On my own

Today was my first day in Boston all by myself.  I do miss my dad and brother, but it was a nice slow paced day.  As I was walking the streets of Harvard Square today, I realized this is the first time I have truly ventured out on my own.  My move to Hattiesburg was semi by myself; however, I knew that 2 of my roomies were Auburn fans, so it was just an extension of my Auburn family.  So far, I am enjoying the new life up here, and I hope to keep experiencing new things.

As I said, today was a slow paced day.  I slept in until 10:00 and then took my time getting ready.  I ventured into Harvard Square to do some exploring.  There are soooooooo many neat little stores in the area.  I would describe it as a downtown Auburn on steroids (for those of you familiar with Auburn).  It's a good thing I will be busy with work most of the time, because shopping is fabulous here!  I went in a used record store, a used book store, a cool shoe store(which had Uggs for 20% off but I resisted), Urban Outfitters(my all time fav), and a few other stores along the way.  I ended up getting a new shirt for work on Monday and a few souvenirs to send to a few people.  The weather was awesome, not too hot and a nice breeze with very little humidity.  Then I headed back home, and had a lazy afternoon/evening.  The breeze coming in through the windows was so nice that I curled up on the couch with a book.  Ahhh, it is been such a relaxing day after a few weeks of craziness!

As promised, I charged my camera and took a few pics of the house.  Hope you enjoy them:

Welcome to 1 Rena Street!  My room is the top widow.

Living room

Dining room

Kitchen

This is the bathroom that is shared by all!

This is a view of the steep stairs from the top that lead to my room

My room

Other side of my room

My savior, the window fan

If you recall the story about my dad and the neighbor, this is the door he walked in!

Well that is about it for my day today.  I am going to continue enjoying the weather and my book!  Story for the day:  I think I am beginning to appear to be a native Bostonian, because I was asked 3, yes 3, times for directions today!  And. . . . I was actually able to tell the people where to go!!  Once they heard me talk I am sure they realized I was not from here, but I felt special anyway just being asked!

Until next time!

Welcome to Hahvahd!!

Well, I have had eventful days the last two days, and it is time to share these adventures!  I will start with a little something I learned first.  I now have an understanding of the Boston accent.  Basically take the R out of words and replace them with AH, that is why I spell Harvard like Hahvahd.

Now, yesterday: The day began with a visit to my new job.  I met with my boss (who seems extremely nice!) and got to see my office and the facilities.  I think the job is gong to be pretty cool, but I will be extremely busy.  But I am excited to dive right in and get to it!  For those of you who don't know what I will be doing, my job is with Harvard's Athletic Department.  I will work as a Special Events Intern, which is basically event management for any sporting events that happen on campus.  I am sure I will have tons of fun stories about the new sports I get to experience, such as crew and fencing.

After this, my dad, brother and I headed into Harvard Square to get a tour of campus.  There are students who have started a tour organization, and they run solely off tips.  They did an amazing job on the tour, and I learned a lot about the history of Harvard.  We got to see dorms where Matt Damon and also a lot of presidents lived while at Harvard.  Here are some of the pics I took (I still haven't charged my camera so these are phone pics):

Gate onto campus.  This isn't the main gate but a side gate.  Students attending Harvard can only go in the main gate 2 times while at Harvard, when they start as freshmen and when they graduate.  Since our tour guides were students, we couldn't walk through the main gate.

This is a statue that is suppose to be John Harvard; however, when one of the libraries on campus burned down that contained all of his old belongings all of his pictures were burned.  When this statue was built they had no picture to model the statue after, so there are a few different people who they think this statue is shaped like.  No one knows for sure though.  People rub his toe for luck; however the students think it is funny to pee on the statue and watch the tourists then rub it later.  My hands didn't go anywhere near the toe!

For those of you Auburn Graduates/students who are reading this, you should all know that Auburn has the second largest on campus library.  This is the only one that is bigger!  This library was built to honor a student who went to Harvard that died on the Titanic.  The student went on a rare book finding journey through Europe, and took the Titanic back to America.  He had a 1st class ticket and was seated on a lifeboat safe and sound.  He then realized that he had left the books he found in his cabin, so he jumped off the lifeboat and ran back for his books.  Sadly, he and his books went down with the ship.  His family gave an endowment for this library to be built, with 3 stipulations: 1. No bricks or mortar can ever be removed from this library(meaning they can't knock it down and build another building for someone else) 2. They have to have a room that only two people can enter, a curator to place a fresh flower in the room every day and the ghost of the student who it is built for. 3. Harvard had to require all students to take a swim test as an admission requirement, because the parents felt that if their son knew how to swim he would have been able to swim back to America.  This library may not look large from outside, but it actually extends 6 stories below ground, and has 57 miles of bookshelves inside!

This is a dorm where a very famous person lived, Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber!

After our lovely tour of campus, we grabbed some lunch and did some grocery shopping.  Since I won't have a car here, I will have to walk to the grocery store.  So I went ahead and stocked up on some stuff while I still have my dad here to drive.  Then we jumped on the T and headed towards Fenway.  The game was a lot of fun, and I got to enjoy some delicious ballpark food.  Sadly, the Red Sox lost 9-1, but we still enjoyed the experience.  A few pics from the game:

During the game

My yummy Italian Sausage Dog and fries!

After the game I came back home and hung out with the new roomies for a little while.  I had met them all, but this time we actually had time to sit and talk.  They seem like a great group of people, and they are all northerners!  Two are from Maine, one is from Boston, and the other is from Up-state New York.  I think we are all going to have a blast living together. Then I hit the sack to get ready for today!

Today was a little bit more laid back, and I slept in a little bit later which was nice.  We went to the Harvard University Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum in the morning.  Here are a few pics from that:

My worst nightmare, a display case full of moths!  Who would do this for a living??

Hedwig from Harry Potter decided to take up residence in the museum!

Big Moose

Auburn Tiger

I would not want to have a run-in with this sucker!

Native American art work

And some more art.

Well, after the museums, we were going to try and walk around downtown some; however, the sky decided to fall out.  Instead we hung out at the Days Inn, and then ate at the Joyful Garden (a Chinese restaurant in the hotel).  Then we went to Best Buy and I loaded up on some essentials, a webcam for Skype so people don't forget what I look like and a GPS for walking.  That pretty much sums up my last two days!  I promise to charge my camera and get some good pics of my house to post!

My fun northern experience for the day:  I am enjoying living up here so far, but things are a little different up here.  I grew up in a very hot and humid climate, and I learned to rely on air conditioning.  However, in Boston people don't see the need for it.  Therefore my room has no AC, so I am now a proud owner of a large fan that sits in front of my open window.  I thought the weather would be extremely cool, but it was around 90 yesterday with very high humidity.  Another interesting thing about being in a large city is the lack of laundry rooms inside houses.  I learned that I will have to take my clothes elsewhere to have them washed.  But this gives me a reason to pay someone else to do something I hate!!!

Well until later y'all!!!

Gotta Roll With the Punches

Soooo, life in Boston has begun.  Getting here was quite a process though.  I have learned a lot about flexibility and dealing with stress through my moving process.  My original plan for moving was for me to drive my car and my dad to drive his car, both loaded down with my stuff.  However, on Thursday of last week that plan was crushed by a large pick-up truck.  My poor little car, The Emerald Prison, was hit on the back side while parked outside of my house.  See picture below:

Due to the fact that the trunk would no longer open, and that I was leaving in 2 days, traveling plans had to be changed.  So my dad ended up driving alone with a STUFFED car on Sunday, and my brother and I got to fly on Monday.  Limiting stuff is not something I am very good at, but I had to limit what I was bringing from 2 car loads to 1 car load.  Oh the stress, but I was able to accomplish it!  And luckily we flew Southwest where 2 bags fly free!

After the stress of changing plans at the last minute, I was finally on my way to my new home.  Flying was actually a blessing in disguise, because once I reached Boston I soon realized that I never want to drive in this city.  Confusing, hectic and crazy don't even begin to describe the roads and drivers up here.  I lived in Atlanta for a year and thought driving was bad there, but it doesn't even compare!  So I will happily be walking and using the T everywhere I go up here.

Once I arrived, I came to check out the new home (which I will take pics of later and put on here but my camera battery is currently dead).  It is a really cool house, old but nice.  My room is on the top floor (3 floors basically) and is a perfect size.  I almost had a heart attack because of the itty bitty closet, but I have actually managed to fit more in it that I expected.  My only issue with the house is the number of bathrooms, 1 bathroom for 5 people.  I am not a fan of sharing bathrooms, but we shall see how that goes.

My adventures so far around Boston have included walking around Harvard Square, a tour of Fenway Park, and a walk along the Freedom Trail.  Harvard square is really cool and only about a mile down the road.  It has tons of little shops and restaurants.  Fenway was fun.  My brother is a big Red Sox fan, so he really enjoyed it.  We will be going to a game tomorrow night.  Freedom Trial is a path that takes you all around downtown Boston and tells you about the historical sites.  It's really cool because all of this history is in the middle of new buildings.  I am very excited to go back and explore downtown Boston some more.  Also, more pics of downtown once I charge my camera battery.  I did get a few of Fenway on my phone so I will put those at the bottom.

So far I am enjoying Boston.  I haven't had any run-ins with rude northerners yet; however, my dad has.  I will end with this entertaining story.  My dad arrived in Boston before me and my brother did, so he went to my house first to unload his car so he could pick us up from the airport.  Well my house is split into two houses, and my address is #2.  My dad didn't know this little bit of information.  My roommates left the door unlocked for me to move in that day, so my dad just decided to try both doors.  Well he picked the wrong door and he walked into our neighbors house, which is a man who lives there with his wife, son and grandson.  The man proceeded to yell at my father, even after my dad tried explaining.  He continued to yell "Get out of my house" at my dad until my dad closed his door and left.  I thought this was a great way for my dad to be introduced to my new home!

Anyway, until next time!  I hope to have some new experiences to share soon!  See the pics of Fenway below:

Getting ready for the big move!

Just wanted to introduce myself and set the stage for future blogging!  My name is Emily and I currently live in Hattiesburg, MS.  I recently finished Grad School at University of Southern Mississippi, and it's now time to enter the working world.  I have accepted an internship with Harvard Athletics, so this blog will be about my adventures this year in Boston, MA.

To begin my journey I have begun the process of finding somewhere to live, getting ready to say goodbye to my dog Maxwell, and packing.  I found an apartment on Craiglist, which I will let you now how that works out once I move in.  Max is going to live with my parents for the year, and I am going to have to say goodbye soon.  And the packing is beginning to make me crazy, but it is almost complete.  I will be moving on August 1st, so I will pick back up then with details about how the move goes!

This is Maxwell!