Living Boston

This weekend I headed home to northern Vermont. I grew up on a...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:48:14 -0400

This weekend I headed home to northern Vermont. I grew up on a maple farm in a town of about 600 people. There is nothing like mountain air to cleanse the soul. I love living in Boston, but it is nice to escape tho my childhood home every once and a while. This time of year is important in VT because it’s the end of the sugaring season. Sugaring season is the period between the first big thaw of the year and when the maple trees begin to bud- it’s when the trees produce sap that can be used to produce maple syrup. This year we had a warm spell a few weeks ago that cut the season short when only about 55% of our crop had been harvested. It was pretty upsetting for my family but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot of work left to do. Now that the season is over, Dad has to clean all of the tubing, and remove each tap from each tree. You can check out the process in this video. Happy Sugaring!

More on spring in Boston and post-graduation plans to come :)

Here is a picture of me and my roommates! That’s Cassie on...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:48:23 -0400

Here is a picture of me and my roommates! That’s Cassie on the left. We became close friends Freshman year when we were SU Orientation Leaders together. She’s a psychology major from Long Island. That’s me in the middle, and you already know my deal. Lisa is on the right. She’s a senior at Northeastern, and though we just in September, we’ve totally hit it off. The three of us live near Fenway Park in a beautiful 3 bedroom apartment. We’re only a 20 min commute from campus and I love our area.

This picture is from Suffolk’s Winter Ball last fall. Suffolk puts on a winter and spring ball each year. Can’t believe there is only one left.

We’re trying to maximize on our roommie fun before Lisa moves out in May. Updates on this to come soon :)

Oh my Tumblr community, how I have neglected you recently! There...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:32:07 -0500

Oh my Tumblr community, how I have neglected you recently! There is just so much going on that I haven’t known where to start. Well, my tumbling friends, you are my March 1st resolution: blog often.Things are busy and I have a lot to report, but first, I’ll start by filling you in with some fun from last semester:

This is a photo from my friend Brianna’s family’s house in Maine. Her dad built a huge and lovely house in a very small town, about two hours north of Boston, and every few months she invites a bunch of us there for the weekend. This picture is from our trip in October and this has quickly become one of my favorite places. I am originally from the middle of nowhere (a town of 600 people in north central Vermont) and while I do ADORE the city, I need some cows and dirt roads and views like this to refresh my soul every once and a while. I love this place, especially when we fill the house with 15 of our friends at a time. Can’t wait to go back. :)

A new semester, off to a good start. Studying with Rebecca at...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:06:10 -0500

A new semester, off to a good start. Studying with Rebecca at Starbucks. Their new seasonal cups made my day :)

Fall is my absolute favorite season. There is a crispness in the...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:11:19 -0400

Fall is my absolute favorite season. There is a crispness in the air, a spring in my step, and for some reason the city feels a little fresher, a little friendlier. It feels like a new beginning. Maybe it’s the new school year, the hundreds of college students and the bikes, the lattes, the sushi, that they seem to bring with them.

I try to take a little time each September thinking about goals for the school year, an where I want to be this time next year. This September, first of all, I basically want to be a rock star and be awesome in every aspect of my life: classes, working with admissions, work with orientation and my new internship. But on a more realistic note I want to make sure that I maintain the relationships I’ve built over that last year, especially with my friends who have graduated and moved a little farther away.

To that end, my friend Bri and I spent a wonderful day exploring the city this past Sunday. We took the Orange line to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plains. The park is actually very large and there is a beautiful view of the city from the summit of a hill we climbed.

Then we ventured to East Boston to scope out the world famous Santarpio’s Pizza. Santarpio’s truly lives up to the hype- it is AMAZING food, but a little rough around the edges. I definitely recommend it for those looking for a real Boston experience.

We were able to catch the sun setting and hitting the skyline on our way home. Boston is truly beautiful this time of year. It’s good to be back.

-Allison

MORE FREE FOOD! this time on campus: A student group on Campus...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:00:06 -0400

MORE FREE FOOD! this time on campus: A student group on Campus held a fund raiser called Stand for Japan where they accepted donations for tsunami victims and provided DELICIOUS dumplings and sushi galore! Attendees could buy paper cranes, tee shirts and write encouraging messages to victims. There was even cotton candy. Unbelievably successful event, and for a fantastic cause!

Something I’ve learned since starting college is to...

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:01:06 -0400

Something I’ve learned since starting college is to appreciate the small things. Like free food. I have to admit, I’ve gotten pretty good at finding events with free food on campus and around the city, but this week I was caught by surprise. New strategy: hang out at Starbucks until close.

My new favorite North End Starbucks employee hooked us up. This is my close friend Becca, her friend Alivia, with cookies and treats we got for free! Apparently, Starbucks tried to donate their un-boughten food to local shelters, but they still have leftovers most days, which they end up throwing away. Unless you’re three hungry looking girls hanging around studying late on Sunday nights.

Our new best friend even made us goody bags to take home to our roommates filled with little cakes etc. Until next time, lovin’ me some free cinnamon swirl coffee cake.

Me and my boy Rammy the Suffolk Ram. The past few weeks have...

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:01:06 -0400

Me and my boy Rammy the Suffolk Ram.

The past few weeks have been busy for the Admission Office- Accepted Student Showcase days are always busy for those of us who are tour guides and student speakers. Hopefully some accepted students got a better idea of what Suffolk is about and feel better prepared to make a decision about where to go to college. Being a student ambassador is a really interesting experience for me, because Suffolk was not at all what I thought I wanted when I was applying to and looking at schools. I’m a country girl- born and raised on a maple farm in Northern Vermont (see previous post). I thought an urban campus was completely out of the question for me.

I actually found Suffolk at a college fair hosted by the University of Vermont- and the fact that Suffolk has so many study abroad options, travel seminars, international representation in the student body and faculty, not to mention a campus abroad- I knew I’d be getting an international perspective.

Now, I can’t imagine going to school anywhere else. I love the city, and truly feel at home here. I love love love Boston and my school- I mean, it’s hard not too with such a cute mascot, right? Keep up the good work, Rammy.

The weather is FINALLY starting to look up in Boston- Spring has...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:00:00 -0400

Looking across the harbor at Boston

View of Boston from Charlestown

Spotted in the Greenway

The weather is FINALLY starting to look up in Boston- Spring has sprung!

Spring is full of pros and cons:

Goodbye snow but hello rain, Goodbye motivation and hello finals.

While I should have been doing homework, This past weekend was just too perfect to spend inside. One of my all time favorite things to do is explore new parts of the greater Boston area. One of my very best friends, Bri, and I spent all day last Sunday exploring Charlestown- I fell in love. Made unpopular by the recent movie “The Town,” Charlestown is actually absolutely lovely. Charlestown is an area I’d love to live in after graduation. It’s a short walk over the bridge to the North End, but has so much more of a neighborhood feel than downtown. Charlestown has palygrounds and supermarkets and coffee shops and first graders playing hopscotch. Not to mention a stunning harbor.

Fingers crossed there is much more spring, and much more exploring to come.

Meet Jim Koch- Founder of Boston Beer Company, brewer of Sam...

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:20:21 -0400

Meet Jim Koch- Founder of Boston Beer Company, brewer of Sam Adams beer. A very close friend my mine, Meg, just graduated from Suffolk in January. Her last semester she had an internship with Boston Beer and now has a position there. Jim gave a special tour last week for the friends and family all employees, and Meg invited me! I had a BLAST learning all about how beer is made. Jim is actually an acquaintance of my parents as they had overlapping social circles when they both lived in Seattle in the 1970s. Jim remembered me and had met me as an infant. Maybe my parents aren’t so lame after all…

What a perfect way to spend a Wednesday evening.

Fact: I will only order egg dishes at restaurants when out to...

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:13:00 -0400

Fact: I will only order egg dishes at restaurants when out to breakfast because I cannot bring myself to consume artificial syrup.

My parents used to produce maple syrup on our land and to me there is something almost immoral about the thought of eating corn syrup posing as maple syrup. Yuck. Just one of those childhood instincts I’ll never be able to shake.

I visited my parents at home in Vermont last week- its prime sugaring season, meaning the sap is running and many of my parent’s friends are busy boiling sap into syrup. We visited a few sugar houses to watch them in action.

Here is a little about the process:

First, a lot of work has to be put into maintaining the woods. A good sugar maker (as producers of maple syrup are called) is usually also a good forester. Sugar makers drill hopes into maple trees and attach taps which allow sap to travel through tubing to the sugar house. Sap is collected in large tanks and stored. It’s then filtered and water is boiled away until the sugar concentration exactly 66.9%. At this percentage, you’ve successfully made maple syrup! It takes about 40 gallons of syrup to get one gallon of syrup. The syrup is then filtered again, tested for grade, canned and shipped. Thats it: nothing is added and just water is removed. It’s a beautifully simple process.

My dad is currently working on the forestry part of the process. My parents made maple syrup with the woods behind my house for years throughout my childhood. After a 15 year break, they are looking to start at least collecting and selling sap again and maybe eventually putting the whole process back together.

Also, he’s going to buy one of these four-wheelers with tracks on it! Cool!

Fun, sun, sand, forts, beaches, coves, caves, birds,...

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:35:07 -0400

Fun, sun, sand, forts, beaches, coves, caves, birds, peninsulas, a bell choir, ginger beer, oh, and a murder trial: Bermuda. was. fantastic. 70 degrees, yes please!

My boyfriend, Adrian, and I had the most relaxing week. We stayed with his very hospitable grandmother and rented a motorbike to explore the island’s beautiful views, incredible beaches, and centuries old British forts. I’ll let the pictures do the talking for me.

We did, of course, have a few unusual experiences, however: On the flight there, we ran into one of Adrian’s former teachers from middle school, who was chaperoning The Wheeler School’s Hand Bell Choir’s international tour to Bermuda. We saw the ringers perform in a beautiful church one of our first nights there. Quite the unique concert. Also, we had become increasingly aware about Bermuda’s gang violence from reading the local papers and later in the week we decided to see if we could visit the Supreme Court to learn more. We lucked out. We were let in and a murder trail was going on! There is no better way to learn about a country’s court system than to observe it first hand.

Of course, now back in Boston it has been snowing all week.

Welcome Back!

Best decision ever: moving to Boston.

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:19:00 -0500

I grew up in Waterville, Vermont. 0 stop lights, only 1 paved road, 600 people, probably twice as many cows and: tons. of. snow. My dad emailed me these photos today. He says the snowbanks are higher than any in the 29 years he has lived there. I’m counting my blessings it was 60 in Boston yesterday.

I’m GOING TO BERMUDA FOR SPRING BREAK! In 11 days!...

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:07 -0500

I’m GOING TO BERMUDA FOR SPRING BREAK! In 11 days! I’m so excited because I’m seriously lacking in vitamin D. As much as I love Boston I cannot wait to get out of New England for a week. My boyfriend’s grandmother lives there, so we will have a free place to stay. It seems like time passes increasingly slowly the more excited I get.

NODA

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:00:07 -0500

Working at Orientation and New Student Programs as an Orientation Scholar has some major perks. This past weekend the other 4 scholars, our supervisors, the ONSP grad student and myself went to Providence, RI for the National Orientation Directors Association Region IX Conference. There were close to 300 students and administrators at the conference. The idea was to share information and ideas about each school’s orientation program to hopefully learn and improve. There were several educational sessions presented on a variety of topics. The scholars and I actually presented a session ourselves. We had our audience participate in an activity and discussed how we get the incoming Suffolk students thinking about diversity and respect at orientation. We had great reviews and it went off without a hitch! I felt proud to represent Suffolk in such a formal setting with so many professionals in the higher education field there. I also participated in a Case Study Competition, where they divided the undergraduate students who wanted to participate into groups. We were given scenarios of things that could go wrong at Orientation and were asked to use our critical thinking and problem solving skills to come up with the best solutions. My group took a preventative and proactive approach to the problems and presented our answers as if we were presenting a staff training proposal to a board of Orientation directors. My group won best overall!

NODA was a great networking opportunity, and while I don’t see myself pursuing a long term career in higher education, I met several intriguing professionals and graduate students who further sparked my interest in the field.

I guess the take away message from this post is get involved in college- it has helped me figure out some potential career paths I could take and has allowed me to develop several professional skills I’ll use regardless of where my career path takes me.

I had a test in Physics class today. It was surprisingly painless, I think I did fairly well....

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:32:18 -0500

I had a test in Physics class today. It was surprisingly painless, I think I did fairly well. Anyway, we’ve been learning a lot about nuclear reactions in class- its actually fascinating. My boyfriend shared this video about the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1987 with me and I was absolutely enthralled. I thought I would pass it on to you:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5968506788418521112#

The video is from 1993. You might think its outdated, but it actually adds perspective that the video was made only six years after the catastrophe. I hope you enjoy and find it cool, scary, & fascinating as I did.

Me and Becca in the admissions office on a rainy Monday. I love...

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:45:44 -0500

Me and Becca in the admissions office on a rainy Monday. I love the city when it rains, everything looks so pretty with the lights reflecting in the water. Becca however is nervous about her tour in the pouring rain!

This weekend I’m at NODA! The National Orientation...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:36:25 -0500

This weekend I’m at NODA! The National Orientation Direction Association Region IX conference. We just got here and got these cool shirts. It’s all Orientation all the time. Were learning about other school’s orientation programs and tomorrow were presenting a unique aspect of Suffolk’s orientation. I’m excited to be here and network with other undergrads and professionals in higher education and to spend the weekend with my fellow orientation scholars. More to come on this weekend soon.

My friend Adrian is teaching me how to play chess. It’s a...

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:42:53 -0500

My friend Adrian is teaching me how to play chess. It’s a lot harder than it looks- a work out for my brain :)

Speaking of working out, this week it was finally warm enough and I got my first outdoor run of the season in! My friend Bri and i ran from my apartment to the grocery store (2.2 miles) did our shopping for the week and took the train back. It felt great to get out.

This weekend is a long one. No school Monday. Looking forward to catching up on sleep and school work. A much needed break.

http://www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/coming_soon&d=4727

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:08:28 -0500

http://www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/coming_soon&d=4727:

The Museum of Science is opening its Planetarium Shows this weekend!