I finally got the Internet to work on my computer! yay! I really don't know what was wrong before but whatever, it's fixed. I've been in New York for almost a week now. I think I've pretty much settled in now. Have been going to work for four days already. Can't believe I'm almost done with a week of work.
Anyway, I want to go to sleep soon so this will be a short post. I've been walking around Chinatown a lot lately since my workplace is sufficiently close that I can walk there after work. I really like this Chinatown. It's huge and you can find everything you want. Non-dairy ice cream and spelt pasta included! I love the sidewalk fruit stands. Fresh young coconuts! Anyway, I got a 30-day subway pass so I guess I should really go and explore more places. But the weather's been really sad lately, rainy and cold.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Six Flags
On Monday, we participated in another Senior Week event and went to Six Flags New England. Even though there are many trips to this Six Flags during orientation, I've never gone. After a two hour drive, we got there along with other school buses of high school kids. Most people were there as a part of their end of high school class trip. They all look so young...
As soon as we got there, Yalu and I hung out with some friends and hit the rides. We made Yalu go on this roller coaster before she had time to think it over. haha. We spent the whole morning riding rides, took a break for lunch, and headed over to the water park only to find it closed. So sad. Apparently, it's not "summer" according to park seasons. So Yalu and I went to play at the Wii station where I "won" a Janga puzzle and a Wii game. We failed to win a big stuffed animal at a ring toss game, went on some not-as-thrilling rides, and played on the bumper cars.
We had a lot of fun. But it was extremely tiring, especially since we went kayaking the day before. Oh yeah, check this out:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090602/larger-portions-among-restaurants-lures
It's about how many calories some restaurant food have. It's amazing. And the more shocking part is that we went to Chili's on Sunday and I thought about getting this Big Mouth Burger. Didn't end up getting it but I'm sure that what we ate wasn't all that great either.
Will post pictures soon!
As soon as we got there, Yalu and I hung out with some friends and hit the rides. We made Yalu go on this roller coaster before she had time to think it over. haha. We spent the whole morning riding rides, took a break for lunch, and headed over to the water park only to find it closed. So sad. Apparently, it's not "summer" according to park seasons. So Yalu and I went to play at the Wii station where I "won" a Janga puzzle and a Wii game. We failed to win a big stuffed animal at a ring toss game, went on some not-as-thrilling rides, and played on the bumper cars.
We had a lot of fun. But it was extremely tiring, especially since we went kayaking the day before. Oh yeah, check this out:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090602/larger-portions-among-restaurants-lures
It's about how many calories some restaurant food have. It's amazing. And the more shocking part is that we went to Chili's on Sunday and I thought about getting this Big Mouth Burger. Didn't end up getting it but I'm sure that what we ate wasn't all that great either.
Will post pictures soon!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Senior Week - The Beginning
Wow, I've done a lot since my finals ended. After apartment hunting with Yalu and friends, Yalu and I have been having all sorts of adventures.
5/25 Monday. We went to the Cambridgeside Galleria and went shopping for clothes. We walked quite a bit again even though we had just came back from walking 20 miles over the weekend. Managed to get a couple of shirts.
5/26 Tuesday. I volunteered for Stuff Fest in the morning and early afternoon. Stuff Fest is an organized way for students to get rid of stuff at the end of the year. Basically, all the dorms are supposed to provide tables or bins for residents to drop off their stuff. Other students can take and exchange all they want. On Tuesday, we sorted the stuff out to give to different charities. This took quite a bit of work. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff that McCormick had. I think we must have had like 20 big trash bags of stuff, mostly clothes. After sorting through an enormous amount of clothes, I helped with Science Club for Girls' 15th anniversary event.
5/27 Wednesday. We didn't do too much this day. It was raining and really cold the whole day. We picked up our cap and gown!
5/28 Thursday. Busy, busy. In the morning, Yalu and I went to the MIT Museum and walked around. Thought we'd use our student privileges before they expire. After lunch, we met up with Mike and went to the Charlestown Navy Yard. We took the scenic route getting there. But we were able to go on the ship and got a tour of it, which was pretty exciting. Then we walked over to Bunker Hill and climbed the monument, something that I've been meaning to do. It was a fun day.
5/29 Friday. The night before, I had noticed my phone was doing something weird and was not charging properly. So I walked all the way to Central only to find that the AT&T store was closed and a sign saying that they moved to the Galleria. So I took the subway over to Kendall where I saw Yalu going to her lunch with a professor. We had been on the same train coincidentally. I went to the Galleria and was given the number to call the phone warranty. So that was really disappointing. I called later that night and they're sending a new battery over. I think my phone is working somewhat normally now but not sure. Anyway, after that, Yalu and I went to the Harvard Peabody Museum. Yalu has a Harvard ID which allowed her and a friend into the museum for free. So that worked out really well. The Peabody museum is connected to the Natural History Museum so we explored that too.
5/30 Saturday. We woke up to the sound of people doing stuff outside our door. I thought it must be the floor waxing crew waxing our hallway. So I looked outside through the eye hole and found that we were pretty much trapped inside our room. So we chilled in our room for the whole morning. Friday night was the kickoff for Senior Week and the event for the weekend was discounts to Newbury street stores. In the afternoon, we walked around Newbury St to check out these discounts. We ended up buying stuff in a store that was not on the list. And then, we walked to the Earth Festival at the Hatch Shell and discovered the Charles River Esplanade. I can't believe we didn't know this part of the river existed all these years. The esplanade is such a nice area to walk, picnic, and just chill. You can sit right on the water. It's really nice. That night, we went to a beach bonfire, another senior week event. There weren't that many people. The organizers rented out two big buses but the second bus was really empty. What a waste. We drove an hour and a half to a beach on the Cape and sat around fires eating hot dogs franks and smores. We all ate wayy too much. I think I ate 3 franks, 3 smores, and many marshmellows. It was too cold to do anything but sit around the fire.
5/31 Sunday. We had planned to on a seal watching kayaking trip. We got there and went halfway out when the weather suddenly turned really bad. The waves were extremely choppy and the wind was blowing really hard. Yalu and I were on a tandem together and we had a lot of trouble. First, there weren't enough kayaks so they had to bring another one for us. This meant we were the last to launch. We had some trouble with the rudder and ended up doing a lot of zigzagging. So we were lagging behind the rest of the group the whole time. We got beached twice, towed twice, and got super soaked by the waves. We had even planned a beach trip afterwards but we obviously decided against this. We ended up coming back to McCormick, chilled, and played the Wii for an hour or so. Then we participated in another Senior Week event, movie on the lawn. We watched Transformers under a big tent on Kresge. The grass was wet. It was super cold and windy out. But they provided popcorn, soda, and a really big screen.
5/25 Monday. We went to the Cambridgeside Galleria and went shopping for clothes. We walked quite a bit again even though we had just came back from walking 20 miles over the weekend. Managed to get a couple of shirts.
5/26 Tuesday. I volunteered for Stuff Fest in the morning and early afternoon. Stuff Fest is an organized way for students to get rid of stuff at the end of the year. Basically, all the dorms are supposed to provide tables or bins for residents to drop off their stuff. Other students can take and exchange all they want. On Tuesday, we sorted the stuff out to give to different charities. This took quite a bit of work. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff that McCormick had. I think we must have had like 20 big trash bags of stuff, mostly clothes. After sorting through an enormous amount of clothes, I helped with Science Club for Girls' 15th anniversary event.
5/27 Wednesday. We didn't do too much this day. It was raining and really cold the whole day. We picked up our cap and gown!
5/28 Thursday. Busy, busy. In the morning, Yalu and I went to the MIT Museum and walked around. Thought we'd use our student privileges before they expire. After lunch, we met up with Mike and went to the Charlestown Navy Yard. We took the scenic route getting there. But we were able to go on the ship and got a tour of it, which was pretty exciting. Then we walked over to Bunker Hill and climbed the monument, something that I've been meaning to do. It was a fun day.
5/29 Friday. The night before, I had noticed my phone was doing something weird and was not charging properly. So I walked all the way to Central only to find that the AT&T store was closed and a sign saying that they moved to the Galleria. So I took the subway over to Kendall where I saw Yalu going to her lunch with a professor. We had been on the same train coincidentally. I went to the Galleria and was given the number to call the phone warranty. So that was really disappointing. I called later that night and they're sending a new battery over. I think my phone is working somewhat normally now but not sure. Anyway, after that, Yalu and I went to the Harvard Peabody Museum. Yalu has a Harvard ID which allowed her and a friend into the museum for free. So that worked out really well. The Peabody museum is connected to the Natural History Museum so we explored that too.
5/30 Saturday. We woke up to the sound of people doing stuff outside our door. I thought it must be the floor waxing crew waxing our hallway. So I looked outside through the eye hole and found that we were pretty much trapped inside our room. So we chilled in our room for the whole morning. Friday night was the kickoff for Senior Week and the event for the weekend was discounts to Newbury street stores. In the afternoon, we walked around Newbury St to check out these discounts. We ended up buying stuff in a store that was not on the list. And then, we walked to the Earth Festival at the Hatch Shell and discovered the Charles River Esplanade. I can't believe we didn't know this part of the river existed all these years. The esplanade is such a nice area to walk, picnic, and just chill. You can sit right on the water. It's really nice. That night, we went to a beach bonfire, another senior week event. There weren't that many people. The organizers rented out two big buses but the second bus was really empty. What a waste. We drove an hour and a half to a beach on the Cape and sat around fires eating hot dogs franks and smores. We all ate wayy too much. I think I ate 3 franks, 3 smores, and many marshmellows. It was too cold to do anything but sit around the fire.
5/31 Sunday. We had planned to on a seal watching kayaking trip. We got there and went halfway out when the weather suddenly turned really bad. The waves were extremely choppy and the wind was blowing really hard. Yalu and I were on a tandem together and we had a lot of trouble. First, there weren't enough kayaks so they had to bring another one for us. This meant we were the last to launch. We had some trouble with the rudder and ended up doing a lot of zigzagging. So we were lagging behind the rest of the group the whole time. We got beached twice, towed twice, and got super soaked by the waves. We had even planned a beach trip afterwards but we obviously decided against this. We ended up coming back to McCormick, chilled, and played the Wii for an hour or so. Then we participated in another Senior Week event, movie on the lawn. We watched Transformers under a big tent on Kresge. The grass was wet. It was super cold and windy out. But they provided popcorn, soda, and a really big screen.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Adventure in New York: Looking for Apartment
I've been helping Yalu, Celia, and Helen find a place in NYC. We went down to NYC by Chinatown bus Friday early afternoon and we literally hit the road running. We had appointments for all of Saturday but one of the brokers called and said he wanted to meet us Friday night. So we got to New York and went around to a few places. It was pretty tiring to run around that late.
This first broker we saw was not that great. They're a big real estate company that doesn't really care about taking our time to do search and bringing us to places that's out of our price range. I had found three places on their website but we didn't bring a copy of the spreadsheet that had all our research on it. So they took their time looking for places for us. They weren't very happy that we had other brokers in mind. I mean, seriously, you can't possibly go through only one broker and try to find cheap places. I think going through only one person is for people who are more flexible in their price range.
Saturday was one big adventure. Saturday morning, Celia and I met up with the first of our 3 appointments. This guy was unfriendly and not helpful. The place he took us to actually didn't have what we were looking for. And the place is like a hotel. The three bedrooms were already rented out earlier that week. This broker didn't check. We didn't like the broker or the manager there. So, we chilled for a while and met up with another broker who was much better. He showed us places in our price range and was really helpful.
Anyway, long story short, Saturday was a whole day of running around and then chilling at MacDonald's to chat about things. I'm not going to write anymore about the current situation since it's still all up in the air. Here's the important part though: I learned what I need to bring if I were to look for an apartment:
- A copy of any research done
- A camera and its charger
- A cellphone and its charger
- A checkbook
- ATM card (to withdraw deposit money with)
- Proof of employment (offer letter or pay stub)
- Notebook and pen
All very important stuff for apartment hunting, some of which we didn't have with us. Anyway, I hope it all works out.
This first broker we saw was not that great. They're a big real estate company that doesn't really care about taking our time to do search and bringing us to places that's out of our price range. I had found three places on their website but we didn't bring a copy of the spreadsheet that had all our research on it. So they took their time looking for places for us. They weren't very happy that we had other brokers in mind. I mean, seriously, you can't possibly go through only one broker and try to find cheap places. I think going through only one person is for people who are more flexible in their price range.
Saturday was one big adventure. Saturday morning, Celia and I met up with the first of our 3 appointments. This guy was unfriendly and not helpful. The place he took us to actually didn't have what we were looking for. And the place is like a hotel. The three bedrooms were already rented out earlier that week. This broker didn't check. We didn't like the broker or the manager there. So, we chilled for a while and met up with another broker who was much better. He showed us places in our price range and was really helpful.
Anyway, long story short, Saturday was a whole day of running around and then chilling at MacDonald's to chat about things. I'm not going to write anymore about the current situation since it's still all up in the air. Here's the important part though: I learned what I need to bring if I were to look for an apartment:
- A copy of any research done
- A camera and its charger
- A cellphone and its charger
- A checkbook
- ATM card (to withdraw deposit money with)
- Proof of employment (offer letter or pay stub)
- Notebook and pen
All very important stuff for apartment hunting, some of which we didn't have with us. Anyway, I hope it all works out.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Done with MIT
Yesterday, after finishing my last final at MIT, I spent the whole evening reading Inuyasha and finished the series. It's unreal to be done. I can't believe it's over. It seems like I still haven't gotten over the fact that I'm here at MIT. I remember my first semester I would always look at 77 and Killian with awe and disbelief that I'm here. In two weeks, I'm going to say goodbye to them. I know I can always come back but it won't be the same. I won't be a student here anymore.
Anyhow, between now and graduation, I need to do quite a few things:
Ship stuff home
Pack for New York
Pack some more
Do fun things with friends
I'm helping Yalu and Celia look for places to stay in NYC. I mean, I'll be staying there too so I guess I have some sort of stake. I helped call a bunch of places today. I guess since MIT is so generous with 4 year housing, I've never had to look for apartments and deal with rent before. This will be educational. hahaha. So... we're all going down to New York tomorrow (Friday) and spending 2 nights there. This way, we can spend the entire Saturday going around and looking at apartments. It will be exhausting. I hope it won't be too hot. It got hot over here all of a sudden. huh, actually, the forecast say "chance of storm," which is probably worse...
Yalu, Mike, and I went to watch the new Star Trek movie today. It was pretty good. It wasn't full of inside jokes (although there are moments that fans can appreciate) and was a pretty good movie overall. Very action packed and still had a good complex plot. Even Yalu liked it. Shocked!
Anyway, I think this weekend will be adventurous again. Yalu and Lucy in NYC, the Start of the Summer Adventure.
Anyhow, between now and graduation, I need to do quite a few things:
Ship stuff home
Pack for New York
Pack some more
Do fun things with friends
I'm helping Yalu and Celia look for places to stay in NYC. I mean, I'll be staying there too so I guess I have some sort of stake. I helped call a bunch of places today. I guess since MIT is so generous with 4 year housing, I've never had to look for apartments and deal with rent before. This will be educational. hahaha. So... we're all going down to New York tomorrow (Friday) and spending 2 nights there. This way, we can spend the entire Saturday going around and looking at apartments. It will be exhausting. I hope it won't be too hot. It got hot over here all of a sudden. huh, actually, the forecast say "chance of storm," which is probably worse...
Yalu, Mike, and I went to watch the new Star Trek movie today. It was pretty good. It wasn't full of inside jokes (although there are moments that fans can appreciate) and was a pretty good movie overall. Very action packed and still had a good complex plot. Even Yalu liked it. Shocked!
Anyway, I think this weekend will be adventurous again. Yalu and Lucy in NYC, the Start of the Summer Adventure.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Norwegian Independence Day
On May 17th, Yalu and I were busy studying for our finals when Yalu heard drums. We went over to our window and saw a procession of ~30 people walking along the bridge. The first person was waving a huge flag. I thought the flag looked Scandinavian. Neither of us knew what was going on. I looked up the flag online and found that it was the Norwegian flag. I had a hunch that it must be some important holiday so I looked up Norway on the Wikipedia and indeed, it turned out to be the Norwegian independence day. Anyway, here are some pictures.
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