My First Summer Staying in the U.S.
So before writing about some cool stories I have to tell (which will be in the next posts!). I figured I would write about what I did this summer.
It was my first “summer” that carried all the meaning the word has in the US. I say that because in general people here see the summer as this long break from classes when they can enjoy the weather outside, which is generally not that nice during other seasons. It is also a period when several programs take place, such as internships and many research positions.
In Brazil, the weather is on average always nice, so we don't notice a big difference in the summer. Moreover, our summer vacations are in December/January, so there’s not much going on in terms of programs one can apply to.
This summer, I ended up not going back to Brazil. Instead, I stayed in a house that was a 40-min. walk away from campus.
Sometimes I took a bus or when I had the time I just walked. I also cooked my own food, so it was nice having that experience from last winter, when I had to do the same.
I had three main commitments: I was part of the Music Event Staff in the Granoff Music Center, and I basically helped out in the events as needed. I also worked for a physics professor helping with the creation of pedagogical material. And I continued my research on biophysics I had started in the spring.
Fortunately, all these activities had very flexible schedules, so I had a lot of time to do other activities. In the first month I felt like I needed to use some time for pure leisure. So I watched a lot of TV shows. One of my favorites was Suits, of which I watched all seasons that were available. After many days sleeping at four in the morning because I couldn’t keep myself from watching the next episode of a series, I realized I couldn’t go all three months like that. So I tried to also do productive work. For example, pretty much every time I went to campus, I also managed to go to the gym and practice violin. I also studied some things I needed to review from the past semesters.
It was a very good summer, but at the end I couldn’t wait to move back to Tufts. I missed the amazing dining halls and also wanted to be in my new room. By the way, I have the same roommate and we are staying in the same hall (Harleston Hall). Time went by really fast, and here I am, almost two months into my sophomore year!
Picture: Carl Jones ("Lazy summer days")
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ No changes made.