5.26.2010

Start of Summer

Since I last wrote, I've had a lot going on. The Boston Marathon was mid-April, during the last stretch of sophomore year. I'm really already missing BU and all of my fabulous 10C companions so much. One of our "last hurrah" adventures we went on was something I dubbed 10C Excursion Day. Turned out most of 10C didn't show, and it ended up being me, Gerardo, Beck, Usman, and Ryan:


We decided to wander around towards the Cambridge/MIT area to see what we would find. I know I posted some of these pictures on Facebook, but bear with me. First stop was the MIT Museum. For only $3 (for students), I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. We saw a bunch of great inventions from the students of MIT:

A guitar tuner flower that turns based on if the note is flat or sharp (it blooms is it's just right!):

A kangaroo easel that jumps around when you try to draw:

A robot that acts as an extension of a doctor's hand to perform minor surgeries:

A robot that can sense and respond (with no words, just actions) to human emotions:

After the robots we saw a couple holograms that were awesome, yet pretty creepy. There was one where as you walked by, it looked like a woman was winking and waving at you. Another showed an old man, but as you got closer, looked like a corpse.

Then there were some machines that were pretty interesting. One was a wishbone pulling a contraption behind it, one looked like a walking chair, and one even was a violin duster!

After the MIT Museum, we kept exploring. Ryan found this awesome little alley way that was full of graffiti. We didn't really understand some of it, but enjoyed it thoroughly:




We walked into a used record/CD/video etc. store after the graffiti alley. Looked promising but the only thing in my price range was Season 1 of The Simple Life. A season of Monk was about $20! Please. I can get that on Amazon for 10-15.

We were kind of stuck at this point, so just decided to wander off of the main road and into the suburbs of Cambridge. Everything looked pretty standard until we came across the most bizarre house I have probably ever seen. We're still not positive of what this house is used for. Drug addicts? Mentally unstable people? Just some creative artists with far out thoughts? Who knows. Make up the decision for yourself. These are just a few samples of what we found bouth on the house and the fence surrounding it:






At this point we got a call from the one and only Ellen and decided to meet her for lunch. We took the T back to Coolidge Corner (getting stuck on the Red Line on the way) and found her. We got lunch and afterwards, while waiting for Usman to get something fixed, met a dog with one eye! Cutie.

The rest of the semester was kind of a blur. I got pretty sick and got to buy a neti pot. I highly recommend them to anyone with a stuffy nose. It kind of feels like you're drowning at first but the end result is fantastic! No matter how congested I felt before, afterwards I could always breathe freely, I promise. It was great. No one really understands why I advocate for neti pots so much. It's cool, I don't understand either. Since I was sick, I wasn't able to really enjoy the last beautiful Boston days before finals and was forced to stay in and study. Needless to say, I'm glad it happened now, but at the time it really sucked. Finally the time came and I had to leave my BU pals behind and head home.

The next day was Treasure Day (aka town-wide yard sale) at home. Treasure Day is probably one of my favorite days of the year. I've always loved it - not only to see the weird stuff my neighbors are selling, but also just to find some cool things. This year, I bought the movie 21 for $2 off of Becca's little cousin, a plant for my mom, and -get this- an EASY BAKE OVEN for $4 with Jess and Bec. Later on I went rummaging through my neighbor's trash with Sue and Tony and got a little wooden jewelry box and Monopoly Junior (dinosaur version!). I think it was a good day.

Sunday I saw both of my grandmothers for Mother's Day. I love going to see them. It's always a good time. Between how my one grandmother says the cutest things and makes me laugh with some of the crazy things she says and my other one who is a fabulous cook and also says some crazy things (..see where I get it?), it's never a bore to visit either of them. At my second grandmother's house, we had a barbecue and it really got me in the mood for summer.

After that long day driving around (and the trip back from Boston), you'd think I'd had enough of the long car rides. Nope! We went to drop Sue and Tony off at CIA. That school never ceases to amaze me. At BU, you can find so many people who are just kind of bopping around, not really sure of what they want to do with their lives (don't ge tme wrong, there are definitely people who do know, I'm just saying there's a lot of Undecided majors). When you go to the CIA though, everyone is so focused and in love with their studies. I'm sure they complain about homework too, but when it comes down to it, it seems like they just can't get enough of cooking. I really admire them for that.

The next day was a bit of a chill day. I basically just bummed around and went shopping for some new clothing because of my new job. I'm working for Sheraton, and so far, I'm really enjoying myself there. When we talk about hotels in classes, everything makes sense but I can't really connect myself to the ideas. Now that I'm working (and I've only been there for a week or so) I already feel that I've learned so much. I only need to write a couple pages for school on this internship, but right now I feel like I could write so much more. I've shadowed all different areas of the hotel: Sales, Housekeeping, Reservations, PBX, Front Desk, Convention Services, Revenue Management, etc. Although I do have to do some standard intern work sometimes (making copies, shredding papers, filing things, etc.), I really don't mind it at all. The gain is definitely worth it.

I think it's funny. Almost every single person who works full time at the hotel so far has told me to "get out of hospitality now" to save myself. I'm not really sure how to take this. These people don't seem very unhappy in their jobs, I think it's probably just the hours and the personalities of the industry that make people crazy. To be honest, I picked this major on a whim. For some reason though, I find myself being very interested in all of the different components of it. Could I see myself working in a hotel or restaurant full time someday? Yep. Will I be devastated if I don't? Nope. I feel like all of the skills and lessons I'm getting out of both my major at school and practice in the field are transferable to so many different workplaces and industries. All I can say if that I'm excited to see how things will work out.

I'm also taking classes at the local community college. It's alright. After being at BU and seeing how passionate my professors can be and how much they truly want their students to learn, it's kind of disappointing to have a teacher who just hands me the answers. Sure, I'm happy I'll get an A and the credits will transfer to BU, but will I actually learn anything? I think I'm in the minority with my age group where I actually care about getting my money's worth and want the education I'm paying for. I don't know, I suppose I won't look a gift horse in the mouth and just take these classes as they are.

So that's my week every week basically. School, work, school, work, work, weekend. Restart. I know that it's all going to be worth it in the end, but I'm not so happy that I can't see my friends as much as I usually do. For those who really know me, you know I'd love to hang out with Belling in my basement yelling at each other about Mario Kart. But alas, I must work for my future and that's fine by me.

The other night I had a really great time hanging with a couple of my favorites. After a long day of watching the Flyers at Millmental's house, a couple of us headed to Jess's casa to make a fire. Needless to say, even with my camp experience, fire building is not one of my strongest skills. It took about 3,425 sticks, 12 matches, 2 cups of gasoline, and 9 fire starters to get it going. Once we did though we put on some nice jams (Belle & Sebastian, Ben Lee, etc.) and made smores by the fire. Not to be cheesy, but it's times like these where I really appreciate what I have. I love my friends and wouldn't trade them for anything.

A couple days later, I worked an Open House at camp and realized, of course, how much I'll miss it this year. Camp is a part of me. How can it not be after 12 years of attending as both a camper and a counselor? I really have to give camp a lot of credit for making me into the person I am today. I've made some of my best friends there and I'll never forget or regret the years I spent there. Maybe I'll go back some day...I hope so. People there are just so genuine and free to be themselves - no pressures of the "real world."

So anyway, I was at camp and I gave a couple tours to prospective campers. I really hope it went well. Camp isn't doing the best financially as it has in the past, and I just want to know it'll be around to help kids in the future. My friends Alicia and Rachel made some "slime" with the kids. It was both so gross and so awesome. I got to see a couple people I hadn't seen in a long time, which was nice.

I'm going to officially be a Disney employee come August and we'll see how that goes. I am extremely excited to go down there and see for myself what people keep telling me is such a great experience. Working full time (and getting paid) while hanging out with Mickey? Yes, please! I'll definitely try to update again before I leave for Florida, but if I don't, I will for sure once I get down there.

I actually started this blog as a way to keep all of my friends and family informed on my whereabouts and how life is going when I'm away. I'll be in Disney August through January and I know I'll be missing everyone so much. Senior year I might study abroad and I want to stay connected then too - I might be on the other side of the world! Until next time, happy sailing :)

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