Adventure Time!

Orientation is done, and class doesn't start until the 6th. That means I've had the past few days to wander around/get myself in trouble in Boston! Adventures outlined below:

September 2nd: The Internet Escapades
So, apparently when one of the previous roommates moved out of our apartment, she took the modem with her. A modem, I am told, is what makes internet happen. We still had Comcast service, we just didn't have the right box, so it was up to one of us to go to the Comcast store and pick it up. I had the privilege of being the select roommate for this task.
Unfortunately, the Comcast store is two neighborhoods over and doesn't follow any logical public transportation route, which means the best way to get there was to walk. For 40 minutes. Through two neighborhoods I have never even driven through. Perhaps this is a good time to mention that I don't have internet or any other convenient/helpful directional tools on my phone. But...I found it! It's in Allston, which could best be described as a student ghetto (think Greenwood post-block party at its WORST). Gross gross gross. But it made me appreciate how pretty Brookline is and how lucky I am to be living where I am.
I managed to get the right box thingy and wires from the nice Comcast man and lugged the comically large, bright red bag 40 minutes back home, where I could not figure out how to get anything to make sense to me. Luckily, Miriam (roommate) and her brother were around and we tackled the internet and cable set-up (read: Miriam's brother plugged stuff in and we watched) and lo and behold! I am writing this entry from my own room.

September 3rd: Fanheuil Hall = Smorgasbord
Yesterday was my first real day to go into the city and find cool stuff outside of Emerson's campus. My roommate Lizzie (who is super friendly and funny and sounds like Bria Gray) decided to take me to Fanheuil Hall and introduce me to the place that will make sure I don't get skinny anytime soon. It. Was. Amazing. Plus the Michigan game was on one of the TVs. And I was wearing my Michigan shirt and got lots of "Go Blues" so it made me feel at home. :)
We ate and watched some crazy street performers and met up with her friend Chris who's visiting from Ireland. So Lizzie was our tour guide and we got to walk down to the wharf by the Aquarium to sit by the water and watch the boats. Which means I know where the Aquarium is now! Which means I can go see it! YAY.
Then we walked through the North End, which is Boston's Little Italy. Oh my God, it was...everything I ever thought it would be and MORE. Just so Italian and all full of historic nonsense and fun and Paul Revere's statue and Old North Church and ahhh it was great. I can't wait to be hungry and walk through again for pizza and pastries. We walked down Washington Street which is where the Paramount Center is and I was excited to kind of see how the city connects itself. It was nice to find somewhere I was familiar with. We wound up in the Boston Public Gardens which were beautiful. I found the swan boats my aunt used to take me on! All-in-all, a great day of adventuring.

September 4th: Newbury Street and the Blisters
OK, Newbury Street is infamous for its high-end stores and pretty people. Which means if I was going to go shopping on Newbury Street, I was going to look GOOD. So I decided to wear my brand new bright red loafer flats with an appropriately yuppie outfit and I did, indeed, look GOOD. Newbury Street itself is cool and very posh and very dangerous for my wallet. As much as I was enjoying looking around in all the stores and people-watching, I was mostly wishing I had worn my tennis shoes. I have never had so many blisters in my life. But I brought Band-Aids for just such a situation! And I was a dork and stopped to bandage my heels on a bench in front of some super expensive boutique. But they didn't really hold up and I wound up limping to the T station at the end of the day. But hopefully my cute shoes are worn-in now? At least they'd better be...

SO. One more day of aimless wandering before class starts on the 6th! Which will be a new adventure altogether...

Orientated

I feel like such an official Emersonian (and Bostonian) after getting my student ID and my Charlie Card yesterday. A Charlie Card is my "T" pass (they call the subway the T here...I get made fun of for calling it the subway or the metro but I'm learning). I take the Green Line straight into the city and as much as I LOATHED Michigan's M-Bus system, I am rather fond of the T and the commuting crowd from my neighborhood. Having not grown up in a place with a subway system, I'm still kind of charmed by the idea of commuting via subway (shoot, the T! the T!) every morning. I will likely grow less appreciative as I get used to it, but for now it's a novelty and I'm the MBTA's biggest fan.

I spent most of yesterday taking care of various administrative business around Emerson and walking around campus trying to pre-orient myself before orientation, which I'll get to in a second. I'm thrilled the weather post-Irene has been so cooperative so that I can walk around and find fun new places in Boston without fighting the inevitable rain/snow/sleet/ice that I certainly will have to combat in due time.

So today was orientation for me and my fellow graduate students. We all gathered in the Paramount Center (they called it the Big House! What?!) which is the theater I'll be working in for most of my career here, and had our ears talked off by various school officials about...just about everything. That was the boring part, and afterward we had our break-out sessions for our academic programs, which was more enjoyable by FAR. Mostly because it meant I was sitting in a black box theater with free food and a bunch of other theatre-y people. Always a good time. We played ice-breaker games (secretly I LOVE THEM but shhh I'm trying this new thing where I'm cool and not a nerd) and got to know the faculty a little bit. There are 36 people in my incoming class, and we have a wide range of age and experience and expertise in this group. I'm really looking forward to working with everyone, which is good because I'm pretty sure it's IMPOSSIBLE to avoid anyone in a program this small.

Things I Learned About Emerson at Orientation:

• HIPSTERS ABOUND. And yet...
• Everyone is weirdly fashionable. It's like if the RC actually cared what it looked like.
• Undergrads are suddenly annoying. It feels so wrong and hypocritical. Who am I? I don't even know anymore.
• Professors = Peers. I feel like this should seem natural after the RC, but it's clear that our professors believe that they can learn as much from us as we can learn from them. They aren't authority figures anymore; they're intellectual and academic resources and counterparts. This will be the thing I appreciate the most about being a grad student, I think.
• I am going to like it here. And I am going to be so so so grateful that I get to do what I love every day. :)

Move-In Day!

I'M FINALLY HERE. After 17 hours of driving, including a 2.5 hour wait at the border to re-enter the U.S. and two absurd detours off the flooded New York Thruway, I am finally in Boston. We crashed at my grandparents' house in Beverly for the night and started the move-in process this morning.

A few things about my apartment: it's in the cutest and most convenient little neighborhood with lots of pretty buildings around it and plenty of shopping/eating/super-close subway stops, the building itself is a beautiful, classic brownstone (picture any scene from a movie set in Boston or New York), and I have 4 lovely roommates, but my bedroom is...shall we say, "cozy" and comes with the challenge of being surrounded on all sides by hot water pipes. All in all, lots of "pros" and one rather irksome "con."

We spent most of the day dragging things out of the mini-van we rented and throwing them haphazardly into my room; a process I find incredibly stressful. My dad constructed my bed and decided the best way to handle the hot water pipes would be to wrap them in towels and duct tape. I have to admit I was skeptical about this tactic, but it totally works! We took a break for lunch at Nick's Roast Beef (look, I don't even LIKE roast beef, but this place is freaking delicious) then my parents took me grocery shopping (the nicest), dropped me off and waved me good-bye.

My room is still a disaster area at this point. There are bags and suitcases and boxes sprawled across every surface. And there are duct-taped towels wrapped around the pipes all around my room. And the walls look blank and sad. And this place doesn't feel like home.

So I just started unpacking. I took each suitcase one-by-one and started sorting everything I own to new places. I unrolled my rug. I put my movies and books on the shelf under my bedside table (which I stole from the side of the street this afternoon shhh). I put my jewelry box on top of my dresser, I hung up my coats and dresses in the closet, I laid out my shoes under them, I put posters on the wall, I plugged in my lamp, and...

Oh my God. It's...it's beautiful. It's a room! It's HOME. I am so happy and so comfy and I can't wait to live here all year. Pictures soon. And  tomorrow...EXPLORING.

IRENE, GET OUT OF MY WAY

Today was the day. The packing was packed, the account was accounted for, the checklist was checked. I was totally prepared to shove all of my belongings into a mini-van and make the drive across Michigan, Canada, New York and Massachusetts to my new home. I had said my last good-byes to Ann Arbor (and the boyfriend) and was gearing up for the road trip and the culminating move-in day. But Irene had other ideas.

Yes, Hurricane Irene and I are on the same schedule. We both want to get to Boston at the same time. And since she is an act of nature and I am but one very small (albeit very agitated) grad student, I have decided to let her go first. Actually...the car rental company decided for me by kindly canceling our reservations when they discovered our destination. So hopefully, my journey can begin on Monday and the city will still be in one piece when I get there. I'm particularly hopeful that the 'garden level' (read: basement) apartment I signed for remains an apartment and not a pool by way of the ground-level windows. I don't think I packed a flotation device.

Although this freak weather event is delaying my trip, its linear effect is that I am more voraciously, fiercely, twitchily excited for my move than I was even yesterday.

Things I Can't Wait For: A List

• Orientation. Having worked with UMetc at Michigan's orientation program for the past two summers, I will be particularly attuned to (and critical of) Emerson's orientation procedures. (I think I mentioned before that I am a nerd.)
• Picking up my T pass. Seriously, what is a more quintessential city-living accoutrement? I'm going to commute. On the subway. Everyday.
• Boston Public Library Card. Free museum passes! And trips to the aquarium! (Nerd. Nerd nerd nerd.)
• Getting to know my roommates. I have 4 of them, and they all seem like super-cool, friendly, down-to-earth, interesting girls.
• Classes. NERRRRRRRRRRD.

First Things First: My Blogging Manifesto

All right. I'm new to this whole "blogging" thing, and I feel that first and foremost I should outline my reasons for acting on this silly whim of mine before delving into the gritty, real-life content of this...thing. So, without further ado:

Why I'm Doing This Blog: A List of Justifications for Procrastination

• Perspective. I like having proof of my various thought processes during big transitions like the one I'm about to make.
• Connection. Ha! No longer can anyone badger me about losing touch or leaving them out-of-the-loop. I can now disdainfully respond, "If you really cared, you'd read my blog." (Note to self: Oh God, don't become one of those people...)
• Documentation. I really am at one of those "crossroads" points in my life. I'm starting graduate school, I'm moving to a big new city, and I will be somewhere I know (almost) nobody. Writing is my outlet for everything, and I guess I should be better about sharing it.
• I'm a nerd. This one is self-explanatory. 

So follow at will, read at your leisure, and I'll try to be inspiring and humorous and literate all the while.