Boston
Mass Effect
Posted October 24, 2017 by Giuliana Gilbert-Igelsrud
Last fall, I moved out of California for the first time in my life. I’d visited Boston once, years before. I had vague memories of quaint brick architecture. But travel ≠ transplantation. When I said I was from California, people warned me about snow. But I’ve been to Minnesota. My culture shock came from other sources. 1. Fall. On the west coast, fall means everything dies and it gets colder. It’s a short transition between summer and not-summer. But here, fall is an event. People go “apple-picking” and “leaf-peeping,” everyone dresses up, cider is consumed. Oh, and IT’S INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. 2. Darkness. In my hometown, we get 300 sunny days a year. Did you know the sun can set at 4:15? Did you know it can be overcast for a week straight? I didn’t. 3. Sense of distance. Here, I can visit four states in two hours. A trip to Maine can be shorter than a BART ride to SFO. 4. Regionalisms. I’ve mentioned “apple-picking” and “leaf-peeping”; other terms that tripped me up include “turnpike,” “bodega,” and, yes, “wicked”. 5. Drivers. Californians are not good…
Adjusting to Urban Life on the East Coast
Posted October 12, 2017 by Josie Snow
Things I love: Access to almost everything: Concerts, shows, stores…stimulation is everywhere. Being at a nexus of the literary world Boston is a very literate city, with many events promoting literacy. In the span of a month, I will have attended the Boston Teen Author Festival, and the Horn Book Globe Awards and Symposium, and the Boston Book Festival. These events all bring me close to authors, editors, and agents. The Dress Code: It is nice to be able to dress casually more often. Even though I strove for comfort in my professional clothes, nothing beats jeans and a t-shirt. The diverse environment: Like any city, Boston is home to a wide variety of people, from a wide variety of locations. It also helps that my residence caters to international students, so I get to meet people from many different countries, and learn from, and with them. It is amazing how diverse the group is, on my floor of nine residents alone; there are residents from 5 of the 7 continents. Things I will need…
Adventures by the sea
Posted October 5, 2017 by Josie Snow
I have been here a month now, classes have begun, jobs have started, and I am more confident about where I am going. It is finally sinking in that I am not a tourist any more. I have begun to develop routines, and to truly adjust to my life in Boston. I did get a chance to do some more exploring and had a few more adventures before settling down in my little world of Boston. First, I went to the former home of August St. Gaudens, an artist who is particularly famous for his sculptures and coin faces. He is responsible for some of the most famous coin faces in the US, particularly the double eagle gold piece, as well as several Civil War statues. Next I went to visit the town of Kennebunkport, Maine. Where I got my first taste of New England’s famous rocky coastlines. Finally, I returned to the cape and to one last dip in the Atlantic Ocean. As I got out of the water, I witnessed a very interesting…
Getting To Know Boston
Posted September 27, 2017 by Josie Snow
These next two years will be full of learning experiences for me, and I am looking forward to that. Already, I have learned a few things. Did you know that Boston is where America’s first public school was founded? Or that 75-80% ground the city is resting on is man-made? Have you ever heard of the Boston Harbor clean-up project? Here are some of my initial impressions of Boston. Things I love: All the history: Guys, I got to visit some of the most important places of the American Revolution! I climbed Bunker Hill (and Breeds’ Hill) I have seen replicas of the boat that tea was tossed from during the tea party. I live in a building built hundreds of years ago. It makes my heart sing. The student environment: Boston is one of the biggest college towns in the nation. According to a 2011 publication by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston is home to 35 colleges, universities or community colleges and there are more than 150,000 students enrolled in those institutions. So whether…
Riding The (Heat) Waves – In Boston
Posted July 14, 2017 by Elizabeth Jarcy
It’s official: summer is HERE, and hotter than ever. Coming from Texas, I’m used to the humidity and heat, but not walking around in it – Texas is too big to walk so everyone drives! But here in the ‘Walking City’, I’ve had to adjust to hoofing it wherever I need to go. The MBTA is a blessing and a curse – sometimes the air conditioning is a gift, but other times when the AC is not working it can be a cruel joke. That said, summer in Boston is actually very lovely, as it not only gives me a reprieve from classwork, but lets me actually explore the city I’ve been living in for almost a year. As a SLIS student, museums and libraries are obviously at the top of my list of things to do, and Boston is jam-packed with incredible institutions. The Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Cambridge Public Library are my top three, although I do like visiting local branches and see how everyday people like me are…
Lit Crawl, Book Fest, Maybe Zombies
Posted October 14, 2016 by Tara Pealer
I would like to introduce you to the Boston Lit Crawl, an inaugural event which is occurring on the eve of the Boston Book Fest weekend. Boston Lit Crawl is happening tonight, October 13th, from 6:30 to 8:30 ish. There are 14 events, and you can either go to one event each round or crawl around getting free drinks, free food, and great company. There are events like the Wheel of Austen (Improv! Comedy! Jane Austen! Maybe zombies!), the Exquisite Corpse (remember that game you played in elementary school where someone wrote the first line and then you wrote the next and it went around? It’s like that, but it’s adults with alcohol), and a Boston Lit Crawl ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ for attendees to check out. And there will be free food and drinks at some places–it’s like someone crawled inside my brain and rattled around to create an event which sounds like my ideal way to spend a night. There’s also a reading at the Granbury Burying Ground to close the night….
Moving Day: A Preview
Posted August 10, 2016 by Tara Pealer
It’s almost halfway through August, which should mean that anyone moving into or out of Boston should be planning how to attack Move In Day. Facebook just told me that this time last year, I was trying to convince family and friends to do the heavy lifting by offering them pizza and alcohol. That’s approximately as much planning as I did. I didn’t even order the pizza until we were done moving things in. I did figure out how not to move on ‘move in day’ by taking a train to last year’s orientation and crashing at my older sister’s house. For those of you moving into Boston, Move In Day officially begins September 1st. Boston is a college city, and college students are always moving. According to a real estate article from 2014, Beacon Hill has an 80% turnover rate for apartments. In 2010, a little over 9000 people lived there. So imagine 7,200 people trying to move in about one square mile from one apartment to another, and you get a pretty solid…
Three Fun Places in Boston
Posted July 7, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
For the first time in months, I took some time yesterday to simply walk around Boston and visit a few of my favorite locations within the city. While I probably should have picked a cooler day (yesterday was HOT!), it was still nice to just take some time to enjoy sites that are unique to Boston. If you have not had an opportunity to visit any of the following locations, I strongly suggest you do. They are a part of what makes Boston special and are as notable to city as Central Park is to New York City. Beacon Hill: I started my day over in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Boston. With history extending as far back as the early 1600s, the neighborhood of Beacon Hill predominately features federal-style houses build during the nineteenth century. I love this neighborhood; while walking around its brick sidewalks and narrow streets one can easily forget that there is a modern city just a few streets away. The Charles Street area is where the old neighborhood and the…
Farmer’s Markets of Summer in Boston
Posted June 10, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
June is one of my favorite months of the year. In the past, it used to signify the official end of the academic year. Since moving to Boston, June has come to mark the beginning of farmer’s market season! As a lover of all things related to food, farmer’s markets are like catnip to me. I absolutely love wandering through markets like SoWa, the Boston Copley Farmers Market, and the Haymarket Square Farmer’s Market and talking with the vendors about their produce. The fact that you can buy an amazing amount of fruits and vegetables for just $10 doesn’t hurt either. Whether it is your first spring in Boston or not, you definitely should check out a few of these farmers markets while you can. This past week I’ve been nose deep in books that discuss the history of New England cuisine. At the same time, I’ve been spending my Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Schlesinger Library reading through the letters of Arthur Nichols, as a means of learning about the late nineteenth and…
Wandering Boston Gardens
Posted June 2, 2016 by Tara Pealer
Since the spring semester ended, I started a new job, Boston got hit by a heat wave, and I’ve been bouncing back and forth from Boston to CT to handle a few things, like getting an air conditioner and getting my dog vaccinated. However, because it is finally summertime, I’ve been doing my best to walk around Boston and just get to know more of the city. Recently, I’ve been wandering aimlessly and stumbling into some of Boston’s cultivated green spaces. For example: (On the top is the Rose Garden near Simmons, and the bottom is in the financial area near Downtown Crossing) My undergraduate degree in American Studies focused heavily on the history of the environment and environmentalist movements of New England, so I’m always fascinated by these green spaces. A pretty amazing book that discusses Boston’s green spaces in particular is Michael Rawson’s Eden on the Charles. Rawson takes a serious look at green spaces like the Boston Common and this economic, socio-cultural and historical influences which shaped it from an area for cows…