#northeastern students

[elsewhereuniversity]

The Northeastern students are... also strange. Their attitudes are far less friendly than some, but should you feel the want to get to know them, they stick hard and true and loyal. They bring more jackets than any one person should need, and give them to the students shivering when it’s “cold”. Their only payment is the satisfaction of being able to make fun of them because it’s only 50° out and where I come from it’s usually -30° so suck it, Wren. (1/2)

They talk of the magic of Autumn (and get Taken the most during the season) and waking up to the maple trees a fiery orange. They talk about getting Lost on snow days only to be Back when they’re called in for dinner and hot chocolate. When it’s a proper Nor’Easter outside, and the power in the building has gone out, their dorm rooms are somehow still a comfortable 70°, and they’re cooking up a warm soup to share (Freely Given, this time). They are the Northeastern. (2/2)            

[northeastern-sarahpease]

Here Comes the Sun, Boston!

After days (weeks? months? years?) of snow, ice, rain, slush, and just all around bad weather, Boston saw the sun today! It was 40 degrees when I went outside to get lunch, but after all the polar vortex-level weather that has taken over the Northeast lately, I may as well have been in Florida!

A lot of people ask if the cold weather and long winters that Boston is known for bother me. I was born in Maine and grew up in New Hampshire, so I've never known anything other than snow falling from October through April. That being said, it sure can get cold in Boston (the wind is the worst part). While I wouldn't advise taking long strolls through the Common in a January blizzard, I usually don't find it that bad. Just make sure you bring winter jackets and plenty of mittens and scarves!

(Side note: my roommate and I just invested in a HUGE box of handwarmers and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Just stick a handwarmer in your glove and bam! instant heat for 8 hours.)

Boston's winters are just as cold as you'd think, but I love them. Sledding, walking in just-fallen snow, skating on Frog Pond, cuddling up inside with hot chocolate and a movie after walking home in the cold, and (of course) building snowmen are all quintessential winter activities. I can't imagine living anywhere where there aren't 4 distinct seasons, and while winter might seem endless sometimes, without winter there couldn't be such an appreciation for warm spring days when they finally come! (Or even days like today which would ordinarily hardly qualify as "warm" but seem balmy in comparison to the polar vortex). We also wouldn't appreciate summer days and crisp fall quite as much either.

[northeastern-sarahpease]

The Power of Northeastern

Whenever I told anyone that I wanted to be an English major, their overwhelming reaction was, if not necessarily negative, skeptical. “Well, what do you want to do with that?” was the first question that was always asked. At 18, I wasn’t entirely sure. I just knew that I loved the power of words, in reading and writing, and wanted to spend my life exploring and developing that passion.

  Even with that conviction, I wasn’t naïve about the likelihood of my post-grad employment. I knew that if I wanted a career with an English major, I would have to go to a school that believed in my future as much as I did, and had the resources to support me in that dream. Northeastern was everything that I’ve ever wanted in a school, even before they formally launched the Empower campaign.

  As a supporter of the humanities, I truly believe that knowledge is power. The most impactful way that Northeastern has empowered me has been equipping me with knowledge of careers and opportunities that I had no idea about before my time here. I’ve participated in service-learning, both as a student and a TA, and had my eyes open to parts of Boston that I was ignorant to, and people who are doing amazing things to change this city for the better. I just submitted my application to study abroad in the fall in Seville, Spain. I’m on my second co-op right now, this one in the PR field with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority after completing my last co-op in publishing at National Geographic Learning’s editorial department.

  Upon graduating high school, the only two career options people gave to me as an English major were a teacher or a writer. Northeastern opened a whole new world to me, and not just through the opportunities they provide academically. I wouldn’t have my second co-op if it weren’t for a fellow tour guide who told me it would be a perfect fit. That’s the beauty of Northeastern – they don’t focus on benefitting a certain subset of students. Every single person is empowered individually by what Northeastern does as a whole, and that community is my favorite part of Northeastern. We are successful because other students have been, and continue to be, successful.

  That’s the true meaning of empowerment, and that’s what Northeastern offers to anyone who chooses to enroll. It’s why I’m passionate about my Northeastern education, and always want to see others take advantage of the same opportunities. If you want to see what amazing things Northeastern propels our students do every day, check out the #iheartcoop hashtag started by the Empower campaign on Twitter (@EmpowerNU if you want to check it out).