Welcome to the Good Life - Jay

I left off in my last post as I went to bed Thursday night in Boston.

On Friday morning, I headed to South Station to get on my bus from Boston to New York. It was a pretty uneventful bus ride (always a good thing) and I sat next to a really cool guy and we talked about everything from SC football to the economy to Twitter. It definitely made the trip feel a lot shorter. I was also able to grab some shut eye which was nice. I got into New York around 2pm and I grabbed a cab to the Hudson Hotel (just a few blocks south of Central Park). The hotel was really nice inside, but the rooms were so small. I shared a queen bed with my roommate and basicaly the room was the world's smallest bathroom and the bed. We barely had room to store our suitcases, but I guess that was OK because we really didn't spend time in the hotel. Once I got to the hotel, I helped make sure that everything was in line for the first night of the summit and then met up with some of my friends from USC and other schools. Two of my best friends from high school who go to Duke and UPenn were also at the Kairos Summit, so I was pretty stoked to get to hang out with them. We changed into dress clothes and then headed towards the USS Intrepid. We had some time to tour the ship and it was really cool. Tons of cool exhibits and old airplanes on the deck. All of the students with businesses had displays and an entrepreneurship movie called Yes! debuted. After the event concluded, we went to grab some late night NY pizza and Pinkberry.

Touring Times Square!

 Saturday started off with some omelettes from a cafe and then a tour of Central Park. After that we headed to Times Square to check out some of the stores and sites. It was crazy how many people were in such a small area and how many advertisements there were. After Times Square, we went to check out the Financial District and saw Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, and the bull. We also saw ground zero which was definitely a powerful experience. Then we went back to the hotel, changed, and headed to the Kairos gala. There were a ton of tables set up for our tasty three course meal. Throughout the night there were a ton of great speakers. Bill Clinton and Bill Gates Sr. made video addressed. Joe Plumari, CEO of the Willis Group - they just renamed the Sears Tower) was my favorite speaker. He had a ton of energy, great stories, and tied it all together really well. Phil Condit (CEO of Boeing), Ellen Kullman (CEO of Dupont), Scott Mednick (Executive producer of 300, Where the Wild Things Are), and Admiral William Owens (former Vice Chairman of Joint Chief of Staffs) were some of the notable guests and speakers. It was really inspiring to listen to all these great speaker's stories and advice. Overall, it was an incredible experience to meet so many top students and industry representatives. I loved getting a chance to tour New York and I was definitely sad to leave the next morning. 

Two of my best friends from high school after the gala Saturday night

 But with that said, when I walked out of the airport and it was sunny and 80 degrees out, I didn't feel that bad about coming back to USC ;)

 Until next time,

 Jay

My last post was pretty frantic as I was about to leave for the airport. Since then I've been really busy traveling to Boston and New York, and then catching up on a lot of work this week. But I won't bore you with all the work I've done this week, so I'll use this entry to talk about the first part of my trip to Boston.

On Wednesday night, I caught a redeye to Boston that got in at 5:40am eastern, or 2:40 in the morning for me. I got on the T and took the redline to Harvard where I met up with one of my high school friends. I took a quick nap on a sofa and then went to grab some breakfast at a Harvard dining hall. The food was alright, but the building itself was incredible. I felt like I was eating breakfast in Hogwarts!

After that I took some time to walk around Harvard's campus and Cambridge. The whole area was really cool, but I still wouldn't trade it for USC's campus - and weather :) I headed towards downtown Boston in the early afternoon and I had my first taste of Dunkin Donuts. I had a delicious chocolate donut and a dunkaccino. I have grown up with Starbucks and Krispy Kremes, but I have to say I was impressed with the food and coffee of Dunkin Donuts. After that I headed south to tour Fenway Park. I have always been a huge baseball fan all my life and so I had to see Fenway (hopefully Wrigley Field will be next!). Of course I was there just a few days before opening day so I couldn't watch a game (but I doubt I could afford those tickets anyways!), but I a pretty comprehensive tour and learned a lot about the history of the Red Sox.

After I toured Fenway, I went back to downtown Boston to meet up with one of my best friends who goes to Dartmouth. We checked out Boston Common (a cool park downtown) and then ate at Quincy Market (big indoor mall with tons of food - kind of like Pike Place Market in Seattle). By the end of the evening I was really full of good food (fish and chips and chocolate cake!) and pretty wiped since I had been up for most of the last 48 hours. I spent the night at a friends apartment near South Station was really excited to get some solid sleep. I was pretty bummed that I had to leave Boston already but I was definitely excited for the Kairos Summit. I wanted to break up these long posts, so there will be a post about the summit shortly.

 Until next time,

Jay

So the first week back from spring beak is over and it was pretty busy for me. I didn't have that much school work due, but I felt like I was behind in reading for all of my classes and a lot of new papers and projects got assigned this week. I was also pretty busy with some other random tasks - I did a lot of work checking out study abroad programs (for next spring), worked on my research project and entered an undergraduate research symposium, and had a lot of meetings to attend. I've also been pretty busy because the Kairos Summit is next weekend and I'm flying out Wednesday night so I not only need to catch up, but I need to get ahead too.

 Anyway, the real topic of this post is sunshine and basketball. The weather has been really nice this past week and it should remain in the high 70s or 80s for the rest of the semester. And with daylight savings time and the days getting longer, it's not dark until 7:30 or 8. At this point in the year, some of my friends and I go play basketball on Friday evenings at these outdoor courts near Pardee Tower and New North (dorms near Figueroa St). It's a lot of fun because there are usually a bunch of guys from the area playing and the wait to get on the courts isn't as long as at our main gym (Lyon Center). I'm pretty excited to get back out on those outdoor courts and take advantage of the weather and extra daylight. The other basketball topic on my mind is March Madness. My brackets (I filled out 2) are on life support. I got burned pretty bad because I'm a homer and I chose USC and UW to make it to the Elight Eight. Now I need Villanova to make it to the Final Four or Gonzaga to beat UNC to have a chance to win my pool. Oh well, even if I get last place, I'll still have a ton of fun watching the rest of the games. There's no other sports event quite like March Madness!

So it's been a while since I've posted so here's a quick recap:

-The last week before spring break was semi-busy with a midterm and a paper due. The start of spring break for me was pretty lame; I wrote a paper due the Monday after spring break (who makes a paper due that Monday?!?!), I worked on my research project since I had neglected it during the streak of midterms and papers, and I caught up on some emails, phone calls, and applications. 

-I bought plane tickets to Boston and New York for the Kairos Summit. The summit is in New York City on the USS Intrepid April 3-4, but I am flying out Wednesday April 1st on a redeye to Boston. It ended up being cheaper to fly into Boston (only $125 one way!) and I'm going to meet up with my friend from Dartmouth (Boston is a about 3 hours closer to Dartmouth than NYC.) I'm going to stay with another friend that night at Harvard so I get a free night's lodging and a chance to explore Boston for day. On April 3, I will get on a bus and enjoy a 4 hour bus ride to the Hudson Hotel where I'll be spending the next 2 nights until I fly out Sunday morning. 

-On Tuesday night I flew back home to Seattle for the rest of spring break. Since I was able to get all my work done, I didn't have to bring any books or work with me which has been great. I flew on Virgin America, and I must say that it was awesome. I usually fly on Alaska Air, but I may have to think about changing. I knew Virigin America was pretty cool because when I walked up they had pink and purple lounge lighting with Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" playing and employees dancing with goofy St. Patrick's Day hats (and they were actually helpful!). It was definitely different from the drab American or Alaska Airlines check in. Even the people at the gates were having fun as I walked into the terminal listening to "It's Raining Men." The planes itself were really cool. They had built in screens with music, music vide0s, live TV, games, chat functions (with other people on the plane), movies and wi-fi (you had to pay for movies and wi-fi though). I watched some of the NIT and then listened to some new music. It was definitely a good traveling experience which is a nice change. Anyway, it's been nice to spend some time with the family and some of my friends who are in town. UW is finishing up finals so I've been hanging out there and relaxing a lot. 

 And back to Kairos Society for another round. My friend Ankur Jain was on CNN this morning to help publicize our upcoming event. Check it out: