3D2N Boston (Warning: Long Post)

Hi All,

i'm back from Boston! (well technically, i'm writing this blog entry while i'm on my bus trip back from Boston). The trip in Boston has been fabulous and I think its due to a combination of various factors. Having a nice friend (yun weizhong) to bring me around, having a group of nice roommates (technically weizhong's roommates) and having a nice city for me to visit. Here's a summary of what i did. I took 123 pictures, visited downtown Boston, Harvard, MIT, ate coldstone ice cream, legal sea foods and Cheesecake factory. Well here's the full story (trust me, its going to be long, i've got 4 hours)...

I left for Boston on Friday afternoon. Right after my econs class at 12pm, i made my way to center city (philadelphia) to "catch" the 1pm Chinatown bus. The bus ride was more or less comfortable with only 4 passengers on the bus. It took me a bit less than 2 hours to reach New York City Chinatown. Not wanting to lose a single minute, i ran around in Chinatown in search of the Chinatown bus (Fung Wah or Lucky Star) leaving for Boston. After about a 5 minute dash around Chinatown, i was just in time to catch the 3pm bus which was (already) leaving for Boston. I stopped the bus and hoped on as one of the last passengers (well, there were a few more people who got on after me, thanks to me stopping the bus). The next 5 and a half hours was gruesome. The bus ride from New York to Boston was supposed to take 4 hrs. However, due to a traffic accident resulting in a jam, it took me 5.5 hrs. The ride was boring as a drifted in and out of sleep (as well as drifting in and out of my book, my notes, my textbook and 1 game of DOTA).

Ok, what's up next is the interesting part. I arrived at Boston! Boston is really quite a nice place. I arrived at around 830pm and was welcomed by my dear friend weizhong. He then brought me to a japanese (but having chinese waiteresses) steamboat place. The dinner was not bad and I met some of his new friends in Boston. They were Ryan (Born in Tianjin, China, grew up in Australia), Lavender (Born in Fujian, China studying in HK) and Anthony (Born and studying in HK). A group of nice people. We then ended dinner with desert and Coldstone.

My Coldstone ice cream

After i got back to Weizhong's place (his dorm room at Babson College), i got to meet his roommates. Another bunch of nice guys. Arghz, wished i could have made good friends like this at Penn (well there were some lah, but mostly singaporeans). Ok here's the bunch of them, Billy (his Resident Assistant cum SUPER NICE GUY), Luilly (pronounced as Luigi and another funny guy who wants to be a marine, you'll laff when you see him), Walt (I only met him later in the night), Won (I only met him on Saturday night) and Jukka (I only met him on sunday morning).
Nonetheless, I played Beer Pong with Luilly only to end the game with me losing. Fortunately, I only lost by 1 cup. Well, for those who dunno the game Beer Pong, its where you try to throw a Ping Pong ball into your opponent's beer cup. There is a rack (like pool) where you try to get as many in as possible. Well for details, check out google. After hanging out and chilling out for a while, we all fell asleep at 2 plus.

The next day was spent fully on touring Boston. Unfortunately, I only have 1 full-day to tour the place. Nonetheless I loved it. Downtown Boston is comparable to Chicago. Its clean, nice architecture (with lots of churches) and has a nice shopping area (makes me totally shy of what i have in Philadelphia). Nonetheless, there was ONE very important factor which was quite problematic. I met one of the coldest times in Boston. IT WAS -10 DEGREES CELCIUS!. Weizhong and I suffered in the cold for the whole day. But still, the tour was good.

We arrived at Boston Downtown at around 1130am. We then took the 12pm ducktours around Boston. It was about 2 hours long and it brought me around Boston. I got to see the history of Boston (the various churches and old buildings) and I also took a small dip (in the Duck of course) in the Charles River. The Charles River divides downtown Boston with the Cambridge "suburb". Cambridge area is where the all-famous Harvard and MIT is located. I'll tell you more about the place later. After the short dip, we ended the tour after a few rounds around the downtown. Well, just like what weizhong said, I was discounted for the duck tours coz i didn't have the chance to walk around downtown on foot which would have given me a much better view of the place.

Prudential Center (their shopping mall)

An old building in Boston Downtown

View from the duck on Charles River

The Duck Tours Booth

The duck

Boston Public Library

Harvard

Well, after lunch in a supermarket, we made our way via the metro (they call it the "T") to the cambridge area. Just a bit on the metro. Its one of the cleanest metro i've ever seen in the US. The system is efficient, has clean stations and the operator (the only one i met) was friendly. Well, kudos to Charlie (that's what they call the transport system in Boston). Ok, it took me about 10minutes and I arrived at Harvard station. As a emerged from the metro station, I see harvard square. Well, harvard square is really nice with shops and stuff around. The nice feeling i get is probably due to the nice red colored shophouses present in the area. Weizhong and I then made our way to the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Well, in terms of the environment and the look of the place, Harvard totally trash watever Penn has. The place is clean, well maintained and comfortable. Frankly, it gives me a feeling that I was in Europe. Although I've not been there, but this would be how i would imagine Europe to be. Victorian buildings, quiet and cosy. Well, we then walked around and took some pictures of the various buildings (see below). We also tried to do the SMU jump outside the Blooberg Center (its just a Harvard Building that was sponsored by Michael Bloomberg, nothing directly related to the company). After that, we made our way around to the undergraduate portion of the school. I tried to find the Econs dept and only 1 out of 10 passersby knew where the Econs dept was (and he was unsure of which it was too). One point about the people i met at Harvard. The people were generally not very friendly. Weizhong and I concluded that they are probably snobbish but I'll keep my reservations until I do get a chance to study there / or a chance to interact on a more personal level with one. After taking a picture of the School of Public Administration (where the dept of econs is), we left for MIT after visiting the John Harvard statue.

On the way to harvard on the bridge

Harvard Square

The gate to Soldier's Field @ Harvard (their stadium)

Bloomberg Building @ Harvard

Near to the executive MBA school @ Harvard

Along Charles River

Along Charles River (trying to do an SMU jump)

One of the buildings in Harvard Quad

A Harvard Church

School of Public Administration (housing the econs dept)

John Harvard Statue

Metro Station @ Harvard

MIT

Next up, we have MIT. Well, although many people tell me that the buildings in Harvard is better looking than MIT (and I have to agree), i actually liked my visit to MIT more. It was already nightfall when i was at MIT (remember nightfall in Boston at this time of the year is at 4 to 5pm). As the temperature was almost killing us, we bumped around in the campus and sneaked into the school buildings (unlike Harvard, the buildings in MIT were accessible freely). We walked around the campus and trust me, now i know why they have the brightest minds in the world. After entering into the building (we entered from the backdoor, so we din know that were were in the dome building that was famous for MIT), we entered the basement hosting the material science and I would think Quantum physics area. Whoa, it totally reminds me of my A level physics. The area was damn damn damn cool lah... It made research cool and it really looked like what you see in the movies. Long corridors and cool looking research facilities. Weizhong claimed that it looks like those underground holding facility in the Holocaust and I actually think so too. After going to the 1st floor, we actually bumped into the mathematics dept and the alumni area. Whoa, another happening area. The students that we saw were like super intelligent-looking (i actually overheard their conversations and it does sound like intelligent exchanges of knowledge). We then walked around and were greated by the various noticeboards of the different departments (music, math, physics, etc). well, all I can say about this place is that although the people looked like the typical "bookworm" kind, I think they are really super intelligent and maybe more humble than the Harvard people. Finally, we made our way to the Sloan School of business (where the econs dept was too) and explored abit. I went to the door of the Econs dept and that was the furthest I could reach. Imagine the number of intelligent professors in there man!

Welcome to MIT

History of Math Poster @ MIT

Economics Poster @ MIT

The Dome @ MIT (w/o me)

The MIT Dome (with me)

The Chemists

I wonder... (its a material engineering prof i think)

The economics dept @ MIT

MIT metro Station

We then made our way to Legal sea foods. legal sea foods is a franchise seafood place in Boston. Its something like Fish&Co just that its more posh and served more expensive stuff. We had the all famous Boston New England Clam Chowder, Fried Calamari and the Shrimps and Garlic (a spaghetti dish). Its really not bad. It would be a recommendation when you get to Boston. Its seriously full most of the time.

my meal @ Legal Sea Foods

At around 830pm, We made our way back to Weizhong's place. Weizhong was supposed to do his project but fell asleep after a few drinks with Luilly. I stayed up till 2am to finish some work and clear some emails. I then fell asleep in a super comfy sofa bed at Weizhong's hostel.

Sunday was seriously not much. We left Weizhong's hostel at around 11am and took a few pictures of Babson. According to Weizhong, Babson is a private school and it is US number one in terms of Entrepreneurship. Well, basically everyone here majors in Entrepreneurship. Well, the school only has about 1000+ students but I think the people that I've met really gave me a good impression of the place. Back to Sunday. We left Babson at 12pm and reached Boston Downtown at 1250pm. We grabbed cheesecake from cheesecake factory and made our way to south station terminal. I arrived at around 130pm and immediately boarded the Lucky Star back to NYC. I will probably reach Philly at 830pm i guess. Well, that's it for my wonderful boston trip. I'll just leave you with some pics of Babson and Boston.

The globe @ Babson

International Flags @ Babson

Babson Main Building

Yupz... that's it folks! I'll be going Florida (i.e. Disney world and Miami Beach) this coming weekend!