'Boston: Back in Cambridge...'

Michelle, the puppet master behind my awesome week at Harvard...
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14th Dec

Went to have breakfast at Shelleys cafe, the same place where some of 'Million Dollar Baby' was shot and just chilled until my early shuttle bus came, though we ended up arriving at the airport close to check in closure...was able to use the 'self-service' check-in which was quite efficient and went through some tight security checks with shoes off and everything...

'Cambridge in a parallel universe, where i infiltrated and sampled the higher living, crashed inumerable parties and the Faculty Club; its well fun here if you don't have to study...'

Debs. my date for the Harvard formal; im wearing about 3 different people's clothes...
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Flight was ok though we had to buy our own snacks and got no evening meal and as i arrived in Boston at midnight, no dinner.  Fortunately, i did get to meet this Reebok executive who is offering to get me some tickets for some live NBA action!! It was -8 degrees on arrival...so a bit of a shock as LA was 24 when i left.  Got an expensive taxi to the Harvard Quadrangle where my friend, Michelle (whom i met last year on my china trip) was kind enough to put me up!

15th Dec

Afterwards
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Up late, took a walk around the Harvard Campus in a gloriously beautiful sunny day but bitterly cold brrrrr. Harvard square is a grand old place which looks impressive in the snow...large red brick uni with a huge pathenon-like library and more traditional wooden Boston-esque house classrooms.  Some huge cathedrals also completed the look i had come to expect.  Went to the Peabody Museum and Harvard Museum of Natural History which had pretty neat displays.

Got the MBTA or the 'T' to Fenway Park, the home of the World Champion Baseball team: the Boston Red Sox which was cool and just wandered the quaint Boston streets for a few hours before getting the tube back to Harvard once it got dark...Went to dinner at the hall which was a posh dining room but the food was distinctly average! Went to some random parties including ice-cream, pizza and xmas events...one of Michelle's friends came back horribly drunk after some tutorial drinks fest where Deborah overdid it on white russians and we had a hilarious speaker phone conversation of her mumbling and giggling her way through a frosty Harvard evening alone...when she got back we invited everyone to witness her being, what the Americans like to call it, 'Ridiculous'...happy days though she has 2 final papers due in Monday and it took 'Debs' the best part of an evening to pick one poem before she got hammered. Now isnt this an interesting insider's view into a Harvard education. :P

Freshman's dining hall
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Im staying tonight with this safe Tom Green lookalike and do-alike called Dave, and i have, in my short time here, met a million guys called Dave. Hilarious in fashion, we all went to watch 'Arrested development', a Fox production, on his cinema sized iMac which was hilarious if not disturbing drama involving a fucked up family, including cousins who 'get it on' , a hopeless guy obsessed with magic, and a lawyer who suffers severe panic attacks under the slightest pressure...have to catch some more of that and also got a dose of the classic Dave Chapelle, which has made it across the pond...

Halls of residence...
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16th Dec

Its raining today so ive given up on doing the 'Freedom Trail' as well as anything else. Just stayed and surfed the net..though i did do something useful which was to book my train ticket to New York for tuesday! woohoo...

Met up with Dave Zhao, another of the Prez. scholars, and went to his halls nearer Harvard square called Eliot Hall where i enter a more guy-style apartment where a bunch of lads greeted me with distracted 'heys' as they pummeled away at 4-way Halo...awesome, they have big speakers, laptops, TV: the shit! Had dinner down at the nice hall and then went to Starbucks and was roped in by Brian's friend to go to some random graduate party at MIT, which, after some convincing by me, turned out to be awesome though it took a bit of finding after some maldirection not appreciated in the lack of heat of our surroundings. Some mad hip hop dancing, Boston beers and bad iPod mixing later, we were right at home with dozens of Urban planning majors all wearing the worst xmas jumpers ever and some of ladies there were fine :) big up to MIT.

John Harvard, the founder
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17th Dec

Today, went to Chinatown via the 'T' and met up with Andrea who's at MIT for some Dim Sum along with the Eliot crew. It was a fulfilling experience though it was inconvenient with some classic lost-in-translation moments: i mean the waitresses spoke cantonese with which i can converse, but then i have a British accent whilst the americans were confusing them with Mandarin which they werent too great at.  Anyway, after a large dose of coconut milk and for Dave - a million shrimp dumplings - we headed for a nice wander around the still chilly Boston.  We took a lovely stroll along the park before winding our way precariously on ice-caked sidewalks along the Esplanades to cross the picturesque Charles river by the Harvard bridge back into Cambridge. The bridge is measured by 'Smoots' which is an arbitrary measurements named after an MIT freshman called John Smoots, who was particularly short and used to measure the bridge: 407 Smoots and one ear.  After crossing the 'half way to hell' boundary, we had entered MIT and got a nice guided tour of MIT and some of the surrounding institutes which comprised of some interesting, if not ugly, architecture...

Lads out on the piss at a graduate urban planning party ?! at MIT
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Anyway, rushed back to Harvard square to get my ass up to the 'Prez Scholars dinner' which the wonderful Michelle kindly organised for me amidst finals preparation - an opportunity to see many of the other Americans on the china trip of two summers past...  Over some delicious Ribs in 'Mouse hole, Currier Hall', we (Me, Michelle, Bethany, Dave, Brian, Ron, Kristin and Ming Ming) recounted last years trip with fondness through some voyeurish video footage shot by Dave zhao which was shown on the big screen tv...i even got to see for the first time what i looked like on stage when i sang 'The Scientist' to Lily and more importantly her reaction to it, which i couldn't register from stage...wow that brought back some complicated feelings!

On Harvard bridge over the Charles river, central Boston
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After some more embarassing footage, it was time for the ladies to get ready for tonight's Dunster formal to which i have excitedly been invited.  Spent the next two hours getting pretty myself, but as i hadnt by chance brought a tux in my pack, i had to borrow a mish mash of clothes from different people...luckily, Sean, one of Dave Zhao's room mates, was about my size and he had a tux which pretty much fitted me perfectly (check the photos when they are up...) though i couldnt work out how to tie the bowtie provided...another room mate Stephen saved the day with a clip-on model and after borrowing smart shoes from the remaining guy Brian, i was set for some a posh mayball style partying at the 'Faculty Club', a usually exclusive establishment for Harvard professors; we were now to wreck this place!!! The place was packed out and after downing a few complimentary drinks, it was time to compliment the dirty hip hop music with some equally dirty dancing and my date, the beautiful 'Debs' was well up to the task!  We left for a brisk walk after missing the last dance back to Ming Ming's place for some photos before taking a shuttle back to Eliot hall and some Xbox before crashing out. Thanks to everyone for a top evening!

With Andrea at MIT
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18th Dec

Went ice-skating at an outdoor rink in the middle of a scenic park in the middle of Boston with Brian, Michelle and her room-mate Crystal...had to use hockey boots for the first time which was interesting and of course i fell nearly taking Crystal with me. Michelle and Brian were naturals turning backwards and spinning and shit, though he took a bit of convincing to get on the rink and get those boots on.  Loads of really good skaters there and some lightning children embarassing me...had a lot of fun though and, to be honest, i did need to put in some preparation for centre stage @ Central Park, NYC...

Ice-skating at Frog Pond, Boston
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Went to look at some stuff for xmas presents before a delicious sandwich to satisfy a very late lunch at around 5pm.  Had dinner at 6. Spent evening organising where i was going to stay in New York, then went to a popular Harvard hang - Boston tea house with its delicious 'Bubble-Tea', got thrashed at pool by Brian who also tutored me at Halo 2 for the rest of the night - unlike the rest of the house, he'd finished term so was able to show the more fun side of Boston above 'problem sets'... 

ice-skating in the Frog Pond, Boston
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19th Dec

Went to a chemistry lecture today with Dave and Brian held by a world famous Organic chemist called Professor David Evans, to whom i was formally introduced before the intensely befuzzling end of term class. Ive wasted worst hours of my life though on statistics.  Waited around for my main man Brian to finally finish term officially, after which he took us to a mall by bus where i could get some naff christmas gifts and people watch...

Had dinner at Bertucci's, a popular haunt for Harvard students regarding delicious Italian cuisine and it lived up to our anticipation and hunger after waiting in a cold doorway for the best part of half an hour.  It was so nice, we couldnt finish it and i took the rest of it to an end of year Currier party which was lubricated liberally with alcoholic hot chocolate. Out of character, Dave and Brian rose to the social occasion and came to the party and we wailed at the hilarious 40 year old Virgin...Packed and bedded in the early morning.