80's Rockstars, Masquerade Balls, & Crazy Parades

Ahhh....Halloween. The holiday my friend Shana insists is better than Christmas. I have to say that my first Halloween in New York City was definitely a memorable one. The weekend started on Thursday, with New York University School of Law's annual Fall Ball. This may sound like a nice, classy event. It is not. It is a big, crazy, for most folks rather intoxicated Halloween party. The dress is either costumed or semi-formal. This makes for a very interesting mix of people. It is held in the school lounge, complete with orange and black balloons, which makes it feel strangely like a high-school prom. Nonetheless...it was a blast. My lawyering group attended in mass. A big group of us (I claim not to be the ringleader, but apparently it is a highly debated subject) convinced our friend Bryan to dress in an 80's Rocker Outfitt, complete with velvet pants and very bad hair. In a show of support we all dressed as his groupies. This included, very bad hair, an appearance of Leah's bedazzled D.A.R.E. shirt (thanks darlin'...I was THE best dressed girl in the room, and (gasp!) legwarmers. I have included many pictures of the nonsense for your laughing pleasure.

Stepping the class level up a bit from pseudo-high-school-prom, I attended a masqureade ball at a very fancy restaurant on Friday night. Magu serves 12 dollar appetizers and...ahhhh $180 steaks. My friend Lily's friend is a waitress there. Apparently, they were hosting a big masquerade ball, which turned out not to be so much of a masquerade, or a ball, but was still a lot of fun. We got to check out a super trendy New York restaurant and even sample some appetizers for free. (Must have to be friends with the owner, not just the waitress to sample that $180 steak)

Saturday night was another Halloween party and the weekend was summed up with a trip to the annual Village Halloween parade. I have never seen so many dressed up adults on the street at once in my life. My friend Bryan from Colorado remarked "My GOD! There are more people out here than in my ENTIRE COUNTY at home!" I have included some very poor pictures, but hopefully they will give you an idea what it was like.

My goodness...in the midst of all that revelry, whenever did I find the time to study?!? Oh yeah...that's right, I'm studying every minute of the day when I'm not in costume. In fact, I even studied a little tonight while wearing my tiarra. School is gearing up for finals, and campus is gearing up for Election Week. My Tuesday will be spent poll-monitoring in the Bronx. Should be interesting. You Iowans & Minnesotans have a ton of control over this election. We don't even get to see campaign commercials here, let alone canidates. So....don't forget to get out and vote! Aunt Amy...I mean it. I won't hug you at Christmas if you don't ;) Love you tons!!!!!

This is how New Yorkers do Halloween...Village Halloween Parade - 2004 

Crowd watching the parade 

Masquerading - Nicole, Lily, Noel 

With the Buddah at Magu, Nicole, Noel & Lily 

A Rockstar & His Groupis - Lily, Nicole, Emily, Bryan, Melanie, and Carolyn. Best sport award to Bryan. Those are indeed, velvet pants.  

Carina & Nicole - Dancing FOOLS 

The End of a LONG night on dancing...Mel, Nicole, Adam, Nazan, And Bryan, who seems to have lost his hair.  

Dare Girl & Slash (aka Nicole & Adam) 

Nicole & Brian (someone told this poor guy it was acceptable to be semi-formal rather than in a costume...what ARE we going to do with him) also pictured, my fellow rockstars Melanie, Emily and CowGirl Kate 

Fun on the dance floor. Nicole and Becky the Bad Witch 

Rockstar & #1 Groupie - Bryan & I bring back the 80's.  

Bryan, David, Dave, Ryan, Me & ...Wait a Minute.... A PUMPKIN?!?!?! 

New Hair, New York

It's official...I'm a New Yorker. I have a New Yorker haircut... my roomie and I both went to a very fancy shmancy salon (Antonio Parieto) and had our hair cut by their apprentices. Apparently, to work in the upscale salons here you have to go through their training programs, the result for average Joe's like me, is that you can have your hair cut/colored for cheap. Okay, cheap by New York standards (about the same amount I paid in Mpls at a NORMAL salon)

Other than that it has been pretty normal here. I was very sick last week, but have since recovered. Life is starting to get very hectic, classes are gearing up towards finals. Ugh. I can't believe I'm thinking about finals already. I tried out for the Trial Advocacy (Mock Trial) team last week and I'm waiting to here on call-backs.

I hope you are all well. I'm counting the days till Thanksgiving...will be visiting Iowa and can't wait to see all the Minnesotans over Christmas break.

Love and Hugs!
Nicole

New Haircuts for the Nicole's 

Emily & Nicole 

Carolyn & Nicole 

Daily Life

Ahhh...the daily grind of a 1L at NYU. For those of you unfamiliar with the jargon a 1L is the term used to refer to 1st year law students. The term has been used, as far as I can tell, forever and ever. See 1L by Scott Turow, oh NO! I'm using citations in my blog! Somebody help me! I've become a law school MONSTER :)

Nothing super exciting has happened over the past couple of weeks. My days consist mostly of studying, studying, and some more studying. The workload is actually less than what I was expecting, and the people nicer than I was anticipating. I find my classmates to be quite helpful and considerate. I attempted to participate in a study group, which I found failed miserably for me. So for me, it's back to the tried and true of solo-study.

I had an outstanding conference with my Lawyering (Legal Research & Writing) professor discussing my thoughts about law school and my career goals. It's scary to already be thinking about career goals. I have a book sitting on my desk (as of yet, unread) entitled "Guerilla Tactics to Finding the Legal Job of your Dreams" Periodically it hits me that I am an actual adult (ugh) and that I am going to a professional school with an actual end result in mind. Much different than my undergraduate experince of hmmmm....I'll figure it out in law school :)

Other than studying I have been making a superficial effort to keep up with the world around me (including, and pretty much limited too, watching the debates and performing scathing commentaries of them afterwards, and periodically giving in to the use of wireless internet during class to check the NYTimes.) I'm excited about the upcoming election, and believe that I will have some opportunities to be helpful, possibly by doing poll monitoring or some other liberal :) activity. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I promise not to get arrested. And Dad, NYU would probably award me for the arrest if it did happen, rather than kick me out.

I have never been in such a liberal environment. This may come as a shock to my conservative Hamline friends (okay, friend. Jess, you don't count - Dustin is the sole Hamline conservative I consider a buddy) who swear that our undergraduate institution was a breeding ground for hippies. My dean recently issued a formal letter to the university encouraging protest against army recruiters on our campus (recruiting for the JAG program) because they discriminate against homosexuals. My civil procedure professor (Prof. Eskridge, visiting from Yale) is one of the leading legal scholars and activists for gay rights in the arena of marriage. I went to a presentation of his (outside the classroom) about the Defense of Marriage Act, and was surprised to learn that he has been involved in every major litigation regarding gay marriage in the past several years. I am honored and humbled to be taught by such a prestigious scholar. My criminal professor is also well published, and perhaps a bit more conservative, his favorite topic being how gun control doesn't work. (I haven't quite figured him out yet....but he is incredibly interesting) .

When I'm not studying or being political I have managed to make quite a few friends (gasp, from fellow law students) on campus. My lawyering class spends a lot of time together and we have a lot of fun. On Friday I played flag football (another gasp, this time from Alyssa and my other friends who know of my solemn vow never to play sports in public, it's just too embarrasing) I have to admit that my football skills leave much to be desired...although I can be a pretty mean blocker (elbows out a little - I've never been afraid to break the rules). My athletic skills are much better seen in the gym (yeah, healthy stress release) where I attempt to spend some time AT LEAST three days a week, or in my room with my buddy Emily doing post-debate power yoga at 11 p.m. (this activity is not recommended for those who want to SLEEP anytime prior to 2 a.m.)

Well...for being a 'boring daily life blog' this ended up being quite extensive. I miss you all like CRAZY! And despite all my fun I am a bit homesick so please feel free to send love in the form of emails, snail mails, and yes if you have the desire I can receive packages. (What a SHAMLESS ploy for care packages ;) ) Love you all!!!!!!!