daytrippin to nyc

That was an incredible day in the city. Spent way more than I'd planned (let's see - $250 on clothes, $30 rt including taxis and trains, dinner wasn't bad at all only $46). I'm going to owe dad and mom so much after Paris. I've heard stories of how I should expect to spend a minimum of $5000...A SEMESTER. WHERE am I going to get that money?! I wish I'd planned ahead and signed up for a sleep study in June. Ill have maybe 1.000 of my own plus whatever mom and dad give me per month. That has to get me to at least Parma, Germany, and Barcelona in the first semester - London, Cannes, and Morocco in the second. Yikes! 

I honestly couldn't love cities more - the subway is so much easier than I thought...so hopefully the metro in Paris will be just as straightforward...doubt it.

Went to Crispo downtown for dinner and ate outside under this gazebo. Started pouring by the time we drove to Nordstrom rack where I found a hideous dress by a designer named "Divya". Creepy.

Also don't know what I'd do without my GPS and internet on my phone. This year will be very interesting. Perhaps I'll develop a sense of direction.


Sent an email to Isabelle today - tried to look it over for grammar and stuff but I could barely understand what I'd written...hopefully she's good at deciphering idiot American-French.


Went to cancel my Netflix account when I found a new movie with Hrithik Roshan in it. Guess I'm not cancelling Netflix anytime soon. Currently watching: Kites. Currently reading: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen.


Ended up getting back to South Station at 4a. Hung around with my homeless friends until 5:30, took the T and got back into my room/passed out at 6:30a. Long ass day. Totally worth it.

South Station platform at 4:05 this morning - populated by PSI residents and stranded travelers. 

Also have, more or less, a new wardrobe for Paris. Exactly what I didn't need at all.
Conclusion: Megabus is worth it if you aren't on a schedule, you have a truckload of patience, and you're broke.

i'm a telemarketer...

...for Boston College. It is maybe the worst job on campus. I would rather clean every single bathroom in Walsh with a toothbrush and spray bottle. I would rather cook dinner for the entire football team. I would rather work BC Catering again. To give you an idea of my misery - it begins in the morning, when I realize "Oh shizzlesticks" I have phone center tonight, my day is going to suck. Honestly I would rather go stay in a homeless shelter (no, really I would). Then I struggle with the idea of calling in with a rare African jungle disease (Ebola perhaps). Then I decide that I might as well go instead of watching another political documentary on Netflix. I make it down to the center at 5:59 and start calling at 6. 


What follows is 3 hours of hell. Angry old men who graduated in 1948 and don't even remember how to wipe their own asses proceed to tell me off for trying to finagle money out of them. When I apologize and mention, "Well, sir, I'm really sorry to bother you, but this is what I do for my on-campus employment. Maybe if jackasses like yourself gave more money I would get some financial aid and not have to pay for my own books" (ok, I know I don't pay for my own books, but that's besides the point). 


Next call is a Class of '11 grad. Their mom answers and tells me that the kid has moved out. "Oh sorry to bother you then, do you have a forwarding number I can reach her at?" Um. No. Great so now your kid is no longer in the BC directory because I had to mark them as "Whereabouts unknown". Success.


I love calling the Law School grads though. They pick up and ask me "You want money?" Yes. "Fine send me an email" For how much? "Whatever. I'll pay you to stop calling me". 


Once in awhile you get really awesome prospects though. I called a dude in my long shift (6 freaking hours on Sundays) who graduated in '61 and went to Vietnam. He was a civil planner. He graduated with a degree in PoliSci, which is basically what I'm doing. We chatted about Afghanistan and Iraq and Vietnam and their similarities for 15 minutes before I got around to asking him for money (No). Then he told me not to join the army, not to major in Political Science, to marry rich, and live in New York City. Valid advice I suppose, considering I'm never going to get a job. 

busy week

So Monday I work Phone Center. Tuesday I'm taking MegaBus to NYC to have dinner with Kev, Alec, Serafina, Rose, and CJ. Wednesday I work Phone Center again. Thursday I have Econ. Friday Kev, Alec, me, Dan, Jess, Matt, Garred, and Rose are all reunited again! Unfortunately, they get here Friday evening and I work Saturday and Sunday evenings for at least 8 hours each time. So I'll get to see people Friday night, Saturday until noon, after work on Saturday, and Sunday until 3p.

Got out of work at 8p tonight and went for an awesome run. The streets are pretty well populated and Comm Ave was decently well lit so I wasn't afraid of getting raped and killed. I want to make a list of all the places in Europe/Africa that I want to go running in next year. Besides Paris, I think Barcelona, Dublin, Munich, London, Fez, Parma...basically everywhere I will be visiting.

3 weeks and 6 days.  And before I go to NYC on Tuesday I'd better be done with all of my economics chapters. Looking for a new tv show - trying out Camelot. Maybe I'll just go back and re-watch some Buffy or Bones...

Keep forgetting that once I leave I'll never see my senior (Class of '12) friends again. This sucks.

travel hell

I've been in travel hell before. On the way to Leiden our plane experienced mechanical difficulties and we ended up spending a night in a hotel in Windsor, CT. The next day, we took off and, yet again, our plane experienced mechanical difficulties so we landed in Boston and ended up reaching Amsterdam about a day and a half behind schedule. Yesterday was pretty much the same situation except I was angrier and I was taking buses and trains, not planes. Somehow made it back home before 7p and did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. Working at Dzen's 1 - 9p tonight. Then I have to come back and (a) sort through my clothes (b) call student services about my bill (c) make a shopping list (d) email Isabelle (e) organize my books (f) bake. Leaving for Boston again tomorrow morning, but this time I don't come home until Sunday the 7th of August. Then that's it. 10 days until I leave and I spend a bunch of them in DC with Anand. Jeez.

visa success

Finally got my French visa! The picture is absolutely horrible, the woman asked me to look forward but the camera was to my right so I was utterly confused. I look clinically depressed, but whatever, they'll still let me back into the country after I travel around Europe now.

The trip to New York was awesome, but before - I went home on Friday to help mom out with the picnic stuff and pick up Anand from BDL. Then I drove back Saturday and worked at STT for 8 hours before driving myself back home around 1a. Sunday Kev, Serafina, Jess, Matt, and Shelby came over for the picnic. Got to see Tarun, which was nice after not seeing him ever and now I'm not going to see anyone for a year! Gave me some food for thought about where/how/with whom to celebrate my 21st.

Ended up taking a 6:30a train from New Haven to get to the consulate by 8:50. Waited for 3 hours to get a stamp on my passport in a waiting room that was trying to emulate Antarctic temperatures (the visa officials were pretty cold, too). Spent the day studying and shopping. Went to the NY Public Library near Bryant Park, then shopped for shoes on 5th. Met up with Kev, CJ, and Serafina at The TriBeCa Grille for NYC Restaurant Week! Prix fixe menu was pretty delicious and I "only" ended up spending $56...really need to start saving for Paris.

Just got an email from Isabelle! She sounds like an incredibly charismatic and enthusiastic woman - direct quote "les enfants se réjouissent déjà de ta venue et les chats t'attendent avec impatience!" Kids and cats - my two favorites.

Also need to figure out how to get a bike - I'm thinking it'd be cheaper to buy a crappy bicycle than use Velib. I'll find out when I get there...which is in less than a month!

class registration

Finally had my visa meeting! The people at the French consulate weren't nearly as horrible as they've been made out to be. I had thousands of copies of everything, ended up spending about an hour and a half in the waiting room with Algerians and Tunisians who all thought I was whatever they are (vague facial features and brown skin?) so they were really nice to me.

Worked for a new catering company last night at the Holiday Inn. Classiest wedding I've ever been too. Seriously. Never seen so much synthetic material in my life. Teal satiny tablecloths, bridesmaids dresses made out of the same material. Cornrows for the bridesmaids hair. Bride & groom post-nuptial tequila shots (over, and over). Carpeted floors. I would rather not get married. Duh.

STT wedding next week. So excited. Hopefully will have enough money to travel with when I get to France.

Chose all my classes, finally! I ended up having Saturday - Tuesday off, but then I checked Ophèlie's first ever email and it said her English Art History class was Wednesday 2 - 5, right in the middle of one of the classes I'd selected. So now I just have Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday off. One class on Monday...hope it never comes down to traveling for 4 days to visit friends and skipping class...It's a course magistral (lecture), so I probably could have a friend take notes. If there's attendance, that will make me so unhappy. Anyways, here's what the schedule looks like on the Sciences-Po espace étudiant

Monday at 5: Politics in the EU lecture
Wednesday at 10:15: Français, at 2: French Art History
Thursday at 5: Français, at 7:15: UN peacekeeping
Friday at 10:15: The Ethics of War, at 2:45, Strategic Intelligence, at 7:15, Politics in the EU discussion

I need to start making a list of places to go in the first few weeks and I need to start booking tickets to visit my friends staying in Barcelona, Parma, London, Glasgow, Dublin, Milan, Grenada, Maastricht/Leiden, and Strasbourg. Wow...gonna need to work a lot more. Too bad I HATE the phone center.

I'm working a 2 - 5 PM today. At least it'll still be sunny when I get out.

july 4th weekend

66 is a sauna. It's 90 degrees outside and probably hotter in our dorm room. Can't even take a nap because it's too hot and sticky to lie in one place. Heading into the city tonight for fireworks and the Boston Pops. Tomorrow I have to (1) get passport photos (2) make photocopies of the entire binder (3) print the plane itinerary (4) doublecheck that I have everything I need (5) figure out how to get to South Station (6) pack for NYC (7) print my tickets (8) buy groceries. I'm considering giving my 2 weeks notice at the BC Phone Center and telling ResLife that I won't be living in the dorm anymore. That way I can just stay with Jess on Tuesday - Thursday nights. Drive up on Tuesday and back to SWindsor on Friday morning or Thursday night. I can just stay up here for the Catering shifts at the end of the month. Work at Dzen's Friday - Monday?