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Yes, you get spring break in grad school. Thank goodness.

But spring break in grad school is more of a working-break, though still very much welcome. I definitely had a lot of fun this spring break, including the relaxing feeling of almost catching up with my giant pile o’ work.

Here’s how it all went down:

Day 1: SUNDAY

After attending the fantastic last day of programming at the Narrative Arc Conference at Boston University, my classmate, Ricardo, and our wonderful host, Douglas, decided to tour Boston, despite the rain. We had a blast, seeing Cambridge, Harvard, Boston Commons, and Beacon Hill.

Then, for dinner, we took a trip to a residential part of East Boston to eat some very delicious Salvadorian food from Douglas’s home country. The pupusas we ate were so tasty–warm and just a little spicy! I’m already looking for some Salvadorian places near me.

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Day 2: MONDAY

Before heading to the airport, I checked out the New England Aquarium to see how it stacked up against Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. The New England Aquarium was great! I especially loved the seals, the penguins, and the giant, four-level central aquarium.

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Also, if I ever decide not to be a journalist, I think I would be a fantastic penguin keeper.

Day 3, 4, 5: TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY

Back in Chicago, back to work!

My mornings were spent editing, writing, and calling sources to follow up on the work I did the prior week. I also took care of some things like planning my summer and fall class schedules. In the afternoons, I worked on my personal website. This is what I’ve spent hours looking at:

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My site’s a kind of work in progress right now. I finally took the plunge and moved my hosting from WordPress.com to a different server and WordPress.org. Yikes! It was a little harrowing, going deep into the innards of the web, but manageable in the end.

As a multimedia journalist, I think it’s important to know a little bit about a lot of different tech skills. I’m not planning on becoming a web site designer or developer anytime soon, but in making my own site, I’m getting a ton of hands on experience that will at least help me be a better collaborator in the future.

Eventually, I’d like my little spot on the web to be a portfolio site that also hosts my personal blog. Hopefully, it’ll all be up and running by this summer.

Day 6: FRIDAY

More work. But, in the evening, my boyfriend and I joined up with some friends at the Art Institute’s After Dark party. It was fun after a ridiculously productive spring break. We got to walk around and see the art, enjoy food and drinks, and be amused by the live performance art.

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Who knew that bubble wrap was such a versatile fashion accessory?

Day 7: SATURDAY

Still more work, but there was also some much needed apartment cleaning and a viewing of The Hunger Games in my Saturday to cap off a great spring break week.