Monday, December 22, 2008

A Day in Boston

After only a few hours of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed to take the commuter train into Boston with my mother. The train was almost completely empty (and super slow because of snow-related malfunctions), but this man set next to me and my mother and this woman my mother was talking to. I can only assume he didn't take one of the other empty seats because he was in the mood for company. I soon put down my magazine and took off my headphones to find out that he was a professor of political science and engineering at MIT. Really interesting guy and pretty awesome credentials. He gave me some advice on grad school (he did get his Ph.D in Poli Sci from Harvard) and was just really fun to talk to. Needless to say, this was a pretty good start to my day.

After I got into the city, I jumped on the T (Boston's subway) and headed over to Faneuil Hall to grab some of the best clam chowder I've ever had. The bread bowl at the Boston Chowda Co. filled me up and satisfied my craving for a taste of New England. After this unorthodox breakfast, I jumped back on the T to Harvard Square. After lots of walking around Cambridge, I headed over to the Kennedy School of Government for a nice tour individual tour of the campus by a current MPP (Masters of Public Policy) student. It's a beautiful area and of course the program sounds absolutely amazing. The tough question: Is it worth the $65k a year for tuition & expenses?

After the tour, I grabbed a sandwich and a cup of coffee at Crema Cafe in Cambridge. I had a tasty chicken sandwich with spinach and artichoke.

I then stopped by my favorite record store Newbury Comics and bought 7 CDs. Got some used CDs: 2 Straylight Run albums for $4 each, Silversun Pickups, Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends -their first and the only album by them that I still enjoy. Also got a couple of new CDs because they were $10 and included a live DVD: In Our Bedroom After the War by Stars and the Manchester Orchestra EP.

I did a little more exploring of Boston and took the commuter train back. Time to go back to researching public policy schools.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds like an incredible day. Sitting next to the professor on the way to Boston was very fortuitous... You'll have to tell me what he said and what kind of research he does.

Anonymous said...

It makes me smile to think of you at Harvard. I really hope you get there one day.