Saturday was my first day home from Boston. I arrived in Akron at 2:50pm; Dad picked me up at the airport. Erin is in town as well, until Tuesday, so we all went out to eat at Red Lobster then visited Grandma Daugherty and her new chiuaua, Rusty. He’s only about four inches tall, so he’s really cute. He ran around the yard and sat on our laps while we talked.

On Sunday, I woke up late and went for a walk with Ricky. It was pretty warm out, so he was worn out pretty quickly in all his fur. I don’t think he gets enough exercise these days… We walked for about two miles on the big trail. It was really relaxing to see all the trees and get away from the city for some time.

Sunday afternoon, Steph called and invited me to go to the Tops Great American Rib Festival at the Tower City Amphitheater in Cleveland with her. I had a good time, but rib festivals are extremely expensive these days… $8 for six ribs, $5.50 for a funnel cake, $2.50 for two bottles of water, and $4 for a piece of grilled corn-on-the-cob. Luckily, there was a stand giving away free ice cream as a promotion – we stopped there three times. We also listed to three bands play, so we didn’t have to continuously spend money to have a good time.

Finally, today all the relatives came over for a cook out on the deck. Grandpa Berry, Mary, Tom, Nick, Grandma Daugherty, Phil, Joey, and even Justin showed up. I grilled the chicken, and everyone else made different kinds of salads. I think we were all glad for the opportunity to catch up with one another. I definitely don’t see enough of everyone these days. They all made me promise to send them postcards from California, though, so I’ll have to make sure to remember that.

Friday was my last full day at MIT before the summer, so I decided to take advantage of it by going out to eat with anyone who was still around and wanted to come. After we had all finished packing, Amy Tang, Jaime, Sally, Chen, Jiji, Erica, Ling, Steph Wang, and I went out to Maggiano’s Little Italy for dinner. I enjoyed my farfalle with chicken, spinach, tomatoes and Parmesan sauce a lot, but mostly I enjoyed the company. I think everyone was feeling relaxed and relieved to be done with school for a while.

After dinner, I really wanted to have a final North End cannoli for dessert. Unfortunately, the restaurant was actually near Boston Common, so I considered not walking all that way if I could just get a cannoli for dessert at Maggiano’s. Luckily for me, they had no cannolis. Even more lucky was the fact that Amy said she would walk down there with me. So while everyone else was ordering Tiramisu, we headed out. The night turned out to be really comfortable for a walk, actually, since it stopped right before we started eating dinner.

At Mike’s Pastry, Amy got a regular cannoli, and I ordered one with chocolate chips. A big part of how much I enjoy pastries is the atmosphere of walking through the North End neighborhood. It’s always lively in the small, crowded streets, and you can see and hear the people walking by having a good time. Regardless of the reason, I’m going to miss these desserts…

Eventually we finished eating and it was time to go back to the dorm and say goodbye. I know I’ll miss always having my friends around, but I’m also looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing a new locale this summer. Hopefully everyone else is as excited about what they’ll be doing as I am.

I took all two of my finals from this semester today, which means my summer has officially started! This morning was 6.003, which was kind of tough. I don’t think it changed my grade, though – I’m pretty sure I am getting a B in that class. My afternoon final was 6.033, and it wasn’t so bad because it was only 90 minutes. It was really more of a Test 3 rather than a final. I think I’m right between an A and a B in that class, so I’m not sure where I’ll end up.

I’m really excited about my move out to CA next week. Dad and I are going to drive out starting at 4am on Thursday morning. Hopefully we’ll get there around midnight on Friday. It’ll be a lot of driving…

Once we’re there, Dad and I are going to go out to dinner with Chen Saturday night. She’s flying back to Boston around 11pm, but she has to drive past my apartment to get to the airport. I hear there are a lot of good Chinese restaurants in Cupertino (maybe I can practice my Mandarin).