LDOC

Awesome last day of classes. :)

"I had the best day with you today"

I finally met my favorite duke basketball player!!! my life is complete!!! (exaggeration...but it definitely made my day!!!) <3 Many thanks to my friend C for spotting him in the first place!!!!

I have a collection of photos with Duke B-ball affliated pples!!!...my claim to fame. LOL

Duke Basketball

In case it wasn't obvious from the blog link...I am definitely a duke fan! Yesterday was the biggest game of the season... we played our biggest rival, UNC. It was a really stressful game because UNC was leading throughout the ENTIRE game...until the last couple of minutes!!! As an undergrad I was able to camp out for a month and get into the game; however as a graduate student, we have to camp out for season tickets and unfortunately I didn't get any this year. So i was really sad to miss watching it live, but it was still great to watch on TV.

The tradition is that if we beat UNC at Cameron, there is a HUGE bonfire on campus afterwards! It was AMAZING!!! Below are some photos. Enjoy!

Miami/Orlando Florida

Once again, I took my yearly trip down to Florida for the UOTS Children's Cancer Camp. As I stated before, I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity to spend a week helping kids with cancer- everytime when I come back, I have a greater appreciation for the happenings in my life (whether good or bad). I have learned so much from both campers and counselors, and I have built very lasting relationships with many of them.This year we went to Walt Disney World and Islands of Adventure to check out the new Harry Potter rides. Disney World was a lot of fun, but we definitely spent a majority of our time standing in line...even though we had special passes. That was a little disappointing. Islands of Adventure was AMAZING (as always). And the Harry Potter section is great... there were 3 rides (2 coasters, 1 simulated 3D ish ride)- definitely worth checking out. It was SO crowded there that you had to wait in line for over an hour just to go in the STORES! :( so unfortunately we did not make it in.

Here are some photos from my amazing week:(unfortunately I can't post pics with campers due to privacy issues, and my camera was thrown into a pool [with me] so I only have pics from the beginning half of the week )

Magic Kingdom:

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Marlins Game:

Jacksonville Fl

This past weekend, I took a super quick (1.5 days) trip down to Jacksonville Fl. It was really nice! Enjoyed the sun and went shopping...like crazy. I now have to curb my shopping as I spent way too much in Fl. The sad thing is, I was so busy shopping...I didn't really take any photos. Here is one photo of the Jacksonville bridge. It's actually quite beautiful at night when they light it up in blue lights (use your imagination. hehe)

Restaurant Week in Durham NC

It has been a couple of months since I've posted...sorry for the lack of posts, but unfortunately I have been busy busy busy working and very little time to travel. But the exciting thing is that Durham NC is an "up and coming" area...and this past week was Restaurant Week!!!! Unfortunately my budget only allowed me the luxury of visiting 1 restaurant...but nonetheless I have some photos to share.

My friend and I went to Four Square Restaurant in Durham...it is a southern foods inspired restaurant...very very delicious; I would definitely recommend it as a restaurant to visit if you have the budget. :)
Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed eating! HEHE!

beef with corn and wild rice:

mahi mahi with noodles (and KIM CHEE):

a chocolate torte and mascarpone brownie? haha
it was ALL delicious nonetheless

post dinner:

Everything's bigger in Texas

My last trip for the month of March was Houston Texas. The city reminds me of a hybrid between suburbia and major metropolitan area. It's interesting- you get a bit of both when you're in Houston. I spent the majority of my time near Rice University and the major hospitals nearby. WOW, it is amazing how much money there is at Rice and the UT Hospitals. Can they share their wealth? HAHA I was really blown away by how they could afford these million dollar buildings...

I had a wonderful tour of the Rice Campus (beautiful by the way), visited Rice Village briefly, went "downtown", and even took a nice sunny trip to the zoo. (and of course ate LOTS of delicious food in between)

While the environment was super nice, and there was definitely a great variety of delicious foods to eat...unfortunately I could not see myself spending the next 5 years of my life there. I think at the end of the day I am still an East coast girl at heart, so I'm going to have to pass on the "midwest". HAHA

Here are some photos from Houston. Enjoy!

Trip to the zoo
(located literally in the middle of the city!!)

This animal is a hybrid of a zebra and ??

The giraffe was SOO close!!! AMAZING

Rice Bioengineering building:

near the campus:

Old Bioengineering building
(the slabs of rock are called 360, 45, and 90. HAHA)

Overview of Rice/Houston area from the engineering building
(WOW... would love to see this EVERYDAY . HAHA)

Houston at night:

The city of Brotherly Love

I recently took a trip up to Philadelphia, PA. What a fun city!!! I really enjoyed my trip- the city is REALLY nice - its very very NYC like but without all the dirt and ridiculous high stress. hahah On top of that, the weekend I went to visit...the weather was AMAZING!!! (70F+) LOVED IT! And UPENN is really beautiful! I loved the campus, and there is a strip of shops right across the street. OMG I'm in love! HAHA

Here are just a few pictures of my trip. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to sightsee the city, as I spent the majority of my weekend touring UPENN.

giant paper clip by the subway station:

a building in downtown:

UPENN Campus:

(This area was equivalent of the BC Walkway at Duke)

Apparently, Cameron Indoor Stadium is modeled after this building:

Penn Engineering Quad area:

These LOVE sculptures were everywhere:

everything about philly is ben franklin related:

March Travels

It's been quite some time since I've traveled anywhere... but this past weekend I took a quick trip up to New York City. I was there for only 2.5 days including airport time. I spent most of my time on the Upper West Side, but had some time in the down-town areas, like SOHO and Columbus Circle. Unfortunately I did not remember to take too many pictures, though some new friends did. (I'm waiting to get them from them!). Here are a few images of Columbus Circle.

Enjoy!

Carmines- family style italian restaurant. delicious!!!
Columbus Circle

Trump Tower:

Shops at Columbus Circle:

Leaving Broadway:

Pittsburgh PA

I know it's been a really long time since I've blogged...but that's because I haven't really been traveling. I've been spending most of my time in Durham, NC. But this past weekend I took a short trip to Pittsburgh PA. Pittsburgh is a nice compact city (or so it seemed). Everything seemed to be really close, well at least in the heart of the city. Went to see Carnegie Mellon University, Mount Washington, and did some tax-free shopping!!! That is the one great thing about Pittsburgh... no tax on clothes!! It was great. too bad I didn't really buy anything. Plus another wonderful thing about Pittsburgh is they have H&M!!!! Man do I miss that shop! Here are a few pictures taken from Mount Washington. Enjoy!

Cable car up to the view:

Pittsburgh in the background
(my face was frozen from the cold!!)

Famous "postcard" view...(well minus the fence)

Toronto Canada

I know in my previous blog entry I said I wouldn't be leaving the country for awhile...well I guess I have to take that back. (or not, depending on how you view canada. HAHA). This past weekend I went to Toronto Canada to visit my aunt/uncle and cousins. it was a really last minute trip and super packed trip since we were only there for 3 days (including flying time). Apologies for not having too many pictures...but when you're strapped for time, taking pictures isn't exactly a top priority. Hope you enjoy anyways!

hotel in toronto:

bubble tea:

ms asia toronto paegant in the mall:

i met the terracotta soldiers:

i even met his horse:

mmm pig:

"stand by me..."