Digital Analogue

Weekend in Boston

Friday morning I got up and dressed and walked down to the train station, catching the Boston-bound commuter train with about a minute to spare. Matt gave me directions from Porter Square and met me on the route. After dropping off my stuff in his room, we went back out to meet his friends Anthony and Anne, and the four of us went to the North End to eat at this fantastic little restaurant called Pagliuca's; then we picked up dessert to go from Mike's Pastries (which we ended up not eating until Saturday night, but the carrot cake was excellent). We hung out and talked that evening and then got dinner at the delightfully-named Thirsty Scholar, a pub on Beacon Street more or less straight east of Harvard Square. I had fish and chips and---based on the location and the fact that I'd just ordered fish and chips---a pint of Bass.

Saturday we initially planned that I would head out and wander around seeing museums or something while Matt got some work done, but then Molly and Michelle from Brown called, and we met them at Harvard Square and Matt gave them (and me) a tour of the Harvard campus as well as that of the nearby Episcopalian seminary and Weston Jesuit thingy. We went to Candlemas at St Paul's (the nearby parish and official Harvard Catholic church), where we met up with Emi Iwatani and Matt's flatmate Chris. Afterwards, we went to Pho' Pasteur, a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant in Harvard Square that I'd been to once before. We adjourned to Emi's apartment, where we sat and talked until like 3 in the morning. I met Kristina Arvanitis, who was opinions editor on the BDH a couple years ago and on UCS, and is a really funny and enjoyable person to talk to.

Sunday was a bit more sedate. I woke up when Matt told me about Saddam's discovery (about which more later). Again with the plan for me to go out while he worked, but we got pizza for "lunch" around three in the afternoon, by which time the snow had started and I didn't feel like wandering around. Eventually we both went to the Div School library, which is open to the public, and I read a book while he worked. (I also kept him awake as he started to nod off. ;) Went back to the apartment, made soup, and talked for the rest of the evening.

Monday morning I got up well before dawn, made my way to Providence, had breakfast with Shriram and Kathi, where I had a great conversation about pedagogical technique, research, and liberal arts schools. And then I caught a bus to the plane, which got delayed due to O'Hare being fogbound, so I never made it to Galesburg, and I stayed in Palatine---making it easier to see the midnight premiere of Return of the King tonight. :)

"Do you think we wear bras because you think they're cute? Because that's really not why we wear them." --Angela Feraco