Vermont and Massachusetts, Tuesday Jan 6

At the interview in Vermont I ironically met several Californians, including Mags, a mutual friend of Katie’s, a friend from a former practicum who I was planning to stay with that night. After the interview, I ran back to the Super 8 to change out of my suit and hit the road for Massachusetts. It was snowing the entire day, and colder than the day prior (about 15 degrees, which “feels like 2,” according to the news, which I guess is a “thing” out here). I was sure to drive slowly through the mountain range between VT and MH. I passed Manchester, NH, a sizeable city, which looks worth returning to- beautiful brick buildings, a river running through a snow filled city with the closest thing to skyscrapers I’d seen since leaving Oakland.

I arrived in MA early (around 5pm, I was meeting my friend Katie at 7pm), and found a beer spot in the town of Mancester. I again had an amazing stout (this area is doing those dark beers well!) and buffalo chicken tenders. I began to recognize how the internship process was going to be affecting my diet and overall health, and made an executive decision not to worry about that for the moment. I’d rather drink stout. My server was a spitfire elderly lady with a heavy MA accent who had no idea where Northampton was or anything else about the VA there. The men in the bar were mostly white and middle aged and talking about cars and sports in their MA accents as well.

Katie and I met up at her apartment in Worcester (which I am told is one of the largest cities in MA other than Boston) and then headed out to meet Mags, the guy I had met at the interview earlier, at a restaurant called Cracker Barrel about 45 mins away. If you ever visit the East Coast and have the opportunity to visit Cracker Barrel, do it. The down-home, country restaurant and kitschy store provided me with mac n’ cheese with broccoli and blackberry cobbler (remember my decision from earlier?). In that cold?!? YUM. Mags and I lamented about the ills of the internship process and dissected the staff and interns we had met that day (“wasn’t that weird?”). We also discussed the impact this process has had on us financially and socially. It felt nice to be with two people who understood the complexities and difficulties of the process (Katie is currently on internship in MA) and simply let off steam.

We went back to Katie’s and I attempted unsuccessfully to crash on her couch. Jet lag, excitement, and long working hours were beginning to get to me. Katie picked up our pal Matt, also in town for an interview, around midnight. He and I slept side by side on the couch and floor respectively, just two poor students ready to interview.