life’s not a paragraph

8 days of fever, 4 doctor visits, and 2 prescriptions later i am finally feeling better.

i didn’t mention it in my previous post, but i have been home for the past week with an icky virus. at first the doctor thought it was strep throat, but the antibiotics didn’t do anything. so it turned out to be a virus, which as you know, you can do nothing for. fluids and rest. that’s it.

so that’s what i’ve been doing. for 8 days. i am so glad that i am finally better.

i know that it was really good that i rested for so long, but i missed a lot of school. i’ve been kind of stressing out about all the work. i’ve kept in contact with all of my professors and asked all of them for the assignments that are due next week. i’ve made a list. and now i have a weekend full of making up to do.

as uneventful and boring my weekend will be, making up all the work now is way better than freaking out over thanksgiving. wish me luck!

so i have two little tidbits of good news.

1. i got into the alternative spring break program (asb)! yayay!! and i got my assignment. i will be going meridian, mississippi to work with habitat for humanity. we will be helping hurricane victims relocate farther inland. in preparation for the trip, my group will be meeting about once a week until the trip to learn some background information, learn about what exactly we are doing, and ask any questions we have. i can’t wait. it is going to  be a really hard week. but i know, after it is over, it’s going to be an amazing experience.

2. i figured out my schedule. technically, i figured it out last week, but i just haven’t written about it yet. i think it worked out pretty well. i almost had a problem though. leidy slept over my apartment on monday night and i was trying to help her put her schedule together. i recommended that she take the latin american fiction and cinema class i was planning on taking when i realized that i had written the days for the class wrong. since i had pretty much planned my schedule around that specific class, my whole schedule was off. thankfully, it didn’t take too long and i was able to work it out so i got all the classes i wanted and all at reasonable times.

the way that they do it at suffolk (and i am sure that it is almost the same at most universities) is you are assigned a day and a time to register on your SAIL account (an online account all students have where they can access transcripts and grades, as well as other services such as Blackboard and Communities and Clubs Announcement Boards). But before you even register, you can search for classes, find ones that work for you, and select them to your “wish list”. when it comes time to register, you check off the ones you want and then hit register/submit. it’s pretty easy, except when a class is full. :/ that happens the most to freshmen because they are the last to pick their classes. grad students get first choice, seniors then get second, juniors get third… etc. etc. i had a lot of trouble getting in some of the classes i wanted last year, but luckily once a section of a class fills up (and if there are a lot of people on the wait list) the professor/department will open up another section.

that’s how i was able to get into my current spanish class. it was completely full when i had tried to sign up, but then i got onto the wait list. they opened up another section because so many people wanted to take it. a few people switched around and i was able to get into the class i had wanted originally. it worked out great. this time, i had no problems. i had an early time, so i was able to get everything i wanted!! love when that happens.

today is veteran’s day. most students and adults in boston had the day off in order to commemorate all those who have served and are serving our country. i just wanted to thank all of them, including my grandfather.

i spent my morning at the laundry mat. that’s one of the bad things about living in an apartment. usually there isn’t laundry in the building so you have to go to a laundry mat. i know this might sound a little strange, but whenever i go, i always feel like i’m in a movie or something. hahaha but you always see people in movies going to laundry mats, and i had never been to one before this year. so now that i am going to one frequently, i just immediately connect the place with a movie set. hahaha

after a morning of laundry, my friend sarah came over and we went over to harvard square to explore and maybe find some delicious ice cream. it was a little chilly for ice cream today, so we settled on cupcakes instead. they were DELICIOUS. the place is called sweets on mass ave. absolutely wonderful. i got pumpkin pie and she got red velvet cake. it’s a good thing the store isn’t closer, or else i would end up eating a lot of cupcakes!!

i am really lucky that my roommates are so involved in suffolk sports because it gives me an opportunity to get involved as well. my roommate alex is on the athletic committee for the university. to mark the beginning of the new winter season, she and her friend planned the rally of the rams!

it was like a pep rally. suffolk’s three winter sports teams– men’s and women’s basketball and men’s hockey– came out to play some games and scrimmages. there were raffle tickets handed out and there were a ton of prizes. my friend meredith (she’s practically my fourth roommate) sang the national anthem. she was incredible. my other roommate performed with wicked! they also had a dj that hosted the event and played a bunch of music.

how it worked was, they created a bunch of games and there were athletes chosen to play certain games. the dj picked out a raffle ticket and whoever had that ticket had the chance to win a prize if their assigned athlete won the game. did that make sense? it’s a lot simpler than i think i made it sound. hahaha but i was fun to watch.

anyways, alex was afraid that it there wasn’t going to be a great turn out, but it was really great! there were a ton of people and i think it was successful. i had a great time and i think everyone else did too!

i don’t know if i have ever mentioned that one of my roommates is a member of the hip hop team here as suffolk, which is called wicked! they had a performance last night, and i went with some of my friends to see it. it was great!! they did such an awesome job.

this morning i went to haymarket. it’s a huge farmer’s market that takes place every saturday behind government center. it goes on all day. there is a huge line of tables of fruits, vegetables, breads and fish. you can get mostly everything you need. and it’s SUPER cheap.

it’s can be a little overwhelming. there are tons of people shuffling in and out of small pathways, bargaining over groceries. the vendors yell about their deals. there’s just a general sense of controlled chaos. once i got over the initial shock of the place, it became kind of like a game. haha you have to pay attention that’s for sure. you have to pay attention to whose walking in front of you nad who’s pushing you from behind, and the same time, you have to keep an eye out for the best prices. i would definitely recommend everyone to try it at least once. unless of course, you are claustrophobic.

scheduling is always stressful. you’re basically planning out the next five months of your life. it’s a little nerve-wracking. right now i am planning on taking the rest of my foundation courses (3D design, drawing 2, design issues and processes, and painting) and a latin american fiction class. however, one of the professors is offering a course in prague in the czech republic that would satisfy my painting requirement!!

one of my friends in spain went to prague and showed me his pictures. it looked absolutely INCREDIBLE! i have wanted to go since then. the program is three weeks long. which is perfect for me because my job starts right when the class is over. so depending on what classes i can get into, and if i can get into the program, i am going to have to change my schedule around. :/

if i end up taking the painting course, i think i am going to pick up an art history class because i still have to take art history two and an art history elective.

ahhhh, it’s just hard to make everything fit in a way that works. but i know it will work out. it has the past three semesters. so i shouldn’t worry, but i still do. hahaha

last night i went to the sean kingston and girl talk concert that was hosted by suffolk. it was at the house of blues (formerly known as the avalon) over by fenway park.

the concert was great!! i had sooooooo much fun!! i went with my roommates and then i met up with a bunch of my friends from spain. we pushed ourselves up to the front (don’t worry we weren’t those obnoxious tall people that push in front of you to stand in your way. i could never actually do that. i’m quite short. haha) sean kingston was really good. he sang some new songs and all the really popular ones. we all got glow sticks when we walked in, so when he told us all to put our hands up it was like an ocean of glow sticks waving back and forth. haha it looked really cool.

girl talk was crazy! the whole place just turned into a huge dance party. girl talk himself was dancing up and down on his dj table at one point. the bass was super intense- you know like when you can feel it in your chest? yea like that. my ears were a little sore when i left, but that;s just because i was right up front for most of the concert. haha bad choice on my part.

i really love dancing, and this concert came at the perfect time actually. i have been a little stressed trying to figure out my schedule for next semester, and the concert just allowed me to escape it all for a little while. ughh well i’ll tell you more about my scheduling problems later!

happy belated halloween!!  (i just had to say that. i love halloween. i hope you all had fun dressing up and eating lots of candy!)

I had a great weekend. on the morning of halloween i went to the boston vegetarian food festival with a few of my friends from my 2D class. if you didn’t know, i am a vegetarian, and so when i hear about the festival, i was really excited to go!

the festival was in one of the gyms at the roxbury community college. they are going to need a bigger venue next year. i was surprised how many people were there! it was packed! we could barely move. we actually lost each other a few times. there were a lot of vendors too! and tons of free food.

unfortunately, because it was so busy, it kind of took away from the experience. we left a little earlier than i think we would have if it was less crazy, but we still got to see some cool things like vegan marshmallows, veggie empanadas, and lots of yummy vegan* treats!! i got a vegan donut with sprinkles! ah! it was so good. haha and i got a guide to vegetarian restaurants in the boston area that i can’t wait to explore!

it was was really great to go out and do something else. i know there are always cool things going on around boston. i am going to keep an eye out for posters and advertisements so i can do a whole bunch of different things over the course of the year!

*vegans don’t eat any animal by products, including all dairy products.

i don’t know if i have mentioned this before, but i applied to participate in alternative spring break (asb) this year. for those of you that don’t know, alternative spring break is when you spend your spring break in march doing volunteer work rather than go on a regular vacation at home or some where more tropical…

i have always wanted to participate in alternative spring break. actually, i have always really wanted to go on a volunteer trip. i have done a lot of volunteer work, but it has been from the comfort of my hometown. i have never really done anything hands on. since last year i had a fun spring break, i knew that this year was the year to start going on asb.

i applied a few weeks ago. the application just included a short essay, a few questions about myself, and some references. normal stuff. today i had my interview.

at first i was a little confused as to why they wanted to interview asb applicants. but then i realized it actually makes a lot of sense. i am under the impression that asb is free (or almost free) so i guess some kids could use it as an excuse to get away without spending money. this is aggravating because asb is really about helping people, spending your time and giving a part of yourself to complete strangers just because you think it’s right. truth be told, i hardly believe that it’s going to be a vacation. i am sure i will have fun, but it’s going to be a really difficult week, physically and emotionally. i really hope i get accepted. i really really really want to do it. hahaha

if i do get chosen (ah! i really hope i do!), i am going to have a really hard time deciding where to go. they are offering four different trips. one to mississippi for hurricane relief with habitat for humanity. one to denver, co to work with child poverty and with habitat as well (fyi: denver has the fastest growing rate of child poverty in the country! i just found that out today. i was shocked!). an environmental aid trip to san francisco. and a lbgt (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual) aid trip to either san francisco or detroit (they haven’t figured out which yet). all of them are going to be really great trips and we’ll be able to make a great impact in each place. i wish that spring break was four weeks long so i could go on everyone!!

well wish me luck everyone. i should find out next week if i am in or not!! i’ll let you know as soon as i do!

so i don’t know if you remember that in my last post i talked about my desire for cafe con leche… (refer back to the post before this if you don’t) but i have finally satisfied that craving… well, sort of.

yesterday was monday, so that means it was coffee-with-leidy (my best friend who i only get to see once a week) day. we continued on our weekly cafe voyage and discovered a cute little place called L’Aroma Cafe on newbury st. it’s one of those places that is half-way underground, so you could easily walk right by it. however, its little european-esque patio and bright interior caught our eye (plus, we were searching for cafes, so obviously we found it easily).

the place is really adorable. and it is reasonably priced, which, on newbury st, is a very rare thing. it’s got a cool upper level by the window which would be perfect for studying and a lower level with benches and little round tables.

on to my cafe con leche connection…. if you didn’t pick up on it by the name of the cafe, it is french-inspired. and the french have this thing they call café au lait, which conveniently translates to coffee with milk. i honestly don’t know why i didn’t think of this before. my brain must have been confounded by the whole french v. spanish thing. i don’t know, but i was deciding what to order when i had this little epiphany. perfect timing!!

obviously, it wasn’t the same. milk is processed differently over there. fun fact: milk actually comes in those aseptic packages that products like soy milk come in, so you can store your dairy milk in your cabinet and it won’t go bad. interesting, right? it completely weirded me out at first. but i digress… since the milk is different here, there is no way it can possibly taste the same. however, it was pretty darn close, and paired with a croissant, i was practically in heaven. the experience definitely alleviated some of my madrid-sickness. haha good thing leidy and i go out and do this sort of thing every week!!