Admittedly it's been a long while since I've blogged. When I got home from London, well I wasn't motivated to really do anything, the least of all write a blog. Since I got back stateside I've been working as a Tour Guide at UConn. I live on campus and work 4 to 6 days a week. It pays well and most importantly it's a ton of fun.
When I arrived at UConn after 2 weeks off at home, I wasn't really sure what to expect. It felt like I had never left. I had become so comfortable in London and the way of life I had adapted to suit such a large city, making it even more surprising was how easy it felt to just slide back into my usual routine. I brought my bike down to Storrs for the summer to get from my apartment to the Visitors Center too. It's been fun to ride it around campus. Aside from being fun, it’s a great way to get exercise. I've been hitting the gym every day that it's been open since I got back on campus too. I've been meaning to start that for a long time - too long actually - and now I don't have the excuse of not having enough time to do it!! It's a great feeling; I just feel a lot better right now. It's really hard to put in to words, but all I can say is that I'm glad I got myself in this routine because not only am I feeling better, but I’m looking a little svelter as well if I do say so myself!!
I've kept busy outside the Visitors Center and working out with a summer class.
I just finished a Maritime Studies course, perhaps one of the best class experiences I've ever had. After a semi-frustrating academic experience in London in one of the classes there, it was a welcome relief to take a course with interesting subjects covered by a professor that loves to teach and is great at it to boot.
Also, one of the most important things I think I've done since I got back to campus was to interview the new President of the University of Connecticut - Dr. Susan Herbst. The University searched for a long time to find the right person and after my live on-air radio interview with the new President, I'm confident that she's the best person for the job right now. Her personality and overall enthusiasm really add to the overall package. UConn is very lucky to have her. This interview happened this past Thursday at WHUS – 91.7. It went out live on the airwaves and online. It was taped as well by the TV station for use on public access television across a wide swath of Connecticut in the coming weeks. I contacted her on a whim, and heard back almost immediately. I was in "negotiations" with her executive assistant a couple of times a week leading up to the interview - going over what questions would be asked and what exactly the President would need to do and such. It was an amazing, positive experience over all. It was also educational for me and everyone else involved on our end and hopefully positive for the President as well. Here are a couple of pictures the Training Director at UCTV took:
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| This is Scott...the jack of all trades if you will |
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| President Herbst is sitting bottom left, myself top right and WHUS GM John Murphy top left |
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| The other cameraman, Cris, was obsessed with getting this shot..so he took a still to further prove his point how awesome it would look...jury is still out |
I've also had a couple of adventures over the summer too. One of the young women I traveled across England and Western Europe with me joined me - yet again - for a trip. This time though it was stateside (much to her chagrin), in New York City. I've only been to the City once or twice. A high school English class took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - I don't call that seeing the city though, we rode a bus from home to the museum and then back again - and when I was really young I went to Lincoln Center and the New York City Opera house for a tour of sorts with my uncle - a bassist in their pit orchestra. So, she caught wind of that and suggested that I get some time off to take a look at the city. I am sooooo glad I did! I went for a tour at 30 Rock - NBC Nightly News...c'mon people we know why I did that!! - and went to the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum on Friday. We got lunch at this awesome pizza place her family went to a couple of times right off Times Square in the Theater District. It was incredible food. Here are some pictures from that day:
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| Yeah, totally not as cool as "mind the gap" |
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| totally reminded me of the towers on Canary Warf in London..can anyone say nostalgia? |
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| SOOOOO COOOLL!!!!! I couldn't believe I made it there!! |
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| Me in front of NBC's Today Show set...again Sarah's superb camera skills at work |
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| Any one up for another show? (Saw Lion King in London) |
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| TIMES SQUARE!!!!!!!! |
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| STILL TIMES SQUARE....with traffic!!!!!!!! |
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| So at this point my camera ran out of memory so I was using my iPhone camera for the entire time on the USS Intrepid |
Saturday, she took me to see her beloved New York Yankees. I'll admit, when people ask what my favorite team is, I jokingly say the Oakland Athletics...they're a pretty bad team and the only reason I follow them is because one of their outfielders is named Coco Crisp....which I thought was cool. In all honesty though, prior to seeing the Pinstripes play a couple Saturday's back, I didn't really follow baseball that much - I know, totally un-American. In my defense, I do follow football pretty closely but now I'm watching the MLB closer and closer. Also, it was great that the Yanks won that game too; otherwise it would have been a tough train ride home afterwards. In return for her amazing hospitality and willingness to guide me around New York City for the weekend, I treated her to UConn's famous Dairy Bar Ice Cream - never, ever miss an opportunity to have Dairy Bar Ice Cream people - which she LOVED, and brought some back home for later. Here are some pics from that Saturday:
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| The immortal Jackie Robinson....I think 42 is the only number retired across the MLB |
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| View from our seats along the...left field line |
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| A view of Yankee Stadium on our way out |
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| Burnett pitching it up |
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| After the game we drove into lower Manhattan..I've always wanted to see Ground Zero..and I was surprised at what was there...this is the new World Trade 1 |
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| Lady Liberty!!! This was from Battery Park, she really isn't this small |
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| Ellis Island...and a random water tower! |
All in all, my summer has gone pretty well. Tour Guiding was kind of confusing at first, with some question marks and what have you, but things have settled in nicely and are really shaping up to be exactly what I was hoping for. I hope that the rest of the summer will go just as well. I do want to say one more thing though. I've had a pretty good friend from Saratoga that I've played a ton of tennis with over the past couple summers, and I've been privy to his decision on where to go to college and now where to work. What I did want to say was that he has become an inspiration to me, he's been pretty independent - a ton more than myself - paying a lot of bills himself (including college and his car) and having to face a bad job market. He's not only survived, but thrived. I am honored to call him a friend and an inspiration for me to continue to work hard. What I've got from him boils down to essentially for every bad day you might have, there's always something better to come in the future.
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans...I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you"
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