tag:www.simmons.edu,2008:/enews/blogs07/laima//62 2008-05-06T20:20:54Z Movable Type 3.33 tag:www.simmons.edu,2008:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1460 2008-05-06T19:51:03Z 2008-05-06T20:20:54Z

The weather simply cannot make up its mind, it teased the Simmons students onto the Quad to sunbathe (and burn), and then decided to pour down rain and whip up a cold wind. Now it seems to have settled onto...

Laima For some lucky people finals have already been done in class, and art projects have already been handed in, so they find themselves with a lot of time on their hands.. Moi! Thus turning to things that should have been done a while ago, but the time just seemed to slip away incredibly fast, and without realizing, something that was planned to be done a month ago, was still not done... so here I am writing my blog. Enjoying the words and thoughts, and wondering, how did I not have the time? For today, Chau, speak to you soon!]]> tag:www.simmons.edu,2008:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1435 2008-01-15T20:28:00Z 2008-01-15T20:57:41Z

I am SO exhaustingly tired. My flight from Newark to Boston was cancelled, so a 3 hour overlay turned into a 9 hour overlay. Atleast customs took up a long time, so it did not seem that I was...

Laima I am SO exhaustingly tired. My flight from Newark to Boston was cancelled, so a 3 hour overlay turned into a 9 hour overlay. Atleast customs took up a long time, so it did not seem that I was waiting too long. I had the most amazing holiday back home in Latvia. When I first landed there I had such joy, I felt I was going to burst. The month I was back ran past me, the days scurried past so fast. Every night before bed I realised that another day had gone, and I tried to slow it down just by lying still and reading for a while. I barely thought of having to return. One night as we were sitting in the living room I was fiddling with my phone and opened the organizer which has a calendar, and only then I realised that I only had a week left. Still I did not manage to do everything that I had planned. In that last week I wanted to visit a favourite place of mine where one can have a drink. Its above a studenty gallery and is called Istaba, which means: room. Its a funky place. I was also planning to go for a walk by the river side, (though I did go for two walks by the seaside, which made up for it). There were other things on my list, but I have forgotten them now. In any case the days continued to scurry past. Until the time came for me to have to leave. I flew out of Riga, but I felt that I had left myself behind, and I felt torn and extremely sad. In dublin I carried my bags over to a bus, that was to take me to my hotel, though sadly Dublin has no bus stop names, so it is extremely hard to navigate. I asked the bus driver to help me the moment I stepped onto the bus, but he was reluctant. So I stood at the front trying to read passing street names, but could not locate where they were written. The driver having watched my pathetic attempt, in the end offered some help. Sadly his help made my walking trip to the hotel twice as long as it should have been. None the less I made it to Iona drive, and walked over to number 7 only to find out that there was no hotel. I was knackered, and all my energy was spent, but after some more pouring over my maps, I realised I had to be on Iona park, which happened to be the next street down. The next morning I had an early breakfast, and a free ride by an out of service bus whose driver was heading to the airport anyway. So all in all my day started quite well. It simply all went wrong once I landed on this side of the big pond, onto American soil. Whilst the other people from my cancelled flight enjoyed the liberties of free tv, and an american football game (which was accompanied by their loud OOOOOHHH and AAHHHH sounds) I still have yet to understand how the game works, so instead I ventured to explore... though the Newark terminal simply went right round in a circle (which one could make a full circle march round in exactly 1 minute) and the 9 hours started making me feel trapped. When the plane finally took off, I finally landed in beautiful Boston, from where I had to take the slowest and most expensive taxi back to Simmons (The T was already sleeping by the time I got here), so soon enough i got to sleep and rest (for I had been up for more than 24 hours, and the few hours that I did sleep at the hotel where hourly interrupted by my subconsciounce that wanted to check whether it was time to wake up: 1.34am 2.21 am 3.45 am 4.56am ... ]]> tag:www.simmons.edu,2007:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1417 2007-11-30T03:45:47Z 2007-11-30T03:46:24Z

The leaves have all abandoned the trees, and suddenly the area around Simmons seems so much bigger-I guess its all that extra sky that we see. The people inside the building on the corner of brookline ave and pilgrim road...

Laima The leaves have all abandoned the trees, and suddenly the area around Simmons seems so much bigger-I guess its all that extra sky that we see. The people inside the building on the corner of brookline ave and pilgrim road can finally see outside of their windows, because the out-of-control ivy that had covered it when the semester started has withered away, and left empty crawling branches. While stressing and studying for the last week of the semester, which seems to have 4 weeks of work compressed into one a man on a lawn mower drives by my window. I did not think much of it, until I walked outside and realised that he was moxing the leaves, as there was no more grass, cutting them all up into tiny pieces that no longer resembled leaves. Street cleaners back home struggle raking up all the leaves for hours day after day, and here they just ride over them once, how clever. Just a week and a half left of this semester- I cannot believe that time flew by so fast. I feel the holidays approaching and the absence of my family here really hits me. It was the lighting of the tree today in Boston Common, Christmas songs are playing in stores, and just today during art class, my classmates and I all shared stories of how we found out Father Christmas did not exist, we all laughed about how upset and disappointed we were, but how we got over it, because no santa did not mean no presents, and no Christmas.. oh I love the Winter Holidays. tag:www.simmons.edu,2007:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1398 2007-10-29T05:57:53Z 2007-10-29T05:58:17Z

Midterms, reading, reading, reading… Leaves have fallen off the trees, and they still keep falling. Leg-warmers have been retreived from the back of my drawer, as the deceiving sun (which looks so pleasant and warm from inside a building) has...

Laima Midterms, reading, reading, reading... Leaves have fallen off the trees, and they still keep falling. Leg-warmers have been retreived from the back of my drawer, as the deceiving sun (which looks so pleasant and warm from inside a building) has decided not to warm Boston for much longer. The window in our room that is always open, has had to be lowered, and my roommate has decided to tackle knitting, to make scarves.. One can tell that it is trully autumn. Sadly all the flowers on the way to the Main campus from the residence quad have dried, and Simmons had its pretty main campus flowers uprooted, which made two evening art students very upset. They were what cheered us up in the mornings, the vibrant colours seen on the way to class, with the library blooming up behind them.. oh well, can't wait to see them in spring. Just as classes are really starting to be enjoyed, I found out we have to register for next semester classes.. time does fly Red Sox keep winning, and the Fenway area keeps going crazy at around our bedtime. Sadly I still have not mastered the rules behind this American game, but I have understood the basics. "We are the champions" is carrying its sounds across the area as a very happy driver, has decided to celebrate the victorious Bostonian baseball team all in his/her own style, and duringpeople randomly run by the dorms screaming, and occasionally someone joins in with Queen's recording, Simmons girls are all rejoicing for Red Sox as well, together with the car hooting. OH.. the cold does not seem to bother them :) tag:www.simmons.edu,2007:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1366 2007-10-01T05:21:15Z 2007-10-01T05:50:11Z

so… after having mastered the T and realising I did not know what lay above it, I ventured out on a walk. I went with my roommate to South Station, as she was going home for the weekend, and from...

Laima ]]> tag:www.simmons.edu,2007:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1349 2007-09-13T03:39:14Z 2007-09-13T03:57:23Z

My first week of classes passed, and the next one came.. and already I am spending my afternoons, evenings, and nights reading all the things assigned. I am fascinated by all that I read - I love it. I...

Laima My first week of classes passed, and the next one came.. and already I am spending my afternoons, evenings, and nights reading all the things assigned. I am fascinated by all that I read - I love it. I love art history, so I love reading the homework assignments, though they do take a very long time together with all the other assignments... My room finally looks like a room, I have my pictures up. Though I am still waiting on a few vitals to be shipped to me by my friends (one of which is a coat! The weather is getting colder, and I am slowly realising that I will need it pretty soon). I have pretty much learnt where to find things at Simmons, and who to ask if I cannot find them. Simmons is roaring with life during the mornings and afternoons, its even hard to find a quiet little corner in the library, but during the evenings everything seems to slow down, and become almost still (apart from the frequent screaming of the ambulances!!) but I am yet to find out more about Boston! I have mastered the "T", and I have been downtown, sadly only when it was dark, and I need to go sometime when I can actually see it. I am devising a plan of studying all week days, so that I can get my weekends off for exploring. I am slowly finding out how inconvenient it is to not have a phone, as that is how everyone communicates here, and I have had my roommates worry about me several times whether I got lost in this new big city, and I have not been able to find a working pay phone which I could use to inform them otherwise. So once I receive my little paper card in the mail containing a number, which Americans are assigned at birth, I will be able to go out there and purchase a phone. It feels like I ave been here for quite a while, and I can hardly believe its only been a week, and a bit.. Ataa!! (bye) ]]> tag:www.simmons.edu,2007:/enews/blogs07/laima//62.1340 2007-09-01T14:04:58Z 2007-09-01T14:23:29Z

I woke up at 4 am, after a night of not sleeping very well, as I kept thinking about my 3 year old brother sleeping in his bed, and knowing that he would wake up and I would be gone,...

Laima I woke up at 4 am, after a night of not sleeping very well, as I kept thinking about my 3 year old brother sleeping in his bed, and knowing that he would wake up and I would be gone, thinking about my mum, and stepdad.. I was sad to leave. My mum woke up 10 minutes after me, and we both quietly scurried around the house getting ready. At 5 am I was at the airport saying goodbye to her and our dog, that had been brought along. Saying goodbye to my family is always so hard, and I was tempted not to go, as the next time I will see them will probably be next summer. 15 hours later I was in New York City waiting for a friend to pick me up from the airport. I was scared about going to Simmons, I kept wondering what it will be like to be in an all girls College, and whether or not I will like it. I spent two nights in Brooklyn. I got to see around Manhattan, and believe me, for an eastern European, who has only been to Texas, New Mexico and Seattle - it is quite an experience. A train ride on friday morning brought me to Boston. Where people seeing me with two suitcases and awed expression, figured I must be a foreigner, and offered me help with directions, and the suitcases themselves. I was pleasantly surprised and felt welcome in this new city, which I was to call my new home. My room was bare when I entered it, and I realised I will have to do some serious shopping, even though all the things I need are going to be shipped to me (but I can hardly afford to wait 3 weeks for bedding and a pillow). The residential campus itself is very pretty, with trees and squirells. A stage was being set up as I entered, and orientation leaders were huddled in groups still discussing details. I can't wait until my room starts looking like a place someone actually lives in! My roommates will arrive tomorrow, so that will help, but I ought to start decorating. International orientation is about to start in a few hours, so for today I will say: chau! (bye)