intermediate program summer site : conversations : first session



	emma from nevada (7/10) Emma is preparing to enter 9th grade at a magnet-school focusing on theater. She is a tennis player, actress, and huge music fan that is thoroughly enjoying the Explo experience. We noticed Emma showing up in lot of pictures with colorful sunglasses and decided we has to talk to the face begind the wacky red, yellow and blue shades! Nevada is so far away! What made you choose Explo? Well, I got a letter and my cousins went when they were younger. I’m actually originally from Massachusetts. So how do you like it so far? Its fun. Its really fun. What’s been your favorite thing? I don’t know. The whole experience is a lot of fun, because it's different than anything I’ve done before. My classes have all been really fun and everything’s just been a blast. What classes are you taking? My classes are “Paint it Up” and “Move over Tommy Hilfiger“ and my mini-courses are “Iron Chef” and graffiti art. Are you competing with other people in your class for Iron Chef? Not yet, that's next week. So far, we've been testing out different spices and working with the recipes. Is this something new for you? Have you cooked a lot before? Not really, it is more new. Nobody seemed to know much about cooking and everyone seems to be having a good time. Do you know what you’ll be doing for the competition? We’ve been working on a stir-fry dish. Well, good luck with that! And “Move over Tommy Hilfiger”, I know you’ve been doing some sewing. What have you made so far? I’m making a skirt. Its blue and purple but I messed it up, so there’s threads all over it. We’re having a fashion show later next week. If we have time, we’ll make a shirt or a dress or something. What trips did you go on last weekend? Six Flags and then Fenway and the Science Museum. What did you see in the Science Museum? We went in the planets exhibit, the computer exhibits . . . What was your favorite exhibit? There was this one, I don’t know what it was, just tons of different stuff. It had this thing with water where you created a dam. It was really fun. What’s been you favorite main event so far? Oh, I went to OrigiNation last night with these dancers. They did tons of different stuff. That was really cool. And I liked the magic show, too. At first we all thought Ben (a staff member) was doing all the tricks and we were like, “Are you kidding me?” But then the real magician came out. He was different. Really cool. There was one trick that we figured out… Have you found it easy to make friends here? Definitely! Everyone is really nice, which I like. Everyone seems really, really nice and down to earth. Everyone has been so genuinely nice. Everyone in my living group is really nice too. Have you been encouraged to try something new at Explo? Yes, I’m sure I have. I went canoeing. That was really fun. My friend and I were partners. It was really, really fun and it was beautiful. Is there something new you want to try before leaving? I want to try kayaking and I want to try sailing. I also dove off the diving board which was exciting. What were you expecting when you came to Explo? I think I was expecting . . . I know this sounds mean . . . but a lot of really dorky people, because it was all classes and stuff. Everyone is a dork here, but I was thinking the wrong kind of dork. I didn’t expect it to be so social and I didn’t think everyone would be as nice as they are. Elaborate on what you mean by "dork" . . . Well, I guess just willing and wanting to learn . . . and interested in academics . . . enjoying learning . . . which everyone is. But there’s different kinds of dorks. Like my kind of dork, everyone here likes to learn [and try new things]. But I thought they were going to be only into academics, and not into other things. What’s the strangest thing you brought to Explo? I brought a lot of sunglasses. We were counting; I think I brought eleven pairs . . . more conversations > first session \| second session