Hey everyone!

As I settle back into my routine here at home, I felt it fitting to share my past week in Boston. Having left on the 12, taking a redeye flight at midnight, I returned home on the 20th of June. My week in Boston was chalk-full of traveling, good food, and getting the chance to explore a place unknown to me. 

Wednesday

Arriving at 6am (EST) I was taken to my uncles apartment where I could settle in and take a nap to help catch me up. After waking up I was then taken over to my aunts house, where I would spend the night. After hanging out at her house the two of us left to go surprise my grandmother, who lived a few ways away. After surprising her we all went out to dinner and made plans for the following day, Thursday. 

Thursday

My priority, as funny as it sounds, was to fix my watch. Besides that, I was open to anything and everything that we could do! That morning, the 14th, the three of us went to the Wrentham Outlets and spent a few hours shopping. In preparation for the upcoming Harry Styles concert, I bought a white shirt from True Religion and a denim skirt from Gap. 

The outfit on the night of the concert

After shopping we went to Friendly's to enjoy some ice-cream and finished the night off talking at my aunts house. After a few hours I was driven back to Jamaica Plain, where I would stay for the remainder of my trip. Being out in Shrewsbury, compared to Jamaica Plain, gave me two different sides of Massachusetts: the crowded, fast-pace of the city and the slower, quiet countryside. It was a welcome change to what was to come for the week. 

Friday

The morning of Friday the 15th was slow, taking it easy watching tv and making a mental plan for the week. When my cousin arrived that afternoon, the three of us went to the train station (Known as the T) and got a weekly pass. Immediately after this my cousin and I went to Cambridge. After walking around, we were able to go to Tatte Bakery, Mike's Pastry's, and Harvard. I was excited to go to Tatte, and try their pastries, but was very disappointed in their pricing and matcha. For reference, there were only two sizes when we went, small and medium, and the pricing was comparable to that of Waikiki. Right off the bat I knew I wasn't paying for quality food but paying for the aesthetic. The matcha latte I ordered was chalky and no matter how much sweetener I added it still wasn't smooth. Needless to say I was very disappointed. Mike's was a bit better. The cannoli I ordered was the hazelnut one (A bold choice) and was good-- until I remembered that I prefer dairy-free food and I sat contemplating where I went wrong. The cannoli was full of filling and the breading was crumbly. I guess for my first cannoli it wasn't too bad. Would I go back? No. 




Seeing Harvard was very cool. It looks like a traditional college campus and was everything I wish my school looked like, the only difference being that the buildings on my campus aren't well-kept, but at Harvard they look to be. My cousin and I sat on the lawn for a few hours and caught up. To be honest, up until then neither of us had really said anything, which confused me but I guess its just a personality thing. Us talking helped open her up. 





Saturday

Saturday was Salem day! Salem is a town farther outside the city than what I had seen on Wednesday and is also where the infamous Salem Witch Trials took place. This time period in American history is my absolute favorite (strange, I know) and I was excited to see the place where everything happened. 




I shouldn't have been surprised, given what year it is, but looking back I am shocked at how modern the town is. I guess going into it I thought everything would be woodsy and spread out, similar to how I picture this period in time. Unfortunately for me this wasn't the case, as it is now a city that people reside in, and you simply don't have that 17th century feel when you walk around. It's not a city, by any means, but it was a rather populated area. 

The three of us sat inside the museum and watched an hour minute presentation on the events that transpired during the 1600's. After the museum we went to the graveyard, a very humbling experience, and saw a little more of the extended town area. From home goods shops to witch stores, this town really monetized on their history. But can you blame them?

Upon returning to JP we decided that the two of us (my uncle opted to stay in) would go get dinner downtown. Ending up parallel to the Boston Public Library, the two of us ventured around to find dinner. We made our way onto Newbury Street and ate at a place called Dirty Water, a pizza joint. After eating the pizza we went across the street to try gelato in the shape of a flower. 

If you can't tell already I plan much of my time around what kind of food I can eat. 

The gelato was expensive, but I decided to treat myself. Not even in Hawaii can you get flower gelato! It was good; I would go back.  

Sunday

Sunday was another exciting day. I'm not the kind of person that plans day-of, but thats what I seemed to be doing daily, and as long as I was getting done what I wanted to do, I wasn't too perturbed. 

Sunday was also Father's Day, and given that the city was expected to reach upwards of 100, we all opted to go to Cape Cod to the annual car show. 

It was hot. It was crowded. But it was a holiday, so what could you expect? 

After leaving the car show the three of us drove back and I soon left to go see Boston University's graduate studies building. As I'm nearing the halfway point of my time at Manoa, I have began thinking of what I should pursue in the following years. Do I take a gap year before pursuing further study? Do I immediately find a job and begin to build my resume? Or should I study a program that I'm interested in and get a higher, more respected degree? I know I need to think through each option, and I would rather look at schools while I have the chance, even if I decide not to pursue a masters, rather than decide to apply and miss the chance of having seen it. Because I did not have the privilege of seeing Manoa before application, I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can to see a school. 

BU is a campus very old, six decades older than my school, but very clearly well kept. Much of the dorms I saw were brownstones and the classrooms appeared to be very clean, on the outside. The building I saw in particular was the Pardee School of Global Studies, the building for graduate students, from what I could tell online. 


After seeing a bit of the campus my cousin and I went to a Japanese bakery on the street over and enjoyed a few pastries. I got a red bean bun, a cinnamon apple bun, and a Totoro bun! Totoro is my favorite Studio Ghibli character so of course I had to try it!



Monday

This day was one of my most highly anticipated days. Not only would I be going to Newbury Street and finally exploring this long strip of shops, but I would also be attending the Harry Styles concert later that evening. 

As luck would have it, I didn't end up leaving as early as I would have liked. I would say I finally got to have breakfast at around 10:30 to 11 am. For me, this is too late in the game to be having breakfast. I'm not a morning person but I can't stand not getting my day started earlier in the morning. My plan, or my hope, would be that I could get up and leave by 9 and start walking Newbury Street by mid-morning, 10:30. But, like I said, I didn't have breakfast until 10:30 and I had little knowledge of what eateries are in Newbury, so I went with my cousin's choice and went to a crepe place for breakfast. 

The crepe place was similar to Tatte in terms of aesthetic. Subway tiles, intimate setting, and chalkboard signs. Again, you're paying for the upkeep of the aesthetic. 

After that, because of where we were, my plan of going to Newbury in the morning was changed to better accommodate our location. I'm not an art person, but I don't mind museums, so we ended up going to the Isabella Gardener museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. Honestly, I wouldn't go back to IG but I would go back to the MFA. My only complaint with MFA is the imbalance in geographical art. For instance, why is nearly a quarter of Europe represented with French, English, German, etc art, but you only have Japanese and Chinese art to make up the "Asian" exhibit? Traits like that irk me, because Asia is so much bigger than those two countries, and at that point its not Asian art but rather, "East Asian Art" (which could further be argued given there was no Korean art). Further, why is the European art all different mediums of painting, yet the Asian art is primarily pottery or stone slabs? Again, these differences are understandable but frustrating when there is so much more to Asia than Buddhist stones. Ugh, seriously? 

Isabella Gardner

MFA

So, if you're planning a trip, I would recommend the MFA for the amount of art in general. The IG museum reminded me of the Denver Museum of Art due to the fact that there isn't much to show. However, the history behind IG makes for an interesting experience!

After the museums we rushed over to Newbury Street to get a little bit of walking around in before it was time to head back and get ready for the concert. Newbury Street is long and we went into numerous stores, some of which you won't find in either Colorado or Hawaii, namely: Lily Pulitzer. We also ate at a place called Cafe-Teria and I tried my first lobster roll! How cool? 

After eating dinner we then were finally able to find steps that weren't blocked off or crowded with people. The angles aren't the best but here you go, me sitting on the steps of one of Newbury's own!



After going home and getting ready, it was only fitting that we leave right at the beginning of what would become a harsh rainstorm. Luckily, we left right before the rain were to come, or else who knows how I would have looked throughout the concert!

The concert was incredible. Depending on how long you've been following me, if you were familiar with my high school blogs than you probably would have seen my slight spiral into the One Direction phase, and if you had kept up with me during my time-off from blogging then you would have learned that I had previously seen One Direction during their "Take Me Home Tour". Until now, I had never been to another concert. And, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I would have wanted to go to another one until now. 

Concerts are something that, in my one experience of having been, are a very special, intimate time for the fan and artist. Personally, I'm not going to spend hundreds on an artist, or group, that I have been invested in or has changed my life. For me, with One Direction having broke up, seeing Harry Styles was something as close to them as I could get. Now don't get me wrong, his music is great, but being able to see Harry brought me back to when I saw the whole group. 

To give you perspective as to how close I was

The concert was incredible and I'm so fortunate to have been gifted tickets from my aunt. I wish I could see him while he's in Denver, but I guess only seeing him once is what makes the Boston performance so special. 

Tuesday

Tuesday, for multiple reasons, was a conflicting day for me. For starters, I ended up in Newbury Street and the Prudential out of circumstance, not so much plan. In following me, especially when I post at school, many of you will be aware that I keep problems or incidents "vague" and prefer to highlight the lighter side of things. The reason I point out how I ended up in this area of town isn't to tease you guys, but to show you that there really wasn't a plan to this day, just that what transpired led me to frustratedly choosing to go about my day alone. 

At the Prudential, I was able to see a couple of the stores offered but ended up deciding it wasn't where I wanted to go, and so I went to Newbury. At Newbury I opted to explore a stationary/home good's store called Muji.

I picked up a handful of pens (non smearing!! yay!) and was able to design a notebook. For what it's worth, I would say this was a pretty successful run. After walking around some more I stumbled my way onto a farmers market and then took the bus home, picking up some sushi for lunch. 

Once everyone returned the three of us went to dinner. I topped the night off with some dairy free ice cream from a shop called FoMu. 

Wednesday

Bright and early, 6 in the morning, I ended up leaving to catch my flight home. Again, one of those days when, ideally, plans are best completed earlier rather than later, didn't work out quite like this. Instead, I got to the airport an hour before takeoff. This was fine, there's no point arguing about this now, but I want to put into perspective how late I was arriving.

Immediately upon entering the airport I was in line. From across the line I hear a flight attendant yelling "If you're flight is at six I need you to come here right now,". Thankfully the woman in front of me was leaving at six, and the two of us pushed our way through lines of people. Do you know what this means? It means that I was so behind that I had to be removed from TSA and put at the front of even TSA Pre Check, because otherwise I would have missed my flight. In fact, even when I was moved to the front of the front, by the time I got through the radar my flight was boarding. I want to point this out because you should always, always, prepare for events like this. I have never been treated like this in an airport and I hope it doesn't happen again. My family always leaves two hours prior to departure, and if you're taking too long getting ready then you're on your own. That's just how it is. 

Now that I'm home, I do miss Boston. I am glad I got to go and put a picture to what I had grown up thinking the city was like. For now, the rest of summer will be spent working and saving up in preparation for my studying abroad. 

I hope you enjoyed this long post, I tried to incorporate as many details into this as I could!

Until next time,

Aislinn