hi friends... i am alive and well. school has finally started, and now i am officially a senior. it's a much different feeling than when i was a senior in high school when i felt cooler and more superior than the underclassmen. now i just simply feel old.

anyhow, it was funny how it felt as if it had been forever since i was at school. must be the full summer i had. it was kinda nice going to class and seeing all my friends again. i anticipate a challenging yet exciting semester and year... studying for GMATs, applying to grad school, keeping motivated to finish off with more than just satisfactory grades... making my last year as memorable as possible. wow... i don't know if i'm ready to graduate, but let's just hope that i am when may comes around.

so i finished my internship two weeks ago. it was a bittersweet moment, turning in my computer and my very first credit card. i have to say, i enjoyed my overall experience tremendously and gained so much. more than learning merely the accounting knowledge, i was able to meet and get to know people of all levels in various departments and learn of the values they hold and the kind of life they live. i saw firsthand what it is like to work in a corporate office, how the professionals interact with one another, what they do for their social scene, the proper etiquette in a work-related gathering, and more. now i can genuinely say that i know what i'm getting myself into... though i don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. haha... i was also given the opportunity to travel on my own quite a bit (though not very far), which expanded my horizons. now i have virginia, delaware, and pennsylvania on the list of states i've driven to (pat on the back).

like i mentioned briefly in my last post, i had a blast at the conference in orlando. i was among about a thousand other interns from around the world and as you can imagine, met a countless number of college students just like me. besides the seminars and other team-building activities, i ate lunch with mike and namee (had dim sum for the first time... thanks mike, it was delicious), went to mike's beautiful house and saw his adorable dog (i can't believe he forgot the fresh squeezed orange juice... hmph), spent a half day at MGM with my fellow baltimore interns (absolutely loved the rides), went to downtown disney (i was so sad i only caught like 2 seconds of fireworks), had ice cream at steak & shake, went to pleasure island (don't worry... didn't do anything stupid), hmm... i think that pretty much sums it up.

the weather was not quite what i expected. it rained almost as soon as i got there and rained about 70% of my stay. other than the half day we got for the park, we got a total of 3 hours of free time, during which the baltimore interns sat in a room looking bitterly out the window at the seemingly endless pouring of rain and repeating to each other, "florida sucks." i even purchased a new cute bathing suit that i didn't get to wear.

a few things i love about florida though: palm trees everywhere you look, big and flat roads, and lots of food places.

here are the pictures i promised... i haven't uploaded all of them yet, so there is more to come. :)

so you may be wondering where i've been and what i've been doing the past few weeks. for one thing, i had a week of work left after orlando, which involved a commute to pennsylvania everyday, which was physically draining. last week was my week off, during which i made more frequent trips to the physical therapist (i am much better by the way... i can turn my neck!!), renewed my license (hehe... i no longer have a profile view picture), went on a job interview, bought books, cleaned out my entire room, went to a crabfeast at church, had youth group over for a progressive dinner, hung out with some friends, etc.

today we went to the state fair for a concert by jars of clay. they were awesome as usual. went on a few rides... one that made me not only scream for life but also cry. it was pretty intense.

well, it's waaaaaaaay past my bedtime. i must proceed now to get some sleep for a full day of classes tomorrow. i miss all you who have gone home for the summer and i haven't seen in awhile... hurry back!!

good night, world.

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random quote of the day: Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it's what you are expected to give -- which is everything. Anon

i am back in this lovely city of baltimore. i had an incredible time in orlando, but i must say i am glad to be home. sorry, it's taking me so long to post an update on my trip... things have been a little crazy this week. i'll tell you about it soon.

went to the orioles game last night. it was actually very enjoyable, considering the level of my interest in watching baseball. they haven't been doing their best lately, but they won last night, so it made it all the better. if the weather yesterday had been more like today's, it would've been perfect, but unfortunately, it was muggy and nasty. we got peanuts and frozen lemonade... y'know, for the whole baseball experience. even got a souvenir, an orioles pen shaped like a bat. pretty cute.

a large crew from the navy filled up a good part of the seating area and lit up the place with their white uniforms. it was pretty funny watching them because they always seem to do everything together, exactly the same way. like while we were about to go in to find our seats, we saw at least a hundred of them rushing out AT THE SAME TIME to get food and drinks. during which they maintained their perfect posture. i don't think i remember seeing one person slouching or even bending down to tie their shoe laces. or maybe i was just so taken over by the surrounding white that i didn't even notice.

anyhow, i had a good time. the whole atmosphere (with the doo doo doo doot doo doo.... CHARGE!) definitely lifted my spirits. :)

i just went on this new "ride" that came in on the first floor of our building in inner harbor. it's called passport, and especially during the first couple weeks, i saw lines that went out the door and around the corner of the building of people waiting to get on this. i always wondered what it was, and since a few other interns also had their hearts set on trying it as well, we decided to go on it today during our lunch hour. apparently, this is a big worldwide attraction that came to baltimore (of all places).

we had a choice between two different simulation rides called "oceanarium 2" and "time elevator america." despite my persuasion towards the latter, an informative history show that i anticipated would be a good learning experience for all of us, they chose the former, in which i expected to see nothing but water and weird looking fish. i'd have to say my expectations were only half right. we sat on one of about 4 mobile ride compartments where about 10 people (each) sat facing a huge screen. basically, the seats moved with what we were seeing on the screen, sometimes letting through cold air or even light sprays of water toward our faces. i'd say it was pretty fun and educational as well. though there were quite a number of kids on the ride and we did see some cheesy looking fish, it definitely wasn't some stupid kiddy ride. i initially sat with my hands on my lap, thinking that it'd be nothing, but the seat motions felt so real that i had to grab on to the bar in front of me to feel safe.

but i still kinda think "time elevator america" would've been a lot more exciting. so if you ever end up going on this, take my advice and go on that one.

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the day i've waited for months to come is finally here. i'm going to DISNEY WORLD tomorrow!!!

i'm so incredibly psyched. i'll update you on what i did after i come back. i finally have a webshots account now, so i'll post pictures and link the page on this site, so you can go see them.

alright, enough slacking off... back to work!