!!!

The Honors college has FREE tickets for Honors students to go see Wicked at the Academy of Music on August 7th!!!!!!!!!!

But I won't be able to go!! Booooo for being stuck in New York but two thumbs up to Honors for scoring tickets to such an awesome play. I mean even the worst seats to see it on Broadway would've cost like ~$75/ticket. But now some very lucky Drexel kids get go for free. WoW.

Did I mention that I adore being a part of the Honors College? Because I definitely do.

Shake Ya Groove Thing

I've officially deemed this past Wednesday and Thursday as the best days of my summer so far. Why? Mainly because I spent them in PHILLY with some of the best kids in the world.

But let's start from the beginning-
My roommate/best friend, Michelle's, 21st birthday was yesterday. Originally I would've had to have missed her birthday because of family obligations. Which saddened me a great deal..I mean would you want to miss your best friend's 21st?? However, I can be devious when I need to and managed to plan this 2 day trip nearly a month in advance.

In any event, I didn't tell Michelle I was coming down. In fact for the past two weeks, everytime I talked to her, I was bemoaning the fact that I would have to miss her 21st and that I was feeling super guilty for being such a horrible friend. In actuality, I was pulling together a midnight surprise party for her. So I got to Philly on Wednesday morning, met with my 2 advisors about school stuff, and then pretty much spent the rest of the day hiding out at friends' houses and praying that I wouldn't run into her.

Anyway, long story short, she had gone over to watch a movie at our friends' house and they walked her back to our place at around midnight where about 12 of us were squished into her room waiting to surprise her. The look on her face was priceless, and even more so when she saw me because I hid behind everyone else until the last minute. Man, SUCH a good night!! There was cake to be had...I devised a fabulous recipe for a three layer cake that consisted of brownie, frosting, chocolate chip cookies, frosting, more brownie and then frosting all around. She loves Swedish fish so my friend Regina drew ocean waves on top of the cake and we made an aquatic looking cake. Needless to say, Michelle was pretty ecstatic. Gifts were opened and then a couple of us went to Cav's so that she'd get to have her first drink as a 21 year old.

Thursday I mainly spent the day hanging out with her but I also got to pay a visit to Admissions and see a couple of the DWCs that I sorely miss. At night we went out with a couple of PSP brothers to Riverdeck which is an open-air bar/club down by the waterfront. Another awesome night! We danced into the wee hours of the morning and our night ended perfectly as the last song played by the DJ was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. That's pretty much become our unofficial theme song I think. We fell into bed around 3:30 a.m. and I had to wake up at 6:30 so that I could catch my 8 a.m. train back to NY.

I'm pretty exhausted (6 hours of sleep between 2 days), but this trip was SO worth it, no matter how short it was. I got to celebrate my best friend's 21st with her and I got to see all the wonderful people that have made my college life as awesome as it's been. Nothing but love for Philly...I reckon ya'll made a great choice when you decided to come to Drexel.

Until next time...

Dining Days!

Okay so yes I live a stone's throw from NYC (which I still wholeheartedly believe is the greatest city in the world), but I'm uber bummed about the fact that I'm missing out on University City Dining Days! =[

For those of you who don't know about UCDD, about twice a year around 20 normally pricey restaurants within University City offer amazing prix fixe deals at their restaurants. Depending on the restaurant you pay anywhere between $20-$30 a person and you get a full meal--appetizer, entree, and dessert. (Drinks and gratuity are extra). Plus there are a whole variety of restaurants to choose from- Thai, Mexican, Italian, Contemporary American, etc. It's a great and convenient way to eat at a place that your average broke college student wouldn't normally be able to afford.

The last Dining Days were held back in January, and a bunch of us went to Zocalo's, for my friend Trish's 21st. It's this cute little Mexican place that's pretty close to where I live and their margaritas are flipping awesome! So was their chocolate croissant-ice creamish dessert that I had. And we got all three courses for a mere $25/person. Pretty awesome!

SO, if anyone is going to be in the Philly area within the next week or so, you should definitely check it out! Dining Days are running from July 26- August 2. You can go to University City Dining Days to read up on some reviews or you can just check out the List of Restaurants. A lot of them require reservations since they tend to be pretty busy during Dining Days, so call them up and head on out for some awesome food!

Until next time...

Potter!

So my days are drastically different now that I'm not studying anymore. I've basically been going to the gym and lounging around the house these past few days and not writing my personal statement which I really, really, really need to get on. I bring new meaning to the phrase "Procrastinators Unite!...Tomorrow." I like the time off though. I went full speed at school for 9 months and hit the books again as soon as I got home so this is my first real break from all of that. Feels nice.

Today I'm going into the Village with my friend Danielle to do some shopping and then we're heading to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square for the huge Harry Potter Book Release Celebration that they're doing. It promises to be super intense. We're not staying until the actual midnight release but we figured it'd be fun to go and meet up with some of our other friends from high school. It's always fun seeing how everyone has changed over the course of the past three years and swap stories about who's doing what.

It's crazy to think I'm graduating Drexel next year...I even set up a countdown for it already--330 days left!

I still remember graduating high school though.. June 21, 2004- close to 700 of us kids plus parents, faculty, and speakers all in a swelteringly hot Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. I remember feeling a whole lot of different things...excited at the prospect of starting at new place in the fall and anxious for the same reason, sad about leaving all these awesome friends to go our separate ways but determined to not lose touch with any of them. Three years later, on the verge of my senior year in college, I can see that I was a bit naive as a high school senior. I've lost in touch with a lot of friends, though not for lack of trying on my part. You go to college and you really do become another person..you change whether you want to or not and that takes its toll on relationships. It's sad to a certain extent but you need to chalk it up to the fact that life goes on and even the closest of friends can grow apart from each other.

Then again, on the flipside, there are some people that will always stick with you no matter how far apart you are and no matter how long you go without speaking to each other. Those are the kinds of friends you hang onto for life.

Until next time...

Dunzo!

So I get to my MCAT test center this morning an hour before the test starts. I am always early to life (I defy Indian Standard Time) and today was clearly no exception to that rule. I go downstairs to find the place but all I see is a bunch of card board boxes. "Weird" I think to myself and then I decide to go explore the building. Can't find the place. I'm a tad bit panicky.

I go into one of the office's and I ask them where Thomson Prometric is.

"Oh, they're not here anymore. They actually moved out a while ago."

EX-cuse me?

"But I have my MCAT in an hour, where did they move to?!"

The secretary is already turning around to photocopy for me a copy of their new address. Meanwhile I'm hitting speed dial on my phone trying to catch my dad before he gets too far. Mercifully he picks up (he usually doesn't while driving) and I quickly tell him to come back. The lady hands me the new address and I call the Customer Service number and they tell me that I need to go to this new place to take my test. At this point I'm in freaking tears because HELLO, it's an hour before my MCAT and you just told me my test center doesn't exist. I go outside and sit on the steps and try to calm myself down but of course that doesn't work because my heart just went from 80 bpm to like 2000. At that point I call my best friend, Michelle, and miracle of all miracles she manages to get me to chill out somewhat (relatively speaking). My dad comes back and we peel away to other test center which thankfully is only a fifteen minute drive.

I get there and huzzahhh the test center actually exists at this place! I asked the guy at the front desk how long ago they moved and he was like "about four months ago." Come again?!?! You would think the AAMC or someone would have the sense to notify its test-takers that their test site doesn't exist and give them the new address. I signed up in March. They had FOUR months to let me know and they didn't. I so DID NOT need that freakout an hour before my MCAT.
And I wasn't the only one either. Kids came in after me and they were all like "I went to the wrong test center." Ugh. So I managed to get myself to fully calm down once I was signed in and fingerprinted and everything. And then I took the test. It was hard, but it's the MCATs. If it was easy, everyone would be a doctor.

And I'm done now which makes me ecstatic. Now I just wait for the next 6 weeks.

::Gulp::

So my MCATs are tomorrow.

Yeah.

Leashes For Bunnies?

Apparently they exist! Who would've thunken it eh? My roommate, Jess, got one for her bunny Gromit. I wonder if we can take her for walks now? I'm gonna attempt to when I go back to Philly to visit.

SKYpe

The Honors College has free tickets to High School Musical! Boo for not being able to go =[

I'm not a tech-kid in the least bit but I highly recommend that everyone go download Skype .It lets you make calls FOR FREE across the Internet to anyone who has a Skype account, an Internet connection and a microphone handy. So AWESOME. I told my mom about it and she's on the phone with India right now telling them about it. We have this sweet roof on our apartment in Philly and back in June my roommates and some of our mutual friends decided that they were gonna have rooftop nights, complete with coffee and citronella candles. They've got a Skype hookup and wireless Internet and now that I've got Skype I can totally partake in the rooftop happenings. Excitement! But they better call me soon or else I'm gonna fall asleep.

Until next time...

51!

So the MCATs are in exactly a week. In fact, by this time next week I'll be celebrating my freedom. Well at least until my scores show up. I'm kinda petrified, but then again I wouldn't be human if I wasn't. I'm gonna give them my best shot and that's all I can really do. Hopefully things turn out decently. Or else I'll be uber sad.

The beautiful part is that I'm going to get done before all the Harry Pottahhh (it sounds more British when you say it that way) mania starts. I'm not hardcore obsessed like others but I am a fan of the books and I'm eager to see how she decides to end the saga. I don't have Deathly Hallows preordered or anything but I figure people will read it so fast that it'll only be a few days before I can bum it off a dear friend. The movie comes out the day of my MCATs so chances are I'm going to see it soon afterwards. I got to see "Goblet of Fire" at it's midnight showing at the IMAX theater at the Franklin Institute. Twas definitely an experience because the screen is basically a gigantic sphere and the movie stretched out over it. You had to move your eyes back and forth to make sure you didn't miss anything. I left at 2:30 in the morning with a ginormous headache but it was still a good movie!

The Franklin Institute in general is one of my favorite Philly places--there's always so much to see and do. Last year the Honors College had free tickets to go see Body Worlds and being the Biology nerd I am, I spent over two hours in that one exhibit alone. It was pretty fascinating. And of course you have to walk through the Giant Heart every time you visit. Right now there's a huge exhibit about King Tut and Egypt on display (Honors had free tix for that too!). Definitely a great place to spend part of your day. The fact that it's walking distance from Drexel doesn't hurt either. (You can take the trolley too if you're lazy).

Until next time...

RWB

As much as I hate that I won't be in Philly to watch the Independence Day fireworks at the Art Museum, I'll still get to see some around here. Every year there's a big show out on Jones Beach and cars just line up and park for miles on and people lie on their hoods and stare at the sky. I haven't been there in some time now but my parents want to take my relatives out so I think I'm going to tag along. It sounds a bit loser-ish, a 21 year old college kid hanging out with her parents on the 4th of July but going all the way into the city to watch the Macy's fireworks is out of the question for the moment. Don't feel like having to deal with drunken folks on the subway ride home. I was in Times Square for New Year's Eve 2006 and getting out of there was INSANE. The entire ride home my only wish was that no one would puke on me. It was fun, but definitely a little crazy. New Yorkers know how to party, what can I say? =)

Until next time...

YuM

Everyone needs to go to the Cheesecake Factory at some point in their lives and indulge in their desserts. I went to the one out on Long Island with some of my friends on Wednesday and I ended up in sugar heaven. Their entrees are nothing to write home about but they have a million different kinds of cheesecake and even more desserts on top of that. I really wanted to get the Godiva Chocolate Brownie Sundae but since I was in the Cheesecake Factory, I opted for the brownie sundae cheesecake, which, as its name implies, is half-brownie, half-cheesecake and a whole lot of hot fudge and whipped cream. DELICIOUS!

The closest one to Drexel is around the King of Prussia mall--what better way to end a day of shopping??

In other news, I'd like to wish a very
HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY to a fellow DWC, Brian!!! =)

Until next time...