Fearless

My first week at Duke is officially complete. I wonder how long it'll be before the awe of being here will wear off. When I'll finally look at the buildings and think, ah whatever, I've been here forever already. Right now it's still "How am I here and not chopping vegetables in the kitchen for my mom? Why are the buildings so beautiful? I'm only 17!!!" The schedule is starting to get regular which is a good thing probably; wake up (waay too early for orgo), shower and eat breakfast (maybe, or maybe later), go to class, go to another class, lunch, come back to dorm, study in AC common room or hang out with friends, dinner, study, study (break), study, 5 hours of sleep. And this is just the first week. Organic chem is already starting to go over my head a little, what I've read in the book. My seminars are super interesting about the connections between neuroscience and psychology and culture and language. And just being here... making all of my own de...

It is done. Rather, it is just beginning. I moved in yesterday and I am a Duke freshman now officially! As my friends know and as you might've gathered from this blog, I'm an introvert and not a very outspoken person. While the first day was amazing, it was incredibly overwhelming. I've been excited for this for the whole summer, and the day before I moved in, I was so nervous that I felt like I was going to throw up. But once I pulled into Southgate Circle and the FACs brought all my stuff inside and I met my roommates and some people in my dorm, I felt so much better. Now I'm sitting in my common room, which is amazing by the way, and writing a blog post while a bunch of people are playing pool and table tennis in the open adjacent room. Stupid right? Sonal, why are you sitting here writing a blog post while there are people you can talk to right there? Sorry, it's how I am. Yeah, I told myself that I would talk to a lot of people and become a lot more outgoing, ...

In two days I will officially be a college freshman. I seriously can't believe it. When my best friend left for India a couple of weeks ago and we knew it was the last time we'd see each other in person for who knows how long, I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be. I mean, of course I was upset, but I didn't cry or anything. I didn't really cry at graduation when I thought I would. And trust me, I'm a pretty emotional person. Today we began the drive to Duke and in the car as I listened to going away songs on my iPod is the first time I full out cried. I was bawling. I realized that I had seen Mount Laurel for the last time in who knows how long and was about to leave my parents for a super long time. That wasn't as big a deal for me because family is always there and I'll see them in three months, but New Jersey I won't be visiting for a while. I'll miss my friends and the area itself so much. But Texas will be nice. The people are super ...

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My sister talks to my feet.        It's kind of weird, but strangely adorable. There's an innocence in it. But again, it's just really weird. She calls them "paer," the Hindi word for foot. I kind of animate them by moving around my toes in a human-like way. Does that make any sense? It makes it feel like they have emotions and they're silently acting human. I'm sure you've done that before -- given inanimate objects human like qualities. Personifying them. And then you feel like the whole world is alive around you. Maybe it's just me. Probably.         But really, I was just looking at stuff around this apartment that I'm staying in as we search for our house, and I found so many things that look like they have faces or send vibes of emotion. Of course the human face is one of the main sources of expression, but even colors, shapes, and sizes send off these emotional vibes.  You think I'm crazy, I know it. Check these phot...

         People love it when people understand them. If somebody tells you, "Yeah I understand. I totally know what you mean," you feel a sense of security, like you're not alone. We've all been perpetrators and victims of it. I bring this up because our realtor here in Texas, a 60+ year old woman who is super nice and very grandmotherly, nods and tells us every time we bring up a point that she understands and agrees. Well obviously this is the job of a realtor, but it made me think how many different situations that line is used. Sometimes it's false, sometimes it's true. Sometimes you tell a guy you understand why he's upset about which colleges he got into because you like him and want him to realize that you have things in common and that you're a thoughtful, understanding  person. You might tell a best friend that you understand her sorrow about a family member passing away just to console her, while you've never had any similar experience t...

       So there's really only two more weeks left until I go to Duke. Only two weeks. I know I've been saying how boring this summer has been and all, but it really did pass by quickly. One day I'm a high school student, the next, a college kid. That shit cray.           After seeing my Spiderman painting, my mom asked me to do a few paintings for our new house and she bought me a canvas. I was going to do a monument/landmark and it took a while to decide but I settled on the Sydney Opera house because of my intense love of the movie Finding Nemo.  "P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. I remembered it again!"         My mom liked it a lot and so she asked me to do one more next week when we go house hunting before I go to college. It'll be nice to have my own artwork in our new home!          I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time last night so I was on my phone watch...

          I don't really have anything to say in this blog, but I just wanted to share my Olympic nail design. I just bought some new nail polish today so I figured I'd use it! I think we're halfway into the games so I'm a little late, but still. I like how this came out, but it would be better if I had an actual thin nail polish brush. I had to use a normal thin paintbrush which didn't work as well. Looks like I'm already on the college budget!  I need more shades.... I should start a nail fund.          If you're interested in knowing nail colors or anything, just hit me in the comments. I just bought these pastel green and purple colors that are awesome. I'll be using them later on. Expect Duke themed nails soon. Holy freak, only three weeks until college.

          Hello everybody, or anybody, and I hope you're having a wonderful summer. Just wanted to bring to attention the two Duke Olympic divers who won medals in London, Nick McCrory and Abby Johnston. They won bronze and silver, respectively. It's a great achievement for the US and a great representation of Duke! Go Blue Devils! Nick is on the left. Abby is on the left.         But really, watching all of the Olympics have been amazing. Last night I saw Michael Phelps win his 19th medal and saw USA women's gymnastics win gold and it warmed my heart and excited me at the same time. The commitment and hard work that these people put in to represent their country and compete is incredible. Really, hats off to these guys. I actually have the Olympics on TV right now and they said that Phelps got 37000 tweets during his 19th win. Oh social media...            I was thinking about how I would feel t...