Who is from Acton, Mass? Steve Carell??!!

Yes, folks, he is. He's actually from a small town down the road named Concord. I say it as "Con-cord" and the locals say "Con-curd." I make fun of them & they make fun of me. Anywhoo .. Steve is from here & come to find out my roommate, Taylor, had dinner with him LAST MONTH! His nephew is Taylor's best friend from college. Super coolio. She said he was very nice, but his wife was 10x funnier than him. Go figure.

Day 3 of training was fine. I did my first teacher presentation and it went well. I winged it - probably didn't do as many lesson plans I should. I think it'll be easier than I thought. We'll see.

I am thinking of going to NYC this weekend since I have Fri-Mon off. All the other girls are going out of town- back home. We'll see how that pans out. I have a friend there who told me to come visit. The bus from Boston to NYC is 4 hours - yikes.

I am growing more & more fond of this area. Acton, MA is just beautiful. Very country. Wildflowers everywhere. The smell of pine. It's nice. I hope you enjoy the picture.

Oh and mark Vegas off your list. The other girl who came back for a 2nd year of teaching took it. I could kill her. *shaking my head*

More Than a Feeling

Today was my first full day of training, well, we still got out at 4pm. My head hurts. For all of those who may slightly care about what I'll be teaching - we learned all about how to take Cornell notes - which turns out is very interesting. This is stuff I wish I had learned in high school. It would have helped me tremendously. I have to do a presentation tomorrow - they will video me (yay) and critque my teaching skills. I'm nervous. I've never taught before! None of the other girls have either. They are all 22,23 years old. At least it makes me feel better about my situation.

On a more interesting note - I find out Sept 5th where my first two assignments will be! We will even get to kinda pick. I must mention there's a girl who came back this year to travel for a 2nd year and is helping train us. She got first pick of where she wanted to go this year & let me tell you it's all the exotic places I remembered on the schedule. She'll be in Nicaragua, Barbados, Jamica, and Australia. The only places left that I could get are San Jose, CA; Nova Scotia; Vegas; Virginia Beach & Tyler, TX. My heart tells me Vegas since Amber, Jason, Dan & Keenum will be there when I'd be there but part of me wants to try a place I've never been. We'll see how it plays out.

Also, we are off 1/2 a day Friday and all day Monday. I have NO plans - what the mess will I do? Anyone want to come up? Free hotel & I'll pick you up at the airport ;)

In case you're not the music nerd that I am, I named this post after the only Boston song I know.

That's all I have now. I'll spend the rest of my night studying, reading, organizing lesson plans & hopefully running. I miss running - haven't found a spot yet that's good for it.

Much love!
AC

Be true to your work, your word & your friend.

Today was my first day of training. It was as any first day would go & I even got out early. My roommate, Taylor, is 22 and from Boston. The other two girls doing this will me are also around the same age & all three are straight out of college. They are all very nice & all from the NE area. IThey love making fun of my Southern accent. I have a lot of reading assingments to do each night (Wes - do not laugh).

I went into the city to have dinner with Johnny tonight - he leaves tomorrow. We ate on Newbury Street, which is very famous for shopping. Claire would have loved every second of it. :)

I decided to name this post after a Henry David Thoreau quote, who has a place out here called Walden Pond. I hear it's beautiful & a place I must see. For all of you English nerds ... I thought you'd like that fun fact.

That's all I got for now.
Toodles!

Bean Town

One last pic. Had fun, Johnny! Thanks for coming with me - I enjoyed every second. I'll miss ya!

Graveyard that was est in 1660.

Boston Commons. It's truly amazing.


Fenway Park.

Fenway Park. The oldest ball park in the US. It's smaller than I imagined.

Oldest area in Boston - cobblestone streets & oldest resturant in the US.

Who loves canollis! This girl!

Some guy named Paul Revere's house. I heard something that he woke up a bunch of people late one night to tell them something pretty important. Not sure what it was.

Johnny gives Little Italy two thumbs up. He loves Italians.

Little Italy. Every resturant looked like this - amazing!

Final Day in Boston

Today John & I went to Little Italy (LOVED IT!), toured Fenway Park and then just sat on a grassy knoll in the Commons watching the children play. It was an amazing day. Boston is great in so many different ways - it's clean, historic buildings everywhere, old graveyards that date back to the 1600s nearly on every street and cobblestone roads. The hotel we stayed in, Omni Parker House, the oldest operating hotel in the US, place where boston creme pies were invented AND...and...hold... the place where JFK proposed to Jackie. Also, the people have been so kind. Last night we met a man at the bar while waiting for our dinner reservatinons. We sat there with him & watched the Olympics, talked, and then we left & said our goodbyes. Once our dinner was over the waiter told us a man at the bar had bought us dessert. I thought it was such a kind guesture! Anyway ... I'm now sitting in my hotel in Boxboro - my new home for the next 3.5 weeks. This area is in the country of Mass and quite beautiful. It's near Concord & there are orchards everywhere. I'm waiting on the arrival of my roommate. To be honest, I'm nervous Nancy. My day starts at 10am tomorrow & lasts until 5pm. The first day of any new job is scary ... it's just hard to believe this new adventure starts tomorrow.

I hope you are all well in Birmingham. I miss you all!
love,
AC

DC & Philly & Boston

Catherine dancing up on the Washington Monument. She's a patriot.


The White House. I believe Catherine saw George waving from a window.


Catherine insisted on sitting in this statues lap - outside Boston Public Library.


Old City Hall at night. Across the street from our hotel in downtown Boston.


A few blocks from the hotel in Bean Town.


This is in a park in Old City Hall - Boston.



Old City Philly again. Hard to get a good picture, but these little houses were built in the late 1800s.

I love Philly! Me in Old City.

Philadelphia from our hotel.

Love Park. How precious.


Alma de Cuba. A great cuban restaurant in Philly.


Driving into Philly.


Man outside White House protesting. Part of me agrees with him.

Reflecting Pool.

Inside the Capitol Building.

Me in front of the White House - warning - rated PG-13...

We are Here!!

Ok, first of all I am sorry for not posting sooner. We just have not had much time to access the internet. I will start off by saying the trip to DC was L-O-N-G. We made it in 13 hours. The only thing worth noting on the way up was the Shanandoah Valley. It was beautiful. We were in DC Wed/Thurs. We had a great hotel - right in the middle of downtown and just a few blocks from the White House. We saw W's House, The Lincoln Monument, had a tour of the Captiol and just walked around. John & I were both amazed with how beautiful the city really was. It was great! We ate in Georgetown Thursday night. I loved Georgetown. I could easily live there ... if I had ... say ... more moo-lah. We were so tired from walking all day we crashed early Thursday night. We woke up to drive straight into Philadelphia. It was a short 4 hour drive. We stayed downtown and the City Hall area was amazing. I must say, Philly does leave a lot to be desired though. The people, the streets, all dirty. We had lunch and dinner at two of Stephen Starr's places. Fun fun! Saturday we woke up & drove 6 hours to Boston. I must say - my least favorite part of the trip. We got stuck for an hour outside of NYC on a stupid toll bridge. Charlie Bear was right - we have paid around $40 on tolls alone. Shesh! It was a neat way to see NYC for the first time. It's one huge city, that's for sure. We made it here and the second we drove into Boston I knew I was going to LOVE it. We drove by Fenway (which is amazing!) and through Boston Commons. I about died - I had to pay attention to where I was going. Just imagine - those of you who haven't been here - of the grassiest little area, filled with people just laying around under weeping willows along side the river - I want to go there today. It's truly a beautiful city here. I am so excited to be here! The buildings are unreal - the history behind them. We are staying right off of the Freedom Trail. We are about to head out to do a boat tour, go to Little Italy, then maybe lounge around on the Boston Commons. I will be leaving John around 6pm to venture out to my area for the next 3.5 weeks. I will have a roommate - Taylor. I know nothing about her other than she's from Boston & hopefully she will go to bed around the same time I do each night *wishful thinking* I hope the pictures will suffice for the time being! The weather here is AMAZING - breezy, not hot and just plain lovely. I am not sure how much internet access I will get throughout the days from now on but I'll try to update as much as possible.

Until next time ...
much love!
AC

Moving Out

Time has flown by! From the day I got the news I was leaving until now seems to have gone by in seconds. I had the big move on Saturday with the help of my parents. I am now trying to pack my clothes so they'll fit in my car. That has been my biggest challenge so far!

I have two days left at work & leave a week from tomorrow. Seven days left in the Magic City! I must say it's bittersweet. I am ready to get settled in Boston & start this new job, but I do know I'll miss my great friends here dearly.

I'm hoping to have some pictures to post in the coming days. Also, the road trip up should be fun as we are staying in DC, Philadelphia, & Boston. No one wants to read a stupid blog if it has no pictures!

Hopefully I'll see most of you before I leave ... if not, maybe I'll see you all really soon!
much love!