Seriously?

Apparently I'm 7/8 of the way done with college. Scary, right?

One of the classes I took this semester was Visual Strategies in Public Relations. Using Adobe InDesign CS4, we created a save the date, invitation, and poster for a non-profit of our choice. For our final project, we created an 8-page brochure.

I literally spent hours and hours working on this. In total, I had eight drafts of it. You would not believe all of the little things that go into each page! Since I had a hard time finding high resolution photos to use, instead I drew the mountain motif to use as the defining element of my design.

Below is what I came up with! Click "view in fullscreen" to see the bigger version.



Sidenote: I got a 100 on it! My professor was a pretty tough grader all semester..so I was shocked, and relieved after putting so much time into it.

National Honor Society induction speech

Last night, I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the National Honor Society induction ceremony at my old high school. I seriously struggled with writing a speech (probably should have signed up for that public speaking class after all?), but here's what I said.

Your exceptional achievements in the pillars of Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Community Service have brought you all here tonight. But even though tonight is a milestone for all of you, it's not just tonight that matters-- as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."

When I started writing this speech, I thought back to five years ago when I was inducted into the National Honor Society. When I thought of my future all I could see was endless possibilities and I hope it's the same for you all.

I loved growing up in Lebanon but after having my Aunt for a math teacher freshman and senior year and my Mom as the school nurse, I was feeling a little smothered and was ready for something different. Choosing to go to school at American University in Washington, D.C. was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I have ever made. I would highly recommend trying somewhere new to all of you, but if you don't get the chance go away to school, you can still expand your worldview by committing yourself to staying engaged-- reading the newspaper, voting, and getting to know new people.

I ended up being randomly placed with a roommate from Oregon-- yup, that's right, it's not actually pronounced Ore-GONE but Oregon! Going to school in a city was shocking at first-- they actually have stop lights..you have to use public transportation and even WALK places..but it's exposed me to such a culturally diverse group of people that I couldn't be happier with my decision..and I hope you'll all consider mixing things up too.

The biggest thing I've learned since my induction five years ago is that when you do think of your future, you don't need to think of it like this: graduate, go to college, get a job, get married. Sure, those are the important things, but what's more important is what's along the way to reaching those milestones. What's more important is seeking out experiences and creating opportunities to do things you never thought you could've done.

One of the things I've done that I really didn't see coming was studying abroad in Paris. I took Spanish all the way to AP Spanish at Lyman and struggled through ser versus estar with Senor Garcia, but I fell in love with Paris on a family vacation and couldn't resist applying to study abroad at La Sorbonne. Even though I had only taken one semester of French and perhaps against my better judgement, I moved in with a French family in January and lived with them for four months!

Just like going to college in DC, I couldn't foresee how things would turn out, but that was half the fun of it. My horrendous French skills quickly became my decent French skills paired with a still-horrendous American accent. I did a lot of traveling and had conversations with more random people than you could imagine (I even got to use my Spanish skills!)

The icing on the cake in my mind (not so much in my Mom's!) was doing something not too many people can say they've tried-- going skydiving over the Swiss Alps. Last December I was lazing around my apartment with my roommate- procrastinating on Facebook while "studying" for finals when I came across some pictures of an old friend doing just that. Then and there my roommate and I decided it was something we absolutely needed to do while we studied abroad, and six months later we jumped out of a plane thousands of feet over the alps!

I guess what I want to say is that you've all established that you've got what it takes to maintain a great GPA and your induction into the National Honor Society has recognized that, but the four pillars are about much more than just grades. Academically, good grades are important but engaging your mind in life-long learning is much more important. Service is about more than logging hours-- it's about actually being aware enough to recognize that people need help even when they're not asking for it. Leadership isn't just holding leadership roles-- it's striving to achieve your goals and upholding your ideals. Finally, character is about staying true to yourself even if not everyone else understands.

It's about recognizing that life has so much to offer and engaging yourself in experiencing as much as you can to become a culturally well-rounded person is SO worth the effort. I've tried as hard as I can to do so-- and somewhere along the way I've become a lot more open minded, thoughtful, and accepting than I was when I started out.

In closing, there's 3 things that I want to reinforce to all of you.

1) You've gotten this far, so you probably already know this, but you have to believe! If you think you won't go far, you won't.

2) Start small and work your way up from there!.

The only way I got to meet Defense Secretary Robert Gates or CNN's Pentagon Reporter Jamie McIntyre or attend meetings where USA TODAY editors decide what tomorrow's front page stories are was by starting off staring at excel spreadsheets, stuffing envelopes, and running errands all day long.

3) Don't give up--stick with it.

You probably won't get exactly what you want on the first try and you might not even get it on the second, but if you really believe in something you won't give up on it, and that's when you will succeed.

Thank you so much for having me tonight and congratulations again to you and your family for all of your wonderful accomplishments thus far!

The college experience-- top 10

Recently, a friend Tweeted this:
"well. last night was officially my first all-nighter--didn't think I would make it all the way through college without one of those...."

This made me come to the startling discovery that I've never actually pulled an all-nighter! I have friends that pull them weekly, but the combination of planning ahead and loving sleep has resulted in me abstaining from all-nighters altogether. I'm thinking this is a good thing, but it made me wonder..what are 'essential' parts of the college experience?



Here's the list I came up with:

1) dorm living -- 2 years was just enough!
2) dining hall-- 2 years was way more than enough
3) study abroad-- I miss Paris so much!
4) sorority/fraternity/secret society-- no thankyou

5) all nighters-- not yet!

6) facebook addiction-- definitely

7) falling asleep in class-- I'm not proud of it..but it's happened.

8) internships-- oh yes!

9) binge drinking and other regrettable decisions-- haven't we all?

10) fun-- definitely!

I'm thinking that only missing out on all nighters and Greek life isn't too bad?

Back to blogging!

Today I had the pleasure of attending the 2009 New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit at the Kaiser Family Foundation Public Affairs Center in downtown D.C.  It reminded me of how much I like blogging and also of the importance of it, so here I am!  I'm super busy with school, interning, and life in general, but that gives me plenty to blog about too.

One of my professors was presenting research at the summit, and she invited us all to attend.  It was very interesting to see how women are harnessing new media to become news creators and fill in news gaps.  The focus was on both hyperlocal and niche sites which serve communities [both geographical and cultural] somehow lacking in news options.  

Since I'm pretty well versed in new media it was interesting to see how citizen journalism can effectively create a public discourse among a community via the internet.  I was definitely sitting there asking myself why I wasn't getting more involved!  

The sweet sweet unemployment lifestyle

As luck would have it, I got laid off..from an internship!  Not really sure how it happened, but I'm rolling with the punches, babysitting, and enjoying some time off.  Here's what I've been doing:

1) Making friends with people in costumes:

Exhibit A: Abe Lincoln @ Nationals Game

Exhibit B: Buddha @ BYT Rave Pool Party

2) Eating and drinking

Exhibit A: Boating at Otis Reservoir in MA

Exhibit B: Things I've cooked so far this week:

-Delish pizza with summer squash, zucchini, tomato, basil and cheddar on a garlic herb crust.

-Harvest grains salad and spinach with pine nuts

-Homemade strawberry jam

3) Becoming an expert at urban picnicking

Exhibit A: Screen on the Green

Exhibit B: Fort Reno Park concerts

Exhibit C: Jazz in the Sculpture Garden @ National Gallery of Art

4) Watch movies

Exhibit A: aforementioned Screen on the Green: so far: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Dog Day Afternoon

Exhibit B: Free redbox code:

-Rachel Getting Married, Confessions of a Shopaholic

Exhibit C: Free screenings, borrowing DVDs, and friends who work at movie theaters

-Harry Potter, 500 Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, Breakin: Electric Boogaloo 2, American Teen

So if you've ever wondered how an unemployed 20 year old might spend her time...now you know.  And really, what else could you ever need (besides money)? 

A Capitol Fourth

What better place to spend the Fourth of July than the Nation's Capitol?

I started out the day celebrating at my friend Jackie's apartment, where she made "American Special" pancakes complete with strawberries and blueberries.

Next up was the Nationals vs. Braves game: the Nats rallied in the 8th inning and won 5-3! Nationals outfielder Adam Dunn also got his 300th career homerun.

Then we headed to Good Stuff Eatery, a burger joint which is run by Spike of Bravo series Top Chef. Unfortunately he was not there, but my burger & milkshake were yummy and all-American!

Next we headed to join friends right by the Washington Monument. We then relaxed and visited for three hours before the fabulous fireworks show shot off from the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial. It was amazing-- definitely the best fireworks show I've ever seen

We were pretty exhausted from being outside all day and starting the celebrations at 8am so a few of us skipped the party we were planning on going to, walked to Dupont Circle to skip the crowds, hopped on the metro and headed home.

View Fourth of July Walking Path in a larger map

Upon reflection on the day I realized we did quite a bit of walking: we walked from Nationals Park to Good Stuff Eatery (a few blocks behind the Capitol), all the way down the mall to the Washington Monument, and finally to Dupont Circle. In total it was 5.6 MILES!

It was a great fourth of July! The only negative was waking up the next morning and realizing I had a really awkward sunburn on only my kneecaps!

I like these too much to not post them...

Here's a few photos from my last three or four days in Paris:

On the day we were officially done with finals, we stayed up all night and watched the sun rise from Sacre-Coeur

Look closely and you can spot Sacre-Coeur through the glass panels in the clock at the Musee d'Orsay

Me on the night of our farewell dinner

FINALLY! The Delacroix painting Girl Seated in a Cemetery, which I based my final project on for a class last semester (at the Louvre)

Canal St. Martin, as you may have seen in Amelie!

Wine and friends on my last night in Paris: sitting on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower

On U.S. Soil!

Unfortunately my first U.S. experience in four months is occurring in the Philly airport: luckily I have not spotted any mice yet, (you may remember that when my flight was delayed for 7 hours on the way here, I was in a mouse-infested area. eww).  Also luckily, they have free internet, so I can make use of my extra-long layover and recap my last few days in Paris.

I spent my last week revisiting some of my favorite places in Paris: the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Luxembourg and Tuileries Gardens, and of course the Eiffel Tower.  I ate crepes, fondue, frog legs (!!!), and quiche.  I spent my last night sitting on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, drinking wine with friends and watching it sparkle.  

I sad goodbye to my friends (sad), and goodbye to Paris (worse).  I said goodbye to my host family (though they were great, this wasn't as hard).  I don't think I can put into words what an amazing experience my four months studying abroad were.  I showed up speaking basically no French, and now I can get by just fine on my own.  I still can't quite believe that I lived with a French family for four months and spoke only French to them!

I think what I am even more proud of beyond developing my language skills is that I have become much more independent and confident in my capabilities.  It certainly was not easy: I was the only one in my program who lived outside of the city, I got harassed more often because my red hair makes me look very, very not French and therefore a fun target for creepers, and the whole language barrier thing didn't help either!  This was the first time that I have lived without a roommate I was close with: that means I suffered through all of the 4am night bus rides followed by 8am classes all on my own.  Luckily...the negative things are few and far between in comparison to all of the positives.  I am so lucky that I was able to do something so enlightening and enriching at such a young age.  

I'm about to catch my flight home to Connecticut (I instinctively typed Paris first...), and I can't wait to spend the next week and a half catching up with family and friends (and also catching up on sleep..and American culture...and seeing Molly!)  Then, it's off to DC to intern   I'll report back soon on my reverse-culture-shock observations and also with my pictures from the past week, as the two I've put here are stolen from a friend!

Au Revoir, Paris

Any fleeting thoughts I had of a deep and meaningful last blog entry in Paris have dissipated: the internet at my apartment isn't working! My last week has been wonderful and I'm in utter shock that not any am I leaving Paris, but that as of Thursday, I'm a senior in college. Anyway, I'll be stateside Sunday evening, a bientot!

You know you've been in France for a while when..

A metro strike doesn't even phase you anymore! 

The first metro strike was a huge deal, and they've become subsequently less and less significant for me: I just leave half an hour earlier than normal and hope for the best, I don't have any other options!  Now that we all know what metro lines to avoid on strike days..they don't seem like a big deal at all.  I'm used to it by now: just like I'm used to showing up to the bus stop only to see that there won't be a bus at all that day because a demonstration is blocking the bus route.

Another confirmation of my being in France: during my four hour exam on Saturday, we weren't allowed to go to the bathroom, drink, or eat, but when the girl next to me raised her hand and begged to be let out of class to smoke a cigarette, the professor let her! 

On more personal terms.. I know I've been living with a host family for a while when I don't even blink an eye when my dinner consists of: a hard boiled egg, raw radishes, and cauliflower baked with bacon bits.  Only just now, an hour later, did I realize how bizarre of a meal that was.   

Parisian Hollywood

SO the most exciting thing that's happened to me since my last post was...

I saw Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen! 

(not my picture...), a few friends and I stopped into a FNAC, which is similar to a Best Buy, and as we were gathering by the door to go, we spotted them!  Just hoppin' on the escalator to do some shopping.  Since Cannes Film Festival just ended on Sunday, I guess a lot of celebrities will be in town: I am keeping my eyes open for them!

Other things I've done include mainly studying, babysitting, shopping, and lots of picnics!  Since I don't have my 8am course this week, it's been wonderful to sleep in a bit.  Tomorrow I have my oral exam: I'm still not exactly sure how I'll come up with enough French to talk about a picture for 12 minutes..but at least it will be over with.  Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner: sad but it will be fun to dress up and go to a nice restaurant with everyone (for free!)  We are going to Le Grand Colbert which is where part of Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton was filmed!  

The film was also shot in Place des Vosges, which is quite near my student center and I walk through it all the time.  Mom--prepare the DVD so I can watch it when I return to chez nous!

Also...today is my friend AMANDA'S 21st birthday! I can't wait to see friends and family when I get home!

Paris When it Sizzles

I must say that studying isn't quite so bad when this is the view...I know I'm spoiled.  In front of the Eiffel Tower is the peace monument.

What a wonderful weekend!  Saturday's 4 hour long French exam was challenging, but I'm just relieved that it's over with.  My host family was gone for the weekend so I had a few friends over to celebrate the completion of our grammar classes...then we all went out together to continue the celebration.

Today I slept in and met friends for a great lunch.  We had a wonderful time and that's when it really hit me: I only have a week left in Paris.  Now that the weather's great and I've established an amazingly fun life here, the last thing I want to do is go!  I've gotten close with the people in my program, we've all become quite familiar with the city, we all have our favorite bars and other places to go.  Why leave NOW!?  (Note: Leaving will not be ALL bad because I am super excited to see family and friends and to be in DC for the summer.)

After lunch, we headed to the Hotel Carnavalet, a museum that showcases the history of the city of Paris.  I'm glad that I saved it until now because I know quite a bit about the history and geography now, and also because the information is posted only in French-- now that I'm more comfortable with the language, I could understand most of it.  

Coming up this week.. I'll be babysitting, prepping for Wednesday's oral exam and Thursday's civilization class exam, shopping, picnicking, and just being out and about as much as possible!  As for the not so nice things, I'll need to squeeze in some packing and probably a mental breakdown at some point because: I come home in seven days. 

I'm done with class?

One of the things I love most about Paris is that there are so many parks!  There are big ones such as the Luxembourg Gardens and the Champ de Mars, and smaller ones like Parc Belleville and   This week I've checked out two new ones: Parc Monceau and the Jardin des Plantes.  Also, I spent some time studying in the Jardin des Tuileries, right next to the Louvre.  This week's lovely weather made it a great time for some park exploring.  

Here is part of the fountain in the Tuileries, the building is one of the wings of the Louvre:

Here's the Jardin des Plantes, where I did some reading and studying yesterday morning.  It's huge, has a zoo and a botanical school, as well as a few smaller animal related museums, like paleontology and evolution.

Here is the entrance to Parc Monceau, where I had a great picnic today.  Interesting fact: in 1797, it was the site of landing for the first silk parachute jump.  Also, a fifth-generation park watchmen lives in the top part of this rotunda because it is a semi-private park: six EXTREMELY wealthy families have houses adjacent to the park, and they have 24 hour access to it.  Also, this is one of the few parks in Paris where you can sit on the grass, so that was perfect for a picnic on a warm day!

Here is the classroom where I have spent two hours every weekday for the past (nearly) 4 months:

Today was my last day of grammar class, last Friday was my last day of phonetics class, and I have one measly review session left of my civilization class.  WOW!  Unfortunately this means that I have finals coming up- my huge 4 hour long grammar final this Saturday, an oral exam next Wednesday, and my exam for my civilization class next Thursday.

Luxembourg!

I had one day to use up on my Eurail pass so I decided to go to Luxembourg for the day today.  I literally had no expectations at all, but I figured I may never get the chance to go again so, why not?  I definitely made the right decision because I LOVED it.  It is on a series of hills so some neighborhoods are on top of the hills and some are hundreds of feet below in the valleys.  

I was by myself, and since it was a Sunday most things were closed, so all I did was walk around all day- I must have walked at least 6 or 7 miles!  I am going to let the photos mostly speak for themselves, but I found the city gorgeous.  Much of the military walls are still intact from as early as the 10th century.  

Did you know the country of Luxembourg is about the size of Rhode Island?  

Also, Luxembourg still has a royal family- the Grand Ducal family!  I spotted their former royal palace today but couldn't get a good picture due to the guards and gate.  

Also yesterday I did lots of exploring around Paris!  I finally went to the Pompidou modern art museum: really liked it!  For me, the most interesting part is the exoskeletal construction of the building:  things like pipes, ducts, and even the escalators are on the outside of the building.  Also, there were some interesting Dali and Mondrian pieces.  Besides that I saw Angels and Demons (in English), which I really enjoyed.  This week I am doing a bit of babysitting and A LOT of studying for my big final on Saturday!

A curiously American week so far

My week has felt so American thus far!  Today everyone in the program had our first and only paper of the semester due.  Since none of us have had to write anything since December, it was quite a challenge and even though it was nowhere near as difficult as some of the papers I've done, it took me forever!  For once I actually appreciated the awful weather because forcing myself to write would have been harder if it was beautiful out.

I wrote it on the introduction of coffee in Paris, the mass opening of cafes and coffee houses, and how cafes and coffee have been intertwined with Parisian history.  It was interesting, but lots of research.

Yesterday for lunch, a few of us went to a place called Breakfast in America.  We were all craving pancakes and wow- they were great!  There's a few other American-style places here but this is the first I've been to...

Tonight I'm going to a friend's apartment for dinner which should be nice.  My host mom isn't the best cook so I am REALLY looking forward to going home where my Mom will cook for me (when I am home) and I can actually cook for myself in D.C.  Having no control over what I have for dinner is getting kind of old.

So there you have it-- a week quite like a week in DC- writing papers and eating American food with friends!  Of course, I couldn't go a full four days without doing some exploring, so I spent some time reading in the Arenes de Lutece.  Lutecia was the name for Paris when it was first settled by the Roman empire.  The Arenes de Lutece are the remnants of the coliseum-style amphitheater, now it is a public park.

 

The beauty of Interlaken

Besides skydiving, Kim and I did a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of talking in Interlaken.  The town is TINY, we had a lot of fun just walking around and looking at everything, sitting in a park and enjoying the amazing view, etc.  Kim described it as a "toy town" and I think that describes it well: it didn't feel real, more like a little model town conveniently dropped between two lakes and surrounded by the Swiss Alps.  

If this setting seems ideal for me, that's because it is.  Luckily during one of our walks I found my future home:

Here's pre and post skydiving pictures: surprisingly I am more put together before skydiving, and completely frazzled afterwards.  Also, I'm aware that I appear to have some sort of black eye, but it's because my eyes were watering like crazy from the speed of descent, so my mascara ran and resulted in what you see!

The town is just beautiful, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Paragliding is the thing to do in Interlaken if you're not extreme enough to skydive..on Sunday walking through the town we glanced up and saw this:

 

Overall, a wonderful weekend.  Interlaken was delightful, it felt great to be outside of a big city and to appreciate natural beauty, and skydiving was amazing!   Did I mention we had swiss cheese fondue!?

SKYDIVING!

Sorry I couldn't forewarn everyone about skydiving but I didn't want to cause any unnecessary anxiety (especially on my Mom's part!). I was also pretty anxious and definitely questioned what I was getting myself into.

We got picked up from our hostel and headed out to the hangar/airstrip where we got like a 5 minute briefing.. ONLY five minutes. Plus, we only had to sign our names ONCE, can you believe that? In the U.S. we definitely would have had to sign our lives away like 10 times. But don't worry, everything and everyone there is certified both in Switzerland and in the U.S. if that's reassuring at all.

Of course I went tandem with my instructor who was named Hans. When we were the last to get into the plane, I realized that could only mean one thing: we would be the first ones leaving it! Luckily the absolutely amazing scenery calmed me down a bit..except for when they thought it would be hilarious to just open the door midflight in order to scare me.

Once we got to 13,000 feet, they opened the door and the photographer climbed out and stood by the wing. By this time I was all strapped to Hans and I had to swing my legs out and put them on the little step outside of the plane. Then I arched my back, put my legs in between his, and we were off!

We fell 5,000 feet in 40 seconds and even though I expected to scream my head off the entire time, I didn't make a sound! I think I was too busy thinking "WHAT IS GOING ON!?", looking at the amazing scenery, and smiling for the camera.

Then before I knew it, it was time to pull the parachute cord. Hans took care of all of that, all I had to do was grab my shoulders. All the sudden we were going upwards instead of down! One thing I did not expect was that since we had soooo much momentum going, even when we landed on the ground we were still moving SO quickly.

I had about five minutes to enjoy the incredible scenery that was the Swiss Alps and Interlaken. At this point I had to take off my goggles and my eyes watered because of how fast we were going, plus my ears were popping like crazy! Also because of the crazy force of the freefall, both of my shoelaces were untied. I remember thinking, "Great, I only brought one pair of shoes to Switzerland and I'm about to lose them!" At least it would have been a good excuse for shopping..but I didn't end up losing them after all.

Hans decided that while we were gliding down it would be a good idea to take advantage of our speed and do some crazy twists and turns. By the time I was on the ground I thought I was going to vomit, I was so dizzy! When it was time for us to land, the mowed grass lawn we were landing on had other people on it..so we had to land in the unmowed meadow that was beyond it. Here is a picture of me realizing that we would NOT be going down in the designated landing zone...even though we look about ready to land, we didn't for another 50 feet or so.

Once we landed, I was covered in dirt (because we were in the meadow instead of the grass) and basically in shock. I just laid on the ground for a minute wondering what the heck I had just done, then got up and felt the crazy effects of the adrenaline rush.

After all of that, I felt pretty out of sorts so I just sat on the tarmac in front of the hangar for a while. I got to see Kim land and found out that she got to do a back flip out of the plane! Overall it was an amazing experience. I am really glad I did it in the Swiss Alps because the surroundings were absolutely amazing. It was one of the most invigorating things I have ever done, and I'm still kind of shocked that I did it! It's so crazy that what started as a silly idea while Kim and I were sitting in the living room of our apartment actually happened six months later! I would highly suggest doing it and would definitely go again if the opportunity arrose.