From the Eyes of a Dukie

New site!

2011-03-20T21:43:00.001-07:00

This site is moving to WordPress, so be sure to update any bookmarks, etc!!

New site - dukestudentblog.wordpress.com

More sporadic updates!

2011-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry again! (That seems to be my usual opening line). Every time I come back here, I can't believe it's been so long. It seriously feels like I just updated last week!

Anyway, it seems like Spring Break is upon us, and I am currently sitting at my mom's office musing over what has happened the past month as well as things to look forward to. I think that I better way to remind myself to update this is to keep a running MS Word document with things that pop up in my mind because I always want to post but manage to forget it somehow.. Blame my self-diagnosed mild case of ADHD.

Today, I've decided to spice things up by bringing up current things on my mind (random, of course), then a rundown of how everything has been.

BREAKING NEWS - Not really, but cool stuff, nonetheless. My friend just texted me telling me that Bridgette Mitchell (graduated from Duke last year & was one of the top players on our women's basketball team) just showed up at Wilson Gym to play pick-up basketball. Super casual.. Oh, the life of an average student. SO stellar. Anyway, moving on..

First off, current tune stuck in my head - a song from a cute YouTube video of animals nibbling on food.. It reminds me of the days when I used to own a hamster, a guinea pig, etc.

Next, current thoughts circulating in my mind are more or less related to internships. I've been fortunate enough to get an internship at ESPN (working on espnW) through the Sports Journalism Institute and will be working in New York City this summer! Exciting news for myself and the blog. So why exactly is this on my mind? Well, with internship results coming back for a lot of people, it's no wonder I've been thinking about it. Now, prepare for my Duke pitch. How does being a Dukie help you get internships? Simple, your qualifications and a really great alumni network. I can't tell you how many emails I've received from Duke eRecruiting (or the Career Center), The Chronicle, or Chi Omega from former Dukies telling us that their company wants to recruit more Duke students. With one foot in the door, the only thing left is a strong cover letter, resume, and references? And with each Duke student being involved in so many things (I can easily list at least three things my friends are involved in: Caroline - Global Water Brigades, club swim, The Chronicle; Stephen - works at OIT, Freewater Films, Asian Students Association; Stephanie - Chi Omega, club tennis, BME Society), there's no doubt they're well-qualified for the job. Just one of the perks of being a Duke student.. Because tradition never graduates, and once you bleed Duke Blue you never go back.

Third, Dukies / Duke fans are EVERYWHERE! I went to Foot Locker at our mall the other day with Stephen and Will, and they were both wearing free Duke t-shirts (I'm at 7 for the year, I think). All three of the workers (on separate occasions) told them to check out the Duke Kobes (pictured below), and one guy told us, "Yeah, people think we're out of the tournament for losing the other day, but they don't even know." It was awesome finding a Duke fan (or former Dukie) thousands of miles away from Durham.

Also, this reminds me. At dim sum the other day for lunch with my family, we saw three Duke students that we recognized--all in the span of 30 minutes! One was my little, Jenny, so that was pretty awesome. What were the chances?!

I had something in mind for the fourth, but I forgot what it was, so on to how the last month has been!

First off, I'll start with classes and what I've been doing/learning (which is a lot, to say the least).

EOS - It's a great way to catch up on things I was supposed to learn in elementary school/middle school but never really paid attention to.. Seeing actual samples of things is awesome. Reminds me of how science was done in the old school days instead of just working on programs and etc. in labs. Hands-on.. Just the way I like it!

Non-State Actors - Just finished up a midterm two weeks ago, and now we're working on a long-term research project due at the end of the year. My topic? A focus on Amnesty International's role in influencing governments to release journalists who were there to report. I'll have to look more into past cases of this as well as discern how much of it was the result of AI's pressure, how much of it was the origin country's pressure, etc. Interesting topic that I'm super excited for!

Institutions in Rural China - This past month, I've been learning about granary systems and burial societies, not just in China, but from all over. All of the students were required to research a different burial society, and I did mine on the Chevra Kadisha, the Jewish burial society. It definitely was really interesting, and I got to learn about burial societies in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tibet, Rwanda, and South Africa, among others. Definitely really fascinating, and a lot of my professor's research includes transcribing Chinese manuscripts, so I've been able to practice my reading ability, too!

Holocaust - Our readings have been getting increasingly more intense and emotionally-powered. The most recent book we've read has been Peter Weiss's The Investigation. It's written in the style of an Oratorio in 11 cantos, and it includes actual courtroom transcriptions from the Auschwitz Trials. It was a very emotionally straining read and incredibly difficult to read. On multiple occasions, I had to put the book down and rest for a little bit because it was too much to handle. It definitely helped to make the entire experience more real since I hadn't really known about what really happened at the camps related to medical experiments performed on women, etc. We have been discussing that book for several sessions now, but we are also learning about memorials to the Holocaust and assessing them based on our own opinions', critics' opinions, and general purpose and location.

Advertising - I'm still seeing subliminal messages and advertising, but now we're learning about ethics in advertising, advertising to children, and research in advertising. I guess I never really thought about ethics much in advertising, but discussing it during both lecture and discussion sections has really made me realize how close the two are. Should companies like McDonald's warn against high consumption of their food causing health problems? If no, why not? What about tobacco companies--they have to put warning labels. It all just becomes a very convoluted and highly debated topic, one that we weren't able to settle, even over two discussion sections. As for advertising and children, I learned that a lot of places around the world ban advertising during children programs or limit the amount of advertising allowed during a show. It got me thinking about how American companies could very possibly be taking advantage of kids' naivety to start establishing brand loyalty in children..

Well, that's all for now! Updates for next time include pictures that I have to compile/upload and maybe a site change!

Kville + UNC Game!!

2011-02-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

The game we've all been waiting for.. UNC vs. Duke. & Though we trailed in the first half, we came out strong in the second half (with great help from my favorite player, Nolan Smith!!) and won 79-73!! Anyway, pictures from Kville (personal checks and more Chiddy Bang ones) and from the game itself and burning benches after! (Pictures are from Gabby & Stephen!)

First - throwback to mine & Gabby's awesome poster for the Maryland home game!

Coach K talking to the Crazies Tuesday night!

Dickie V!

(Our tent picture isn't up yet.. booooo)

We're on TV!

Overall it was a great experience, something every Duke student has to do at least once in his/her time here. It was really crowded and squished inside, but that definitely added to the intense feel of the place. And, as a final note--GTHC, GTH!

2010 Pictures Continued (& Some from 2011!)

2011-02-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Cameron for the Maryland game! Super pumped for tomorrow's game against UNC!

Duke in the Fall.. It seems like so long ago. The sun is starting to come out and the weather is hitting 60s these days!

Oregon -- my trip to the Rose Garden Arena for The Chronicle to cover the men's basketball game!

Plate & Pitchfork - Our own dine-in restaurant right here on campus.. on food points!

So there they are! The summing up of my adventures from last fall. Up later this week will be pictures from the UNC game, the Chiddy Bang concert, Coach K's talk to the Cameron Crazies, etc. But of note from the first semester:

Last last Sunday, my Germany Confronts the Holocaust class visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C., so that was a very intense experience, though I had already been twice before--once in junior high, once in high school. We even got to talk to one of the ladies who helped put together the exhibit, and it was great being able to ask her questions after reading about controversies surrounding the opening and display of the museum, articles in which she was mentioned! The class is definitely a very enriching one, and it definitely forces me to think a lot about history and the actions of the United States, not just of Germany.

Also of note is that last Thursday was Chinese New Year, and one of my classes--Institutions and Reforms in Rural China--went out to have a Chinese New Year dinner at Eastern Lights! It was awesome to be able to talk with my professor, classmates, and other prestigious Duke instructors in a very casual, light setting, and I definitely had very interesting discussions. Plus, it was great food on the university's tab, which is always awesome. The dinner definitely helped me think more about political science, especially the possibilities I have in the future being a political science major.

Oh! And I just thought of this one, but I'm taking an advertising class (Advertising/Society: Global), and all throughout the Super Bowl, every time there was an ad (the silly Dorritos one, anybody?), I would analyze it and try to find the message and intended audience--all subconsciously. I realized this halfway and was sort of embarrassed but then realized how good of a job the professor and TAs had done in getting me critically thinking about advertising around me.

All right, more pictures and adventures later! Sorry again for the ridiculously sporadic updates! I'll definitely try and do my best to post regularly, but it's been really difficult recently with sorority recruitment (Oh, I'll definitely put up a picture of that in a bit), midterms coming up (one paper due next Tuesday and midterms Wednesday and Thursday), and covering Chronicle games (women's basketball yesterday against UNC and Duke at Maryland). Oh--and how could I forget tenting?! Tent twenty--Dre All Day! Pictures for that will definitely be below this, too! And that's all for today--more later!

Our new babies!!

Incoming executive board!

My tent!!

Personal Checks (Chiddy Bang in Kville!)

Duke vs. NC State game

And--look what I found on YouTube. A video of Chiddy Bang freestyling to topics the students threw out!

Oops!

2011-02-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted! I still have all my pictures saved up from last year that I will definitely post soon, as well as pictures from Krzyzewskiville (Kville), the home game against NC State, the 2am Club & Chiddy Bang concert in Kville!, and more! This past month has been super busy getting used to new classes and professors, as well as a busy time for both sorority and fraternity recruitment, as well as for selective living groups! More pictures to come soon for sure, but I need to get a move on finishing the reading I delayed to watch the Super Bowl!

Also--I'm going to the women's basketball game against UNC tomorrow, and the UNC game at home for men's basketball is Wednesday! I've been tenting for four (maybe five?) weeks for this, and I'm sooo ready! Tent #20 - Dre All Day!

Winter break 2010-2011!

2010-12-24T01:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this semester went by so quickly! I've been home since Sunday, and I finally feel relaxed enough to take some time to update this blog! Mostly this will be a large mass of pictures from the end of November until now--both from Duke and from other cities! And at the end I'll compile a short list of my favorite things about Duke and Durham since I know application deadlines are drawing near. Also--Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate, and happy holidays! It's almost 2011!

First off--the academics. This semester, I took History of Impressionism, American Political System, Probability and Statistical Inference, Chinese Identity in Paris (French 111S), and Challenges of Living an Ethical Life. I also took a half-credit course (also called a house course) taught my students and overseen by a professor, and mine was on Women and International Development. All my classes were outstanding, and I learned so much from them! My knowledge about ethics in different realms of life (mother-child in The Giving Tree, child psychology in Piaget, politics in Machiavelli's The Prince and Koestler's Darkness at Noon, philosophy in Plato's Apology and Aristotle's Crito, and more!) has definitely improved, and I feel completely confident in carrying on a conversation relating to any of the above mentioned topics. In my house course, I learned a lot about how women are treated in different countries and more about HIV/AIDS, tertiary education, gender equality, female genital mutilation, sex work, etc. It was simultaneously shocking and enlightening, and I definitely carried away with me a lot of the information. It definitely made me a lot more passionate about women's rights, as well. In my French class, I had the opportunity to analyze books written about China by Chinese authors in French, and it was interesting to see how my heritage related to a language I was so interested in, so that was definitely eye-opening, especially since I wasn't aware of a huge connection. In my statistics class, I definitely learned a lot of mathematical things, but one that actually popped into my mind (definitely nerdy, to say the least), was when I went in to Geek Squad to get a replacement battery for my laptop, and the worker there mentioned that with the three-year warranty, only one replacement was provided because HP was losing too much money. I instantly thought of expectations, sample sizes, and I knew that I could calculate how many batteries HP could offer in how many years to turn a profit. I was definitely ashamed and impressed with my immediate thoughts. And last but not least, my art history class. It was entirely enjoyable learning about Parisian society and about Impressionism as an artistic movement related to the political nature of the city (and the country) at the time. It even showed up in real life through a painting a saw while walking through the mall:

One that Gabby & I learned in class! Sorry about the poor quality--most of my pictures are cell phone pictures.

Second--Chronicle events! First off, on November 20, Caroline (my roommate & Chronicle photographer) and I flew to Atlanta to cover the Duke vs. Georgia Tech game. (Read the story here if you'd like!) Since Caroline's cousin works for CNN in Atlanta, we got to tour the building, so I took a couple pretty awesome pictures of the place!

And the rest of my Chronicle and winter break (and basketball!) adventures will come later! Time for bed for now. Happy holidays everyone!

Finals!

2010-12-16T00:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the super late post & lack of updates!

I've been really busy with finals and papers (which end Sunday), so I promise I'll update some time next week with exciting details and pictures from my trip to Atlanta to cover Duke Football, Oregon to cover Duke Men's Basketball, Thanksgiving in California, Christmas potlucks on Central Campus, etc.!

& To all of the high school seniors out there, best of luck with college applications! Instructions for applying for Class of 2015 admissions is here -- http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/instructions_2011.pdf.

Finally.

2010-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Wow--these past few weeks have been crazy. So as usual--pictures depicting everything! But here's a relative breakdown of what's been happening:

- Men's & Women's basketball season!!! (Two exhibition wins apiece so far!)
- Halloween shenanigans, of course (including barn parties)
- Midterms... still!
- Football game - We won this week!!
- Parents Weekend
- Club tennis matches & Rowing race!

HALLOWEEN --

CLUB TENNIS --

At the dream trip to the Keys over Fall Break!!

Greenbrier Cup champions at WVU!

PRE-HALLOWEEN @ FRANKLIN ST. W/ GABBY --

WOMEN'S SOCCER GAME PICTURES --

ART EXHIBIT IN THE BRYAN CENTER --

ROWING -- (lake & the Hooch)

That's all for now! Hopefully my next update will have much more text information about what I have been up to! Primarily schoolwork (a LOT of reading), midterms, papers, rowing, work, & Chronicle!!

Whoa whoa whoa!

2010-11-04T19:28:00.001-07:00

Time sure flies!! Sorry for not posting yet. Pictures again tomorrow!!

Fall Break + More!

2010-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Rather than bore you with details about what I've done in the past few weeks, I'm instead going with a photo journalism approach, so be prepared! Basically, I went up to Boston & Connecticut over Fall Break with two of Stephen's friends, which was amazing since I got to see two of my closest friends. Friday, I went to Countdown to Craziness, which signals the start of basketball season!!! The dunk contest was amazing. Andre Dawkins jumped over one of the freshmen (I forget if it was Hairston or Thorton..) and made it in. Awesomee. And Saturday night, I went to the NC State Fair with Caroline, Gabby, & Brandon, where Gabby & Brandon took a bajillion pictures. Woohoooo! Get pumped for the onslaught of pictures coming up.. Also.. delayed pictures, but here are ones from the Homecoming President's Ball!!

HOMECOMING --

Pegram FAC love!

Red, White, & Black?

Asians!

Whaaat?

Too many people cramped into a room in Wannamaker!

STATE FAIR --

BOSTON --

It's Will in the front!!

COUNTDOWN TO CRAZINESS --

Hope you all enjoyed!! One more stats midterm this week (Thursday) before parents weekend! :)

Midterm Week #1

2010-10-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

PICTURES ARE UP NOW!!

Wow! Sorry again for neglecting to update this. I meant to do it Monday.. then Tuesday.. then etc., and now it's Sunday. This week has been super busy for me, and I've been frequenting the library quite a lot. It was Midterm Week 1, and Midterm Week 2 starts tomorrow, and you can bet there are almost no places to sit in Perkins right now, so I'm blogging this from the 3rd floor of McClendon Towers, where there are a bunch of tables, chairs, comfy couches, and a bar-type desk set out for people to study, etc. There's a huge tv in the room, but good thing it isn't on right now. Otherwise, I'd be way too immersed in football to do anything productive.

Saturday - The football game was pretty disappointing, but it was still awesome being out there. I've made it a goal to be at every home football game, and I'm covering the away Georgia Tech game for Chronicle, so I get to add that to my list of games to attend! During halftime, the marching band played a rendition of Taio Cruz's Break Your Heart, and they made a heart formation and split it up. It was really cool! I tried to take some pictures, but they're kind of blurry, and even though I was sitting in the third row, it still looks pretty far. Well--here goes!

Sunday - I headed out early in the morning to Wake Forest for an away tennis match. We managed to warm up and play three or four games before we got rained out and had to head back to Duke. I did take some pictures, however, of the courts, several of which were elevated and in a stadium-like format, so that was pretty awesome. After coming back, I worked on a story for The Chronicle about the volleyball team's two back-to-back victories against Georgia Tech and Clemson. Then I worked on homework in the library and prepared for my Statistics midterm on Tuesday, a French paper due Tuesday, and my Art History midterm on Wednesday. We somehow managed to snag a group study room on the fourth floor of Perkins, and it was fun studying with four other people, even though it may not have been all that productive..

Monday - Had work in the morning and worked on updating the website and working on the upcoming Sanford Newsletter, so that kept me pretty busy. After that, Gabby and I went to Art History, and we learned some more slides and prepared a little bit for the upcoming midterm. After that, I relaxed for a bit and grabbed dinner at Panda Express before heading to the library again--this time fourth floor on the bridge between Perkins and Bostock, which had a huge table and was a great place to study. I even had a great view of outside, so.. pictures!!

Tuesday - Went to American Politics, where we talked about the amendments again, and then I went to Ethics, where we talked about Nietzsche's First Treatise in On the Genealogy of Morality. After that, I read a little bit for French then grabbed lunch with a couple of friends before heading to my Stats midterm. After that, I had my French paper due, and we discussed the second chapter of Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise. That night, I returned to the library and worked on Art History with Gabby.

Wednesday - Following work, I went to Perkins and reviewed Art History for a little bit before heading over to my midterm. After that, Gabby and I got a super early dinner, and then I read for my Women & International Development class. Then I relaxed and read for my classes on Thursday, finally done with my first week of midterms. Woohoooo!

Thursday - Long day! My smoke detector went off in the morning, and my roommate and I both thought it was the fire alarm, and we finally got RLHS to shut it off after an hour and a half. I had American Politics in the morning, and we talked about the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments, and in Ethics, we discussed Darwin (I forget the name of the work) and Rousseau's On the Origin of Inequality. After that, I had a break before Stats, and I grabbed lunch at Great Hall with Caroline and Will. Then I went to Stats, where we started on Statistical Inference and went over our midterms. After, in French, we finished up going over Balzac. After that, I headed to practice in the Erg room, and we did warm-ups and rowed a 5k before stretching out. Then a couple of girls and I headed over to Cardio Dance (held Tuesdays and Thursdays in Wilson), and that was tons of fun, especially since I saw Gabby and Caroline along the way. Basically everyone just gets together and dances a choreography to hip-hop music and the like. After that, I took a shower and ate dinner before heading over to the Chronicle office to get my preview article (for Friday & Saturday's volleyball game) edited. Then I called it a pretty early night and went to bed.

Friday - I had my Stats lab in the morning, which was kind of complicated, but altogether not too bad. Then I took a break and had a quick lunch of Chik-Fil-A before going to my Ethics discussion, where we talked about the origin of morality and what Rousseau's, Darwin's, and Nietzsche's thoughts were. We also read an article featured in The New York Times that talked about Darwinists and the origin of morality, as well, so we brought that in. After that, I headed over to under Marketplace to buy a card for my big's birthday. Then I had rowing practice on the lake and got back at 7, just in time to grab a smoothie and a Cliff bar from Quenchers and watch the volleyball game against Maryland. After the game, I interviewed a couple of the players and Coach Nagel for my Chronicle story before heading back to my room and relaxing before heading out to my friend's room to hang out.

Saturday - I woke up early for practice then came back and grabbed lunch with my friend Kimi, and we talked about a bunch of random things, so that was tons of fun. Then I headed over to the walkway outside of McClendon towers and worked on homework and studied for my upcoming American Politics midterm and wrote my Ethics paper on the swingy benches. The weather was gorgeous, and the bands from Joe College Day were playing in the background. After that, I headed to Joe College Day and got a t-shirt and a free blanket, woohoo! Cute Is What We Aim For came later that night, which was awesome. After studying, I went to Sitar Indian Cuisine off-campus with some friends, and the weekend dinner buffet there was awesome, and I was sooo full when I left. Then I just hung out for a bit before preparing for Iced Out, one of the parties hosted by DTD at an off-campus warehouse sort of thing that was just a huge dance party. But we came too late and couldn't get in, so we ended up hanging out at a friend's Central Campus apartment, which was similarly fun. Then it was finally time for sleeep.

Off to do some more work now and continue studying--adios, and hopefully I'll update again after my midterm and paper on Tuesday!!

POKEMON! in the library!

2010-09-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Like Panic! in the disco. But way cooler. You'll figure out what this means later.. Trying to do my best in keeping my blog updated, but it's hard with midterms coming up!! Arghh.. two midterms this week (Tuesday & Wednesday) and two papers and another midterm the next week! Anyway.. on to more exciting news!

Wednesday, things happened like the usual. Work, class.. But after class, I had tennis practice, so that was great getting out there and preparing for our game tomorrow against Wake Forest!! I'm pretty excited. It's going to take up most of the day, though, so that kind of sucks, but otherwise, it's good! After practice, I went to my house course, where we talked about three articles we had read, and about the UN Millennium Development Goals and President Obama's speech on Wednesday. After class, I grabbed a quick dinner from The Tower, where I got a delicious Philly Cheesesteak with a side of mashed red potatoes. Then, I did a quick research study test for Fuqua (great ways to make money!!), and I made $15 in around 20 minutes. Awesome! After that, I went to the library I studied and got work done for Thursday. Boooo. Oh, and when I went to the BC during lunch, I spotted a cool photography exhibit about Pakistani relief refugees. And a picture from outside of a beautiful sunset!

Thursday, I had American Politics, where we had a TA teach since the professor was out, and we talked more about rights and examples of court cases. Then I had my Ethics lecture, where we talked about Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality, which was really interesting. His thoughts are really complicated and sometimes difficult to understand, but they never fail to bring up interesting concepts. On Thursday, we talked about the differences in good and bad (Roman-Greco tradition) and good and evil (Judea-Christian thought). It was a really great discussion about the strong and the weak and how the two look at those types of people differently, like if they glorify them or shun them. After that, I went back to my dorm and did a couple of phone interviews for my volleyball preview story about the Georgia Tech & Clemson games for The Chronicle. After that, I went to my stats lecture, where we finished up preparing for the midterm, and in French, we discussed our new novel, Balzac et La Petite Tailleuse Chinoise. Then I had a meeting I had to go to before napping for a bit and grabbing dinner. Then I headed to The Link to study and do work, and I saw Pokemon come through!! It was awesome, to say the least. After that, I went to Wilson Gym to do some erg workouts for rowing and then went to sleep. Also--there are group study rooms on the fourth floor of Perkins, and they are awesome! Now.. the pictures you guys have been waiting for!

On Friday, our Stats lab was canceled, so I slept in then headed to the Main Quad for Chi Omega's Scoop-A-Dish activity! Basically we were serving Coldstone's ice cream on food points to benefit Make-a-Wish Foundation. I'll try and put up pictures later once they're up! After that, I headed over to East Campus for my Ethics discussion, where we talked more about Nietzsche and the origin of values and ethics, and if they were inherent, or if they developed over time. After, I had practice in the erg (rowing) room again, and we did warm-ups of about 2000m and then a 3000m followed by a 4000m 5-person relay. It was a lot of fun, but definitely tiring! After that, I had a Chronicle sports meeting and got to chat it up with the other kids in sports. Then we had a Chronicle social so we could all get to know each other, and the writers and photographers. After that, we all went to get Pauly Dogs and then I headed back to the dorm with Caroline to get changed for the Homecoming Ball! I'll put up those pictures later once they're uploaded--should be soon!! Then I called it a night and went to sleep.

And now it's almost time for the football game, but I mainly just studied for Stats earlier instead of going to Tailgate (everyone dresses up like it's Halloween, and basically goes to a dance party in the Blue Zone. It's so much fun, but definitely pretty ridiculous!). I'm off now. Let's go Duke!!!

Whoaaaa.

2010-09-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

First off--pictures from our first home game against Elon that I neglected to upload and didn't realize until now!!

Time is passing by so quickly! I know I say this every time, but I can't believe it's been so long since I last updated. These weeks are seriously going by as if they were single days! Anyway.. on to my week!

Tuesday - I had a reaaally full day! First I had American Politics, where we talked about different parts of the Constitution and states rights, and the professor mentioned something pretty interesting--when he taught at Rutgers, he got in trouble for neglecting to pay the state wage tax even though he had paid the federal wage tax, something he used to explain sovereignty during class. After that, I had my Ethics class, and we started our discussion about Plato's Apology, and we discussed whether what Socrates did should have been unlawful or not. And then we launched into a discussion about similarities and differences between Socrates and Job. Other things we addressed were what it meant to be a good citizen--both in the modern context and in the Athenian community--whether or not being a good citizen was synonymous with being a good man, and more. After that, I met Will for lunch at the Great Hall, and I got Sitar, the Indian food served on campus. It's great because the food is really good value--you get an entree, rice, naan, and a samosa, plus a small drink for $5.99! And it's relatively healthy, which is a definite plus. After that, I headed to my Stats class, where we learned more about probability. Then I went to French, and we just about finished discussing La Joueuse de Go and themes in the novel. (I'll talk more about the book later). After, I had rowing practice, which was good, but since there were only eight rowers and three coxswains (including me), we took turns coxing, and we got to learn from each other, so that was helpful. After I got back, I grabbed dinner with another girl on the novice rowing team, Kristen, and we had Alpine Atrium, which is in the BC and serves wraps, salads, sandwiches, smoothies, and coffee. I got the Smoked Turkey, which was delicious, as usual. Then I got to work finishing up stuff for the next day and then going to sleep.

Wednesday - I had work in the morning again and worked a lot on updating the website and the upcoming Sanford Newsletter. I then grabbed fruits/vegetables from Quenchers, the smoothie place in Wilson Gym. They always have fresh fruit and vegetables, and it's a healthy alternative to McDonald's or other fast food on campus. After eating and resting for a bit, I went to Art History, and we continued talking about Paris and its transformation under Baron Van Haussmann and how that related to the rise of impressionism and art during that time period. After that, I picked up my tennis uniform for club tennis--a white tennis tank that says "Duke" on the front, a navy skirt, and warm-ups. Then, I rested for a bit again before heading to my house course. We talked about three of the articles we had read for the class, and one of them I found particularly fascinating. It talked about how by grouping "third world women" into one category instead of taking them each as individuals (culturally and socially), it was preventing us from moving forward since we treat them as one group that needs a solution versus individual solutions tailored toward a specific community. The house course always serves as a great refresher to a long day, and it passes by really quickly! After that, I worked on some more stuff due for next week and went to sleep. Oh--and some pictures! After Art History, I noticed there were frames with word poetry hanging on the hallway walls, so I took some snapshots!

Also, at work, I saw an exhibit in the hallways of Rubenstein Hall (part of the Sanford School of Public Policy). Check it out!

Thursday - Long class day again! In American Politics, we continued talking about the Constitution and states rights and got started into civil liberties. I find it fascinating when the professor brings up Supreme Court cases relating to the development of law because it's actual people challenging things they believe are unjust or unfair and actually making an impact on the way a law is carried out across the nation. After, we finished up with Plato's Apology in Ethics, and we talked about the hierarchy relating to the soul and the body, beasts and divinities, matter and spirit. We talked more about Athenian virtues, modern-day virtues, and Christian virtues. Good discussions we had related to whether or not Socrates suffered and if that was relative to the society he was in or our belief in the spirit vs. matter. After that, I grabbed lunch and reviewed La Joueuse de Go. Then I headed to Stats, and we talked about variance and mean more in depth and discrete random variables. After, I headed to French, and we discussed the book and what we thought about it. The novel is split into short chapters, with each chapter narrated from a different character (two main characters total). One is a Japanese soldier, and one is a high school girl, and the novel is set during the Sino-Japanese war, and the girl lives in Manchuria. They both share a passion for the Chinese chess/board game called Go and meet at the central plaza every Sunday to play. They talk very little to each other and both have other lives completely unrelated to each other, but they end up falling in love. At the end of the novel, however, the girl must leave for Peking with a man who loves her but has been changed by the war to escape Manchuria, and she ends up leaving that man, as well, because she is afraid of him and cannot see herself spending the rest of her life with him. The soldier must leave Manchuria as well since the war is advancing, and the two were never to see each other again. But when the girl escapes, she looks for this soldier before being caught by the Japanese, and when she awakens, the soldier whom she loves and who loves her is forced to shoot her. They exchange brief words--including her name--before he shoots her and then turns the gun on himself so they can live together in the afterlife. The novel was very charged with emotion, especially toward the end, and it was a great read, but something I found very deep for an adolescent novel. After French, I had body circuit and erg room training for rowing, and we did a round of exercises, like burpies, side lunges, sprints, tri-dips, etc. We then went jogging for a bit then practiced rowing in the erg room. Following that, I grabbed dinner then headed to the Chronicle to edit some articles since I was associating for the night. After finally ending pretty late at night, I called it a day.

Friday - I had my Stats lab in the morning, where we calculated the distribution and concentration of farms across the nation, and it was pretty interesting figuring out which area was most populated (the South), etc. After, I grabbed lunch with Drew at Grace's again, and I got food from the hot bar, as well as some fruit, and it was delicious! Then I went to my Ethics discussion, where we did a mock trial to see if Socrates should be guilty for corrupting the youth. It brought to light a lot of interesting differences between Athenian society and modern society in terms of rights like free speech and freedom of religion. Then I left for rowing practice, where I coxed one boat and ended up rowing for the next two rounds, which was a good experience, and fairly tiring, too! After all of that, I took a long nap before my friends came by to get me out of bed and go out. There were a couple of parties happening, so we danced for a bit then went to The Loop to grab a couple of burgers. I fell asleep right when I got back for an early day Saturday.

Saturday - Really hectic day!! I had rowing in the morning, which was great, even though I was pretty tired. After I got back at lunch, I grabbed McDonald's and talked with a friend I saw there, and there were tons of Alabama fans here for the game! After finishing lunch and taking a shower, I rushed over to my friend's Junior Piano Recital on East, which was really great! After, we rushed back to West Campus to try and find a parking spot--which was impossible, and we ended up parking on Central--to go to the game. The line was ridiculously long, so we headed to the Armadillo Grill in the BC to watch the game on TV and headed over to Wallace Wade Stadium at halftime. After that and hanging out with my friends, I met up with Stephen's friends to eat some pizza and hang out before heading to Star Karaoke in Raleigh (sorry for the blurry pictures--my phone doesn't have flash!). It was sooo much fun! I have pictures, too! It's kind of dark, but the place was awesome, with disco lights, handheld microphones, and tambourines! It reminded me like the places back home, and it was so much fun! Now, pictures from the recital!

Sunday - I got up for brunch with the girls in my block, and we went to the Refectory. They have awesome food that's super delicious! After that, I went to the Bella Union and did work while watching football on the TV. They have awesome smoothies--I tried the superfruit one (well, not Sunday, but Monday), which is a mix of berries and antioxidants. Soooo delicious, and just the right size at 16oz. I actually got a White Mocha, which was similarly good, and it kept me going for five or so hours reading and doing work! After that, I headed over to the Chronicle office to associate some more and edit stories. Then, I headed to Great Hall where the old Pegram gang all had dinner together! I got fried chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes, super unhealthy, but good. Then I headed back to Chron to do some stuff before heading out to my chapter meeting for Chi Omega. And then back to the room to do some work and sleep!

Monday - Work again, and I edited the website again. I was pretty busy the whole time, but it was all good! Then I had the TexMex wrap from Sanford Deli, which was yummy! And then I headed to the BC to pick up a package my mom sent me with mooncakes (for Chinese Moon Festival tomorrow!) and more food. Then I headed back to Rubenstein for an interview with a professor for the Sanford Newsletter. Then I headed over to East Campus with Gabby to go to Art History, where we learned more about Cabot and some about Monet. After, I called it an early night after doing work and went to sleep!

Tuesday - In American Politics, we learned more about civil rights and specific cases where the status quo was challenged. In Ethics, we finished up talking about Plato's Crito, where Socrates explains why he doesn't want to escape from jail. We discussed whether or not Socrates believed what he was saying or if he merely "dumbed" down his speech so Crito could understand. It was a really interesting lecture to say the least. After that, I visited Wonjo at The Link then went to the Great Hall, where I got Sitar again. Then I went to the BC Plaza and helped table for Chi Omega's Scoop-A-Dish for Make-A-Wish, an event on Friday where the sisters serve Coldstone's Ice Cream with toppings for $4, and all proceeds go toward the philanthropy. I'm super excited for Friday!! After that, I went to Stats and learned more about variance and prepared for our midterm next Tuesday. Then I went to French, and we discussed possible themes for our upcoming essay relating to La Joueuse de Go. After I headed to rowing practice, which was really exciting because we've improved a lot, and I'm getting the hang of coxswaining!! Now I'm back and working on this!

Long weekend!

2010-09-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Wow! It seems like just yesterday that I updated, but apparently not! Exciting post coming up--be prepared! Not many pictures, though, unfortunately.

Friday - In the morning, I met with my academic adviser and officially declared a double major in Political Science and Art History!! It was really exciting finally being an actual student in those departments, but I'm going to miss my academic adviser! (We get new ones in the department once we declare.) I'm still going to go visit her, though! After that, I headed to my Stats lab, where we did some more data entry with JMP about top grossing movies domestically and internationally. It was interesting looking at the revenue differences for different genres (drama, comedy, family, etc.) depending on if it was domestic or international, and I thought about how culture must affect the way people perceive movies. After that, I took a break and grabbed lunch at Grace's Cafe with my friend Drew on Central Campus. They serve Chinese food (and some other types of Asian food), as well as bubble tea! I got one of their lunch specials that came with noodles/rice/etc., an entree, and a side (soup, egg roll, etc.), and a Strawberry-Kiwi smoothie with bubbles. I was super full after lunch and ended up having left overs for dinner! After lunch, I headed over to East Campus for my Ethics discussion where we wrapped up the Book of Job and addressed questions everyone had about ethics in general. We're starting on Plato's Apology this week, so that's exciting! After all of that, I came back and grabbed dinner before heading out for a little bit since there was a rave happening in one of the quads that was hopping! Then I called it a night and went to bed to prepare for rowing the next day.

Saturday - I had rowing practice at Lake Michie in Bahama from 8am-12:30pm, where we got to row for the first time! I realized that it's harder being a coxswain than I thought! There is definitely a lot of thinking involved, and learning the jargon and what to do will take a while, but it was a lot of fun being out on the water!! I'm really excited for practice tomorrow! After that, I grabbed free lunch in the main quad on West Campus for Pets on the Quad weekend. The Tower was there with plenty of delicious mac 'n cheese, salad, pulled pork and chicken, and more! I was definitely really full. After eating lunch with a couple of the other novice rowers and a girl on the tennis team, I headed back to my dorm to get changed for an away match against Elon at 2pm. Once we got there, we rallied and warmed up for our match, but it started raining about halfway into the first set, and we postponed it for later. The girls ended up going to Panera to grab a quick lunch/snack before heading back to Duke. I ended up sleeping when I got back since I was pretty exhausted and woke up later to do some work and head to dinner. One of Stephen's friends bet that Miami would beat OSU on Friday, but since Miami lost, he agreed to have two of the other guys shave his head any way they wanted--and he would have to keep it until Monday. The haircut wasn't too bad--it was symmetrical, at least--but it was basically buzzed across the middle section, leaving a mullet in the back and some hair longer in the front. It could be hidden with a hat, though, so it wasn't too embarrassing. After all that happened, all 10 of us headed to Olive Garden in Raleigh, where we waited 45 minutes for a table and another 30 to get our food, but it was worth it in the end. We got more than our fair share of salad, bread sticks, and all-you-can-eat pasta! And I got to take some home for the next day's lunch! We got back pretty late, but it ended up being an awesome night. Plus, we fulfilled one of Duke's unofficial graduation requirements--going around the chapel circle in reverse!

Sunday - I ended up not really doing much at all! I woke up late and got some work done and hung out with the guys, watching some of the NFL games with them before hanging out with the girls and just talking. I grabbed diner with Gabby, Sagar, and Dwight at The Tower before heading to chapter for Chi Omega. I ended up leaving my flip-flops in the room, though, and someone picked it up, but I'm not entirely sure. I feel like a part of me is missing without them!! After chapter, I got back and continued doing some work and hanging out before heading out to the Chronicle to help watchdog the sports section and put the issue to bed.

Monday - The usual Monday routine. Before class, I had McDonald's with Dwight, and it was a good chance to catch up with him since he lives with the guys in Wannamaker, and I live with the girls in Edens, and we don't get to see as much of each other as we did last year. Then I headed to Wilson Gym, where I had to do a 10-minute basic swim skills test for rowing. We just had to stay afloat in the water and not touch the sides or bottom for 10 minutes. It wasn't that difficult, but since I'm not used to swimming for long (or to me it was long, at least!) periods of time with no rest, I was pretty tired. Good thing I passed, though! After that, I headed to the Bryan Center to get funding to publish our Summer 2010 issue of the Duke Journal of Public Affairs, which should come out in the next couple of weeks! Then I headed to Art History with Gabby. After class, I met with the director of undergraduate studies for Art History and discussed my second major plans. It was a pretty brief meeting, and it seemed like I was on track, so that was good news! After, I headed to Brill Media Room in Cameron Indoor Stadium for a Chronicle sports meeting with the athletic staff's sports information directors, where we introduced ourselves and got to meet the staff we would be working with for the year in terms of setting up interviews, getting information, etc. I then got working on reading some of my French novel then met up with Gabby, Stephen Han, Dwight, and Mike for dinner at Panda Express, where we discussed illegal immigration and multiculturalism. After that, Gabby and I headed to The Link, where we snagged a Group Study Room and worked on homework. Wonjo came by after and did work with us. Now it's time for bed and a long day tomorrow!!

Sidenote: Alabama game this weekend. It's going to be epic! I wonder how we'll perform against them...

Another one?!

2010-09-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

Time sure passes by really quickly!! I can't believe it's already been four full days since I last updated. I could have sworn I just did it a couple of days ago! I'll definitely need to pay more attention to time and keep this blog exciting to read with new entries and pictures!

What have I been up to?

Monday - Since it was Labor Day, it was a staff holiday, meaning I didn't have work that morning! I did, however, still have class. We talked more about Impressionism (of course), but moved away from talk about salons and the academy and instead focused on some impressionists themselves and their inspiration. After class, Gabby and I walked right off of East Campus and went to Bruggher's Bagels, which is absolutely amazingly delicious! My favorite there is the Asiago Parmesan with Honey Walnut cream cheese. Thinking about it right now is making my tummy make sounds! I bought a few bagels for the week and have munching on them for breakfast. Their Cinnamon Sugar is also very delicious, and I have yet to try some more! After that, we had our first tennis practice of the year on East Campus, where I got to meet some of the new girls on the team. We hit around for a bit and then played doubles, which was a great way to get to know the new players better. When practice was over, I headed back to West Campus and relaxed for the rest of the evening, doing work and going to sleep early.

Tuesday - Incredibly busy day! I started off going to my American Politics class and reviewing some things about the constitution, public interest, etc. From there, I grabbed a vanilla latte from Twinnie's (which brews Starbucks coffee!) and headed to my Ethics class. We had a long, interesting discussion about the Book of Job again and what ethics are, if they're defined by adjectives like integrity, honesty, selflessness, etc., or if ethics were relative, and they could not be confined to a black-and-white definition. After that, I headed over to the Bryan Center and met up with my roommate and a friend and grabbed lunch at McDonald's, which has daily specials all day that are great for the college kid's diet (though not necessarily for his/her health). Then, I headed out and went to office hours for my Stats class just to double-check something. Turns out I did everything right--a great way to start off the first problem set for the class. Then, I went to my Stats class, and we talked about probability, something I learned in sophomore year of high school but had forgotten until the lecture, which jogged my memory. We went over a few examples, and the professor explained everything logically and stopped to answer questions, so everybody seemed to understand the concept pretty well. After that, I headed to my French seminar, where we discussed Shan Sa's novel, La Joueuse de Go (The Joy of Go--the Chinese checkers/chess-like board game), which is a very interesting read. We read the first 23 chapters of the book for Tuesday, and it was written in brief chapters with alternating perspectives--one from a girl living in Manchuria during the Japanese invasion, and the other a Japanese soldier. At first it was confusing because it was hard to differentiate the voice, but after a while, it became more distinct, and I was curious to find out how the two related, and how that connected with the title of the novel. After that, I ran back to my room to get changed for my first rowing practice. We all waited for the bus, which took us to Lake Michie, and we got an introduction of the boathouse and got a chance to take the boat out and sit in it, but not do any rowing because we hadn't been cleared with physicals yet. After that, I got back and had dinner with one of the girls at The Loop, where I tried the grilled fish sandwich, which was absolutely to-die-for. I'm definitely getting that again next time! I came back and did some more work and talked with Gabby and Caroline before finally getting to bed after a long, but exilhirating day!

A picture from the middle of the bus

I didn't get a chance to take pictures at the lake since I left all of my stuff on the bus, but hopefully next time!

Wednesday - I woke up pretty early in the morning since I had work at 8. I was pretty busy, working on the Sanford School website and getting in contact with people for interviews. The time passed by really quickly, and I was tempted to get something from the Sanford Deli after work, but instead, I went to the BC and saw my friend Stephanie, and we had lunch together. I had Panda Express for the first time in a while, but it was just as good (unhealthy?) as I remembered! Then I came back to my room for a little bit to relax and headed to Art History again, meeting up with Gabby at the bus stop. The professor talked more specifically about people who influenced the Impressionists, and we went over more slides and the use of color, light, perspective, etc. After that, I came back and met up with my FAClets for dinner, where I got to hear updates about their lives and how they were adjusting to school. Then I rushed over to my Duke Journal of Public Affairs meeting, where we discussed topics for our next issue. After that, I ran over (not literally, but almost), to my house course (a half-credit, pass/fail small class taught by Duke students and moderated by a professor/adviser, who shows up to a couple of the sessions), called Women & International Development. We spent some time getting to know each other before jumping into the topic of women, education, economic growth, etc., and it was a great introduction to what the class would be about, and I'm really excited for it. House courses are a great way to discuss topics that interest you without having the time commitment/workload of being a regular class. After that, I went to The Tower with Caroline, where I tried their Grilled Cheese + tomato and avocado. It was an interesting combination, but I liked it. I also had a side of mashed red potatoes instead of mac & cheese, and it was absolutely delicious. I think I'm going to try one of the salads next time, or the burger, and get a side of sweet corn...Yum. I can't wait! All this talk about food is making me hungry!! I got back and did work, had a mini dance party in my room with Gabby and Caroline, and went to bed.

The Tower has awesome beverages--including old-school, limited-edition Mountain Dew bottles, glass soda ginger ale, orange creme, & creme soda, and this delightful thing called MASH, which is kind of like an Izze--a carbonated beverage that's not as sweet as soda, so sort of like a carbonated vitamin water, I guess?

Thursday - Long day again! Started off with my American Politics class, where we talked about the social contract between American citizens and its government, in addition to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, etc. My Ethics class didn't meet because the professor had to go to a conference, so I took advantage of the time and took a quick nap before heading out to dinner with my Chi Omega family. We ate at the Refectory--FYI: they have an amazing tomato soup. After talking about what we did over the summer and the wonderful experience of studying abroad (they studied in France over the summer and Australia last fall), I got really excited for next Fall--keeping my fingers crossed!--in Paris. Then I headed out to my Stats class, where he mentioned more formulas about probability and focused on a lot more examples, including ones about Bayes Theorem. After that, I went to my French seminar, where we discussed the next 23 chapters of the novel (they finally meet in chapter 45!!), including the style of the novel, the voices of the different characters, and what the story is about, as well as the setting and context. Then I headed to rowing practice, where we got to see the rowing room--filled with machines--and the Duke Women's Rowing's locker room, which we can use! We also got to see the varsity weight room and training room, as well as the academic center, where student-athletes can study, request tutors, etc. Then we learned the proper technique for rowing before heading out to get our physicals done. With that out of the way, I'm really excited for an exciting (real) practice on the water tomorrow!! I came back and had dinner with all the Pegram kids at Bali Hai, a Mongolian bbq place right off of Ninth St./East Campus. Then Caroline and I came back and did some work before a couple of our friends dropped by to chat and hang out. Now it's time for sleep. Long day ahead. Good night!

Also--sorry about the lack of pictures! I have several more to post from the quad games, which I realized I didn't post! The email from my phone wasn't working, though, so I couldn't send them through. I'll try and post them within the next two days, though!!

First week - done!

2010-09-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday, which means I'm officially done with the first week of school and about to begin the second week. This week has been so crazy getting adjusted to classes and activities! & It's just about to get crazier. Here's a quick breakdown of what happened the past week.. and pictures, of course, though most of them are from the end of the week.

Wednesday - Started my first day of work as one of two Communications Interns at the Sanford School of Public Policy. I was pretty busy the entire time working on the upcoming newsletter, a summer reading list from faculty, etc. I'll be learning how to make changes to the webpage on Wednesday (no work on Monday since it's a staff holiday, but I still have class). The building's awesome, but definitely hard to navigate. It's all in a square, but some stairs go down and some go up, and there are great study places throughout the middle to study with tables, comfy couches, and chairs. It's definitely really cold in there, though, so I'll be bringing a sweater to work on Wednesday! My work station is right above the Sanford Deli, so I can smell all the delicious food. I tried the deli for the first time, and I loved the menu! Since it's the school of public policy, all of the sandwiches are named different things, like The Fillibuster, The Page, etc. I tried The Fillibuster, and it was amazing! I'll definitely try a different one on Wednesday and tell you about it!! After work, I headed to Art History again and learned about salons and how impressionism was a really radical, rebel movement. I never really thought about that since impressionism doesn't seem all that crazy to me (relative to Duchamp, Kandinsky, etc.), but I guess it was during the time, especially when religious and historical paintings were at the top of the hierarchy, and suddenly Manet (the so-called "Father of Impressionism") came out with Olympia and Le Dejeuner sur L'herbe and there was a naked figure lying on the grass--something so shocking for the time that people immediately shunned him and talked about him. I think it's fascinating how these things change over time and how the definition of art is so fluid.. Anyway, back to my day. After class, my friend Will and I went to go pick up Stephen from the Amtrak station (literally a 2-minute drive from Duke) since he rode down from Maryland to come visit everyone (he's studying in Venice in the Fall and just arrived earlier today). He brought me a lobster stuffed animal (named "Lobby"--original, no?). Pictures now (only two for this day, unfortunately).

Two books that the lady I'm working with--Jackie Ogburn--had published and were sitting in front of the window!!

An awesome picture of Lobby clinging to the back of the front seat in the car

Thursday - Stephen left early in the morning, so my friend Drew and I dropped him off at the Amtrak station again. I had my Ethics class in the morning, and we discussed a lot about The Book of Job, which I'll mention later in my recap of Friday since we had a 15-person discussion section about it. After that, I took a nap and grabbed a quick bite to eat from the cafe--Bella Union--upstairs. Then I went to Stats class, where we learned about means, standard deviation, etc. Then, I headed to French class, and we talked about what it meant to be a Francophone author and about writers' identity when they are foreign to the place in which they're writing (ex: Chinese writers in Paris). We also discussed why Paris is the city of literature and about salons, language, etc. We just started reading La Joueuse de go for homework, so I'll be sure to update everyone about that. I'm in a couple of pages, but hopefully I'll get a better idea of what it's about as I keep reading. After class, I met up with my friend Sagar and Caroline and we studied in the Bella Union since it's a very relaxed good place to just meet up with someone or to get some work done. We worked for a few hours and then went downstairs to The Tower and grabbed dinner with 15 other people from Pegram for Caroline's 20th birthday!! The food was delicious, and we had red velvet cake after. Then we all went to hang out in the guys' room in Few Quad and stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to rest up for Friday.

A picture of the menu--it used to be called "Tommy's" & they have amazing sides and food!!

Friday - I had my first Stats lab, which was sort of frustrating at first because we couldn't log in to the computers, and the program was expired on the computers. But after a while, we finally got it to work, and the lab went by smoothly. We were sorting through data of CEOs of head companies from 1994 and figuring out things like how many graduated from Duke, which professional degree (MBA, JD, no degree, etc.) had the highest total compensation. The lab was really easy, and it was a great way for us to get acquainted with the JMP program. After lab, I went back to my room and relaxed before heading out again for my afternoon Ethics discussion section. It was great because it was a small group, and everyone had something to say and contributed. I left the room with a lot more insight into the book than I had when I entered the room and heard a lot of different things from both sides of the conversation. I distinctly remember thinking while I was there that I was so happy to be at Duke and surrounded by people who had so many ideas and disagreed (nicely!) about a lot of things, and that allowed us all to think about different angles of the book we hadn't really thought about before. The 1-1/2 hour discussion went by really quickly, and I'm definitely looking forward to this week's section. After classes, I headed to the Duke Store and finally got my NCAA champions shirt!!--for both basketball and lacrosse. Then I took the bus to East Campus and helped table for Club Tennis & Duke Journal of Public Affairs at the Activities Fair. It was pretty hectic with a lot of people visiting all the tables, and it was definitely hot. It was great, though, because Duke's radio station was at the fair, as well as inflatables, and an ice cream truck where everything was free! I ended up getting an ice cream sandwich and a Dora the Explorer popsicle!! At night, all the girls got ready to go out for the night since there was an 80s party (as well as an "Into the City" themed one, a toga party, and a black light party!), and it was a lot of fun because Caroline's two friends from UNC & Elon came along, and so did Gabby's two friends from College of Charleston & UNC. We had a lot of fun and came back kind of early since we were ridiculously tired.

Saturday - We slept in and grabbed lunch at Alpine Atrium then headed back and talked for a bit before meeting up with Caroline's parents for Tailgate. After lunch, as we were walking back, inflatables were set up on the main quad on West Campus since it was Sophomore Game Day, and Caroline and I ended up doing the race (inside one of the inflatables) and saw our friends there who decided to sumo wrestle in the fat suits and do some of the other games. After all that, Caroline, me, and Megan (her friend from Elon) went to the parking lot to meet up with Caroline's parents and friends, and we sat around relaxing and eating before the 7pm game against Elon (which we won 41-27!!). The game was really packed, and everything was pretty hectic with food vendors everywhere. At halftime, we met up with her parents again and had some more food, and Gabby and I met up and headed back for a bit since we were tired, then came back after the game to sing happy birthday for Caroline and try some of her mom's super delicious homemade pound cake!! Then all of us headed back, and we did some work, and Caroline and Megan watched Gilmore Girls for a bit before calling it a night.

Sunday - I woke up this morning and headed to East Campus since it was club tennis tryouts! We watched all the girls play and accepted seven of them for the traveling team, and the rest for the practice team. The weather was perfect, and the girls looked good. It makes me excited for the upcoming year! After that, I had lunch with Steph at Bruegger's Bagels, and it was absolutely delicious!! I had the Asiago Parmesan bagel with Honey Walnut cream cheese. Gabby and I are planning on getting a dozen after class tomorrow, since Bruegger's is right off of East Campus. After that, I came back and started writing this blog post--which I'm still doing! I'm about to head to office hours for Stats, though, since I just wanted to check one of my questions. This week will be ridiculously hectic, so I'll try to update often so I won't have it all lumped up into one. I don't have work tomorrow, which lets me rest more, but tennis practice starts tomorrow! Then I have rowing (Ahhh I'm so nervous/excited!!) on Tuesday and Thursday, and I'll be playing tennis with Steph on Wednesday. Then it's back to rowing on Friday and Saturday, and if I have time, I might be able to make it to the away match against Elon on Saturday (for tennis), as well. I'm also meeting with my FAClets for dinner and have a Duke Journal meeting and a chapter meeting on Sunday for Chi Omega. Ridiculous. I'll definitely keep you all updated on how my crazy schedule goes!! (& I'll try and have more pictures next time!!)

Second Day of Classes!!

2010-08-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm ready to post a new update since I've gone to pretty much all of my classes (with the exception of one that I'm dropping/adding another). I'm really excited for this semester! I'm trying to eat healthier and definitely getting a lot of exercise living so far from the main quad, but I think it's a good thing!

Just a brief post (I know I haven't updated in a week), but I'll tell you about how my classes are and try to update every two days from here on!!

I went to my Art History class (History of Impressionism), which was really awesome because we went over the syllabus briefly then went straight into the material, and Prof. Antliff talked a lot about French history, artists, and he used a French accent, which made everything seem much more authentic. After class, my friends and I all met up and we went to the Sophomore BBQ on the quad and then the Forever Duke alumni party, where we got more free food (including ice cream bars!!) and a 2013 t-shirt!! At night, I just read a little bit and then headed over to another dorm to hang out with the guys since we live in separate dorms this year. Then I headed back and called it a night and got ready for the next day of classes.

First, I grabbed breakfast from Alpine Bagels with four other friends. I got the Good Morning Camper, which is sausage (or bacon or ham, I think), egg, and cheese, all in a bagel (you pick the kind!!) I ended up only eating half of it, so I'm saving the rest for tomorrow morning! I went to my ethics class after, which was great and got me really excited for the year. We talked about questions about morals in religious life, child development, and in our daily lives in general. It was great having a talk about ethics relative to regular day life rather than ethics as a subset of philosophy. After ethics, I went back to my room and figured out my schedule with rowing then got ready for Stats 103. I found a couple of friends in the class, so that was nice, and the professor seemed really friendly and willing to help, and he introduced a new side of statistics, one that deals with real-life problems as opposed to the standard mathematical issues dealt with in calculus. Then I went to French 111, a seminar about Chinese Identity in Paris. After not taking French for a semester, I was afraid I would be rusty, so it was kind of strange going into an environment where people had spoken French for at least five years and spoke fluently, but it was fun. I definitely love taking a language, especially when classes are small and foster in-depth and personal conversations.

Duke classes were definitely something I didn't realize I missed over the summer. Sure, there's a ton of homework and reading--your typical workload--but I missed being in that intellectual environment and having really interesting discussions with everyone, even in other languages! I missed hearing from professors and learning new things (or maybe reviewing things), and listening to other students' insight, perspectives I had never really thought about or seen before. I'm glad classes are back, even if it means I have three chapters of Art History to read by tomorrow and a bunch more homework for Thursday. Off into the land of Manet.. au revoir!

C/O 2014 moves in tomorrow!!

2010-08-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

It's getting late, and I should be sleeping soon, but I'm super excited to meet all the new freshmen!! But now, for this week..

Monday-Tuesday: Serena and I headed to UCLA in the afternoon, and that was super fun! We met up with my best friend Kevin and his friend Caitlin and headed to Santa Monica Beach/Pier right near UCLA to check out the place. Needless to say, it was super fun and amazing, and I had Bubba Gump's for the first time!! After, we headed back to UCLA and then went to Diddy Riese, which is this amazing cookie/ice cream place where they had super cheap and delicious ice cream sandwiches! Then, we headed to Pasadena/LA (near USC), where I met up with my other best friend Connie, who works at 21 Choices, a Coldstone-like frozen yogurt place right outside of USC. Serena and I then went back to UCLA and stayed over at Kevin's frat's house and left in the morning and grabbed pho for lunch. Deeee-licious! Dinner was with the relatives who were flying to Texas that night, and it was really yummy again!

Wednesday - I had lunch with my friend Mike and then went with my dad to get a haircut. It feels super nice now since it's shorter, and it's perfect for the summer weather!!

Thursday - In the morning, I went to the dentist for a checkup, and good news! I don't have to get my wisdom teeth pulled out yet. Woohooo! After, I went to lunch with my mom at Le Diplomate Cafe at Brea Mall, and we had calimari, a fish sandwich, and a linguine. They were all delicious! After, I came home and hung out with Serena again, and my friend David came over, as well as my cousins Jon & Dexter and Jessie and Nevin who were with them at the time. We talked for a long time, and then they all had to get going, so I went swimming in the backyard, which was super refreshing, though it got a little cold near the end. After, we went to dinner at a small Chinese cafe sort of place, and then I went home and packed to leave for LAX. It was great being home, and I was really excited to be back at Duke, but I wish I could have stayed a bit longer, especially since I was only home for around 2-3 weeks this entire summer. But, anyway.. pictures!

Friday - I got to Duke at 6 in the morning, and Gabby picked me up from RDU. Then, we slept for a while at her house (in Durham), and then I went with her to get a haircut and we moved in all our stuff. It took a while, and it was pretty heavy/hot carrying everything in, but it wasn't too bad overall. After all that, we had FAC (first-year advisory counselor) training for a while then went to bed early since I was jet-lagged.

Saturday - We had another long day of training from 10am-5pm, but it was great because we had a scavenger hunt, which was fun!!

Youngest to Oldest

Shortest to Tallest

Leap frog

The Link!

Multimedia Project Studio in Old Chem

Spelling out "Pegram!"

With one of our RA's from last year, Lawrence!

Locopops!

The Outpost

Sunday - More FAC training in the afternoon/evening and then painting the bridge going to East Campus from Campus Drive! And then in the evening, I went to Chronicle to copy edit. & Here are some pictures from the Recess hallway and the sports hallway!

Monday - More FAC training then dinner at one of our co-head FAC's apartment on central! We had breakfast for dinner.. delicious!

Time to sleep!!

Soon!

2010-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Waiting on some pictures so that I can finish up my blog! In the meantime, just a short update--I'm back at Duke (just moved in yesterday), and I'm SUPER EXCITED to meet all the freshmen on Tuesday!

Once the school year starts, I'll be updating more regularly, twice a week at the least, with more detailed things about Duke life.

Fast week!

2010-08-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been up to so much since last Sunday, so here goes! Also, I know this summer I've been updating approximately once a week, so I usually do brief recaps and pictures, but once school starts again (August 30), I'll be updating at least twice a week with more detailed experiences like before, so look forward to that! Now.. for this week!

Monday - Work. Relatively uneventful..

Tuesday - Crazy day! In the morning, I got an assignment to research a little bit, so I looked up public records and things like that. After, I got a chance to go to Wake County Courthouse with one of our cops reporters, so that was really cool! We met at 2:30 in the newsroom and headed out, since the courthouse was a block or two from The News & Observer office. We first went to the public records department to look up information and then later across the street to look up some more records (traffic information, etc.), so that was really fun. I had been to the courthouse before to do a public records search during a journalism camp in high school, but I hadn't done it in a while, and it was great seeing how everything worked! I was too fascinated by everything that I forgot to take pictures, but here are some images I found on Google of the courthouse!

Later in the afternoon, I got the chance to interview NC Central professor (& wheelchair basketball player) Dr. Andrea Woodson-Smith. It was pretty difficult trying to find the Walker complex at NCCU, but I ended up talking to her for almost an hour, so that was tons of fun! She was a bench player for the USA Women's Team at the International Wheelchair Basketball tournament, and she ended up saving the day in the women's championship match against Germany, blocking a shot with 19 seconds left on the clock! Read more about her here--my last story published for The N&O! After that, I headed back, had dinner, and relaxed.

Wednesday - My last day at The N&O! The summer seemed to pass by really slowly and really quickly at the same time. I learned so much from the internship (and living alone and having responsibilities), but at the same time, I was pretty ready to go home and see my family and friends. I got into work and worked on the story I mentioned earlier then went to lunch with my editor and two other reporters. We went to this nice Lebanese restaurant called Sitti, 3-4 blocks from the office. I didn't get any pictures of the food since I was afraid I'd be awkward to, but I did find some nice pictures of the restaurant on Google!

After lunch, I headed out in the mid-afternoon to prepare for my flight later that night. After leaving Raleigh, I headed to Duke for a job interview for an internship for the fall. then, I got ready for the airport and went with Stephen to Cook-Out for the last meal and waited at the airport. Wednesday night--and five hours later--I finally arrived at LAX! I know you're not supposed to have electronics on toward the end, but here are some blurry pictures with the skylights from lA! (They don't capture the place at all, though..)

Thursday morning, I woke up early and went to George's Hamburgers with my friends David and Serena. We got breakfast burritos--which are massive and absolutely delicious.

Half of the burrito & a mini cup (saucer?) of Ranch.

After, Serena and I came over to my house and we tanned/went swimming, which was awesome, because I missed the pool and the nice weather! After talking for a long time outside, Serena left and my dad and I went to Costco to pick up some groceries. I continued reading Everything Matters!, the Duke class of 2014 summer reading book (because I need to lead a discussion on it later as a FAC). Then, we had a nice home-cooked meal!

After dinner, I went to Brea Mall with my parents to buy presents for my grandma's surprise birthday party on Sunday. Then, I met up with a bunch of my friends, like 20 of them, and had boba/bubble tea at Boba Loca then came back to my house with David and my cousins Dexter and Jon to play mahjong. Needless to say, it was a busy but extremely successful/fun day!!

Friday - I had lunch with my dad in the afternoon at Farmer's Boys, and it was great. I love having talks with my dad, and we ended up talking for almost two hours before I headed out to a frozen yogurt place--Berry Cool--to meet up with the Accolade kids (staff members of my high school newspaper). It was great catching up with the kids my year and the ones a year younger and finding out where they were going to college. Then, I went with Jennifer to Party City to buy some decorations for my grandma's party, and look what I found!

Saturday was a pretty crazy day! I hung out with my best friend Kevin from UCLA & Nishant from UCSD. They both were taking classes/working in labs, but they came home for the weekend, so we had a day-long adventure! We met up for lunch at this restaurant called Guppy's, and we ate SO MUCH. I'm still full from that, and that was a few days ago.. We had pineapple fried rice, which was actually served in a pineapple!, brick toast (really thick toast with a flaky butter layer on top), popcorn chicken, and a huge shaved ice thing with strawberries! After, we went to our old neighborhoods--turns out we all used to live 10-15 minutes away from each other, all before we even met!! I got to see the house I lived in from when I was born to 4th grade, and after, we went to Tri-City Park and ended up talking a lot about the future and watching a bunch of kids running around for birthday parties. Then, we headed back to my house to walk my dog back from the pet grooming place across the street. We talked for a long time at my house then decided that we'd finish our reminiscing tour by visiting my and Nishant's elementary school, Laguna Road, and all three of our junior high's-- Parks Jr. High. The places had changed a lot, but it was fun swinging on the swings and just walking around. Then we had boba, which was delicious. We finally grabbed Yoshinoya--a fast food Japanese food kind of place--for dinner and went our separate ways since I wanted to get a good night's rest for the next day's party, and both of them had places to go early in the morning. Pictures!

Sunday was my grandma's surprise birthday party, so a bunch of relatives came over in the afternoon, and then me, Dexter, and Jon went over to the restaurant to decorate the place. I didn't take any pictures, but I'll put some up soon once my relatives email them over!!

Monday I had lunch with my friend Nicole at California Pizza Kitchen. Then we wandered around the mall, and I found this cute shop called The Daisy Shoppe and saw a bunch of cupcake/ice cream-like things that were really manicure sets, towels, lip gloss, etc.! Now I'm heading to UCLA with Serena to see Kevin again. Woohoo! Updates again once I'm at Duke!

Get ready!

2010-08-15T23:45:00.001-07:00

New post coming tomorrow! I'm working on it right now, but I'm getting tired (jetlagged), so it'll be out tomorrow (with pictures!) Also.. Durham on Friday! :)

Three more days?!

2010-08-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! Only three more days of my internship. The 10-week internship at The News & Observer (newspaper) in Raleigh went by so quickly! I've written 48 articles (as of tomorrow), and I have three days left to go. That's roughly equal to an article a day. Great exposure for someone who's an intern working for a newspaper which ranks 60th among the top papers in the U.S. by circulation (# of readers). Can't wait to see what's in store for the next few days before finally going home to my family!! :) But.. get ready. A quick recap of what I've done last week, coupled with a wholee bunch of pictures. Prepare yourselves!

Also, sorry there are some gaps without much description. I always forget what to write down what I do, and with my memory, that's not always a good idea. Well, here goes!

Monday - I wasn't feeling too well since I think I got food poisoning over the weekend, so I worked from home, cranking out a few stories and emailing them in. I started feeling better in the afternoon, and Time Warner came around the complex to install new Internet jacks, so I was left without Internet for a little bit. After, I realized that I had to mail something out, so I headed to the Hallmark store near my apartment that has a post office, and I ended up spending a lot of time there just looking around. There are so many neat gifts there! Then I went back to my apartment and made dinner then called it an early night.

Tuesday - Empty on my calendar, so a day at the office working on stories. I don't really remember what else I did. I think I read or went for a walk.. or maybe both!? Oh, I remember now. I went to have dinner at the Q Shack with Gabby & Aditya, and it was delicious! After, we walked around the Duke Gardens, which was super nice, and there were tons of ducks there, so that was fun. Then, I headed back home and stopped by Sheetz to get gas, but my car wouldn't start!! So I had to get it jump-started by Stephen (who came to pick me up), and I dropped the car off at a body shop I knew. Also! During all of this, my tire was going flat since the air valve was broken. Horrible luck, really. Finally called it a night and rested up to get up early and head to the body shop to check on my car.

Wednesday - Super hectic day! Went to the body shop early in the morning and waited until the tire was fixed, which didn't take too long. I drove over to Cary to interview the USA Women's Baseball Team and write up a story on them. It was great watching them play since I used to love playing baseball when I was young. After, as I was about to head out of the lot, my car wouldn't start again! Good thing I got lucky and someone had just driven into the parking lot, and he had a jumper cable to start my car up for me. I headed straight back to the body shop and worked on my story while the mechanics replaced the car battery. Then, since I wasn't finished with the story, I headed to Perkins Library (at Duke) and met up with Gabby & Aditya again and finished that up. The library itself is so amazing. It made me miss Duke! We got a group study room, and basically three walls are all made of whiteboard, so we could write all over them, and the room is relatively soundproof so in the middle of working/reading/studying, we could talk to each other and play music. I love the Link (basement of Perkins), it's so hip! Then I headed back to my apartment after a long day. Phew!

Thursday - Work as usual, and then I headed to the Duke area again for my last time volunteering at the Nasher before school started. I headed to Chai's Noodle Bar, right outside of Duke, which had a wide variety of Asian noodle types of food, so that was delicious. I got to the Nasher right before the thunderstorm started. I could hear it after I stepped in.. There was a talk by the museum's director followed by a reception, so it was pretty busy for the first part. There weren't that many people there though, since there was a big thunderstorm that lasted for a while, so I'm guessing that turned away people. I'm excited, though, because when I come back, I'll be able to see the Nasher's newest exhibit, one about vinyl records!! I went home and started packing my stuff away so I could move out. I'm staying with a friend for a couple of days since my lease is up and I leave soon. That was tiring, but I finally finished, so that was relieving.

Friday - The movers from the furniture rental company came in the morning and took away my furniture, and I headed out to Cary to go to the RailHawks practice to work on a preview story for Saturday night's game. I headed to Durham after that to drop off my stuff at Gabby's house and pick it back up when I move back in. Boy, moving really took forever!! Where did I get so much stuff?! Then, I had a nice dinner with Stephen at Cheesecake Factory at Streets at Southpoint, which was delicious and super filling. The weather was nice, so we walked around for a bit and saw some people performing--one was singing and dancing on a stage, kind of like an Elvis impersonation, but not of Elvis, and one was juggling. It was great! Pictures now!

Saturday - Heated up the leftover food from Cheesecake Factory before heading to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. It wasn't that big of a museum, but it had an extensive collection of Italian Art, African Art, Rodin sculptures, and other contemporary works. I have a bunch of pictures below, but to summarize it in a few words (since I know my words definitely can't describe the paintings I saw), it was amazing seeing that kind of art collection in a city other than Los Angeles or New York. After wandering around the art museum until it closed, we headed to Best Buy to pick up a couple of rechargeable batteries for Stephen's camera then went to eat at Jibarra, a nice Mexican restaurant in downtown Raleigh. The food was delicious and in quite large portions, so that was good. I ended up having the tacos leftover for lunch the next day!

Sunday - Woke up and had leftover tacos, which were cold (from the fridge), but still good. Then, I headed to NC Central's gym to cover the SJG Greater NC Pro-Am summer basketball league's championship game. Before that game, though, there were wheelchair games going on with teams from Bridge II Sports (founded by Ashley Thomas, who I wrote about earlier). Then, there was a team of Josh Powell, John Wall, Jawad Williams who were on wheelchairs and played against the winning Bridge II Sports team (video coming up soon!), and it made me realize how blessed I was to not have physical disabilities. Later on, I got the chance to meet Rodney Rogers there, who is a Durham native and played in the NBA for 12 years before retiring in 2005. He got in a dirt bike accident in 2008, where he became paralyzed from the shoulders down, and this past year, he founded The Rodney Rogers foundation, which aims to help those who are paralyzed or in wheelchairs with medical bills, and the like. I've been talking to a lot of these sorts of people lately, and it's been really inspiring. After all that was the championship game, and D1 sports won--Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins were on the team.. Duke represent! After, Stephen and I went to Mellow Mushroom again, and it was packed since there was Durham Bulls game. Needless to say, the food was amazing.

That's all for now! Work the next three days and then off to relax (hopefully) at home!

10 days.

2010-08-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Til I'm home, my dad told me. I love how my parents are keeping mental countdowns of the days until they can see me. I can't wait! But now.. this week. Be warned. A lot of pictures from yesterday!!

Monday - Pretty mellow day, worked on stories, got back into the routine of things after the weekend. Nothing too exciting, I don't think. Oh, random side story, though. Stephen and his friends (all Dukies) live off-campus for the summer, and they all decided to have a reunion (so, that's.. 7-8 boys in total who all lived together in Wilson dorm their freshman year). And what exactly does that entail? A wing draft. Trust me, I was confused when I first heard of it, too. Basically.. they all meet up at Wing Stop, order a different flavor of wings.. and draft. To sum it up, my friend's Facebook status was, "8 people. 150 wings. Two tubs of baked beans, two orders of fries, plus vegetables. All gone. The Wing Draft lives." Epic.

Tuesday - Worked on a couple stories, one was about Ashley Thomas, who I referenced in the post earlier. Check it out here! It was my first story on the display of the Sports section, which means it was the story with the biggest picture and was seen above the fold of the page. Woohoo! Later that night, I went to a Carolina RailHawks (soccer) game, which was fun. It was raining, so that kind of sucked, but otherwise, it was great, and I got to interview a couple of the players after for this story!

Wednesday - Went into work in the morning and was told I had another "breaking news" assignment! I headed over to NC State to write about a couple of drills that were going on between Wake County EMS (emergency services) and NC State's football team's athletic trainers. It was pretty cool watching them clip off the helmet of a fake (he was an athletic trainer) "unconscious" football player and carry him off on the stretcher then wheeled off the field on a gator. I got back to the office, cranked out the story, and it was posted online about 10 minutes after that as a breaking news story. And.. it was also the display for the next day!! I was supposed to have dinner with kids from the tennis team but ended up not doing that since I had to stay late at the office to work on my story. I did, however, go to Starbucks with Steph again, and we talked a bunch about random things, so that was fun!

Thursday - Worked on a couple of upcoming stories then had our last intern luncheon. We had a photographer and a reporter come in and speak to us about their trip to Haiti and the stories they wrote. The pictures from the trip were amazing. They got to visit an orphanage, stay with a baptist group, and the Haynes textile factory! Their stories and pictures were really inspiring, and they talked about going on a trip like that definitely changes your life. A little bit after the lunch, I went over to Triangle Rock Club in Morrisville to interview a 10-year-old boy who had been chosen for the USA team in rock climbing! Check it out here. He was so adorable!! And.. to top it all off. Another display! That's three in four days! After work, I headed to the Nasher Museum of Art, where I volunteered again. I met a girl who was the daughter of the Faculty-in-Residence in Bassett, and we talked a lot. The two hours passed by really quickly. Also, if I haven't mentioned it before, the Nasher is having a new exhibit coming out August 26 about vinyl records! Be sure to check it out.. it'll be awesome, I promise!

My stories! The Novice Kayaker one, then the Preparing Now, then the Climbing the walls. Yay!

Friday - Worked on the stories for Saturday's paper (I have two on that page.. the bottom right and the top one on the page on the most right). Other than that, nothing much. I had dinner with Stephen at Sushi Love, which is a Japanese restaurant right outside of Duke. It was delicious and super filling (but light).

Saturday - Slept in and got up at around noon. I finished my leftover food from the night before, and it was still delicious! Then, I met up with Stephen and we headed to the Raleigh Wide Open festival, which was just a huge fair sort of thing with a bunch of vendors, exhibitions, and bands! This site shows just a few of the things at the show. We ended up seeing one of our friends from Duke who was at the event, too! It was raining a little so that wasn't fun, but overall it was still a great experience. We also stopped by the triangle.com booth, which was part of The N&O booth, and I won a free t-shirt from the prize wheel!! We stayed there for most of the day then headed back to my apartment for a quick break since I had to interview 2010 Duke graduate Mike Posner. He was super nice and friendly, and we had a really easygoing and fun conversation. After, Stephen and I grabbed dinner at the No. 1 rated place on Yelp! in Raleigh, J. Betski's, a German place. The food was absolutely amazing!! I'll post a picture below. After, we headed back to the Wide Open and saw fireworks. Great way to end the day! Prepare for an onslaught of pictures..

(It's pork.. but I think it looks like fish!)

Sunday - Just had a quick lunch at Sonic's then headed to Crabtree Valley Mall to buy a new wallet with an owl. Yay! Great weekend.

Another busy week!

2010-07-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, this week has just been so busy! Be warned.. this post is long! The first segment is the usual: what I've been up to in the past week with pictures. The second segment is more insightful--it's my thoughts on what I think is the purpose of being a journalist, so that part is below. Here's to a long post!

Friday (July 16) - Headed up to Maryland and got in pretty late at night because of traffic and leaving after work. Went straight to bed! Nothing too exciting there.

Saturday (July 17) - Ate in for lunch then headed to Columbia Mall to look at the iPhone 4 for Stephen. After that, we drove back and got ready for the Jack Johnson concert! We got to Merriweather Post Pavillion at around 5:30 when the doors opened and walked around looking for food, shirts, etc. We finally settled down on a towel on the lawn at around 6:00 and waited for the first show to come on. The first was Animal Liberation Orchestra, and they sang a couple of songs for 30 minutes. Then, we waited around for some more, and G-Love came on and performed an acoustic set. Here's one of his songs on YouTube! Finally, at around 9:00, Jack Johnson came on! He was just as good live as he is in his recordings. He didn't talk too much to the audience, but he did play for two hours, and I knew the words to every single song, so it was tons of fun. After the concert, we went out for a late dinner at Uno's, which is a Chicago-style restaurant. Then, we finally headed home, exhausted. Pictures now!

Sunday - Stayed around in the house for a while while Stephen did some chores. Then, we headed to a local frozen yogurt place--Yogi Castle--and grabbed froyo with two of his friends from high school. We all talked for a while before going our separate ways. We then hung around the house and watched Despicable Me (which was amazingly funny!) and then got ready for dinner at home. After dinner, we packed up and hit the road again so we could be in time for work the next morning.

Monday - At work, I got back into the jist of things and in the afternoon, I headed out to interview Mike Costanzo for a story I wrote on him. It was ridiculously hot as usual, but I think I'm getting used to it. In the evening, I headed to Durham to grab dinner at TGIF with my friend Aditya and watched Inception after with Stephen and his friends. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend it. It was mind-blowing. In a good awy.

Tuesday - I headed out early from my apartment to Lake Crabtree to interview Ashley Thomas, a woman who was picked to be on the U.S. Paracanoe team. She founded her own non-profit organization, Bridge II Sports, which helps create sports opportunities for those with physical and mental disabilities. She was a great person to talk to. Be on the look-out for a story to be published about her later this week! Here are some pictures from the lake.

Wednesday - I went to work and worked on a couple of stories and drafted a few briefs. After work, I headed to the North Regional library near my apartment and got a library card that can be used at any Wake County Library. I ended up staying there for 2-3 hours just reading and came home with three books--two by John Grisham and one by Kurt Vonnegut. After I grabbed dinner at Moe's for the first time, and they were giving out free queso! After, I met up with Stephen and we went to Starbucks and chatted for a bit before walking around in the plaza near Brier Creek Parkway. There are a million things to do there, with four shopping centers right near the Glenwood & Brier Creek intersection. It was epic!

Thursday - Tons of fun! Worked on a couple stories for the week, and before I knew it, it was lunch time! I headed to our weekly Intern Luncheon with Pam Nelson, who is a copy editor at The N&O. It was great because we got the chance to play grammar jeopardy, and I got to review some things I already knew and learn some new things! Turns out that it's "had proved" not "had proven." Strange, no? Pam's going to be on Jeopardy tomorrow, so definitely look for her there! It was exciting getting to talk to her, because I love Jeopardy! After the luncheon, I interviewed two people for the Chronicle Sports Blog (post coming out next Friday!) for a football season preview. Later, I met up with Stephen and we tried out a new Chinese/Japanese place called Hibachi Grill, which was all right. We headed out to Crabtree Valley Mall after and wandered around to escape from the heat. There are a bunch of stores there, and it has some stories outside of the mall itself, like restaurants (PF Chang's, Cheesecake Factory, etc.) and Barnes & Noble's, Best Buy, etc. After, we each headed back to our apartments and slept.

Friday - In the morning, I headed out to the Carolina RailHawks' practice in Cary to write a feature on them. They're the triangle's major soccer team, and they were finally coming home after being away for most of the first half of their season. A story's coming out again later this week, so be sure to check that out! After, I worked on a story that I had just gotten about Tucker Dupree, who is a 21-year-old paralympic swimmer who was diagnosed with a genetic disease that causes rapid vision lost when he was 17. Now, he only has 20% of his vision left, but he's still swimming and earning gold medals all over the place. I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing him and a couple of people who knew him, and the story is here. It isn't as long as I hoped it would be since we wrote about him before, but he definitely inspired me, even though we only talked for half an hour. At night, Stephen and I headed back to the Crabtree Valley Mall since we only got to walk around for 15 minutes the night before.

Saturday - We met up again and went to Sonic's for lunch--my favorite! Then we went to FedEx so I could mail out a package. We headed back to my apartment and played Guitar Hero for a while, which was super fun! Then, we went to North Hills Shopping Center and checked out the AT&T stores. We found The Lollipop Shop in the plaza and spent the longest time there. They have bulk candy, m&ms, candy bars, jelly beans, sweet tarts, taffy, etc. It was so much fun choosing what candy to get and making recipes out of the Jelly Bellys. We came back and played Guitar Hero for a while and went to the pool to go swimming. It was over 100 degrees, so the water felt nice, but kind of hot at the same time, too. After, we grabbed dinner at the Brier Creek Parkway area again and tried Baba Grill, a Mediterranean place that had really good reviews on Yelp. The place seemed very authentic and had good portions. After, we saw a Dairy Queen (my favorite ice cream place EVER!) and got chocolate-dipped ice cream cones. We came back and watched Meet the Fockers, which I'd never seen, and that was a funny movie, but I kept not wanting to watch because I was afraid of what would happen. Jack scares me!

Sunday - Went to Chipotle for lunch and went to Best Buy to buy a case for my phone (I got a new Eris since my old one was malfunctioning). Hung around for a while and am currently updating my blog. I'm going to head out for dinner soon, though, and meet up with Steph (I talked about her last week) for Japanese food at Sushi Love. More next week! Two and a half more weeks until I'm home.. Excited but sad the summer/my internship is ending..

Now, here comes segment two of my post.. Just my thoughts. I wrote this last Friday for my Tumblr but didn't want to post it alone on this blog without the standard what-I-did-last-week routine, so here are my thoughts now!

What exactly is a journalist’s purpose? Well, that depends on what kind of a journalist you are. An investigative journalist digs up information and shares that with you. They find the good, the bad, and the ugly, and deliver it in a way that is easy-to-read and expresses the emotion. Other types of journalism aim to correct the wrongs in society, to bring light to something that is wrong, to report on something and let the reader decide what’s right. And my favorite? The type of journalism that combines two aspects of the art—telling an event to someone who wasn’t there and relaying someone’s story to others who never had the chance to meet that person. Sports journalism.

I’ve always liked covering game stories, even if the sport is something I didn’t know anything about. Throughout my journalism career (if it can even be called a career), I’ve covered men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s golf, wrestling, softball, baseball, swimming, track and field, cross-country, women’s volleyball, football, men’s and women’s tennis, heck, I’ve even covered a triathlon event. I’ve always loved going to games and writing them, for the simple reason that I’m watching news unfold—and documenting it for others. I’m the one who has the responsibility of watching every detail while not losing sight of the big picture. I’m conveying an event to my reader, and it’s my job for that person to feel as if he or she were there. It’s my goal to make that person knowledgeable enough after reading my story that he/she can talk about it as if the event happened right in front of them (him/her, but that got too wordy). It doesn’t matter that the story is slotted to the bottom of a page in the middle of the sports section. It doesn’t matter that the story is only five paragraphs. What matters is how I told the story.

I was never really one to care about where my story went in the newspaper. Sure, being the display story (aka biggest story on the front page with a huge picture) was always nice, but that was never my goal. I don’t think that’s really any journalist’s goal. The goal is always to find the truth, the deeper meaning of something, and to share that with the world.

And that’s where another side of sports journalism comes in—feature stories, human interest stories. It’s those stories that warm your heart, those stories that make driving over an hour to interview someone worth it. Those stories you keep in queue for a month before running because they don’t have a tight deadline. I’ve been writing features all summer, all interesting people, of course. But the two most recent ones I’ve written have inspired me the most and taught me not to take everyday things for granted, like walking, driving, even typing this blog post. Since the stories haven’t run yet, I’ll abstain from using their names.

The first is a woman with minimal use of her legs. She was born with spina bifida, which means that she’s confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, but she’s done so much for the community around her. She founded a non-profit organization that creates sports opportunities for people with disabilities. The group has its own sports leagues, like basketball, rugby, boccia ball, etc. Recently, she went up to a conference on adaptive athletics—how to make sports available for people with disabilities—and went kayaking for the first time. She had surprising balance for someone who was unable to use her legs because she couldn’t use the rudder. After going out on a kayaking adventure on the river the next day, she was approached by two coaches who invited her to join the U.S. Paralympic Team in kayaking. She practices two hours every couple of days—even in 90+ degree heat—while still managing her non-profit organization. She has enthusiasm, motivation, and is wonderfully nice. Though she’s only been kayaking for a few weeks compared to others kayaking their whole lives, she never gives up and has made tremendous progress. She spoke humbly about her opportunity and about her organization, never taking credit for it, but rather focusing on those who take part in her sports leagues, allowing them to feel what athletes like most—that they have people behind them supporting them.

The second person I didn’t have the honor of meeting but spoke to him on the phone. Just two years older than me, he makes me feel infinitely less mature and inspires me to never stop reaching my goals. Appropriate for an Olympic (paralympic?) swimmer who gives inspirational talks on the side. He woke up one morning and put on his contacts, only to realize that his vision was blurred, and it wouldn’t clear up. Two months later, he found out that he had a rare genetic disease that caused rapid vision loss. That was all when he was a senior in high school. Now, he only has 20% vision, and that’s all peripheral. But that doesn’t stop him from setting world records, winning gold medals in all sorts of international competitions, and even going to Beijing to compete and earning a fourth-place finish. That wasn’t enough for him, though. After competing some more and winning six more gold medals, he’s now heading to the Olympic Training Center—one of 16 athletes competing for the U.S. paralympic swim team—to train for the 2012 Olympics in London. He was just amazing to talk to, and after hearing about his personality from those who had heard him speak, it was great. He spoke at a local Boys & Girls Club, where he gave the usual inspirational speech but mixed in small challenges we wouldn’t think of, like going on dates but not being able to drive. In fact, he told me the hardest part of all this was having to give up his driver’s license. For the past two years, I’ve taken that small piece of plastic for granted. The ability to go out late at night and just drive around, that sense of peace and tranquility that comes with being alone in a car. He made me think a lot about my life, how I take a lot of things for granted. Never once did he talk about how bad the change has been, but I can only begin to imagine what it would be like to lose sight after seeing all the lovely things in the world.

Those two people are why I love journalism. They’re the reason I’m willing to write stories I have minimal interest in. I may have not been able to tell their stories as well as I’d like with space constraints in the paper, but I’ve done the best I can, and I hope my stories of these amazing people have as much—or even just a bit—of an impact as they’ve had on me.

“I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.” - Henry R. Luce

Exciting Adventures

2010-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been so much fun!!

Friday - After work, I headed over to Duke to meet up with my friend Stephanie, who's doing research at Dr. Tuan Vo-Dinh's bioengineering lab. Check out her blog! Anyway, after that, we headed over to Raleigh and grabbed Wendy's before parking and.. get this. Snagging floor seats at the MICHAEL BUBLE concert at the RBC Center. That deserved all caps.. I was super excited. It was my first concert ever, and it didn't disappoint at all. The opener was Naturally 7, an a capella group (they prefer to think of it as "vocal play" since they become the instruments). It's really great. I recorded a video on my phone, but the quality isn't good, so I'm attaching a YouTube video below. Otherwise, I have pictures!

Video link (since it won't embed): Naturally 7

After their amazing performance, Michael Buble came out and did his famous songs. It was a lot of fun because he was always cracking jokes and keeping things high-energy. A lot of people stood up in front of their seats to dance along with the songs, and during some of the couple songs, several pairs of people went into the aisle and danced with each other. It was super cute! And, halfway through the show, he set up a second stage TWO rows behind me! I didn't take many pictures, though, as I was too excited and in the moment. I do have a couple from the Internet, though, and one from Steph when Michael ripped his pants.. but he mentioned it later really jokingly instead of being embarrassed.

After the concert, we headed back, pooped.

Saturday - Woke up at around noon to the sound of my roommate Caroline calling me and telling me she would be at my apartment in 15 minutes (she drove over from Wilmington). We then headed to Durham to meet up with Gabby. We grabbed a quick (and super delicious!) Cook-Out meal then went over to the Eno River Quarry. It's basically a hugee rock that's dug out and filled with natural (I think?) water. We parked and had to walk at least a mile to get to the place, but it was well worth it. The weather was great, and we ended up lounging around on rafts (Caroline treaded water since she's a swimmer, and she likes doing that.. Why? I have no idea.) for several hours.

After, we went back to Gabby's house (she lives in Durham) and took showers before meeting up with our friends Matt and Chris to grab dinner at the Tobacco Sports Cafe. The portions were ginormous, and the food was absolutely delicious. I'm definitely going back there again some time soon! We talked for a while after dinner before parting ways. Then, we headed to Stephen's apartment and we played a couple of games with the guys and talked before heading back to my apartment. We talked some more before finally going to sleep.

Sunday - I woke up at 6:30am after sleeping at 2:30am. Why? To cover the Triangle Triathlon for work. Since I arrived there 5 minutes after they closed the gate, I had to park outside of the park (Harris County Park) and walked THREE miles in blistering heat and humidity (and flip flops.. Bad decision) to get to the race area. It's crazy how they manage to exercise so much--I can't even imagine doing half of the triathlon! (It was 750m swim, 17.5 bike, 5k run.) I interviewed the winners and cranked out the story just as the girls were waking up. We then headed back to Duke to grab lunch at Thai Cafe (super delicious.. again!) and went our separate ways--Caroline to Target/Old Navy to buy some things, Gabby to study for her Organic Chemistry test, and me to interview Chris Davis for a story. He's a 19-year-old racer who races Legend cars and competed in a race to earn $250,000 for first place and $10,000 for last place. I went to his shop and took some pictures of his car. Check them out!

After the interview, I took a nap to try and make up for the hours of sleep I had lost. Then, I met up with one of my Chi Omega sisters, Tiffany, and her roommate, Stephanie. We went to Noodles & Co. right by Duke and chatted over dinner. After, we all had to get back so we separated.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - All pretty standard. Just went to work, came home and read, went online, etc. I don't really remember what I did.. Sorry!

Thursday - We had another Intern Luncheon, this time with Mandy and Andy. The session was on investigative reporting, and it was great! They gave us a lot of tips and shared a lot of stories with us, and they were all really exciting and inspiring. After lunch, I worked on a couple of stories before heading out to Zebulon to talk with a couple of Mudcats players and watch batting practice. Then, I headed to Duke and grabbed a quick dinner at Wendy's before going to the Nasher to volunteer. There were a lot of people who came in, and the Nasher had a new exhibit since I had last been. It's a color block one that highlights the work of two artists. I'm definitely checking it out some time next week.

Friday - Work as usual and then I"m heading to Maryland with Stephen to attend a Jack Johnson concert Saturday evening. I can't wait! More updates/pictures to come!

Fourth of July weekend!

2010-07-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over a week since I last updated. Time sure passes by quickly! Now, let's see.. What have I been up to?

Thursday - We had our intern luncheon again, which was super exciting. We got to meet Ted Richardson, one of the photographers for The N&O. He had some really great photographs, and it was tons of fun talking with him. After that, I had a couple phone interviews about local athletes who were invited to the USA Baseball Trials & Training.

Friday - A regular day at the office working on stories. I went through Lexis Nexis training and learned how to search through different newspapers for certain things, etc. It's a really cool tool. It was kind of difficult to use at first because I kept forgetting how to search for certain things, but after a while it's very useful! After the day was over, it was time for the three-day weekend!

Saturday - Me, Gabby, Stephen and his roommate Ed headed to Wrightsville Beach (in North Carolina) for the day! Wrightsville Beach is about two hours away, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous there. We headed out some time in the early afternoon and got there promptly. We first visited my roommate Caroline--who lives 30 minutes away from Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington--and stayed around until the end of the Spain-Portugal match. We talked a lot and had a lot of cookies before we got up to leave. The traffic was ridiculous around the beach, and parking was quite an ordeal. We got lucky, however! We turned into one of the beach access alleys, and a man and his wife who were about to leave gave us their parking ticket--a day pass--so we didn't have to pay since it expired at 6pm and the meters stopped working then. We hung out at the beach for a long time playing in the water and tanning (the beach was super crowded!!). After, we walked along toward downtown (I guess?) and went into Wings. For those of you who don't have Wings--like me!--it's basically this HUGE store that sells everything you can ever need by the beach. They had a bunch of souvenir t-shirts, sweaters, dresses, hats, sunglasses, boogie boards, sunscreen, floaties, even hermit crabs!! AND they had a temporary tattoo artist (the tattoo is temporary, not the artist), and I got a lovely "Los Angeles Lakers" tattoo. I felt super cool, hahah. After, we grabbed dinner at Kohl's Burgers & Custard. They're known for their custard, and they definitely lived up to my expectations. It was absolutely delicious!! It made me wish I had gotten another one--and that's saying a lot for someone who normally doesn't have dessert. After, we drove around trying to find someplace to stay that wasn't filled, but it was impossible, so we called it a night and all headed back, exhausted but glad. Now, pictures (in no particular order)! PS, gorgeous weather--like 70s-80s?!

On the bridge toward the beach; view from the car!

Sunday - Met up with Stephen around lunchtime and made some chicken nuggets at the apartment then headed out to play tennis. I hadn't played in a super long time, but it was still fun running around in the sun. After that, we headed to Duke and went swimming with his friend Kyle in the swimming pool on Central Campus. The layout of the pool was really interesting. It was 3&1/2 feet on both ends and five feet in the middle. Half of the pool was separated into lanes and the other half was open swim. The sun started going down when we got there, but the weather was still nice enough to swim. After, we all hung around at the guys' (Stephen lives with 4 other guys for the summer) apartment for a while. Then, we decided to go with a very "American" meal for Fourth of July and went to Red Robin. I lovee Red Robin! It was Kyle & Ed's first time there, and we all ended up eating a bunch. We ended up seeing half of the fireworks from the Durham Bulls park on the way back to the apartment, but we couldn't get to the park in time since they ended pretty quickly. From there, I was going to meet up with Gabby since her friends were all hanging out, but I was kind of pooped for the weekend so I headed back to Raleigh.

Monday - I don't really remember what I did. I feel like it was a lot of sleeping, though. Oh, I did have three stories published Monday, though. Oh, and I downloaded Kindle for Android to my phone and have been reading Sister Carrie. I'm about halfway done, I think, and it's a really great book. I'm not sure what I'll be reading next, but having eBooks on my phone is really encouraging me to read again. It's great! And sorry for the random thoughts, but another thing, I saw the Chik-Fil-A cow when I went in to grab something to eat. Look!

Tuesday - Work was the usual. (I don't really remember the specifics of it). I headed to Durham in the afternoon, and since it was the first day of Second Session summer classes, they were having free food on Central Campus. They had delicious burgers and hot dogs with Chili and fresh lemonade/sweet tea/unsweetened tea. They even had those aluminum (I think?) water bottles, so that's definitely helpful. After, Stephen and I went to the gym, and we played a little bit of basketball. Then, I ran a mile on the ellipticals and rowed 2,500 meters on the machine. I felt very refreshed and healthy. Later, we met up with two friends to try out this bubble tea place called Kim-Son Vietnamese Restaurant. The drinks were pretty good, but the bubbles were a bit on the squishy end, so that was kind of disappointing. Overall, though, a good day.

Wednesday - Worked on stories as usual then drove out to interview people for an assignment. The office was pretty empty since a lot of the reporters are on vacation right now and the other intern was sick. Since my apartment had a slight stale cigarette smell when I moved in, I finally contacted the maintenance man and he sent someone to clean out the papartment. I went back in the afternoon, and it smelled fresh. I sprayed Hawaiian Breeze and a Berry-smelling spray, and the place was improved by 200%.

Thursday - Worked on a couple stories that are coming out tomorrow. I can't believe tomorrow's Friday! My editor told me to take tomorrow off since I'm going to be covering a couple events on Sunday, so I'll probably do that. We had another intern luncheon today, and we had a photographer and a reporter come in to talk about what it's like being a foreign corrsepondent. They had some amazing stories and pictures about their journeys in Haiti, Afghanistan and New Orleans, and we ended up listening to them for two hours without noticing that we hadn't eaten yet. After the talk, I worked on the stories again before heading out for the evening. Now, I'm off to volunteer at Family Day at the Nasher Museum of Art on Duke's campus.

Until next week... !

Almost halfway through?!

2010-06-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

So, as of today, I'm four weeks into my internship, with six more weeks to go. Time has passed by so quickly! I can't believe tomorrow is already July (& that my rent is due...). Soon, I'll be moving back into Duke and my new room in Edens. I won't even have to cook anymore or worry about buying groceries because everything will be on food points (like monopoly money because it's easy to spend and seems unimportant.. until you realize that it IS real money). Woohoo! Anyway, back to the internship and what I've been up to.

I keep a clip file of all my stories so I'll remember what stories I wrote and go back to them if I need to refer to something later. (I clip together all my notes with the final product of the story, too.) I've written 16 stories so far, and since I've worked 20 days (well, 19, since one day was Memorial Day), I've had almost a story a day. You can check them out here if you'd like. It's interesting, though. I know I keep coming back to this, but some days I have 2-3 stories published, and some days none at all. I've definitely been keeping busy, though. Let's see.. A lot of basketball and baseball coming up!

Tuesday (June 22) - Attended a press conference about the SJG Greater NC Pro-Am Summer Basketball League, led by former NBA & UNC player Jerry Stackhouse. It was super cool hearing about the league, which features top athletes from Duke, UNC, & NC States, as well as some NBA players and high school athletes. Just to be this league in perspective.. John Wall played here for the last couple of years. (Aka this camp is super prestigious.. and open to the public to watch/shake hands/get autographs/talk with players!!) It was at the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe, which is a cool cafe that overlooks the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and has outdoor seating to watch games. I didn't take any pictures, so let me pull one up from the cafe's blog site.

The cafe is right there above the scorebox

Wednesday - Attended the Camp24 Hodge (Julius Hodge Basketball Camp) in Raleigh to write a feature on Hodge and the camp. The kids there were super nice and friendly, and so was Hodge. There are some great pictures that accompanied my story on the n&o website.. Take a look!

Thursday - I headed out to the Carolina RailHawks practice in the morning then came into the office just in time for our Intern Luncheon. This time, we ate with the publisher, the executive editor, and a features/business/marketing all-around editor. We talked about the direction newspapers seem to be going in, the role of a newspaper, how to be a good reporter, and how to deal with difficult subjects. It was great being able to talk to people who were so experienced in the field. After, I interviewed someone for a story which hasn't been published yet, so I can't tell you, but it was really interesting!

Friday - Incredibly busy day! Debbie Yow was announced as the new NC State Athletic Director, so we had to find information about her, past ADs, try to get in contact with her, etc. And.. a really good football recruit, Kiaro Holts, committed to UNC, so we had to try and contact him, his coaches, etc. Then, I headed out to UNC to cover an event--women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell gave $50,000 to the NC Cancer Hospital, so that was huge. After speaking with multiple people, I headed to the Starbucks inside the cancer hospital and turned around the story in less than an hour. Then, I had to head to the Bulls park again to interview someone for a feature story (it's coming out tomorrow!), except I had to reschedule since the times were wrong. Phew! I had lunch with a couple friends then headed to a friend's apartment for a club tennis reunion--tons of fun.

Saturday - Headed back out to the Bulls park from Raleigh in the afternoon to interview some people then watched the game with Stephen. After, we met up with our friend Aditya and went to a Duke-hosted dance party/clubbing event at Mt. Fuji, a local sushi place. It was fun seeing people I didn't know were around in the summer. After staying around for an hour, we all decided to head to Shooters II, the place everyone goes to. It was great because both places had no cover, so we went in for free, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Below are some pictures from Mellow Mushroom, a pizza parlor right outside the stadium. I would definitely and vehemently recommend going there.

I just had to take pictures of two of my press passes :) I have one more for the Mudcats

Delicious.. the one on the left is BBQ Chicken & the one on the right is baked potato, sour cream, chives, bacon, & butter. Both were.. SO GOOD.

Sunday - Relaxed, off day. Didn't do much. I think I deserved a little break!

Monday - Back to the Durham Bulls park. I covered a game at 1 p.m. which was really exciting (even though the AC in the press box was broken and it was 95 degrees). We were down by 1 in the bottom of the seventh and managed to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Yay!! Here are pictures from the press box.

Tuesday - I had to go back and interview a couple more people for my story, so I headed out in the afternoon after cranking out two short stories. After the interview, I got to see Gabby and Chris (who came up from Charlotte). It was a lot of fun going out to eat with them at Bali Hai (mongolian bbq place) and just chatting it up. After, we played Mario Party, which Gabby rocks at. Then I called it a night.. time to sleep!

Wednesday - Not much has happened so far today, just writing a couple of stories. But tomorrow night a fellow intern and I are heading to the Stackhouse camp where we get to see our favorite players play!

Exploring Raleigh!

2010-06-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

(Note: I wrote this last night but realized that I had only saved it and had forgotten to post it, so here it is!)

Wow, I've been super busy this past weekend, but it's been a lot of fun. I've decided that since I'm going to be spending the summer in Raleigh, I should take advantage of events that are happening downtown and try to see what it's like. I started Saturday, and my experience has been amazing so far!

During the week I had my internship as usual, and that kept me busy. It's definitely a very on-and-off job, very hectic and chaotic at times and very calm at others. Every Thursday we have our Intern Luncheons, where all the interns (from Cary and Raleigh)--there are four of us right now & two more start tomorrow)--meet together for lunch in a conference room and have a talk with the more experience reporters from the newspaper. Last week, our topic was learning our craft. The reporters talked about how they found their niches and how to develop yourself as a writer and sort of as a brand, somebody who is irreplaceable and has something to say rather than someone who just reports stories. It was an interesting idea, and it really got me thinking about what I want out of this internship and what I hope to accomplish. I'm trying to think of a project to do, but nothing's really come to mind yet. I'll definitely be on the lookout, though.

Thursday night, I headed back to my apartment and watched the Lakers game with Stephen. Boy, victory has never tasted sweeter. I'm still sad that I'm missing the Lakers Parade tomorrow..

Friday I had work again and headed to Durham to interview a couple people for a story (that hasn't come out yet, so I can't tell you .. Booo.) and then back to the office for a brief bit before heading out to Zebulon to write a feature about Sean Henry (story here), a left-fielder for the Carolina Mudcats. I headed to do some interviews before watching the game from the press box. It was a very cool experience. I love baseball stadiums! Now.. pictures!

Some pictures taken from the car in Zebulon

Five County Stadium from the press box

Fireworks after the game!

On Saturday, I finished up writing my story and had it edited to be published in Sunday's paper. Then, I hung out at the apartment for a little bit before heading out to the "Got to be NC Ag Jam" which was a music festival/fair sort of thing that promoted North Carolina agriculture. They had good live music, a lot of people lounging around (it was at a park), and multiple food stands with samples and, of course, your typical fried Snickers bar. It was humid and mid-90s, but the day was still amazing. Pictures of the jam!

After exploring for a while, Stephen and I headed out on an expedition to explore Downtown Raleigh. The place is so lively, and there are so many people hanging out there around 5pm and after. It's a very quaint, yet bustling and exciting place, and there are so many cafes all over the place. We walked around and took a look at the State Capiton, which was gorgeous, before finding a place to eat. We used Urban Spoon and decided to go to 518 West Italian Cafe, which was a way away. We ended up walking in the wrong direction and walked probably two miles or so just trying to find the restaurant, but it was a great way to explore downtown. The food was amazing, and we headed across the street to Turkish Delights, where we had amazing baklava. After, we hailed a Raleigh Rickshaw, which was super exciting! It reminded me of one of those older, historic places. There was a guy riding a bike pulling us around--about 6 blocks away or so, and he was super friendly and nice, and it was another great way to see the city after being out walking for so long in the afternoon. Oh, and two pictures below that are kind of random but that we took while walking around.

Picture of the ABC news station in Raleigh

Gorgeous time of day

After walking back to the Ag Jam, we sat on the grass and stayed for a bit just talking and listening to the music. The atmosphere was so nice--relaxed but fun, and a lot less chaotic and "touristy" than other fairs I had been to in the past. Then, we met up with some friends at the Wachovia IMAX Theater across from the park to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was an amazing movie, and we all had a talk after about how we noticed that the movie seemed to be geared at our generation--the generation that had watched Toy Story since we were kids--rather than for kids now. It was an interesting concept that I hadn't really thought about much before with movies. After, we all headed home for the night, exhausted from a long, fun day out.

Sunday was not nearly as eventful, but still fun. First thing I did was call my dad and wish him a happy Father's Day to start the day off right. (Happy late Father's Day to all the loving fathers out there, too!) Later, Stephen and I met up in the early evening to watch Mighty Ducks 2 (since I'm from Fullerton, a city right near Anaheim, and I had never seen it, and "I just had to"), which was a classic "team sports" movie but still enjoyable, before driving to Chapel Hill's Franklin St. to grab a bite at Spanky's since I had a gift certificate. It was fun walking around after and lounging around at a coffee shop (my favorite thing to do!) before each heading back home. The day was much more relaxed than Saturday's, but still a great way to get out of the apartment and do some activities.

Back in Raleigh!

2010-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ah! I'll try to make this trip make sense chronologically, but first.. the mayhem! Okay, not really. My flight left LAX Monday at 12:30am and I had a stop in Minneapolis/St. Paul at 6:05am. It was a brief one-hour lay over before my flight for RDU (Raleigh-Durham International) took off at 7:00am. We had a delay leaving LA and the flight was packed, so when we arrived in Minneapolis, it was already 6:30am, and we rushed to get to the other end of the airport for our next flight. And I guess because there was such a short period of time between flights, my baggage got stuck in Minneapolis and had to board the next flight to RDU, which arrived at 2pm & not 10:40am (like I did). It took a while to locate where the luggage was before being notified that a courier would drop the baggage by my apartment later. Turns out later means 3:00am this morning. It was unfortunate and sort of annoying because I was sleeping so I could be well-rested for work the next day, but it all worked out in the end.

Speaking of work, I had four articles published during my time off that I had been working on before. Check them out here! UNC's O'Donnell leads event, New Mudcat dynamo, A Tar Heel in Spain, and Pack runner seeks national title. Now, I'm working on another story (for next Tuesday or so) and a sidebar accompanying a story that is going in this Sunday's paper. I"m also looking to cover the Carolina RailHawks soon or the Durham Bulls. I have such bad timing! They keep playing away when I'm here and reverse!

Now.. my trip home. Gorgeous weather. 70-75 and sunny every day except for one, and it wasn't humid at all! Loved it.

It was great getting to spend time with my family and friends, and though a lot of them were still taking their finals, I still got to see a lot of them. I went swimming a LOT at home, went ice skating, ate a bunch of DELICIOUS food (Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean bbq, Chinese, In-N-Out, frozen yogurt, Sprinkles cupcakes!, Japanese curry, etc!), drove around my hometown, and went to the beach. Enough writing now. Here are the pictures! (Sorry, my Internet has a slow upload speed, so I'll come back in a bit and try to put them up.)

My cousin's graduation from UCSD. Congrats Jon! (Physiology & Neuroscience major.. headed to the Peace Corps in September)

Yum yum! Chinese-Thai food fusion at Banana Bay!

Newport Beach!.. But cloudy day :(

Beach again!

Sand crabs at the beach!

Super delicious tres leches birthday cake!

Boba (bubbles) at Boba Loca! Delicious White Chocolate Shake!

The ducks at Laguna Lake near my house!

Another view of the lake!

Walking to the lake from my house.

Ice skating at Anaheim Ice!

Penny again!

Eating pho (vietnamese noodles) at Pho 21, one of our local places.

Polo & Shadow, my cousins' dogs!

That's all for now!

And the work continues.. (& California tonight!!)

2010-06-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging this right now on my lunch break. I've been eating healthier lately. I think it's because I'm buying my own groceries and cooking my own food so I'm sure to always have some sort of meat, vegetables, and grain in my meals for dinner. & Since I'm only one person, I can't afford to buy a huge variety of foods. I never thought I'd get healthier from having to cook.. Let's see. I'll break down what I had to eat this week (hopefully I can remember). Oh, and I've been eating a lot of Lunchables this week since I'm on the road a lot (and because my loaf of bread expired in the beginning of the week and I didn't want to buy another since I'm leaving soon).

Tuesday - Breakfast: Apple. Lunch: Lunchables. Nibblers. Water. Dinner: Steamed cauliflower, petite quiches, mashed potatoes, orange juice.

Wednesday - Breakfast: Apple. Lunch: Subway Melt & Tropicana lemonade. Dinner: White rice, scrambled eggs w/ cheese, onions, & steak.

Thursday - Breakfast: Scrambled eggs & cheese. Lunch: Lunchables, peach, water, mini pretzels. Dinner (this was for 2, and to get rid of all my groceries): Cooked ramen noodles with eggs, corn & ground beef, deep-fried fish (unhealhy, I admit), asparagus, orange juice.

Friday - Breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats & milk. Lunch: mini bagel, tuna salad, yogurt-covered pretzels, snack pack, water. Dinner: TBD.

I'm not entirely sure why I chronicled all of that in such a detailed manner, but there you are. I wish I had pictures, but food, in general, is kind of boring.

On to work now! What have I been up to? Well, I've had one story published so far (http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/02/511338/devils-find-redemption-in-title.html), and I have four waiting in queue, but they should be out this week! Working in a newsroom is really interesting. It's not a 9-5 job at all. I knew that coming in, but I was surprised with the amazing flexibility, or perhaps, lack of.

Basically, the day goes like this: work on your story if you have one by interviewing people / waiting on interviews / working on other stories, reading emails that are sent to you from basically evey college/professional sport in the area to see if there are ideas, and following a team closely to find interesting stories. It can be really flexible in that there is a lot of down time just looking for and working on stories (that might just be because I'm an intern, though), but it's inflexible in that if there is an event, you have to be there to cover it. Oh, another thing. I'm on the road a lot -- I probably drive 30-80 miles a day, depending. It's great, though, I love it. I can't wait to get back and start covering game stories instead of just writing features (though those are tons of fun, too). Durham Bulls .. Bull City, here I come!!

Oh, & I'm leaving for California tonight for my birthday (yay, home!), so I'll try and actually have pictures in that post. Sorry about this one!!

First couple days working at the News & Observer!

2010-05-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Phew, this week has passed by so quickly!! I came back from Maryland last Monday afternoon and hurried around trying to get everything done. I had to vacuum the apartment (so I wouldn't have allergies.. Boo.), buy groceries (yay for healthy eating! I'll explain more about that later.), do my laundry (it's so expensive! I miss doing laundry at home!!), and grab some things from Duke for the Duke Journal of Public Affairs (http://www.dukejournal.org/ - Look out for our upcoming issue analyzing terrorism!). After finally getting settled, I got ready for my first day of work!

Wednesday, May 26 - Headed in to work at 9:30pm at the News & Observer office in downtown Raleigh (a lovely place!). I got trained with the writing and editing program the newspaper uses and learned some interesting things, like how the N&O shares a Sports section and a Features section with the Charlotte Observer (meaning that some of my stories may be published by both papers!). After being taught that system and being reminded to fact check my stories, I got a brief tour of the newsroom (3rd floor, though Sports is on 2nd floor). After, I met my mentor, Robbi Pickeral and had lunch with her at the Raleigh Times (it used to be a newspaper before its circulation fell too low and it was forced to close). I got to see downtown, which was really cool! After, I met with the two head sports editors in Raleigh and got my first assignment -- to write a feature story on somebody. (I can't tell you who because then that would spoil the surprise, but be on the lookout for a link!!) & Since I didn't get the chance to take a lot of pictures, these are from the Internet.

A picture of downtown

Right near where I work! I want to say a little bit across the street.

A drawing of an angled front view of the office. (It's a fairly large building with 3 stories and a basement).

A small picture of about half of the office.

Thursday, May 27 - Interviewed some people for the story and got started on it. Otherwise, nothing much.

Friday, May 28 - Headed to Zebulon (that should give you a hint about the story!) to interview three people and headed back to the office to keep working on the story. After work, I came back to my apartment and had some dinner and edited the Duke Journal before heading out for a trip downtown with Stephen. We walked around for a little bit and saw the State Capitol before it started raining (and thunder and lightning)! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing while I continued editing the journal and now am about to watch a movie before calling it a night. Below are some photos that Stephen took with his new DSLR camera!

A map of downtown in front of the park across the street from my office

The right-hand side of the office at night

A quaint street leading up to the State Capitol

A picture of the lightning!

This weekend should be more relaxing with Memorial Day (and no work!) on Monday, but I got another story assignment, so I'll be working on both those stories. I also discovered a gem while reading movie reviews about Sex & the City 2 -- there's a film out in Raleigh from the Sundance Festival by street artist (graffiti artist) Banksy called Exit through the Gift Shop at The Colony. I'm thinking of seeing either that or the foreign film The Secrets in Their Eyes at another local theater, The Rialto. It's great how they show independent and foreign films! Otherwise, if the weather holds up (I sure hope so because it was so nice this afternoon!!), I might go for a swim or a jog, or head downtown again for a bit.

I'll try to keep updating more, but the internship is keeping me busy! Oh, and in other exciting news.. I have a work email address (patricia.lee@newsobserver.com) & a work phone number!!

Summer 2010 - Fresh start!

2010-05-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Warning: Long post ahead. (But with pictures!!!)

Wow, so these past two weeks have been insane!!

Brief breakdown & TONS of pictures to follow, so get ready!!

May 2 - 8: Reading period (no classes)/Finals week! I had a ton of errands to do to prepare for my internship in Raleigh this summer (I'm doing a sports internship for the Raleigh News & Observer and will be covering local college sports, the Durham Bulls, & the club soccer team nearby). So I had to get my apartment ready (I was going to put up pictures but realized that probably wasn't a good idea..) & do stuff like visit the dentist (ew, I had to get a cavity filled) & the like. I only had one final on Tuesday & a presentation on Wednesday (check out my Computer Science final project here! It only works with some browsers, though :( ) so I was pretty much cruising for the rest of the week. Our dorm did a great job of providing 9pm snacks every night of finals, like pizza, Cookout milkshakes, fruit and yogurt parfaits, and Dunkin Donuts, all of which were delicious!!

(North) Myrtle Beach, SC: May 8-10 - Last day of finals! So I headed to my apartment and started moving things in and had a pretty packed day with signing the lease form, etc. After, a couple of us (we had a total of 10 people heading out with us) started driving down to MYRTLE BEACH, SC! Basically, Myrtle is the place to be after finals end. Most people stay from Saturday or Sunday to Tuesday or Wednesday, and about half of Duke is there. It's a touristy beach with clean, pristine sand and waters (I like to think I'm a slight beach connoisseur...) and random mini golf and food places like pancake houses, waffle houses, and tons of gas stations. We also went clubbing at the Spanish Galleon in downtown! Here are some pictures of the beach now!

Wilmington, NC: May 10-11: But my beach adventures weren't over after we left Myrtle. We drove back up to Wilmington, NC, another beach city & stayed with my roommate, Caroline, for a night. It was amazing! We had delicious homemade food AND we got to go on her boat!! We rode around and ate at a dockside restaurant where I had a super yummy crabcake sandwich. Then we went back out on the boat and went tubing!! & After, we went to a small, secluded beach and hung out. Not too many pictures because the boat was super windy, but here we are again!

Semi-group picture on the boat!

Tubing!

Raleigh, NC: May 12-13: Just hung around getting the apartment ready, installing Internet, buying pots, pans, food, etc. Boring stuff. So..moving on.

Clarksville, MD: May 13-24: Headed up to Maryland with my boyfriend! My third time here (once in 8th grade for a DC trip & once earlier this year to cover a Women's Bball game for the Chronicle). It's been amazing so far! Good weather except for today.. it was gloomy & rainy :( The first night we got back super late so we just went to sleep.

May 14 - Went to visit Stephen's high school and walked around Centennial Park. It was quite gorgeous! There's a huge lake there, a playground, basketball courts, tennis courts, and they have boat rentals!! Oh, and plenty of grass, of course. We came back, ate dinner, and played Life. (I LOVE board games!!!)

May 15 - I don't really remember what we did today. I think we walked around at the mall and got 1/2-off frapps at Starbucks (I love Starbucks!!).

May 16 - Today was Stephen's mom's birthday! We went to a Chinese seafood buffet to grab lunch for a belated birthday lunch then headed to Costco. After, Stephen and I headed to Centennial Park again to go rowboat-ing!! It was a lot of fun, but definitely tiring. When we got back to the house it was around 5-6ish, so me, Stephen, and his brother made dinner for his mother. Spaghetti with sautéed vegetables and meatballs, garlic bread, tossed salad, and a cookie cake. All homemade! It was tons of fun & quite delicious, surprisingly! Then, we headed out to watch Avatar at a friend's house and came back super tired. Below are pictures from the rowboat!

Rowboat!

Manhattan, NY: May 17: We woke up really early in the morning and rode a bus from Baltimore to NYC ($30 round trip per person!!). We left at 8am and arrived at around 10:30am. It was a really smooth bus ride and we got there really quickly. We started off with Starbucks (of course!) in the morning & saw Madison Square Garden (Duke bball team's second home!!!). We then grabbed brunch at a place called Harries (I think?) & it was absolutely delicious!! We kept walking and saw Times Square & a huge Toys R Us! We also saw the Apple Store in the glass cube thing (Oh & this was my first time to NYC!) and a bunch of break dancers, as well as a person on stilts dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. We also walked around Central Park and rested on the rocks for a bit before taking the subway to Whitehall St. to take the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island (where we saw Elmo!!) to see the Statue of Liberty (since we didn't have enough time to take a real tour) and then walked around the city and hit Wall St. & Broadway, saw the NYSE, and then kept walking until we hit Chinatown. Then, we took the subway to Union Square, where we saw the Empire State Building & some NYU buildings. Then, I met up with a friend from back home and went to Greenwich Village to eat some delicious food. After, we caught the subway back to Penn Station & headed back to Baltimore. Crazy & fun trip!!! Pictures now!

Break dancers outside of Central Park

Statue of Liberty!

Central Park!

Toys R Us!

Times Square

View from the ferry

Elmo outside of the ferry station to get to Staten Island

Wall St. & Broadway!

NYSE!

Greenwich Village!

May 17-18: We didn't do much these two days. Ate Qdoba & Five Guys (for the first time!) and shopped around at the mall for a bit. Played a couple board games, like Sorry & Clue. Heading to DC tomorrow to check out some of the museums, walk around, & grab dinner with a friend. Can't wait! (DC's my favorite city of all time!!) Thursday and Friday will be hanging out with some of the local kids who are just finishing school, like going ice skating, laser tagging, etc. Then it's back to Raleigh/Durham on Monday, and I start my internship at 9am on Wednesday! (So early!!) Super excited!

Hope you all are having a just-as-exciting summer!!

LDOC Already.. & Last Day of School is .. SATURDAY?!

2010-05-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

First off ..

Our 2010 NCAA Champions banner is up on the edge of Duke campus!!

Now back to what I was saying..

Wow! We just had our Last Day of Classes (LDOC) on Wednesday, which was a blast! Rather than give a debrief of what happened this past week (you can guess the usual classes, extracurriculars, & fun activities with friends), I'll detail what happened in the past two days. They both seem so long!!

& On a sidenote, it's 2:53am & I'm in Kilgo Dorm & there is old school music playing outside. Not too loudly but just enough to remind me to find time to relax before finals (since it's the weekend) and maybe even dance around a bit. Perfect!

Wait! Sorry this is so jumbled. I just realized another outstanding day was last Saturday! I ran a 5K for Angels Among Us, which is for the Tisch Brain Tumor Center. I hadn't exercised in a super long time, but it was tons of fun running with friends! (I didn't have my phone to take pictures, unfortunately). After, I headed back to East Campus to eat and get ready for our Chronicle formal, a banquet in honor of Matt Sclafani.

Chronicle sports staff - super dark because the flash broke on the camera

The banquet was filled with super delicious food (tortellini, penne, steak, chicken, spinach and artichoke dip, cheeses, a veggie platter, cheesecake, brownies, etc.), and it was great being able to hang with people from the Chronicle (especially sports staff - 1 of 4 girls!). The awards went to very deserving people, and the dancing after was fun! Great way to end off the Chronicle year!

Anyway, back to LDOC. I woke up at 10am and then headed over to West Campus for a nice brunch with my Chi Omega sisters. After, I met up with some friends in Kilgo Dorm and proceeded to play music, dance around, grab a quick lunch from Panda Express, and hang out until class started at 2:50pm. Book presentations were pretty interesting, but I was pretty ready for class to get out at 4:05pm to say that I had just taken my last class of freshman year. I'm still in disbelief and shock! After, a friend and I headed back to the main quad and listened as loud music played from a stage set up for the night's concert.

We had Rooney (yay!!), Big D & The Kids Table, Flogging Molly, and JAY SEAN!!

Jay Sean!

Here are some videos that people uploaded: Down - Jay Sean, Paddy's Lament - Flogging Molly, LDOC Time Lapse by the Chronicle photographers!!

After, we headed back to the room and just hung out, played music, had fun!! I didn't get to take many pictures, so here's one random one.. I have NO idea what we're doing. Probably singing? Being weird? Who knows!

Me, my neighbor 2-doors down Gabby, & my amazing roommate Caroline!!

We then headed to McDonald's for a late-night food run and proceeded to go to sleep shortly after.

Thursday - Woke up late, walked to Chipotle (by Duke hospital) for lunch (which was delicious and super filling!) & then just hung around for a bit with friends and then headed to Mt. Fuji (in Brightleaf Square) for a friend's birthday dinner. I did a lot of walking but it felt really nice since the weather was gorgeous! We came back then just talked for a long time before watching Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and calling it a night.

Friday - Woke up at 2pm & headed to a meeting for the Duke Journal of Public Affairs then headed to von der Heyden Pavillion to do work. The Iced Caramel Leche is DELICIOUS, by the way. Stayed in the library (or cafe, rather) for pretty much 8 hours (unfortunately) and finished editing a 10-page literature review paper for my Writing class and completing optional computer science practice problems for extra credit. (Wow, I haven't used those words in a LONG time!) I took a short break in between to grab dinner at Tommy's (their mac 'n cheese is delicious, by the way! I know I've mentioned it before, but I just had to mention it again). I finally left the library a little after midnight and talked with friends and played flash games for a bit before heading to McDonald's again.

I have one final left for Chemistry & a final project demo for Computer Science before I'm done with everything. Then it's off to Myrtle Beach, SC with friends!!

I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this over the summer or at the end of the school year, but in case I don't get another chance this year -- goodbye! Thank you for reading through my posts (or at least looking through the pictures) & I hope they weren't TOO boring! I'll be interning at the News & Observer in Raleigh this summer and writing sports stories, so maybe you'll see my name here and there! I'll also be serving as a tour guide this summer at Duke, so I definitely hope to see some of you then!

This has been an amazing year, & I still can't believe it's happened so fast! I wish I took more pictures, but there you are... Bye again!!

EIGHT DAYS?!

2010-04-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Hi again!! Sorry about that super long delay in posting. I've been busy with classes, extracurriculars, the usual. Just a quick breakdown of things that I've done in the past two weeks:

Classes - wrote a 10-page paper for Writing 20, wrote a 7-page paper for ICS, had an exam for CompSci, and had a report due for Chem

Extracurriculars - our club tennis team played NC State & won - yay!!, had a charity function - Scoop-A-Dish for Make-A-Wish for Chi Omega (we sold tickets to students & served Coldstone's ice cream on the BC plaza), attended a free concert (Old Duke) with Matt Kearney, Howie Day, & others!, watched the awesome Rent production by Hoof 'n Horn (musical group on campus), helped out with Blue Devil Days (admitted students come to Duke to visit/stay overnight), toured the gardens, went to Southpoint (nearby mall)

So that's about everything that's happened. Oh & allergies. Duke is absolutely gorgeous this time of year (all the time, actually, now that I think about it), but my nose never feels so great. But they're milder now & it's great! Last weekend was alumni weekend, and there were tents set up all over campus for reunions!

I can't believe there are only 8 days left of class (LDOC)! I have two more papers due, a final project, and a final exam. This year has passed by so quickly! LDOC is going to be so much fun!! Every year, Duke brings in a high-profile artist & other people to perform at an end-of-the-year free concert, LDOC. This year, we have Jay Sean, Flogging Molly, Rooney, & Big D and the Kids Table. Sooo excited!!

Other than that, not too much to update on. This week is flying by so fast!! It feels like it's Sunday.. There will definitely be more updates in the coming weeks, but as for now, bye! & Sorry there aren't any interesting pictures :( I'll definitely post some next time, though!!

Oh, & I'm sitting in Perkins library right now sitting on these REALLY cool chairs in The Link. Definitely check out the pictures here of the Link. It's a more chill, cool place to study. There are a ton of classrooms, seminar rooms, & group study rooms, and they all have three walls that are dry erase boards, & people always write on them (they come in handy so often!) & even on the windows! There are Dennys-style booths, too, which are cool for group studying, and a bunch of rolling comfy chairs that have their own little pull-out table. There are conventional chairs & tables, too, and computers, of course. But my favorite are these purple recliner-style, Ikea-esque curve chairs that look like \--^- with a backrest & a curve for your legs, and little round squishy balls-ish that you can put your foot on. They are absolutely amazing!!! My favorite for sure! Okay, that's enough about the cool-ness of the Link. Definitely the place to be!

NCAA CHAMPS!!!

2010-04-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

First off, sorry about not posting this earlier! As you can expect, after we won the championship game, we headed out to watch the bonfire, hung out and celebrated (and cried a little) with friends, and briefly fell asleep. Yesterday was likewise crazy, with some classes being canceled, most not, and then in the afternoon, a welcoming home of the players into Cameron Indoor Stadium. I finally got some downtime earlier today but found that I had an IMMENSE workload for this week and next week, so I set about getting that done before heading to the gym, and here I am now!!

So, not to make you wait to see the pictures from the game or anything.. but I'm going to talk about my week chronologically!!

Thursday - Classes as usual, and then headed over to the Nasher Museum for Art (located between East & West Campus) to volunteer. It was great, and I even got to talk to the artist who came from China to give a talk about her exhibit. Check it out here! The special exhibit was Displacement. After that, it was time for the Kid Cudi/NERD concert for Cameron Rocks!!! I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but I'll definitely put them up ASAP! Kid Cudi performed, of course, Pursuit of Happiness, Day & Night, Memories, & my favorite, Up, Up, & Away. I have recordings that I sent to my friends over the phone but I'm not sure how to upload them. I wish I knew how!!

Friday - It was Stephen's birthday, so we went to dinner, had cake with his friends, & then didn't do much. Oh, interesting, though! The guys bought Turtles in Time RS on XBox & it was super cool because I LOVE the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Oh, & the weather was AMAZING. Hello, Spring!!

Pictures of the West Campus main quad .. volleyball!!

Saturday - Crazy day!! First, I woke up at noon and had brunch with my friends before heading the Women's Lacrosse game against Northwestern, which was really intense (even though I don't entirely understand lacrosse yet). Our girls lost, but they put up a good match, especially with the weather being as it was. (Oh, side note. It's 80 degrees and sunny here!! Also a bit humid, but nobody else seems to notice it..)

Native American Student Association was holding a pow-wow in the main quad as I walked to the gym!

After, I gave my friend's brother a tour of Duke Campus and he was, undoubtedly, impressed with Wilson Gym. (It's the gym on West Campus with at least 5 basketball courts, a swimming pool, a bunch of aerobics & dance rooms, a bunch of exercise machines, and I think 4-5 floors. And it has an amazing smoothie/fresh fruit&veggies place called Quenchers! I'm guilty of going to the gym just to get a smoothie..) After, we headed to the gardens.

Duke Gardens are so gorgeous! & So many people were out tanning, playing frisbee, running around, doing their homework, everything!

The Terrace Cafe in the gardens!

After walking around the gardens, we headed to the Pitchforks concert. I don't think there's anything I can say about the Pitchforks that would accurately describe how talented they are, but I'll try. The Pitchforks are an all-male A Capella group that has recorded two CDs (one in 2006, one in 2008), both of which won the title of Best All-male A Capella Album in the Nation. Everytime I hear them, they send shivers down my spine. Here are two songs they sing, and they still don't do justice to how good they are!! Viva La Vida, You Found Me, & I'm Yours. After the concert.. it was GAME TIME!! There's no great way to describe the game in words, so I guess it will just suffice to say that we beat West Virginia & we were in the NCAA championships!!!

Sunday - Relatively mellow day. I headed to the Women's Lacrosse game against Davidson (we did really well & won!!). After, I headed back to East Campus to try and get some homework done before heading back to West Campus to grab dinner at The Loop with my FAC (First-year Advisory Council) group. I'm going to be a FAC next year, so I'll be helping with orientation & the likes. I can't wait to meet all of you!! After that, I just headed back and just hung around doing nothing (aka wasting time with friends) before finally falling asleep.

Monday - It was the first day of Blue Devil Days (where admitted students come tour the school, attend classes, go to information sessions, and choose whether or not they want to be hosted by current freshmen). I grabbed breakfast in the morning with my roommate before heading out to help out with registration (where I got to meet a lot of the pfrosh - prospective freshmen). After meeting tons of new people (fellow Admissions Ambassadors, Admissions Officers, and pfrosh), I headed to Computer Science and learned about algorithms. After, I rushed back to East Campus to meet my two pfrosh (who were staying overnight with me and my roommate) and take them around campus. We grabbed dinner at Marketplace and toured Brodie Gym (the gym on East Campus) before getting ready to go to Cameron to watch the game!! From there .. only pictures can explain.

People walking into Cameron (the line was this long before doors opened at 8pm for the tip-off at 9:30)

People packing the stands an hour before the game

Final minutes

Final minutes - Brian Zoubek's first free throw

WE WIN!!!! (Yes, the one jumping & the one wearing white are my friends. yes, they are EXCITED.)

Rushing the court!!

The next day's newspaper!!!

Carrying Southgate's bench to burn it

Bonfireeee !

After that, we all just hung out with our friends and head back to East Campus to have a dance party in the hallway. It was an amazing experience.

Tuesday - Classes happened, as usual. We had a guest lecturer in my ICS class, and Professor Sheryl Broverman talked about HIV/AIDS in Africa, which was absolutely fascinating. I had been involved in the American Red Cross in my high school and was a certified Youth HIV/AIDS Volunteer Educator, so it was interesting to see what other people thought about the issue, and it surprised me how in places like South Africa, it was just in the past year or so that head government officials started accepting that HIV led to AIDS. Fascinating!! After, I headed to Cameron to welcome back our players!

People preparing for the players' arrival

Bus pulling up behind Cameron

Line of players, coaching staff

Coach Krzyzewski

Jon Scheyer

Brian Zoubek

Lance Thomas

Kyle Singler

Nolan Smith

Players & Coach K linking arms