Vagrant Adventures

So I've been chilling in the Boston area since school got out, working at Tufts, which has been a perfect way for me to remain in denial about the fact that I'm going to be in Chile next month as my study abroad program starts.(Minorly terrifying) I didn't have a sublet which has turned into an interesting experiment in relying on the kindness of others. And after 2 weeks, I've come to the conclusion that people, on the whole, are AWESOME. Only seeing the generous and loving side of people has been great & done wonders for my typically pessimistic world view.

A tally of the adventures of the last two weeks includes:

Endless bus rides to Lexington (stayed at a friend's house there most of my time)
2 separate instances of drinking beers on the prez lawn (could anything be more quintessentially summery?)
1 beach day on the lovely Plum Island Beach near Newburyport
1 ride in a 1916 Model T
1 totally creepy visit to the Museum of our National Heritage (creepy because it's run by the Masons and secret societies scare the hell out of me.)
1 adventure to Brookline in search of a decent bagel(which failed sadly & unsurprisingly), falafel & JFK's birthplace
5 hours of playing Risk
3 hours of watching Star Wars
1 glorious day wondering around Harvard and reading books at the Coop
2 sightings of planets from the roof of the BU observatory
1 badly harmonized although spontaneous acapella version of Amazing Grace in a chapel
1 fantastic Trip to the MFA with Madz
1 mime show
1 trip to the ICA where I chanced across a random man describing himself as Miles from the movie Sideways to his date. Somehow, this seems like a bad dating strategy.
3 Trips to Market Basket
8 books read
1 instance of awkward creeping at a grad school party

Fwheh I got tired reliving all that- pretty much the most epic 2 weeks I've had in a while. I'm back at home in Jersey now, which has me ecstatic over the prospects of finding a decent bagel. Which is pretty much the only thing my home state is good for. It's going to be an adjustment. I'm having caffeine withdrawal symptoms already from not being able to run to Diesel or True Grounds and the amount of pollen on my farm is pretty astounding. Time for some benadryl and a nap.

"This is the place where I work"

So,

I've been in DC for a week. As I sat in the office today, I realized we've only been out of school for two weeks but it feels like much longer. I guess that's because so much has changed in the last 14 days. The first week was a whirl-wind getting ready for DC, and the second week I came down here, met my house-mates for the first time, got settled-ish and started my internship

Random observations about DC....

there are more black people, than Tufts and than where I live in CT
there are more latino people, than Tufts and than where I live in CT
this is the only city where the prevailing style seen in subways during rush-our is business-chic
the traffic lights have timed walk signals. in other places you have to push a button to get one, but in DC they are timed to match each light switch. its awesome
DC is a very healthy city, I see people running and walking all the time

My house...

is a block away from American University, which is actually located in a (kind-of) upity area of DC that's about the same distance from the metro stop as tufts is from our stop in davis. The area is beautiful, the houses are older, colonialish, and EXPENSIVE looking. There are sidewalks everywhere and it's very pedestrian friendly

the apartment has
one single- nathan a gay guy from california sleeps there
a living room turned bed room- a guy (who is probably gay) named ryan lives there
a double- where a girl Carry and I live
there is a kitchen, which is basically the common room

My housemates
are super chill. we made a dinner schedule so someone cooks: sun-thurs, and we fend for ourselves fri and sat. it's pretty great because we actually make REAL dinners like: stir fry, home-made pizza, spagetti with home-made sauce, and faijtas. If I went to school with them I would have been friends-but not best friends with them, which is fine. the other day a few of them smoked pot in the kitchen, which i thought was a bit gross, but i just went to my room and chilled, all in all, its a minor complaint compared to everything else, b/c they don't smoke all the time at all

My internship
is really cool. i keep thinking about what i might want to do as my future career, can i handle being a politician? this thing is cool about being a politician...this other thing is not cool...etc.

constituents are funny when they get mad at the government

I feel competitive with the other intern. I want to out-shine her...but I'm trying to just focus on getting as much as I can out of it, not simply beating her...although, if there was a defined way to be "first" I would definitely try earn that title,

anyway,

Hmmmm...

when I got out of work today, I decided to skip rush hour trains and walk around the capital. I was so happy looking at the big beautiful buildings, the capital, the library of congress, the supreme court. I truly do think they are beautiful.

I just felt so proud thinking, " This is the place where I work" i think I can really get used to saying that.

and in response to Coorain's status when he visted DC last summer or break.....

OMG THERE IS SO MUCH GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!

(orgasm!!!!! alot!!!!)

California Comix #1

International Relations and Economics

I'm sorry, I know they are boring topics that everyone is trying to get away from during summer break. However, no one has posted anything here since Friday, so now I'm going to start talking about school subjects. Muahahaha!

Kidding, of course. Well, sort of. I am going to talk about IR and Econ, but in a way that I at least found interesting. Today I went into the city of Chicago to a luncheon/ lecture put on by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The featured speaker, and the reason I went, was Jim McNerney, the CEO of Boeing. As you can probably guess, I love Boeing.

On the other hand, I don't (or didn't) really care that much about trade with China, which was the main topic of the lecture. I now have a lot more interest in Chinese trade and diplomacy, and the scale of the Chinese market, both on the factor side and the goods side. Jim estimated the current size of the Chinese commercial aviation fleet at a bit over 1,500 aircraft, and claims that they could have ten times that number before reaching the level of saturation we experience with air service in the U.S. presently. That is a lot of airplanes. [Disclaimer: I did not take notes, so these figures are just from memory]. Point number 1: China is relevant. They may be starting to grow into competing markets with us, but there is still a lot to be gained from trade.

What I found most interesting was, during his lecture, Jim kept things understandable to someone like myself. He used terminology straight out of economics textbooks, like comparative advantage, free trade, and foreign direct investment. So - surprise! We actually are learning relevant things in class; the CEO of the US' top dollar-value exporter uses these concepts in managing the company. Point number 2: Our education actually has some real-world applicability. Take that, engineers! (that said, I think Jim McNerney was probably an engineer at some point in his life).

Also, I sat next to the VP of Exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry. I got a card. I'm hoping for a free tour.

The Magical Land of Minnesota

One week and one day ago, I was self-exiled (sexiled?...) in the quiet reading room, coffee coursing through my veins, bemoaning the fact that I was still working on a nine-page Islam and Modernity paper while all my friends were off engaging in flapdoodle and tomfoolery. All except for Lorrayne, who was right there with me to the bitter end. She also had to bear the brunt of my typical extremely emotional state that sets in around times of academic duress. I don’t really know what it is about spending a week in the library that makes me contemplate- nay, ponder- the course of life, the pursuit of happiness, and all love and beauty on the Earth. It can get pretty sad. Last Thursday, a nice boy we barely knew had studied and gone to Dewick with us and said he would join us in Tisch but didn’t, and frankly by the way I was swilling my caffeine and whining to Lorrayne, you would have thought that I had been stood up at the altar. It was a problem on multiple levels.

However, I am proud to say that after nearly a week of sleeping, chillin with the fam, and seeing friends, I am actually a human again. Nothing like walking around a lake in the sun with people you love and swinging and shopping and making poor nutritional decisions to bring color back to the world. I love being around people whenever I can when I’m at school, I go to the library in lieu of being in my dorm room alone, but when I’m at home my capacity to amuse myself tends to expand to hermit-like proportions. I love spending a day or two napping at weird times, chopping veggies, playing some piano, reading random things, and watching LOTR or, in the case of tonight, Sherlock Holmes, with my ten-year-old bro.

Speaking of, Sherlock Holmes is a pretty sexy film. It’s about a physically attractive man who is completely out of it and sometimes on drugs who runs around London performing astounding mental and physical feats. His assistant, who is more stable but no less beautiful, picks up the pieces of Holmes’ drug-induced romps. That is essentially all I got from the movie.

I’m a bit anxious to return to the Tufts area on Sunday. My dear friend is letting me crash at his house until our house’s lease starts, but I’m still not entirely sure how I’m gonna find a bed and if I’m gonna have to drive a rental moving truck through harrowing Boston traffic to pick one up, whether I for sure have a paying job, whether breaking even for the summer is an attainable or even desirable thing to aim for, etc. Well, I could’ve just stayed in the Midwest, but I decided to explore the mysterious lands of cobblestone streets, marshmallow fluff, stunningly bitchy customer service, and effective public transportation instead.

Puppies!

Since Coorain got to talk about cats, it's only fair that I get to mention what showed up to my house this morning. And tried to eat me.

These two little fur balls belong to our housekeeper. The one on the right, Toby, she got maybe 2 weeks ago (before I got home) and so we told her to bring him this week so I could see him. Then, to everyone's surprise, there were two! The one on the left, Roby, apparently showed up Wednesday. They are hilarious and adorable, and carnivorous. They lure you in with their puppy eyes and then lunge at your face with mouths agape.

My heart still belongs to my own puppy though. He's actually 5 and looks like a giant compared to these guys.

Right now, I can't sleep, mostly because I can't handle the amount of love my cats are currently showering me with.

Actually, just one of my cats. The other one doesn't care, which is somewhat disheartening, because the one ignoring me is the cat I chose. (My brother and I each got to choose a cat. Now "his" cat loves me and my cat does not.)

The cat in question looks like this, only less festive and more alive. He also likes doughnuts, but only if they're from Tim Horton's.

Anyway, since I got home, he hasn't left my bed or my lap.We talked about it I yelled at him at 3am yesterday, but to no avail. I do like cats. A lot. It's just that after 3 months of no cats, a cat sleeping on you 24/7 is kind of like when we were forced to carry those fake babies for health class in high school. At first it was super exciting (OMG I HAD A BABY! LET'S NAME IT BOK CHOI!), but then it cried (BOK CHOI, WHY YOU SO UNHAPPY?) and it got old faster than Katy Perry's latest song (BOK CHOI IS STIR FRY).
Ok, I'm actually starting to get tired, and will try to enjoy some sweet, sweet feline loving.

Canada

I decided to visit Canada's Southern Province, also known as Maine.

Maine is located next to New Hampshire, which is located next to New York, which itself is located next to Canada.

People in Maine were really nice, like Canadians.

We visited a city in Maine called Portland. Portland is next to the ocean. Canada has cities.

We went to a Tim Horton's ®. HOLY SHIT. TIM HORTON'S ® IS AMAAAAAAZING. Tim Horton's ® is also from Canada. It's like Dunkin' Donuts ®, but with smaller donuts.

We saw a lighthouse.

Let the adventures begin!

So first off, I apparently don't know how to make a blog post. I'll get the hang of it.

Anyway, now to the story. I went flying for the first time in a few months today. Just a few takeoffs and landings around the home airport to brush off the dust, which was apparently pretty minimal. So now I'm getting excited for some epic trips (as soon as I decide when to do them and where to go).

Story behind the picture: I got out to the plane this afternoon and the wheel strut seemed to be covered in white duct tape. A very reassuring sight.

Now that we have an adventures blog and I have my wings again, let the adventures begin! I will be sure to keep everyone updated on my travels, hopefully with cool photos too.

WTF (mate)??

Once upon a time, in an ambiguously-sized liberal arts college in an academic locale, there were several students. But these were not just any students. These students were the total package. Book-smart and street-savvy, they were fricking brilliant. Mind-blowingly hot yet still sweet and approachable, they were so sexy that you would simultaneously want to [kinky fantasy deleted] and raise beautiful children with them in a nice, safe neighborhood with a good school district. And they all had a sense of adventure to make Bear Grylls either retire in shame or beg them to make attractive, adventuresome babies, maybe on a mountain or while skydiving or you know, in a nice, cozy house in the suburbs of Iowa. Provided there was a good school district. These brilliant, sexy badasses will be in many different places over the next year, finding adventure, love, and academic success everywhere from interesting cities to quasi-nudist student organizations in log cabins. This blog is so that they can share their sheer amazingness with each other and randos on the Internet.

And I'm sure I forgot lots of people so please invite whoever you want!