Summerrrr!!!

Hi all,

How has everybody been doing with summer so far? I hope you all are having a great summer. It's been a while since I last updated on Blogger, and it's almost the end of June already, so I believe it's time to refresh this blog.

Firstly, for those who do not know, Augsburg school year ended on April, which means that Auggies have a four-month summer break. Isn't that great? I still cannot believe that I finished my first year at Augsburg already. Things went so smoothly that I feel like time flew by so fast. But the summer seems so long for me though, as I miss my friends so much :'( But it's good for them that they all enjoy themselves at home.

I cannot manage to go back home this summer. Plus, I think instead of spending money when I'm home, it'd be better if I stay here during summer and work to save money. So that's what I have been doing so far - working and saving money. It sounds boring right? But I try to make this summer more interesting by getting acquainted with the area around campus. After I while, I do believe Augsburg has a very ideal location for students to take advantage of urban setting and the convenience of transportation. These are some facts I figured out after a year:

• The service of escorting students by the Department of Public Safety is a plus when considering choosing Augsburg. In winter when walking around is not easy, you'll be very grateful to be navigate around thanks to DPS. Dial x1717, give your name, ID and contact information, you'll be picked up by DPS as long as you are withing escort area. You can ask for a ride to the light rail station, Wells Fargo bank on East Franklin Ave, or to the hospital. Those venues are within striking distance of Augsburg, so during the summer, you can easily walk around.
• The light rail system near Augsburg can help you get to Midtown, Downtown or Mall Of America. Dropping at Lake Street Station (a station from Franklin Ave Station, the nearest station to Augsburg), you can easily get to Target or Cub Food, Rainbow, etc. to shop for groceries and other necessities. I have to admit that Augsburg's location helps me a lot in surviving through the first summer away from home. It takes 20 minutes to go by light rail from Augsburg to MOA. Or you can easily go to Downtown Minneapolis by taking the train in the opposite way. You will find a bunch of interesting places and various recreation activities to do such as going to Minneapolis Institute of Art in Downtown, or have a walk around Nicolet Mall or enjoy beautiful evenings in Downtown streets where you can find a cafe and sit down talking with friends.
• Located in the 4 corners of Augsburg are the 4 fast food stores - Taco Bell, Jimmy John's, Bruegger's, and Davanni's. If you want better food, you can walk for 7 minutes to Pizza Lucé on East Franklin Ave. I guarantee you'll like the food there. I remember the first night I came here, Jim, the Director of International Students, and Annika (the sweetest girl eva!) took me and 3 other Norwegian exchange students to Pizza Lucé. We had a nice time there, good food, introducing ourselves and sharing our stories. And last month, when I came back there, I felt awesome about how a year passed by.
• If you don't want to take the light rail to shop for groceries, you can walk to the oriental market called United Noodle on East 24th Street where you can get ingredients for an Asian meal ;), or you can go to Seward Co-op for organic products. My summer roommate Kathy took me to Seward Co-op and I fell in love with the store right away. You know why? Because everything is so fresh that I feel as if my meals were much more delicious.

So that's the part about navigating around. As I said earlier, I am working this summer. I still work at the Institutional Advancement office as I did during the last school year. (Augsburg Tips: if you work 600 hours during the summer, you can get 834 free housing credits for the summer, which is equal to the amount you have to pay for staying in a four-person room in Mortensen Hall) Also, the Residence Life staffs are awesome as always, providing different activities for summer residents; therefore, as long as you have time and energy, definitely you'll find your summer is not boring at all.

I wrote this entry yesterday. I have just came back from carrying the flag for the Commencement of WEC students. I'm so excited about graduating in the next 3 years. Hopefully I can continue writing and updating my experience at Augsburg.

Thanks for reading!!!! I will get back to you guys soon ;)