The other night a friend and I explored a new part of Buffalo that I had never been down to! Instead of settling in our weekly ritual of walking around the Elmwood strip, my friend Steph and I continued on down Elmwood to an area called Allentown. It is a total artsy place and reminds me a lot of Provicetown, on Cape Cod, where my family and I use to take whale watches out of every summer growing up. We ate at an awesome Greek restaurant called the Towne Restaurant.

During the transfer orientation that took place today I had to stop by the Admissions office to give a card to one of the women that works there because today was her last day. She’s headed off to Syracuse and it’s going to be sad to not have her around anymore. Someone who ALWAYS had a smile on her face, she’ll be hard to replace. The Admissions office is going through a lot of staff changes and it’s kind of weird because we’ve become so accustomed to working with certain people it’ll be disappointing to not have them there. I’m sure all of the new Graduate Assistants and Professional Staff will be awesome people it’ll just be a different atmosphere than what we were use to last year. I was handed a big disappointment the other day when I found out that my blogging adviser is leaving us! I’m really excited for him because his new job is an awesome opportunity for him but we’re definitely going to be quite sad to see him go as well!!

I should probably start gettin ready to turn it in; tomorrow starts the last two days of Orientation so I want to be ready to go out with a bang!

This weekend had it’s moments of beautiful weather which was such a relief from the rainy weekends we have been having! I finally got a chance to get some sun and to try and get rid of this really cute “OA tan” we have been building up (similar to a farmer’s tan but with longer sleeves thanks to our polos).

On Friday night a friend and I went to go see Mama Mia at a theater just around the corner from campus. Now, if you know anything about me you should know about my obsession with musicals. Mama Mia was no different. It was SO good! Meryl Streep was really good but kind of awkward when she sang, the main character, played by Amanda Seyfried, had the most amazing voice. I immediately came home and downloaded the soundtrack and have basically had it on repeat since then.

Saturday showed a little bit of a bump in the road. I went to go get in my little Chevy Colbalt and was sad to find that my little girl had a VERY flat tire. It wasn’t that big of a deal just such an annoyance. How is it that things always seem to find the most inconvenient time to break? Anyways, luckily one of my friends has AAA and this afternoon we called them. I was prepared to drive my car to Wal-Mart after the donut got put on but much to my surprise all he had to do was patch up where a lovely screw had driven itself into my tire. Which means I save like $85 in a new one!

We rounded out the weekend today swimming at a friend’s house in Cheektowaga. I’m so use to having a swimming pool in my backyard that I forgot how nice it was after a long day to just go for a swim. I’m jealous of my sisters who still get to do that everyday back at home. I wonder what the Hall Directors of Ellicott would think of an in-ground pool being put in a parking lot…?

Exactly one month from today is the beginning of classes and as much as I have enjoyed this summer I cannot WAIT until the school year starts up and running again. I have missed my best friends so much it’s crazy! Because we’re all getting older the majority of us either had internships or higher level position jobs that didn’t afford us the opportunity to jet away and spend a weekend with each other like we have been able to do in the past. The last few months have been spent with just a few of my close friends since there aren’t that many of us that stay around the Buffalo area and we have gotten much closer this summer, which is awesome. But my four best friends have been away all summer, one back home in Clifton Park, one in Queens, one in Orange County outside of the city and the other out in Northport on Long Island. So it’ll be nice just to be able to get to spend some time again, catching up on each other lives since even the phone calls have been limited due to our crazy schedules.

I’m not sure if it’s been the craziness of Orientation that has been getting to me or the lack of sleep that seems to accumulate more and more each week but I have been horribly homesick the past few days. I am one that would be lost without my family and usually try and touch base with one of my three siblings or my parents at least once a day. I was going to try and surprise my parent’s for their 25th wedding anniversary next weekend but due to a bunch of different factors I don’t think I’ll be able to. All that means is that I am going to make sure that I take a weekend to myself and visit home sometime in September after the craziness of the beginning of the semester dies down.

Tonight is just a night to kind of relax and spend some time with a really good friend to try and just unwind. Hang out nights at her house are what keeps me going when sometimes life seems to be flying by.

What an icky weekend this turned out to be! The sun gods were just not smiling on Buffalo the last two days! *boo*

Yesterday, despite the gross weather a few friends and I went down to the Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park ((where the Buffalo Bills play)) to see a movie that the Bills were playing on the Jumbo-tron for Bills season ticket holders. We got to go because a friend of mine is an intern in the Bills Marketing department and got a ton of tickets for free! It was actually a really cool thing! They let everyone sit in the stands or if you had lawn chairs or blankets you could park it right on the field! It was awesome because the jumbo-tron was just put in last year and is a high definition screen so it was like we could just reach out and touch it! We ended up only staying for about a half an hour of the movie though, because the rain and wind got to be so bad it was almost unbearable! Also, due to the rain I never got to check out the Italian Fest that was going on in downtown Buffalo. I thought we might be able to sneak over there today before it started raining but when I woke up to a nice, loud thunderstorm I knew we weren’t going to get down there.

It was nice to catch up on some sleep and just kind of relax with some friends since sometimes my life seems to be on the fast track. Plus being at the stadium yesterday reminded me that there is just a little over two weeks left before the NFL pre-season starts back up. And we all know that football season is like Christmas every week for me!!

Four conferences down, four to go! This week was a nice week because on Monday and Tuesday my sister’s boyfriend came up with his family and than on Thursday and Friday my baby sister was here for her orientation!! It was just really cool to see how close we are to school and I think with every coming week everyone gets more and more excited for the end of August!

On Wednesday I did a Psych experiment for the Psychology department on hearing and auditory processes. It was pretty cool because I got to wear these cool headphones and speak into these big microphones and stuff. It has got me thinking a lot about the research lab that I am signed up to work in in the fall. I’m not sure if that’s really what I want to do and so I have to spend some more time looking over things, like my schedule, and decide if that’s not what I want to do than what AM I going to do. We’ll see but it’s definitely something that has been in the back of my mind for a while. But the great thing about UB is that you can still sign up for classes and there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved even if I decide that research just isn’t for me.

Well this weekend is Italian Fest in Buffalo and a few friends and I are heading downtown for the day to check out all of the great stuff so I should probably get a move on and get ready before they start to yell at me!

Hm it was so nice to have more than just a few hours at home! Because of my sister’s graduation party I was able to see a ton of people that I have been missing all summer which was just awesome!! Between family and friends I fell into bed with a smile on my face last night. There’s just something about being around people who have known you your entire life that is really nice. It was nice to share with everyone what I have been doing for the past few months and what I hope/plan to do in the coming years and get their feedback on it or to hear what they have been up to. Plus in between this weekend and my last trip home my family acquired a new member! We rescued a cat from one of the members of our church who just wasn’t able to take care of it any longer. She is just the fattest thing but such a good snuggler ((I should know she choose my bed to sleep in last night))!! So here’s a picture of the newest member of the Barbour clan, Pumpkin (the orange one), along with our other kitten, Tempest!

 Well as nice as being home was I didn’t get much of a chance to catch up on all that sleep I was missing and since I have quite a full week ahead of me I should probably get things together for tomorrow’s orientation and then hit the sack! Let’s hope the weather for this upcoming orientation conference is nice!

Well the first two conferences of orientations are done! And gosh, I have never been so exhausted in my life!! But this is exactly what I was hoping for! This experience has really been one of the best that I have had, I have met amazing people and just had some of the best times!! So anyone who has come- you guys rocked! I’m sure the conferences coming up will be just as great but let me tell ya, I never thought I would be this tired after it was all said and done! On Monday alone I worked from 7:15 in the morning to 1:00 the next morning- a sixteen hour day! I’m pretty sure I was asleep before I even hit the sheets that night! This second conference wasn’t AS exhausting as the first one, I think because we, as Orientation Aides, knew more of what to expect and what was expected of us.

Today was also my best friend’s 20th birthday. It’s crazy to think that we will no longer be teenagers anymore. I feel like I was just celebrating my graduation and getting the butterflies in my stomach as I packed up my stuff for college! I called her exactly at midnight like we have for the last seven years. And bright and early tomorrow morning I’m heading home for the weekend for my sister’s graduation party. It’ll be nice to have more than a few hours at home, even though this trip is only going to be for like 24 hours. All of my family from Boston and Rochester is coming in to help us celebrate and I’ll be able to see them, plus a lot of our family friends that I haven’t gotten to see much of since I decided to stay out in Buffalo for the summer.

Speaking of I should probably wrap it up. I have a few more CD’s to burn so that I can have some nice tunes to jam to on my way home as well as packing up some clothes before hitting the sack!

So tomorrow is the big day! The first day of the first Orientation conference! Surprisingly I’m actually kind of nervous! Normally getting up in front of groups and facilitating doesn’t bother me in the least but today as we got all of the final details ironed out and started looking over our materials I found I was getting butterflies in my stomach. Maybe it’s just all of the anticipation that has come up to this point that finally after tomorrow it’ll all seem worth it. We have put a lot of work and a lot of time & effort into trying to make these orientations as helpful and fun as they can possibly be, so I hope everyone that may be heading to campus in the next couple weeks really enjoys themselves!! If you do come to an Orientation and see somewhere that we could put more effort please, feel free to leave me a comment and I can immediately pass it on, we want to be nothing less than the best for all of the new students!!

This weekend has been a lot of preparation on my own to get ready for the next couple of weeks. I had about 5 billion errands on Saturday that I needed to run since we have rarely had a free moment for the past couple of weeks. During Orientations we get Wednesdays & Saturdays off but I work in Admissions on Wednesdays and so have to get use to doing laundry and any other random things on Saturdays. Life is going to be crazy for the next couple of weeks but I have really high hopes for it and am SO SO excited for it!!! Hope to see you all on campus at one point or another!!

Happy Independence Day!!!

I love the fourth of July! I’m a big fan of cookouts and picnics, throw in friends and fireworks and you have the recipe for an awesome day!!! It doesn’t hurt that the weather in Buffalo has been gorgeous the past couple of days and is suppose to get even better!! I will definitely be enjoying these couple of days off!!

Wednesday was our last day of Orientation training. We were all pretty excited about that one! Not that we haven’t enjoyed all the presentations and speakers but, and I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us OA’s when I say this, we’re really looking forward to all of the new students coming to campus and being able to put everything that we have learned in training to use!! Today we have all been putting the final touches on our hallways, posters and bulletin boards. We have a competition going on amoung all of us so I’ve been working hard to make my hallway the most creative!

It’s hard to believe that it is already July. It feels like this summer has just flown right by!! And once Orientations start it’s going to go all that much faster! I hope everyone enjoys the day and stays safe at those firework presentations!!!