Wish You Were Here

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Me and Ashley in front of St. Louis Cathedral, 2008

This year, I’m taking my spring break a little earlier than I expected. Background: during my freshman year Intersession, I went to New Orleans. Long story short, I fell in love with the place, the people, the food, the atmosphere, the experience. I left on the day of the first Mardi Gras 2008 parade and really wished I had been there to see the holiday unfold. When I came back to Baltimore and started my second semester of school, I vowed to myself that I would go to Mardi Gras my senior year – I would be 21 and this would be my last time, before getting a job, to go away for a random week in March and do nothing but have fun. JHU decided that our Spring Break would be March 21-25 this year…but Mardi Gras this year is March 8. So you can probably see how this didn’t really work out with my plans.

So, to kick off my “pre” spring break, I’ll be taxiing down the runway towards New Orleans tomorrow morning with my friends Courtney and Kayla. For the first two days, we’re staying outside the city with Kayla’s grandmother. We’ll be eating home-cooked cajun meals, visiting famous landmarks and especially plantations (I loved Oak Alley and can’t wait to go back!), and reuniting with my old penpal Ashley and her family for dinner. I’ve known her for over ten years and her family feels like the Southern extension of my own, so it feels great to be able to see them all again. She’s my official first friend to be getting married as well, which is crazy! But I haven’t even met her fiance yet with all those miles between us, so I’m excited to finally do that too.

Once in the city on Monday, we’ll do lots of touristy sight-seeing and even more Mardi Gras celebrating! I’m pumped for the parades and the music and the general spirit of the city: Ashley told me that I have no idea what I’m getting myself into, and I can believe it. This is a holiday where the entire city gets together for the sole purpose of celebrating their culture and having an amazing time. I’m so thrilled to be able to be a part of that this year.

Kayla, Courtney and me. We'll look even better when our background is NEW ORLEANS! (And not the Sig Ep basement.)

Luckily, missing all but one of my classes isn’t going to be as much of a problem as it sounds. Since I haven’t missed any classes so far, my professors were really understanding and wished me a good time. I have all of my work for the next two weeks mapped out in my agenda and will tackle it first thing when I get back. (And with just a week between my return flight and Spring Break, I won’t have too long to wait for another week off so I can really catch up – on work and on sleep!) I have a lot of movies to watch and some fiction sketches/papers to write, but I’m not worrying about any of it right now. I’m packing up my dresses, my camera, and a book to read, and heading off to the city. I’m ready to let the good times roll.

CRAWFISH. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!

canned heat in my heels

Somehow, the first official week of summer has come to a close.  I have been home for just about a month now and, for some reason, spring feels as if it flew by and as if happened ages ago, all at the same time.  I blame that mostly on the fact that, for better or for worse, home and Hopkins are two very different worlds.  After finals ended at school, I spent my days waking up late, scrounging up food to cook from what was left over in my apartment, meeting friends to lay around aimlessly on the Beach or shop or explore, and then staying out late at night to squeeze every last drop of fun out of the semester.  It was bittersweet because many of my friends who were still hanging around campus were there to do a little thing called “graduate” this year, so each wonderful night was tinged with the reminder that we only had so many nights like it left.  I’ll admit I cried a little at graduation on May 27th – it was weird to think I would leave Baltimore that weekend and, when I returned, so many standard fixtures of Hopkins wouldn’t be there to greet me.

Me and Naomi, one of the many 2010 grads that I'm proud to call my friend!

And now I’m home.  Westmont is just how I left it last year – hot, humid, and as familiar as a town would be if you had lived there all your life.  As usual, I still wake up late most days of the week, but I think the pace is what’s most different.  It’s weird not to constantly go out to dinner, or live with a roommate, or stay up to greet the sunrise, or run around Baltimore accomplishing goals from our Hopkins Bucket Lists {frolicking in a fountain and hanging out on the rooftop of a campus building were two of our successes from the spring}.

Spending a day in the sun at Crystal Lake Pool

I do a lot of lazy things now: I watch copious amounts of The OC, lay around the pool all day, watch TV with family, prepare summer drinks and food to enjoy with friends while sitting around chatting, see lots of movies, etc.  It’s a great way to spend summer – but it sure is worlds away from life at Hopkins.  But even though I’m at home and enjoying some quiet time, that doesn’t mean I’m not doing my best to keep busy.

In fact, the thing taking up the majority of my time is an internship with the production department at the New Jersey Network, a public TV and radio network here in New Jersey.

The front of my building!

I work in Trenton, which is our state’s capital and only about an hour away from my house…which sure beats the 2.5+ hour commute I had to New York City last summer.  It’s also significantly cheaper to get to, which is a plus when you’re working for no pay.  Anyway, I’m doing all sorts of things as a production intern, but my tasks are focused around two major projects at the moment.   The first is a special on saving the Raritan River from pollution, toxic dumping, poor public health policies regarding its cleanup, and housing developments that prohibit public use of the river.  The second is a brand new series that focuses on local farms, farmers’ markets, wineries, and cheese culture in the state.

For the Raritan River project, we have over 100 tapes of footage shot and sitting on a rolly cart in the editing room {one of my favorite places in the whole office – it’s cooler in there and there are lots of buttons to press, which sounds silly but knowing what most of them actually do now is kind of exciting}.

One of our editing rooms! The newer HD editing room is right next door.

Each tape is at least a half hour long, but most likely even longer.  They include interviews with environmentalists, former state agency employees, chemists, public health specialists, and more.  And one of my jobs is to log each one – which basically means writing a full transcript of everything that is said and seen on tape, and at what time on the tape it can be found.  I learned to enjoy transcribing after getting to write up interviews at Girls’ Life, so I secretly love spending my office time this way.  But I get to do a lot more too!  I’ve done research for various projects and I’m learning about editing software too {they use Avid since they still edit from Beta tapes}, which is good because I could definitely be familiar with more than just Final Cut Pro.  I love being around all of the equipment too – the rooms used for editing, radio broadcast, television programming, and more are so fascinating to me and I could spend all day on the 4th floor watching the action go down.

As is typical for every single job I’ve ever had, I’m going to be working on the website to promote the fresh fruit/wine/cheese show as well.  I even get to sit in on production meetings, which cover all topics like the graphics used for the opening/previews/promos for shows, the shooting schedule, writing goals for each episode, and more.  And the most fun part is actually getting to be present and help out on shoots/interviews for this and other projects, whether in the field or in the studio.  The NJN News is filmed in my building every night too so I can sit in for that anytime I want as well.  It’s a great feeling to know I’m getting so much firsthand experience.

A photo from the Collingswood Farmers Market, which is a short walk away from my town and a featured market on the show.

But of course, you know me – I can’t be content only doing one thing at a time!  I’m fighting the temptation to be lazy all summer by spending my time writing three entries for the Hopkins CinemAddicts blog which will be posted in the fall, planning out a short film project I’ll be working on in September and October, having fun doing out-of-the-norm things with my friends, and figuring out the ways to be happiest my senior year {wardrobe and major hair revamps are in the works}.

I am also taking a fun trip at the end of July…but I’ll keep you in suspense on that one until I get back so I can post plenty of exciting photos!  After that, I’m aiming for my triumphant return to Baltimore to be around August 21 or so, just in time for Orientation week.  In the meantime, I am definitely following through on my goal for the season: check off every item on my Summer Bucket List in order to have 0 regrets come fall. {I mean, I even wrote an article about that for Girls’ Life Magazine – which you should all go out and buy to read it! Pretty please.}

Until I write again… wish you were here!

blink and you miss it.

Without fail, every single break from school leaves me feeling unaccomplished.  No matter how rested and relaxed I feel by the end, I can’t help but feeling like it went too fast and I didn’t do enough … and then I always go back to school dragging my feet, with grand plans forming in my head for the next vacation on the calendar.  It’s my process.

And that’s certainly how I felt a couple days ago.  Even though I know I chose to go back to Hopkins early this year — to work and to take a class during Intersession, the three week period between fall and spring semester — the end of winter break has really snuck up on me.  I finished finals, I got home, it was Christmas Eve, it was Christmas, it was New Years Eve … and now it’s just three days until I’ll have to pack up my suitcase with all of my new Christmas clothes and drive back to Baltimore.  I’m still not sure exactly why days pass like minutes sometimes, but they definitely did these past two weeks.

With that said, I’m not exactly dreading going back.  I’m excited for Intersession, I’m excited to experience the rare chance to completely relax at school {I’m only taking 1 credit so I don’t expect to be stressing!}, I’m excited to be back with my friends, and I’m excited to explore town a little bit.  I’m excited to start scoping out spots to hold Alpha Phi date parties {since I’ll be social chair this coming semester}, I’m excited to start gearing up for Sorority Recruitment at the end of January, and I’m excited to grow more and more nervous about my internship at the Aquarium starting in February.  I love my time at school because every single semester — every single day, even — brings something different.

It’s just more of a feeling that I wasted my limited time here at home.  As a college
student {and particularly as a student at a challenging college like JHU}, free time is precious.  Free time at home is even more priceless.  I just can’t shake that idea that I have to GO GO GO all the time in order to feel productive.  I have trouble thinking in the way I really should be: at home, relaxing in your pajamas and watching television and playing board games and hanging around with friends and family IS being productive.  When you don’t have a paper to write and research to do and internships to apply for, being “productive” is doing all of those fun things that you don’t get to do on a daily basis.  Life is full of rushing around and being busy and having things to do: being productive at home is doing something different.  It’s RESTING, which is one thing that everyone needs to do to stay healthy and happy.

And, looking back, no day was really spent idle.  I fried french fries with my family in my
dad’s brand new deep fryer; I played lots of Scrabble; I visited my mommom’s, my uncle’s, and my grandparents on Christmas Eve; my family hosted Christmas dinner, then visited my cousin to see the twins afterwards; I celebrated Boxing Day out at the mall with all the crazy frantic people who couldn’t wait to return their Christmas presents; I went to
Sunday night dinner at my grandparents’ house, a tradition with my family; I got to spend
a whole day with Jacob, at his house and at my aunt and uncle’s; I went to Rutgers for a Christmas party; I had dinner with one of my oldest friends, who I’ve known since I was 4; I visited my cousins on my dad’s side, who I haven’t seen since the summer {and played Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader/Disney Karaoke on the Wii allllll night}; I went shopping for school supplies for next semester {always so much fun!}; I had a nail salon/lunch/Mamma Mia day with my best friend; I watched a solid block of Game Show
Network shows almost every night with Josh; I went up to New York City to see Ashley, who I’ve known since I was 11 and who was visiting for the very first time from Louisiana; I rang in the new year with Josh, lots of food, and lots of relaxing.  And I slept.  A lot.

I may not have gone on any exotic vacations, and I may not have read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea for fun like I had planned, and I may not have done anything big enough to make me feel satisfied on the spot.  But, when I string together all of the little things that passed my time, I realize I’ve done a lot … and, more importantly, I’ve done what makes me feel happy and rested, ready to take on a new semester of challenges.  And that makes me feel not so bad about winter break ending so soon.  Not so bad at all.

it’s that time of year when the world falls in love

By reading the other blogs over the past couple weeks, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve gotten your fill of final exam time at Hopkins.  By now, even if you somehow didn’t expect it about Hopkins before, I’m sure you know that our classes are challenging and, for that reason, finals season can get stressful; you know that many students start to get verrrrry friendly with the library; you know that it’s a lot of work; you know that, sometimes, there are sleepless nights; you know, too, that sometimes we wonder how we’ll be able to manage it all.  But I, for one, am DONE with finals and end-of-the-year papers and all that nasty stuff — and, personally, I would be very happy to put it behind me and start to enjoy the holiday season.  I’m coming back to campus for Intersession {expect a post about that soon}, but I still get almost 3 weeks to bum around and not have to think about anything remotely academic … and, after the past couple weeks we’ve all had, I’d say that everyone is sure ready for a break like that!

So, instead of lamenting about finals and GPAs {although I’m pretty content with where my grades stand this semester} and classes in general, I decided I’m going to continue on spreading that holiday cheer and post pictures from all of the holiday-related things that got me and my friends through the finals season … and talk about those things that I have to look forward to coming soon!

Gearing up for the Holidays
I spent Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house, where I got to catch up with all of the things that have changed in my cousins.  Jacob is almost 2 1/2 years old and Hailey and Kara are 9 months old and, although I may be slightly biased, all three of them are the sweetest and most adorable kids — and they are growing so much so fast!  Seeing them during Thanksgiving break and getting to see pictures of them taken for the holidays made me smile while I had lots of work to do, and made me even more excited for the holidays to come.

Bordeaux Ball — Alpha Phi Winter Formal
Alpha Phi’s winter formal was beautiful this year — it was held at Pisces, which is a restaurant on the 13th or 14th floor of the Hyatt right on the Inner Harbor.  Because we were so high up and right on the edge of the Harbor, our view was amazing!  This was held the night after the last day of classes, so everyone was ready to relax and celebrate and start looking forward to the holidays.  It was my first official formal as Alpha Phi’s Social Chair and, although I didn’t actually plan this one {stay tuned for that … Valentine’s Day!}, I was so glad that everyone had a great time.  I know I did!

{pictures are: the amazing view; Ingrid and me, old social chair and new social chair!; me and Josh; my Alpha Phi family, minus a couple}
Victoria’s Christmas Party
On the weekend before finals began, my friend Victoria hosted a Christmas party at her brand new house, that she shares with her boyfriend and one other roommate.  It was a GORGEOUS house, and they filled it with beautiful decorations, great food, and lots and lots of guests.  It was another holiday-themed event to get all dressed up for … and definitely gave us a welcome, Christmasy break from studying!

{pictures: my big (Naomi) and me; Josh and me; Crabby Family Christmas Card!}

Gingerbread House
One night before finals, we decided we needed to get off campus for a change and do something different.  So, Josh took me to The Melting Pot in Towson and we had an amazing dinner of cheese fondue and lots of really good meat {that we cooked ourselves in a pot of yummy fondue broth, convincing me at least at the beginning that I wasn’t going to cook it well enough and was going to get myself sick with salmonella or something} … and, of course, chocolate fondue for dessert!  Then we walked down the street a little to the Towson supermarket and bought all the supplies necessary for gingerbread house construction.  We had it all — graham crackers, a carton of white icing, a tube of red icing {for accents, of course}, jelly beans, gum drops, peppermints, and pastel mints {we didn’t use those .. Josh just wanted to eat them}.  I think we did pretty well!!  My goal for next year’s house is to recreate Gilman Hall.  I’m going to need to practice a little though first, I think, in order to make an environmentally-green gingerbread house with a bell tower.

{pictures: Josh, and the mess we made after the cheese fondue; cooking our meat in the broth; empty plates! and an ittybittybottle of Tobasco sauce}

And so, because of such great breaks in the monotony of final exam studying, I made it through.  I’m HOME now, with Christmas Eve and Christmas on the horizon, and I could not be more relaxed.  I’m looking forward to seeing all of my family, enjoying our Christmas tree and our house all decorated in twinkle lights, giving my parents their presents, hanging out with my friends, meeting up with Ashley before New Years {she’s coming up to New York City from Louisiana for vacation!}, and spending three weeks watching television and eating home-cooked food and playing board games and sleeping late.  After working hard and learning so much over the course of a semester, I must say it feels great to be lazy.  For that reason .. wish you were here!

{And hey, since we’re talking about ways I’m spending the holidays … tell us how you’ve spent yours throughout the years at the message boards!}

it’s summertime, and la vita is dolce

Going from my life at Hopkins to my life at home this summer was no easy transition.  My life at school is relatively fast-paced: I’m usually always going somewhere {to class, to a meeting, to Gossip Girl marathons with friends, to dinner with my Alpha Phi family}, doing something {or procrastinating doing something .. that’s probably more like it}, trying hard to unwind when I get free time, or sleeping.  I love life that way because I always feel a great kind of exhaustion at the end of the day, like I’ve actually DONE something with my time and made my life a little bit better with that day.

But at home, I’ll be honest: I really don’t have a whole lot to do.  I know I should probably have looked into an internship or a job or something responsible to throw myself into, but I decided early on this year that I was going to spend this summer after my freshman year as my “last” summer to bum around like a kid. It would’ve been nice to have money to go shopping or go out to dinner with, and it would’ve been nice to be able to tack something meaningful onto the end of my resume come September, but I made the decision and I’m happy with it.  I’ve been using free time to figure out what I’m going to be doing NEXT summer though {and am actually making plans for the summer after that already}, so at least I’m being semi-productive in the Find-Lauren-A-Decent-Role-In-The-Work-Force department.  {Picture is of an issue of Girls Life Magazine, whose offices are in Baltimore and where I’m crossing my fingers for an internship in Summer 2009.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that magazine was like a mini Bible when I was a tween .. that’d be such an amazing job, and such a fun way to gain some experience!}

Really though, when I got home I actually missed school, something I never ever would have expected if you talked to me last September.  But I was home with three whole months that I knew I should enjoy no matter what, whether things were a little slow at first or not.  So I’ve been filling my summer with lots of family, lots of friends, and lots of relaxing — and it’s been great so far!

I’ve been visiting my cousin, who had twin girls on March 20th.  Hailey and Kara just hit the three month mark and -- even though I’m a little biased, I guess! — are absolutely adorable.  They’re so much more alert now and are focusing on things with their eyes, recognizing voices, smiling, laughing .. it’s amazing to see how much they grow in between each of our visits.

One weekend early in June, I took part in my fourth Relay for Life here in my town.  It’s an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society whose goal is to raise cancer
awareness, and also the funds for cancer research and ACS programs, and every year it’s always a good time!  I relay for my mom, who is a cancer survivor, and every year it makes me really happy and really proud to hang out with her and the rest of my family there.  Even though this year was awfully hot … by nighttime it was cooler, so we sat under our tent and watched one of my favorite movies {Paris When It Sizzles!}, listened to music and the ridiculous high school seniors talking at the campsite next to us, and enjoyed each others’ company until we left around 7am the next morning.  {The pictures are of my dad goofing around while we were putting up our tent, me and my mom, and my dad, my mom, and my mommom during the Caregiver Lap.}

One BIG part of my summer has been, I’m proud to say, the Sex and the City movie.  Me and Sydney went to see the movie at midnight when it opened back at the end of May and, since, I’ve seen in two more times.  It’s one of my favorite — if not my favorite — television show, and to see it transition so well to the big screen has been great.  Now I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD so I can watch it over and over .. and not have to pay $10 each time.  {I already regret putting this picture up of me and Sydney, which was taken after the movie in the car.  It doesn’t look like we’re used to staying up late at all, even considering we’ve been doing Harry Potter movies at midnight for as long as I can remember.  I guess we’re out of shape.}

One Saturday in June, Sydney, her sister, and I took a train ride up to New York City, where we met up with Josh and went to see a free Vampire Weekend concert in Central Park.  We stood in line in the HOT sun for about two hours and finally got into the concert .. where it started raining.  It drizzled at first and it felt fabulous, considering we were all sweaty and hot from waiting in the sun for so long.  But then the lead singer of Born Ruffians did a rain dance {I blame him, personally} and it started to rain some more, and some more on top of that, and then it started thundering and lightning, and then it rained even more .. so we left.  We heard Born Ruffians’ whole set and a song or two by Kid Sister, but we never actually saw Vampire Weekend. :( Oh well!  {The pictures are of Sydney and I in the hot car of the train on the way up, the lonngggg line of people waiting to get into the concert, us girls getting totally soaked in the rain, and Josh sort of drying off in the bus on the way back to Penn Station.}

Sometimes, we go to the mall.  Since we live in New Jersey, it isn’t rare for there to be about 4 malls within a 25-minute radius of our house .. it’s a common hobby, I guess!  We usually don’t buy a whole lot {because again,  I don’t have a job}, but we do make a habit of trying on ridiculous prom dresses {and pretty ones, too!} and taking pictures of our choices.  And we also enjoy being really obnoxious when we see things like cardboard cutouts of Zac Efron in record stores.  We also went to Philly for a day too since we live right over the bridge in New Jersey, just to walk around, shop, eat way too much, and try to blend in as people who aren’t tourists.  I think we might always kind of seem like tourists though, with the amount of silly photos we take and how we’re not all that great with directions.

On Tuesdays, I babysit for my other cousin, whose son will be two years old on July 27th.  He is crazy and goofy and I love him to death.  He’s adorable, smart, and such a charming little kid.  One of the hotter Tuesdays this summer we set up a little inflatable boat in our backyard and filled it with water to serve as a pool for him, and he LOVED it.  So I took a bunch of pictures of him having fun in there.

Mondays and Thursdays are spent at my great aunt’s pool with my cousins.  They’re loud and almost always bickering with each other, and I love it.  Everybody’s family is a little bit crazy .. but I’m lucky because mine is so much fun too.

And that’s my summer so far!  It’s kind of a hodge-podge of events — a little outing here, a little event there, but more often than not curled up on the couch watching TV or a movie — but there is lots of relaxation built in and a lot of fun to be had.  It’s been a great break from the hustle and bustle of school, I’m sure of that!

vacation begins

I am sitting on my bed in Baltimore, wrapped up in a blanket, watching the last nine minutes of It’s A Wonderful Life on YouTube, sipping a tall, wet peppermint cappuccino, and counting down the seconds until I can go outside, hail a cab, and get to Penn Station.  I have just taken my last final for Introduction to Literary Study, which actually didn’t go as horribly as I expected {after getting 2 hours of sleep last night and being nauseous all morning on my way here}.  I definitely did ok on the first section, which was 30 minutes of identifying literary terms and relating them to the works that we read this semester.  The second section though, which was 45 minutes in which we had to write an essay about Lolita, made me sort of feel I couldn’t speak, write, or think in English anymore.  At first, that’s not so bad, because I know some French and am great at making hand gestures to signal what I want.  Considering English is one of my majors though, that could pose a slight problem.

But that’s ok, even if I didn’t do that well … because it’s Christmas Vacation now!!  My last final is O-V-E-R, and I don’t have to worry about reading
assignments, papers, studying, or anything else for the next month.  All I have to do is spend time with my family and friends, get back on a normal sleep schedule {right now, I sleep during the day, am up all night — usually playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and listening to Christmas music — and can usually make do with about four hours every day.  That’s bad.}, enjoy the holidays, eat lots of Christmas cookies, visit my high school teachers, see lots of movies, and just enjoy my time in New Jersey.  Doesn’t sound half bad!

“Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” :)

So, partly because the campus is like deserted after almost everyone went home, partly because I hate hailing a cab on my own, and partly because IT’S VACATION and everyone is relaxed .. wish you were here!!

getting to know you

To be honest, I don’t get the chance to go exploring in Baltimore as much as I would like.  I love to travel and {since I never really go anywhere}, every time I’m somewhere new, I always want to experience it as fully as possible.  But because I have that pesky thing called homework / papers / reading / writing poems / studying / cleaning the bathroom / responsibility hanging over my head all the time, I find it really difficult to pry myself away from campus and actually get out there.

During the week, I never have time because I nap during the afternoons and do my work at night {we’re still being honest – I eat, get a full belly, and then nap like I’m two years old}, and on the weekends — my “free” time — I am always too focused on being lazy to leave Charles Village at all.  Actually, I usually stay in my bed watching America’s Next Top Model or Harry Potter marathons, talking on the phone and on AIM with friends and making comments like, “Maybe I’ll go down to University Market later and get a sandwich” or, “Maybe I’ll go to the library and actually get some real work done” {I haven’t studied in the library my entire three months here so far though} or, “Maybe I’ll go out tonight.”  But, usually, I end up just grabbing some Oreo’s from under my bed, making hot chocolate and vegging out in my room until the next day, when the cycle begins again.  It’s how I relax.  It’s my process.

But thank heaven for Family Weekend!  I hadn’t seen my parents in three weeks, so I knew they wouldn’t stand for me being a hermit all weekend in my dorm room, eating Beefaroni and watching Meg Ryan movies {in addition to Oreo’s and Tyra, this is also typical weekend behavior}.  We definitey would have to do something … and I actually wanted to do something.  Even though I hadn’t properly explored it yet, I wanted to show my family something of what “my” city was all about.  They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach; as we found, that is true about cities too.  You’ll figure out what a city is at its core quicker than you can say “crab cake” just by visiting its most successful restaurants.  So that is what we did.

First, we went to a part of Baltimore named Hampden, known for {from the Hampden Main Street website}, “big hair, art galleries, good food and live entertainment.”  It is a part of town that is so rich in culture that it’s just fun to walk down the street.  It definitely has its own personality!  In our search for this unique personality, we went straight to Hampden’s heart: Cafe Hon.  The restaurant, on The Avenue, has a fantastic menu of “comfort,” homey foods and is famous for its incredible pies.  I got their Thanksgiving Dinner {I couldn’t wait for the holiday itself – as you’ll see in the picture, Anne Jay came with us and fully approved of my choice} and later split a massive piece of blueberry pie with my mom: both were amazing.  The atmosphere of the restaurant is great because of the many antique decorations {reminiscent of the 50′s}, and they even have a small gift shop of a really interesting mixture of souvenirs.  I bought a tee shirt and a gorgeous ring, but they have everything from feather boas to Halloween costumes to crazy pairs of glasses.  We can’t wait to go back!

The next place we went {not directly after, obviously – we spaced out our weekend plans and filled it in with lots of sleep and family time!} was Bo Brooks, down at the Canton waterfront.  We sat out on this porch they have with a view of the docks and the Harbor waterfront, and I ordered a fish sandwich. When it came though .. I got quite a lot more than I had bargained for.  Instead of a filet of fish on a roll, it ended up being two lonnnngg fish strips with a roll on the side.  I didn’t eat the roll because it just seemed silly, but the fish was delicious anyway.  A group of people seated next to us ordered crabs and were having a ball cracking them open and eating them, so we’ve decided that we’re definitely doing that next time!

Our final stop {parents weekend is only two days, after all!} was to Fell’s Point around 8pm for a late-night dinner at Bertha’s.  When we got there and were waiting for a seat, we heard the waiters buzzing about how John Astin {who, ironically, was on television earlier in The Addams Family Christmas episode} had been there for dinner and had just left.  They were all excited, talking about what he ordered and that he was really pleasant and all.  I resisted the powerful urge to brag and tell them that, actually, John Astin teaches at my school {and that I’m going to have a class with him next semester, ahh!}, but inwardly I thought it was pretty cool.  ;)  So anyway, we finally got seated and we decided to order as a table – we got a bowl of Maryland Crab soup, a plate of ravioli, and a bowl of mussels in Spanish sauce to share.  I bought a tee shirt from their bar and we got free bumper stickers when we paid our bill, and then we decided to head next door {after fighting our way out of the restaurant through a pack of awfully drunk, incoherent women} for gelato.  I mixed dark chocolate with chocolate gelato and, really, it was heaven in a little cup.

So that was my family weekend and a fantastic two days of exploring what Baltimore had to offer.  I didn’t get much rest that weekend and was insanely tired on Monday morning, but it was all worth it: I spent time with people I love, shared great food with them, and learned even more about the city in which I will spend my next three and a half years.  That’s another lesson for you, even if you don’t end up going to Hopkins or coming to school in a big city, that I wish I followed from my first days here — explore, explore, explore.  You know where your favorite restaurant is, which streets serve as great shortcuts, and a whole host of fabulous people in your hometown — you should learn these things about your new city, too, and I promise that you will have fun doing it.

Also, I have some videos from the Thanksgiving parade I went to over break in Collingswood, NJ, the town right next to mine.  They’re short and don’t quite capture the moment, but this parade has been an event that I have gone to every single year for as long as I can remember.  There are some things you can always count on about this parade: my grandparents will always be there before us; my dad will always bring his handwarmer thing, and we will all be surprised that it still works because it is so old; I will always ask my mother for a Dora the Explorer balloon from the balloon guy, even though I rationally understand that I am far too old for one; we will always buy pretzels from the pretzel guy; we will always sit at the same stretch of brick wall, the one in front of the parking lot, down the street from the post office; it will always be cold and we will always complain; but we are also always glad we went.

Finally, as I go off to get some work done, I leave you with a gallery of pictures of my Christmas tree!  Because it’s so sparkly and pretty I couldn’t capture it as accurately as I wanted — just trust me when I say that the tree is beautiful, the lights are warm, and that, every time I look at it, I get all happy inside.  It’s the holidays, what can I say!  And I wish you were here to experience them with us!  :)

black friday, white christmas

Last night, I had grand plans for today. I would wake up at 3:00 and shower. I’d eat some Cocoa Puffs {breakfast of champions, of course}. I’d bundle myself up. And then, after all that preparation, I’d head out to Kohls for 4:00AM, Best Buy for 5:00AM, Target for 6:00AM, then to our mall {Express, Macy’s, etc.}, then wherever my will took me next. It was going to be insane and sleepy, but it was going to be great.

No, I’m not nocturnal. And no, I’m not crazy. Actually, in case you haven’t heard, the Friday after Thanksgiving {today} is “Black Friday,” only THE biggest shopping day of the year and, therefore, only THE best day to be an insane, ruthless, borderline violent shopper. The sales are incredible, with 40-70 percent off of almost all the merchandise in all the major stores, and people stand in line for hours just to be one of the first to take advantage of the deals. It’s basically how the stores – and the consumers – gear up for the Christmas shopping season. And it looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

But, at 3:00AM this morning, while the alarm on my cell phone was pleasantly blaring some Kenny Chesney, I was definitely not into following my plans. I turned off my alarm, gave a few seconds of serious thought to forgetting how tired I was and geez, just stop being a baby and getting dressed already, and then turned over and went back to bed. I got a fantastic seven more hours of sleep, woke up, ate the Cocoa Puffs … and then went back to bed until 2:00PM. So I was slightly behind schedule.

Finally, I decided that, if I was going to get ANYTHING done today, I had probably better get ready and make some plans. So, at 4:00PM, I ventured out into the cold. I didn’t have as solid of a plan as I had last night, but I knew I had some money from birthday gifts that I still hadn’t spent, so I thought, “What do I need?” And I went from there.

First, we hit Ulta {makeup HEAVEN}. I bought a new foundation, grey liquid eyeliner, a MAX Factor palette of colors for winter {white, black, and grey – I’m excited about the white!}, one dark grey/gold nail polish, a coffee-colored lipstick, and makeup-remover pads. Since we went so late, it wasn’t as crazy as it would’ve been, but the line for the register was still absolutely nuts. It went all the way through the aisles. I’ve never seen it that long, but I was very happy.  {Photo — Not quite what I have planned for my white eyeshadow, but I thought that picture was really cool.}

Next, we went to GBoys. GBoys is a family-owned garden center during the year here in South Jersey; at Christmas, however, it absolutely comes alive. They sell Christmas trees out front, and inside they have all different rooms: an outdoor lighting room, an artificial tree room {where the trees are all lit up and are absolutely gorgeous}, aisles and aisles of ornaments, wreaths, lights, and other Christmas necessities. The biggest draw, though, is this path they created with all different Christmas scenes and with Christmas music playing overhead that eventually leads to Santa. Kids go there to get their pictures taken with Santa {even today, a month before the holiday, they were there!}, and I’ve gone there almost every year since I was very, very little. So we went, and I bought three cases of ornaments, a box of lights, strings of beads, and two strands of garland. I had been planning on getting a Christmas tree for my dorm room, so since I was at THE place to get Christmas gear, I went for it. My theme for my tree is blue and silver {sort of a snowy, chilly color scheme} and I’m really excited to start decorating it! I’ll take a picture once I have.

Next, we at least followed part of my initial plan – we went to Target! There, I bought snowflake ornaments, a gorgeous white tree skirt with silver beads sewn in snowflake shapes, silver icicle ornaments, a “six foot tall” artificial tree {I use quotes because there is no way that tree is six feet tall – but hey, it was $19.99. Can’t complain!}, and shampoo. Success, I’d say.

And then we headed home. My Black Friday, originally mapped out to be an ugly day of shopping with the crazies and fighting over that mediocre sweater that’s 80% off regular price, turned out being a sort of “White” Friday, getting ready for Christmas and buying all sorts of snow-themed objects. It’s a pretty big occasion, too: this is MY first Christmas tree. I’ve always had a tree at home that my family and I have decorated together, but this is mine. All of the ornaments were bought by me. It will be decorated by me. It will be enjoyed by me. It’s kind of sad in a way, but it’s really exciting too. It will go on the bottom of that list of firsts that I have experienced this year – first full month away from home, first time doing my laundry completely by myself, first time going to a school where I literally knew NO ONE, first time living anywhere besides my house in Westmont, etc. The list is long and it took a lot of work to add each item to it but, thinking about it now, it’s satisfying. It makes me proud to know that I’ve done so many things in the last three months that I may not have been prepared for or confident about. I’ve been faced with so many things, beyond laundry and cooking meals for myself, that were totally unfamiliar and that, quite frankly, scared me. But I did them.  And, to put it simply, I think that’s pretty cool.

So, with 2 days until the end of Thanksgiving break and 22 days until winter break {and the end of my finals … except for my Lit Study exam, which is on the very LAST day of exams: I’m leaving Baltimore on the 15th, then coming back on the 20th to take it}, I will be spending my time studying like crazy, hanging out with some of the amazing people I have met, and decorating my Christmas tree! I will most probably blog about each of these things but, until then … wish you were here!

busy little bee bird!

Last weekend, Anne-Jay {one of the Admissions mascots and star of the JHU Fun Blog} had quite the busy weekend!  On Thursday afternoon, Anne-Jay packed her bags {which were a lot smaller than mine; yes, I was jealous} and headed off to Penn Station in a cab.  Hailing the taxi was surprisingly easy — I had expected to wait and wait and wait for one, have a few drive straight by {I guess I’m more used to taxi cabs in NYC}, and start stressing that I was going to miss my train at 3:49PM.  But that wasn’t the case: Anne-Jay and I stepped out of Wolman, walked {and flew, if you wanna get all technical} up to North Charles Street, stuck a hand out like we knew what we were doing, loaded our things into the cab, and were driving away in less than 3 minutes.

{Just as a side note: that picture is, unfortunately, not of the cab that I took.  I wish it was though – and it might’ve been, if it were 1977 instead of 2007 – because that taxi is awesome.}

So about 15 minutes later we arrived at Penn Station.  The cost for the taxi ended up being like $5.50 or something like that, which definitely surprised me.  I expected it to be a lot more, so having my driver tap the screen where the fare is calculated and to only have to shell out what I would for, say, a Big Mac and fries, was very nice.  {I’m not sure how the Big Mac photo fits in here … except that I love them, and would eat one right now if there was a McDonalds nearby}.  And hey, if you decide to use a taxi instead of the shuttle to get to a restaurant or store or another part of town with your friends {and not a stuffed blue jay who, unfortunately, didn’t pack her wallet}, it’d be even cheaper!  So keep that in mind if you’re ever here and have the urge to explore a little.

Another bit of advice: if you come to Hopkins and your hometown is anywhere near a big city around here, I highly recommend using the rail system.  It was incredibly easy — I went to amtrak.com and booked a ticket a few days in advance {To get an even cheaper ticket, sign up for an account at studentadvantage.com, and try to book your ticket as far in advance as possible!  My ticket for Thanksgiving is $35 because I already got it}, got my ticket from a machine at the station using just a credit card for identification, checked the time board, and only waited around for about 20 minutes before I made my way down to my train.  Anne-Jay and I were pretty nervous since it was our first time traveling by ourselves, but the station and the train were friendly, clean, and just pleasant.  We don’t have pictures from the train ride though — somehow we fell into the “Quiet Car” and spent the entire two hours trying not to make too much noise and annoy the people around us.  Needless to say, next time we’ll both be more careful to get into a more lively car!

I’ve only ever been to six states in my entire life: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, and Florida.  This past weekend, Anne-Jay and I visited five of those.  My dad picked us up from 30th Street Station in Philly, and then we spent the next 30 minutes trying to get out of the city.  I guess my timing wasn’t great: 5:30PM isn’t a fantastic time to be driving around in the center of a busy city.  You live and you learn!

And then we made it to New Jersey.  Even though I had just been back for Fall Break the weekend before, it was still fantastic to be home! Nothing can replace home cooked meals, conversation with your family, or even just driving down those familiar roads.  We had a lowkey night that Thursday night, playing board games with my mom and watching television.  There was so much we could have done since I won’t be back home until Thanksgiving — shop, go to the movie theatre, visit family, see friends, etc. — but we really had to rest up for the BIG, busy, exciting day ahead …

… which I will tell you about next time.  I know, I know, a cliffhanger!  But this week has been hectic {I’ve had two papers to write, a novel to read, a sonnet to write, and an exam to study for, all in the last three days!} and I promise: the next entry will deliver!  It will be up sometime this weekend and, believe me, it will definitely be worth the wait.  I can hardly wait to write it!  And yes, in the next entry you will see pictures of Anne-Jay and the places she visited, and not just random pictures of food and buildings.

So, even though it’s an abnormally busy and stressful time in the semester right now and I’m already starting to count the days until Winter Break … wish you were here!

hitting the books

As I’m sure all of you high school students know very well, since you care so much about your schoolwork and know how important it is to be responsible about it {I was there just a few months ago!}, when you’re really busy during the week and when you have so many stresses – homework, exams, etc. – every single weekday, you are naturally going to anticipate the weekend.  You’re going to spend countless hours daydreaming of ways that you’ll make that weekend the best you’ve ever had.  And, of course, you’re going to be pretty disappointed when Sunday night rolls around and you’re staying up late to finish all the homework you procrastinated on for the entire weekend {but that’s due tomorrow morning}.  And then you’re going to be just as excited on Monday for the new promise of the coming weekend.  It’s a cycle.

In keeping with that cycle, I’m approaching a weekend and have been filled with that familiar weekend excitement … but I am particularly excited for this weekend: it’s Fall Break!!  Fall Break at Hopkins actually translates to a measly Monday off from classes and, in theory, you’d think it wouldn’t mean much, but it’s amazing how the campus has been abuzz since Monday, myself included.  I’m still sort of jealous of all of my friends who have week-long fall breaks and get to spend so much time at home going to football games, eating at our local diner, and being with their families, but I’ll take a free Monday over nothing!

But even so, until 3:00PM tomorrow I can’t forget that I still have classes to attend and that I need to sound at least a tiny bit coherent when I speak in them {College Hint: participation points are easier to get when you sound like you know what you’re talking about.  Weird, huh?}.  So, in celebration of three whole days without classes, I present to you a blog about my five very first classes ever taken at Hopkins.  I have two classes tomorrow {one normal 50 minute class, and another painful 80 minute class} and those are listed first; after that are my Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday classes.

History of Occidental Civilization: The Medieval World {Professor Gardner}
If you take this class as a freshman humanities major, the first thought you will be struck with is this: THIS CLASS IS HUGE.  It is set up in traditional lecture/section style, where you go to class two days a week and take notes together with every person taking that class this semester {I’m not sure how many are in there … at least a hundred} and you go to a different class one time during the week {your “section”} of just about 10 to 20 kids to discuss the notes you took and the readings you were assigned for that week.  I got so lucky: Professor Gardner, who conducts the lectures, and my T.A. Chris, who conducts the discussions in section, are absolutely fantastic.  I enjoy history but it was never one of my favorite subjects, but this class is fascinating.  It gets boring at times just like any course {you have to cover boring background stuff to get to the good stuff, after all!}, but it’s been great overall so far and I have a feeling it’s only going to get better.  It’s a lot of homework: there is no textbook, so you either have a full-length novel to read for a week or a bunch of e-texts.  There are also two “pop” quizzes given during lectures throughout the semester {So that means you shouldn’t skip, Lauren, no matter how tired you are in the morning … seriously, Lauren, don’t go back to sleep!  =[  It’s a daily struggle.}.  But there are only three papers {two shorter papers and one long}, no midterm, and a final that actually sounds pretty manageable.  I’ll let you know if I’m still saying it’s manageable once December {and, therefore, final exam season} rolls around, but it shouldn’t be too bad!

Introduction to Literary Study {Professor Halpern}
This class is a requirement for any English major and is, unfortunately, the dreaded 80 minute class.  I just about dropped it on the spot when I found out it was going to be 50% poetry and 50% prose, but I stuck with it {because, again, it’s a requirement} and I’m pleased to say it turned out pretty well.  It’s a very small class – there are about 20 of us – and every day is a discussion on a poem and a reading we had to do about some aspect of the technical part of poetry {meter, rhyme, etc.}.  We have three papers to write, no midterm, and a final exam that apparently is mostly about the novel Lolita so, like Occ Civ, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be too bad.  It’s a long class so I get bored pretty easily, but I like how Professor Halpern really wants us to dig into the readings and figure them out.  Some of the poems we’ve analyzed have actually been pretty good!  It’s important though, if you take this class, that you know what every single word means in the poems and that you’ve prepared yourself to be able to paraphrase every line.  If he calls on you and you can’t, he remembers that.  He’s a little harsh sometimes too when you go out on a limb to make a different kind of interpretation and he doesn’t like it, but I guess that just comes with the class.  Everybody has their opinions!

Advanced Intermediate French I {T.A. -- Jean-Christophe}
I took French for five years in high school and, even still, I always get anxious when I have to speak or take tests or really do anything even remotely related to French besides write it ... but I love this class!  I encourage everyone to take a language, and I always advertise this one little thing: at Hopkins, language courses don’t make you take exams!  Woohoo!
=] Instead of exams in French, we take a series of relatively simple grammar quizzes, write one-page compositions every other week, and do oral presentations every once in a while.  There is also this really cool feature available in the Language Lab that we do every so often called “Interchange” discussions.  Every student logs onto a computer and opens this program called Daedalus, and it takes you to an actual web chat with the rest of your class!  We discuss, in French, the movies we’ve watched and the stories we’ve read.  It’s such a new and informal way of talking about your opinions and answering questions, so I love it.

Subatomic World {Professor Blumenfeld}
This class is physics on the particle level … which sounds really impressive, I know, until you find out that it is geared toward non-science majors.  I started off taking this just to satisfy my distribution requirements {which is the certain number of credits in natural sciences, quantitative sciences, or engineering that a humanities major needs}, but I’ve really started to enjoy it!  It’s very little math and, instead, lots of concepts and ideas and history behind what we know as modern subparticle physics {or what Professor Blumenfeld knows as that, anyway – I just know it’s a long name and it sounds confusing}.  There are homework assignments that don’t mean a darn thing {He took off 15 points from one of mine but ended up giving me a 75 instead of an 85, so I went to ask him about it and he was like, “I’ll change it, but it’s really not gonna make a difference” .. and there aren’t any questions like those on the exams}, and we also have a midterm, a final, and one or two papers.  I kind of feel bad because I know this guy is brilliant and knows so much more than I could ever hope to about physics, but he makes the class really enjoyable and, so far, I understand everything pretty well.  If you take this class though, definitely spend time thinking of questions to ask him: every class, he asks multiple times if there are any questions, and he said that he’s given out better grades to people who ask good questions.  I don’t doubt it.  I’m still trying to think of an “A” question, though.  Guess I still have a good two months to come up with one!

Introduction to Fiction and Poetry I {T.A. — Caolan}
This, like Lit Study, is a major requirement for me {this time for Writing Seminars}.  They offer sections of this class specifically for people who expect that they’ll declare themselves a Writing Seminars major, but I decided this semester to not be in one of those.  Let me tell you … that was the best decision!  I love being in a class of people with all different majors and of all different ages and I think it’s actually better to be in a class that isn’t all made up of writers.  I get a different perspective from them that I wouldn’t get from Writing Sems majors, and I love that!  This class requires SO much homework that it’s crazy: we have readings, poems, papers, short assignments, a journal that we’re supposed to keep weekly, no midterm {thank goodness!}, and a final.  It’s not that bad, but you definitely need to manage your time well to get everything done.  We also do workshops every week in which we critique the work of three students in the class like we would a real, published author, so you ought to give those a lot of time as well.  I actually have a poem being workshopped next Tuesday, and I’m nervous!!  But I’m excited to get feedback other than from my T.A., to learn what works and what doesn’t for the common reader {which, to be honest, is an opinion I value more}, so that I can figure out how to get better.

That’s all of them!  This entry sort of took on a life of its own after a while … it’s so much longer than I expected or intended it to be!  I’m definitely ending now and will talk to you soon, this time about the Hopkins campus.  ;]  Stay tuned and, as always …

Wish you were here!

P.S.  For anyone in the South Jersey/East Pennsylvania area, Hopkins is coming to the Crowne Plaza hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ this Sunday at 2pm.  I’m actually going to be there since I’m coming home this weekend for Fall Break {woooot!}, so come up and say hi and ask lots of questions!  =]