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Tag: Boston

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By anthonyscheergwu

Since school was closed Monday for Presidents Day I decided to take the opportunity to travel somewhere, and somehow, I ended up in Boston. Apparently my Burmese friends want to go to places that are even colder than DC...

I had a lot of time since my flight was at 7:30pm so I decided to try the electric scooters, and I ended up going from GWU to Union station with it. The trip ended up costing me more than taking an Uber, so I wouldn't recommend it. I took the MARC train to the airport and got there much faster than I expected (if you want to save money, fly out from Baltimore it’s much cheaper than Dulles).

I landed in Boston at 9pm and quickly realized that city is very proud of their NFL team. I wasn't expecting this, but the high of winning the Superbowl persisted as I saw tons of people wearing Patriots clothing.

Friday morning my friends were sleeping, so I decided to head to the center of Boston and walk around the city center, and meet them for lunch later on. I decided to take the bus but I didn’t have cash nor a travel card so I was planning on showing the driver my card from DC and asking him for a free ride into the city so I could get a “Charlie card” there. When the bus arrived an old lady had a hard time getting off, so I helped her get on the sidewalk. I then reached for my wallet to take out my DC card as I walked into the bus and the driver said, “You’re not paying for this ride, god bless you” which was pretty convenient. During the rest of my trip there I noticed that Bostonians were quite friendly compared to Parisians.

I met up with my friends by noon and since some of us were first-timers in Boston we headed to Quincy market. Since Boston is known for their lobster rolls, I tried it and honestly if you’ve had lobster and bread before you aren’t missing out on much. Not saying it’s bad but it’s nothing spectacular. After the market, we headed to the harbor which was really beautiful, the mix of old and new architecture is pretty spectacular in Boston. In my remaining 3 days there I visited Cambridge, the Harvard campus, Boston commons, and spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the city. I’ll say this one more time, Boston is beautiful and I definitely recommend visiting this city!

Now for the less “touristy” aspects of my trip: During my 4 days in Boston I managed to go to IHOP twice and both times at 3 in the morning. I discovered that Burger King sells 10 nuggets for 1 dollar. I saw some of my high-school friends and we managed to gather 19 Burmese people at Harvard for a reunion (here’s a picture of all of us). It was great to see my childhood friends and hang around Boston with them!

On Monday I took the bus to New York, managed to visit Times Square for 20 minutes and take another bus back to DC after (I saved a lot of money taking the bus back but I wouldn’t recommend it if you plan on doing it only). I’ve been to New York twice now but spent a total of about 2 hours in the city so next weekend I’m going there for a few days!

Also, I was told that licking the shoe of the John Harvard statue would bring me good luck so hopefully I won’t fail my midterms now!

*I didn’t actually lick the shoe in case it wasn’t obvious that I was making a joke.

Published on

By itsmaggiegwu

"Hey, come check this out!"I wearily looked outside the window of the hostel as the other resident pulled up the blinds. White specks fell from the sky. It was falling more slowly and that's how I knew it was snow. The cold weather settled in and it was the perfect day to set up camp inside a small coffee shop a few blocks from the hostel. I have been in Boston since Friday afternoon and I decided to take a break from sight seeing. The last stretch of the exchange program and I was starting to get a little stressed out. Besides thinking about finals, there was also planning the post-exchange travels, making a video for the scholarship, and amongst all of that, trying to think about new start-up ideas. 

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Boston was wonderful. And being here for the first time, I went on to tick off most of the "Top 10 Things to Do in Boston" list on Tripadvisor. Nearly everything was within walking distance with the exception of Cambridge (which was definitely possible but I wanted to save time). A visit to Harvard and MIT was a must, given how famous they were. Harvard even offered free tours at the start of every hour for tourists and prospective students alike. It was led by a senior student who gave a balanced tour on fun facts and need-to-know facts. For example, did you know that Harvard College was the first institution to successfully sue the U.S. government as a result of negligence use of one of their buildings during the Revolution by George Washington and his soldiers? The colonial architecture was spread throughout the campus. Memorial Hall, which supposedly looks the same as the dining hall in Harry Potter was unfortunately closed off to visitors.

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What I loved about this trip was the amount of new knowledge I obtained about the American Revolution, specifically the people and events that transpired that sparked the American people to fight for their freedom and liberty. I followed the Freedom trail (a literal trail that runs through Boston in the form of blue and red bricks on the ground)  and visited the various museums which displayed information regarding The Boston Massacre and later the Boston Tea Party. The Old South Meeting House, Old State House and Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Quincy Market, Old North Church, and finally Bunker Hill Monument were a series of destinations along this trail. As night fell, I entered the Paul Revere House to be greeted with hot apple cider drinks and other 18th Century sweets.

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As I sit at the airport typing out this week's post, I am taken back to reality. Exchange has flown past faster than I ever imagined.

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