To the left is a picture of my friend, Steph (left), and me (right).
Now, on to telling you more than you'd care to know about me..! My name is Giselle and I'm an 18 year-old freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. My 15 year-old sister goes to my old high school, an all-girls private school in Toronto. My 20 year-old brother also goes to Penn - he's at the Wharton School. I have a cute orange cat who, of late, I refer to as "Chippy" (but her real name is Gingers). As the title suggests, this page is about trival nonsense. So here is some: my favourite colour is bright yellow, but my old favourite was turquoise. Imagine how useful that little gem will prove, later in your life! My ethnic makeup is mostly colonial French from St. Lucia and a wee bit of Scottish, on my mom's side. On my dad's side I'm Italian and Irish. I'm actually related to Napoleon's wife Josephine, who is from the Caribbean. My grandmother inherited a collection of Napoleon's silver knives, as random as that is.  More triviality: I took ballet lessons for 9 years, and I also used to curl, which was fun and very Canadienne. I'm now in the process of learning to play golf - a very frustrating sport, I find.
I love music. I've been playing the piano for 12 years, although my practicing has certainly been curtailed at university. I listen to just about everything: jazz, ska, techno, reggae, soca (that's soul + calypso), broadway, happy hardcore, jungle, electronic, metal, country, rock, classical, punk, pop, new age.... Some of my favourite artists are: Annie Lennox, Ella Fitzgerald, Aqua, Bob Marley, Bad Religion, Glenn Miller + Orchestra, Sarah McLachlan, Smashing Pumpkins, Michie Mee, Offspring, Asian Dub Foundation, Weezer, Esthero, Green Day, Salt 'n Pepa, and Enya. Are you bored yet? I hope not - you are only half-way down the page! Reading is another passion. Reading the newspapers in the morning is, perhaps, my favourite part of the day. I love how ordinary words can be strung together in such a way that emotions can be evoked and intellects can be piqued. Skillful writers have so much power! When I read for pleasure, I like to read very slowly and absorb as much as possible. I'm a big fan of classics by Dickens, Joyce, Plath, Woolf, Hardy and Margaret Atwood. But, in the summer, I thought "Letters from a Nut" by Ted L. Nancy - was just hilarious.  As far as personal beliefs go, I'm an advocate of gender and racial equality, as well as the redistribution of wealth as a means of lessening income disparties that arise from market economies. That was an indirect way of saying that I'm left-leaning in political tendencies.
While high school wasn't my cup of tea, I'm loving tertiary education! I'm studying topics that interest me, with extremely knowledgeable professors and crazy-motivated peers - how could I not love it? I can hardly wait to get involved in some research opportunities. When I grow up - at what age are you actually "grown up"? - I would like to pursue careers in journalism, politics and/or law. I have yet to narrow down my scope of interests and see no need to do so at this point. To summerize, on the bumpy metaphorical road of life I'm definitely on an upswing right now; I feel like I contain such untapped passion and curiosity. Yours truly, GISELLE XIV (Just kidding - I'm only GISELLE I)  |