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Apr. 23rd, 2006 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brokenrecordOMG WICKED WAS SO AMAZING. I must see it again when it comes to the Performing Arts Center in August, because geez. That was just awesome.
I don't even really know what to say about it. Everything was just perfect. Oh! The guy who played Mr. Trick on Buffy during season 3? He played Dr. Dillamond! I found that amusing. Also, the guy who played Fiyero, when he came on stage, I was like "Whoa, he really reminds me of Roger from Rent" and it turned out that he actually has played Roger in Rent recently, so I found that kind of amusing as well.
And I got a t-shirt! It's long-sleeved and says Wicked and has flying monkeys on the left sleeve. I love it.
We left on Sunday very early morning. We flew out of the Long Beach airport, which is ridiculous because I never knew there was an airport in Long Beach, and I've lived in Irvine all my life, and I've done a fair amount of traveling. I've always flown out of John Wayne or LAX. Crazy.
Anyways, I was hoping with only getting 1 hour of sleep that night and the night before only like 6 hours, I would be able to fall asleep easily on the plane. Not the case. sigh. It was a very long flight. And the kid behind me kept suddenly taking down the tray thing just for fun and it would jiggle my seat just as I was about to fall asleep, and the mom would be all "Don't do that!" and the kid would just do it again 2 minutes later. And this other kid in the plane just kept screaming. I mean, I understand like infants or toddlers screaming because planes are not fun and your ears do funny things and if you're that young, you don't understand what's going on. But this 8 year old kept like... singing at the top of her lungs and shouting and she wasn't upset or anything, she was just bored. It was driving me insane. And the mom would be all "...maybe you should keep it down" but other than that she didn't do anything. ugh. I hate planes.
So, we flew into Logan International Airport, which amused me endlessly. Unfortunately, my parents don't want Veronica Mars (I still need to work on converting them), so they didn't understand quite why I giggled everytime I saw a sign with the airport's name on it.
First couple days we actually didn't stay in Boston. On that Sunday we arrived, we drove 60 miles west of Boston and stayed at this place in Sturbridge. It was a pretty nice place, even though it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
Amherst
We drove 30 more miles west to Amherst on Monday morning. The campus was absolutely gorgeous (but I found that was true for pretty much all the campuses we visited on the east coast). I loved basically everything on Amherst. I just felt really comfortable there. I love the fact that they have an open curriculum, and the tour guide was great. Actually, the guy who gave the info session was pretty awesome as well. He had the most awesome sense of humor. It was like:
Info Session Dude: The neurology major has the most required courses to take out of 32. Anyone want to guess how many?
Person 1: 18?
Person 2: 22?
Info Session Dude: It's actually 27.
Audience: [gasps]
Info Session Dude: Actually, I was just kidding. I'm doing a study on how far people can suspend disbelief. It's actually 13.
He said it so seriously, too, and it was such a random thing to lie about that it was hilarious. He was really entertaining.
Anyways, before when I researched Amherst I had listed it as one of my top choices, but it was so long ago that I totally forgot about it. But now visiting it and researching it again, I really love it, and I would really love to go there. Too bad it's so ridiculously selective. :(
Wellesley
Tuesday morning we drove in from Sturbridge to Wellesley (16 miles west of Boston). I'm sorry that I only got 2 pictures of the campus and one was of the ugly campus center, because Wellesley has the most gorgeous campus ever. Seriously, it was just ridiculous. It actually reminded me a lot of Hogwarts, and the tour guide said that a lot of people tell them that it looks like it. Unfortunately, the rest of Wellesley was not nearly as impressive. I already had reservations about an all-girl's school, and the tour guide didn't really help me want to go. The info session was much better and was a little more convincing, but overall I think I really just don't want to an all-girl's school. I mean, I like having guy friends. I would feel weird if I was just in classes with all girls, all the time. I need more diversity than that. I don't know, it was a very nice place, but it just wasn't for me.
After Wellesley, we drove into Boston and checked into a hotel there. It was awesome, because I was able to get my own room connecting to my parents', and I got a king-sized bed, which was awesome.
Tufts
I'm actually not sure if the last picture is of Tufts or Harvard. After awhile, all those brick buildings start to look the same.
Anyways, visited Tufts (5 miles from Boston) on Wednesday morning. I loved Tufts. I loved the campus, the feel, the tour, all the info I got, just everything. The info session dude here was awesome as well. He was totally Emmett from Queer as Folk. I mean, he didn't dress as outrageously (but, I mean, he's an admissions officer. You wouldn't really expect him to dress outrageously), but all his gestures and his voice and his attitude and everything was totally Emmett. I loved him, he was awesome.
Harvard
After visiting Tufts and eating lunch, we headed over to Harvard, which is like less than 3 miles from Tufts. The campus was beautiful, and it's obviously amazing accademically, but I don't want to go there. I mean, they had the info session before the tour, and I just couldn't focus on the person giving the info. I kept zoning out. She just said what every other college says, but she kept going on and on and on, and she never said anything that differentiated Harvard for me from any other Ivy League. It just doesn't stand out for me at all. The tour was a lot better, but... I still was never explained how Harvard was different. And if I got into Harvard, I would definitely go there, because I know I would receive an amazing education. But I'm not going to get into Harvard, because my academics and extra curriculars aren't perfect, and I don't care enough. Maybe if I really cared and really put everything into the application and tried hard enough I'd have a slight chance in getting in, but I don't, so why bother with a school I'm not even that interested in anyways? There are plenty of other schools that I'll get an amazing education at that I would love to attend. So yeah, I'd go to Harvard if I got in, but I'm definitely not applying there, so... obviously that's not going to happen.
Brandeis
Visited Thursday morning. Didn't know very much about Brandeis going into the visit, so I wasn't very sure of the school. The info session made me like it a lot more, and the tour was pretty good, but I'm still not very interested in it. I don't like the campus much, and I just don't feel really comfortable there.
They do have a castle, though, which is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. But I don't think that's enough reason to go there.
Boston College
After visiting Brandeis, we drove to Boston College on Thursday afternoon (which, it turns out, actually isn't in Boston. I mean, it's right outside of Boston, but it's definitely not in Boston). Like Brandeis, I didn't really have much of an opinion about Boston College going in. The info session was good, as was the tour guide, and I think I liked the school better than Brandeis. The campus was really gorgeous, too. But I'm still not sure. I don't think I'll be applying here. It's a nice school, but I don't think I'm interested enough in it.
Brown
On Friday morning, we drove down to Brown. It's in Providence, Rhode Island, but it's actually only 50 miles from Boston (way closer than Amherst, which is like 90 miles). I absolutely loved Brown. It has an open curriculum, like Amherst. I like that it's in a city, but it's not ridiculously huge. The campus is beautiful, it has amazing academics. I just love everything about it. Of course, it is also ridiculously selective. sigh.
Friday night was Wicked which was, as I've already mentioned, completely amazing.
Saturday morning we hung out a little in Boston and bought some stuff. After lunch, we headed to Logan International Airport once again and had like 3 hours before our flight. I spent about 2 hours reading The DaVinci Code (which we had bought in Amherst because both my mom and I wanted to read it) in the airport, and then finished it two hours into the flight. I thought it was a good book and liked the plot, but it's not a book I could ever get really... obsessed over, I guess? I mean, it's basically just all plot, there's very little character development, and I'm definitely way more interested in the character. So while I enjoyed it, I also didn't think it was anything incredibly amazing.
We were settled in at home around... 10-ish, I think, but I just kind of collapsed into my bed, since it was 1 AM on the east coast and I was exhausted.
And that's about it. I did a bunch of preparation for the Math 2C SAT II (all I really have left is to finish the practice tests in the book), absolutely none for the French SAT II, and absolutely none for my Euro final/the actual AP exam. sigh. I am so screwed. I need to study a bunch for that today, in addition to the French essay that I have yet to write and is due tomorrow. blah. Not so fun being home.
I don't even really know what to say about it. Everything was just perfect. Oh! The guy who played Mr. Trick on Buffy during season 3? He played Dr. Dillamond! I found that amusing. Also, the guy who played Fiyero, when he came on stage, I was like "Whoa, he really reminds me of Roger from Rent" and it turned out that he actually has played Roger in Rent recently, so I found that kind of amusing as well.
And I got a t-shirt! It's long-sleeved and says Wicked and has flying monkeys on the left sleeve. I love it.
We left on Sunday very early morning. We flew out of the Long Beach airport, which is ridiculous because I never knew there was an airport in Long Beach, and I've lived in Irvine all my life, and I've done a fair amount of traveling. I've always flown out of John Wayne or LAX. Crazy.
Anyways, I was hoping with only getting 1 hour of sleep that night and the night before only like 6 hours, I would be able to fall asleep easily on the plane. Not the case. sigh. It was a very long flight. And the kid behind me kept suddenly taking down the tray thing just for fun and it would jiggle my seat just as I was about to fall asleep, and the mom would be all "Don't do that!" and the kid would just do it again 2 minutes later. And this other kid in the plane just kept screaming. I mean, I understand like infants or toddlers screaming because planes are not fun and your ears do funny things and if you're that young, you don't understand what's going on. But this 8 year old kept like... singing at the top of her lungs and shouting and she wasn't upset or anything, she was just bored. It was driving me insane. And the mom would be all "...maybe you should keep it down" but other than that she didn't do anything. ugh. I hate planes.
So, we flew into Logan International Airport, which amused me endlessly. Unfortunately, my parents don't want Veronica Mars (I still need to work on converting them), so they didn't understand quite why I giggled everytime I saw a sign with the airport's name on it.
First couple days we actually didn't stay in Boston. On that Sunday we arrived, we drove 60 miles west of Boston and stayed at this place in Sturbridge. It was a pretty nice place, even though it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
We drove 30 more miles west to Amherst on Monday morning. The campus was absolutely gorgeous (but I found that was true for pretty much all the campuses we visited on the east coast). I loved basically everything on Amherst. I just felt really comfortable there. I love the fact that they have an open curriculum, and the tour guide was great. Actually, the guy who gave the info session was pretty awesome as well. He had the most awesome sense of humor. It was like:
Info Session Dude: The neurology major has the most required courses to take out of 32. Anyone want to guess how many?
Person 1: 18?
Person 2: 22?
Info Session Dude: It's actually 27.
Audience: [gasps]
Info Session Dude: Actually, I was just kidding. I'm doing a study on how far people can suspend disbelief. It's actually 13.
He said it so seriously, too, and it was such a random thing to lie about that it was hilarious. He was really entertaining.
Anyways, before when I researched Amherst I had listed it as one of my top choices, but it was so long ago that I totally forgot about it. But now visiting it and researching it again, I really love it, and I would really love to go there. Too bad it's so ridiculously selective. :(
Tuesday morning we drove in from Sturbridge to Wellesley (16 miles west of Boston). I'm sorry that I only got 2 pictures of the campus and one was of the ugly campus center, because Wellesley has the most gorgeous campus ever. Seriously, it was just ridiculous. It actually reminded me a lot of Hogwarts, and the tour guide said that a lot of people tell them that it looks like it. Unfortunately, the rest of Wellesley was not nearly as impressive. I already had reservations about an all-girl's school, and the tour guide didn't really help me want to go. The info session was much better and was a little more convincing, but overall I think I really just don't want to an all-girl's school. I mean, I like having guy friends. I would feel weird if I was just in classes with all girls, all the time. I need more diversity than that. I don't know, it was a very nice place, but it just wasn't for me.
After Wellesley, we drove into Boston and checked into a hotel there. It was awesome, because I was able to get my own room connecting to my parents', and I got a king-sized bed, which was awesome.
I'm actually not sure if the last picture is of Tufts or Harvard. After awhile, all those brick buildings start to look the same.
Anyways, visited Tufts (5 miles from Boston) on Wednesday morning. I loved Tufts. I loved the campus, the feel, the tour, all the info I got, just everything. The info session dude here was awesome as well. He was totally Emmett from Queer as Folk. I mean, he didn't dress as outrageously (but, I mean, he's an admissions officer. You wouldn't really expect him to dress outrageously), but all his gestures and his voice and his attitude and everything was totally Emmett. I loved him, he was awesome.
After visiting Tufts and eating lunch, we headed over to Harvard, which is like less than 3 miles from Tufts. The campus was beautiful, and it's obviously amazing accademically, but I don't want to go there. I mean, they had the info session before the tour, and I just couldn't focus on the person giving the info. I kept zoning out. She just said what every other college says, but she kept going on and on and on, and she never said anything that differentiated Harvard for me from any other Ivy League. It just doesn't stand out for me at all. The tour was a lot better, but... I still was never explained how Harvard was different. And if I got into Harvard, I would definitely go there, because I know I would receive an amazing education. But I'm not going to get into Harvard, because my academics and extra curriculars aren't perfect, and I don't care enough. Maybe if I really cared and really put everything into the application and tried hard enough I'd have a slight chance in getting in, but I don't, so why bother with a school I'm not even that interested in anyways? There are plenty of other schools that I'll get an amazing education at that I would love to attend. So yeah, I'd go to Harvard if I got in, but I'm definitely not applying there, so... obviously that's not going to happen.
Visited Thursday morning. Didn't know very much about Brandeis going into the visit, so I wasn't very sure of the school. The info session made me like it a lot more, and the tour was pretty good, but I'm still not very interested in it. I don't like the campus much, and I just don't feel really comfortable there.
They do have a castle, though, which is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. But I don't think that's enough reason to go there.
After visiting Brandeis, we drove to Boston College on Thursday afternoon (which, it turns out, actually isn't in Boston. I mean, it's right outside of Boston, but it's definitely not in Boston). Like Brandeis, I didn't really have much of an opinion about Boston College going in. The info session was good, as was the tour guide, and I think I liked the school better than Brandeis. The campus was really gorgeous, too. But I'm still not sure. I don't think I'll be applying here. It's a nice school, but I don't think I'm interested enough in it.
On Friday morning, we drove down to Brown. It's in Providence, Rhode Island, but it's actually only 50 miles from Boston (way closer than Amherst, which is like 90 miles). I absolutely loved Brown. It has an open curriculum, like Amherst. I like that it's in a city, but it's not ridiculously huge. The campus is beautiful, it has amazing academics. I just love everything about it. Of course, it is also ridiculously selective. sigh.
Friday night was Wicked which was, as I've already mentioned, completely amazing.
Saturday morning we hung out a little in Boston and bought some stuff. After lunch, we headed to Logan International Airport once again and had like 3 hours before our flight. I spent about 2 hours reading The DaVinci Code (which we had bought in Amherst because both my mom and I wanted to read it) in the airport, and then finished it two hours into the flight. I thought it was a good book and liked the plot, but it's not a book I could ever get really... obsessed over, I guess? I mean, it's basically just all plot, there's very little character development, and I'm definitely way more interested in the character. So while I enjoyed it, I also didn't think it was anything incredibly amazing.
We were settled in at home around... 10-ish, I think, but I just kind of collapsed into my bed, since it was 1 AM on the east coast and I was exhausted.
And that's about it. I did a bunch of preparation for the Math 2C SAT II (all I really have left is to finish the practice tests in the book), absolutely none for the French SAT II, and absolutely none for my Euro final/the actual AP exam. sigh. I am so screwed. I need to study a bunch for that today, in addition to the French essay that I have yet to write and is due tomorrow. blah. Not so fun being home.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 08:27 pm (UTC)I have friends from high school who actually go to each of these except for Amherst. Although I know about 20 kids who go to other schools in the immediate area. So if you've got any questions about the schools or the area let me know. If I don't know hte answer I can find it out prety easily.
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Date: 2006-04-23 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 08:30 pm (UTC)WICKED! I am jealous. My mom says that when we go to New York this summer that she refuses to see Wicked. :( The guy who played Mr. Trick on Buffy during season 3? He played Dr. Dillamond! HOW COOL IS THAT?!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:04 pm (UTC)Aw, that really sucks. My parents didn't know anything about Wicked, but I assured them it was good, and they love going to see plays (although my dad's not too fond of musicals), so they agreed to see it. They both actually really loved it. I hope you manage to see it sometime.
It was pretty awesome. I was looking through the booklet to see if there was anyone I recognized, and all of a sudden I saw that it said he had played Mr. Trick! It was crazy.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 08:32 pm (UTC)Wicked!! That's so cool about Dr. Dilaamond. I wonder if the same guy was playing that role when I saw it in January. Do you have your booklet thing? Mine says it was played by Timothy Britten Parker.
Good luck on all your tests!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:06 pm (UTC)It was really cool. My booklet says that Dr. Dillamond was played by K. Todd Freeman, so I gues it wasn't the same guy.
Thank you! :D
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Date: 2006-04-23 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 10:20 pm (UTC)If all goes well, I'll be somewhere in that area too. Out of the colleges you visited, I'm probably only applying to Brown though. You weren't interested in Boston University?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:13 pm (UTC)Well, Amherst, Tufts, Brown, and Harvard to some extent were the ones I was most interested in. But we had enough time there that I could visit more colleges, so my mom told me to choose some more to visit. So Wellesley, Brandeis, and Boston College were just ones I was kind of interested in but not incredibly so. I think I looked at Boston College versus Boston University beforehand and I thought I'd be more likely to go to Boston College than Boston University. I honestly don't really remember anything about Boston University, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 10:25 pm (UTC)When I want to be a doctor, I wanted to go to Tufts. Then I heard about this thing where to learn how to repair broken legs, they broke the legs on dogs from the pound. And I didn't want to go there anymore. But, uh...I'm sure it's an awesome school, I'm just weird.
Brown looks so pretty! I almost wish I had looked at that, even though I could never get in, just because of the pretty-ness. That's a really good location too. Random question: would you rather go to school on the east coast or the west coast? Or have you not decided yet?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 11:17 pm (UTC)It is really gorgeous. And I do love the location. I'm actually not so sure. I'm probably applying to about 3-4 colleges on the west coast, and I guess... about 4-5 on the east coast. It partially depends on what schools I get into (like, if I get into Stanford, I'm going there no matter what. But if I don't and I get into Brown I'm almost definitely going there). And I am applying to 2 midwest schools: Macalester (Minnesota) and Colorado College. So I could end up on neither coast. Although actually, after visiting the colleges around Boston, I think that I'm definitely leaning towards east coast. I've lived in southern CA all my life and while I really like it here, I'd like to experience something new.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 10:59 pm (UTC)I know 6 (I think) kids at school who got accepted to Brown, one of them got a scholarship. I think its one of the less selective Ivy schools, but still pretty selective.
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Date: 2006-04-23 11:22 pm (UTC)Oh really? I know it's not one of the most selective Ivy schools, but yeah, still not exactly easy to get into. I don't know how many people in my school got in, but I do know this one girl in one of my classes did and is definitely going there. But since I live in southern CA, the majority of kids at my school don't even apply east coast. I have a sheet of acceptances from class of 2005, and it was like 61 to Berkeley, 82 to UC Davis, 176 to UCI, 74 to UCLA, 39 to USC, 109 to UCSD, 106 to UCR, 6 to Stanford, etc. I mean, those are just acceptances, not where people actually chose to go, but it shows how many apply instate vs. east coast.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-24 05:51 am (UTC)I also looked at Wellesley, Brown and Brandeis, but I didn't like any of them enough to apply. As for the all-girls thing: Being at Smith, I'd generally tend to agree with you, but in this area it's nice that we can go to Amherst, Hampshire or UMass all the time if we want to. And I think I'm actually more comfortable not having to deal with sharing a dorm/bathroom with guys.
I love Wicked! Did you know that Randy Harrison played Boq in 2003? (I only know this because I downloaded a bootleg a long time ago.)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-24 01:47 pm (UTC)I knew that Randy Harrison played someone in Wicked, but I didn't know who, so thanks for telling me that! Someone gave me a link to download him performing in it once, but when I finally had time to check it out, the downloads were gone. It would be crazy to see him in it.
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Date: 2006-04-24 01:51 pm (UTC)It was crazy! And cool. (Um. I adore him way too much.) It was a bit of a "Whoa... what?!?" moment when he first started singing, because I was like, "Not only are you straight in this, but you're singing. Um. Sure. We'll go with that." I had already seen it on Broadway, and he was the only reason I downloaded it, though I do love the show anyway. *cough* Me? Beyond obsessed? Of course not...
no subject
Date: 2006-04-25 04:54 am (UTC)