The Other Coast

Something about breathing the air of the other coast and exploring the other side of America gives me an exhilarated feeling. 

On a late July summer night in 2011, I walked to the baggage claim area waiting for my family's suitcases to roll up on the belt. Just as we finally retrieved all our belongings, my dad received a phone call from Courtyard Marriott, the hotel we had reserved, that they ran out of room for us. Thankfully, they were able to set us up with a room at a nearby Ramada Inn in Boston with a complimentary breakfast.  

Day 2 of our trip began with a nice complimentary breakfast of eggs, sausages, and orange juice. We then headed out to the T-Station (convenient transportation system in Boston, MA) nearby our hotel to explore all that Boston had to offer. Starting off our journey with the famous Harvard University, we visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History and were amazed by the intricacy of the Glass Flowers Exhibition as well as their minerals collection. After a simple lunch of chicken and cheese quesadillas in one of the Harvard campus cafeterias, we headed back to the T-Station. The next stop on our Boston adventure was Boston College. The beautiful Catholic architecture with a serene surrounding atmosphere caught my attention and I knew I wanted to be Boston College Eagle in the near future. After a nice campus tour, my parents and I headed to dinner. Not really sure where to eat, we decided to look around the famous Union Square in Boston. It just so happened that our eyes landed on the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America. Not wanting to wait for an actual table, we sat our hungry selves down at their oyster bar and ordered the most delicious fresh oysters and clams I had ever tasted. It was absolutely the most wonderful way to end the day.

Day 3 of our Boston adventure showed me a new record of the number of Dunkin' Donuts that could possibly exist in one city. Where I live I see one Dunkin' Donuts occasionally, but in Boston, it felt like there was one on every corner of ever street! With the T-Station conveniently at our disposal, we visited both the original campus of Tufts University and also the medical based campus of Tufts in the Chinatown area. Afterwards, we went on an interesting and educational tour of the Samuel Adams beer brewing factory. Of course, I couldn't do any beer tasting, but the staff members were friendly and nice enough to hand me a bottle of IBC Root Beer, which I enjoyed while my parents tasted multiple types of beer including their famous Boston Lager. Later on we stopped by Antico Forno for a nice rustic Italian meal. Before we headed back to our hotel, we made a quick stop at the Holocaust Memorial, and it was quite fascinating to walk through the six pillars and admire the structures.

The last 4 days of our trip were spent touring Yale University, Princeton University, University of Maryland, and University of Pennsylvania. For the majority of those visits, we stayed at a relatives house in New Jersey and used a rental car from Hertz for transportation purposes. Taking a break from all the college campus tours, we were able to visit the United Nations building, do some shopping on New York City's Fifth Avenue, and enjoy the bustling, crowded Times Square of the Big Apple.