Gray, Maine- Wildlife Park

Last Saturday I went on a road trip with some international students to a wildlife park in Gray, Maine. The trip was sponsored by a program called International Students, INC. where local people here "adopt" international students and host events for them and have them over for dinner, things like that. It's a really cool program! At church one Sunday,I met a woman named Lian who is a graduate student here and she's from China. She invited me to go on this trip, then at the last minute she couldn't make it so I went along anyway, and ended up knowing some people =] The park was very similar to Irvine Park in Chippewa, except they had more exhibits. Some of the animals I saw were: porcupine, peacocks (even a white one), a bald eagle, cougar, foxes, bears, and 2 moose! Seeing a moose has now been checked off my East Coast bucket list!

This one is by the bear exhibit: Julia is from Vancouver Canada, and then Yong again.

Here we are in front of the bear exhibit again, but you can't see the bears =[ On my left is Yong (sp?) from China, my right is Moe (that's our American name for him ;] ) from Taiwan. When I got back to campus that night, my friends Chuck and Will (who I went to Boston with) had a small party for our friends where they brought traditional French and Korean snacks for us and sang us some songs: Will on Piano, Chuck on guitar. There are some songs that we used to sing in church where we all knew the song! Will sang French, Chuck sang in Korean, and we all sang in English, it was so cool! =] Last, but not least, after the party my CA Victoria and I went to the carnival in our campus parking lot and went on the Gravitron..weirdest experience ever. If you've never ridden it, I suggest trying!

Picture Update

I just got a load of new pictures! Here is an update from the whole semester =] I also added some pictures to my Boston trip post, so don't forget to check them out!

Here are some friends from Bible Study at open-skate night, it was luau theme! We are sitting in the place where hockey players sit =]

Our inner-tube water polo team =] We lost after the second game, but that is the best sport ever invented!

Emily and I having popsicles in New Orleans =]

Intervarsity's Women's Night at Susan's house! Crafting it up!

Sugarloaf Mtns, Maine

Friday night we had an Intervarsity Women's Retreat up in the Sugarloaf Mountains, which are in Kingfield, Maine. It is a beautiful place! About a 3 hour drive north, we passed many lakes and forests and mountains and small towns. It was our friend Sean's family's cabin, which was a giant, gorgeous lodge. Many guest rooms, huge kitchen, hot-tub, loft, perfect view, loved it. We made a spaghetti dinner together friday night and enjoyed a campfire and guitar songs. In the morning we got up, made a pancake breakfast, then set out for a morning hike. When we got back Kate made home-made beef stew and garlic bread. Yum! We had tons of fun dancing around the kitchen and making meals and enjoying each other's company. We then decorated the cabin for our friend Skarda's birthday. "The guys" came in the afternoon and we handed over the place for them to enjoy for Saturday night. It was a beautiful trip, and I would love to return to Maine someday =] Oh, and most of the pictures below are self-explanatory except the last one is our friend Sean who hosted us, we made him breakfast Saturday morning, and my friend Briana is presenting it to him =] Also: this video shows what the GUYS did when THEY had the cabin...enjoy ;] http://youtu.be/-CJAE6ylYUA

A day in Boston

This past Saturday I took a day trip to Boston =] It was an hour and 20 minute bus ride from campus to South Station where I met my friends: William from France, Emily from Hong Kong, and Scott from South Korea (Charles from South Korea also met up with us later in the day). Scott goes to Boston University so he was our "tour guide" for the day. We started in Chinatown, which was very cool. Emily really enjoyed being able to share some of her culture with us, making us try bubble tea and black sesame soup (which was cold and desert-like, I got addicted). It was fun to listen to her talk with the vendors in Mandarin! Then we walked down to the Boston Harbor and looked at the yachts and sailboats, what a beautiful sight! We ate lunch there at a little crab and lobster shack, I had lobster mac-n-cheese, which was pretty much just macaroni noodles with lobster bisque poured on top. It was delicious! Then we headed toward the university campus, which was so cool because you couldn't even tell where the city ended and the university began. All of the dorms were beautiful apartments just like the rest of the city. The apartments reminded me of a mix of : Full House, Friends, Seinfeld, and Hitch. We went into their giant library which was very historical with paintings and sculptures and wonderful architecture. We sat in the courtyard for a while there and it reminded me of the Roman Baths in London. Then we stopped and listened to an acapella group from NYU, they said they had a show that night so I stopped and talked with them, it turns out they are all a part of Intervarsity too! I sang some songs with them and then we headed to check out a large cathedral on the corner. There was a large banner letting everyone know there would be a "blessing of the athletes there" because this week was the Boston marathon. We saw a lot of people training as we walked the streets. We also walked past Fenway Park and the Red Sox were playing that evening! The crowd was crazy and there were soooo many tickets shoved in our faces: TICKETS! WHo wants TICKETS! It was a blast =] We stopped by Scott's dorm and headed to dinner. We went to a Chinese place where they have community-style meals. In the center of the table is pots with boiling water with flavorings/sauces. Everyone orders various raw meat, vegetables, and noodles. Then we put all of the ingredients around the center of the table, drop what we want into the pot, wait for it to cook, and take it back out onto your plate. You've gotta be quick or someone will take the food you put in for boiling! It was so fun. It was also a trick because I only could use chopsticks! For desert we went to a frozen yogurt place called MIXX where you get a dish, go through a fro-yo buffet of hundreds of toppings, then pay for it by weight. I had almond flavored fro-yo with bananas and coconut and anything peanutbutter (pieces, cups, etc). After that, we walked around a bit more and hopped on the amtrak back to UNH. And that was my day in Boston =]

Emily and I

William and Scott

William again

Charles "Chuck"

Our other friend from BU, Forrest

Hot Pot

Album cover. ;]

Relay for Life- American Cancer Society

Hello friends and family, My Hall Council in my dorm has created a team for Relay for Life this year and I will be joining them. For those of you who don't know what Relay for Life is, it is a fundraising event where we do a 24 hour relay (walking laps in a gym)to raise money for the American Cancer Society. During the event, there is celebration of the lives of cancer survivors, those who are currently battling cancer, and those who have passed away due to cancer. I did this last year and the experience is difficult but very rewarding. If you'd like to donate to the American Cancer Society or just check out more about Relay for Life, here is the link to my part of the Relay website: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?px=27308640&pg=personal&fr_id=41350 Last year when I walked, I did it to support others who have experience with cancer, as well as some of my own relatives who are survivors. This year, I am thinking a lot of my friend Nick (from UWEC, my dorm Murray, and Intervarsity) who is currently battling cancer. If you can keep him in your prayers, that would be wonderful. Thank you!!!

New Orleans (NOLA, Nawlins, The Big Easy)

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Swing Dances, Reading Buddies, and Water Polo

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