10-25-2015

Leaves actually change color! This was super exciting to see as a native Texan :)

10-24-2015

An attempt to be artsy with a Python program we were working with open on a laptop which is sitting on the green of an indoor 'field' for robot soccer

10-23-2015

Computer Science problems - this girl was miraculously charging her laptop

10-22-2015

First of all, I planned to post single pictures each day without any context. But I feel the need to explain this one. Mainly because secondly, I planned to take primarily 'touristy' pictures (wow I'm totally not basic at all) while this one is more...abstract. And that is because I only took two pictures today. And that is a long story.

So before I begin, here's the picture: 

Oh yeah, and both of the pictures I took were blurry. That's part of the story, too. Which is this:

Technically, check-in for the hotel wasn't until 4 o' clock, which I was fine with, except that meant that I had to carry my stuff everywhere while I walked around trying to kill time. What I should have done was asked about early check-in anyway, even if it would have rendered me 'THAT' person. Whatever. I got the most steps I ever have in a single day, according to my phone (somehow even more than the day I ran 7 miles..)

I started near Carnegie Mellon (which is ironic because that's where the workshop I'm doing is being held, but the hotel reservation is actually closer to the University of Pittsburgh) because the bus driver rudely broke my reverie at being in a new place by shouting that I needed to get off the bus since it was the last stop (which I feel like doesn't make sense?..it's a circuit, and there were different stops going back towards the airport that we didn't get to, for example, the one I was planning to get off at). Luckily, I was paying attention to where we were, so I knew where to go to find the hotel. Which I did. Hooray.

Then I decided I wanted food because I was hungry and had not eaten all day. I went on Yelp to see what was nearby (there was a Sichuan place recommended and I was SO tempted but at the same time I was SO scared because I doubt I could have handled it! also an Indian food truck that looked pretty good) but of course after all that planning, I end up at Panera (which I always regret every time because it's ridiculously overpriced). But one of the reasons I went was because I knew what to expect from the layout of the restaurant, and therefore it wouldn't seem too weird if I went in with all my stuff (whereas other places are small and cramped and I would have felt awkward with all my junk).

So it's about 2 o' clock in the afternoon, and there are a lot of people walking around (I guess university students going to and from class). I'm weird about people watching me take pictures, especially because in this kind of setting, I would obviously come off as touristy (even though I probably already looked touristy with all my junk, and due to the fact that I was probably dressed warmer than 80% of people out and was still cold [also, it wasn't cold, I just felt cold]). Because of that, I didn't really go for touristy pictures but tried to go with quick, sneaky ones. Which resulted in blur. Woo. 

Also it gets annoying to have to keep switching the arm that is carrying your laptop because it's like holding a giant heavy rectangular prismatic baby. So that made it more difficult to try and simultaneously carry my phone. Additionally, I was more preoccupied with where I was rather than trying to take pictures. 

After I ate, I went to the bus stop I meant to get off at because that is the bus stop I get picked up from to go back to the airport. Then I decided to walk back to Carnegie Mellon (though I hadn't realized in the beginning that I started there) to see what building I would be going to for tomorrow. The building (the computer science one, of course) is really nice, but it made me feel awkward because there are windows all around and while that's great for receiving natural lighting indoors, it made me realize that because I could see those people, they could also see me. I ended up walking around the whole building without meaning to, but the picture I included in this post is going downhill from the CS building. There was this long, slightly winding concrete stairway this huge hill and the green grass was slightly long (or at least longer than I'm used to from Texas) and it was windy so there were these waves of motion throughout. I thought it was really pretty. The little I saw of Carnegie Mellon is really pretty - there are lots of trees and nature for being in the city. 

Oh yeah, and leaves here do weird things...like CHANGE COLOR. And that's pretty fantastic to see (though I'm a little disappointed that there doesn't seem to be more, but maybe it's too early? I'm not an autumnal expert because we don't celebrate that here).

My roommate is not here yet, but I think I may go to sleep any way because I'm tired. I napped on my second flight (which I'm sure looked ridiculous to the guy sitting next to me because I did that weird unconscious head-bobbing thing since I had an aisle seat and no airplane wall to lean my head against) but that wasn't enough to make up for waking up at 2:15. Actually, more like 1:30 because I freaked out and couldn't fall back asleep because I couldn't bear the thought of waking up to my super loud alarm. I would have changed it, but I didn't have faith in my ability to wake up.

Also, I was thinking about not being social today because there was a thing at 6 where we could talk to other people in the program including Carnegie Mellon graduate students. But I went anyway, and the people were pretty cool and nice. One of them is also from Texas, so she relates to my not knowing how to clothes at this time of the year in this very northern place! And I actually got their numbers for if we ever want to go out together and do something or eat food while we are here, which I guess is just so different from how Tapia went for me that I'm really surprised. We went out to eat and I thought about not going because I wasn't hungry, but it was fine and I'm actually glad I went.

Wow, I blabbed a lot more than I meant to. # if you see this comment let me know and I'll give you a cookie because that hopefully means you actually read my nonsense and I want to thank you for sort of caring :DDDDDDDDDDDDD)

Good night, friends ~ ☆

10-13-2015

I started this blog in the summer with the intent of documenting all my Austin experiences while I held a intern/research position at a university. As you may be able to tell, I didn't really accomplish that. I actually do have posts/things outlined to write for the first two days (as if that really counts for anything given that this was out of a 7 week program) but after that I gave up. Overall, I had a good experience but I wish I had taken the time to really delve into the little things which made my perspective unique.
Anyways, I pretty much almost forgot about this blog until one of my friends texted me at 1am (thanks Elise! and no, that's not sarcastic!): 'Valerie! Are you gonna start an adorable travel blog when you go abroad so we can follow along with your adventures? This just occurred to me and I felt the need to ask despite it being one in the morning!'
I had actually toyed with the idea of a blog for study abroad, but knowing how consistent I am with personal projects (I officially 'start' one, do a thing for it, and then put it aside and completely forget about it for about a year and then realize I didn't do the thing and get sad about it while sighing 'oh well') I didn't think this would pan out too well. But Elise suggested pictures, which I had actually thought about too. I was thinking something along the lines of one picture a day would be a cool way to keep track of my adventures.
Which, I guess I should explain my future adventures! I've been approved for a one semester exchange student program in Nanchang, China for Spring 2016 (next semester!). It doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to obtain computer science elective credit from it, which was one of my original aims (oops..) so I guess that means I will have a stressful senior year to look forward to, but I'll worry about that when it actually happens. The tentative start date for classes is February 29th, 2016, so I'll probably leave about a week before. I'm pretty excited, but also kind of nervous and in disbelief that I actually signed up and have been accepted and pretty much overall that this is probably going to be a thing.
I suppose I'll end this post here so I can actually work on an essay that I've been struggling with. However, I am going to Pittsburgh in about a week, so maybe I'll upload pictures from that just to get the feel for what ~blogging~ is like. (Do I need to have a charming mug of coffee-something by me as I update my blog? Isn't that what all sophisticated bloggers do?)