2 Miles for Andre's Cafe, and Some Fro-Yo for Recovery!

Ah, finals week. I forgot how terrible you are. I've been going pretty much non-stop since Sunday between studying, test taking, and running. The weather has been somewhat cooperating this week though. It's been pretty warm but kind of rainy. Not the best for running, but not the worst. And the lack of sun has reduced the temptation to play outside instead of do work. Side note: grad school needs recess. Or we should have a mandatory gym class at the School of Public Health. We can't expect to be able to convince people to exercise if we don't do it too.

This is how I envision it

So yesterday, I did my two miles for Andre's Cafe through Cambridge. I decided to listen to a "This American Life" podcast, because I need to get in as much American culture as possible, since I leave for Tanzania in less that two weeks! I can't believe it! Despite how tired I am, and how cloudy it was, it was a great run, and a very welcome break from studying.

Andre's Cafe gets a special award for being my only business sponsor! When we first found out we could do fundraising for the trip, we toyed with the idea of approaching restaurants for an event. After doing some research, we determined that given our short time frame and the logistics needed to actually make a substantial amount, this wasn't going to be our best bet. Hence, the launching of my "Running to Tanzania" project - which has been great - thanks everyone!

Despite the decision to do this rather than a restaurant event, the owner of Andre's, Karim, told me he was still happy to donate to my cause, which is awesome, and just reflects how great he and all of the people there are. I went there yesterday to thank them (and pick up some delicious frozen yogurt!) and got to meet Karim and tell him about my upcoming trip. He was very genuine, happy to meet me, and asked me more about my upcoming trip. There were also a ton of fliers around for groups doing fundraising through Andre's, as well as pictures and comments from customers hanging up. Both Karim and the woman who took my order were incredibly nice. You can tell care a lot about the community and their customers.

Here's an example - I saw this on a review on foursquare:

The man who took my order was so nice and game me a free yogurt b/c I'm visiting my Dad in the hospital. The vanilla yogurt with oreo is amazing btw. Such nice service and great food. Will come back.

For the record, chocolate yogurt with reese's is also amazing. They have catered events at the School of Public Health, and their wraps are so good, I'll go to meetings just to get them.

Somehow, their fro-yo is low-cal and still awesome! 

So between the excellent food and great people there, I foresee myself frequenting Andre's during the rest of my time at BU. I may even have to try one of the challenges! Who's with me?

So thank you Karim, and the staff at Andre's, for the donation, the great run, the delicious food, and great service.

-Natalie