I Think I'll go to Boston...

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I recently to a short little jaunt to Boston to visit some internships. This is the story...

I got to the airport at about 5:00 in the morning for a 6:00 am flight to Chicago and then scooted over to Boston on the plane i sat next to a Vietnam vet who was going to Rhode Island to give a flag to some family members of his buddy from the war who had died. It was touching to hear who he had procured a military funeral for a friend he hadn't seen in years and didn't seem to have any family. The first person I met in Boston was my cab driver, who came here from Africa when he was younger, and get this - he lived first in the Twin Cities! His family still lives there so he goes back to visit, but how crazy is that; I leave the midwest and the first person actually has spent a great deal of time there. I got to my hotel by 2:00. The first afternoon is was sort of raining, but I went out for a walk to Fenway and then to the Fine Art Museum. I saw some great pieces of Assyrian art from the British Museum (although not as good as the ones in Istanbul). Other works of art were by artists such as Monet, Manet, van Gogh, Renoir, Rodin, Copley, and el Greco (which I was super excited about!). There were other exhibits with modern art and photography along with Greek and Roman art/artifacts, Japanese, Oriental, American Indian, and Arabic sections. I saw famous American furniture and Paul Revere silver. I walked back around 5:20 and it was already dark. I stopped by a little grocery store and bought some pears and Greek yogurt. At the cafe next door (Temptations), I bought a sandwich which brought back some great memories. It was a large pita filled with dolmadas, falafel, feta cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and tzatziki. I thoroughly enjoyed all every bite of that sandwich.

The next morning I went out jogging at about 6:30 and ran down Beacon street, turned on Massachusetts, and ran for a little longer. I interesting point of the day comes when I got on the T to go to my first appointment at Tuft's University. As the trip should have taken about 15-20 minutes total - that was not the case. There was an accident at Arlinton so I was stuck in the tunnels for quite some time. I didn't get out until about 10:30 and arrived to my appointment 45 minutes late. Fortunately I could call ahead and warn them of my situation. What a mess. The fortunate thing was that I did like the director and assistant director of this internship very much and the program is amazing!
From there I hoped on the T again and made my way down to Brigham and Women's Hospital. I was there early so I went and had a scone and tea for lunch while reading a nutrition magazine. Once meeting for the BW tour, I found that there were two others from Minnesota there as well. I really enjoyed the tour and the hospital is great! It is such a hard decision to try to decide between the two for ranking purposes. From the hospital, I walked back to my hotel and got some directions to someplace to eat. I grabbed a sandwich and did some light reading at Panera just down the street and then went to a little bakery/restaurant, Finale, and bought a little gourmet Boston cream cake. The rest of the night was spent reading some more and doing homework.

The next morning I decided to go for another jog and ran down further west and then back over the Harvard bridge over the St. Charles River. I saw some row teams on the water as I made my way over to the MIT campus and had a look around. I left a little after 9 to take the T to the north end. I walked around the old part of town for a little bit, through the narrow streets that felt comforting in a way. I came to the Old North Church where I had a look around and walked through the mall with a statue of Paul Revere located behind it. I found a little coffee shop, Cafe Lil' Italy, where I bought an almond croissant and some tea and sat down and read for a good hour or so. From there I ventured closer to the center of the city and government central. On the way there I went to Paul Revere's house, Old City Hall, and a few other places. In the middle of the city, the old is combined with the new and blends into a hybrid of modern shopping centers inside historic market places and cobbled streets. Since it was a Saturday and semi wet, there were not as many people around. The weather was wet but the temperature was near the 60's and I had a hard time wearing my jacket. Walking around the city was one of my favorite things to do as I find that the best way to connect to something is to get lost in it and find yourself. I went back to my hotel, picked up my bags, jumped back on the T and went to the airport to catch my flight. After another stop off in Chicago, I was back Saturday night, having been gone three days which felt much longer (thick time). I wished I could spend more time as I fell in love with the city. My only thing I would change if I were to stay longer for a visit would be to have someone else visiting with me to go out to more places and just explore.
Now I'm back and find it hard to concentrate...
Can't I just travel the rest of my life? Maybe eventually I would find my roots.

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