just like home

It's official. I love Boston.

I had an amazing day today. Of course it started way too early... I woke up around 7ish to get ready for the day and finish making my room look presentable. Why? Because Billy, a friend of mine from CNU, was coming to visit! He is in Rhode Island for the month and since he was that close, of course he had to visit. So we planned for him to get on a train at 8:30 in Providence that would bring him to downtown Boston. Around 9:30, as I was getting ready, I noticed I had a text. I was terrified to look at it because I just knew it would be from Billy saying he missed the train. And sure enough, I opened it and it said "Guess who missed the train." I sighed loudly, and Meghan heard me. I walked into the living room and Meg just looked at me and said "He missed the train didn't he?" I was freaking out and trying to calculate when he would get here. Then I walked back to my room to call him and there was another text saying he actually did get on the train. I called him and remained calm enough not to cuss him out, but I really wanted to. He told me he had just passed Hyde Park so he was pretty close. After I got off the phone with him I finished getting ready and left to go meet him. I left around 10 so I could get the shuttle to Reservoir in time. Because of the game, the shuttle was running even worse than usual. I waited about 10 or 15 minutes before one finally came. I got to Reservoir and walked to where I could see down in the station to make sure he wasn't waiting. As I walked up I saw a train pulling up so I headed downstairs. I was thinking he was probably on that train, and as I was almost down the stairs I saw him step out onto the platform. It was so great to see him, and I just gave him a big hug. Then we went upstairs to wait for the shuttle and had a chance to catch up with each other, which was nice.

We went back to my house so he could drop his stuff off and I could get the tickets, and I gave him a little tour of my house. There was plenty time before the game so we went to College Sub and had lunch. Then I took him on a tour of BC, making sure to mention all the little tidbits I've picked up in my time here. By the time we had walked all over campus it was almost time for the football game to start. We were in the upper endzone, which is really not a bad place to sit. The game was really good. I had heard Army was pretty terrible, but they kind of put up a good fight. BC scored a field goal fairly early, then a touchdown not long after that. Matt Ryan got the touchdown, but he had some pretty bad passes during the game. But he is amazing! It was a little dodgy in the first half of the game, especially after Army faked a field goal attempt and ran the ball down the field, then got a touchdown on the next play. At halftime the score was 16-9. Billy asked me if our halftime show was any good, and I told him it wasn't. Because that is the truth. The only thing that happens is the marching band plays some obscure classical music and the flag girls pretend like they can dance. Then it's just dead time until the game starts again. The second half was much better though. Army scored again, but BC got it together in the second half and got way ahead of Army. At the end the score was 37-17.

After the game, we headed back to my house. Meghan was home so I introduced them. I told Billy not to say anything bad about URI since Meghan went there. So they started talking about URI and Rhode Island while I got ready to head downtown. Billy said he wanted to go to Fenway, and since he also said he wanted to go shoe shopping, I had also suggested we go to Newbury Street and/or Prudential Center. So we headed back out to the D line, got out at Kenmore, and started walking. We found Fenway without too much trouble. It was nothing like I expected it to be. It has really high walls so you can't see into it, and you would only know it is Fenway because of all the signs and flags. Otherwise it just looks like a big warehouse-type building in the middle of a city. Either way it was good to finally see the Kenmore Square area.

After that we started walking toward Newbury Street. We passed Hynes Convention Center, and there was something going on in there, so Billy wanted to go in and check it out. It was some kind of college fair. Billy saw people with bags from Monster energy drink and he wanted one, but when we went inside it looked like it was pretty much over. So we went back outside and kept walking. We ended up going to Prudential first and walking through, but Billy wasn't as enthusiastic about shopping as I thought. We walked over the bridge to Copley Place, then went back outside. We were going to head to Newbury but we went the wrong way, so we ended up walking through the South End. So I guess that's another Boston neighborhood that I've experienced. Eventually we started heading the right way. Billy saw a 7-Eleven and really wanted a Slurpee, so we stopped in there. But we were both really hungry, so we were on the lookout for a place to eat. Billy told me he didn't care where we ate as long as it wasn't a chain. We walked almost all the way up Newbury but I didn't see anything that caught my eye. But then Billy spotted a Thai restaurant, so we decided to eat there. When we walked in, the hostess directed us to a table right in front that was kind of separate from the other tables and remarked that it was "more private." I decided not to order pad thai since I've eaten so much lately. I got something similar though...it was like pad thai but with rice. I was glad that my conversation with Billy picked up during dinner because it had kind of lulled while we were walking around. We had a very interesting conversation that at points touched on marriage and religion. I realized how little I really knew about Billy, and it was good to get to know him a little better. After we had been talking a while Billy ordered dessert...some fried banana things. I didn't want to tell him that I hate bananas. When we got them he asked if I did so I couldn't lie. He just didn't want to look like a fattie by just getting them for himself. I decided to try them and they weren't that bad, but I only ate a couple.

After dinner there was still a little time before Billy had to catch a train back to Providence, so I suggested we do the Prudential Skywalk. Luckily after we walked back and found the entrance for the skywalk they were letting the last few people go up. The view was very cool, especially since it was at night so everything was lit up. They have numbers on the window and they give you a little thing that if you enter the number it plays a recording about something you can see out of that window. It was hard to see some stuff in the dark. And a lot of the stuff they talked about I had already learned on the Duck Tour I took over the summer. So overall it was cool but not worth the $9 it cost.

After that Billy had to head back to Rhode Island. I took the train with him to Park Street. We said a quick goodbye, then he headed off toward the Red line, and I rushed across the station because there was a D line train waiting. I'm so exhausted from walking, but seeing the city was amazing. And being with someone from home who I love to death was just what I needed.

we dance

I just had one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time. The grad and law student associations put on a boat cruise tonight. I just got home and I'm sooo tired, but it was such a great night.

Earlier today I went to Hair Cuttery in Harvard Square to get my hair done. The girl just washed, trimmed, and curled it. I wanted it wavy, but she didn't think it would hold properly. So she finished and it looked okay. Then she asked me if I wanted her to wrap it, and I said yes thinking she meant just loosely wrap it so it would stay. But no, she actually wrapped it. She used these white paper things to hold it down, so I looked like I had a bandage for a massive head wound. That was weird. She had pretty much brushed out the style too, so I paid a shitload of money for pretty much nothing. But since I was in Harvard Square, I decided to treat myself to lunch at Wagamama. I was going to eat there, but since I looked crazy I got takeout. Once I got my food I headed home to eat and get ready.

Despite my hair not being curly, it actually looked okay. As usual, I looked totally hot once I was ready. I headed over to the Reservoir T stop so I could meet with a bunch of people to go to the boat together. The first person I saw was Mongkol. As soon as he saw me he said I looked good. Well of course. So we had to wait for more people to show up. Naturally, at this point, I realized I forgot my camera, but I couldn't go back home so it wasn't a big deal. Finally we got on the train and got on our way. The whole trip didn't take very long, but we had to transfer a couple times which just made it complicated. We got there really early so we hung around chatting until they let us on the boat. I was getting bored so I went around the corner to 7-Eleven to get a disposable camera. When I got back people were getting on the boat. I ran into Tamas and talked to him for a second before seeing Sandra, Tammy, and Stephanie. I was actually supposed to hang out with them beforehand but I decided not to at the last minute. We hung out for a while. They were scheming how to attract good looking lawyers. We walked around the boat for a bit before finally just finding a spot and dancing a little. Sandra went to talk to a friend of hers and they ended up coming back over to us with a lawyer and a law student. All the other girls were really excited to be meeting lawyers. They were nice guys though. But then a bunch of the group walked away leaving me with the lawyer and I girl I don't really know. We chatted for a bit before the lawyer moved on. The girl was practically gushing about the lawyer which was really annoying so I wanted to get away from her. We started walking around and I saw Mongkol so I was heading toward him when the girl started pulling me away. She said there was a guy around there that had been 'stalking' her. But I told her I wanted to go over to my friends, so she went downstairs. I went over to my friends and starting talking to them. We walked around for a bit before we saw some other people. Then I started dancing. I think I surprised a few people with how I dance, but I didn't really care. I found out that Mongkol is a really great dancer. I spent a lot of the night dancing with him. We ended up finding a spot that wasn't as crowded which was great because I was burning up, so it was good to be able to feel the breeze. At one point while I was dancing I looked over and saw a guy walking to the edge of the boat with someone else holding a napkin to his face. I thought he just had a bloody nose so I kind of blew it off. I was just glad he wasn't puking. Later Mongkol and I rejoined everyone else and danced some more. It was really hot though so we went downstairs to sit in a little area in the front of the boat. It was good to cool off, and we just hung out, took pictures, and danced a little. Then we noticed we were pulling back in, but it was about 45 minutes before we were supposed to. We were a little confused until you could faintly hear someone announce that they were just letting one person off. Someone mentioned that there was a kid that cut his head open and I realized it was the guy I had seen earlier. So the boat pulled back out and cruised around for a while until about 11:30.

After we got off the boat no one wanted to go to the actual afterparty, so we decided to go to another bar closer to where we all live. We got halfway there but then everyone pretty much decided that they were too tired. I, of course, was a little ball of energy, but my feet hurt really badly, so it was probably better for me to go home. But it was such a great night...I'm really starting to love Boston!

fresh and hot

I have survived the first week of graduate school! I must say that I'm proud of myself, even if it is only the first week. But given my plan to just take it one day at a time, it's completely appropriate to celebrate the first week.

Wednesday night I had my second class, Student Affairs Admin. I was anxious to finally get a look at my advisor, the elusive Dr. Duffy. He didn't look as I had imagined him. He was much shorter, stooped over, and he really is old as dirt. I don't really care about his looks (although it might be appropriate to be concerned about his health) as long as his mind still works. I don't think there will be much concern in that respect, and he seems like he'll be a great professor and someone I'll get along with just fine. The class went well. He went over the syllabus and explained about the class, then lectured a little bit. We also did a small group activity. It was a good first class. I think I'll really enjoy it. My only concern is that there's a 3-5 page paper due every class, but I don't think it'll really be a big deal.


Thursday afternoon before class I ran into Mongkol. I had a little while before class started so I sat down and talked with him. Sarah, another Higher Ed person, joined us a little bit later. We were talking about how hard our Tuesday class was going to be. I hadn't really thought about it until then, so she was making me kind of nervous. But by then it was time for class. My third class was Interpretation and Evaluation of Research. This class is taught by Octavio, who is 'not quite a professor' because he hasn't finished his dissertation. As he was explaining this to the class, I couldn't help but think of Octavius, one of my favorite professors from CNU (even though I never actually had a class with him) who is in the same dissertation limbo (and has been for some time.) Anyway, after Octavio talked about himself and the class, we spent most of the class doing an icebreaker. I am not a fan of icebreakers. We had to say our name, what program we are in, and when we'll graduate, then describe ourselves using words beginning with our initials. I said (E) eclectic, because of my very diverse array of interests; (A) Acid House, because it's a book by my favorite author Irvine Welsh; and (P) plumbing, as I was able to attend BC because I spent 8 months selling plumbing supplies (and added that I didn't recommend it.) Finally that was over, and he lectured a little, then we had an activity. That class won't be bad at all, but the professor is a total space cadet. He didn't seem to have it all together and I'm worried his lectures won't be coherent. As soon as that class was over I darted for the door. I was on my way out when Matt, a guy in my program, stopped me to say hi. He told me that Mongkol was "singing my praises earlier" and that he really likes my laugh. That made me smile. A lot.

Thursday night there was a Culture Night sponsored by GISA. Everyone kept asking me if I was going, and of course I was--there was free food! I was late because of class, but I met up with Brent and Mongkol and some other cool people. I saw the roomies, who were already eating, so I just waved at them. There was mostly Jamaican food, which was interesting. It was really good, except that I put some fried plantains on my plate forgetting that they are pretty much like bananas, which I don't like. But everything else was really good. After we ate there were two performers. One girl sang a couple songs, then the next girl sang and bellydanced a little. They were both really good. Afterward I just hung out and chatted with everyone. At one point I was talking to some girls and they asked me what year I was. I said I was a first-year, and Mongkol said "Yeah, fresh and hot." At first I was kind of shocked, but then I said "Actually, I think you might be right." After a while things started dying down, so a bunch of us left and walked home. I walked with Brent for a little while, and it was good to get to talk to him.

I don't have class on Fridays so it was nice not having much to do. Friday morning I decided to take a trip to Allston to go to a liquor store. I had heard the prices were pretty reasonable, unlike the one closest to my house which is outrageous. I think I assumed the prices would be better here because of the competition, but the prices in Virginia are so much better! But the store I went to actually had decent prices, so I picked up some Jack, triple sec, and Bacardi.


That afternoon there was yet another BBQ at the grad student center. I went over there with Meghan and Devlin right when it was starting. No one was there, so we went inside. There were some econ people playing ping pong so we hung around inside until finally people started showing up. We went outside and got food and talked for a while. Brent came by to ask us a question for the grad student newsletter--something we did over the summer that we never thought we'd do. Of course I said selling plumbing supplies, even though riding the Griffon would have been a much better answer. Pretty soon the roomies had to leave to go study. I got up to walk around and saw Sandra who I had met at the last BBQ. I couldn't remember her name but thankfully she recognized me. I sat and talked with her for a while, and her friends Stephanie and Tammy came over too. They're really cool girls. Then I saw Brent and Mongkol being crazy, so I had to go over there. Brent had sunglasses on the back of his head and had turned his shirt backwards, and Mongkol was taking pictures of it. Very strange. I hung out with them for a bit, but then things started winding down, so I headed home.

On Sunday I went to church at First Parish in Brookline. It was the first regular service after the summer, so a lot more people were there. I saw quite a few people that I had met over the summer and a lot of them recognized me and remembered my name. I met a lot of other people too. There was a water ceremony before the service started. People brought water from places they traveled over the summer and put it in pitchers of the direction they traveled. After that we went in for the service. They did a skit about a girl that got shipwrecked and taken prisoner and had all sorts of bad stuff happen to her, but in the end her life ended up working out because of all the things she had learned every time something bad happened to her. It was a really great, entertaining service. And I felt the people there are so much friendlier than the church in Cambridge. So I'm pretty sure that's the church I'm going to join. It's awesome to start feeling spiritually settled!

...of the rest of your life

I had my first grad school class today! My class was at 4:30, so I spent most of the day primping so I could look hot for my first day. I must say I looked gorgeous, but then I usually do.

I headed over to the grad student lounge in Campion because I heard there would be food all day, but I got there really late, so there wasn't much left. There were a lot of people there, mostly from the counseling program. I sat and talked with them for a while, then walked around campus for a bit. I was hungry, so I went to Hillside to grab lunch, then headed back toward Gasson. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to find my class and maybe meet some people before class got started. Gasson is a very confusing building though. I had the hardest time finding the classroom, only to discover that the door to the room was in the stairwell. I made a quick call to Caitlin to see how her first day teaching went, but she didn't answer. I was a little nervous to go into the class since I didn't see anyone I recognized. But I went in and sat down. More people started trickling in, and I saw a few people I knew. Then I started to get really nervous because I noticed people pulling out the course syllabus and reading it. I had no idea where they had gotten it from. A few minutes later class started and the professor asked if we had received her email with the syllabus. I definitely did not get that email. Luckily she had copies. The first class was just her going over the syllabus and talking about the class and the Higher Ed program a little bit. We were only there about an hour before she let us go. So, first grad school class: very little to report.

After class a few of the girls and I headed back to the grad student lounge since we had a program orientation at 7 and there was a lot of time to kill. We mostly talked about our class and other classes until finally it was time and we headed down the hall. We got there just as the pizza was arriving. We sat and ate while people were coming in. The orientation was okay...it was a lot of information I already kind of knew. It was nice to see some of the professors, but really great to finally see the people in my program. I didn't really meet anyone new though. I was excited to finally see Brent, one of the guys I met over the summer. I also met a woman who did her undergrad at VCU, and she was really excited to meet another Virginian and she hugged me, which was a little weird. She was sweet, but she made a comment that I don't have a southern accent. I hate when people say that!! After that, Ashley and I left so we could take the shuttle together. It was the first shuttle experience for both of us, and I was a little nervous. It was kind of crowded and I couldn't see anything outside. Also, apparently you just have to kind of get up when it's your stop. Halfway through the ride I figured out where we were, but then I didn't really know how to signal to the driver that I wanted the next stop. Luckily there were other people getting off there.

After I got home I called Caitlin to find out about her day, and then told her about mine. I miss her a lot, but we are already planning a vacation to Provincetown next summer. Hopefully I will see her sooner though. Other than that, I'm doing really well here. Not a bit homesick!

winning is everything

The last week has been a lot of fun. My life is finally picking up, which makes me very happy. On Tuesday I went to a Graduate Education Association meeting. Only 3 other people were there, but it was nice to be around people from the Lynch School instead of so many economists. The first half hour we just chatted, then finally had the meeting. It was pretty quick since we were just talking about a few ideas for the start of the year.


On Thursday we had orientation. I got a pretty late start that morning, then I had to actually find the Graduate Student Center. It's way on the other side of Beacon St. But I found it pretty easily. I went in and people were standing around talking in little clusters, I assume with other people from their program. I saw Bridget and a few other girls sitting at a table, so naturally I went to sit with them. We chatted until it was time to take a campus tour. The tour was very short, just a walk toward the building we had to be in next where our tour guide pointed out some of the buildings and a few interesting facts, but it wasn't nearly as complete as the actually campus tour, which I saw in April. After the tour we had a resource fair, at which a few offices and organizations had tables with information, signups, and the like. But there was food, and the girl I had been with most of the day, Stephanie, and I grabbed a plate and sat down to eat and talk. After that we did actually visit some of the tables. I was excited to see 2 people I had met in June, Isabel and Mongkol. And one of the tables was handing out free umbrellas. So that event wasn't a total loss. Stephanie and I found Bridget again, and since Bridget didn't have anything to eat, we went to find food. The rest of the afternoon was presentations about the libraries, health services, and IT services. Those were mildly informative.

The orientation event I was definitely waiting for was the BBQ. Why? More free food, of course! We got there and there were no open tables, so I suggested we be social and sit down with other people. Turns out, most of the other people at the table were from Lynch School. I wasn't surprised, we were the most represented school at orientation. The food was standard but I was curious about the cash bar. It was just beer, wine, and bottled soda. I got a Smirnoff, which was $4. My table had a good mix of people and it was great to have a conversation where I didn't hear words like differential equations and econometrics. After my table disbanded I went to talk to Mongkol. He was sitting at the edge of a massive group of Asian students. I think I was kind of thankful I didn't actually have to walk through the group. I talked to him for a bit and he introduced me to the 2 guys he was talking to. He just asked me what classes I was taking, and I asked him how his trip home was. And then randomly through the conversation he would turn to the guys and start speaking in another language. He explained to me a bit later that he was trying to learn to count in Indonesian or something, but I always feel self-conscious and out of the loop when people start talking in other languages around me. We didn't talk for long, as he had to leave. I saw my roommates but I didn't really want to get sucked into another boring conversation about econ. Then I saw Kyle, who is also in the econ program but I decided to talk to him anyway. He was sitting with some French girls who were actually in the MBA program. As the BBQ was winding down one of the girls, Martine, invited us to go to Roggies for some drinks with some MBA people. We headed over there and there were a ton of people. But the beer was free. We ran into Kyle's roommates who went downstairs with us. We sat down and met a few more people. One of the girls I met that night is from Harrisonburg, and it was nice to finally meet someone from Virginia. We had a great time and no one seemed to care that we weren't MBA students. After a while I was getting a little tired so Kyle's roommate Brian and I walked home. We got to the top of my street and he said goodbye to me, and I was really upset with him that he didn't walk me to my door. But I made it down the street just fine (comforted by the fact that I was carrying a giant umbrella.) I told Meghan about it and she promised to bust his balls about it when she saw him in class.


Friday, after my roommates' last math camp class, they decided they wanted to go to Little Italy. We met up with yet another econ kid, James, and took the T downtown. We walked around for a bit before settling on a small, cute little cafe that wasn't too crowded. I had a macchiato and a really intense but delicious chocolate dessert. It was great because the cafe had very reasonable prices. Later, another guy, Tamas, joined us. We stayed there a little longer, then walked to the harbor, then through a little more of Little Italy and Faneuil Hall before deciding to head back to Brighton. We were going to meet up with Will, another econ kid, and his girlfriend at Mary Ann's, the local dive bar. But Mary Ann's doesn't take passports as ID, so Tamas and James couldn't get in. We decided to head over to Cityside. I ran into Noam and Martine, 2 people from the MBA program I had met the night before. I chatted with them before getting a drink and heading upstairs to rejoin my group. We had dinner there and chilled for a while. Afterward we went to the liquor store to get beer and headed back to my house. We played Kings which was a lot of fun, but after that people were pretty tired, so we hung out for a little while until finally everyone left.

Saturday was the first football game, against Wake Forest. I was super excited. I emailed Dr. French because he went to Wake. As I was getting ready for the game there was an email from him waiting for me. He said he hoped BC lost the game, which made me want a win even more. The roommates and I met up with Kyle, Tamas, and a couple other people a few hours before the game. They wanted to hit up the tailgates, and Tamas' roommate apparently knew where we could go. We walked around campus until finally they figured out where we were supposed to go. We had to go through the parking garage, show our ticket, then walk across the baseball field. And once again, we were with MBA students and drinking their beer. It was nice to hang out with everyone I had met a couple nights before. We stayed there until the police told us to go into the stadium. The game was awesome. The coolest thing was that they played a Dropkick Murphys song before the game, and then throughout the game the marching band played it too. Wake scored first, which was not good, and our kicker looked a little rusty. But it was a pretty good game, and BC picked up and started scoring. The halftime show was boring. BC's marching band is a lot smaller than I expected and not very exciting. The game was really long too. It lasted 4 hours. Part of it was commercial breaks, which was strange. Toward the end the TV people were telling them to keep the game moving. At the end, BC won, and the score was 38-28. I was really excited to be able to gloat to French. After the game, the guys got some beer and we met up at Kyle's house to hang out. It was really chill, and I drank a lot more than I ought to have.

This morning was good considering how much I had to drink. I fully intended to go to church. I wanted to check out Arlington Street Church, which is downtown. I was concerned because they seemed to be a little intense from their website. But church definitely wasn't happening, and I've pretty much decided I want to join the church in Brookline. I couldn't go there today because they are closed for Labor Day, which I have never heard of a church doing. So I will go next Sunday, which is the first regular session and will be in the main sanctuary. There will be a lot more people there, so I'll be able to make a better decision about joining.

Classes start this week. I'm very slightly nervous, but more excited than anything because I will finally have stuff to do during the day. I can't wait!