Tag Archive for 'Boston'

Feeling Fantastic

Published on November 27, 2008 in Boston, Dover and Tufts. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

As you can see, I haven’t written on the blog in a long time. That’s okay. I’ve given myself permission to slip, to fall, and get back up again. Let’s not dwell on it, because really, I write when I need to write and never for the sake of writing. My life doesn’t start or end on this blog; there’s always Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm, if you’re wondering what I’m up to.

Now that I’m back home in my bedroom in Dover, life has slowed down for me significantly. Let’s catch up!

Academically

I’m doing well at Tufts academically. After my first set of midterms, I had a huge panic that involved the expectations I was setting for myself in a more challenging environment than I was accustomed to at Dover High School. After some work in managing my expectation and tightening my studying skills, I’m growing happier with how I’m doing.

My classes are challenging, and I’m learning so much, both “inside and outside the classroom”. Although I find that phrase very cliché, it’s cliché because it’s true! Always being surrounded by highly motivated people was initially terrifying, but now that I’ve gotten more accustomed to it, I thrive off of it. I’m only just beginning to grok the plethora of opportunities I have at Tufts, and the most exciting of those opportunities are my peers.

On a more serious note, over the last 13 or so weeks, I’ve been studying in Tufts’ School of Engineering. For better or worse, although I tend to think better, I’ve decided to transfer to the School of Arts and Sciences. I’ve decided that I have so much more to study, so much more to learn in so many different areas, than the focused course disciplines in Engineering can ever give me.

Personally

I’ve been having a wonderful time in the backyard of Boston, as I like to call Medford. In the last three months, I’ve seen more and done more than I ever could have back in Dover. The list of people and groups I’ve seen includes Jonathan Coulton (with the wonderful Paul and Storm), Death Cab for Cutie, Nicholas Negroponte, and Barack Obama.

The new friends I’ve made at Tufts are delightful and charming people, and although I already miss them all, it’s great to be back home. I’m overjoyed to be spending time with my family (and dog!), and I’ve been catching up with my hometown friends, which is always a pleasure.

Giving Thanks

It’s no coincidence this post is going up on Thanksgiving in the United States. In a funny way, this is my way of giving thanks to all of the people and circumstances that have made my life amazing over the last three months.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that the people and circumstances in your life are healthy and pleasant, as well.

Life Near Boston

Published on September 21, 2008 in Boston and Tufts. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

Yesterday, I went to a Barack Obama rally at Boston University. It was a blast-and-a-half. Among the really cool speakers were former-Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry and governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. I’d never seen either of them in person before. The former was, as to be expected, hilarious; the latter was a fascinating and captivating speaker who instantly won me over.

After the rally, I grabbed a burger with my good friend Matt, now a student at BU, and explored Boston for a little bit. Although I’ve been at Tufts for about a month now, I haven’t spent a lot of time in the city next door. Yesterday, I changed that.

I had a blast! The energy general ambiance was awesome and I saw all sorts of great stuff.

My tweets and photos from the day are below. Enjoy!

Public Facebook Photo Album

Tweets:

At BU hanging with my high school friend Matt. It’s great to see a familiar face.

Oh my God. So I’m wandering around Boston with Matt, right, and we randomly come across the Apple Store. Whoa dude, whoa.

At a random burger king getting water. We’re not lost, we just don’t know where we are.

I am here. http://twitpic.com/cgc0

Standing next to child wearing McCain hat on the T.

Exploring Davis Square.

New Direction, New Beginning

Published on August 26, 2008 in Ideas, Monthly Resolutions, Ricky and Site News. 9 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Boston with my family, ready to move in to Tufts tomorrow morning. I’m very excited, but predictably scared. It’s a huge change for me – from the countryside of Dover Plains to the urban sprawl of Boston.

In the beginning of this year, I vowed to set a new goal or focus for each month and work at it. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again – I messed up. August was noticeably missing a resolution, but the most important part of accomplishing a goal is getting back on track when knocked off course.

Let’s get back on track. I’m dedicating September to trying new things, meeting new people, and immersing myself in new experiences. Although this is what college is all about, I plan to put special effort into this endeavor. I won’t lay back and let these experience find me; I’m going to go out and seek them myself.

Besides the changes in my life, you may have noticed a change on this blog. Because this is a very symbolic time in my life, a time of transition, I changed the color scheme of the blog to something much more refreshing. It’s only one of many changes that I have lined up for this website when I get some free time.

I don’t know how my blogging will change now that I’m starting college, but I assure you that I will continue to write. I’m not sure how often or about what, but I will always write about the important things in my life and how they may relate to you, especially when it comes to bettering our world.

I hope you’ll stay with me on this journey.

Tufts Visit

Published on April 16, 2008 in College Admissions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I visited Tufts University today with my family. I’m typing this up from my hotel room, somewhere in Boston, after a nice hot shower – a very nice hot shower. I must say, I haven’t had a shower that nice in years. And after waking up at 5 a.m. and driving 3.5 hours on various interstates… yeah, that shower was a fantastic way to end the day.

But I digress. This is a serious post about serious business – where I’m go to college. It’s coming down to the wire for me. I must decide between two schools that gave me great deals, Lafayette and Tufts. However, that’s a decision for another day. Let’s talk about my visit to Tufts.

It was a beautiful day and the campus was stunning. Everything went swimmingly and I really liked the place. I went to a question and answer session for admitted students, a basic information session, and a tour. The question and answer session was surprisingly helpful while the information session was useless. No big deal, the tour was awesome.

My group’s tour guide was hilarious and wacky. He was frank, told us things he did and did not like about the school, and had a really awesome Boris and Natasha t-shirt. He was either the most honest tour guide I’ve ever had or a master salesman. Either way, I was sold.

Every school has its big themes, parts of the school’s experience that prospective students hear about every five minutes while on campus. Tufts, as expected, had the “liberal arts college with impressive engineering” angle. Sure, that’s great and all, but I’ve heard that one before. On the other hand, they threw around the idea of the potential of a campus that has sufficient on-site opportunities for its students while also being located near a major city. That’s very tempting and requires some thought on my part, and I’d appreciate any thoughts you may have.

I honestly don’t know what to make of it. I liked Tufts, can picture myself there, and have been given a stellar financial aid package. I’m going to take a few days to let the reality distortion field wear off and try some level-headed decision making.

Of course, I’ll post that analysis here. In the meantime, I hope you’ll pardon my grammar and flawed thought processes in this post. I’m exhausted and need to get some sleep. I’ll be sure to come back and clear up this post tomorrow, but I wanted to get some content out to you all as soon as possible.

Two days later, update: The grammar wasn’t all that bad. Nice.