Black Friday

Black Friday, a very American tradition of finishing our thanksgiving dinner and camping outside mega stores for some bargains. Ok, it's not the total truth but not far from it. For me, it happened by accident. I woke up around 5.30am on BLack Friday morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Then I thought, Urab Outfitters is opening in half an hour.....might as well! Got changed and headed for a T. I thought that there would be Qs going round the block but to my surprise, it just looked like a typical morning. There was a girl crossing the road with me and we sorta had a race together to get there first as the anxiety hit us. We went in and they told us that there was 50% off all sale items. There was loads of nice things but I had to really stop and think about what I was buying, otherwise I would have brought the whole place! In the end, after 30 mins of carefully analysing the selection of goods, I got a pair of leopard print loafers for $10 down from $60, Angry bird keying toppers for Calvin, highlighters in the shape of nail varnish, some models own nail polish in a sorta green gold colour, a cute wee detox pack and a pack of greetings card with this is our adventure on it and other cute wee sayings. All came to $14.50! Headed home and went straight to bed, like it never happened. First Black Friday experience was not a crazy as the stories which hit the headlines but I got some bargains - I'm happy with that!

Thanksgiving

Otherwise known as Turkey Day, Thanksgiving is finally upon us!

Being my first thanksgiving, I was lucky to have many Thanksgiving events within one week.

Global Pathways Thanksgiving Banquet at the Shearton Hotel

Thanksgiving PotLuck at work!

Cranachan I made for it...MMMMMMM

And finally, a very traditional dinner at the Rosenfelds!

A very special day indeed filled with food, Zumba dancing, football and more food! A great day was had by all :) I will never forget it!

Macys Tree Lighting

Macys, one of the most famous department stores in the US held a tree lighting ceremony at Boston's Downtown location. 

In the heart of the city, Macys put on a show to celebrate the spirit of Christmas and how it plans to give back to its community. 

Michelle Williams - former Destiny Child singer gave us a selection of songs, new band Honor Society rocked out to the crowd of fans waiting and some Sporting Legends made an appearance. 

The tree is above the Macy windows clear for all to see. 

We counted down from 10 and once the tree lit up, the crowd were given a confetti shower! 

The white and silver imitated snow that would be a sign of the bad weather to come, fingers crossed that this is not the case! 

Her Campus Ultra Holiday Party

Another free event from Her Campus - an online magazine with daily posts and links that every collegiette needs. The last event we went to was near Boylston, this time it was near Fenway Park, taking place in an Irish Pub called the Lansdowne. 

With our printed tickets ready, we waited in a line to be signed in and ID'd or carded lol! 

Once we were inside, we were given a very exclusive good bag filled with UNREAL candy, coupons and an Alex and Ani's Bracelet! 

Pinkberry were handing out free Frozen Yoghurt samples, the choice was gingerbread and original. Gingerbread was my chose, getting me in the christmas moood :) 

There was also manicures, massages and raffles! 

Fatou and her friends came down later and we got snappy in front of the camera! 

Blue Hills

What to do with a day off? 

Well, we decided to take a hike to Blue Hills Reservation. 

Very accessable, a T ride away then a quick bus journey. Once you are there, you have a vast amount of land to explore! 

With the help of Katie's maps she printed for us, we had to whole day to walk, climb and discover! 

We only just arrived when we found a spot for lunch, in the distance you can see for miles! 

By following the different coloured routes, we covered a decent part of the reservation.

 We also caught a glimpse of the Boston skyline; 

It is a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and have a day in the good old fresh air :) 

Salem - October 31st

At home, Halloween is the day where everyone dresses up. In Boston, its where you see many celebrations across the city. However, me and the girls chose to visit the very famous town of Salem. Much of the city's cultural identity is reflective of its role as the location of the Salem witch trials. It is the perfect place to visit at Halloween and we couldn't say no! 

After work, we bundled into the car hire car that Katie's parent had rented and we were off! 
No Halloween is complete without some form of costume, thankfully we were prepared. We had all planed our costume or rather face paint design as it was convenient being in the car.  

 Before 

I was planning some sort of zombie thing, Nicole wanted to be a cat/leopard and Katie decided on a bird/owl - Birdie being her nickname, it suited her :) 

Ahhhhhh - After

I think we looked pretty good until the cutest wee boy walked past us in his Lion costume! 

We headed towards the main area and past many ghouls and creatures on our way. 

The centre was filled with so many people - all in costume. 

King Kong made an appearance, throwing candy to passers by. 

We decided to get his attention by shouting 'King Kong WE LOVE YOU'  and we were rewarded with candy! 

In the center, we made some new friends...

Met the Election Candidates....

And met a fellow Scot! 

Such an array of characters seen in one night! 

October

October has been a very busy month! 

The first weekend in October was spent in the capital - Washington DC 

 Got to meet OBAMA! 

All the main monuments were covered and we walked all the way to Georgetown! 

A very chilled out place indeed! 

Travelling continued the following weekend, NYC was the next stop. 

Times Square, so BRIGHT! 

Walking around this huge city was so surreal, it didn't feel like I was there. 

Local jewellery merchant, colourful! 

Liberty in the distance! 

The rest of October has been alot more relaxed...

Saw a local band...from Glasgow LOL! 

with a local GAL - Fatou <3 

This weekend has been busy! Halloween dress up and pumpkin craving :) 

Heading to Salem on Halloween night, update to follow :) 

what i've done.....

Been away for so long as I've been doing sooooo much! 

Been whale watching! 

Been to Harvard 

and MIT 

Been to the Prudential Center

And was in a music video at Fenway Park! 

I LOVE BOSTON!

Food, Food, Food - it's Restaurant Week

What a week it's been for FOOD as Restaurant Week hits Boston! 

First stop on our week of Food and Dining was Dick's Last Resort near Quincy Market. This restaurant is full of unfriendly waiters who make hats with funny insults on them! Hence the name! Our insults included Single 4 Life, I'm their Shopping Friend, I'm thinking about the waiters Woody and The reason men drink LOL! The waiters would hit your hat off your head, throw straws at you and call you names...but its all part of the fun! 

Tuesday = Brasserie Joes, a very posh French restaurant that offered very fine dining and three course meal for only $33.12! 

Wednesday saw me and the girls help out at Northeastern RSAs Luau BBQ and feed hungry students! And we got to have some fun too! 

Thursday included a free concert at the ICA with the band Cosmodrome played us some original songs and covers too! We then headed to Dunkin Donuts for dinner and visted Trader Joes (or Farmer Joes if you are Katie MASH!) 

Friday, me and the girls headed up to the Bostons famous North End for some Italian delights at *Enter Restaurant Name here* We all enjoyed Lobster Ravioli to start,which was delicious! Followed by chicken,pork and calamari mains (not all in the once dish!) and dessert consisted of me and Nicole having a Cannolis made right in front of us and Katie having a tasty looking Caramel Custard with a pretty flower sauce design :) We were also surrounded by stalls and stalls at Saint Anthonys Feast, streets filled with Italian food, music and novelties. 

Week about food has been too GOOD!

A week left of being a teenager...uh ohh.....

So my birthday is a week today...WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

It seems like only yesterday I was going into primary, holding my mums hand on the first and being let to run wild and free like an animal who has been in a zoo for much too long. And then theres secondary school, 1st year...That was like yesterday ryt?! And being accepted into Glasgow Caledonian was only 5 mins ago...and I've been in America for a month already?! I've done too much, I could retire quite nicely now thanks! :P 

Anyway we are planning a wee day on the Saturday after my birthday. We are going to a wee place called the Clayroom to do some poetry painting then have some lunch at Boston Commons followed by the Swan Boats! Then we'll see what happens as I enter the next chapter....Wish me luck!

The Scots have arrived!

Even though myself and Nicole are here, we have been missing someone in particular, our own Katie Masheter! Her arrival on Monday afternoon has started the new adventure for all of us, we are all together now! In celebration of three Scots taking over Boston, we gathered with five Americans to have dinner at the Haven, the only Scottish restaurant in Boston. Owned by a Scot too (well who else could!) On this particular night, there was a Scottish event taking place, how perfect eh? There was a quiz, live music and even some Robert Burns poetry reading! We all shared some haggis to start and then got our own main meal which was delicious and me and Nicole washed it all down with some trusty Irn Bru! We all sang along to New Shoes, 500 Miles and Loch Lomond, some of us taking it more enthusiasicly than others lol! It is lovely to have our last Scot finally here with us but it was even better to celebrate it in true Scottish style, thanks to the Haven to make it that way :) !

What you find in a day

It's funny how easily you can find new and exciting things on your doorstep when you take a different route. Me and Nicole went down Harvard Ave and Brigton Ave today to find a few shops that I looked up and found online. But I was more surprised at what we found without looking for it! Walking down Harvard Ave, there were boxes of books that were free to take! We had a good look through the boxes and picked up a few titles. And for free! Not bad at all! Our next stop was Buffalo Exchnage, a groovy clothing store with loads of itmes to meet the eye. Everything from your plain basics to totally outragous shoes, they have such a large selection, you don't know where to begin! I love it! You can also bring in old clothes and they give you either 30% cash or 50% credit. So if you love something, you'd get it for half the price! AWESOME! Next, we found Urban Renewals on Brighton Ave. In my opinion, it's a bigger version of Goodwill with rail apon rail of colour coded clothing and loads of room inbetween for bric a brac and other finds. I think you could spent a whole day in there just to get round the whole place. Next was a Chinese bakery where they had the tastiest looking cakes at low prices, a large slice of cake? $1.50! Cheap,cheap,cheap! They only accept cash so you can use up your loose change in exchange for cake! And finally, there was Mixx. Mixx is an exciting frozen yoghurt store where you can choose your cup size, use the machines and choose which yoghurt you can and take as much toppings as you want. Then you just pay by weight! FroYo your way! Ours only came to roughly $4 and thats with loads of topping and everything :) they also show what flavours will be available next week to get you back for more! It's amazing what you find just walking down the street and I've got this whole city to explore!

First Week.....eeeek!

First week in work at Northeastern University's NU Global Office....has been great! The week started slow but picked up as I began to get to know people, the area and the type of work involved, it picked up fast! My tasks this week were to create a student newsletter for August! I had to write a wee intro about the month August, I included Obama birthday! then had to keep the students informed about important events then research cool activities for them to go to around Northeastern and in Boston! Finished it by the end of the week and waiting to send this first draft on to the appropriate person. Next I carried about little projects for my boss, Francis, They included searching for students subscore for TOEFL tests and update an excel sheet with these scores. Finally, I was much involved with the running of TOEFL tests that Northeastern carry out. Me and Clearance had to pack boxes, making sure that all materials were included. I ordered breakfast for me and the other proctors of the exam and then ran the exam! I checked in students and sorted the technology side of things too! on Friday, I got my time sheets and put my first week in! So excited to get paid :D gonna buy something nice for myself! So all in all, a great start to my working life at Northeastern University and looking forward to this full year of placement in the beautiful city of Boston! 

First Day

First day of placement today! Was more relaxed about it than I thought. But there were the odd butterflies. Got in and sorted some documents then shadowed an amazing assistant who would be my guide until I had a clue what I was doing. Then got shown where to put through my time sheets - VERY important stuff! :P then got coffee with my boss and chatted about my course and what we would be doing over the next year. Then was left to my own devices on the computer and to make notes and plans. So overall, a relaxed but interesting day. I'm sure the best is yet to come...or the worst haha! 

Arrival

After many months of organizing and waiting, I've finally arrived! I'm in Boston, Massachusetts, US of A! All for a little thing Glasgow Caledonian call Industrial Placement :O It's crazy but exciting and nerve racking stuff! On 10th July 2012, I headed off on my adventure. My flight stopped at Reykjavik in Iceland. There wasn't much ice though lol! And after 6 hours, I was in Boston. :)  


Met Nicole and headed to Kinross Road, my new home for the year. I'm crashing in her room until a room is free. The other placement students are leaving soon, which is a shame not getting to know them better :( but i'm sure they will be happy to get home to good old Scotland! The past few days have been great, getting to know the place with a little bit of help from Nicole and the others. I have gotten used to the "T", Bostons Subway system. Its pretty awesome, there are so many lines and so many places to go. I've also met people in NU Global Office, who are lovely :) I think they are pretty sad Heather is leaving, so I have to be a good replacement lol!


 I've sorted my bank account, my SS number and in the process of getting a SIM card and a phone that works with it! Also found  loads of places to visit in the future such as the Chessecake Factory, the Avenue which do $1 burgers on a Monday and the Goodwill store, where I got a new bag and shirt for my first day :) Can't wait to explore, learn and travel this year!