The drive to Boston was as nightmarish as the drive from Florida to Kentucky had been. We were all exhausted, but Carolanne and Michael handled the brunt of the driving. The border crossing was also terrible, mostly because it was so late that we had to get out of the car and wait elsewhere, still not allowed to use our cell phones or anything. Also, I had left my glasses in the car by mistake and wasn't wearing my contacts either, so I could hardly see anything. They took our oranges, which we had forgotten to eat before we entered the US again, but other than that we didn't have any difficulties. I was mostly just sleep deprived and delirious. We arrived in Cambridge at 4:30 AM and found parking near MIT around 5. We had to take all of our belongings out of the car, so I loaded up everything and used my carabiners to attach various items to myself. I didn't feel like repacking everything, so I just wore all my jackets and even my climbing harness, trudging across MIT campus as such. Sarah's dorm, East Campus, was on the far side of campus from where we had been able to get parking. Exhausted, we pushed ourselves across Massachusetts Avenue and as soon as we reached Sarah, I collapsed in a hot, sweaty pile at her feet. Wearing my down jacket had not been a wise decision.
When we got to Sarah's room, Rhea and I immediately showered. Michael and Carolanne chose to sleep but for some reason, Rhea and I decided to just stay up and go explore the city. We walked across the Mass Ave bridge toward Boston proper and took a left down Newbury. Since it was not yet 7, virtually nothing was open. We found a local coffee shop and utilized the extra shots of espresso to boost our energy. This was probably a mistake. Caffeine + sleep deprivation = terrible idea. We were soon bouncing down the street, running through the Boston Public Gardens and the Commons. We picked up the Freedom Trail and raced toward Faneuil Hall, which was of course a dead zone. It is also worth mentioning that Rhea and I had both started speaking in an exaggerated Canadian accents that eventually transformed into an Irish accent for some reason. The worst part was that we couldn't stop ourselves, giggling and shouting in thick (yet fake) accented English. We turned back toward MIT and found breakfast at an Arabic Cafe in Central Square. It was delicious, eggs, meat, and veggies all thrown onto a breakfast sandwich.
Our energy was fading, probably from walking so many miles with espresso as our only fuel, but for some reason we decided to walk back down Newbury. We ended up at Lush, a cosmetics store, for over an hour. They pampered us with sample scrubs and make up, which I typically don't wear but liked. Lush is a very interesting company. All of their products are 100% vegan, meaning that no animal byproducts were used nor animal testing, and they also have some products that donate proceeds to a charity of your choice. Rhea spent a small fortune at Lush but I resisted and only allowed myself an edible lip scrub (which lasted a week, maybe two). We then wandered over the bridge once more, collapsing in a pile on some grass between Bexley and the MIT Student Center. Christopher soon joined us, since we were next to his dorm, and mocked our idiocy, as we spewed out random chatter in Irish accents and giggled to ourselves, occasionally speaking in unison. We had reached our breaking point. Around 5 or so, we met up with Michael and Carolanne for dinner and Rhea collected her belongings. One of her best friends had recently moved to Allston and Rhea was staying with her for the next week. We said our goodbyes and parted ways.
Since Michael and Carolanne had slept all day, they were fully energized by the time I had hit my wall. Still, I wanted to show them around somewhat, so I took them back across the bridge and down Newbury. At this point, my friend Kathryn had texted me and invited me to trivia at Triton, a bookstore and restaurant on Newbury, where she and her friends frequented. So I walked Michael and Carolanne to the gardens and then pointed them toward the North End, suggesting that they try Mike's Pastry. I then met Kathryn for trivia, leaping into her arms since I hadn't seen her in so long. Luckily, her friends had all met me numerous times and were not surprised when I did this, saying hi to me and asking me how my semester had been. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with Kathryn, since she wasn't feeling well on Friday night and only got worse as the weekend progressed. By the time trivia was over, I was ready for bed. I headed back to East Campus and curled up in my sleeping bag. Carolanne eventually joined me, and we talked while Michael and his sister went hacking.
The next day, I woke up extremely early, especially compared to my friends, who had become nocturnal. I showered and ventured out, getting coffee and breakfast and hoping to meet up with my friend Chloe from Greece. We had been texting but unfortunately she dropped her cell phone in water in the middle of our conversation and could only communicate via email. So I headed back from Harvard to MIT because I missed her right before she headed into a multiple hour training course for her medical trip to Africa in July. Around 1 PM or so, Michael texted me that he and his sister were going to go hiking outside the city and wondered if I would like to join. I declined since I preferred to stay in the city while I could. I then ran into Carolanne and decided to head back to the dorm to organize my stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that Carolanne was going too and that they were headed to the airport from there. So I unintentionally ended up carrying around all of my belongings again, unable to reach any of my nearby friends until Chris finally woke up at 3 PM and let me leave my things at his dorm.
Despite looking like a homeless person for a few hours, I didn't mind. I decided to go ahead and book my flight home for the following Monday, since all my friends were about to head into finals and I didn't want to be a burden. I also was trying to figure out my plans for New York. Originally, I invited Chris to Greek Easter (since he is also Greek) and he was going to either ride the bus with me or drive us down in his car. He had too much school work though, and had to bail. Despite not being able to attend, he still welcomed me into his dorm while I figured out my plans for the next day. We went to get food (late lunch/early dinner for me, breakfast for him) at an Indian restaurant in Central Square. I was trying to get in contact with my aunts in New York but I was having trouble. After dinner, we tried to get coffee at a local espresso bar but, unfortunately, they had just closed. So we headed back to Bexley to hang out. While we were in his room, another Bexley-ite, Soraya, came to ask us if we wanted to join her for a run. My proclamations of slowness were ineffective and I ended up running from MIT across the Longfellow Bridge, winding through Beacon Hill, down the Esplanade, and back onto Mass Ave. It was several miles longer than I had anticipated I would be running on this trip, which was 0, and Chris ran circles around me while my lungs were having difficulty adjusting to the dry Boston air. By the time I got back and got in touch with my aunts, it was too late to take a bus into NYC, so I ended up staying in Cambridge for the night.
The next morning, I woke up naturally around 5:30 AM. I took a shower and left a note for Chris as I headed out the door. I made it to South Station with 15 minutes to spare. As I headed into the bus terminal, however, I noticed that all the lights were out. So when I got to the ticket counter and they refused my credit card, I panicked. I sprint through the terminal looking for an ATM, thankful that I had left all but a small backpack at Chris's dorm and didn't have a lot to carry. The ATM charged me a ridiculous fee (four dollars) and the bus tickets were ten bucks more than I was used to paying but I got the last seat on the 7 AM bus, so I didn't care.
When I arrived in New York, I took the 6 train to the Upper East Side and was greeted by several aunts and uncles and a slew of cousins. We hopped in the car and headed out to Long Island, where my Aunt Aspasia and Uncle Victor were hosting Greek Easter. The smell of lamb and other meats was overwhelming and heavenly. I spotted my cousin Dean tending the grill and the lamb on the spit. I reintroduced myself to various cousins that I hadn't seen in years and happily awaited the egg ceremony and egg fights, the singing and dancing, and, of course, the food. Egg "fights" are one of my favorite Greek traditions. Essentially, everyone has one egg and you tap the narrow end against someone else's wide end. The last person standing with an uncracked egg or uncracked end is declared the winner. The food was undeniably incredible. Luckily for everyone there, Dean is a professional chef and he did not disappoint. My cousin Mala's beautiful voice led the singing, overpowering everyone else's attempts. My Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian, who live near Boston but had been in Connecticut for the weekend, were able to give me a ride back to Cambridge so I didn't have to deal with the bus, nor did I have to get back at 3 AM like I had anticipated. So, full of delicious Greek food and armed with leftovers for Christopher, I headed back to MIT.
The next morning, I woke up and said goodbye to Chris, not sure if I would see him before my flight. I then headed to Harvard, where I met Chloe for lunch. We walked around and stopped by her final club, where she gave me a key chain from an event they'd had. I left her and headed back toward MIT, where Rhea was meeting me via bike. She came in with me to Bexley to get my stuff and I gave her a small tour. Chris returned shortly thereafter and gave an even better tour. We said our goodbyes again and Rhea walked with me to Kendall Square, where I picked up the T for the airport.
Events occurred: May 3-6, 2013
In my time at UF, I have been one of the fortunate few to never have finals during finals week. Most of mine are either in class the last few days of classes, essays, or take home. This past semester was no exception and so I booked a flight to Boston to spend my birthday with my best friend Kathryn, because my birthday always falls in the middle of finals week.
The most stressful part of my trip was getting to Boston in the first place. Specifically, getting to the Jacksonville airport. I had driven from Gainesville to Jacksonville very late Wednesday night for my 6 AM flight and I hadn't packed anything. I accidentally overslept and missed my alarm by almost an hour. So when I finally woke up, I was rushed and panicked, throwing random things in my suitcase and hurrying out the door. In such a rush, I forgot my purse and camera at home, so my mother had to drive to bring it to me at the airport. To pick it up from her, I had to go through airport security again and as a result, I was the absolute last person to go through the gate, which they closed less than two minutes later. I also realized that my dress was somewhat see-through and I had remnants of a Sharpie moustache still on my face from the birthday party I had attended the night before. Why I always let my friend Bevin draw on my face, I don't know but she has done this to me numerous times. I also lost my boarding pass and was lucky that the airlines are all electronic and they could just find me.
Getting into Boston and to Wellesley, on the other hand, was a piece of cake. I met my aunt in the town of Wellesley for lunch at a Greek restaurant we stumbled upon. The next morning, Kathryn and I headed to New York. Kathryn had never been to NYC before and I think the copious amounts of people startled her somewhat. I had never been around Christmas time, but the shops along Fifth and Madison were 5 times as packed. I wanted to go to FAO Schwarz to get a present for my nephew but after seeing the line wrap around the block, I decided against it. We ventured into Times Square, a dangerous territory in my opinion. I tend to avoid it like the plague but I thought Kathryn would appreciate it. We also went to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the ice rink. Over the course of the next few days, we went all over the city. We went into the East Village and around NYU, visiting Nathan and hanging out with his friends at their dorm. We also went to the Guggenheim Museum, which had an exhibit on Pablo Picasso, and we unintentionally went through a majority of Central Park, including the boat pond, the Jackie O reservoir, and Belvedere Castle.
Back in Boston, I spent my birthday with Kathryn in the city. We spent most of our time together wandering around the city in our usual spots. I also did some Christmas shopping for my family. In addition, while I was in Boston, I visited my brother's sister-in-law, Kellye. I went to her office and met her for dinner in South Boston, near the Financial District. I hadn't spent much time there before, so it was interesting to walk around, especially near the water and the museums/aquarium. Kathryn and I also met Chloe for dinner near Harvard, another good restaurant called Daedalus. I appreciated the reference to Greek mythology, though I don't think it dawned on either of them. My last night in Massachusetts, I stayed with Kellye and her dad, Peter, at their house just outside of Boston. I'm very close to their family and it was nice to see them both and spend time with them. I flew home the next morning, only to turn around and head out on my next OAR adventure.
Events occurred: December 6-14, 2012
Following a new tradition, I returned to Boston for another Veteran's Day weekend. This time, I brought along my friend Johnny, a fellow UF student and Heritage Greece alum. Rather than staying with Kathryn, we stayed with Chloe from Heritage Greece. Our first day we spent exploring the Harvard campus. Then, Chloe went to lacrosse practice, so Johnny and I ventured across Cambridge to MIT. Chris gave us a brief tour of his dorm and we climbed the archway above the entrance to it. After that, Johnny and I headed across my favorite bridge, Mass Ave, and casually strolled down Newbury Street. We stopped in to one of the buildings near Newbury to get something to drink. As Johnny was paying for his Gatorade, the woman behind the counter asked us where we were from. We said Florida, but she asked again, this time asking specifically about our families. We told her that we were Greek and she responded that she could tell, she just knew it. She was a quarter Greek and recognized that we were Greek too.
When we returned to Harvard, Chloe took us to a Harvard hockey game. We cheered on the guys but I honestly had no idea what was going on. The injuries in hockey seem especially brutal and this game was full of them. Afterwards, we met up with Elena, another HG student in Boston, and the four of us had dinner at a random pizza place in Cambridge. Looking for some adventure, we headed over to MIT. I introduced the Greeks to Chris, another Greek friend. We didn't stay long, however, and continued to search for entertainment. Insert karaoke here. Chloe led us to a karaoke seafood restaurant owned by local Greeks. Obviously, we fully embraced our Greek roots, recapturing the essence of our summer escapades abroad.
The next afternoon, after eating breakfast and spending the morning with Chloe and Johnny, I headed out to meet Kathryn for lunch. We spent the rest of our afternoon relaxing around Boston and Cambridge, even splurging for s'mores at Cosi in Kendall Square. The s'mores were delicious and it's one of the coolest restaurant concepts I have ever encountered. They bring you a mini stove fire with marshmallows that we could roast to our own liking as well as chocolate and graham crackers. That night, we went out with some of her friends from Wellesley, ending up at MIT like usual. Since the T stops running at 12, I ended up staying at MIT and going to brunch with Chris in the morning.
I know I tend to get excited about restaurants but Cafe Luna was legitimately one of the best brunches I have ever had the pleasure of eating, and I have a ton of brunch experience. You're probably thinking to yourself "wow, that sounds amazing. Do they have a website?" Yes, yes they do.
http://cafeluna-centralsq.com/
I highly recommend this place though I will admit the wait for a table is lengthy. However, the owner is extremely friendly and the wait to sit outside (which is way better than inside in my opinion, particularly on a sunny Boston day) is significantly shorter than the wait for an inside table. Our waitress was also very friendly and expedient with everything.
When I returned to Harvard, we headed back out into the city, exploring the North End. In the North End, my food advocacy is aimed toward Mike's Pastry. Cash only with lines out the door, but still I have never regretted a visit there. We wasted the rest of the day running around Boston before heading back to Cambridge again. The next day I spent by myself, wandering up and down Mass Ave from Harvard to Newbury while Chloe and Johnny went to Fenway and the Fens. I said good bye to my favorite city, knowing that I would be returning less than a month later.
Events occurred: November 9-12, 2012
Though it doesn't seem like it, I was bitten by the travel bug when I was a child. A majority of my childhood summer memories occurred in New York, where my dad was born and raised. When I was 13, I convinced my parents to let me go to New York City by myself for the first time, spending a week with my aunts. Since then, I have returned to the Northeast every year, usually staying with family in NYC. So when I was planning my Spring Break, it seemed natural to include a trip to New York. I also returned to Boston, predominately to see Kathryn but also to visit another aunt of mine who lives there. I flew into Boston and managed to get myself all the way to Kendall Station from the airport by myself at 11 PM, navigating public transit. It's not nearly as impressive as it sounds, I merely took the silver line bus to South Station and transferred to the red line of the T. When I got to MIT, there was a small pile of snow on the ground. I was ecstatic to see any, however little, and spent several minutes running around in it until it turned into a brown slush. The following afternoon, I headed back to South Station to take a bus to New York.
The Chinatown bus system between Boston and New York is awesome. For only $15 each way, you can hop from city to city. The best part is that it leaves every half hour or so, allowing a lot of flexibility. South Station is really nice but the New York drop off point was sketchy at best, located at the end of Canal Street near the Manhattan Bridge. Luckily, my Aunt Katherine and Uncle Drew offered to pick me up and drop me off to meet a friend at NYU, so I barely had to spend any time there. Nathan and I met at our typical spot: Starbucks. He's my partner in crime and one of my best friends but his father is a Captain in the Navy, so they move around constantly. Our senior year of high school, they were relocated to Newport, Rhode Island. Fortunately for me, he decided to stay behind and finish out senior year. However, since he no longer lives in Florida at all, I rarely see him. He introduced me to some of his friends and we ended up running around the Village until 4 AM, when I headed to the Upper East Side.
One downside to staying with my family is that they don't function on a college schedule. They were up only an hour after I got back, but this didn't bother me. Lack of sleep over Spring Break is only to be expected. It was worth it to me to get to spend time with my much younger cousins. Katherine's kids, Jackson and Rhett-Blake were five and two at the time and my Aunt Liz's son Will was turning six that day. For Will's birthday, we made cupcakes and invited them over to the apartment. Then, Liz and I took all the kids to the park with the exception of her daughter, Emma, who was eight at the time. It was so great to see the boys all playing together. After that, Liz and I took Will to see The Lorax, which I learned was a huge PSA on environmental impact. We met up with the Katherine and her kids for fro yo, the modern alternative to the ice cream that I grew up with. It was nonetheless delicious and entertaining to watch the kids hopped up on sugar, running around the fro yo place.
The rest of my trip in New York was spent mostly alone. The kids were in school, my aunts and uncles working or running errands and the like. Most people wouldn't enjoy New York City alone but I tend to prefer it that way. I love strolling through Central Park by myself in the middle of the day, watching small children run laps around their nannies and old couples sitting on benches holding hands. The unusual part about this trip for me was the weather. I always go to New York in the summers, never any other time of year. The closest to another season I have ever come before was September. It was so weird to see all the leaves in Central Park on the ground, in clumps of orange and brown rather than the normal vibrant green. 5th Avenue was a stranger sight. Though still somewhat crowded, it was predominantly taken over by men and women in business suits rather than your typical tourist. As a Floridian, I preferred it this way. Disney World and the beach have trained me to despise tourists, even when I am one. Assimilation into one's surrounding is much better and the reason I have never carried a city map or stopped in the middle of a sidewalk. Walk with a purpose, act like you know where you're going. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, not some other ancient culture on vacation in Rome.
My last night in New York, I met my friend Lizzy for coffee and then we had dinner at a small pizzeria on the Upper East Side. I headed back to Chinatown and picked up a later bus, leaving around 7 or 8 PM. This time, the bus was packed. Instead of a row to myself, like I had had on the trip down, I was lucky to find any seat at all. A young woman pulled me next to her so that neither of us would be subject to sitting with any creepy older men, which I was grateful for. The bus ride felt long and I was sad to watch the New York skyline grow smaller and dimmer as we headed into the darkness of the highway. As much as I love Boston, its skyline doesn't stand a chance next to New York's. I was still happy to see the Charles River and excited for the rest of my week in Boston.
The best part about a long trip in Boston was that I got the opportunity to see my Aunt Cindy. Yes, I have a lot of aunts and the three I saw over the course of this particular trip are all my dad's sisters. Cindy used to live in New York, just like her sisters, but had relocated to Massachusetts the year before. The change was not entirely welcome, no thanks to a particularly harsh winter in late 2010, early 2011. Cindy and I met for coffee (noticing a pattern here?) in Wellesley and walked through the town and school together. I spent a majority of my time in Boston walking around the city and walking around Wellesley. The weather was gorgeous and uncharacteristically warm considering it had snowed the week before. I probably walked over the Mass Ave bridge alone at least five times. Kathryn surprised me with concert tickets at the House of Blues for Young the Giant and Grouplove, so we went with her roommate and had a blast. Concerts used to actually constitute a large part of my time and money, especially towards the end of high school. However, since I've started travelling more, I have allocated more money towards plane tickets and gas for my car. I also went to one of Kathryn's crew practices and rode in the coach's boat. I was a sight to behold, wearing a survival suit and several other layers. All of the Wellesley rowers took pity on the poor Florida girl who wasn't accustom to waking up at 5 AM or accustom to the cold water so early in the morning. Crew practice reminded me how much I've missed rowing. It was also beautiful to see the boats gliding across the water as it lightly snowed, though I'm sure the rowers would disagree with me since they were the ones running drills with numb hands and faces.
Events occurred: March 2-11, 2012
Though a majority of my travels are precipitated by OAR, I occasionally head out on my own. Most of my adventures are within the Northeast, where a large number of my friends and family reside. So, for Veteran's Day weekend in 2011, I booked a flight to Boston. My best friend from high school, Kathryn, attends Wellesley College, an all girls school in Wellesley, MA, so I stayed with her for the three day weekend. Unfortunately, neither of us realized that her school didn't give off the Friday before Veteran's Day and so she was still in class when my plane landed. Luckily, another friend of mine is a student at MIT, and so he (Chris) met me instead.
Adventuring in Boston is both similar and different than general OAR adventuring. Christopher's brother is a long standing OAR member and there must be a genetic link because our time spent in Boston that Friday transformed into an OAR-style outing. Initially, I just received the overall tour of MIT campus and then we walked over the Mass Ave bridge into Boston proper. Kathryn, my Wellesley friend, met up with us eventually and the three of us embraced our inner tourist and went to Faneuil Hall for some clam "chow-dah." Following the food traditions in Boston, we went to the Mike's Pastry in the North End (which I HIGHLY recommend but keep in mind that they are cash only) for a Boston cream pie. Walking around for several hours, we then went to a Harvard-MIT basketball game.
The real adventure didn't start until after the basketball game, when we decided to go "hacking" with one of Christopher's dorm friends. Hacking is the MIT equivalent of urban exploration and buildering, but it can also include elaborate pranks, such as turning their famous dome into a replica of R2D2. We didn't pull any pranks. However, we did climb to the top of the little dome on Mass Ave, which gave us phenomenal views of Boston, Cambridge, and the Charles River. We also climbed to the roof of the Green Building, one of the tallest one MIT campus, and the roof of one other building. This particular roof was shaped like a 30-60-90 triangle and I crawled out to the edge on my stomach to peer over the side. With my head dangling over the point of the 30 degree angle, I could look around at the view without seeing the building below me. It was exhilarating and somewhat scary until I had my feet firmly on the ground again. We ran around campus until 3 AM, when Kathryn and I headed out to her school.
Saturday was much more relaxing. I spent all my time walking around the town of Wellesley and the campus. The leaves around the lake were changing and the weather was a perfect 50 degrees. The town itself was charming and small. That night, we watched Kathryn's roommates perform in two separate events, one an Indian cultural dance and the other a play entitled "Nine Armenians."
The next day we didn't have as much time, due to my flight home. We left my luggage at MIT and ventured across the Mass Ave bridge. The bridge is covered in markings, measuring the distance in "smoots." (For more info, consult google). I was pleased to discover that I am almost a smoot, just short by a few inches. We walked down the infamous Newbury Street and headed to the parks and gardens at the end. Again, the leaves were changing and it was beautiful, especially as the sun started to go down. Though not quite as adventurous as my times with OAR, it was a good trip all in all.
Events occurred: November 11-13, 2011
Since Michael and Carolanne had slept all day, they were fully energized by the time I had hit my wall. Still, I wanted to show them around somewhat, so I took them back across the bridge and down Newbury. At this point, my friend Kathryn had texted me and invited me to trivia at Triton, a bookstore and restaurant on Newbury, where she and her friends frequented. So I walked Michael and Carolanne to the gardens and then pointed them toward the North End, suggesting that they try Mike's Pastry. I then met Kathryn for trivia, leaping into her arms since I hadn't seen her in so long. Luckily, her friends had all met me numerous times and were not surprised when I did this, saying hi to me and asking me how my semester had been. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with Kathryn, since she wasn't feeling well on Friday night and only got worse as the weekend progressed. By the time trivia was over, I was ready for bed. I headed back to East Campus and curled up in my sleeping bag. Carolanne eventually joined me, and we talked while Michael and his sister went hacking. 
When I arrived in New York, I took the 6 train to the Upper East Side and was greeted by several aunts and uncles and a slew of cousins. We hopped in the car and headed out to Long Island, where my Aunt Aspasia and Uncle Victor were hosting Greek Easter. The smell of lamb and other meats was overwhelming and heavenly. I spotted my cousin Dean tending the grill and the lamb on the spit. I reintroduced myself to various cousins that I hadn't seen in years and happily awaited the egg ceremony and egg fights, the singing and dancing, and, of course, the food. Egg "fights" are one of my favorite Greek traditions. Essentially, everyone has one egg and you tap the narrow end against someone else's wide end. The last person standing with an uncracked egg or uncracked end is declared the winner. The food was undeniably incredible. Luckily for everyone there, Dean is a professional chef and he did not disappoint. My cousin Mala's beautiful voice led the singing, overpowering everyone else's attempts. My Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian, who live near Boston but had been in Connecticut for the weekend, were able to give me a ride back to Cambridge so I didn't have to deal with the bus, nor did I have to get back at 3 AM like I had anticipated. So, full of delicious Greek food and armed with leftovers for Christopher, I headed back to MIT.
