Midwest Adventures

Time for another update.  I've been busy.  I left St. Louis on Sunday morning after the concert to make the long drive to Colorado.  It was really cool to drive over the Mississippi River, but Kansas is the most boring state to drive through!  The further I drove, the more nothingness there was.  Just a lot of flat grassy land.  The only exciting thing I found was on a whim, I stopped at the Wizard of Oz museum.  It was pretty cute and fun.  Next door to that was the Oz Winery where I bought a white wine called "I'll Get You". 
I stopped in Kansas to sleep and drove the rest of the way to Denver on Monday.  I am staying with Jessica, my old roommate from college, and it is so great to see her and catch up!  We went to dinner with her roommate and out for a drink with some more friends.  Yesterday, we biked to the Denver Aquarium (this city is very bike friendly).  It was so much fun!  Jess tried to feed some sting rays.  Last night we had a girls night at home.  Now I'm hanging out at the University of Colorado, Denver campus while Jess is in class. I like it a lot.  I like this city a lot.  There's so much to see and do and random artwork around.  I can see why Jess moved here.

If Not Now, When?

Time for another update.  The last few days have been so awesome!  I drove the rest of the way to Bob's place in Urbana, Illinois on Thursday.  I got there late afternoon and Bob showed me around his lab and the greenhouses at the University of Illinois.  He also does plant biology work.  It was so cool and made me so excited to get started with my plant biology work.  It also made me a little nervous listening to him and his friends talk about how stressful grad school is, but I'm sure it will be ok. 
Bob, his girlfriend, and I got sushi and frozen yogurt that night and then I basically passed out on the couch.  I was so tired from driving. The next day I hung out while Bob worked, got thai food with him and his friends for lunch, and went out for a beer with him and his friends after he finished work.  Then we went to the garden plot that Bob and his girlfriend own.  It was really fun.  Bob gave me some of the produce that they are growing (see pictures below).  Then we made some pizza for dinner and they taught me how to play the game Munchkin.  It was kind of confusing, but really fun. 
Today, I left Bob's and drove to St. Louis for the Incubus concert.  I had some extra time before it, so I checked out the Science Center.  It was so wonderful.  I wish I had had more time to spend there.  Then I went to the concert and even though I was by myself, I enjoyed it immensely.  Below are 2 pictures.  They're not very good quality, but you get the idea.  Incubus did not disappoint.  I knew all the songs and they played a lot of my favorites (like Stellar <3).  Brandon Boyd even took his shirt off :-).  I loved every minute of it. 
I have really been enjoying taking this trip and having this time to myself.  It gives me a lot of time to think.  I really love being able to start and stop driving where ever and when ever I feel like it.  I can do whatever I want when I stop and that is kind of empowering.  I can't wait to see what adventures the rest of this trip brings.

Finally driving!

So I'm finally on my way to California, but first I must update about the rest of my time on Long Island.
Monday morning, I got breakfast and caught up with Christian.  His work schedule is crazy, so I'm so glad he was able to find time to see me.  I brought my car into the shop Monday afternoon to fix the clicking noise.  I didn't get it back until this morning.  Monday night I hung out with Lauren again.
Tuesday morning, I packed up all my stuff.  Then I got lunch and hung out with Julie, who I used to be on the twirling team with in high school.  I'm glad I got to see her.  I miss twirling and Team Rachel.  Tuesday night, my dad and I went into NYC to see Hans' cousin, Caroline Rose, play at the Highline Ballroom.  (See picture below). Hans' mom, aunt, and uncle were there too.  It was so much fun! Caroline and the other musicians were all so good.  Even though my plans got messed up and I wasn't able to see 2 of my friends on this road trip, I was glad I got to stick around long enough to see that. 
This morning, I picked up my car, packed up my car and headed out!  I stopped at the Crossings Premium Outlets to see my mom.  She bought me lunch and my first Coach bag! (See picture below). Then I made my way through Pennsylvania and am now in Ashland, Ohio.  Tomorrow, I make the rest of the drive to Urbana, Illinois to visit Bob, who was in my major at RIT. 
Time for sleep.  I will update when I can.

Old Friends

This week flew by!  Hopefully, I can remember everything I did.  First off, my plans for leaving Long Island got a little messed up.  I got a message from the friend I was supposed to visit in Ohio saying that he was no longer going to be in Ohio when I wanted to visit, so I had to change my plans around a little.  Instead of leaving today, I am now leaving Tuesday afternoon.  While this was annoying, it actually worked out pretty well, because I got to see more of my friends on Long Island.
So, on Wednesday, I took my car in to get an oil change and inspection.  About 8 hours and $1,000 later, my car was back in my hands with all new brakes.  Apparently, they did not pass inspection.  I guess brakes are a good thing to have when driving across the country.  I have to bring the car back tomorrow though, because my air conditioner is making a loud clicking noise.  That would definitely drive me crazy if I have to listen to it for 5,000 miles.  I just hope that isn't too expensive or time consuming to fix.  Also, my mom took me shopping at Kohl's while my car was being fixed, which was fun.
On Thursday, I saw my best friend from elementary school, Alex.   I haven't seen her since she visited me in Rochester 2 years ago for my birthday.  It was really good to see her.  I even got to see her whole family who I haven't seen in many years.  I saw her 4 year old daughter, too.  She is so adorable.  I loved catching up with them.  They are all excited about my life plans.  That night, I saw my friend Lauren, who I used to work at the movie theater on Long Island with in high school.  We've kept in touch, but I haven't seen her since the winter.  We got dinner at the Olive Garden.  I caught her up on the craziness that is my life right now and she told me all about the Miss Long Island Pageant that she just took part in.  I have plans to see her again tomorrow night.
On Thursday,  between Alex and Lauren, I went to the dentist for a cleaning.  They found a cavity!  My first one ever!!! So on Friday, I had to go back to get it filled.  It was unpleasant.  Half my mouth was numb for about 3 hours.  Friday night was so ridiculous.  I went into NYC to meet up with a guy I haven't seen in 15 years.  My friend, Michael Otto, moved away in the 3rd grade and we totally lost touch.  We found each other on Facebook and made plans to meet up for a drink and it was so surreal, but so much fun to see him again.  We reminisced about our old friends and tried to catch each other up on the last 15 years of our lives.  I hope we don't go another 15 years without seeing each other.
On Saturday, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and I went to the beach, which was nice.  Then I went to Long Beach to meet up with Alex and her boyfriend, Kyle.  It was the first time I was meeting him and I liked him so much.  They are great together.  We went to the bar near his place and it was so much fun!  I stayed over there and then met up with my friend Robyn, who I know from Girl Scout Camp, in Oceanside.  I probably haven't seen her in about 4-5 years.  We briefly caught up, but today was her birthday and she had other plans with other friends.  Then I met up with my parents to go see the movie, The Help (I finished the book).  I liked the movie, but I think I liked the book better.  You should all definitely read the book and see the movie.  I recommend them both.  Then, my friends Emily and Joe (who I went to Coney Island with) came over for dinner.  My mom made ziti and Emily loves it. 
Overall, I have had a really good time seeing all my old friends and I'm really sad to have to say good bye to them so soon.  I know I have many more hard good byes coming up in the next few days and weeks.  I haven't gotten too emotional during any of them yet, but I'm not sure how much more of this I will be able to handle.  Hopefully, I can focus on what I have to look forward to and keep it together.

Home Sweet Home

 I finally have time to sit down and write a post from my computer.  I've been updating from my phone due to being too busy to get out my laptop.  So I've been at home on Long Island for 4 days now and I'm starting to get a little antsy.  As much as I enjoy seeing my parents, being in my old room brings back a few too many memories from high school that I'd rather not think about.  Luckily, the rest of my days here are pretty jam packed, if all goes according to plan (which it almost never does, so we'll see).
The last few days have been good.  The last thing I wrote about was the 80s band.  Here's a better picture of what I experienced there:

80s cover band, Rubix Kube, performing Mickey by Toni Basil

On Sunday, I met up with my oldest friend, Emily K., and her boyfriend and we went to Coney Island and the Brooklyn Aquarium.  Both are always fun.  We used to go to the aquarium together every summer and it was just like old times.  The aquarium is a lot smaller than I remember.  We saw everything, including the sea lion show, in about 2 hours.  It must have seemed bigger when I was smaller.  It was still fun though!  We walked on the board walk and talked about how crazy Coney Island is.  When I got home, my parents took me out to all you can eat sushi!  So delicious!

Part of Astroland at Coney Island

Yesterday, I hung around the house all day, went food shopping with my mom, and then went to a Met game with my parents when my dad got home from work.  It was so much fun!  If any of you saw that game, it was even more exciting in person.  The Mets started off with 3 home runs in the first 3 innings.  Then, the San Diego Padres caught up and were winning by 4 runs.  Finally, in the 8th and 9th innings, the Mets came back and won the game by 1 run!  It was so awesome!  I think they won because I was there.  I absolutely love baseball games.  I hadn't been to a Mets game since before they built Citi Field.  I love the food and the free stuff and I especially love cheering on the team during an exciting game like this one was.  It was a wonderful day. 

Excited to go see the Mets play in Citi Field.  We saw the apple go up 3 times during the game!

The Mets Win!  The scores of the game.

Today was pretty boring, but I'm totally alright with that.  I spent 7 hours in the hair salon.  I read ~200 pages of the book I'm reading (The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  It's pretty good).  Some of you might think I'm absolutely crazy, but check out the end result:

My hair will now permanently look like this.  Until it grows out, at least.  I got Japanese Hair Straightening, which chemically changes your hair to be straight and smooth all the time.  It will be like this until enough new hair grows in that it starts to look weird, which is usually about a year.  I believe one long day of pain at the hair salon is definitely worth a whole year of beautiful hair.

The next few days might be pretty busy around here.  I will update when I can.  I hope you liked this post!

Great Start!

So if the beginning of my travels is any indication of how the rest of this trip is going to be, I am going to be one happy camper!  I got to Troy, NY safely and met George, my brother, and my brother's friend at Dinosaur BBQ for lunch (yes, I had bbq for 2 meals on Friday).  George and I then drove to Saratoga Springs to meet up with my freshman year roommate/biffle, Emily Hughes.  Joe was with her, which was a really nice treat to see him as well.  We went to the Circus Cafe, which was so much fun!  It was exactly how it sounds.  We ordered a massive plate of cotton candy, which 4 of us couldn't even finish.  See the attached picture for a feel of the magnitude of this cotton candy.  I absolutely loved seeing those people.  I love seeing people after so long and picking up the conversation like you see them all the time.  That's the sign of a true friend.  It makes me so glad to know that I will be able to do that even though I don't know when I might see my friends again.
Yesterday, my brother and I somehow fit ourselves in my already very full car and drove to my parent's house on Long Island.   I unpacked the car and caught up with my parents.  Aunt Marilyn, Victor, and my brother's girlfriend joined us.  My mom made our favorite meal (baked ziti and chicken parm).  She also showee us some pictures from the 3 week trip to Africa that she just got back from.  They were amazing!  Someday, I want to make that trip.  At night, my brother, his girlfriend and I went into Manhattan to see an awesome 80s cover band.  It was pricey and crowded, but I enjoyed it immensely!  We stayed over at my brother's girlfriend's place in Brooklyn, had delicious bagels for breakfast (I forgot how much better NYC bagels are from upstate ones!), and now I'm waiting for the LIRR to take me back to New Hyde Park.  I'm really looking forward to seeing some old friends this week that are still around NHP.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Leaving for good

So today is my last day in Rochester!  I have extrememly mixed feelings about this.  On one hand, I am so excited to start this new chapter of my life and to go on this once in a lifetime road trip.  On the other hand, it has been really hard to say good bye this week to the people I have grown to love here.  Not knowing if/when I will see some of these people ever again is really hard to take in.  Everyone has been so great and really makes me wish I could take them all with me!
Last night, some people from Cross Currents (the team I've been rowing with for about 1 1/2 years) had a little farewell party for me. It was so wonderful to see the people who have been like family to me this summer and talk about all the fun we've had rowing together.  The regatta we had last weekend (where the woman's boat got 3rd place!) was such a great way to end my time with them.  They all signed a shirt for me and gave me some Cross Currents goodies.  It was so sweet.  I appreciated it so much and can not thank them all enough for welcoming me into their very diverse family!
Just got back from a lovely lunch of Sticky Lips BBQ with U of R friends/co-workers and packed up the car.  Everything surprisingly fits nicely in the trunk and back seat.  I am leaving for Troy, NY now to pick up my brother and then we head to Long Island (where my parents live) together tomorrow.  I can't believe I'm really leaving for good this time!

Every ending is a new beginning

Welcome to my blog!

I feel a little background story is in order.  I graduated in May 2010 from RIT with a BS in Biotechnology.  I have been working for a start up molecular biology company, called Diffinity Genomics, for 2 1/2 years.  I took a life changing class (Plant Biotechnology) in my senior year and decided that I absolutely need to get into that field.  Therefore, I decided to pick up and leave everyone and everything that I know on the east coast to further my education in California.

I am going to be pursuing a Ph.D. in Plant Biology (with a focus on molecular biology) at the University of California, Riverside.  Friday, August 5th is my last day of work and I have to be in California to begin my schooling on September 15th.  So what will I be doing with my time off?  I plan to make the most of it by taking a cross country road trip adventure!

Here is where this blog comes into play.  I am using this as a means to keep track of all the crazy shenanigans that happen during my 6 week, 5000 mile journey across this massive country.  Submit your e-mail address into the bar under the latest post if you want an e-mail subscription to this blog (aka you will be e-mailed whenever I submit a new post).  Follow my blog to see what sort of tomfoolery I get myself into!