For all good things, the end must come. Such is the case for this vacation. Our last day truly sightseeing was Wednesday, where we drove to and visited Rhode Island for the day. Our first stop was Providence, the capital and location of Brown University. It was about an hour or so drive from Boston, which was something I liked about New England in general - everything you could want to go to is only a few hour drive away at most. One of the first things you see when you enter the city is its strange capital building, whose dome seems unpropotional to the rest of the building and is topped with (according to our guide book) by the Free Man or something symbolic like that. From our quick drive through the city, it seemed quite picturesque, much like the campus of Brown. When we arrived for the tour, we attempted to check in, but were informed at the desk that it wasn't necessary. As a result of this practice, there was a huge crowd of people waiting to take a tour (it may have had something to do with the fact that so many people were on Spring Break), and only four tour guides. The one that we picked was actually a freshman, which seemed kind of weird, but we thought that since she was majoring in engineering, she could be helpful in that area. But as a result of either her inexperience or the large group, she seemed to be a little flustered. I also couldn't hear a word she said for half the time. But as I said before, the campus was pretty... From there, we went to this information session, which while interesting, wasn't very informative. I also didn't really like a selling point they made - their academic flexibility. It seem a little to unstructured to me. On the good side, though, we did get some delicious almond croissant on campus that were made by this high end bakery in Providence :)
After leaving Brown in a hurry - because our meter had run out, and apparently we couldn't move - and forgetting to buy any t-shirts (thus ending my college t-shirt buying spree), we drove to Newport to visit the famous mansions there. The first one we went to was the Breakers, which was very impressive and opulent to the point of almost being gaudy. Once we got inside, we were given these audio tours that would describe each room in detail, and allowed us to move at our own pace. Even though I kept on pushing in the wrong numbers, I actually like this system, especially after our poor tour experience at Brown. After walking leisurely through the entire house (and listening to every single recording), I went around to the back of the "summer cottage", which was equally impressive, if covered with geese droppings. Naturally, I had to take a bunch of pictures of the outside (to compensate for the fact that you couldn't take pictures inside), and of course, the camera has to die on me! The audacity! This appalling action meant that we were in a pressing position - we hadn't even finished one tour, and we were one camera short. I guess that's life.
From there, we went to the other Vanderbilt mansion in Newport: Marble House. While smaller than the Breakers, it was just, if not more, fancy. The characters that lived in there - Alva and Consuelo (what kind of a name is that?) Vanderbilt - were much more interesting. I think my mom only took us there because Alva supported women's rights and held suffragists rallies at the house (But still forced her daughter into a loveless marriage - irony, anyone?). Here, I found it interesting to see all the french influences. I guess it was supposed to be an American Versailles, and modelled after le Petit Trianon in Versailles, and you could tell it because there were pictures of Louis XIV and his mistresses or daughters or something all over. And apparently, their children's first language was French, which I found odd, seeing as no one in their family actually was french. Still, it was quite interesting to tour another example of the opulence and extravagance of the Gilded Era.
By this time it was 4:00 PM, which was the time we were supposed to go on a Servants tour at another house in Newport, the Elms. But since we were misled into believing there was another tour at 5 PM and we hadn't eaten lunch, we decided to go eat lunch/dinner at this restaurant recommended at the Breakers. The problem: no one could remember the name of the restaurant, only that it was a yellow building and on Thames Street. So, we wasted an entire thirty minutes of my life searching for the darn restaurant by looking at every yellow building in both directions on that road. We we finally found the restaurant, it was called Brick Alley Pub, and was just as good as the lady said it would be. I got a Ruben sandwich, which was quite tasty. In addition, I mooched off everyone else's dinner - including my brother's ginormous appetizer (?!?)/dinner of nachos. By that time, it was already past 5, so couldn't have gone on that tour of servant's quarters anyway. Instead, we drove around and look at the other fancy houses and creepily taking pictures of people's private homes (not me - my sister).The one thing I noticed was that all these houses were named. Why rich people feel the compuslion to to that, I'll never know. The last thing we did was walk a little on the cliff walk, and then we departed back to Boston.
The next day, yesterday, was when we drove all the way back to Michigan. Let me tell you, it was a long drive to be cooped up with your family. I didn't manage to finish my homework of reading a section of Jane Eyre, but other than that, I was pretty unproductive, as I have been all day today. Since we didn't get in until midnight, we didn't pick up Kingsley until this morning. As always, Kingsley was excited to see us, and jumped all over like you couldn't believe, making all of yesterday's sufferings (? I don't know if that is perhaps the right word) worth it. Now, all I have to do is finish a whole load of Spring Break length homework in two days! Wish me luck.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
MIT Day
As the title suggests, today was focused on a college that I am actually considering applying to: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology...). I wasn't expecting much in the way of the campus, so I was pleasantly expected by its pretty campus. But more on that later. Instead of eating breakfast at our inn, as we have been doing for the past few days, we decided to go out, and try this place called Cafe Luna, which was recommended by the owners of the bed and breakfast. Since it was so close (relatively), we walked there. As I am directionally challenged, I wanted to go in the opposite direction that it was actually in, but by following the only sane one in my family, my dad, we found our way. Once we got there, it was mostly filled up since it was so small, but we found enough seats to sit down. Unfortunately, the other people there were all in one big party, and so used up all of the breakfast menus, so we had to wait a few minutes until we could actually find out what they served. Even though the menu was a bit limited, we all found something that would satisfy us. I got a Belgian waffle topped with fresh fruit. By this time, we were running a little close to the time scheduled at MIT, and were trying to hurry up, so we planned that if we were getting late, I would leave with one of my parents, while the other paid. Of course, as it always turns out, my food was the last to be served, so that plan didn't work out as well as planned.
After scarfing down my waffle (which was delicious, but would have been more so if I had had time to savor it), we sped-walked to the room where the informational session was taking place, which was the first part of our campus visit. Surprisingly, the talk was not only informational, but vaguely amusing. The speaker told us about the Harvard Bridge across the Charles River, which they didn't want their name on it because of poor workmanship, and that they try to inform everyone of their admission status by Pi Day. Afterwards, we went out onto this lawn and were split into groups. Although our tour giver was only so-so, I did like how she would add in some nerd jokes and comments, like this building was 1/8 of a sphere, and one of the dorms was in the shape of a sine wave. Some of the stories about the pranks, called hacks at MIT, played by some students in the past were pretty amusing, as well. My favorite was that someone once put a mock-up of a police car on the roof with a police officer with Dunkin Donuts on the roof of the doom, and it looked so realistic, that the police looked through their cars to make sure none had been taken. From the whole tour, I got the feeling that there was no way to be too nerdy on the campus, that it was part of the atmosphere, and they embraced that fact. I liked that about MIT, not to mention the fact that,as I stated before, the campus is quite picturesque - more so, I thought, than Harvard's. Afterwards, we walked along the Charles River to the MIT Coop to buy some t-shirts (as you can probably see by now, I am buying t-shirts from each college that I visit). My sister got this really cool one that says E/c^2 -- √-1 -- PV/nR. For those who don't like math and science, and/or don't know what that means - it says MIT, as in E/c^2 = m (Einstein's Theory of Relativity), √-1 = i (imaginary numbers), and PV/nR = T (gas laws). Isn't that creative? Pretty much, the selection of t-shirts were full of nerd jokes, which, of course, I found hilarious.
Our plan was then to go to the MIT Museum, but on the way we saw this restaurant that my mom had seen before in planning for the trip. It was this little, neat, green cafe/bakery called Flour. I got a mozzarella, pesto, and tomato sandwich on whole grain bread that they had made there. Needless to say, it was very flavorful and tasty. They also had a huge selection of bakery goods, from cupcakes, to mock-oreos, to chocolate mousse. Everything looked so good, that I couldn't make a decision on what to eat, and so let my family decide and then mooch off them. So, after eating lunch (my sister wouldn't let me eat dessert first, as the restaurant suggests), I had half of the oreo-like snack and part of a peanut butter cookie. Yum! After that, the MIT Museum was pretty disappointing. I mean, some of the stuff there was interesting, but for the most part, I was just distracted and didn't take much interest in the exhibits they had. There was this hologram exhibit at the very end that I thought was cool, but other than that, it was okay. Since we didn't have dinner, I convinced my mom and sister (my brother and dad had deserted us by then) to go to Toscanini's, which is apparently some famous ice cream store. They had weird flavors like Earl Grey, so when I got something that I thought would be normal, like burnt caramel, I was quite surprised when it was this really strong and bitter tasting mess that I didn't want. So, my mom convinced the person to just scoop out a new bowl of my other flavor, Vienna fingers, and everything was good. I know I should have taste-tested, but I thought caramel would have been safe. That's all for today. Tomorrow, we are spending the day in Rhode Island, so that should be fun, if sad, because it's the last real day of our vacation here in the Northeast. Until then!
After scarfing down my waffle (which was delicious, but would have been more so if I had had time to savor it), we sped-walked to the room where the informational session was taking place, which was the first part of our campus visit. Surprisingly, the talk was not only informational, but vaguely amusing. The speaker told us about the Harvard Bridge across the Charles River, which they didn't want their name on it because of poor workmanship, and that they try to inform everyone of their admission status by Pi Day. Afterwards, we went out onto this lawn and were split into groups. Although our tour giver was only so-so, I did like how she would add in some nerd jokes and comments, like this building was 1/8 of a sphere, and one of the dorms was in the shape of a sine wave. Some of the stories about the pranks, called hacks at MIT, played by some students in the past were pretty amusing, as well. My favorite was that someone once put a mock-up of a police car on the roof with a police officer with Dunkin Donuts on the roof of the doom, and it looked so realistic, that the police looked through their cars to make sure none had been taken. From the whole tour, I got the feeling that there was no way to be too nerdy on the campus, that it was part of the atmosphere, and they embraced that fact. I liked that about MIT, not to mention the fact that,as I stated before, the campus is quite picturesque - more so, I thought, than Harvard's. Afterwards, we walked along the Charles River to the MIT Coop to buy some t-shirts (as you can probably see by now, I am buying t-shirts from each college that I visit). My sister got this really cool one that says E/c^2 -- √-1 -- PV/nR. For those who don't like math and science, and/or don't know what that means - it says MIT, as in E/c^2 = m (Einstein's Theory of Relativity), √-1 = i (imaginary numbers), and PV/nR = T (gas laws). Isn't that creative? Pretty much, the selection of t-shirts were full of nerd jokes, which, of course, I found hilarious.
Our plan was then to go to the MIT Museum, but on the way we saw this restaurant that my mom had seen before in planning for the trip. It was this little, neat, green cafe/bakery called Flour. I got a mozzarella, pesto, and tomato sandwich on whole grain bread that they had made there. Needless to say, it was very flavorful and tasty. They also had a huge selection of bakery goods, from cupcakes, to mock-oreos, to chocolate mousse. Everything looked so good, that I couldn't make a decision on what to eat, and so let my family decide and then mooch off them. So, after eating lunch (my sister wouldn't let me eat dessert first, as the restaurant suggests), I had half of the oreo-like snack and part of a peanut butter cookie. Yum! After that, the MIT Museum was pretty disappointing. I mean, some of the stuff there was interesting, but for the most part, I was just distracted and didn't take much interest in the exhibits they had. There was this hologram exhibit at the very end that I thought was cool, but other than that, it was okay. Since we didn't have dinner, I convinced my mom and sister (my brother and dad had deserted us by then) to go to Toscanini's, which is apparently some famous ice cream store. They had weird flavors like Earl Grey, so when I got something that I thought would be normal, like burnt caramel, I was quite surprised when it was this really strong and bitter tasting mess that I didn't want. So, my mom convinced the person to just scoop out a new bowl of my other flavor, Vienna fingers, and everything was good. I know I should have taste-tested, but I thought caramel would have been safe. That's all for today. Tomorrow, we are spending the day in Rhode Island, so that should be fun, if sad, because it's the last real day of our vacation here in the Northeast. Until then!
Days 4 and 5 Pictures
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| Widener Library |
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| Harvard Yard |
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| Harvard Museum of Natural History |
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| MIT original building |
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| weird building on MIT campus |
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| Lunch! |
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| My delicious mozzarella/pesto/tomato sandwich |
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| Dessert! |
Day 3 and 4 Pictures
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| Our residence in Cambridge |
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| Old State House |
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| Faneuil Hall |
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| On the Freedom Trail |
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| Walking towards Paul Revere House |
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| The Freedom Trail line |
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| Bunker Hill Monument (all 294 steps of it) |
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| JFK Library |
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| Gravestones at one of the Freedom Trail Cemeteries |
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| My favorite tombstone...creepy! |
Monday, April 9, 2012
Harvard
Today, we had to get up relatively early for we were going on an early tour at Harvard. Instead of another prospective student tour, like we had at Cornell, my family went on this historical tour of Harvard, which I thought sounded to be more interesting. I mean, it's not like I am actually considering Harvard as a potential school, so why would I go on a prospective student tour? The tour we went on was pretty informative - I learned everything from the fact that John Harvard's book collection was burned down in the 1600s, except for one book that was stolen by the person who forgot to put their candle out, to the fact that the Widener Library was a memorial to an alumnus who died on the Titanic. To me, that was a lot more interesting than how much I am not going to be able to afford to go there. The Harvard Yard was pretty, though - so much so that my sister suggested that I should apply there solely for that fact.
After the tour, we tried to go to the Sackler Museum of Art, since the Fog Museum is closed for renovations, but were turned away because they were closed on Mondays. Who is closed on Mondays? And if they were closed, why were their doors open? It turned out to be okay, because they pointed us in the direction of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which was basically a review of AP Biology. My favorite parts there were the colorful specimens they had, and this exhibit full of glass flowers that looked so real, it was hard to believe that someone could actually make something that intricate out of glass. I thought I was done then, but then realized, that there was another wing to the museum. Luckily, this one was smaller - I don't think my feet could have taken much more.
As is commonly known, walking through museums works up an appetite. Actually finding a place to eat was another matter entirely. You would think there would be a plethora of places to eat in Cambridge, right outside of Harvard, but apparently not. We tried to go to Panera Bread, but it was closed and people were picketing outside, another place was too crowded. Finally, after walking back and forth a bunch, we decided upon Chicago UNO Grill, which was surprisingly empty at lunch time. I would have liked to tried something unique to Boston/Cambridge, but c'est la vie. After eating our predictably edible lunch, we went to the Harvard COOP, so we could pick up some Harvard apparel. We then went to this eclectic toy shop my mom had heard of, Harvard Book Store, where I wrote down more books that I probably won't have time to read, and then got ice cream JP Licks (? I think that was what it was called....) Like yesterday, my dad and brother left us to go back to our inn, and my us girls continued to eat our ice cream in leisure (I got a delicious combo of oreo-cookie dough and maple butter pecan) and to stop in a tea shop, where my mom bought some loose leaves of earl grey. This is where my impression of what we were going to do (go back and sleep in our room) differed from my mom and sister's (shop!). Clearly, I complained enough about my tiredness to be dropped off, for here I am blogging. That's pretty much it for today (thus far...); tomorrow's focus: MIT!!
After the tour, we tried to go to the Sackler Museum of Art, since the Fog Museum is closed for renovations, but were turned away because they were closed on Mondays. Who is closed on Mondays? And if they were closed, why were their doors open? It turned out to be okay, because they pointed us in the direction of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which was basically a review of AP Biology. My favorite parts there were the colorful specimens they had, and this exhibit full of glass flowers that looked so real, it was hard to believe that someone could actually make something that intricate out of glass. I thought I was done then, but then realized, that there was another wing to the museum. Luckily, this one was smaller - I don't think my feet could have taken much more.
As is commonly known, walking through museums works up an appetite. Actually finding a place to eat was another matter entirely. You would think there would be a plethora of places to eat in Cambridge, right outside of Harvard, but apparently not. We tried to go to Panera Bread, but it was closed and people were picketing outside, another place was too crowded. Finally, after walking back and forth a bunch, we decided upon Chicago UNO Grill, which was surprisingly empty at lunch time. I would have liked to tried something unique to Boston/Cambridge, but c'est la vie. After eating our predictably edible lunch, we went to the Harvard COOP, so we could pick up some Harvard apparel. We then went to this eclectic toy shop my mom had heard of, Harvard Book Store, where I wrote down more books that I probably won't have time to read, and then got ice cream JP Licks (? I think that was what it was called....) Like yesterday, my dad and brother left us to go back to our inn, and my us girls continued to eat our ice cream in leisure (I got a delicious combo of oreo-cookie dough and maple butter pecan) and to stop in a tea shop, where my mom bought some loose leaves of earl grey. This is where my impression of what we were going to do (go back and sleep in our room) differed from my mom and sister's (shop!). Clearly, I complained enough about my tiredness to be dropped off, for here I am blogging. That's pretty much it for today (thus far...); tomorrow's focus: MIT!!
Easter Sunday Adventures
Walking all over town really makes one tired, which is evident by the lack of blog post yesterday (I was just too tired to do anything). Also, before I forget, I neglected to write down something funny that happened on Saturday. Well, we were on the subway on our way back from Bunker Hill, and one of the subways had some initials in it. Aloud, my dad wondered what they meant. Here's where it gets creepy - immediately after that, an automated voice came over and said what it meant, as if it had heard my dad ask that question. Isn't that really weird?? Anyway, on Sunday, we went to the JFK Presidential Library for a good portion of the day. We had some troubles actually getting there, because it was quite confusing. After getting off the subway, you have to walk over this bridge to a bus stop, where a bus will pick you up and take you to the library. The whole time on the bus (until we got there), I was worried that we weren't actually on the right bus, and were just going somewhere random, but it obviously worked out because we did eventually get there. My favorite part was the glass room (I don't know if that is the right word for it...), but the museum itself was pretty interesting, as well. It was cool to see some of those videos and see history first hand from JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy, as well as their lives before the presidency. Two really neat things there were the family bible that JFK was sworn in on and this scrapbook with little sketches made by Jacqueline Kennedy and her sisters on their to Europe.
After finishing up there, we went and finished the rest of the Freedom trail, most of which were old cemeteries with people like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams buried there. The tombstones there, like the ones on Copp's Hill, were very intricate, if a bit morbid. By this time we were pretty hungry, so we went and got lunch/snacks at this coffee shop my mom had found before the trip, which was called the Thinking Cup. As soon as we entered, you knew that it was a good place because it was so jam packed - we didn't even have enough room for all of us to sit down at once. The sandwich I ordered was so-so, but the bread was very tasty, as well as the peanut butter cupcake that we bought for later. In their drinks, they swirled around the foam, so that it looked like a leaf, which I thought was pretty cool. After our appetites were satisfied, we walked across the Boston Commons, and into the Public Gardens, where we looked for and found this very cute statue of little ducklings following their mother duck. I think it came out of a picture book, but I'm not 100% sure. Lastly, my sister, mom, and I left my brother and dad and went to look at the shops on Newberry Street. We only went into Banana Republic and a bookstore (where we bought a People Magazine), mostly because the stores were closing early on Easter (by the way, Happy belated Easter), but we found a bunch to look at later. Actually, my sister and mom are out right now shopping, while I am sitting here blogging. That's dedication for you (actually, I was too tired to go). After a while, we wanted to go back to where we are staying, and so went looking for the subway stop that my dad had promised was at the end of the road. Let me tell you, that wasn't just a short little jaunt he made it out to be. When we finally found the subway station, the subway itself was not nearly as nice as some of the other lines - there was a huge curve that made the subway sway back and forth ominously and it kept on slowing down and speeding up randomly. As I said before, I was tired by the time I got back, so all I did was lay on my bed, read my People, and then watched the second part of this new Great Expectations adaptation on PBS, which was awesome, even if it did add some stuff in and leave a bunch out. Even if you have never read the book, I would recommend you see this version (if there is no other inducement, adult Pip is pretty cute...especially when he randomly dumps water on himself. Hey, I wasn't complaining). That is all for Sunday's adventures.
After finishing up there, we went and finished the rest of the Freedom trail, most of which were old cemeteries with people like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams buried there. The tombstones there, like the ones on Copp's Hill, were very intricate, if a bit morbid. By this time we were pretty hungry, so we went and got lunch/snacks at this coffee shop my mom had found before the trip, which was called the Thinking Cup. As soon as we entered, you knew that it was a good place because it was so jam packed - we didn't even have enough room for all of us to sit down at once. The sandwich I ordered was so-so, but the bread was very tasty, as well as the peanut butter cupcake that we bought for later. In their drinks, they swirled around the foam, so that it looked like a leaf, which I thought was pretty cool. After our appetites were satisfied, we walked across the Boston Commons, and into the Public Gardens, where we looked for and found this very cute statue of little ducklings following their mother duck. I think it came out of a picture book, but I'm not 100% sure. Lastly, my sister, mom, and I left my brother and dad and went to look at the shops on Newberry Street. We only went into Banana Republic and a bookstore (where we bought a People Magazine), mostly because the stores were closing early on Easter (by the way, Happy belated Easter), but we found a bunch to look at later. Actually, my sister and mom are out right now shopping, while I am sitting here blogging. That's dedication for you (actually, I was too tired to go). After a while, we wanted to go back to where we are staying, and so went looking for the subway stop that my dad had promised was at the end of the road. Let me tell you, that wasn't just a short little jaunt he made it out to be. When we finally found the subway station, the subway itself was not nearly as nice as some of the other lines - there was a huge curve that made the subway sway back and forth ominously and it kept on slowing down and speeding up randomly. As I said before, I was tired by the time I got back, so all I did was lay on my bed, read my People, and then watched the second part of this new Great Expectations adaptation on PBS, which was awesome, even if it did add some stuff in and leave a bunch out. Even if you have never read the book, I would recommend you see this version (if there is no other inducement, adult Pip is pretty cute...especially when he randomly dumps water on himself. Hey, I wasn't complaining). That is all for Sunday's adventures.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
The Freedom Trail!!
Yesterday was all about one thing: the Freedom Trail. After riding into Boston on the subway, we had a little trouble actually finding the National Park Service informational building, which is where we wanted to start, but after that first snafu, the day was off to a start. Our first stop (though not the actual first stop on the trail) was right across from the informational building, the Old Statehouse. It was here that we probably spent the longest, because we listened to two talks - one about the Boston Massacre, which happened right outside the Old Statehouse, and one about the building itself. Then we went through the little museum they had about the American Revolution. So by the time we were done with that, it was actually pretty late in the morning/afternoon (which might have been due to the fact that we didn't leave until quite late). After that, we saw the plaque that commemorates the site of the Boston Massacre. It was then that we realized that the trail was demarked by a red line, and that you just had to follow it to find the next stop on the trail, which made our lives much easier. From there, we walked a little bit to Faneuil Hall and heard the end of a talk a park ranger was giving. The next stop, the Paul Revere House, was quite ways off. On the way there, we went through a farmers market, and I really wanted to stop and buy some of the fresh fruit to eat on our walk around Boston, but no one else, apparently, thought that was a good idea, so we kept going. Since it was getting around lunch time, and we were a bit hungry and thirsty, we stopped at an Italian bakery that was on the trial and bought some fresh baguettes and water bottles. Man, were those delicious - especially after our long walk thus far!!
When we got to the Paul Revere House, we had some problems actually buying the tickets to get in. For some reason, we didn't read the sign that clearly demarked the prices of tickets, and so got confused at which level we should be bought for each person. That being said, the ticket person didn't have to get snappy with us! And after that debacle, the house wasn't that cool. We only got to see walk around and see four rooms. I did find out some interesting facts about Paul Revere, like he had 16 kids between two wives, and as time went on, he got richer, so his younger kids got the benefits of his wealth and could go to college, while older kids were kind of screwed. I thought that kind of stunk for them. Next was the Old North Church, which was interesting in that it had boxed seats in the church and it was actually functioning as a church. What was weird was that I saw a group of people coming down from the steeple, which was what I really wanted to see, but the door was locked after them. I don't know if there was some special tour we had to sign up for, but I thought that would have been pretty cool to see where the lanterns were hung. The Copp's Hill Cemetery was next, and I found it interesting that a lot of gravestones had skulls on them, which seemed pretty morbid to me. Then, we walked across a bridge to cross the Charles River, where the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill were located. Since it was one big circle, we first went to the USS Constitution, where we had to go through security, which I thought was weird. What did they think we were going to do to the ship? We waited in the cold for the guided tour, which was pretty interesting. The tour guide yelled at us a lot, and kept on picking my brother out of the crowd for listening to music while on the tour. At the end, he even said that if you didn't like the tour, his name was David.
From there, we walked up to Bunker Hill. It was probably for the best that we left this for the last stop, because afterwards I was exhausted and my legs felt like spaghetti. The reason for that was we climbed up all 294 steps up the monument there, which seemed to go on forever. It was nice because they put the number of steps you've gone up every so often, so you could gauge how far you had to go and pace yourself. Even so, that climb was quite a cardio workout and I was winded by the end. So, we decided to end yesterday's adventures then, and not visit the remaining places on the trail, and took the subway back to where we are staying. I was so exhausted, I could have fallen asleep then, but my parents dragged us out to this restaurant for dinner called Legal Sea Food, where I got a delicious clam chowder and ate off my parent's deserts of Boston cream pie and banana's foster. Yum! That was pretty much it for the day, which was good for me because I was tired. Today we are going to the Kennedy Library, so I will update you on that later.
When we got to the Paul Revere House, we had some problems actually buying the tickets to get in. For some reason, we didn't read the sign that clearly demarked the prices of tickets, and so got confused at which level we should be bought for each person. That being said, the ticket person didn't have to get snappy with us! And after that debacle, the house wasn't that cool. We only got to see walk around and see four rooms. I did find out some interesting facts about Paul Revere, like he had 16 kids between two wives, and as time went on, he got richer, so his younger kids got the benefits of his wealth and could go to college, while older kids were kind of screwed. I thought that kind of stunk for them. Next was the Old North Church, which was interesting in that it had boxed seats in the church and it was actually functioning as a church. What was weird was that I saw a group of people coming down from the steeple, which was what I really wanted to see, but the door was locked after them. I don't know if there was some special tour we had to sign up for, but I thought that would have been pretty cool to see where the lanterns were hung. The Copp's Hill Cemetery was next, and I found it interesting that a lot of gravestones had skulls on them, which seemed pretty morbid to me. Then, we walked across a bridge to cross the Charles River, where the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill were located. Since it was one big circle, we first went to the USS Constitution, where we had to go through security, which I thought was weird. What did they think we were going to do to the ship? We waited in the cold for the guided tour, which was pretty interesting. The tour guide yelled at us a lot, and kept on picking my brother out of the crowd for listening to music while on the tour. At the end, he even said that if you didn't like the tour, his name was David.
From there, we walked up to Bunker Hill. It was probably for the best that we left this for the last stop, because afterwards I was exhausted and my legs felt like spaghetti. The reason for that was we climbed up all 294 steps up the monument there, which seemed to go on forever. It was nice because they put the number of steps you've gone up every so often, so you could gauge how far you had to go and pace yourself. Even so, that climb was quite a cardio workout and I was winded by the end. So, we decided to end yesterday's adventures then, and not visit the remaining places on the trail, and took the subway back to where we are staying. I was so exhausted, I could have fallen asleep then, but my parents dragged us out to this restaurant for dinner called Legal Sea Food, where I got a delicious clam chowder and ate off my parent's deserts of Boston cream pie and banana's foster. Yum! That was pretty much it for the day, which was good for me because I was tired. Today we are going to the Kennedy Library, so I will update you on that later.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Spring Break Pictures - Day 1 and 2
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| The Eco-Village |
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| Not the room we stayed in while in Ithaca...but similar |
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| Cornell clocktower |
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| Tour of Cornell |
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| View at Cornell towards the lake |
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| Us walking at Cornell |
Spring Break: Destination, Ithaca/Boston
Spring Break is off to a interesting start. We had trouble leaving on Thursday from school because my sister took forever getting a t-shirt for some class, and then my mom lost her spoon for her yogurt, so my brother went in to get one from the cafeteria. In the meantime, my sister came out and couldn't see us. It was one snafu after another. When we finally took off towards our first stop, Ithaca, New York, it was about 3 PM, and for some reason, our new GPS (dubbed "Blanche" by me and "Einstein" by my family) wanted us to take this route through Canada, but we didn't want to go that way. For about thirty minutes after not going its desired route, "Blanche" kept on telling us to turn around and refused to find another route, which we found pretty amusing. The trip itself wasn't too bad, other than the fact that the whole way there, my jaw was hurting (and has been hurting since I went to the dentist) and every few minutes someone would start arguing. My the time we got to the bed and breakfast we were staying the night at, it was 11:30 at night, and I was ready to kill someone. Even though it was dark out, I could see that the place we were staying was pretty cool. It was in this "ecovillage" where there is no car traffic between the houses, which are made from recycled wood and run on solar energy, which I found to be like somewhere I would want to live. The only downside was that the owner, while helpful was a little annoying and peculiar, for he would not leave and let us sleep and wanted us to take off our shoes.
Today, I actually woke up at exactly 7 PM with no alarm, which I thought was pretty amazing (and may have something to do with the fact that sunlight was streaming in our windows). After shuffling everyone in and out of the shower and packing up our goods into our truck (which was like the only non-foreign eco-friendly car there), we went off to take a tour of Cornell University. Besides the fact that it was freezing cold and windy outside (and I thought it was supposed to be spring...), I enjoyed the tour and found it very informative. The campus was gorgeous (as you can imagine), as were the views of the lake below. Afterwards, we went to the Cornell store and bought some t-shirts to commemorate our visit. All in all, I came away with a positive impression of Cornell. That is, until we returned to our car and found it had a parking ticket on it! Apparently, you had to go to some booth and get a parking permit for perspective students, but nowhere was that clearly labeled. We were just expected to know that off the top of our head. But after my mom hem and hawed, she got it fixed by appealing it, and we were off on our merry way. From there, we went and ate lunch at the famous vegetarian restaurant, The Moosewood Restaurant, where I got a completely vegan meal consisting of Mexican vegetables on cornbread and a vegan chocolate cake, which was sooooo good!! Who knew vegan food could be so delicious?
Finally, we went on our way to our final destination: Boston. For some reason, our GPS once again took us on the scenic route, but this time it was actually nice. Not only did we get to see rural New York and Massachusetts, but we also found a city/elementary school/library/cemetery named after my sister: Caroline! Naturally, once we saw that, we had to turn around and take a bunch of pictures as proof of the coincidence. It was pretty amusing. Now, we are actually staying for the next five days at this bed and breakfast in Cambridge that is actually 200 years old, but has been recently renovated. I'm a little annoyed that I have to share a bed with both my sister and mom, but it doesn't detract from the niceness of the rooms. I'm not quite sure what tomorrow brings, but I am sure it will be fun!
Today, I actually woke up at exactly 7 PM with no alarm, which I thought was pretty amazing (and may have something to do with the fact that sunlight was streaming in our windows). After shuffling everyone in and out of the shower and packing up our goods into our truck (which was like the only non-foreign eco-friendly car there), we went off to take a tour of Cornell University. Besides the fact that it was freezing cold and windy outside (and I thought it was supposed to be spring...), I enjoyed the tour and found it very informative. The campus was gorgeous (as you can imagine), as were the views of the lake below. Afterwards, we went to the Cornell store and bought some t-shirts to commemorate our visit. All in all, I came away with a positive impression of Cornell. That is, until we returned to our car and found it had a parking ticket on it! Apparently, you had to go to some booth and get a parking permit for perspective students, but nowhere was that clearly labeled. We were just expected to know that off the top of our head. But after my mom hem and hawed, she got it fixed by appealing it, and we were off on our merry way. From there, we went and ate lunch at the famous vegetarian restaurant, The Moosewood Restaurant, where I got a completely vegan meal consisting of Mexican vegetables on cornbread and a vegan chocolate cake, which was sooooo good!! Who knew vegan food could be so delicious?
Finally, we went on our way to our final destination: Boston. For some reason, our GPS once again took us on the scenic route, but this time it was actually nice. Not only did we get to see rural New York and Massachusetts, but we also found a city/elementary school/library/cemetery named after my sister: Caroline! Naturally, once we saw that, we had to turn around and take a bunch of pictures as proof of the coincidence. It was pretty amusing. Now, we are actually staying for the next five days at this bed and breakfast in Cambridge that is actually 200 years old, but has been recently renovated. I'm a little annoyed that I have to share a bed with both my sister and mom, but it doesn't detract from the niceness of the rooms. I'm not quite sure what tomorrow brings, but I am sure it will be fun!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Spring Craziness
Another regional competition for Science Olympiad has come and gone, and, as usual, we did pretty well. That is, we got first place overall, and I believe that every single event placed. Even though our region isn't very large or competitive, I still view that as a great accomplishment., especially since we won not by a hair, but by more than twenty points! Pretty impressive, isn't it? Because of a convoluted schedule, I only competed in three events, instead of my usual four or five. Not only that, but each one had at least an hour in between tests, so I had plenty of time to place a good round of Guillotine ( the most awesome card game invented, for those who aren't familiar with it...). In my individual events, I placed 2nd in Anatomy, 4th in Sounds of Music (though there might have been a snafu with the alternate team), and 1st in water quality (even though the test was really short and the live bugs kind of creeped us out). Even the award ceremony started late (as usual), it was still kind of entertaining. To pass the time, our team demonstrated some of our building events, and a few teams from Sound of Music played some songs. Though I was a bit disappointed in my fourth place finishing in that event, it was still cool to see a team play "Party Rock Anthem" on their makeshift instruments, and another team play on their instruments that looked like a giraffe and an flamingo. Also, since we had the only alternate team, any time that the announcer said that an alternate team would have placed, we would obnoxiously cheer before they had a chance to say our team, which I found amusing. Per tradition, we went to Fudruckers to eat dinner after the awards ceremony, which was delicious, as usual - even though eating all the whipped cream (which seemed to go on and on forever...) off my sister's milkshake did make me a little nauseous.
Just a few days before that event, I also competed in Chemistry Olympiad, which is through school and where you take a 70 question test and possibly win money or go on to the next level if you place high enough. The test was a lot harder than the practice tests we had taken in class, and to add to that, we stayed two hours later for the announcement of the winners and watched this stupid skit, only to find out that they had a scantron malfunction and couldn't score the tests. This was especially annoying since I had a large project due the next day, and got home super late for nothing. Unfortunately, when we did find out our score, I placed only high enough to be an Honorable Mention, which doesn't win any money :(
Since it was the end of the marking period last week, we got Friday off school. Unlike my usual day-off routine, I actually did something. In the morning, I went to the dentist (not fun), and then my mom dropped me off a Whole Foods, where I was planning on meeting some friends. They were going to pick me up from my house, but since the dentist appointment was later than we had anticipated, this was the compromise. Unfortunately, they got lost on their drive there and then ran into construction, so had to wait there an hour by myself before they actually arrived. As I am a naturally impatient person, this was not very fun, but once they arrived I enjoyed myself. After buying an Izze and chocolate cookie, we then drove to Urban Outfitters, where we tried on a bunch of too expensive clothing. Surprisingly, I found this really cute sweater that was on sale for only $20, and after some peer pressure from my friends, I bought it. Later that day, my friend came to my house to eat pizza and then we went to see The Hunger Games in the theater. Other than the fact that we arrived just as the previews were starting, and were forced to sit in seats on the edge of the theater where the view was partially blocked, it was amazing!!!! I haven't read the books yet (I had good intentions, but had the time to get around to it...), but after seeing the movie (which was not only interesting, but well made and was very artistic) I plan on doing that soon. After the movie, we were going to get some ice cream, but apparently everything closes before 9:30 PM, so we just ate ice cream at my house.
The next thing I have to look forward to is not another day of testing, but Spring Break. Tomorrow is the last day of school!!! After we get home from school, my family is taking off to the Eastern United States. We're spending one day in New York (the state), and then are going to stay the rest of our vacation in Boston. We're going to tour some colleges and possibly mansions in Newport, as well as visit some museums. Should be fun, and a nice break from school, which I desperately need. I will try to blog every step of the way and post tons of pictures.
Just a few days before that event, I also competed in Chemistry Olympiad, which is through school and where you take a 70 question test and possibly win money or go on to the next level if you place high enough. The test was a lot harder than the practice tests we had taken in class, and to add to that, we stayed two hours later for the announcement of the winners and watched this stupid skit, only to find out that they had a scantron malfunction and couldn't score the tests. This was especially annoying since I had a large project due the next day, and got home super late for nothing. Unfortunately, when we did find out our score, I placed only high enough to be an Honorable Mention, which doesn't win any money :(
Since it was the end of the marking period last week, we got Friday off school. Unlike my usual day-off routine, I actually did something. In the morning, I went to the dentist (not fun), and then my mom dropped me off a Whole Foods, where I was planning on meeting some friends. They were going to pick me up from my house, but since the dentist appointment was later than we had anticipated, this was the compromise. Unfortunately, they got lost on their drive there and then ran into construction, so had to wait there an hour by myself before they actually arrived. As I am a naturally impatient person, this was not very fun, but once they arrived I enjoyed myself. After buying an Izze and chocolate cookie, we then drove to Urban Outfitters, where we tried on a bunch of too expensive clothing. Surprisingly, I found this really cute sweater that was on sale for only $20, and after some peer pressure from my friends, I bought it. Later that day, my friend came to my house to eat pizza and then we went to see The Hunger Games in the theater. Other than the fact that we arrived just as the previews were starting, and were forced to sit in seats on the edge of the theater where the view was partially blocked, it was amazing!!!! I haven't read the books yet (I had good intentions, but had the time to get around to it...), but after seeing the movie (which was not only interesting, but well made and was very artistic) I plan on doing that soon. After the movie, we were going to get some ice cream, but apparently everything closes before 9:30 PM, so we just ate ice cream at my house.
The next thing I have to look forward to is not another day of testing, but Spring Break. Tomorrow is the last day of school!!! After we get home from school, my family is taking off to the Eastern United States. We're spending one day in New York (the state), and then are going to stay the rest of our vacation in Boston. We're going to tour some colleges and possibly mansions in Newport, as well as visit some museums. Should be fun, and a nice break from school, which I desperately need. I will try to blog every step of the way and post tons of pictures.
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