A Haven of Neo-Gothic Arquitecture and Intellectual Friends

Uf! I've been gone for almost two months! Like a friend of mine says: "Ooh, rough." 

In case you've been wondering were I've been, I was at... 

 Princeton, New Jersey!

I know that you're probably thinking: "Andi, what the hell does this have to do with Goth culture?" Well, I was staying at Princeton University for a program called Centre for Tainted Youth (CTY). Princeton University is famous for its High Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic Architecture. Once I stepped out of my taxi and feasted upon the dramatic archways, with the statues of  St.George and St. Michael watching over the dormitories. The two dormitories were connected by a bridge, in which you could access by exiting out a window (Which sadly, were closed by some screens. Boys were not allowed to enter girl's dorms and vice-versa for... obvious reasons.) The doors that led to the dormitories were of grandiose size, made from wood and bounded by ornate black metal. The inside of the dorms were nothing special. The walls were painted white, and the floors had some ugly old carpeting. The smell was old and musty, which told stories of the drunken nights, the tears of solitude, the sweat of long nights of mental and physical preparation with no air conditioning, and the moments of passion led by previous residents. Of course, there is nothing that  a little Febreeze and an electric fan can't fix.

Even though I've never entered the chapel during my stay, I observed its captivating exterior, complete with ornate and Neo-Gothic Architecture. I passed by it each time my group went to the library (which was a lot!) The library was also Neo-Gothic and had some Latin phrases carved on the archway. 

Два очень привлекательным россиян. 
Кто не хотел бы заниматься любовью 
с этими двумя?

Besides the architecture, I wish to discuss my experiences in the Centre for Tainted Youth. It was grand. I met some sexy Russians, met again with my contortionist partner, befriended three ravers which consisted of a hot belly button-less Russian, a Mikutard, and a very sexy girl, and I made sisters. The rest of this post will be very not-Goth related. But please bear with me.

Princeton was the Goth CTY, because all of the non-math courses were depressing and were supposed to make you cry and mope around all day. My course was Global Politics, in which we discussed genocide, rape, human rights violations, amongst other depressing topics. We'd go outside and cry under the shades of weeping willows, while I sang Gloomy Sunday.



Ha, just kidding. Although the part about our courses being depressing, and us discussing about human rights violations and the foulness of humanity in general is true, these distressing subjects would be contrasted with amusing activities, in which we would laugh and share with others. These activities would prevent all of us from crying ourselves to sleep, so it's all good. We would play games, draw, and spend 45 minutes watching videos of kittens.


There was so much diversity! People from many states and other countries (including me). Some would come from California or New York, and some would come from as far as Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong! Best of all: nobody judged you, and nobody criticised you. Nobody would come up to me and say: "Oooh, why do you dress like that?!" "Why do you wear so much black?" "You're weird!" Of course, they would ask how did I manage to wear so much black in the heat, and I would just smile and reply: "I'm from Puerto Rico."

There's nothing more beautiful than this.

CTY has a tradition in which in every day in the last week has a theme. These themes were CTY Shirt Thursday, Crossdress Wednesday, Prep Tuesday, and of course, Goth Monday. Sadly, we didn't celebrate all of them, except Crossdress Wednesday. And I was looking forward to Goth day. I: Oh well! Crossdress Wednesday was hilarious. Boys did their make up and put on brassieres. One dressed up as a prostitute, and others were VERY convincing at being girls. But of course, you have a nice day, and somebody has to come and screw it up. We were all fine and dandy until some football players (STEREOTYPICAL HIGH SCHOOL MOVIE, OMG!) apparently had a problem with men wearing skirts. The coach came to the CTY staff to complain, and from what I've heard, he used some very harsh and offensive words. The football players would talk loudly amongst themselves so we could hear them, and they would call us bundles of sticks. The staff told us not to reply to them, or fight, etc, but I'm wasn't going to sit there and take all that crap. I took an indirect way of giving them the middle finger: each time they would pass by, I would grab my nearest lady friend and loudly say: "ISN'T IT GREAT TO BE GAY? I JUST LOOOOVE BEING A HOMOSEXUAL! LIKING PEOPLE OF MY OWN GENDER IS WAAAAY BETTER THAN BEING STUCK INSIDE THE CLOSET!"

We would have dances every Friday, which were the highlight of the week. Most of the girls would prep themselves and get pretty, most of the time not taking in consideration the theme. But who cares. The dances were great. EVEN if they were very ungoth and would play very "normal" artists such as Katy Perry or Soulja Boy (Seriously, not even electronica like Deadmau5 or Kaskade?).  I would show of my dance moves, and so would others. Some were HARDCORE DANCERS, and some, like I, were sexy dancers. I saw grinders, awkward dancers, people who couldn't dance, self-conscious dancers, people who didn't give a fuck, and sexy ravers. ♥

Love. Oh lovelovelove. ♥ In the Centre for Tainted Youth, love was forbidden. But that didn't stop some people from doing "laudry". ;) Amongst CTY's 10 Commandments were: "Thou shall not enter into thy opposite gender's dormitory" and "Thou shall not make out". Breaking of these laws led to expulsion and condemnation to Hell. People would break the second one all the time, and the first one was broken by only ones who had the immense balls and stupidity. Still, it is not always about sex. The majority would just flirt, hold hands and kiss, which was very cute. c: Sadly, a lot of people would feel as third wheels in the middle of these lovefests and thus feeling FOREVAR ALONE. Most see CTY relationships as summer flings or brief romances, but I know of romances that have lasted more than just three weeks... Some were romances that lasted for over a year, or possibly more...  *Fangirl Sigh* ...But of course, when there's love, there is drama. And drama is not good. But I do not want to go into detail of this drama, because then I'll get involved in more drama. You know where I'm going at?

A true portrait of love

But the absolute BEST thing about CTY is: NO. STUPID. PEOPLE!!! Everyone in CTY thinks deeply, they question society, and use their brains. I found poets and musicians, along with some philosophers. I've met people that have gone through the most interesting experiences, and know about many, many things. I could finally hold an educated conversation with somebody that actually uses their brain! It's great... Smart people. Ahh, the great experiences...

Next week's post shall be about my stay in New York. There shall be more Goth related things on that post. But I just wanted to share this with some of you guys. :)