At Long Last

OK, here it is, the Boston report:

First of all, I went to Boston with my sister Aimee. We flew Southwest into Providence, then drove to Boston. Well, the first thing we did was stop for food at a restaurant called Friendly's (they're all over out there). I got fish and chips, and then we ordered this huge sundae. Anyway, we discovered that Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering was on the way to the hotel, so we stopped by to look around. It was really cool. The campus is all brand new, with really neat looking architecture. Then we continued to the hotel, the Radisson Woburn. When we got there, I watched Knight Rider on TV, prompting one of my sister's best quotes, "It's not science fiction, it's technical fiction." Anyway, later on we went to see "Seabiscuit." It was good. Anyway, the next day, we got up and tried to make it to the 10 AM info session at Harvard, but were late, so we just walked around awhile. Then we had lunch downtown and headed out to Olin. It's really cool. First of all, they give you a full-tuition scholarship. The facilities are brand-new, they emphasize hands-on learning, and the dorm rooms are really nice.

The next day, we got up and went to see the Harvard info session and go on the tour. It was kind of cool to see all of the really old buildings, but I don't know that I would like to go there. I just didn't like the feel of the campus. The tour was full of old stories and superstitions. I don't know, it just didn't seem like the place for me. Plus, Harvard has a cross-registration agreement with MIT...

MIT was cool. We started out by having lunch at the student center, then went to the east side of campus for the info session and tour. Something I learned is that the term "hacking" originated at MIT. And at MIT, hacking has nothing to do with computers. Hacks are these great pranks that people pull at MIT. They just have to be nondestructive, creative, and anonymous. Somebody put an MIT campus police car on top of the great dome, somebody else ruined the Harvard-Yale football game, and somebody upstaged the Boston Pops by turning the Green building (tallest building in Cambridge) into a giant equalizer. MIT really sounded like a great place.

During the rest of our stay, we also visited the Museum of Science. It didn't hold a candle to MSI, but it was fun. We also saw the city from high up at the Skywalk Observatory, and visited the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. We ate in a lot of restaurants. We also saw a couple strange traffic lights: red over yellow and a flashing green. Very strange. I really enjoyed the trip, though, and could very easily see myself going to college in such a city.

If you want any more details, email me.