It was also my first time at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, an annual conference held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Run thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ESPN, SSAC is a place where people who want to get involved in the sports world further come to learn form those who have already succeeded in making an impact. Those range from CEOs to sports reporters to professionals in marketing, finance, management, or the like. There were a number of 1-hour sessions on a number of different topics.

The main topic that was touched on at some point during every session I attended was the rise of the amount of big data those in sports can collect. This data ranges from statistics on players to analysis on ticket sales in the front office. New information is being collected on players that could never be acquired before, from WHIP in baseball to significant strikes in MMA. In the front office, data can be collected, such as time of ticket sale, location of ticket sale, and how close to the day of the event the purchase is made. All of this data can be used in the future to enhance the quality of the sport as well as the quality of the business, tailoring to the fans.

On that note, another big topic is to enhance the fan experience. With the rise in today’s newest technology, the fans demand the best experience possible, before, during, and after the game. Points noted during the sessions:

• When ordering tickets, having a physical person there to work with the customer and get them their ticket(s) in the most efficient way possible
• Reformatting the “captcha” section to something that the fans can better interpret
• Stadiums with FULL WIFI access
• Tailoring ads and ticket prices to meet customer  demands

Without the fans, the team is not successful. They would purchase tickets from outside vendors or not even attend the game thanks to such an upgrade in the home viewing experience.

Finally, the fast major point that was a constant all throughout the two days was that you need to be able to successfully INTERPRET the data to the point where something can be done with it. As Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs said, “Statistics are like lightposts for a drunk: Useful for support, NOT for illumination.” Without the right interpretation, you are not able to stick out amongst your numbers and will not be able to make a lasting impact for the franchise. Interpret the data incorrectly and a franchise can be affected for years to come. In sports, results are based on results, not on intelligence.

As far as my opinions of the panels:

• BEST panel: Breaking Down The Fight: MMA Analytics
• MOST ENTERTAINING panel: Monday Morning QB: Coaching & In-Game Decision Analysis
• Panel that BEST SUITED my career path: eMarketing: Sports Marketing In A Digital Age

This was a BRIEF overview of what was talked about over an intense and action-packed two days. If you care to read the list of tweets I made from the conference from newest to oldest, please feel free to download the PDF version here.

This was such an INCREDIBLE experience. I now know that working in sports  is now what I want to do for a living. I was able to meet so many amazing people that were able to teach me some things that I will definitely be able to take with me to school as well as to the professional world.

It may have been my first time in Boston BUT it won’t be my last! Until next year!

This 2011-2012 school year at RIT, as I am sure a number of my friends can attest, was one with a number of ups and downs. We had our ups with our moments of success, moments where we celebrate our successes and have a good time. We also had our moments of struggle, facing our fair share of projects and being in the library till 3 in the morning or later  (right Jenna?).

Here we some of the noted moments of my school year:

For starters, this was my first year as a Resident Advisor! My dorm experience in my freshman year was a blast so I was nervous that this year would not live up to my expectations. Boy was I wrong. I LOVED my floor and we had a great time. Plus, the ResLife team at RIT is a joy to work with. I was able to grow in my leadership abilities, my teamwork, and my community building. I cannot WAIT to see what my next floor will be like!

NRH 7, I will miss you!

I also became a member of Delta Sigma Pi! Delta Sigma Pi is America’s foremost professional business fraternity and at RIT, it is open to all business, economics, and hospitality majors. For the past two years, we had been working on turning it from a colony to a chapter. And in January, we finally did enough to go from colony to chapter. The first few months have been great and I am looking forward to next year!

Our first pledge class being initiated! DSP!

Next, I got my first co-op as the marketing coordinator for Dale Carnegie Training! I got the call week 10 of winter quarter from my friend Chris and I was really excited to do it. After completing it, I realized that I rushed into taking it and maybe should have waited until the summer when I could have balanced my priorities. But through it, I was able to gain self-confidence, professional skills, and communication skills. Plus, I was able to take AND graduate from the Dale Carnegie course! If you have not taken it, do it. Now.

But the most lucrative moment of all: I got the chance to go to DUBAI!! It was through the RIT Honors Business program and I was super excited when we said we were going there. The week that we spent there was mind-blowing. The businesses we visited were advanced and we were able to learn a lot. Plus, riding camels and Tebowing in the 8th-largest mosque in the world were all incredible too. I could seriously go on and on about this trip but feel free to read my recap of the trip here and my day-to-day blog with my friend Kristin here!

Beautiful, huh?

Add in the fact that I got the opportunity to go to Syracuse to attend #140Cuse and you have one of the craziest and most intense school years of my life. Let’s hope that next year, these opportunities will continue to grow and I will be able to further broaden my horizons, all while having the time of my life with my friends

(A little more sleep would be nice, though)

God Bless and thank you for reading!

The idea of the #140conf was created by Jeff Pulver, one of the creators of Vonage. At these conferences, they discuss “The State of NOW,” which covers how people are utilizing social media to help their cause. People give 10-minute talks, regardless of how famous they are or what order they are in the program. This makes for fun, exciting, and informative presentations.

Now I had heard about #140Cuse for a while but I was not entirely sure WHAT it was or how it was organized. That was until two RIT professors, Vic Perotti and Mike Johansson, approached me about speaking at a social media conference held at RIT. That’s when I found out it was called #140RIT and I would be giving a 10-minute talk. This was when my heart started to race with excitement. On April 10th, #140RIT was held. This was where I got to meet Mr. Pulver, Anthony Rotolo, a popular professor at Syracuse University, David Rosen, the coordinator of #140Cuse, as well as a number of students and faculty from Syracuse and RIT. After the butterflies had calmed down, I talked about how colleges are starting to utilize social media both in and out of the classroom, using RIT as the main example (link here). Once it was done, people seemed to enjoy it and they recommended that I go to Syracuse on the 19th. I happily said yes!

Me speaking at #140RIT. What an awesome opportunity!

When the day arrived, I met up with my friend Erin and my former boss Amanda and we sat to enjoy the conference. The list of people on the speaker list was incredible! So before I even sat down and started to network over Twitter, I had high expectations. Then the speakers came out and absolutely blew me away! Here are a lot that caught my attention and my favorites are in bold:

• Chris Dowsett: Companies are using real-time media to reach out to its customers. Data people can now be marketers!
• Brad Rosen: Real-time privacy. The idea of privacy has changed. Going past Facebook/Twitter blocks or sharing stuff outside of SM without permission are “NOT COOL, BRO!”
• Michelle Tarby: When real-time media and crisis communication go wrong. People should constantly be monitoring their internet presence to see what comes up on Google.
• George Couros: Twitter can be a compassionate place! Use technology to build relationships and to reach out to others.
• Harrison Kratz: “Social media is not about having social. It’s BEING social.” Use social media to rally your cause. If you get a core group behind you, you can only go up.
• ALEXIS OHANIAN: Not enough superlatives can describe this talk! The founder of Reddit talked about how influential social media and the internet is. That is why Reddit was so passionate in standing up against SOPA. He said “The world isn’t flat, but the internet is.” Give a damn about your world because it is changing. Oh, and Reddit has only spent $500 in advertising in its whole existence! ON STICKERS! WOW!
• Beth Beck: The worker at NASA talked about how to build your own social empire: find your coolness factor, know your community, find a niche, & be relevant. Oh, and she said NASA is NOT done with space work, thank goodness!
• Brent Axe, Jameson Fleming, Matt Glaude: These sports writers talked about the never-ending world of sports and that has been enhanced thanks to Twitter. It is the best source for breaking news, and they targeted the Fab Melo story as their example.
• Tim Pool: How social media has enhanced the news and brought the news to the real time. He was famous with his work done with Occupy Wall Street. He was encouraging and said “anyone can download an app in order to generate content” and “you can do a lot with 140 characters.”
• JEFF PULVER: What more needs to be said. After having everyone hug each other, he mentioned that EVERYONE has a point. “If you’re alive, your voice matters!”
• Alicia Staley: A 3x cancer survivor from Western New York, she utilized hashtags to find out more about her cancers and to connect with people. “Put a hashtag in front of anything and you have a community.”
• HAJJ FLEMINGS: Hajj gave an awesome talk about creating your own brand in today’s start-up, digital economy. “You have to position yourself to be the guy/gal” that businesses are looking for.
• JOSH LUKIN: Real-time tweeting in baseball is fun! People share materials with each other before, during, and after the game. “Water-cooler talk is happening in real time.”
• Kim Svick: This was a similar talk to what I gave at #140RIT. She talked about how social media has expanded our ways of learning. “We can all be teachers. Be passionate about what you teach.”
• Lauren Greutman: Social media helped her save thousands of dollars a year. She then started her own businesses where she helps others save money over social media. It helped her become aware of her spending habits.
• Erica Tickle, Aaron Thompson: The two reps from Wegmans talked about how they use social media to interact with and help their customers. “Numbers are nice, but smiles are better.”
• SAUL COLT: Social influence sites are nice, but not effective. Be influential from your content and don’t care about what those say. For example, mine is higher than Saul’s! That’s not right.
• Sara Wallace: How to enhance your business with social media: answer questions, share photos, share vids, have promotions, share.
• Amanda Hite: After telling us her amazing life story, she said to use social media to be an inspiration to others and BE THE CHANGE!

And while all of this was going on, I was networking with plenty of other people over Twitter. Thanks to the hashtag and the uStream, #140Cuse was nationally trending and thousands upon thousands of other people were impacted all across not only the United States, but the world! I gained a lot of new followers and I loved to talk to every one of them as the day progressed. A brand new community was born, and all that was needed was a phone or computer.

This was an absolutely INCREDIBLE two weeks. I connected with so many people over social media that now I do more people-to-people networking than I ever have before. I learned about the different ways to take social media and that I want to utilize them! Social media is fun. It is something I am passionate about. And I want to use it to better myself, my peers, and the world.

Social media is the now and the future. How are you going to utilize it?

Thank you Syracuse University for hosting such an incredible event. Thank you to all of the speakers for being so inspirational and touching me in one way or another. Thank you to the faculty at RIT for encouraging me to try social media.

And thank YOU for reading and giving me a few minutes of your day

Well, after hopefully recovering from being on Dubai time for the past week, I am back in the United States!

It is hard to believe that the trip that we had been planning this whole year is finally over. All of the preparation done is finally complete and I am sure I can speak for every other member of the group by saying that we had one of the most incredible experiences of our lives. All of the different experiences, sights, sounds, and interactions make for something that we will not forget for a long time.

The businesses that we visited and representatives that we talked to were extremely helpful in teaching us about the country and business practices in general.

• At KPMG, we learned about the economy of Dubai, how it is based on tourism, how there is no income tax, and how they work as a firm.
• The Dubai Financial Market taught us how their market is young and growing and how it makes progress by the day.
• DUBAL showed us how one of the biggest aluminum plants in the world operates and cares for its employees.
• The Dubai Electrical and Water Association showed us how they provide fresh water to the people of Dubai (that is quite delicious fyi).
• Josephine Ford from GE showed us how a large international company operates in foreign markets.
• Dr. Mohammed Alam taught us the ins-and-outs of Islamic banking.

In short, there were quite a few amazing and educational meetings.

The places we visited as well is nothing short of spectacular!

• The Burj Khalifa is as tall as advertised.
• The Dubai Mall is truly the biggest mall I have ever seen, and it even has an ice rink!
• Take a dinner cruise if you can. They are fun and entertaining.
• The souks offer a plethora of authentic goods and you can always practice your bartering skills here.
• The Sheikh Zahid Mosque, the 8th largest mosque in the world, is nothing short of magnificent!
• Take a trip dune bashing in the desert. It’s more fun than a roller coaster.
• The Wild Wadi water park is a must on a warm day!
• The night life is also fun once the sun sets

We also saw that the RIT Dubai campus is a great option for Rochester students to get an international education. RIT’s influence is definitely apparent and I would love to study there. I am now interested in seeing how RIT’s other sister schools are doing!

Seeing the culture was also a memorable sight. The fact that it is a balance between their rich culture and the Westernized ideas made it very comfortable to adjust living there. The people were all very polite and hospitable to us and were willing to help us in any way possible. One thing to watch out for, however, is the occasional reckless driving on the highways from people who want to get from point A to point B.

Eventually, once life becomes a little less hectic, I will be able to put up a Flickr album where people can see the sights we saw and check out all of the places we visited.

In the end, this was definitely the best spring break I have had in my life. Plenty of fun times were had by all. Laughs were shared. There was not a single moment of the day not spent visiting places.

Thank you Democrat and Chronicle for giving Kristen and I the chance to write and share our experiences. Thank you to everyone who had a part in coordinating the trip (Peter, Dana, Tom, Jake, Nikki, and others) because it worked out very well. And finally, thank you everyone for visiting and spending time reading what we shared. We both had a blast writing and we both thank you for sharing with friends and providing feedback for us.

Hopefully the rest of spring will be as beautiful as it was in Dubai.

I'm gonna miss this

So this upcoming week, yours truly will be traveling to DUBAI, U.A.E.! 14 Honors students in the RIT E. Philip Saunders College of Business, 2 instructors, and 2 interpreters are all going for a week to experience different business practices, exquisite sights, and a rich culture.

And there will be one way to follow EVERYTHING that I am doing:

Visit this site: http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/navigating-dubai/

This is a blog page on the Democrat and Chronicle, the local newspaper in Rochester. My friend Kristen and I, two business students with a passion for social media and blogging, were asked to share our experience with the community. So PLEASE check that out and please share your feedback with me here. Hopefully I will be able to bring Dubai to all of your homes. And when I get back, I’ll be sure to share HERE how it all turned out.

Thank you so much for stopping by and hopefully everything goes well!!

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Honorable mention (in alphabetical order):

• Alesana: A Place Where The Sun Is Silent
• Art of Dying: Vices And Virtues
• Blessthefall: Awakening
• Breathe Carolina: Hell Is What You Make It
• Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto
• Five Finger Death Punch: American Capitalist
• Korn: The Path Of Totality
• Of Mice & Men: The Flood
• Protest The Hero: Scurrilous
• Red: Until We Have Faces
• The Color Morale: My Devil in Your Eyes
• The Devil Wears Prada: Dead Throne
• The Human Abstract: Digital Veil
• Trivium: In Waves

Now the Top 10 list:

10. Texas In July: “One Reality”: The band from Lancaster, PA put out a solid metalcore album featuring brutal vocals, tight back-and-forth guitars, and Adam Gray, the beast, on drums (he’s been featured on Jay Leno). The fact that I saw them twice, including once front row, helped in this decision too.
FOR FANS OF: AUGUST BURNS RED
DOWNLOAD: “1000 LIES”

9. We Came As Romans: “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be”: One of the fastest rising bands in the scene today scores big on their second record. Their epic melodies combine the brutality of a band like Parkway Drive with singing sections that get you to sing along. If you liked their first album, then you will feel right at home with this. Oh, and it features the best album art I have seen in a while.
FOR FANS OF: ATTACK ATTACK!
DOWNLOAD: “UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE’VE GROWN TO BE”

8. Rise Against: Endgame: The rock legends had a lot of expectations with this album and they did not release. The political lyrics are still there and the emotion that they have always had is still there. Like I said in my last music article, it will never top The Sufferer And The Witness and it will not go back to their strict punk roots, but it is still fantastic nonetheless.
FOR FANS OF: SUM 41 but they are one of the most influential bands in music today.
DOWNLOAD: “MAKE IT STOP (SEPTEMBER’S CHILDREN)”

7. Born Of Osiris: The Discovery: One of the best bands on Sumerian Records had a huge year in 2011, ending it with their own headlining tour in the US. Most of it was because of this album, a technical and heavy gem. With dualing guitar solos that blow the mind throughout the album to go alongside Joe Buras’ work on keyboard, this is better than your everyday metal album.
FOR FANS OF: PERIPHERY
DOWNLOAD: “RECREATE”

6. Betraying The Martyrs: “Breathe In Life”: If you have heard of these guys before this, you’re one of few. The French deathcore band exploded onto the scene thanks to their label, Sumerian Records, and now fans know that there is a deathcore band that can bring the brutality of Whitechapel and add great singing to it.
FOR FANS OF: WHITECHAPEL/THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DOWNLOAD: “MAN MADE DISASTER”

5. August Burns Red: “Leveler”: The metalcore giants and Warped Tour co-headliners bring their most diverse album to the table in 2011. Combining what worked in “Messengers” and “Constellations,” my favorite metal band delivers with one of the best of 2011 with inspired lyrics, beautiful guitar melodies courtesy of JB Brubaker, and crushing breakdowns.
FOR FANS OF: PARKWAY DRIVE
DOWNLOAD: “EMPIRE”

4. Foo Fighters: “Wasting Light”: One of the biggest rock groups in history led by a LEGEND in Dave Grohl made one of their best albums to date. The album itself was made in Dave’s garage on an analog tape and turned into iTunes’ “album of the year”. Songs such as “White Limo” and “Walk” will be hard rock classics.
FOR FANS OF: Seriously, if you haven’t heard of them, wake up.
DOWNLOAD: “WALK”

3. Times Of Grace: “The Hymn Of A Broken Man”: The Killswitch Engage side project released what turned out to be one of the best albums of 2011. Ex-KSE vocalist Jesse Leach and current guitarist Adam D put together a spiritual album that is as uplifting as it is metal. Maybe this means there will be a new KSE album in 2012… we can only hope.
FOR FANS OF: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
DOWNLOAD: “HYMN OF A BROKEN MAN”

And there is a TIE for the #1 spot because I really could not decide.

-Oh, Sleeper: “Children Of Fire”: A relatively unknown metalcore band on the same label as August Burns Red and Haste The Day put out an album better than their peers? Just listen to it. Shane Clay’s beautiful singing and guitar work combined with Micah Kinard’s fierce lead vocals and deep lyrics give out goosebumps.
FOR FANS OF: HASTE THE DAY/AUGUST BURNS RED
DOWNLOAD: “HUSH YAEL” (but read this before listening: http://wapo.st/rW3tHb)

Oh, and if you like or play ACOUSTIC GUITAR, listen below:

-Blink-182: “Neighborhoods”: Only one of the biggest punk bands of all time finally reunited to put what they worked on in between albums (Angels and Airwaves & +44) together into awesomeness. What more needs to be said?
FOR FANS OF: ANGELS AND AIRWAVES/+44
DOWNLOAD: “UP ALL NIGHT” OR “HEART’S ALL GONE”

You can check out more music I love on my Last FM profile right here. And as always, feedback is GREATLY appreciated. What albums are you loving??

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Let me take you back a little bit. Back to 2009 and the summer between my junior and senior year.

It was near the end, right in the middle of August. And, like I always did, I looked at the concert calendar for Buffalo and the surrounding area.

I had been to some already: Paramore when they opened up for No Doubt as well as Creed under the tent. And there was one other show that caught my eye: Blink-182′s reunion tour!

And I missed it… Blink-182 has had an impact on so many people thanks to their super catchy punk tunes with lyrics that could be felt by my age group. I regretted that choice for the rest of the summer and even for a while after that.

Until June, that is. Why? THEY WERE COMING BACK AND HAVE A NEW ALBUM COMING THAT’S WHY!

Yes, Blink-182 headlined the 2011 Honda Civic Tour with My Chemical Romance and Machester Orchestra and it stopped through Darien Lake on August 11th. I made sure to get my tickets as quickly as I could because I did not want to miss this again.

And boy was it worth it! Let’s get right to the review:

Now I missed most of Manchester Orchestra’s set because I was getting merch so I cannot really make a statement on them but from what I heard, they brought the noise and had a good solid set. I do not know any of their songs either so again, I cannot say anything.

My Chemical Romance was next and boy were they good. I was not the biggest fan of Jared Way’s bright red hair but I could look past that. For the songs that I did not know, they were all very good. I just wished I could have connected with them better. I think that is just the problem with playing in a large venue and I had lawn seats in the very back.

The songs I did know, however, were belted at the top of my lungs toward the stage! “The Black Parade” was a spectacular album and still can be listened to today and enjoyed. And that was clear when the only songs I knew were off of that and “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”. My personal favorites of the night were “Welcome to the Black Parade” and when they closed with “Famous Last Words.” Would I see them again? Absolutely.

After them, it was time. BLINK-182!!! And this was a set to remember!

It was 21 songs long! 1.5 hours! And man were there jokes galore! (And the songs were pretty good too)

They put in the perfect balance between their classics (“All The Small Things,” “What’s My Age Again,” etc…) and four songs off of the new album (“Up All Night,” “Hearts All Gone,” etc…)

And unlike any other concert I have been to, this was probably the funniest. Mark and Tom were dropping joke after joke left and right. They played perfectly off of each other and it looked like they were having the time of their lives.

But the part where everyone went the craziest was in reaction to Travis Barker’s TWO drum solos! The first one was in between two songs to buy some time to the others so they could get ready for the next songs. The second started their encore and Travis drummed to DUBSTEP! It was breathtakingly spectacular!

To top it off, all of the songs were played perfectly! From when they opened up with “Feeling This” to when they ended with “Dammit,” Blink-182 showed why they stuck with them through the years. Even with the long hiatus, Blink fans still came out in full force.

Thank you Blink-182 for putting on one of the most fun shows I have ever seen. Even though I say that about any band I see, this was truly the case with this show. If you have the chance to see them on this tour, do it!!

Yesterday, I took my brother to the movies, something I enjoy doing on Friday when new movies come out. The movie he wanted to see: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Now, going into this, my expectations were honestly not that high. I was not the biggest fan of Planet of the Apes for some reason so I thought this would be the same thing.

I was wrong. This movie was GREAT and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The story revolves around two characters: Dr. Will Rodman (James Franco) and the chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis). Rodman created what he thought to be a cure for Alzheimer’s and it does not go through because the chimp that was the test subject goes crazy. Before that, the chimp showed an increase in IQ tenfold. Well, the chimp had a child (Caesar) who inherited the skills his mother had. Seeing as how the skills work, he gives the serum to his father (John Lithgow). Dr. Rodman even finds a girl (Freida Pinto) and the two of them raise Caesar together.

Serkis truly has a skill for playing motion-capture characters. The whole time, I thought that they used real apes! This was what made me famous, as he played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he won awards for that role. He also played King Kong in the movie King Kong. His body mimicing of an actual chimp is flawless.

The storyline, also, was better than I expected. The story of the father, and watching his struggle as he deals with Alzheimer’s, is very moving. As you see how bad he is, and then as he gets better with the medicine, you feel for him and smile along with him. But then as he gets worse, you feel for him and struggle along with Rodman as he tries to take care of him.

The only problem, I see, is the fact that I have a feeling, despite the great quality of the movie, it will get lost in the shuffle of all of the summer blockbusters, like HP, Transformers, and Captain America. It is a great movie, but does not have any qualities that will make it one for the history books.

In the end, I definitely recommend going to see it. The critics loved it, I enjoyed it, etc. I give it a 3  out of 4 and my bro gives it a 3.5 out of 4. If you like a movie with a moving story, its fair share of action, and great acting, this is for you.

This past weekend, I took a trip to Patchogue, New York (in Long Island) to meet up with some of the guys from RIT: Jake, Sam, Alex, and Jon (whose house we stayed at). We had been planning this for weeks and it was finally coming to pass.

The way down from Rochester with Jake and Sam could not have been worse for most people. It rained. We paid a ton of money for gas in New York when it was thirty cents in cheaper in New Jersey. Traffic on the GW Bridge was awful. Worst of all, the music system did not work!! But in reality, it proved what great friends we were. Jake, Sam, and I could hold a conversation for eight hours! That’s unheard of in this day and age. It was incredible! (Of course having 3G helps…)

Once we got in, the bromances were brought to life again. These guys were the guys I chilled with on a regular basis and we had all kinds of fun back at school. We saw Dave Matthews together. We held “Acoustic Fridays” in the dorm tunnels (I sang because I’m still learning how to play guitar). So when we saw each other, the fun picked right back up.

We were supposed to go out to the port Friday night but it rained. Instead, we went bowling. We talked shop, goofed around, and had one amazing time. Shooting shots between the legs and dancing to the music like idiots also added to the fun.

Saturday, we went to Fire Island. I had not been to the ocean since I went to the Bahamas in sixth grade! When we got there, it was gorgeous. It was hot. The water was cold. The girls were beautiful. Guitars were broken out about halfway through. We body surfed along the waves crashing on the shore. We all got nice and tan from the sun (well, at least most of us…). All in all, it was one of the best trips I have ever taken to the beach and I cannot wait to be back.

At night, we visited Port Jefferson. This is a beautiful area that reminded me of Lewiston, NY because it has the small stores, near the water, and is truly a great place to walk through. We took a walk through the dock admiring the boats that we could only dream of buying.  We saw the ferry that takes people and cars over to Connecticut. And yes, we got delicious ice cream.

But then, we did something that we were actually pretty nervous about. Jon brought up the idea. We decided to set up near the ice cream stand and play/sing for people! AND WE MADE FOUR DOLLARS! I didn’t think I could make any money with my singing. That was something I had always wanted to do and actually doing it proves how hard it is. Hopefully we will be able to keep that up  the next school year and possibly play for others in the city of Rochester (for tips).

When I got home after a flawless drive back on Sunday, I took a moment to thank God for all of the blessings I have. I realized that I truly have the greatest friends on the face of this planet. They are always so kind and respectful. Regardless of what we are doing, we always have a blast and make the most out of any opportunity we get. I know RIT was the right school for me and it is mostly because of those that I love.

So thank you guys for the most amazing weekend of the summer! I love you all! Oh, and 19 days from today is when I go back!!!