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!