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Currently writing from the east coast of the U.S of A. -- I just wrapped up a summer program at Rhode Island. Forgot to bring my journal while I was all the way over here, so now I have a bunch of entries strewn around my desktop as well as a few accompanying pictures I think are pretty neat. There's a lot that isn't in here, like me nearly dehydrating to death on the first day, playing ultimate frisbee on the field and then getting too sick to go bowling, or the Mexican guy in the football jersey from my class whom I'd always talk politics with -- but I'd say it's a pretty accurate record for what it's worth.
July 13th
Chateaubriand! [Inexplicable, probably referring to François-René de Chateaubriand, referencing the book I was reading at the time] Woke up very late (7:30). Boston Science Museum, Beautiful Math exhibit but I did not have the time to read everything. I was so focused on that damned math exhibit I spent about an hour in it. Didn't even get to see the Al lab or all the fossils. I'll have to go back sometime. After that, took duck boat tour 'round Boston. Got back around three or four. Went to some kind of block party. Very boring. Trump was shot today.
July 14th
Narragansett beach today. Did not have a swimsuit and my shorts are cotton so could not go very deep in the water. The waves here are much larger than back home, but we spent too long at the beach for my liking, and I languished in the sun a bit til I crawled out from the burning sands and hid under an umbrella. American girl introduced herself to me and sounded very disappointed when I told her I'm Canadian. "I'm going to sic my bald eagle on you," she told me.
July 16th
Went to the paper nautilus, bought several books - then to the sea with mom and dad. TAKE OUT TRASH TOMORROW.
July 20th
Went to the zoo, then to a football (soccer) game. The teams were New England Revolution and something Dallas. U.S. soccer sucks, I tell you - not that I've ever seen any other game in real life - but this one was so exceptionally boring -- everyone else around me thought so too -- and ended in a draw despite that they added time at the end. We were about an hour late to curfew, and the bus ride back was really something. These French? Brazilian? guys in the back started singing pop songs and the Marseillaise... or at least I think it was because they shouted LIBERTÉ! EGALITÉ! FRATERNITÉ! at the end.
July 21st
Went to my parents’ today. Had a full breakfast, salad with chorizo and egg, half a quesadilla, blueberries and blackberries, tea and milk (not with!) Read Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ over it and got to that bit where he’s with that Mexican chick Terry and he thinks she’s a hustler while she thinks he’s a pimp. I’m seeing an old friend today, whom I haven’t spoken to since I was ten. I met her in second grade, and I think she was the second girl I ever became friends with. I was very shy then and liked keeping to myself, but she was bolder. At that age all I wanted to do was be a zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo, and she and I used to excavate dinosaur bones together. We just both happened to be taking summer programs in the States, so today I’ll get driven to Cambridge where she's staying and we’ll meet up there.
On the way there I brought my book, but I didn’t read a thing. The clouds were fat and round, and all separate like in a child’s drawing. I listened to that Simon and Garfunkel song 'America' on the way cos it seemed fitting. When I was a kid, maybe six or seven years old I thought S&G were Paul and Art's first names and white people just named their kids things like Garfunkel. Got to the Harvard campus, met my friend there and she took me around campus to the art museum and the bookstore. We caught up all the way. She told me about her program and her debate classes, and we talked about the games we used to play. Somehow she remembered the names of all her stuffed animals as well as the white lion I used to have. I was amazed. Then we sat and watched a street performer, a 50 year old man named Bob ride a three wheeled unicycle (that is, three wheels stacked on top of one another). J has a serious sweet tooth, so naturally when she went to get ice cream I did too, and when she had dessert after dinner I did too. I rarely have any sugar, so this is the most I’ve had in months. I felt sick as a dog by the end of it.
We went to one of the piers and walked all the way around. The bridge was closed but we joked about taking a dive into the sea and pushing each other in and whatnot. I took some photos of her. We went to eat at this place and she and I tripped over a flower arrangement that littered the ground with petals. We drove her back at nine or so. She gave me a hug, and all the way back the moon was round and yellow like a wheel of cheese. I put on some music and leaned back while my dad drove on the interstate, tried to mimic Billy Idol's voice playing on the aux. I got back to Brown at 11, past curfew.
July 22nd
Europeans are strange. I was just playing cards with my dormmates (we don't share a room) and the English girl was talking about how she couldn't believe yellow schoolbuses were real when she came to the states cos all the ones in England are red, And then the Spaniard said that the buses are red and blue back in Spain. Red and Blue? What the hell?
July 24th
On the Road is all right, and I'm nearing the end of it -- but I keep expecting a revelation that doesn't come. Went to my second TEDxBrown today - girl in my group, London accent, studying quantum mechanics. She had interesting insights on the morality of gene splicing and such. Made me sorry that we were all leaving and I never got to speak with her more. Today was the last 'official' class, meaning everything in the syllabus was done with and we'd only be doing presentations for the next two days. I didn't think I'd get sentimental at all, but I really did find the course enjoyable, and I had a lot of fun. Just when I'd finally memorized everything on campus and all my classmates' names... but we march on..!
I cleared out my room yesterday and my parents picked me up. Made a few friends these past weeks, but didn't see the point in exchanging numbers with anyone, on account of the fact that we'll probably never see each other again. Last night I was watching the original Star Trek, and my dad said that the Enterprise reminded him of a giant pizza cutter. It felt so weird sleeping somewhere other than my dorm room that I started counting sheep in German to fall asleep, and even that didn't help. We're off to Boston tomorrow.
July 13th
Chateaubriand! [Inexplicable, probably referring to François-René de Chateaubriand, referencing the book I was reading at the time] Woke up very late (7:30). Boston Science Museum, Beautiful Math exhibit but I did not have the time to read everything. I was so focused on that damned math exhibit I spent about an hour in it. Didn't even get to see the Al lab or all the fossils. I'll have to go back sometime. After that, took duck boat tour 'round Boston. Got back around three or four. Went to some kind of block party. Very boring. Trump was shot today.
July 14th
Narragansett beach today. Did not have a swimsuit and my shorts are cotton so could not go very deep in the water. The waves here are much larger than back home, but we spent too long at the beach for my liking, and I languished in the sun a bit til I crawled out from the burning sands and hid under an umbrella. American girl introduced herself to me and sounded very disappointed when I told her I'm Canadian. "I'm going to sic my bald eagle on you," she told me.
July 16th
Went to the paper nautilus, bought several books - then to the sea with mom and dad. TAKE OUT TRASH TOMORROW.
July 20th
Went to the zoo, then to a football (soccer) game. The teams were New England Revolution and something Dallas. U.S. soccer sucks, I tell you - not that I've ever seen any other game in real life - but this one was so exceptionally boring -- everyone else around me thought so too -- and ended in a draw despite that they added time at the end. We were about an hour late to curfew, and the bus ride back was really something. These French? Brazilian? guys in the back started singing pop songs and the Marseillaise... or at least I think it was because they shouted LIBERTÉ! EGALITÉ! FRATERNITÉ! at the end.
July 21st
Went to my parents’ today. Had a full breakfast, salad with chorizo and egg, half a quesadilla, blueberries and blackberries, tea and milk (not with!) Read Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ over it and got to that bit where he’s with that Mexican chick Terry and he thinks she’s a hustler while she thinks he’s a pimp. I’m seeing an old friend today, whom I haven’t spoken to since I was ten. I met her in second grade, and I think she was the second girl I ever became friends with. I was very shy then and liked keeping to myself, but she was bolder. At that age all I wanted to do was be a zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo, and she and I used to excavate dinosaur bones together. We just both happened to be taking summer programs in the States, so today I’ll get driven to Cambridge where she's staying and we’ll meet up there.
On the way there I brought my book, but I didn’t read a thing. The clouds were fat and round, and all separate like in a child’s drawing. I listened to that Simon and Garfunkel song 'America' on the way cos it seemed fitting. When I was a kid, maybe six or seven years old I thought S&G were Paul and Art's first names and white people just named their kids things like Garfunkel. Got to the Harvard campus, met my friend there and she took me around campus to the art museum and the bookstore. We caught up all the way. She told me about her program and her debate classes, and we talked about the games we used to play. Somehow she remembered the names of all her stuffed animals as well as the white lion I used to have. I was amazed. Then we sat and watched a street performer, a 50 year old man named Bob ride a three wheeled unicycle (that is, three wheels stacked on top of one another). J has a serious sweet tooth, so naturally when she went to get ice cream I did too, and when she had dessert after dinner I did too. I rarely have any sugar, so this is the most I’ve had in months. I felt sick as a dog by the end of it.
We went to one of the piers and walked all the way around. The bridge was closed but we joked about taking a dive into the sea and pushing each other in and whatnot. I took some photos of her. We went to eat at this place and she and I tripped over a flower arrangement that littered the ground with petals. We drove her back at nine or so. She gave me a hug, and all the way back the moon was round and yellow like a wheel of cheese. I put on some music and leaned back while my dad drove on the interstate, tried to mimic Billy Idol's voice playing on the aux. I got back to Brown at 11, past curfew.
July 22nd
Europeans are strange. I was just playing cards with my dormmates (we don't share a room) and the English girl was talking about how she couldn't believe yellow schoolbuses were real when she came to the states cos all the ones in England are red, And then the Spaniard said that the buses are red and blue back in Spain. Red and Blue? What the hell?
July 24th
On the Road is all right, and I'm nearing the end of it -- but I keep expecting a revelation that doesn't come. Went to my second TEDxBrown today - girl in my group, London accent, studying quantum mechanics. She had interesting insights on the morality of gene splicing and such. Made me sorry that we were all leaving and I never got to speak with her more. Today was the last 'official' class, meaning everything in the syllabus was done with and we'd only be doing presentations for the next two days. I didn't think I'd get sentimental at all, but I really did find the course enjoyable, and I had a lot of fun. Just when I'd finally memorized everything on campus and all my classmates' names... but we march on..!
I cleared out my room yesterday and my parents picked me up. Made a few friends these past weeks, but didn't see the point in exchanging numbers with anyone, on account of the fact that we'll probably never see each other again. Last night I was watching the original Star Trek, and my dad said that the Enterprise reminded him of a giant pizza cutter. It felt so weird sleeping somewhere other than my dorm room that I started counting sheep in German to fall asleep, and even that didn't help. We're off to Boston tomorrow.
