese:)

That is it from me. School tomorrow. I love and miss all of you that I can't be with while I'm in NYC.