BU – Yoojin Cho

24 Hours Later… and a Sincere Thank You

Finally I have some time to sit down and think about what happened at 2:50 p.m. on April 15th, 2013. The day I put in my phone’s countdown app as “MARATHON MONDAY!” The day now I will forever remember as that horrific Marathon Monday.

More than anything the last couple of days made me realize that nothing – no classes, professors or books – could have prepared me for my job, having to tell the story while everyone I love is in absolute misery in a city I love. And this is where my sincere thank you comes in. All those tweets, texts and messages kept me going, and knowing that so many people cared about not only my safety, but everyone else’s near me, I’m not sure how to express that in words.

As a Boston University alum, I still don’t understanding why this happened, and I hate that this happened. But at least now I know there are more good people out there than bad people, and that Boston doesn’t go down easy.

As soon as I heard about the twin explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street, I dropped everything and ran. No second thoughts, I just started running. Of course about .75 mile into my run, I had to admit I was in no shape to run another .5 mile, so I hopped in a cab.

But regardless of how I got there, I got there. And saw chaos.

Confused runners. Police trying to get people out of the area. Volunteers directing people away from the finish line. Families looking for their loved ones. And amidst all the fear, the chaos, the frustration, emotional reunions.

It’s hard to explain why I love Marathon Monday so much.

It’s one day that brings hundreds of thousands of people together, and the entire state shuts down, so people can go watch the race and celebrate together.

I always loved how you could stand next to a complete stranger along the marathon route and as if you’ve known each other for decades, you could cheer and laugh together. I loved how you could just scream on top of your lungs whatever sports team jersey or a state shirt the runner was wearing. Or you could even cheer for a runner who had his or her name written on their shirt in a sharpie.

And I think that’s going to be even more special next year. In fact, I’m already looking forward to Marathon Monday 2014.

This horrible tragedy killed three innocent people and injured more than 150. But it certainly didn’t break Boston’s spirits. It showed everyone around the world that Massachusetts is resilient. People love one another here. People care. People are proud of their state, and people are strong.

So here’s to this resilient city that I fell in love with six years ago.

See you at the 118th Boston Marathon.

Love That Dirty Water

How can you resist this view? Even though I now live in western Massachusetts, I frequent Boston. You know, just pretending like I still live there. There’s something about that city that makes you fall in love with every good and bad thing.

For example, the T. Now it costs $2 for a ride? Ouch. Six years ago all outbound rides were free. However when I got on that squeaky trolley, I did breathe a sigh of relief and said “Ahhh public transportation.”

Funny to think five years ago I moved to Boston thinking it’ll be my temporary home while I’m in college. Now I can’t even imagine leaving New England!

Quit Playing Games…

No, but seriously, quit playing games with my heart.

Dear scammers who send “job scam” e-mails to Boston University students, DON’T. A couple of days ago, I received this e-mail from College of Communication Career Center.

Subject: Beware of email employment scams

Body: Please be aware that there are a number of recent email scams that are targeting BU students. We are aware of most of these scams and have alerted the BU Police Department. If you receive a suspicious email stating that a company received your resume from “university/college career services”, and is asking for personal or financial information, do not respond! The BU Police Department has asked that all suspicious messages be forwarded to them.

Really? I personally have not received any e-mail offering me a job in exchange for my personal financial information, but simply thinking about the fact that someone out there has the guts to send out scam e-mails disguised under prospect of a job…

Imagine, you go to your inbox – usually my first stop in the morning – and you see an e-mail saying something about a job. Obviously you get excited. You open up the e-mail with extremely high hopes, only to be crushed 5 seconds later when the e-mail actually asks you for strange information, clearly indicating it is NOT a potential employer.

Devastating.

Especially as a senior with only a couple of months left in college, “job search” is an extremely sensitive topic. In this economy, trying to stay positive about post-grad life is hard. With so much uncertainty ahead of us, we do not need yet another scammer trying to take advantage. Definitely not.

All seniors out there, don’t fall for scams and keep your hopes up. We will ALL be hired soon enough… Soon enough…

#Snowloko #Snowpocalypse #Snoverit

Oh, you mean you haven’t seen that SIX FEET TALL SNOWBANK OUTSIDE?

I returned to Boston on January 10th, narrowly escaping the snowstorm in Texas, which almost canceled my flight. Two days later, I had to deal with a blizzard in Boston. Of course.

Since classes started, we have had I believe three snowstorms thus far. But this is not the time to count how many snowstorms passed through New England already. There is one coming our way as I type this, and it’s going to drop yet another 12-15 inches of snow.

Where will we put all the snow??? The snowbanks outside are already taller and bigger than me. And dear God, please don’t let the roofs of any buildings I’m in collapse. In the end, I did see that video of the Vikings stadium. I believe the Cowboys stadium is struggling a bit as well. But…

I think the better question is, how is Boston handling this?

City of Boston has proven itself quite capable of clearing the sidewalks and improving road conditions. Sometimes sidewalks in Allston don’t exactly welcome pedestrians, and you have to resort to walking side by side with cars. But I know that responsibility falls to landlords, so no point in blaming the city for the inconvenience.

If you look at downtown Boston, you can see a little bit of concrete under all this snow, and people are out and about.

Boston University, on the other hand, I’m sad to say I am disappointed. Before I delve in further, I do have to say, however, that I appreciate all the B&G staff out there clearing the sidewalks. It is hard work, and it’s COLD out there.

But what is the point of having our B&G staff out there from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. fighting the losing battle against the huge snowflakes and the windchill? No matter what they do, snow continues to come. So we have those workers out there, at night, in the freezing temperature, ATTEMPTING to do something just so BU can open two hours late?

B&G probably receives overtime pay for working that awful “clear the snow throughout the night” shift. Is that really financially responsible?

As a BU student who’s almost running out of work-study award, I am struggling to find an on-campus office that will pay me with their own BU funding. Almost all offices rely on work-study to pay their student workers, and when the award runs out, oops, sorry, you gotta go. Sorry I pay $50,000 per year for my education and sorry I need money for groceries, textbooks and materials for my resume reel. Instead of wasting money on B&G projects that get you nowhere, how about you increase funding for student employees?

If you’re committed on clearing the snow no matter what so we can continue our normal days, why is crossing the BU Bridge absolutely impossible? Snowbanks are in place of the little islands where pedestrians stand while waiting for the green light. Not to mention, the narrow sidewalk is absolutely deadly with thousands of students attempting to walk.

Today, for example, a steady snow fall worsened sidewalk & road conditions throughout the day. Boston University is a WALKING campus. We walk to classes; we walk to the GSU; we walk to the library just so we can print our assignments.

BU did not say a word about early closings or safety concerns until around 2 p.m. when it announced, the university will close at 5 p.m. In the meantime, other area institutions had canceled afternoon activities earlier in the day.

Even now, as we are expecting another foot of snow to come in the next couple of hours, we hear nothing from BU.

Students have no idea who makes the decision whether BU stays open or not, nor do they know what kind of factors go into consideration. How about more open communication? How about actually telling us where we can expect MBTA delays? At least tell us everything is still open, so plan ahead and leave early. Be careful on the road. Administrators may have fancy cars, so all they have to do is take the elevator down to their car, hop in the car and drive away. But we students have to brave the storm and walk.

As of 11:38 p.m. weather forecast:

Most recent announcement from Gov. Deval Patrick:

And area school closings (scroll all the way down for college info):

http://boston.cbslocal.com/closings/

Safe to say many people are truly concerned about this snowstorm? Yes. Safe to say many people will have tomorrow off for safety reasons? Yes. Safe to say Boston University students will enjoy the same day off? Doubtful.

I would love to know what exactly the school loses by having one snow day, and really, more than anything, I would love to know who and what decides whether we have a 2-hour delay, or we are closed for the day.