Notre Dame-Pitt Showdown 2012

Although this post is a little late (sorry for no new posts lately!), I am going to recount my epic adventure to Notre Dame for the ND-Pitt game two weeks ago.  I had an amazing time, it was really great to see so many of my friends that are either still students or came back to campus as well.  I hadn't realized how much I had missed everything about ND until I went back!  The whole weekend was filled with intense nostalgia for my years as an undergrad.

Instead of trying to describe everything I did, I am going to use a whole bunch of pictures to document the occasion!

After a long car ride and a quick stop by my undergrad research lab to say hello, it was time for the marching band's fun Friday march out.

Here are some of the clarinets!

We attacked Nik with a feather boa and since he was at attention, he had to wear it for the whole march out!  Ever the gentleman, he told me that it kept his neck warm during the chilly afternoon march.

Saturday morning--my first ever tailgate!  Erin is looking super cute with her awesome touchdown gloves.

On a speedy walk through campus before the game, I got a picture of the beautiful fall weather and Touchdown Jesus.

Olivia and I were sitting in the fourth row of a bleacher section in the south end zone--we had to walk on the field to get to our seats!

The players came over to our end zone to say a quick prayer before the game.

The view was amazing!

The band performance begins--and these ushers haven't figured out that they are in my way.

It was so great to see and hear the band in person, it was the first time that I have seen them as a spectator.  They sounded great!

Here is a video of the band playing the fight song and forming the ND monogram (although you can't see the formation from our seats). This is one of my favorite songs ever, and it never gets old. I apologize in advance if it won't play correctly!

**update: aww shucks, this is the wrong video!  Here is the actual video of the fight song:

It was an exciting and scary game, but it ended with another Irish win!

I didn't photo document everything that I did during the weekend, so this post cannot do justice to how much fun I had.  But there were many things I didn't get the chance to do in so short of time, and I am sure that it will take many more trips to do so!  I look forward to spending some more time at ND over the years, even if I won't have another chance to go to a game for a while.

Go Irish! Beat Demon Deacons! (and Trojans!)

Adventures in Cooking Part 2: Scrambled Omelets!

My friends from Notre Dame can attest to the fact that I love omelets.  Every weekend brunch at South Dining Hall had an omelet to order bar, and whenever the line wasn't too long, I would always get an omelet.  Now, being on my own and being responsible for feeding myself, I have realized that omelets are easy and very good.  Here is one of my creations:

Yum!  I could eat omelets every day!

The past week has been pretty busy for me, as many of my classes have had the first round of tests and papers.  Next week and the week after are looking to be quite busy too, but I am enjoying the material, and that makes it worth the work.  For instance, I just wrote a short paper about how exposure to synthetic chemical pesticides in utero is correlated to decreased mental development--this might not seem like the happiest topic ever, but it is really interesting, and there doesn't seem to be much widespread acknowledgement about how man-made chemicals are monitored to prevent something like this.  It is an eye opening thought, that before we are even born, we are subjected to the modern world, and being altered by its presence.

This weekend won't be quite as entertaining--I get to spend lots of time studying for my upcoming biostatistics exam!

Life in the Burgh

As many of you may know, I have recently started grad school in Pittsburgh.  Let me tell you--Pittsburgh is a great city!  I've started to explore different areas, and I am enjoying it here.  Above all, this is my favorite aspect of the city so far:

There are a lot, a lot, A LOT of hills.  Many of the buildings on Pitt campus have multiple entrances on different sides of the building, but when you go through a different entrance, you enter on a different FLOOR.  To me, that is pretty neat, and in my mother's words from when she visited the city, "that is just...wrong."  To the normal Pittsburgher this is not a big deal at all, so I always come across as sort of insane when I start up almost every conversation with a new person I meet by saying, "wow, can you believe the hills here?!?"  For example, take a look at the view from about halfway up my epic hill of a street.  

This is a pretty level shot on google maps, and it still doesn't do justice to the hill that extends through a large portion of the Pitt campus.  Just a few blocks over, the incline has been affectionately named 'cardiac hill' by the students, who have to climb it to go to Pitt basketball games.  While I am still getting used to the major change in scenery from the flat Midwest, I actually love the scenery here.  I have heard that fall is beautiful, and I can't wait for the leaves to change!  I can wait, though, and hope to, for the snow and ice to come.  I am pretty sure that my commute to class after a good storm will consist of me walking out my door, falling, and sliding the entire way down the hill before I can manage to stand back up.  I will have to remember to bring back a sled when I go home for Thanksgiving in order to make the trip more comfortable (get it, trip?? hahaha). 

Puns aside, I am getting acclimated to my new environment and I am beginning to feel at home here.  Let's hope that the first round of exams and papers over the next week go well!

Adventures in Cooking part 1: Pad Thai

Hello friends!  I am starting a blog about my life adventures, and I must say, I am feeling a little adventure-less at the moment.  The most exciting things I have done lately (besides the great lectures I have had in class, but I will post about this later) are my cooking adventures.  I recently moved to an apartment in Pittsburgh, and there is no dining hall or mother to feed me.  My favorite dish so far was a delicious pad Thai recipe I found on Pinterest.  Here is the original recipe!  This is how my dinner turned out:

It was great!  The recipe made enough for three different meals--although I probably should have not waited five days to eat it for the last time....my stomach didn't really appreciate that.  My next plan is to make some tomato basil pasta, but that will have to wait until after the Notre Dame-Michigan game tonight!