:]

Also...Happy December! Hope your holidays are wonderful!

(cute holiday picture)

Katie Curtin

My last new friend! I'm sooo glad I met her too. This girl has done everything that I have contemplated doing in school and after I graduate (namely being an RA, doing summer orientation and Teach for America). I had a really long talk with her and it was wonderful. I met a lot of freshman recently and I have imparted small amounts of wisdom. Tonight, I GOT ADVICE! And it was wonderful talking with her.

She's soo down to earth and very relatable. I can understand why she's an RA. I really enjoyed learning about all the things she does here. She inspired me to take on more responsibilities in the clubs I am involved with. We talked a lot about her leadership roles, that girl really knows how to get involved and climb that success ladder!

success ladder.

Katie grew up in Phoenix although she had no desire of ever being a ASU Sundevil. She doesn't spend much time at home because of busy college life but it's good to see that she's doing great and making her own path in the world. It makes me more comfortable about this stage in my life where I don't spend all my breaks going home. I want to be less of a baby about it - and more like Katie. :]

(also my HS mascot)

If you ever go to the roof top again, Katie, please take me with you! That sounds pretty awesome. Also, I stand by my claim that you looked very pretty today and didn't need to send me a picture. But this one is cute too! Thanks for being my last new friend, I have a feeling I'll stop by and say hi to you at some point this year.

Karen

Congratulations Karen! I met her on the T today. I was eves dropping (hey, the T is boring!) on a lady's conversation, she was talking about her son who got married in Canada over break. It turns out, Karen is her new daughter-in-law! She was sitting across from me with her husband. We talked briefly but didn't actually strike up a conversation until it was time to switch trains.

She asked me where I was going and we began conversing after we found out our destinations were nearby. Her wedding seems lovely. This is the first time I have heard of this, but she wore a sweater dress to her wedding. A red sweater dress. That's so intriguing. She painted a very quaint picture, I'm sure it was a wonderful weekend, especially since it was so close to Thanksgiving.

Karen, her husband and her mother-in-law were all so nice! They kept asking me questions about my life at BU (e.g. major, activities, etc) and I in turn learned about their lives. Karen majored in cultural anthropology and now teaches yoga a few towns away. Her husband studied at BU for some time too!

Malinowski - anthropologist

So now I have met someone on her birthday AND someone who celebrated a wedding. Yay celebrations! I'm very glad I met Karen, she was a nice lady and good company waiting for my next T. I kinda wish I could have seen her one her wedding day, I'm sure she made a beautiful bride.

Theodore

My last San Diego friend, Theodore! I met him after my yoga class when I was waiting for my dad to finish his swim. He was standing right there and politely greeting people. Whenever I pass someone who's looking for donations, I am usually hounded with their requests! Nope, not Theodore. He just smiled and said good morning. If someone came up to him to ask him why he was standing there, as I did, he told them about the organization he works for and say they accepted donations.

Theodore began working there a year ago. Right after he got out of the penitentiary, he saw someone doing what he does now and asked the man about it. The man put Theodore in contact with the boss of the organization and they set up a time to meet. Long story short, Theodore now works for this organization that helps homeless people get back on their feet. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name, which makes me sad. I have been good about remembering the little details but now I regret not writing that down.

Before his stint at the penitentiary, Theodore lived the life of a "night crawler." He said he did some bad things, including a little drug dealing but that part of his life is over. It's so amazing watching him smile about the life he has given all that has happened to him (including two strokes!). He is proud to report he got his family back and they are all working to build a relationship again. AND he lives in sunny San Diego.

Not exactly what he had in mind,

but this is Google's definition of a night crawler

At one point he just smiled at me. This carefree, happy smile and said, "I'm still breathing and I get time with my family." I know Thanksgiving is over but that was such a great moment. He is thankful and people are drawn to him because of his amazing attitude. I'm very glad he was my last San Diego friend. Too bad he actually lives in San Bernadino. San Diego people: Keep your eye out for Theodore. He'll definitely provide you with a conversation worth pausing for.

I love my dad! So now you know, if you want more info on his organization. Check out the website :]

Sarah, or Peach!

Hmm..past two days I have met two mall working ladies who both lived in Japan at some point. Weird!

Sarah worked in the comic book store that I entered in an effort to find my friend a birthday present. I didn't end up finding one but I was grateful for meeting her. We started talking about the action figures she was stocking and then as she tried to help me find a present, we started to bond! Maybe she had to be friendly because she was on her shift but I really enjoyed her presence.

She taught me about World of Warcraft action figures and gift cards. Apparently, people spend money on stuff within the game on top of the money that they use to subscribe. All this money....goes nowhere. Except maybe to their pride if they do well? Makes me feel a little better about my Black Friday shopping. At least everything I purchased had a tangible value.

We then moved on to her tattoos. She has many. The most noticeable one is a woman pirate on his upper left arm. (As shown in the picture above.) She also has hieroglyphics on her other arm and a mermaid. The artist from Lilo and Stitch also drew the mermaid that she replicated on her arm and he's going to draw an addition specially for her tattoo!

Unfortunately Sarah had to get back to stocking, she had about 4 large boxes of action figures to put on the display before closing. I still really enjoyed the time I spent with her. She had an impressive knowledge of comics, which makes sense because she works at a comic book store. But that's still a LOT of information. Maybe I'll see you at the mall again sometime, Sarah.

OHH!!  P.S. Her nickname Peach came from the year she spent in Japan.

Comments!!!

Hello! So I realize I only have a few people left to meet. But I wanted to throw something out there. Just a thought. If you read a post and you have something to say about it, you should leave a comment. I enjoy getting feedback on either the post or the person in the post. And I know there are a few people that read my blog often. (Yes, Dad and Sammie - I am talking to you)

Phineas, Ferb and Perry the Platypus say HI! :]

Rachell, 19

So internet in SD failed me last night and I had to use my phone to write my post. And apparently that doesn't work so well. So Sammie, I'm sorry my dear. I will re-write my post on my new friend Rachell now.

Happy Black Friday! In honor of this special day, I found a new friend that works at the mall - more specifically UTC. She was sitting at a table getting ready  for work when I asked her if I could meet her. She seemed annoyed with the conversation at first but it turned out to just be shyness.

UTC food court

Rachell's name sounds like "Rochelle." She told me that when she was born, her mom wasn't sure how to spell her name so it ended up being wrong on her birth certificate. But as it turns out, now she just has a really unique spelling of a very pretty name!

This girl is quite the dedicated shopper. Because she was working on Black Friday, she came hours before her shift started to put in some good bargain shopping time and then drop everything in her car before work. She also added how annoying it was to have a car. WHYYY!? I didn't fully understand why but from what I gathered, when she lived in Japan she didn't need to drive. (She lived in Japan until the beginning of this year.) She enjoyed taking the train and walking places - driving seemed so useless. Also, in Japan when she needed to drive, traffic was slow. She was not a fan of the crazy California drivers, especially when she first drove from LAX to her home in San Diego. Can I just point out, if everyone thought like her (that walking and public transportation were superior to driving) it would have a wonderful effect on our environment.

Another cool factoid about Japan: the people there are nicer than here. When I say here, I mean California. I would understand if she thought they were nicer than the East coast. No, nice than Californians. I definitely consider the West coast the nicer coast so I was very surprised to hear this. Her reasoning was that all the workers, "even people who picked up trash," would smile at you if you passed. Apparently people who work here are a lot more negative about their jobs or bitter about it when they interact with others. It goes beyond the customer service though. Japanese culture emphasizes being outwardly nice to others when you are having a bad day. This makes sense. It's your bad day, not everyone elses. I think I like Japan.

Sooo after meeting Rachell, I learned Japan is awesome and I should visit again, having a unique spelling of your name helps people remember you better and really quiet and shy people open up most when you ask them about what they are most comfortable with, (in Rachell's case it was her home)!

BJ!

Oh BJ. She was so wonderful. I spotted her outside CVS with an adorable puppy and I HAD to go talk to her. Mainly because her puppy looked so cute. But also because she seemed fairly nice and looked slightly bored. When I went outside and introduced my blog she told me I looked "very pleasant" and that she would love to talk to me. Okay, as many times as I do this, it's nice to hear some affirmation that I'm not being a total creeper. Also, it's nice to be complimented in general. I was definitely enjoying my encounter.

The first thing I asked her was what her dog's name was. Get this: it was Boston!!!!! So weird. (Because I live in Boston.) And as it turned out, she lived there too! Close to the coast, lucky lady. I really liked how friendly she was. I mean she was asking me more questions about my life than I was asking her. A lot more. I wish I had gotten her contact information because she definitely would have been one of those people that would have written a guest blog post. 

She was very knowledgeable of the Boston area. Weird situation: she moved from Boston to SD in order to escape the weather. Now she wants to move back because she misses the weather. I wonder if that's going to happen to me when I leave Boston. BJ goes cross country skiing when it gets snowy...through the city! I did not know people did that. As soon as I get back, I'm going to have to ask someone about that. She also encouraged me to invest time in learning a winter sport. That was a worthwhile suggestion that I definitely think I'll try to follow.

BJ - Your dog is adorable and you are a sweetheart. Thanks for talking to us for a bit! Maybe I'll bump into you in Boston?

John at Vons

"Make sure you get the golds"

It's very hard to find friends in the suburbs. First of all, I feel weirder about it because people in my town seem more private. Or maybe it's just my imagination but regardless, I feel more in my element finding friends in Boston.

My friend today was very welcoming though. He was sitting on a bench outside of Vons listening to his iPod and although wary when I first approached him, he warmed when I explained my purpose. His accent  was so charming!

John is from Louisiana. He has only lived out here for a year and LOVES it. After hearing his description of Louisiana, who wouldn't? 15 degrees during the winter and 110 during the summer? No thanks. Another reason why he moved out here was because of Hurricane Katrina.

Trailer that FEMA gave him

He and his neighbors scattered across the United States, mainly westward, after trying to restart their lives in Louisiana. John had to stay in a hotel for a year after the flooding and FEMA only gave him 2,000 dollars plus food stamps in compensation for the flooding. According to him, it was not enough to replace his home and memories. After that first year, he got a FEMA trailer and stuck it out for four years before moving to San Diego. He now works at Vons and dislikes the higher cost of living but lower wages.

John - I really wish I had gotten to talk to you for longer. You have a great personality and an interesting life. Hopefully I'll see you around again before I leave for Boston. Happy almost Thanksgiving!

Colby, Seat Buddy

Colby and I got so lucky! I got a window seat, he got an aisle seat and there was no one in the middle. Thank goodness. I bet he was silently thanking God to as I pulled out my Nyquill, tissues and Halls throat soothers. Poor kid, I'd hate to be the one stuck next to the sick person on a plane.


Well, I learned what Lafayette was today - a college that Colby attends in Pennsylvania. It's his freshman year and he's having doubts but the way he was talking about his life at school, I know he loves it. Apparently they have a large rivalry with Lehigh University. In fact, it's the oldest college football rivalry in American history. Fun fact!

I liked his headphones. And his iPad. I think the iPad is a technology that you can mock until you see it and realize how super cool it looks! He watched Entourage for most of the flight.

Silence was key in our friendship. Mainly because he was busy doing work and I was busy sleeping off sickness. Nonetheless, throughout the flight we occasionally exchanged words. It was nice to have a silent friend because normally I like to fill up every gap in conversation with words but sometimes it's easier to just coexist.

Thanks for not flipping out because of my icky coughing. You are a trouper. Have fun in SD and at Lafayette!

Hojo Security Guard

He's a self made man and loves a good story. Today my new friend was my favorite security guard at Hojo. When I misplaced my ID card at the beginning of the year he was the nicest one and never gave me a hard time. Also, if I am coming home from work and I am carrying a lot of bagels - sometimes he just lets me walk through. Partially because he knows how tired I am and also because he recognized my face.

I liked his interest in learning how things worked. Recently, his washing machine broke and he watched youtube videos to figure out how to fix it! Very resourceful. His goal is to eventually build a laptop. Hopefully he will do so when I'm still at BU so I can check it out.

We talked about the book he was reading. I forgot the name but it was a mystery novel. I wasn't aware that he was such an avid reader! We exchanged the names of our latest good reads. It's nice to know if I want to talk books with someone, I can do so with him.

I like how he is a go-getter and has such a great attitude towards the things he loves to do. I am soo happy I got to get to know him better than just swiping my ID and walking past. Hopefully more good conversations will ensue.

Laundry Friend

Kiyoshi Harada would be proud. I met my new friend in the laundry room. Let me apologize in advance for the lack of picture and lack of name...I have a reason. But that'll come later.

Funny - the farthest laundry machine in 

Hojo was also out of order...

First, it's story time!

So I have needed to do my laundry for a while now. I don't have clothes anymore. Since I'm leaving for home in a few days, I figured it was about time for me to stop putting it off! I usually get around to doing laundry early in the morning - when people never do their laundry. Today, though, it was a nighttime activity. When I went down...all the machines were being used. And there was someone waiting to use one!

Sad :(

Shortly afterwards, I realized there was one machine that was finished with it's cycle. The boy that was waiting was too nice to take the girl's clothes out! How honorable. I wasn't going to stand for this injustice! He needed a machine. So I suggested he take her clothes out after about 10 minutes. Waiting any longer this late at night is ridiculous. We started conversing and I decided he was a very nice guy. He's not very talkative but great at sustaining a conversation if I provide discussion topics. What more could I ask for to pass the time? We talked about the basics and then came back to the dilemma of taking clothes out of the laundry machines. Finally, I'm happy to say I inspired him to take clothes out of the dryer next to the one that initially stopped. The other washer had been off for about the same time, and there were less clothes to intrude upon. Baby steps. :)

EXPLANATION: This is why I didn't get his name. Our conversation was so casual and so natural that I couldn't bring myself to ruin it. Okay, so I'm being dramatic. It wouldn't have been ruined but the mood would have changed significantly. I should probably tell him at some point that I wrote about him - my rationale for why I didn't have to tell him immediately was that I included no personal facts about him.

(Smiling at the wonders of spontaneous conversation)

In fact, this post is more about the wonders of a spontaneous conversation. I am almost positive if I see him again, we will wave at each other, but we still don't know each other's names. Perhaps in the future I'll figure his out and vice versa. Or not. Either way is perfectly fine. We had a great talk and I learned more about him than some of the people in my blog whose names I knew.

Thanks for a great talk, laundry friend. Perhaps I'll see you again when I retrieve my clothes.

Michael Caputo, 19

My new friend is quite the athlete. We met in the elevator and he was quite an odd sight. He was carrying..a LOT of towels. Like the amount of towels he was carrying went up past his head and he had to angle back to hold them all. On top of that, he seemed surprised when I asked him why he was carrying so many towels. Bet you are wondering why the towels....WELL. I guess this is a good thing: Michael enjoyed being clean. And runs a lot. Thus he does the responsible boy thing. Instead of washing his towels often, he just has a lot of them. I mean honestly it's a really smart system.

This kid runs so much that he's a D1 athlete and represents our school! Yayyy Go Michael! I wish I had met him earlier because he's such an interesting dude. He is very quiet and his voice is calm. Nonetheless, if you have a conversation with him, it's going to be really interesting. He has a great attitude and works really hard. I mean running all the time sounds tiring enough...but it's not enough for Michael. He is ALSO premed.

Our conversation flowed easily and there were no awkward pauses. After the week I have been having of people unwilling to talk, this was a great break. He was so easy to talk to! Also, I am not sure if this is actually a thing, but has anyone ever experienced a conversation that just happened so naturally and without any effort so that afterwards it was hard to remember what you talked about? Just because all the topics jumped around so much without trying to do so. Well, that's what happened to me so whether or not it's a thing, I'm trying for the life of me to remember what else we talked about. Maybe I'll just leave it at this: Michael is a must-meet. I suggest you attempt to, or you will miss out on a good conversation and very chill new friend!

On a side note, I forgot to ask Michael about his necklace. It was an interesting cross, very shiny. I'm sure there's some sort of story behind why he bought it. But he lives on my floor, so Michael, you know what I'm asking you the next time I see you, dude.

Chloe the Birthday Girl

Happy birthday Chloe!

So after SUCH a busy week, I had no idea where to meet someone. I travelled a few doors down to my friend's dorm - Towers. Angeera has a lot of friends and so it was pretty easy for her to find someone for me to meet.

Chloe had such a polite demeanor. I could tell she was thoroughly weirded out by the situation. So weirded out, in fact, that she confirmed multiple times with Angeera that I wasn't a random person. She's guarded but surprisingly has no nervous ticks. Usually people that I talk to will have some sort of a fidgeting habit (no offense new friends, it's completely normal) but I admired her ability to stand still. Hopefully that's not a totally awkward comment to make about her. Since I fidget excessively, I guess I notice that more about other people. Well Chloe, I think that just means you are really confident. Although I'm not completely sure and I should probably look that up.

She has 3 dogs! So jealous. Although apparently she doesn't like one of them because he is old? I'm hoping there's another reason besides that, perhaps one she forgot to mention. Chloe, just be lucky you have dogs.

In hindsight, there were a lot of other conversation topics that were relevant and I failed to ask her:
1. How did you celebrate your birthday?
2. Are you going home for Thanksgiving?
3. Did you see Harry Potter last night?

^All wonderful possibilities.

I'm sorry I freaked you out, have a good rest of your birthday!

Terry Reardon

This was my first "sit with someone eating alone" meeting experience. Terry was so nice! It was good to have someone so welcoming after the last two people who were so hesitant. (Alexis I am not talking about you, I'm talking about the rejection I got before I met you!)

So our talk only had one awkward pause because this guy is a great conversationalist. Although I definitely noticed he was a Massachusetts native. He was a fan the local catch phrases namely "mad" and "wicked."

(Where Terry is from)

Terry told me not to "mock him" in my post. And I started thinking about it. Honestly, this kid was so genuinely nice. Like. Really nice. He was welcoming to the idea of my blog and he contributed a lot to our conversation. He tricked me into thinking 18 was his favorite number (he's #18 of my new friends) but it only added another dimension to his wonderful personality that I didn't expect. At the one moment where I started lacking in conversation topics, he picked it back up! Yay Terry.

I appreciated his calm demeanor. He put me at ease because he seemed so relaxed. Perhaps it was the lovely Thanksgiving dinner that our dining hall fed us today, but he was just peacefully smiling while I chattered away asking him questions. He likes blue grass. I mean it's not exactly one of the main issues that we dealt with but I was definitely impressed. It was just set up funny. He was listing off music he liked which included older hip hop, newer hip hop, obscure hip hop, metal...and blue grass! Ahhh so weird. But also mildly impressive.

Great meeting you Terry!

Alexis from Late Night

Wooo second Late Night Cafe person. Although the first one (Crazy Will) was from Shelton and I met Alexis in Hojo. I wish everyone I met was like her!

By the way. She wasn't supposed to be my new friend. I actually met a guy at an SPJ meeting. I was attacking the hummus and he commented on how it's not real hummus. And he would know because he used to live in Israel. Then he went on to have a long conversation about his life and proceeded to tell me I will not get a job in my field of study because print journalism is dead and broadcast journalism is too competitive for me to bother. Lovely man. When I asked him if I could write about him, he said he "was an introvert" and people would know who he was right away if I wrote about him. Well then.

I see Alexis everywheree. When I saw her at Late night, I jumped at the chance to finally meet her. Alexis and I were both tired so our conversation was short and succinct. I actually learned something new today though. Apparently New York ALSO has the best bagels. People keep saying Californians like to brag about how stuff there is better. Okay. New York does the same. They have the best pizza, baked goods, shopping...and now bagels? Hahaha I'm going to take your word for it until I go there, Alexis.

She was such a nice girl. A freshman and very studious. What I admire most about her is how relaxed she seemed. She seems to take things as they come. She has a test on Monday in her accounting class and she simply said, she was tired of studying so she switched to calculus for a mental break. It was such an easy answer but I would have expected a whole range of other complaints about college life being hard or how much homework she had on top of studying. Everything about her had an air of calm and composed. Maybe she can just put up a really elegant front, but either way, talking to Alexis is like taking a breath of fresh air.

Thanks for the talk, sorry I disrupted your homework. See you in the stairwell!

Kiyoshi - The Shy One

This was my first challenge and if I wasn't so fried from this essay I have been writing, I might have turned it into yet another success. Instead, I only half learned about Kiyoshi. Fortunately, I was getting sooo sick of the blog format that I have started using with every single person, this will be a refreshing change of pace.

Another reason why I didn't have epic meeting skills today..

Setting the scene: After writing a sufficient amount of the beginning of my essay, I migrated from the quiet study lounge to the next-door loud study lounge where I have yet to see people do productive work. Usually as I pass computers I see Facebook, Pandora, various computer games and now Likealittle.

I found my friend Henry and told him I was running out of time to meet my new friend and he introduced me to the kid sitting next to him. Yup, you guessed it. Kiyoshi! After introducing my blog topic, he hesitantly looked at me and requested I try another location, suggesting the laundry room where I could strike up a conversation with someone on the grounds that we both were doing laundry at the same time. Besides the fact that I really have to do my laundry, I was immediately more inclined go try the basement for a new friend due to the fact that this was the first person who was hesitant to accept. It's always frightening to get turned down. On the other hand... I WAS ECSTATIC :] Although I doubt anyone could tell because it's late, I'm tired and I assembled bagels for five hours. So basically I look/feel like a zombie.

(Me.)

Anyways. I accepted the fact that he didn't want to be my next subject and continued to converse with my friends. About two minutes later, Kiyoshi turned to me and introduced himself. BACKTRACK - Junior year of high school at a JEA conference in an investigative journalism workshop I learned the secret trick of interviewing. If you ask a question and don't receive a desired response, stay silent. Usually the interviewee will then start speaking more and perhaps elaborate or better answer the question. Although I was not employing this technique here, it seemed to work. He then wanted to talk. I guess I dropped the ball on the conversation at this point because I turned around for a moment and the next thing I know, Kiyoshi had disappeared.

Usually, I would now tell you the little information I learned about him but before leaving he said something along the lines of, "So. You are just going to write down my name and what you learned about me in a post? That's weird." I'm actually not sure if he said weird. It could have been creepy or awkward or another word similar to these. Regardless, I'm going to prove him wrong. I can paint a picture of this kid without an actual picture or a description of his life.

Kiyoshi seems outgoing. From what I gathered, he doesn't speak unless he has something to say but when he does speak, he looks you in the eye and says exactly what's on his mind. He stereotypes...but who doesn't? People enjoy his company and value his friendship. Although he makes fun of his major, he also takes pride in the goal that he's working towards.

Dear Kiyoshi,

Thanks for being difficult! :P And honestly - that wasn't sarcasm. I am never sarcastic. I enjoyed trying to figure you out. I took your introduction (before you bounced) as a go-ahead to write my blog post on you anyways. Congrats on being number 16! I say this because now I'm officially over halfway done. I'll probably see you around so I'm sure I'll get to know you better eventually. Once you know me, the idea behind this blog will probably make more sense.

Until next time!

Cristina Ring, 19

She's never been on FML, Texts From Last Night or Likealittle. Cristina likes to evade mainstream college fads. She even tried to boycott Facebook. This girl is quite a character! Emily introduced us when she came up to Shelton's study lounge with many interesting stories.

Side note: If you have a friend who you think I should meet for the day, introduce me! I'd love to have a couple easy days where I don't have to impose myself on someone else.

(Not Cristina. Just a representation of what I assume happened..)

Okay so Cristina. On a first impression, she seems distracted. Perhaps it was the fact that she had just woken up but she tended to spend a lot of time fascinated with her surroundings. Apparently she spent the weekend cutting her hair with her friends for fun. The result? Well, in my opinion she looks gorgeous but the loss of her long locks left her devastated. Luckily hair grows back in time and she'll soon have the longer hair that she desires.

She speaks with a lot of focus and direction which is unique for a college student. It also made her stories, mainly about awkward situations that occur in her life on a daily basis, that much more interesting. Cristina lives her life by a completely different set of rules. The coolest thing about her was her disregard for traditional social structure. She asks out boys, fearlessly endures advances from creepers and meets new friends as often as she can.

(Awkward turtle. But a cool version!)

Thanks for entertaining me in the study lounge today! It was a great break from the many essays I proceeded to write. Come visit Emily in Hojo sometime, I'd love to hear more stories. Also - it's only awkward if you make it awkward so now you may never have to have another awkward encounter again! :]

Bigs and Oliver

Part 1
Banjo/Ball throwing friends!
Okay so this is a pre-blog post to meeting two people that I HAVE TO meet. Mal, Emily and I are on the BU Beach doing work and about 30 minutes ago we noticed two boys sit on the lawn nearby- one of which likes Psych because he's wearing a psych shirt. Initially we just kind of observed their presence and then resumed our homework but then they started doing interesting things.
Boy #1: Pulled out a banjo and started rockin' out
Boy #2: Pulled out two bags with balls in them...or something and started swinging them about.
So that was fun to watch and Emily mentioned I should probably meet them for my blog. I thought about it but I am sort of cold so I didn't want to get up and go over. Well...about 3 minutes ago THEY SWITCHED!! Now Boy #1 is swinging the bags and Boy #2 is playing the banjo.
I wonder how they met and as Emily said earlier "decided to do these things together." Sooo now I'm going to meet them...

(Me, Bigs, Oliver) - Bigs didn't like this one so we tried again...

Part 2
I have now learned that the ball/bag contraptions are actually called - Poi. They decided to pick up the hobby and as soon as they get good enough, they are trying it with fire!

Poi with fire

These kids were awesome! Bigs is a freshman engineer who plays the banjo and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He doesn't have a southern accent but he has the prettiest blue eyes that offset his hair nicely. He was very polite and almost asked me more questions than I asked him. As we ended the conversation he decided to recite a quote that fits in very well with my blog. "Strangers are friends you haven't met yet." That's literally exactly what I'm doing, so thank you for that Bigs.

This one would have been awesome

...if I wasn't distracted by Emily's finger and Mallory's straw

His friend, Oliver, is quite the adventurer. He transferred here from a school in Texas and is fascinated with different countries. Oliver just spent the past six weeks in Guatemala doing work with an organization that provided free health care for a period of time to the natives. He delivered a baby...so he gets props for that.  

What I liked most about these boys is their thirst for life. They both seemed to just take up the most random activities...just to learn them! Many people want to travel and experience things but these guys just do it. No wonder they were drawn to each other. Before I left they were talking about how there were no fairs or festivals going on in Boston this weekend. Have I ever even considered the option of attending one? Nope. I sort of just do the regular on the weekends - go out to dinner, catch up on sleep, watch movies...I need to hit up some fairs. Why live in Boston if you don't take advantage of the city's festive atmosphere?!

Boston - Awesome city that I don't take advantage of

Thanks for being awesome Bigs and Oliver! I honestly hope I see you two again. Perhaps at a fair or a festival :]

Chef Kim

Good foooood! So. much. good. food. :]

Today I decided to befriend a celebrity - B.U.'s executive chef! Our club, C.A.K.E. (Culinary Arts and Kitchen Entertainment) had a Thanksgiving dinner demo. I wasn't sure what to expect but it ended up being a live cooking show...awesomee.

Chef Kim was super nice! I had a lot of fun listening to him teach us how to cook all the different parts of the meal. He's very passionate about cooking and provided us with cooking tips while preparing the dishes. It was a great experience. When I approached him, he mentioned that we interacted briefly last year. Can I just point out I go to a school of 31,000 plus students? Which means Chef Kim either has the best memory known to man or cares a lot about the students at B.U. I'm sure it's the latter. (By the way, we decided since we never formally met and shook hands, he could still be my new friend of the day.)

I don't know if you guys read about Melissa Godfrey but she was the one who was still trying to figure out what she wanted to do in her professional life. Well, she might enjoy this story.

Chef Kim went to school for management. He graduated and started working in a ski shop doing finances. One day he started dabbling in a food services job and decided he wanted to explore that career option further. He said was surprised he didn't come up with this idea earlier because as a kid he would be the one to adventure into the pantry and play with all the spices. Moral of the story: Your dream job will come in time. Just keep working hard and doing things you love! :]

I could promise to stop all this corniness...but that's not happening in this post.
Chef Kim,
It was sooo fun to meet you. You were very amiable and provided interesting conversation. Thank you for the chef hat. I'm glad I can now look like a real chef! You inspired me to be more accepting of how unpredictable my future will be. I mean, if you took such a drastic turn and found a job you loved, I'm sure I can follow suit.

See you at the next C.A.K.E. event!