Blogs from Syracuse, New York, United States, North America - page 2

I can’t sleep because I’m way too excited to leave tomorrow, so here goes my very first blog entry! I’ll be studying this semester at the University of Queensland in Australia with about 30 other students (half from my school and half from Union College). This program is biology/environmental based, which fits perfectly with my duel majors in Biology and Environmental Studies. Homestays are the only type of housing offered for this program, so my friend Alexa and I will be members of the Smith family for the next couple months! They sound like a great family and I can’t wait to meet them. Everyone will be taking the same 4 classes together: Australian culture, Sustainability Down Under, Marine Biology and Terrestrial Ecology. In early November our classes at UQ end, we have a 10-day break, ... read more

Our first full day in Syracuse - the weather was just OK, kind of overcast. We ventured out to Herkimer, about an hour east, to board another Erie Canal Cruise. The captain of the boat was very knowledgeable about the canal and it's history, and I think she told us EVERYTHING she knows. She barely took a break during the entire two-hour cruise. While interesting, the barage of facts was relentless. But it was pleasant enough, and different than the Lockport canal cruise we took on Monday. Since it wasn't a very pretty day, I gave the shutter finger the day off - so no photos. After our cruise, we went to the town of Ilion. There we tracked down the Herkimer County Cheese Company and acquired some product for certain relatives (you know who you ... read more

And by popular demand, here are some pictures of snow. Taken when I was crossing upstate New-York. Enjoy.... read more

I'm going to California in a week. By going I mean visiting, and moving. I am checking it out for an undetermined amount of time. Even in this bad economy, when California is bankrupt and has no jobs, I am going. It is a perfect time to see what I'm really made of. When I first came back to Syracuse I was expecting to stay for only a few months tops, and get the hell out, on to bigger and better things. Well, it's almost a year later. I didn't walk, jog, or run out of this place, and when I leave next week I won't even be skipping. That isn't to say I'm not excited to leave. I'm not going to be dragging my feet and missing my plane so that I can stay in ... read more

This past Saturday the Bank of America in my neighborhood was robbed, by a man with a knife. I don't know the details like how much money he managed to get away with, what he looked like or his age. I only heard snippets of the case. He was caught by police about an hour later. In this day and age is it even possible to rob a bank (if you aren't Bernie Madoff...who really was stealing from people more or less...digitally)? I mean get a brown paper bag full of cold hard cash, rubber banded stacks of $100 bills, and get away with it? Or is this crime now gone the way of fantasy? Who hasn't wanted to rob a bank? I used to think about it in high school all the time (during class ... read more