Sports Overload This Week

07. Go to a Red Sox game

and

13. Go to a Harvard football game

This week has been rough. School is in full action and I papers were in every single class with plenty of readings to go along with them. It was also my first week at my internship, meaning, I have been quite the busy bee. I still found time, however, to socialize and continue my urge for the East Coast experience.

FENWAY:

On Wednesday night, the Boston Red Sox played the Baltimore Orioles. Friends from class invited me to go along with them as they had an extra ticket. It was my first visit to Fenway Park- A Must See! Walking into that stadium felt like magic. I could feel the love of the fans and saw that everyseat in the place was taken (it was a Wednesday night)! Also, this may not apply to many of you, but the vendors around the stadium sold veggie hot dogs and veggie burgers. That made the experience all the more memorable. (And yes, I am wearing a Redsox baseball cap) Photos below:

With some new friends

Doing my homework

Harvard Football Game:

On Friday night, Harvard played Brown University. The stadium is classic and reminds me of the coliseum in Rome, Italy. It's completely concrete and is shaped like a semi circle. It is also quite the walk to get there as it is over the Charles River (What separates Cambridge from Boston).

Aerial View

The Coliseum resemblance

The Graduate School Council (The student officers you could say, that represent all of the graduate schools) hosted a pre-game party for us. There was a large tent set up, where students from all the graduate schools squeezed into under the rain for free food, alcohol, a DJ hosted dance party and free prizes. I even won a free Harvard t-shirt for dancing. There were other tailgating parties too.

People tailgating in the rain

The pre-game tent party for grad students

The game was fun. It started pouring rain so I left in the third quarter-- I was drenched. But it was an experience I had been wanting. They say the game of the year is Harvard vs Yale as they are known as ultimate rivals. It is known at the Harvard-Yale weekend and people around campus treat it as a holiday weekend. All work stops. I am looking forward to it! And hopefully on that day it doesn't rain.

Getting ready to take our seats

Stadium View from the endline

Till next time...

Harvard Orientation Week

Alright, I have to admit that I have been holding back details about my experiences at Harvard. This will be the first of hopefully many more blogs to come, about what school is like for me as a Grad Student. Also, they are big on abbreviations here, so when I type HGSE, it means Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Harvard’s Orientation Week

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It was a week and a half long and there are plenty of highlights that would probably go one for about a chapter of a book. So I will try and be brief:

The HGSE BBQ: Catered food, open bar, dance floor, DJ and faculty and staff including the DEAN of our Graduate School getting down to the Black Eyed Peas’, “I Gotta Feelin” as well as Elvis Crespo’s “Suavemente”.

Open Bar at HGSE Welcome BBQ

Tent angle of HGSE BBQ

Free Swag: Orientation typically consisted of day long events. We recieved bagged lunches… and not the typical brown bags we would get in elementary school, but shimmery paper totes adorned with tissue paper that fed us gourmet “wraps” instead of sandwiches. Also, I got a canvas bag, nalgene bottle and name tags… Okay, not that much free stuff, but still, Harvard Swag. I’ll take it!

Bagged Lunch

My Cohort enjoying lunch in the Rose Garden

Harvard swag overflowing my purse

Course Shopping: On Thursday and Friday of orientation, we were able to “shop” for classes. All of the faculty at Harvard’s School of Ed. conducted 40 minute mini lectures to give students a taste of their teaching styles and introduction to their fall courses. Many professors here are famous: whether they’ve invented something, written books, or studied under Piaget himself…this is a chance to see them in action--even if you choose to not take their course.

Meeting My Advisor: Katherine Masyn. She’s cool (in the sense that she has piercing and tattoos and actually wants to hear about you). She taught at UC Davis before coming here and has gone through three PhD programs. She received her PhD in Advanced Quantitative Methods in Social Research. HUH? Yeah that was my reaction too! But then I read this: Masyn Interview, which made me feel less intimidated. I met with her to plan out my yearlong goals, get career advice and plan my fall semester courses. I even decided to take her Statistics Course: Intro to Data Analysis (the hardest intro to statistics course offered here). I figured that if I have to learn this stuff, I might as well learn from the best right?

Internship Fair: The last day of orientation consisted of walking around a conference center with tables full of various organizations and employers for an afternoon. These organizations were there to offer HSGE students internships and plant some seeds about job opportunities for when we graduate. They asked us to dress professionally and to bring plenty of copies of our resume as odds were we would be hired on the spot. YES on the spot! Never had I imagined they could make this process so easy. So I put on a dress, brought a folder of about 8 resumes (granted at this point I did not want a job or an internship) and I attended. I was offered 4 paid internships! Yes, 4! (Sigma shout out here). As I walked around, employers or recruiters asked me about myself and my past work experience. I actually caught myself saying, “I’m sorry, this is not what I am interested in,” – a couple of times. Yes, I turned down some job offers. Each visit at a table was like a quick 10 minute interview. If they liked me, they asked for my resume and contact info. And, if we werent a match, we would part ways amicably. There were well over 100 other tables in the room anyway. Being a researcher in training, I had to ask people in my cohort whether their experience was similar to mine. And YES it was--except for that fact that a couple of them got internship offers and even exchanged work schedules!

The opportunities are abundant here. That is what people keep saying. My advisor even told me that in essence, this is what I am really paying for-- some class access and education, but really it comes down to the networking and connections HGSE can offer you.

Stay tune to read about which job I pursued…

Mom and I on HGSE campus last month

NYC 3-day weekend

Number 10: Go to New York 

I had my first three day weekend here on the East Coast and figured-- NYC? Why not! Below are some captured moments from my adventurous weekend...

First Stop: 11pm,  Neighborhood pub, Long Island, NY

I arrived in the evening with my friend Hetal. She is from Queens and invited me to stay with her. So we go to a local pub in her neighborhood and she takes the following snap shot...

Not the best photo, I admit. But I wonder, how many people in the world actually have a Long Island Iced Tea in Long Island, NY? I had to capture this moment. It was delicious! Freshly squeezed lemons with pulp and everything.

Next Stop: 11am, Times Square

I'd forgotten how intense the BIG APPLE could be... there was a lot going on: Flat screens everywhere I looked playing movies and advertisements. There were street sellers, food, shopping, tourists, tour busses...etc. I even witnessed the Good Morning America taping!

Third Stop: 2pm (more my style and pace) Central Park

I grabbed a burger and strawberry milkshake at The Shake Shack. There was line half way around the block for this place! My mushroom burger stuffed with gruyere cheese was mouthwatering~I can still taste it now. We grabbed our food to go and found a great view of the city to enjoy every bite of our lunch.

Final Stop: 12am, Lounge 16

I ended the weekend partying until 6am at a rooftop lounge near Times Square. The night was goregous, full of stars and great evening weather. I danced the night away with some more new friends.

Thanks NYC. Great mini vacation!