The Good. The Random. The Fun. v. 41

The Good:

I've been writing postcards to voters in Wisconsin encouraging them to well...vote!!

The Random:

We just wrapped up the holiday of Sukkot, where we build temporary "huts" called sukkot. I got a laugh out of this one in the back of a pickup truck!

The Fun:

American U hosted Dr. Fauci on Zoom this week as part of family/alumni week. It was so fun to get to hear him speak for an hour!! The take aways - wear a mask, wash your hands, and distance!

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Once an Eagle

When I was in DC, I of course had to make a stop at AU. It'd been 5 years since I was on campus and I was long overdue for a trip to my alma mater.

The second I stepped through the Mass Ave gate I was going down memory lane and a bit giddy while doing it. Campus was super quiet since it was a Sunday in the summer, but there were various summer leadership things happening for teens. 

 AU isn't a very big campus (although what was once a huge parking lot is nearly a completed dorm and building complex). I just walked my favorite pathways and went down memory lane. 

Some buildings are super different, amazing what's changed in 5 years. The McKinley Building was the biggest change (aside from the whole new dorm next to my former residence). They added this modern expansion on the back. It was the discussion at the wedding "do you like it" - not sure yet!

As I first got onto campus and was heading towards my old dorm, an AU ambassador was directing people on campus for the summer programs to buildings and asked "can I help you find your program" - flattering that he thought I was a high schooler?!

I stood across from the Hurst Building, which is where the science labs are and where I had my bio classes freshman year. I realized, I came into AU an intended Bio major with plans to do physical therapy. But, left AU with a psychology degree and now hold 2 education degrees! 

It was so great to be back. It was an amazing 4 years there. Once an Eagle, always an Eagle!

I also realized the incoming freshman class were 8 when I started college. INSANE!

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Debt and Gratitude

This morning, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning; the cover story was on the hot button issue of the amount of debt college and graduate students graduate with.  

And then suddenly. I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude.  Gratitude for these two amazing and loving people. 

My Bubbe and Zayda.  They worked so hard to ensure a future for my mom and uncle, but also for their 5 grandchildren.  It is because of their hard work and determination that I do not have to worry about loans or debt.

I was able to go to graduate college and will graduate Wheelock without loans. I will be able to start my life without a burden. I cannot truly express how immensely blessed I feel by my Bubbe and Zayda.

It was because of this generosity that I knew I could become a teacher. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about any loans hanging above my head.

So while I may not be in debt due to loans, I am forever in debt for the love and generosity Bubbe and Zayda gave to me. This is a a debt of love and thanks, and one that I will forever hold in my heart to help me remember them dearly.

Scav Hunt Sunday: Spices and Elements

Shadow:

 I walked into my bedroom to see this striking shadow of my dance sculpture.

Fabric:

 Cute little fabric turtle that Avi bought me as a b-day gift year ago. It's still celebrating by wearing the bow.

Facial Feature:

 Meet Wrinkles. We've been together for 17 years and his smile gets me every time. His scratched eyes show how loved he's been over the past 17 years.

Gold:

 Au, get it? I had to use something from my AU (American University) days for this one. Oddly enough, our colors weren't gold, but red, white, and blue. Anyway, my stab at Au, I mean gold.

Spicy:

I'm not a fan of super spicy foods. I like warm spices like in Indian food, this is turmeric and curry powder that I was using to make a curry for shabbat lunch this week. It makes my apartment so heavenly!

I also have a new button on the right sidebar that links to all my scav hunts so far! 

Suddenly 5 years seems like a very long time.

When I came home for spring break I was going through the miscellaneous papers and files my mom had put in my room to sort through.  In that pile were two folders from American University. I glanced at the contents but didn't think anything of it.

Then a few days ago I finally sorted through all the papers again.  I was looking at the AU folders and one of them was full of fancy official AU stationary.  I flipped through the various letters, most of them from my application and enrollment process.

Then one caught my eye.

It was dated March 15, 2006. And it as my acceptance letter into college.  It was my acceptance letter into my top choice college. It was my dream coming true.  It was one of the best letters I ever received.

Today is March 15, 2011.  It has been exactly 5 years since I was accepted into college.  Sometimes it seems like it was yesterday and right now it feels like an eternity ago.

Here I am 5 years later, a high school graduate, a college graduate, and now nearly halfway through graduate school.

It still amazes me sometimes. 5 years. Sometimes 5 years ago seems like it was yesterday.  Today 5 years seems like a very long time, but so much good has happened in those 5 years, so all is good.  Very very good.

Show us your alma mater

Today at Kelly's blog she's showing off her alma mater and asking others to do the same! 

I went to American University in Washington D.C.  I am convinced it is one of DC's best kept secrets.  When I would tell people I was going to be attending college at AU they would sorta pause and ask "where?" Well, AU rocks.  It is nestled in the upper northwest corner of DC.  It's a great area, it's in the district, but unlike Georgetown or GW it's in a more residential neighborhood.  Lots of the ambassadors live in the neighborhood behind campus and the Swedish Embassy and Homeland Security were right next door! One of the reasons AU appealed to me was the fact that I was in a city, but still had that smaller town feel I had grown up with - a win-win!

 AU was charted by an act of Congress, which means my diploma is endorsed and issued by Congress, now that is unique and only William and Mary and American University graduates can say that!

 AU is a small college, with around 5,000 or so undergraduates while I was there, but now I think it's closer to 6,000.  There are 5 "schools" within AU: College of Arts and Sciences, School of  Communications, Kogod School of Business, School of International Studies, and School of Political Affairs.  I was in the college of arts and sciences, but many people come to AU for the international and political studies programs.  AU is top in the nation for international studies, 3rd for political studies, and 4th for business! It was nice to be a psych major in a small program, only 32 people graduated with psych degrees in my class of around 1200!

 AU also has tons and tons of students from all over the world.  My first year there I lived on a floor with people from China, Japan, Korea, Senegal, Ethiopia, Brazil, Germany, and Bangladesh.  Throughout my classes at AU I met people from all over the world and learned all about their cultures - it was almost as if I studied abroad!

This is the Spiritual Life Center - AU is different than many colleges, instead of each religious group having it's own building or offices they all share one building on the campus.  The Jews (Hillel), Methodists (AU is a Methodist university according to it's charter), Catholics, Muslims, Sikhs, and Chi Alpha - meet and gather here.  I met people I never would have met had Hillel had it's own building on campus.  The sanctuary was a beautiful space that each group decorated for it's weekly service.  It really teaches tolerance and acceptance.  I found it amazing in my first year to be eating Shabbat dinner on Friday night as Muslim students went in and out of their prayer room - AU could teach the world a great deal about acceptance and tolerance, in my opinion!

The year before I started AU built an amazing arts building, it's stunning (this is just one small section of Katzen!).  I learned on my campus tour that if you lay the Washington Monument on it's side there is still room for half of another monument in the building! I also find it funny that I liked how AU wasn't under construction when I applied and decided to go there. Of course once I started there they were building new buildings and renovating all over!

This is a great bird's eye view of campus! It's not so huge - I could get from one side of campus to the other in a ten-ish minute walk! AU is also a national arboretum and the campus is gorgeous all year round, but in Spring there is nothing like seeing the campus full of tulips and daffodils and other beautiful flowers! Like I said, you forget you are in Washington DC!

Also AU isn't a huge sports school, we are division one NCAA and our men's basketball team and women's volleyball and lacrosse teams have been to the NCAA tournaments most years.  We have no football team, but I like to joke we're too academic for that! The picture above (please ignore my tush!) is the back of one of the "joke" shirts - on the front it says "American University Football" and the back "Still Undefeated!" - get it? It's a must get t-shirt at AU!

So that is AU! I loved spending 4 years there and having 4 years to explore DC.  I lived 1/2 a mile from the amazing National Cathedral, I frequented the Mall and all the Museums, I saw many a motorcade drive by, was in the city for the historic inauguration, and so much more!

Rallying to Reaffirm Sanity

A few weeks ago I learned that Westboro Baptist Church was going to be protesting at American University, my alma mater.  WBC was going to AU to teach the students and faculty that homosexuality is sinful (AU has won awards for it's support of rights for ALL students) and to save the students from the liberal ideals and thinking of it's staff and professors.  

President Kerwin sent out a letter reaffirming that WBC's views and ideals go against those of AU.  As the day of the protest drew nearer information on civil counter protests surfaced and it was dubbed the "Rally to Reaffirm Sanity." 

Well yesterday was the big day.  Well, big day for AU.  Close to 1200 AU students, alumni, faculty, and staff turned out to counter protest the 4 WBC protestors.  Oh, yes 4.  Clearly, WBC didn't do their research and learn that AU embraces tolerance, civility, rights, and freedoms. And we AU folks don't really like it when people try to tell us our way is the "wrong" way.  

These pictures are from AU's staff photographer Jeff Watts, and they are just fantastic.  They show the love and passion that the AU community has for all people, regardless of anything! 

 This picture is wonderful. The sign in the center of the picture, the white one, has the best quote ever. It reads, "Jesus had two dads and he turned out okay."

 See the troves of people on the left? Oh yes, that is AU.  See the small crowd on the right? Those would be people looking at the 4 WBC protestors.

I'm so proud to say I am an alumni of AU.  The rally to reaffirm sanity was civil the entire day.  No one was arrested, no one tried to make a scene, or do anything rash.  AU just came together to show WBC and the DC community that we are a community that cares about everyone and believe that everyone is equal and loved!

GO AU!

My yearbook!

I never got my high school yearbook.  I made my high school yearbook, I saw it on graduation day, and then never again.  There is so much insane political insanity (for lack of a more appropriate word) behind why I saw it but never received it, but that was over 4 years ago and I have moved on. 

So it gives me great pleasure to introduce my yearbook from American University!  I got so excited when it came in the mail and then even more excited when my uncle delivered it to me here in Boston a few weeks ago since he was up here for a meeting! 

 

The awesome cover - 

How cool is the inside cover? The grey U from the cover is part of the phrase A YOU - so awesome.

Oh look, it's me! I had 15 head shots from my senior portrait session, this one was by far the best and I am so happy I picked it for my yearbook picture.  It really pops from the page, if I do say so myself!

My ad page from mom, Avi, and Ben.  She wrote such a special message and picked great pictures.  The one in the upper left corner is Avi and me on the first day of school when I was two!  Then the one in the middle is me by the stuffed car before driving down to AU to begin freshman year.  Below that is me in front of Leonard hall, by dorm for my first two years at AU.  And then the bottom left is me (I'm under the flash) in front of the Wheelock sign! 

Finally, a yearbook to cherish!

Now it feels real.

I am sitting on the Amtrak train, two minutes away from departing, and suddenly having just graduated college two weeks ago feels very real.

For the first time in four years I am about to leave Washington DC and have no idea when I will be coming back next...

Suddenly this DC chapter of my life is really closing. It's on to bigger and better things, but a first step will be unpacking an organizing everything that came out of my apartment and is now in my bedroom at home (-:

And we're off!

DC, thanks for 4 great years. I promise, I will return.

So now from one end of the NE Regional Line to the other!

I Gradjumucated!

Well, I did it! I graduated college! It was a whirlwind weekend and I cannot believe its over. It still seems slightly surreal. I had lots of friends and family who came to celebrate with me and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

My aunt and uncle hosted a lovely graduation party for me on Saturday evening. It was a great evening, good food, good friends, and good memories!

What's a party without a cake! I still think I have a sugar buzz from it!
Sunday we were completely Pomped and Circumstanced! Those bagpipers were amazing.

Janet Napolitano was my speaker and she was great! She talked about all the changes my class has been through, not just in the past 4 years, but in our life times. She was talking about twitter and said: "twitter didn't exist until 2006, and now it's ubiquitous. In fact, many of you are probably tweeting right now. Stop it!"

Thanks to two zoom lens in the family section, my dad and Ben captured my shaking hands with President Kerwin. It's nice to see my smile was so big. All I remember thinking was "don't fall, don't fall, shake Kerwin's hand, don't fall..." Well, I didn't fall, and I even managed to say "Thank you, Dr. Kerwin!"

Ben enjoyed playing paparazzi outside. We didn't throw out caps inside so I enjoyed playing frisbee with it on the quad!

I would not have made it to college graduation with out my amazing mommy! What a special treat to graduate on Mother's Day! And seriously, we look like twins!!

Obviously, Dad and I are related... We both cannot look at the camera at the same time....

Lucas, Melissa, and Me. I met Lucas during Freshman Orientation and we have been friends ever since. Melissa and I met in psych classes - we are the psych 3! That is, 3 psych majors, not 3 psychos...

And of course, my dress. It was quite chilly that day so I enjoyed being able to wear my gown for extra warmth!

This is Dr. Ahrens. Lucas and I took his class this semester, and since we passed we can graduate!

This is Mark, he was my prof this semester and is the Methodist minister on campus, and another Red Sox nation member!

All in all the experience of graduating college is amazing. Being able to stand up and be among a few hundred other students who all change their tassels from left to right and then cheer, is an experience I will remember forever!

At this point I am moved out of my apartment and am crashing out in VA with our friends. I cannot believe this chapter of my life is coming to a close! Sometimes the four years seems like it zoomed by and at other times it feels like it went by at a steady pace. Either way the world, my life, and I have changed in so many ways in the last 4 years and I cannot wait to see what the next 4 years holds!