Summer Daze

So, things this summer are looking up.

One of my best friends that goes to MIT introduced me to a friend of hers who will be doing research at Cleveland Clinic for the summer. This is a great start to reaching my goal of meeting new people. Plus, I got to hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while, so that was nice.

This weekend one of my good friends from highschool is coming home for a few days, I’m really excited to see her.

This summer is turning out to be a lot better than I thought that it would be. If things continue at this trajectory, I’m in for a great time, before an AMAZING year back at school.

Afternoon Delight…

Or, more like morning delight. or morning reflection because it’s actually not that delightful. But like an afternoon quickie, this will be a quick one.

I can’t remember the last time that I read something that resonated with me to strongly. I read this Tuesday, and it still pops into my idle mind. It was eerily relevant to how I was feeling, and not in the ‘I heard a song on the radio that reminded me of something that happened to me’ way, but in the ‘I was literally saying/thinking this exact thing and it’s like the author pulled the thoughts out of my head and put them on paper’ kind of way.

Here’s the article, and I hope it touches everyone who reads it as much as it touched me.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/may/27/keegan-opposite-loneliness/?cross-campus

A dopo!

Everything and Nothing…

I’ve been away for a while, but I’ve been busy working so at least that’s kind of an excuse.

I never knew how true the tired old “intern” stereotype was until now. I work 30 hour weeks (not that much, but in social servicec and development those days can be LONG) sometimes more, dealing with finicky people and difficult companies and get paid nothing. I go home frustrated, or exhausted, or just completely out of it, with no paycheck to show for it at the end of the day. When the weekends come, I’m too broke to do anything, and can’t even afford to go to chipotle let alone get dinner with friends. If I only I had the time/energy for a night job. Not having a car doesn’t help much either.

But I will survive, I will just have to be a freeloader and ask my parents for money, I’m still young and what else is college for other than an excuse to mooch off your parents for 4 years of your “adulthood”?

It’s very interesting working in a field where so many things intersect, I feel like community development corporations are like super heroes, at least the ones that are actually doing things in their communities. They are like event planners, code enforcers, politicians, volunteers, recreational planners, realty consultants, business managers, crisis consultants, social workers, and all in one, and that list goes on. I’ve really been able to see how intelligent and flexible the people that I work with are. They have to navigate so many different work settings, from crunchy granola grassroots organizations to fortune 500 international corporations. Everyday, I feel like this is the kind of work that I want to, but I will definitely have a lot to think about and a lot of work to do.

Otherwise, my life is pretty uneventful. All my friends will soon be fleeing from the Cleve to frolic around the world sailing and doing research and just generally being awesome. Hopefully I’ll get to see them soon, I miss them dearly.

I don’t want to spend my whole summer waiting for school to start, but I’m already feeling that way, and I can’t imagine the summer getting anymore exciting, unless I happen to meet some new people, which I’m totally down for. I want to enjoy this summer, because it is probably the last summer that I will be this carefree, I’ll probably move out of my house, for at least part of the summer and I’ll have to get a job in addition to interning or whatever else I do. I will be working myself to the bone, and my friends will probably still not be home (suburban kids, pfft!) and so I’ll be making do. Then it will be senior year. I don’t want all this amazingness to slip through my fingers and realize when I’m sitting in my cap and gown at graduation, that I didn’t take advantage of every bit of time that I had to be carefree and happy.

Hopefully it wo’n’t come to that, and now I’ve got a date with the kitchen.

A dopo!

Saturdays are great…

Today, despite the terrible weather, was a great day. I got up pretty early, I’m not sure why, and made breakfast. Eggs, toast, home fries, and bacon, it was pretty satisfying and I got to catch up on Sponge Bob. Afterwards I took a little nap and watched Man V. Food and then got dressed to go to the West Side Market in Ohio City. I made out with a lot of great things including some nice instagram photos and some carrot apple juice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get what I went there for, a sausage that I tried yesterday in a steam bun from Noodle Cat. I literally have been thinking about this sausage since 2 in the afternoon yesterday.

After getting some great food and herbs at the market we went to Johnny Mango, a casual café/restaurant deal that has a lot of vegetarian and gluten free options. I got the fried plantains served with pico di gallo and the nachos with grilled chicken. It was so good, those plantains were out of this world.

Now am at home trying not to fall asleep, but I’m thinking a nap is in order. The market was super crowded and crowded places are so exhausting.

Monday was my first day at my internship. I am working in the Ohio City neighborhood and, even though I haven't really done much, since I've only been working here 3 days I'm even more excited than I was when I got the position. I think that this will be one of the most rewarding work experiences that I've had. Not to say that I've had many, and of course, since my last work experience over the summer was working at Pizza Hut at the zoo, that's not much to compare. But really, I think that this really might be something that I can see myself doing for the long hall. I just have to decide exactly what it is that I want to do... I really am stuck between working with the residential side and working with people, and the marketing/events side. Both things I'm really into, I love planning events, I live for logistics and planning and organizing thing and then seeing them come into fruition, but I always love helping people and being involved with people directly, so I don't really know which way to go. I'll probably end up with the residential team, but I would love to volunteer at events and such, it's not like a have anything else to do at this point. 

I guess it's good that career/school wise everything is going pretty well, because as far as my personal life is concerned I'm pretty clueless. Things with a good friend of mine that have always been a little weird (i.e. we've always had a FWB kind of relationship) are at the height of weirdness, we'll see how long that lasts and a friend of mine from school seems to be a front runner in romantic possibilities. That being said, I can't shake the feeling that someone knew needs to, and will enter my life, and the prospect is pretty exciting. I just have no clue where this new person is going to come from. I would also like to make some new friends, seeing as all of mine are abandoning me, and by abandoning I mean doing great things with their lives in other parts of the world, so I'm gonna be here for most of the summer by myself. It's great but it's scary, I don't want to spend my summer hanging out with my mom. How lame would that be?

So, we shall see where the rest of the day, and the rest of the summer takes me. Hopefully I will be able to keep myself busy, meet some awesome people, and be happy this summer. Because even though I love Cleveland, and I made a bit of money last year, I couldn't wait to get back to school and that was only 2 1/2 months. I want to be happy this summer, I want to have a reason to comeback because at this point, the only thing keeping me here is the hope I have for the future of this city. Not to sound overly sentimental or anything...

I’m back!

First things first TWITTER and INSTAGRAM -  @omgwth92 and shay_g92 respectively. Add me? Far better way to keep updated than my blog.

I know have been absent for a while, adjusting to home life and figuring my summer activities out in addition to sharpening my huswiffery (housewife) skills.

This past week has been a pretty good one, got some major loot @ Nordstrom Rack at Legacy (Free People maxi-dress, Caslon cashmere blend cardi, and a draped Halogen top all for under $80). I got a position as an intern at a community development organization that I’ve wanted to work at for a while, and I also have another position in the works as well as a job. This girl’s on a roll!

Last night, to celebrate, I cooked Orange Chicken and Fried Rice from scratch which was fun as well as time consuming since each this took a ton of ingredients. Good think I made the sauce ahead of time.

I need to clean because my culinary explorations have left half of the kitchen in disarray and I really have just been to lazy to wash all the dishes and actually put them away. Hopefully when I start working I will have less of an urge to nosh.

Things with my mother have been iffy, although I adore her and we have fun together, I have been in the house/with her far too much and we have been budding heads a lot. I think she still sees me as a moody teenager and will not accept the fact that I’m 20, and I’m not going to agree with everything she says or do what ever she wants me to. Oh well, I’ll be out the house soon enough, and hopefully I’ll find a social life too. When Monday nights and Friday nights are one in the same, things are really sad on the social front.

This past Sunday, my mother, grandmother, little cousin, aunt, great aunt, and 2nd cousin went to Wasabi to celebrate my little cousin’s 17th birthday. Needless to say, I was feeling hella old while realizing that in just a year he will be graduating from high school. How weird is that? Hopefully he will get his act together and do something with himself other than watch anime and play video games.

Well, I’ll leave you with that since life as of late has not been exceptionally exciting. They will be soon though…

A Dopo :)

Who said you can’t go home…

I’ve hit the slump… the post-study abroad slump.

I’m back home, and sure it was nice to see my family, but I really just want to be back in Florence.

I miss the city, I’ve been back for a week, and I’m still referring to my host family’s apartment as “home”. Problem.

I just can’t figure out how to get out of this funk, maybe once I start working I won’t feel so lost in translation…