Sunday, October 23, 2011

Highlights from a Connecticut Weekend

This past weekend, Eric, my parents and I headed down to southern CT to visit Caroline and Jake. It was Jake's "Parent's Weekend" at school and even though he is now a junior in college, I haven't been down to visit yet. It was well past time. Plus, as you probably know, Caroline moved to that area in July and while I've been lucky enough to see her several times, I have not yet seen her apartment.


I really like to visualize where people live so that was a big focus of my weekend. I know how important my house is to my happiness and daily life, so I like to see where others live. My brother moved off campus this year and essentially lives in a frat house, though not officially. They have basically declared the entire bottom floor as the party space. It works quite well apparently...




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He also has a sweet room to himself upstairs with a nice little lounge space outside. There is definitely something to be said for moving off campus. If you saw Ash and my room senior year, you'd understand my point. Eric had to take off the closet door so we could both have a dresser in the room, and we shared one desk... at college... true story.


On Saturday, we got a quick tour of Jake's campus and then we tailgated before the football game. There were a lot of bagels involved, as there should be for an early morning tailgate.




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After the football game, it was time to head down to Caroline's apartment. I failed to take any pictures, but luckily there are plenty available on her blog :) Her apartment is beautiful and in typical Caroline fashion, the decorations are awesome. It was fun to just relax at her apartment for awhile, read her magazines and learn about awesome apps for my new iphone. My current obsession is Pandora which I realize is not new by any means but I never listen to music on my computer so I never had any need for it before. After putting it on my phone, I was able to enjoy the Tim McGraw channel at the hotel gym this morning.


Finally, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Fin where they have PINK sushi. Obviously I have a bias towards anything pink, but check out how cool this was:




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This was actually my mom's order but it was pretty delicious. I also got some really good spring rolls and shrimp shumai. The only thing I got that I did not love was the miso baked eggplant, the miso sauce was a little much for me, but everything else was good. My parents have been raving about this restaurant for awhile now so we were excited to get to try it out.


This morning we met up again at Einstein Brothers bagels. Caroline introduced me to their bagels in Chicago and now I'm a little obsessed. I wouldn't say they are better than Panera, but they are a nice change every once in awhile. In addition to the great variety of bagels in the area, there was also no shortage of frozen yogurt. Why does it seem there is only a shortage of frozen yogurt right where I live?


Overall, a very successful and fun weekend. It's going to be a busy week with parent conferences and class on Saturday. If anyone has any brilliant ideas of what I should be for Halloween and/or can figure out a way for me to avoid dressing up, please let me know. Halloween is an awesome holiday for kids, and I LOVE giving out candy to the Trick or Treaters, but beyond that I could really do without it.


Tell me about...


*your college living experience- did you live on or off campus? how great was your place?


*your love for frozen yogurt- will you open a self serve fro yo place near me?


*do you like dressing up on Halloween?



12 comments:

  1. Looks like a fun weekend!! So they live in the same city?? That is cool!

    I lived in the dorms my freshman year and then in a sorority for the other 3 years, besides my semester abroad.

    I too love frozen yogurt but there are no places by me either!!

    I hate dressing up. Like really hate it. I don't like Halloween! I know. I am a Halloween grinch! I like seeing my nephews dressed up but that is about it!!!

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  2. I was in school for a massively long time so where I lived varied:

    Laval University (Intensive French Program) - I lived in a dorm. It was convenient to classes but frankly it got a little rowdy. It was a summer program and there were some students there that came from places where you couldn't drink until 21 (you can drink at 17 in Quebec) so they got carried away. I will always remember the night they chucked a sofa off the 7th floor into the courtyard. Crazy!!!!

    University of Toronto - This is where I did my undergrad and I lived at home. Of course this severely limited my University experience but my parents lived in the city and I couldn't justify the cost of residence when I knew I had more schooling ahead of me!

    Paris IV - Sorbonne - I lived in a Female International Students Residence and I LOVED it!!!! I made some of my very best friends at that place and it was honestly magical. 22 and living in the city of lights was something else. Those were the good old days! :o)

    University of Victoria - I went there for law school and lived off campus. Truth be told I would have rather lived in a graduate student residence but there wasn't one. Still, I got to live in some pretty awesome places so I don't regret that at all!!! It was definitely my first experience with more independent type living.

    Cornell/Paris I (Pantheone - Sorbonne) - I did this International and Comparative law in Paris during law school. That second time I lived at the Cite Universitaire. Literally a city of residences for university students. Each residence was built by a particular country and often reflected the architecture of that Nation - i.e.: the Spanish residence was a castle and some of the Asian ones were pagodas. It was cool although not nearly as cool as the first time in Paris.

    Whew! That was a lot of school!!! lol :oP

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  3. Yay I'm glad you were able to get down to Caroline's neck of the woods and see her apartment. I think you should do a photo tour of YOUR house. I would like to visualize where you live :D

    I lived in the dorms with three roommates my first two years and really enjoyed it but was over it by the third year. My third year I lived off campus in an apartment with Eric and my fourth year I lived off campus in the same apartment but by myself. That was my first and only time ever living by myself (lasted all of 10 months) but I really, really enjoyed the experience (even though I wouldn't want to do it again).

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  4. Where does your brother go to school? I am from Connecticut...I wonder if you were near my hometown. Fairfield University and Sacred Heart are close to my parents' house. I saw the SHU and wondered if it was Sacred Heart...

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  5. IN college I ate SO MUCH Frozen yogurt (fro yo, haha) that I swear I made myself sick of it! I haven't had it for maybe 4 years, and that's despite all these new fro yo places popping up everywhere.
    As far as living spaces are concerned, I lived on campus for two years, and off for two years. Clearly my last two years were the BEST years, and Miss them!!

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  6. I agree, photo tour of your house. I love your house.

    I lived in the same place as you senior year.. soo not much to tell there.

    I do not like dressing up for Halloween. Gr.

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  7. That sounds like one awesome weekend. Mmmmm bagels!!!

    I don't like much Halloween fuss either and generally won't bother to dress up unless there is a party to go to. Good luck!

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  8. I have never lived in a dorm, I always rented apartments near the university, with roommates for 3 years and for 3 years on my own! I really liked living alone!

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  9. I lived in a dorm my first year of college and absolutely hated it. After that, I just lived at home and commuted. It worked for me. :) The dorm experience really left a bitter taste in my mouth.

    There are a good number of froyo places around me, but the only one I've been to is Pinkberry which is about 15-20 minutes from me. I love it so much, though!

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  10. i had horrible living experiences at college until i moved in with my husband and our friends that were also a couple. i HATE dressing up for halloween. i say go as a football fan. it has been my go to outfit for many years. ;) we have no frozen yogurt around these parts either. oh and no panera or einsteins.

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  11. I love Pandora and Tim McGraw too :)

    In college, I lived on campus all 4 years: 3 in BU's West campus overlooking Nickerson Field (standard double dorm room) an senior year I lived in a brand new apartment dorm overlooking the Charles River (4 single rooms and 2 bathrooms). The last year was obviously the best!

    Love some fro-yo but also lacking a good local place.

    I haven't done anything for Halloween in 3 years, so I haven't had a reason to dress up. If I had plans, I certainly would!

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  12. That sushi looks totally yummy!

    I lived on campus for two years and off campus for two years. I really enjoyed living off campus - I loved having more space to myself, and since I wasn't a big fan of college, I loved having a place to get away from it all!

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