Beantown in the Fall

Welp, for the last ten months I've been living in Boston. For anyone who watches the news, you know that Boston has been a pretty eventful place this last year. In spite of a hurricane, a blizzard, and a bombing, I've had an incredible time here so far.

In September I started my first semester in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at Simmons College. I'm specializing in Archives Management, so most of my workload has been split about half-and-half between general library classes and archives classes. Contrary to popular belief, I have not spent the last year just learning about the Dewey Decimal System. :) In the Fall I took Information Organization (essentially an introductory cataloging class), Intro to Archival Methods and Services, and Preservation Management. I love the small class sizes at Simmons, and I feel like I have a great relationship with all my professors. Plus I feel like my professors all really know what they're doing; for example, my Preservation Management professor has some kind of management position at the New England Document Conservation Center, which has done some pretty impressive work with a lot of the natural disasters over the last several years. It was so cool to hear her experiences; from what I know of other schools, they just get tons of theory and not much practical instruction, so I'm really glad I'm at Simmons!

As part of the Intro Archives class, I had an internship at the Concord Free Public Library. I processed a couple of collections and made online finding aids (a finding aid is to archival collections as a catalog is to a library). I can technically say I'm published, since my finding aids are on their website! The collections I processed were a scrapbook of the Grapevine Cottage (where the Concord Grape was developed) and a huge collection of old almanacs, ranging from 1792 to 1950. I really enjoyed it! [If you want to see my finding aids, the scrapbook is here and the almanacs are here.]

Mid-October, my mom and sister were able to come visit and then my sister-in-law came the week after. Although I didn't feel like I knew much about the area yet, I loved showing them around! We did the Freedom Trail, saw MIT and Harvard campuses, and made trips to Concord and Salem. We had a great time.

Me with my mom and sister in front of the
numbers man on MIT campus

Ashley and I in Salem!

Autumn in Boston was absolutely gorgeous. It's always been my favorite season, and it's probably my favorite thing about living in New England. 

This was one of the most
vibrantly-colored leaves I'd ever
seen. Just one of many examples
of the gorgeous New England fall.

 A few days after Ashley's visit, Hurricane Sandy hit. Fortunately most of the Boston area only experienced some pretty strong winds and rain. Being my first hurricane, however, I was pretty freaked out. When I stepped outside the next day, the streets were littered with trash and tree branches, and a lot of the canopies above local businesses were totally shredded.

Thanksgiving came, and I was lucky enough to go home for a week and a half for the holiday and (more importantly) my best friend's wedding. My dearest Katie got married and I couldn't be happier for her!

The lovely bride with her bridesmaids: me, Britney,
Katie, Stacey, and Celeste

In December, there was a big Christmas tree lighting on the Boston Common. I went with some of my good friends from Simmons, and even though the rumors of Enrique Iglesias being in attendance turned out to be false, we had a great time! 

Ryan, Becky, Lindsey, Lauren, me, and Dorice

Mackenzi, Mariah (my lovely roommate), and me

I got to go home for an entire month between semesters and had a most excellent time hanging out with my family and friends over Christmas break.

Me with my adorable niece

Me with my studly nephew and nephbear

Murray friends at Temple Square

So this one time I drove across the country...

Just over a week ago, my dad and I started our drive across the country to move me out to Boston. It was long, but we were able to make some fun stops along the way. I'm so glad my dad came with me so I didn't have to make the drive by myself. We left Wednesday afternoon and stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wyoming is a pretty boring state, but we soon realized it wasn't our least favorite...

Wyoming. Thrilling, right?

We spent most of the next day driving through Nebraska. We made a fun little stop in Hastings, the birthplace of Kool-Aid, to visit a museum with a sweet Kool-Aid exhibit. That night we stopped in Iowa. Nebraska is the worst state ever. Not only is it awkwardly-shaped and therefore takes forever to drive through, there's nothing to see! (Nothing along the highway at least.) It was all flat, brown, and drab. So glad that's over.

Who knew "the good life" was in Nebraska? Or that it's the home of Arbor Day? What an educational trip.

See? I'm being like the Kool-Aid guys.

We couldn't get a picture with the "Iowa" sign, so we got a picture in the first city we stopped in.

The Mississippi River

The next day, we drove through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In Ohio we stopped at the Campbell's Soup factory and got pictures with the giant tomato soup can!

The Land of Lincoln!

I think Indiana is home to the most attractive men in the U.S. They should put that on their sign.

This place was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! Super tasty.

Good ol' Ohio

I was supposed to be holding it, but I'm gonna say I'm presenting it. You know, gettin' my Vanna White on.

The sign for Pennsylvania. Awesome picture.

On Saturday, we drove to Allentown, Pennsylvania and visited my brother Scott and my nephdog Kingston. Unfortunately Ashley had other plans with some friends in D.C. and we didn't get to see her. But we're planning on going to Salem together this October! It'll be awesome. While we were visiting Scott, we went to lunch, visited the Crayola factory, and had some yummy Thai food for dinner.

Giant crayons tumbling from the box at the Crayola factory

They showed us how they make crayons and markers!

My brand-new purple marker. Fun fact: All markers start out with white tips until the color soaks through!

Me with the World's Largest Crayon in the super cool Crayola store!

Grandpa with Grandpup :)

Sunday we decided to take a little detour and visit some LDS church history sites in Palmyra, New York. It was so cool to see where the church started out. I've read about it for so many years and it was really cool to finally see it in person.

The Palmyra Temple

The Sacred Grove

The Moroni monument on top of Hill Cumorah

Cool view from the top of Hill Cumorah

Where the first edition of the Book of Mormon was published

On Monday we drove the last few hours to Boston. We picked up my apartment keys from my landlord and moved my stuff in. Unfortunately I can't actually move in until September 1st, but they're letting me put my belongings in the living room until my bedroom is free. I'm so glad I had my dad's help moving everything up (my apartment is on the third floor with plenty of winding, rickety stairs leading up), and I'm even more glad that neither of us had a heart attack after that climb!


The next morning my dad and I went to see the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house. It was cool to see those pieces of history--I can't wait to experience more of it here in Boston!

Old North Church and Paul Revere statue

I'm glad that the crazy long drive is behind us (even though I had lots of fun with my dad!), but this waiting period before I can move in is kind of awkward. I can't wait to get settled in and start school! I'll post pictures of my new place as soon as I'm moved in :)

Let's Go To The Mall!

Here's a picker-upper for the day:

This is from the TV show "How I Met Your Mother." They find out their friend Robin used to be a teen pop star in Canada and they unveil this music video. It makes me giggle. I have this song stuck in my head about 60% of the time.

Grad School Update

Hello, friends!

I figure I should give everyone an update about my plans for graduate school. This is a follow-up to my "Decisions, Decisions" post, which you can find here. During my extensive research on schools and programs in the realm of library science, I found a school that will let me start this fall. Initially I thought the earliest I could begin my program would be in January, but this school had a later application deadline for Fall Semester, so I decided to take the leap.

So I applied for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. It's a top-ranked library science program, although it is a pretty small private school. I was intimidated and unsure that I'd be able to get all my application materials in soon enough. They were kind enough to let me apply a few days late (the day I decided to even pursue a master's degree was their application deadline) and I was trying so hard to get everything in quickly. Luckily, within about 4 days I had written a compelling statement of purpose (aka admission essay), re-vamped my already-kick-A resume, arranged my letters of recommendation, and ordered my college transcripts. It was a busy week, but somehow I managed to get everything submitted. After some annoying interactions with SLCC regarding my transcripts, everything was running smoothly and then all I could do was wait.

Four to six weeks later, I got my acceptance letter!

(Sorry for the crappy quality)

For a while I wasn't sure whether I'd actually start in the Fall or if I'd try to get more scholarship money and start in the Spring. I finally decided to just go for it. After deciding that this is what I want to do, I just want to get started on the next chapter in my life.

The next step was to start looking at apartments and getting more information about both Simmons College and Boston in general. I was really overwhelmed and felt pretty clueless. Luckily, I got in contact with my cousin Brandon (who lives in Boston) and with his helpful connections I was given a website to help me find LDS roommates in the Boston area. Within less than a week I found an apartment with 3 other LDS girls in Cambridge, right across the river from Boston. It's really close to the subway, so I should be able to get to school really easily; I'll be living above a post office, which is just fabulous (mailing stuff is my most neglected errand); there is a mall within a couple blocks; and according to google maps, there are all sorts of cute little local restaurants in the area. The ward sounds really fun, too. It encompasses the whole Boston area, which means it has students from Boston University, Harvard, MIT, etc. And according to a couple of my friends who have spent some time in the Boston/Cambridge area, Cambridge is absolutely gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to it! I'll be moving out in the middle of August.

There's still a lot I feel clueless about, especially in regards to school, but I'm flying out to Boston with my mom in a couple weeks for Advising Day. Hopefully after I spend some time on campus and listen to people ramble on and on about how great the school is for a few hours, I'll feel more prepared. I'm excited to register for classes, though. I was reading through the course descriptions and it sounds like some of them are crazy cool (in a nerdy-sort-of-way). There are even some work study opportunities, so hopefully I'll be able to get some real hands-on experience once I'm out there.

The more I think about living in Boston, the more excited I get. I realized last week that whenever I see mail trucks I get really happy. I've also had a long-standing affection for sailboats--I just think they're adorable! I'm also a wee bit obsessed with leaves changing colors in the fall, and Boston has so many trees, it'll be gorgeous. PLUS, October is my favorite month and Halloween is probably my favorite holiday; Salem is only a couple of hours from Boston and I'm sure they have all sorts of cool stuff around Halloween.

Gorgeous, right? This is in the Boston Public Garden. I'll definitely be making a stop here.

Thank you everyone for your love and support! The program will take two years to complete, so I'll be living in Boston at least that long. I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Farewell

*Since my blog is public, I don't want random fans finding this blog via Google, so I won't be using my friend's name. Sorry if it sounds a bit cryptic :)

Most of you know that a particular singer is a good friend of mine. I've known him since 10th grade. We ran in the same circles in high school, and whenever we'd play midnight dodgeball (Sunday nights whenever there was no school on Monday) he would host after-parties at his house. Then when he was a Junior and I was a Senior, he asked me to Homecoming. He has always been sweet, kind of shy, and extremely kind to everyone. Although we didn't keep in touch constantly after he was on A.I., I was still able to see him periodically. Sometimes we'd hang out when he was in town, and during the semester I was working in Disneyland, he happened to have a Christmas concert in Anaheim--we were able to meet up and hang out in his dressing room and tour bus for a while.

My friend recently made the decision to serve an LDS mission. He is going to give up his music career for the next two years to serve God and spread His word. I'm so incredibly proud of him. It's hard enough for the average young adult male to give up his life for two years. I can't imagine the sacrifice it will be for a celebrity.


Anyway, this friend of mine invited me to attend his farewell talk. Not many people were invited, and there was only a handful of high school friends in attendance. I was so happy to be included, and the whole thing was just an incredible experience. Elder Ballard was there, as well as a few other "Mormon celebrities" like Alex Boye and Sheri Dew.

My friend gave a wonderful talk about the Holy Ghost and how different people feel the Spirit. He shared some of his experiences, many of them from his time on A.I. He did a great job. After his talk, he sang "The Spirit of God." It was a beautiful arrangement. He sang the first verse in English, the second verse in Spanish (the language he'll be speaking on his mission), and finished it off again in English. He got a little choked up while he was singing... As if we weren't all emotional already, once he lost it, I'm pretty sure everyone was crying. There was a surround sound of sniffles, that's for sure.

After the meeting, everyone was invited to shake hands with my friend and say hello in the cultural hall, and some of his closer friends were invited to a luncheon. I stopped by the luncheon and had a good time. I always feel self-conscious when there are stylists around though! (His stylist is a nice person--and her husband is hilarious--but I still feel like she thinks I look frumpy or something.) Regardless, I got to catch up with some high school friends and eat some yummy food, so I'd say it was a success.

My friend left for the MTC three days later (and happened to make a quick appearance in the choir at General Conference four days after that). I'm so proud of him and wish him the best of luck. I'll miss you, D! You'll be an awesome missionary!