RPL = Rain, Patriots, and Laundry

So last week held a lot of adventure and new experiences for me, which for the most part were enjoyable.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent getting ready for my first game experience!  And, let's just say the sky fell out from Monday-Wednesday.  Therefore, everything I had to do had to be done in the rain.  Monday and Tuesday were mainly administrative (emailing coaches and officials, and making sure I had everything I would need) as well a a little setup (locker rooms for visiting teams).  Then the big day was Wednesday!  We had two soccer scrimmages and a field hockey game.  Soccer isn't my sport to cover, but I helped out with set up for that game.  The only way to describe the set-up is that everything was wet, and the rain still kept coming.  We got soaked, but we got everything set up to go.  The only thing that was a pain was dragging the portable scoreboard out because we had to use a different field due to the massive amounts of rain.  That sucker was quite heavy! Then it was time for field hockey, my sport to cover.  It was actually quite easy because we didn't do a full setup due to the rain.  I ran the game clock/scoreboard, and everything went quite smoothly if I do say so myself. Other than that the week at work was pretty uneventful, except a big surprise we got on Monday . . .

We got free Patriots tickets to the preseason game against the Rams on Thursday!!!  V.I.P. parking and V.I.P. lounge passes, and of course great seats (I don't have my pics uploaded yet, but check back b/c I will put some up).  It was awesome!  My coworker and two other interns from communications all went.  The pregame food included beef tenderloin, seafood risotto, and lamb as well as some veggies, breads and deserts.  We listened to a hall of fame member speak (a guy who played OLine back in the day for the Pats), took pictures with the mascot, and the guys took pictures with the cheerleaders.  Then we ventured to our seats, and we had great seats in the bottom bowl around the 10 yard line.  Sadly the Patriots lost, but it was still a fun game.  One cool thing was that my old roommate from Hattiesburg is married to one of the guys who plays for the Rams.  So I got to see him play, first familiar face in Boston, but it was out on the field!

Then it was time for the weekend!  My roommate Alison and I ventured out in Harvard Square on Friday night with the 2 guys who are interns in communications.  It was a lot of fun, and we got late night burritos (not from taco bell).  Then Saturday Alison and I went to dinner and to Inman Square with some of her friends from school.  Lots of fun again!  Sunday we did brunch with this same group at a really cool vegetarian place (no I have not turned vegetarian, but one of the guys in the group was).   And then it was an afternoon filled with couches and TV.

And now the new week work has begun!  Upcoming events for this week include a field hockey game and 8 total volleyball games (we have a tournament this weekend).

My new experience for the week:  I paid someone else to do my laundry!! It was amazing!  I am not a fan of washing clothes, and I have been known in the past to buy new stuff to avoid the process.  I have not had anyone else to do my laundry since I lived at home (minus the times I have brought dirty clothes home when I would visit).  Therefore, this was an awesome experience for me.  You may be thinking, wow you are quite lazy.  But consider the fact that I don't have a car, there is no washer and dryer in my house, the closest laundry-mat is like 2-3 miles away, and I usually wait about a month to wash clothes.  So a process I already do not enjoy would become even more of a pain because I would have to haul a heavy laundry bag all over town.  So, I decided to visit Flint's Cleaners  and it was a great experience.  They are located right around the block from my house, and I just dropped off on Saturday and picked up on Monday.  I could really get spoiled by this whole process!

Also another interesting fact I have learned about Northerners is that they assume all people from the south enjoy country music.  I have had at least 4 people shocked by the fact that an Alabamian native is not a fan of country music.  Just because the music comes from the south doesn't mean I have to like it!

Well that is all for now!!

Beginning to Belong

Time for an update, after a week absence from the blogging world.  I am proud to report that I no longer feel like I am just visiting Boston, I actually am beginning to feel like I belong here.  I have my routines, places I like to eat, and have figured out the TV time changes b/c of eastern time.  Boston is really starting to grow on me!

The past week was mostly work centered, with some roommate bonding time thrown in.  Throughout the week the girl I work with and I got to do walk through's of all the facility set-ups for our sports.  Field Hockey isn't going to be a very difficult set up, but Volleyball is pretty intense.  Thankfully the men's volleyball team helps with it all, because I am not tall enough to put up nets!

We also had a few boat launches from out boat house.  Basically, Harvard groups book dinner tour boats and they dock at the Harvard Boat House.  Since it is an athletic facility we are in charge of it.  Basically all we do is open the doors when they get there, and then go back when they are docking to leave.  Not too hard.

Other than that, work has just been mainly administrative this week.  Still learning a lot to get ready for the upcoming sports!  My first game is Wednesday!!

On a more social side, I have hung out with my roommates this week and have had a blast.  Tuesday we did roommate dinner, Mexican style.  Thanks to Kara, a roommate from Maine, the dinner was fabulous!  Then Friday night Alison (another roommate from Maine) and I ventured into the Back Bay area for dinner and a fun night with a few friends (Allin-one of Kara's friend we met a few weeks ago, and Allin's two friends from New York).  The area was really cool!  Saturday Alison and I spent most of the day on the couch, and then went to see Eat Pray Love in Harvard Square.  After that we met up with some of her friends from school, and I got to meet some more awesome Mainers! 

Then, I like to call Sunday "The Day of Food".  We went to the Breakfast Club for lunch and I had the most amazing meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus (which I ate every bite of).  Then Alison and I went to the grocery stores to pick up supplies to make these (these aren't our actual ones, but the online pic):

Just imagine: sugar cookies, peanut butter, melted chocolate and marshmallow fluff.  All I am can say it YUMMY!  These were like heaven to eat.  Then Phil, one of the roommates, made ravioli for dinner.  So, basically all I did on Sunday was eat and eat and eat. 

Some of you may not understand the humor in the following picture that I am using to close my blog today, but those of you on that adventurous Spring Break in the RV will get it.  Never in a million years did I think I would see this on the streets of Boston, MA:

I will update you on life again soon!

Bachelor's + 2 Master's = Bathroom Duty

Well this weekend was pretty uneventful, but still enjoyable.  My roommates all went out of town for the weekend, so I had the house all to myself.  Being the pretty independent person I am, I usually enjoy alone time every now and then.  While I did enjoy it some, it was very weird having an empty house.  Made me miss my doggie, Max, and his cold noes!

Well my weekend began early on Friday.  I got off work at 12:00 because I was coming in Sunday to work.  I went to eat with the girl who works with me, the new assistant field hockey coaches and the 2 new assistant men's soccer coaches.  I discovered the joys of the business building dinning hall, they have everything!  Then I went home, grabbed a blanket and a book, and decided to enjoy the beautiful weather.  If you know me, then you know I love books.  You also know I love the sun.  So I found a spot in the park by the river with the sun shining on me, and camped out on my blanket for an afternoon of reading.  If I had to imagine what Heaven would be like for me, this would be pretty close.

Saturday was a lazy day.  I spent the morning inside, and then explored Harvard Square some more.  I found where the new Anthropologie will be opening at the end of this month (yay!).  Then I gave my mom a tour of my house on Skype since she didn't get to adventure up here for the move.  And then I spent the night reading and catching up on some TV.

Sunday was my first day to work an event!  The Boston Breakers (a women's professional soccer team) play their games at Harvard Stadium.  They bring their own event crew, so we are basically just here in case anything goes wrong.  My day consisted of delivering a microphone, opening parking lot gates, turning on lights, replacing paper towels b/c our maintenance crew wasn't working, getting the score board up and running, taking down the flag at the end of the game, shutting the gates, and getting the microphone back.  Everything was great, except the flag part.  I am not usually afraid of heights, but this got my adrenaline pumping.  We had to climb to the very top of the stadium, walk around the top to the flag pole, and then proceed to get the flag down.  Well the wind was blowing, and the flag is 3 times my size.  I pretty much was afraid the whole time that the wind would whip me off the top of the stadium.  But we got it down, and I survived.  So not a whole lot to do, but it was still fun to begin working events.  It was also nice to start off slow at my first event.  

So, not very eventful as far as weekends go.  But I am still enjoying Boston, and the weather has been amazing.  I actually slept with my fan off last night, I know crazy!

Funny Story for the day:  This doesn't really have a lot to do with southern/northern differences but I found it amusing.  As I said earlier we had to replace paper towels in the women's restroom during the soccer game.  We usually have a maintenance crew who does all this work, but they were not working the game today.  So my boss and I had to do this ourselves.   We have a pretty friendly operations crew that is hired to work our games (gates, parking, etc).  As I was walking past a couple of them carrying my paper towels, they started laughing.  Then one said, I bet you never thought that after 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad school that you would be put on bathroom duty.  I just had to laugh to myself, because even bathroom duty is enjoyable when you are doing something you love!

Well that is all for now, I hope to have some more eventful experiences to share soon!

Working Hard for the Money!

So my job has begun!! And so far it has been great.  I am working with a girl who ran track at Michigan, went to Northeastern for grad school, and is training for the 2012 Olympics.  She is extremely nice, and very tall (which I guess compared to me doesn't take a whole lot).  Her and I share an office which is beside the gym that staff gets to use, which is awesome.  Right now the gym hours are a little restricted, but once the semester starts back I can fit in a work out after I get done with work!

Well, my first day was yesterday, and we didn't really do a whole lot.  Basically we got a tour of all the athletic facilities (which are nice but don't really compare to huge sports schools).  Then we went to lunch with both of our bosses.  Our "big boss", as I like to call him b/c he is over our other boss, has worked at Harvard for 25 years and is full of knowledge about everything.  His sister owns a restaurant in Harvard Square area so we went to lunch there.  Then we got a tour, and a lot of his knowledge, of Harvard Square.  Then it was back to the office for about an hour.  I know, sounds like such a rough day.

Today was my second day, and again it wasn't very stressful.  Basically this morning we spent some time getting familiar with the computer systems and organizing our schedules.  I will be covering field hockey (never seen a game in my life), women's volleyball, and we will both be covering football (yay, my fav sport).  So I went over some info for each of those, and organized my calendar.  I know my job sounds so thrilling already, but I promise it will pick up soon!  Then it was lunch time so I walked home (only half a mile away) and ate.  Then the afternoon was spent riding around in the new golf cart looking at facilities.  Again I know it sounds oh so stressful, and I am sure many of you are wondering how I have survived so far.  But soon the sports' seasons will begin, and my work will really kick into full gear.  The first game I will be covering is August 25th, I will get to witness my field hockey game!  They have an astro-turf field, and they actually water it before games so the ball rolls/slides/whatever easier.

So before I kinda had no idea what in the world I would be doing for this job besides working events.  But I have now found out some of my duties and I am excited to start.  Basically, I do a lot of the logistics work for the games (scheduling student workers, reserving fields, setting up fields, payroll for workers, managing officials, and a lot of other background work that goes into the games).  Some of you may not think this sounds interesting or appealing, but I love it b/c I know sporting events can't function without it.

Story for the day: So on the first day we met whole lot of people.  The girl I work with is from Chicago, so everyone would ask where we were from and just kinda nod when she told them.  Well, when I said Alabama I got a few pauses, and wow you are really from the south responses.  Although one lady (head women's basketball coach) told me m accent was very disappointing because it wasn't southern enough, haha!  Guess I will have to bust out a few more y'alls and fixin' too's.

Until later. . .

On my own

Today was my first day in Boston all by myself.  I do miss my dad and brother, but it was a nice slow paced day.  As I was walking the streets of Harvard Square today, I realized this is the first time I have truly ventured out on my own.  My move to Hattiesburg was semi by myself; however, I knew that 2 of my roomies were Auburn fans, so it was just an extension of my Auburn family.  So far, I am enjoying the new life up here, and I hope to keep experiencing new things.

As I said, today was a slow paced day.  I slept in until 10:00 and then took my time getting ready.  I ventured into Harvard Square to do some exploring.  There are soooooooo many neat little stores in the area.  I would describe it as a downtown Auburn on steroids (for those of you familiar with Auburn).  It's a good thing I will be busy with work most of the time, because shopping is fabulous here!  I went in a used record store, a used book store, a cool shoe store(which had Uggs for 20% off but I resisted), Urban Outfitters(my all time fav), and a few other stores along the way.  I ended up getting a new shirt for work on Monday and a few souvenirs to send to a few people.  The weather was awesome, not too hot and a nice breeze with very little humidity.  Then I headed back home, and had a lazy afternoon/evening.  The breeze coming in through the windows was so nice that I curled up on the couch with a book.  Ahhh, it is been such a relaxing day after a few weeks of craziness!

As promised, I charged my camera and took a few pics of the house.  Hope you enjoy them:

Welcome to 1 Rena Street!  My room is the top widow.

Living room

Dining room

Kitchen

This is the bathroom that is shared by all!

This is a view of the steep stairs from the top that lead to my room

My room

Other side of my room

My savior, the window fan

If you recall the story about my dad and the neighbor, this is the door he walked in!

Well that is about it for my day today.  I am going to continue enjoying the weather and my book!  Story for the day:  I think I am beginning to appear to be a native Bostonian, because I was asked 3, yes 3, times for directions today!  And. . . . I was actually able to tell the people where to go!!  Once they heard me talk I am sure they realized I was not from here, but I felt special anyway just being asked!

Until next time!

Welcome to Hahvahd!!

Well, I have had eventful days the last two days, and it is time to share these adventures!  I will start with a little something I learned first.  I now have an understanding of the Boston accent.  Basically take the R out of words and replace them with AH, that is why I spell Harvard like Hahvahd.

Now, yesterday: The day began with a visit to my new job.  I met with my boss (who seems extremely nice!) and got to see my office and the facilities.  I think the job is gong to be pretty cool, but I will be extremely busy.  But I am excited to dive right in and get to it!  For those of you who don't know what I will be doing, my job is with Harvard's Athletic Department.  I will work as a Special Events Intern, which is basically event management for any sporting events that happen on campus.  I am sure I will have tons of fun stories about the new sports I get to experience, such as crew and fencing.

After this, my dad, brother and I headed into Harvard Square to get a tour of campus.  There are students who have started a tour organization, and they run solely off tips.  They did an amazing job on the tour, and I learned a lot about the history of Harvard.  We got to see dorms where Matt Damon and also a lot of presidents lived while at Harvard.  Here are some of the pics I took (I still haven't charged my camera so these are phone pics):

Gate onto campus.  This isn't the main gate but a side gate.  Students attending Harvard can only go in the main gate 2 times while at Harvard, when they start as freshmen and when they graduate.  Since our tour guides were students, we couldn't walk through the main gate.

This is a statue that is suppose to be John Harvard; however, when one of the libraries on campus burned down that contained all of his old belongings all of his pictures were burned.  When this statue was built they had no picture to model the statue after, so there are a few different people who they think this statue is shaped like.  No one knows for sure though.  People rub his toe for luck; however the students think it is funny to pee on the statue and watch the tourists then rub it later.  My hands didn't go anywhere near the toe!

For those of you Auburn Graduates/students who are reading this, you should all know that Auburn has the second largest on campus library.  This is the only one that is bigger!  This library was built to honor a student who went to Harvard that died on the Titanic.  The student went on a rare book finding journey through Europe, and took the Titanic back to America.  He had a 1st class ticket and was seated on a lifeboat safe and sound.  He then realized that he had left the books he found in his cabin, so he jumped off the lifeboat and ran back for his books.  Sadly, he and his books went down with the ship.  His family gave an endowment for this library to be built, with 3 stipulations: 1. No bricks or mortar can ever be removed from this library(meaning they can't knock it down and build another building for someone else) 2. They have to have a room that only two people can enter, a curator to place a fresh flower in the room every day and the ghost of the student who it is built for. 3. Harvard had to require all students to take a swim test as an admission requirement, because the parents felt that if their son knew how to swim he would have been able to swim back to America.  This library may not look large from outside, but it actually extends 6 stories below ground, and has 57 miles of bookshelves inside!

This is a dorm where a very famous person lived, Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber!

After our lovely tour of campus, we grabbed some lunch and did some grocery shopping.  Since I won't have a car here, I will have to walk to the grocery store.  So I went ahead and stocked up on some stuff while I still have my dad here to drive.  Then we jumped on the T and headed towards Fenway.  The game was a lot of fun, and I got to enjoy some delicious ballpark food.  Sadly, the Red Sox lost 9-1, but we still enjoyed the experience.  A few pics from the game:

During the game

My yummy Italian Sausage Dog and fries!

After the game I came back home and hung out with the new roomies for a little while.  I had met them all, but this time we actually had time to sit and talk.  They seem like a great group of people, and they are all northerners!  Two are from Maine, one is from Boston, and the other is from Up-state New York.  I think we are all going to have a blast living together. Then I hit the sack to get ready for today!

Today was a little bit more laid back, and I slept in a little bit later which was nice.  We went to the Harvard University Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum in the morning.  Here are a few pics from that:

My worst nightmare, a display case full of moths!  Who would do this for a living??

Hedwig from Harry Potter decided to take up residence in the museum!

Big Moose

Auburn Tiger

I would not want to have a run-in with this sucker!

Native American art work

And some more art.

Well, after the museums, we were going to try and walk around downtown some; however, the sky decided to fall out.  Instead we hung out at the Days Inn, and then ate at the Joyful Garden (a Chinese restaurant in the hotel).  Then we went to Best Buy and I loaded up on some essentials, a webcam for Skype so people don't forget what I look like and a GPS for walking.  That pretty much sums up my last two days!  I promise to charge my camera and get some good pics of my house to post!

My fun northern experience for the day:  I am enjoying living up here so far, but things are a little different up here.  I grew up in a very hot and humid climate, and I learned to rely on air conditioning.  However, in Boston people don't see the need for it.  Therefore my room has no AC, so I am now a proud owner of a large fan that sits in front of my open window.  I thought the weather would be extremely cool, but it was around 90 yesterday with very high humidity.  Another interesting thing about being in a large city is the lack of laundry rooms inside houses.  I learned that I will have to take my clothes elsewhere to have them washed.  But this gives me a reason to pay someone else to do something I hate!!!

Well until later y'all!!!

Gotta Roll With the Punches

Soooo, life in Boston has begun.  Getting here was quite a process though.  I have learned a lot about flexibility and dealing with stress through my moving process.  My original plan for moving was for me to drive my car and my dad to drive his car, both loaded down with my stuff.  However, on Thursday of last week that plan was crushed by a large pick-up truck.  My poor little car, The Emerald Prison, was hit on the back side while parked outside of my house.  See picture below:

Due to the fact that the trunk would no longer open, and that I was leaving in 2 days, traveling plans had to be changed.  So my dad ended up driving alone with a STUFFED car on Sunday, and my brother and I got to fly on Monday.  Limiting stuff is not something I am very good at, but I had to limit what I was bringing from 2 car loads to 1 car load.  Oh the stress, but I was able to accomplish it!  And luckily we flew Southwest where 2 bags fly free!

After the stress of changing plans at the last minute, I was finally on my way to my new home.  Flying was actually a blessing in disguise, because once I reached Boston I soon realized that I never want to drive in this city.  Confusing, hectic and crazy don't even begin to describe the roads and drivers up here.  I lived in Atlanta for a year and thought driving was bad there, but it doesn't even compare!  So I will happily be walking and using the T everywhere I go up here.

Once I arrived, I came to check out the new home (which I will take pics of later and put on here but my camera battery is currently dead).  It is a really cool house, old but nice.  My room is on the top floor (3 floors basically) and is a perfect size.  I almost had a heart attack because of the itty bitty closet, but I have actually managed to fit more in it that I expected.  My only issue with the house is the number of bathrooms, 1 bathroom for 5 people.  I am not a fan of sharing bathrooms, but we shall see how that goes.

My adventures so far around Boston have included walking around Harvard Square, a tour of Fenway Park, and a walk along the Freedom Trail.  Harvard square is really cool and only about a mile down the road.  It has tons of little shops and restaurants.  Fenway was fun.  My brother is a big Red Sox fan, so he really enjoyed it.  We will be going to a game tomorrow night.  Freedom Trial is a path that takes you all around downtown Boston and tells you about the historical sites.  It's really cool because all of this history is in the middle of new buildings.  I am very excited to go back and explore downtown Boston some more.  Also, more pics of downtown once I charge my camera battery.  I did get a few of Fenway on my phone so I will put those at the bottom.

So far I am enjoying Boston.  I haven't had any run-ins with rude northerners yet; however, my dad has.  I will end with this entertaining story.  My dad arrived in Boston before me and my brother did, so he went to my house first to unload his car so he could pick us up from the airport.  Well my house is split into two houses, and my address is #2.  My dad didn't know this little bit of information.  My roommates left the door unlocked for me to move in that day, so my dad just decided to try both doors.  Well he picked the wrong door and he walked into our neighbors house, which is a man who lives there with his wife, son and grandson.  The man proceeded to yell at my father, even after my dad tried explaining.  He continued to yell "Get out of my house" at my dad until my dad closed his door and left.  I thought this was a great way for my dad to be introduced to my new home!

Anyway, until next time!  I hope to have some new experiences to share soon!  See the pics of Fenway below: