"It's a sticker," she says, peeling up an edge as she hops up onto her bed, displacing an overalled old bear in the process. "I picked it up back home in Miami's Design District."
Yellow and plum-colored throw pillows make a delicious mess on top of Nicole's comforter, which is printed in handwritten love letters. Nearby I spot mystery, romance and crime Penguin Books' postcard collection of classic first edition book covers line her wall in an obviously unfinished arrangement. "There are 100," Chiavacci laughs, her long red hair floating adorably around her face. "I'm working on it."
Like her Miami roots, Nicole's dorm is fresh, buzzing with energy, 60 and sunny. Above her desk, a series of corkboards host an inspired assortment of things to keep in mind: Rembrandt's self-portrait in a fur coat, flight details for her winter break trip to Colombia (Spirit Air to Cartagena!) and a note from her Mom an Old Key West-minded interior designer in Miami, where her family keeps an herb garden in their backyard and a few Westies.
"Our dogs only have Irish names," she said, showing me a photo of her siblings and a little pooch. "Duncan, Logan, Cameron" she rattled off, handing me her cup for pencils: a stately, translucent candle holder as heavy as a salt mine deposit.
Like most of us in the throws of freshman Fall, Nicole hardly has time to miss home amidst all the activity and her interest in, well, everything.
"I want to go on the art history FSP in Rome, but I also think it'd be fun to be in a Spanish-speaking country."
(Her family is from Havana.)
With everything that's going on, what Nicole says she misses most is reading for pleasure. On her bookshelf, a pumpkin leans against Wuthering Height.
"My aunt's copy from when she was in high school," biting her lip. "I'm still on page 68."
Despite the chilly weather frosting the windows, Nicole's dorm is warm and alive patterns, character and personal detail in every little nook. On a shelf sit her initials (NC) made out of old tin boxes and collaged in newspaper that her friend got her from a flea market at home. Facing her bed, Klimpte and pink-masked monkeys play on canvases she picked up on Portobello Road while in London this summer.
Before heading out, we take time to swoon over a 2010 Elle Collections guide all the invitations to the fashion shows, all the season's models Photoshop arranged in a massive, technicolored wave. Nicole's eyes light up in excitement as she folds the spread out above her bed.
"This wall could use a little color!"
