12.30.08
Boston: Day 1
So I’m currently settling in at my hotel room in Boston. For those of you that don’t know, I left North Carolina on December 20th for home (Mississippi) for the holidays. I spent ten days there with family, which I really enjoyed despite coming down with Strep throat on Christmas day! It brought back memories from my time in Mexico, actually. (Back-story: Though I didn’t write about it at the time because I didn’t want my family to worry, I actually contracted typhoid fever and E. coli poisoning when I was in Mexico. Of course Strep throat wasn’t as bad as either of those, but it made me sad that I was sick when I wanted to be spending time with my family. In Mexico, I felt very sorry that my host family had this sick American kid in their house! And this Christmas, I felt bad that I had to spend a couple of days in my bedroom while everyone that wanted to visit with me had to be elsewhere. Oh well, that’s life! I still got to spend some quality time with everyone before I left.)
So anyway, now I’m in Boston! I’m technically here for work reasons, but I flew in early to get a feel for the city. I’ve been inexplicably infatuated with Boston for a while now, and who knows, I may end up here for grad school. Anyway, I’m here because I’m to attend the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) on Jan 3-7. There are lots of cool talks that I plan to attend, and I can’t wait to meet some students from various graduate programs I’m interested in as well as some great scientists that I know will be attending. On the 5th I have to give a short talk on some of my lab’s research. I’m excited about that as well, and perhaps a little bit nervous. But I know that our project was very cool, very integrative, and very well done, so I’m sure someone out there will be interested. More on this later!
I flew in today around noon. Flying in actually reminded me a lot of when I flew into Venice. Before we landed we had to fly out over the ocean, then turn around and fly towards land to hit the airport runway. When I flew into Venice, I recall looking out the window during our descent and beginning to think that we were going to hit the water! Then, just as we were about to touch down, land appeared. Of course it makes sense considering that Venice is on a bunch of tiny islands.
Though I haven’t explored very much at all, here are my first impressions of Boston: I LOVE IT! I’m staying at the Omni Parker House Hotel, and it is super nice and the folks here are very accommodating. I took a quick walk around the block just to take in my surroundings, and if the rest of Boston is anything like the area I’m in now, I know I’ll be pleased with my visit. From what I’ve seen thus far, Boston seems to have the perfect mix between “old” and “new.” The modernity of the city is perfectly complemented by the historical sights. While walking to the CVS, for instance, I passed what looked like a 200-year-old cemetery. I definitely plan to go back later with my camera and have a closer look. On the other side of the road I saw a group of guys carving a 12 foot ice sculpture! Very cool. Hopefully it’ll be finished the next time I go by.
I know that I’ve already mentioned memories from two of my previous travels in this post, but there is one more I have to evoke. Sara, a friend I met when I was studying abroad in London, is now studying and working in Boston. She was in London at the same time I was to study theater, and we met in our London Theatre class. Sara has been kind enough to offer to show me around the city, and I can’t wait to see her! I can hardly believe it’s been just over two years since we’ve hung out. Tonight we’re going to an Indian restaurant to eat and have some hookah (which reminds me of the night we spent celebrating her birthday in London with our good friend Gisela), and tomorrow we’re going to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. I can’t wait!
Okay, more to come from Boston! Happy holidays everyone!
-j
