travel – COM Ambassador Blog

Maddy: 7 Things to Daydream About On Your 8-Hour Bus Journey Back To BU (too niche?)

As Spring Break comes to a close, and the crippling weight of your postponed responsibilities comes crashing down on your shoulders once again, it’s helpful to pinpoint some things to look forward to for the rest of your semester! So close your eyes, take a deep breath, put your sweatshirt on because this bus is colder than a freakin’ Boston winter and your overhead air conditioning is stuck on full blast, put your earbuds in because you bet that baby will be screaming for the entire ride, and imagine these beautiful BU treasures that await you.

The Friendliest GSU Employee Ever To Exist

Source: Adrianna Diaz/Daily Free Press Staff

The main thing to look forward to upon your return to BU is a smile and a “how are you, my friend?” from the nicest woman alive, who just happens to work as a cashier at the GSU. You can be sure that she will make a friendly joke about whatever food you’re buying, which you will only catch the tail end of because you were struggling to put your ID back in your pocket, you clumsy fool. Then you will bid her a great day because she truly deserves one and you will have seven years’ good luck.
Pavement Coffee House

Source: The Odyssey

Another thing you’ve surely missed over spring break is Pavement Coffee House, the best study spot known to man. Though you haven’t missed doing homework, you know it’ll be so nice to sip your Cinnamon Fig latte and listen to cool alternative playlists while you slave over your reading assignments.
The College Comedy Scene

Source: ME!

Source: Danya Trommer

BU’s comedy scene is always something to look forward to! Pictured above are two of the funniest people I have ever met: Fellow CA Hannah Schweitzer (COM ‘21), who performs with BU’s premiere improv troupe Liquid Fun; and Danya Trommer (COM ‘21) who kills at Stand-Up Club! In fact, Hannah will be making her Liquid Fun debut in their show on March 16th, and Danya and I are competing in BU’s Funniest, a stand-up comedy competition that will determine which student will open for the famous comedian who comes to perform at BU! So many things to look forward to!
President Brown’s Rolling Briefcase and Whatever Secrets It May Contain

Source: Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Dolla bills? Spare mustaches? An L.L. Bean Pop Up Shop? The possibilities are endless.
Butv10 Servin’ Up Industry-Standard Realness

Source: Cydney Scott

COM is known for providing top-notch resources to its students, including industry standard equipment for students to rent out or use to FILM THEIR OWN TV SHOWS. (I know.) Butv10 is BU’s TV station, and we write and film actual episodes of shows like Bay State, the longest-running college soap opera; Pals & Friends, a sketch comedy show that I write for; and Co-Ed, a mockumentary (comedy) show that I also write for! Hooray!
Squeezing In Time For Einstein’s Bagels Between Classes

Source: Unknown but I got it off of the BU Dining page

No line is more worth the wait than the one for Einstein’s Bagels in the CAS basement, which often extends down the entire hallway. But do you know who’s going to wait as long as it takes for a hot bagel and coffee even if it means being 5 minutes late to class? You are. Why? Because you DESERVE that shmear of honey almond cream cheese on a toasted asiago bagel.
Rhett’s Weary But Smiling Face As He Waddles Through The GSU

Source: Kristyn Ulanday

The fabled terrier Rhett is reclusive, but on occasion a few lucky BU students with a keen eye will be able to spot the creature as he is essentially dragged through the GSU link. He’s so tired but so adorable. Will you be the one to offer a nice warm lap for him to nap on? Maybe. Rumor has it that if you let Rhett nap on your lap he will grant you 3 wishes and 40 convenience points. That’s enough for two whole loads of laundry.

DJ: Summer Checklist

The summer in between high school graduation and my first semester at college was by far the best summer of my life. Since many of you reading this blog are about to embark on your last summer before stepping foot on Boston University’s campus in the fall, here are a few things that I did last summer that truly made it amazing and that I highly recommend you try as well:

Spend time with your friends without your cell phone

Since many people in my group of friends were going away to college, we knew that we had to make the most of the summer. Thus, we invented a game whenever we went out to a restaurant that prevented us from using our cell phones. We would put all of them in the center of the table in a pile, and the first person who touched his phone would have to pay the entire bill. Since all of the phones were together, when one phone vibrated, we had no one idea whose phone it was. Needless to say, no one ever touched their phones, but it was great truly being in the moment with friends instead of just being on our cell phones, since we knew our time together would soon end.

Spend an entire day at a lake or a beach

If there’s a lake or a beach near you, spend an entire day there. Just marvel at the beauty of nature. BU is a city-school, and although you can definitely find places to be with nature in Boston, there’s nothing like a warm day swimming, playing volleyball, and basking in the sun.

Read that book you never got around to reading

As an avid reader, one thing that I have found very difficult in college is finding free time to read. My roommate often notes that he brought ten books to college to read when he had free time, and has not managed to touch a single one all year. So, if there’s that one book you’ve always wanted to read and just never got around to doing it, now is the time to pick it up!

Spend time with your family

This might not sound like the most fun thing to do on this list, but it might be the most important. Yes, I know. Your parents can be very pestering and your siblings might get on your last nerves. However, in just a few months, you won’t see them everyday anymore. I understand that going out with your friends is extremely important, but don’t forget about your family this summer. You will miss all of them, even that one crazy aunt you have.

Travel around your hometown one last time

I grew up in a small-town in New Jersey, and I’ll admit it - I was one of those kids who spent all of high school impatiently waiting to get out of my town. However, in retrospect, my hometown gave me countless memories and truly made me the person I am today. The night before I left for BU, I got in my car and just drove around. I went down side-streets that I played on during snowstorms, I drove by my elementary school, I went past all of my friend’s houses that I spent numerous hours in, and I visited my high school football stadium one last time. Trust me, if you can drive around your hometown before you leave for the fall, you should do it. And while you do, remember this quote: "You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place. Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”

Julianna: My Journey to Israel

An Open Letter to My Fellow Travel-Hungry BU COM Kids

Shalom BU COM Class of 2016!

Quick re-cap of my summer away from BU: I returned to my summer office job for two months, cranked out a story a week for the college news section of NextGen Journal, got hooked on HBO’s The Newsroom, warmed up to the new cast members on the Real Housewives of New York City and prepared for my trip to Israel.

Now I am Stateside again after participating in the Anti-Defamation League’s Campus Leaders Mission to Israel with 17 other college students from across the country. It was a whirlwind eight days of touring and learning first-hand about Israel’s domestic issues, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel’s relations with nations outside of the Middle East. I met journalists, political analysts, new immigrants at an absorption center, IDF soldiers, a world renown professor of Holocaust studies, university students, among others.

The mission to Israel was most definitely the best experience I’ve had in my 20 years of living. Dramatic? Totally. But, I really mean it. Since returning I’ve perused my 600+ photos countless times, daydreamed about zatar (the most delicious spice ever) on everything and reread my notes to further absorb everything that I learned. All this nostalgia and post-travel blues has me longing for another adventure. I want stamps on stamps on stamps in my passport book. I want more culture, another foreign language in my ears and new (or some more ancient) roads to conquer.

I know that I am one of many college students with an endless hunger for travel and adventure. If you find yourself with the very same desire, think about how that aligns with why you chose BU. Speaking for myself, I was completely won over by BU’s location in the heart of Boston. You’ll see that with living in Boston comes constant adventure, whether it be taking the T to the last stop of a particular line, exploring the quaint South End or meandering through the famers’ market at Haymarket. So get ready for the adventure that awaits you in Boston, and along your path to graduation you’re bound to make some stops in near and far places whether through educational or volunteer missions, study abroad or trips for pleasure. Check out www.bu.edu/abroad to begin mapping out your study abroad options for junior year or keep Alternative Spring Break in mind for spring 2013.

Tiffany: Updates from the London Study Abroad Program

Happy summer everyone! Hope everyone is soaking up the sun and getting a nice tan.

Unfortunately, London isn’t too warm right now and the sun loves to play hide-and-seek with the clouds, while surprising everyone with a little rain here and there. But other than that, if studying abroad is of interest to you, I would definitely recommend it!

You will be surprised how much you will learn about other cultures, while also learning a lot about yourself. On one of the first days of class, my International Brand Management professor stated, “It is only after you’ve spent time abroad and are forced to not be American, will you truly understand what it means to be American because you will, again, be forced to realize and reflect on your values, customs, speech, media, and everything that used to seem so ordinary.”

I’ve only been here for 6 weeks and have already seen, learned, and experienced so much! For the past 6 weeks I took two courses, International Brand Management and European Marketing Strategies, and am just about to start the second half of the program where I will be interning at a fashion PR agency called Bryan Morel PR.

Other than coursework, I’ve been exploring London quite a bit and even traveled to Paris for a weekend (travelling within Europe is so cheap in comparison to what you would ever pay to travel from the States).

BU London is located in a really convenient area with lots to do right in our own borough of Kensington. It is in the most posh part of town, right down the street (literally a 2 minute walk) from Kensington Palace, past residence to Princess Diana, and where Prince William and Kate Duchess of Cambridge have chosen as their London home. Right next to Kensington Palace is the gorgeous Hyde Park where you can paddle boat, ride bikes, go for a run, or just sit by the pond and watch the swans. We are also located right next to all the big museums like the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum that are all free admission!

There is seriously and endless amount of activities to do and places to visit throughout London. Some of my favorite places so far are Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, and Regent Street (really good shopping). Also for my fellow foodies out there, there are Portobello, Camden, Borough, and Greenwich Markets that are a foodies dream come true.

I really recommend looking into study abroad and if anybody has any questions about London in particular, I’d be happy to answer them or, pardon my shameless self-promotion, you can select me as your COM Ambassador!

Cheers from across the Atlantic!