Spring break...to go or not to go?

I recently discovered some unexpected challenges in my graduate school funding. It turns out that I have a whole summer (2010) without any funds -none from Fulbright and none from the university. My Fulbright grant terminates in Spring 2010, which leaves me with a whole summer and a semester without their support. I am still negotiating with Fulbright to extend some funds for me until summer 2010 even if I am not enrolled in courses, especially since the grant supposedly covers two academic years. Although Fall 2010 will require a lot of belt tightening, it will be a bit easier since I still have a graduate assistantship that will cover my tuition fee and half of my regular stipend.

For a couple of days, I have been waking up with a killer headache from spending restless sleep during which I am still constantly thinking of a solution.The practical part of me tells me to cancel all of my planned travels and activities and just save as much as I could in preparation for next year. However,I know that these travels also enrich me personally, academically and even professionally, and have been sources of inspiration for some of my projects.

And so, I finally purchased my tickets to New York City today. I will still exercise smart spending (as I always do) but will not let this impede learning opportunities. I am exploring other possible sources of funding for 2010 and looking at possibilities of engaging in a paid internship at a museum (which still requires approval from Fulbright). If worse comes to worst, I will give up my apartment in Florida and ask a friend to adopt me for the whole summer in exchange for a baby sitter, cook, arts and crafts teacher, researcher, graphic designer, photographer etc. for three months!

I recently told a friend, "Don't stress too much, it will all work out in the end, sometimes even better than you hoped or ever imagined." It's time I heed my own advice!

I will consider this trip to New York as my reward for an excellent first semester! :)

St. Augustine 2009

For my Exhibition Course in Museum Studies, I needed to visit St. Augustine's Government House Museum. Several friends tagged along and together we explored the oldest city in the US.

Sacramento

December 30: After getting stuck in over an hour of traffic driving out of SanFo, we arrived in Sacramento, which was covered with a very thick blanket of fog that you could hardly see the street signs! Talk about creepy!

post new year dinner

Texas Road House with Pinoy UF friends...

SNOW!!!

We had several attempts at granting Melrose's wish to see, touch, play and experience snow.

Attempt # 1: Mt. Charleston, near Las Vegas.

On Christmas day, before driving back from LV to Bakersfield, we drove to Mt. Charleston. Put up with the very slow moving traffic only to be stopped along the way by the park rangers. So Melrose is not totally disappointed, Carmel stopped at the town next to Bake where it kind of snows.

Attempt #2: Sequoia National Park

Two days later, we were again driving to see snow, this time at Sequoia National Park.As Melrose's luck (or lack of it) wold have it, a couple of minutes into the park, before we could even see a lot of snow, we were prevented from going further. The reason: power outage.

Attempt #3: Yosemite National Park.

On our way down from Sacramento, we've decided our final attempt. If this doesn't work out, Melrose will just have to come back next Christmas and this time fly to a state, where it definitely snows. And finally, we succeeded!

San Franciso

Joanne, Melrose and I went on a four-day road trip from Bakersfield to San Francisco, down to Alameda, back to San Francisco, down to Sacramento, then dropped by Yosemite before driving back to Bakersfield.

Since we opted for the most cost-effective (read: cheapest) car to rent, our adorable Kia Rio didn't have a lot of features to offer: no power windows, power locks, manual side mirror adjustment, and most importantly (at least for Joanne's sake) no cruise control! To avoid additional expense (aka over speeding fine), we designated Melrose as the cruise control while I served as the navigator.Yes, me as navigator. Unbelievable huh? But no sweat with the help of Vivi, the gps.

Took us a to get use to Vivi's recommendation. For example, driving down on the freeway from SF to Alameda, Vivi advised us to stay on the left. Joanne, the designated driver, complied by staying on the leftmost lane. Two seconds later Vivi commanded " Exit right". "Exit right, now"" WHAT?!? We were four lanes from the exit, this gps is crazy! So yes, we missed our exit. But thanks to Vivi, she recalculated our route and we arrived at our destination - more than half an hour later.

Las Vegas

Spent Christmas in Las Vegas with Carmel and her family (including Tita Emmy), and Melrose who flew all the way from Hong Kong. After being delayed for a day, Joanne made it just in time for Christmas Eve. Before driving home to Bakersfield, we drove to Mt. Charleston - our first attempt at finding snow for Melrose. But we were stopped by the rangers as snow became too heavy for safety- we assumed that this was the reason.

Bakersfield

Carmel and her family picked me up from Lezli's house in Longbeach to spend a couple of days with them in Bakersfield before we all drove down to LA to pick-up Melrose from LAX then drive to Las Vegas where we waited Joanne to arrive from NY. We spent three days in Vegas, including Christmas eve then drove back to Bakersfield on Christmas day.

LA with Lezli

I spent a couple of days with Lezli and her family in Long Beach. Together with Steve and his friend, Ivan (Eeehvan or Ayvan), we went to Kodak Theatre then had dinner at Hooters. Lezli and I also went to Knotts Berry Farm but were both too scared to try the thrill rides!

On my way to California

I flew to California as soon as my last final exam was over. From Orlando (where I practically spent the night on the airport due to my schedule miscalculation), I stopped over at San Francisco and then boarded another plane to Orange County. I was soooo bored on the plane that I started playing around with my camera.

Kuya Chester picked me up from the airport and our first stop of course: JOLLIBEE!!!

LA with Carmel, Joanne and Melrose

Before going our separate ways (Joanne to NY, Melrose to HK and me to FL), we drove down to LA and did some touristy stuff.

Snowman

Making a snowman is not as easy as it looks!

Snow Fight Round Two

Di naman kami magkakagalit nyan kahit bloke bloke ng snow na pinagbabato namin sa isa't isa :)

Snow Fight Round One

On New Year's day, we drove from Sacramento to Yosemite National Park so Melrose can experience snow... but all three of us had a blast!