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Things I did for the first time ever:
- Rode a bus for public transportation (besides a school bus): Coming from Nebraska everyone just drives.
- Had Indian food: Two of my friends from Nebraska who are working in Minneapolis for the summer and I went out for Indian food. I would describe what I had as good and spicy.
- Played Ultimate Frisbee: there are a bunch of people from the dorms in NE who really like to play but I never get to go with them. But I finally managed to here and it has actually become a regular thing.
- Tried Thai food
- Ballroom Dancing
- Major league baseball game
- Ate Cheese Curds
- Saw Dolphins and merkats
- Mormon baptism and Sunday church service
First Week: We went of to a park with the Psychology REU people. We had a picnic. Although, the food was much fancier at this picnic than what I am used to. We had an interesting time getting there because no one knew where we were from so were got a little confused. But, we did get a tour of downtown Minneapolis thanks to some of that confusion.
Second Week: We went and saw Sylvia on the night of Wednesday June 12th. The play description was this: The story of a man, his wife, and the woman who comes between them, who just happens to be his dog. The play was funny and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.
We also discovered that we are going to get to take a few practice GRE's. While that doesn't necessarily fall into the "fun" category it is a great opportunity and will hopefully allow me to not totally bomb the test.
This weekend I have to drive home for a friends wedding. It will be nice to see everyone in Nebraska again. :)
Third Week: We went canoeing Tuesday night with the CE/EE REU. That was quite the adventure for me. Mike and I were supposed to canoe together but as it turns out he doesn't know how to canoe and I am only marginally competent with an experienced canoer. So, we ended up in the water after 5 minutes. Of course, we couldn't get it tipped back over so the boat people rescued us. And the water safety patrol even came by to see if we were all right. Everyone was very amused and I think we were called the most inept canoers ever.
Friday night I went ballroom dancing with John. He was meeting some people from his youth group so I figured I might as well tag along. We got a little lost getting there. Who would have expected 5th St. and 7th St. to cross? But we ended up finding the place and learned to rumba. As it turned out he had missed the phone call from his friends telling him they weren't coming after all. So, it was a good thing I had come or he wouldn't have had anyone to dance with at all.
Saturday I organized a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I got two of my friends from Nebraska who are in town working at Honeywell to come along. The museum was huge. We spent 2.5 hours and didn't even see one full floor. This was also the trip where I got to try Thai food. I would say I ate Thai food but I wasn't feeling the best so I didn't really eat all that much. But, it had nothing to do with food...just my stomach being really cranky.
Fourth Week: I went to my first major league baseball game on Wednesday. I was given lessons on how to appreciate the game. So I can now say I have been educated in the art of baseball. I think I'll give Dan and Rob a summer to convince me it is a good sport.
Friday we went dancing again. There were more people with us then last time so it was lots of fun. I learned how your feet are supposed to move for a Fox trot and how one kind of waltzes.
Saturday we headed to the Mall of America to see A.I. I'm still not sure what I thought of the movie. I think the group was split half in half. Either you love it or you hate it. Or, in my case you are torn. Then we went out to eat and had Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I have never seen a B&J ice cream parlor until I came here, usually it is something you only get from a grocery store.
Sunday I went walking by the Mississippi. The water is a scary metallic color. We also watched 2001 Space Odyssey. I don't know what the people in our group thought of that.
Fifth Week: Eek! Halfway through! On Monday we went to Taste of Minnesota. I tried Cheese Curds, cheese that is fried. They were pretty good.
On Wednesday, the Fourth, we had the day off so Jessamy and I went to Gina's cabin. I know Gina in this manner. Gina is dating the guy who one of my friends in high school roomed with his second semester at St. Thomas which happens to be in Minneapolis. We had a great time but I got very burnt. Jessamy is my witness though! I wore sunscreen. We then went and played Ultimate, but Jessamy has hurt legs and I was burnt so we couldn't play. Instead we ran around taking pictures with Mr. camera. Then we went to watch the fireworks they were really pitiful.
Friday night we went star gazing. This all occurred because Rob is from New York City and hasn't gotten to see the starry sky in a really long time. I absolutely love the sky so I thought that he shouldn't have to miss out on that anymore. We piled 6 people into my Taurus (we were all buckled up) and drove about an hour out of the city. Sadly the moon was out so we didn't get a great look and the evil mosquitoes ate us alive.
Saturday there was an all program picnic for all students doing summer research here at the University. It was lots of fun and the food was better than in the dorm. Of course Ultimate Frisbee was played even though it was really hot out. We also watched Office Space in my room on Saturday. That is always a good movie to get a group of tech people to watch. Jessamy's family was in town so she hung out with them most of the weekend.
On Sunday I went over to Dan's place(he is from Nebraska and working for Honeywell this summer) with Rob, ate dinner, and watched a baseball game. Sadly the guys' team, the Mets, lost.
Sixth Week: Tuesday we went to the Science Museum. This place is really cool. Sadly we only had an hour to walk around.
Wednesday we went and saw Final Fantasy. It was pretty cool. We saw it at this neat older theater that is within walking distance of the campus. They had the best "good theater behavior" reminder I have ever seen. Let's put it this way, Barbie blew up!
On Thursday I got to drive to the airport two times! Once we were dropping off a Mike so he could fly home for a wedding. And then we picked up Syreeta's boyfriend, Kyo. He was coming for her birthday.
The really really fun thing I did this week was go camping. 5 of us: April, Ethan, Jessamy, Rob, and I. The first night we went to St. Croix State Park. It was really clear that night so we went star gazing. It has been a really really long time since I have seen the Milky Way so that was really neat. Ethan, April, and Jessamy knew a lot of constellations that I hadn't been able to pick out. Saturday we went up to Duluth. We got to see Lake Superior which is of course really big. I was born in Duluth and wanted to find where I was born, but the town was a bit bizarre to get around so we didn't' try to find the house. We then drove across the state to Lake Bemidji. This place had a really cool bog walk that allowed us to see a bunch of plants you don't always get to see. We also roasted marshmallows. Yummy! The next day we went down to Itasca State Park. We went to the headwaters of the Mississippi. We also waded in the Mississippi. The whole trip was cool and I'll post pictures when we get them developed.
Seventh Week: Tuesday night we had a card party in Jessamy's room. I didn't ever get around to playing cards but it was still a lot of fun. It was quite impressive because there were about 8 people in her room.
I had a friend come into town but ended up feeling pretty ill on Saturday and so she and my other friend, Matt, hung out and I stayed home and rested. Sunday we went to the zoo for Jessamy and Mike Morse's birthdays. It was very warm but neat. We got to walk around a lot more than before and so I saw more of the animals.
Eighth Week: Monday was Jessamy's birthday. Dr. Gini brought in really really good birthday cake. That was yummy!
On Saturday we went went to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. That was really interesting. Dan had his phrenology reading done. Then we all went to Mike Friedman's baptism into the Mormon church. That was really interesting. After that we went over to Jill's house and had yummy food. We also watched Ferris Buhler's Day Off because a bunch of people hadn't seen it.
On Sunday I went with John Carlson to his church. I had never been to a Mormon mass and found it very interesting. Later on that day a group of us went out to the Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis and had quite the time playing around. We also took a look at the Basilica which is the first Basilica in the United States.
Ninth Week: Thursday night Rob and I went around looking at some more churches. The Cathedral looked really cool from the outside but sadly it had already closed for the night. Then we drove over to Minneapolis and saw the Methodist church. It was really pretty and the pastor let us look around even though choir practice was going on. Later on that night a group of us watched Short Ciruit.
I had to go home this weekend. When we went camping.we used my dad's tent. One of my friends brought it up for me but then I never managed to get a hold of her and so the tent, 2 sleeping bags, and a cooler were in my room and I didn't have room for them in the car. So, I decided to go home and take a nice load of stuff with me so that my life would be easier the next weekend. Rob, being from New York City, decided he wanted to come with me so he could see more of the Midwest. I took him on a tour, or as good of a one as you can have in 3 days, of Nebraska. We also stopped in Des Moines, Iowa. Some of the stuff we saw:
- The Old Market (Downtown Omaha)
- The Josyln Art Museum
- The house of Warren Buffet-one of the richest men in the US
- My house-so it's not a tourist thing but my mom made great lasagna
- Corn and bean fields-they're a little unavoidable
- My dad's house and my little siblings-they're so cute!
- The capital building of Nebraska
- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln-where I go to school!
- Husker Stadium (Rob's a sports fan)
- The Sunken Gardens
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels -great movie
- A combine-this was actually a priority item for the trip
- The Missouri River
- Iowa's capital building
Tenth Week: I can't believe the summer is over! I have so much stuff I'd still like to do. And so much stuff I need to get done before school starts. This has been one of the best summers. Not only was the research a ton of fun I also got to meet lots of great people.
Monday Jessamy, Rob, and I went to the Cathedral again. This time we got to go inside. We also went to Minnesota's capital. 3 capital's in 3 days, pretty impressive.