Information is my Slave

So I realized last night after posting yesterday that I never explained why I found myself in the tiniest state in the union.

Rundown:
I'm interning at Brown University in Providence, RI. My official title is Residence Director, but that translates into "Don't let your RA staff or your students die all summer". I've got 13 RAs who will be my frontline staff overseeing my 250ish? residents. If you have other questions about what I do... ask my RAs.

Nevertheless... I moved into my official apartment today. Let's just say while I may live in the football fraternity residence hall (aka super-sketch-nastyville)... I concurrently live in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment complete with a living room and 2 giant storage rooms. I mean.. I'm not all settled yet.. but here's a glimpse:
So my front door is on your left. That's my sweet fire extinguisher.

If you turn around you see my two storage rooms. One currently contains about 55 textbooks and notebooks, a giant winter coat (that I may borrow if this weather keeps up), and some sweet bench press weights.

Then you take a left around the corner and run into my long corridor of rooms. Ridic, yes?

Here's one room. It's giant. I think I'm gonna use it as my staff meeting room. Lots of seating.. sweet windows, etc.

Here's a smaller room.. boring.

And here's where the magic happens. Ha! It's bright and cheery. Note: my quilt doesn't fit my bed since I didn't know I was going to be able to make a super bed.. so I only got a twin quilt. As Project Runway master Tim Gunn would say.. "Make it Work!"

And the rest of my giant room. FYI: My closet is the entire length of that back wall

Here's my cute little living room. Too bad I didn't bring my TV! I have a sweet stand for it and everything!

Then I have the scary bathroom. Where the water is yellow and the shower is creepy.

And my much better bathroom!

Which has a much better and bigger shower!

And there ya go.. that's my super bangin' not-so-bangin' penthouse apartment that I still need to unpack and organize (take off your judgin' goggles!) Really, I just don't know what to do with all the space! It's nuts! I guess.. just come visit me and fill up a bedroom!

In other news... we started training today. Nothing crazy.. just payroll and fire safety. Wooooohooo!

Had a delicious dinner at Paragon. Lobster Ravioli... delicious Calimari.. and amazing Creme Brulee. If the program would pay for it all the time.. I would eat there every single day. But after a $550 bill (granted there were 15 of us and 3 courses each)... I'm good for saving it for special occasions!

Drove to "East Providence"... also known as Massachusetts. Ha! It's funny that college students everywhere can find joy in perusing Target and buying seemingly needless things like duck mats, luau lights, and the Sandlot.

So if you know me vaguely well.. you probably know that I'm an information whore. I don't always seek it out, but for some reason I have this insane knack for knowing what's going on, where to go, and how to do things. I think it's part of my personality because I went out of my way to not be that go-to know-it-all this time.... but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I found myself in the same place! I'm already the human GPS, the question answerer, the corrector, and the how-to girl. Sheesh.... maybe it's my defense mechanism. Nahhh.. I'm not a defense kinda girl...

Which brings me to the last but best part..... the other interns rock. It's funny because I have so many crazy ties to lots of them!

Moral of the story.. should be a good summer.

Pimento Cheese to Ivy League

Well, how about that...

I survived an 18 hour drive from Jacksonville to Providence. Nevermind that I stopped for 4 days in Columbia on the way to reorganize before I attempted the last 14 hours.

On Monday morning, I left at 9am and drove 87 bajillion hours until I finally collapsed in Newark, DE. Today, I woke up and left DE at 9am and got to Providence around 2:30ish.

Things to note:
Delaware is a truly ridiculous state. Every part of it that I saw was, at its best, vaguely sketchy and made me uncomfortable. Also, no one would give me cash back anywhere I went! I mean, really, how can they expect a poor midwestern girl to traverse the northeast interstates without toll money.

Speaking of toll roads... utterly unnecessary. While I understand the original purpose for toll roads, they really get in my way now. They cause traffic to slow down... me to get flustered trying to find my money...and cause drivers to almost kill themselves as they all merge from an 8 lane toll both to a 2 lane interstate.

The rain follows me. It's like my not-so-secret stalker. It's okay rain.. I see you. No, I do not want you to take me out for dinner. We've spent enough time together for now. Please go away. I'll call you in a month or so for a coffee date.

Providence is an interesting city. Very metropolitan. Much more so than I anticipated. Brown is up on College Hill and is very integrated into the cityscape. Kind of reminds me of Yale, but with more hills, narrower streets, and less homicides.

The mall is in the middle of downtown and is at least 5 floors since it can only go up and not out. Pretty neat. Saw 2 people get arrested and cuffed. I have pics that I'll upload tomorrow. I love my Iphone..haha.

Met up with some other interns for dinner at everyone's favorite Johnny Rockets. Get it Johnny and your crazy server with an insane New York accent.

Moving into my room tomorrow morning and then training allll afternoon.

Get ready Brown. I'm about to come at you!