Monday night, I came home from an awesome adventure in Boston! I was supporting my boo who was running the Boston Marathon—he finished 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 54 minutes, and 4 seconds!!!
Being in Boston was like a mini vacation—I left Saturday morning, missed the Douglass Inter-Hall competition, Palm Sunday Mass, and four classes on Monday—driving almost five hours north of New Brunswick to a hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts with three very awesome and handsome men—Kev, Aaron, and of course two-time Marathon completer Rob. You’d think that after living with all girls for eight months and being in a sorority, this adventure would be too testosterone filled for me… it was actually an extremely pleasant surprise, and one of the best weekends I have had all year!
After somehow sleeping through the Rutgersfest madness, we gathered at Neilson for breakfast and packed Kev’s car, affectionately named Carlita. We drove out for hours, dependent on two GPS systems who fought incessantly to speak first. We didn’t get lost at all until we did get to Massachusetts, where cars drove slower and roads were more winding. The architecture in the suburbs around Boston was beautiful, as were the wonderful SKYSCRAPERS (this is my shout out to you, Aaron) that marked our arrival in the city which has a college at every street end.
We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Waltham, enjoying the quirkiness of Massachusetts Suburbia. Houses looked like castles, painted eccentric colors like green, purple, and orange. We drove into a cr33py, huge preparatory school for a u-turn and drove through some sketchy exits before arriving at our destination. After unpacking Carlita, we drove back into the heart of Boston, walked around Quincy Market (saw a Cheers inspired restaurant and Dick’s Last Resort, where waiters and waitresses have to be assholes to you yet somehow you enjoy it and tip them anyway), ate Greek food, and took pictures with statues. We went to hang out with one of Aaron’s friends at Boston University, Rachel, who gave us advice on how to navigate the big, bad Boston city. We lurked through the streets in the rain, witnessing nightlife of party buses and limousines.
The next day, we split up a bit. Aaron was still at Boston University, Rob had gone to pick up his marathon stuff at a convention center, and Kev and I were off to fend for ourselves trying to find parking. When we reunited, we ventured over to Fenway Park, one of the nicest baseball stadiums in the country (or so I’ve been told, I know nothing of baseball so I will roll with it)! Our seats were in a nice central area in the bleachers, almost directly across from the game—Boston Red Sox v. Toronto Blue Jays. Obviously Boston won, as they should in their homeland. I still don’t know what it is about baseball that excites so many members of the male sex, but I was happy to see so many people into the game. I might have secretly enjoyed it too ;) and also enjoyed being able to see the whites of John Lester’s eyes, which is apparently a big deal. Though it rained on us when we first sat down, It was a BEAUTIFUL day—surprising, since I assumed Boston is always significantly colder than New Jersey.
After Fenway, we drove around more, looking at Massachusetts Institution of Technology and Harvard University. Harvard was having their annual Yardfest, which was a MUCH lower key version of Rutgersfest. There were quite a bit of people there considering Harvard’s small population, and we had no idea who any of the acts were, but they refused to let us in because we couldn’t show them Harvard ID.
(Just as an aside—I do go out quite a bit, but I decided not to go to Rutgersfest because I couldn’t get on a bus at all after waiting for more than half an hour. The buses were so crowded, possibly with more non-Rutgers students than Rutgers students, that the drivers would not stop to pick anyone else up. I woke up to the text messages from RUPD telling students to avoid College Avenue because there had been multiple shootings. It was the first time Rutgers sent out a mass text message like that, which you can sign up to receive for alerts from RUPD. Though it is really unfortunate that a long-standing tradition like Rutgersfest had to be cancelled, no one predicted things would be so out of control and so violent. There has been a lot of talk about replacing Rutgersfest with something like an RUID-only concert in the football stadium on Busch, but a lot of it comes down to money and the fact that Rutgers is a huge school and it is always harder to control anything when there’s just a lot of it. RUPD is put in such an awkward position when drunken debauchery breaks loose on days like Rutgersfest—are they supposed to arrest all 10,000 people who are clearly under-aged and intoxicated on the streets? A lot of the problems were rooted in what happens after the concert each year, often off-campus. It’s a very tough, awkward position for anyone in the administration. I do respect the decision to cancel it for the sake of safety--no one should ever have to feel unsafe on campus.)
We talked a lot about our college decisions, and how things turn out okay. Though New Brunswick is not the prettiest or safest city for a university, I am grateful for all the opportunities I have had and for the fact that it does not cost ANYWHERE near what a private college would cost me. Once you give it a chance, Rutgers has its great quirks and own unique personality aside from its reputation, whatever you assume it to be.
After our little college self-tour soiree, we ate at a cute Italian restaurant and went back to the hotel to do some work/talk to each other through Facebook. I woke up around 6am to wish Rob good luck on his Marathon run and went back to sleep. Woke up to eat breakfast and watch the start of the race on our hotel TV, so impressed by how fast people were, running by as if nothing was hurting. Running is an art! We went out to drive to parking and eventually parked in a parking deck for $11. Kev and I stood by the finishing area while Aaron and Rachel stood near mile 25. Rob called me when he finished and we went to go find and congratulate our wonderful marathon runner! We met him in the Family Meeting Area—might as well have been his family for the day. We ate a celebratory meal at uBurger—DELICIOUS—and made our way home. The car ride home was full of laughter and strange stories, and a stroll through Pequannock, ending with the windows down and music loud on Easton Ave. Gotta love riding in cars with boys!
As for right now, I am sitting in the Nicholas Music Center on Douglass, waiting to do a second run through of my dance before SHOW TIME! My Spring Showcase for the Rutgers Performing Dance Company is tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 1pm! Exciting. It’s also Easter Weekend, so I might go home after the show tomorrow. I rarely go home because there’s always so much going on while I’m on campus—can’t miss the fun ;) I also don’t have the luxury of Alexander Library at my fingertips while I am at home! That’s no fun.
Companionship ;)
Me, Rob, Aaron, Kev
Boston Nightlife, obvi!
Fenway Park!
Yay Rob!
Good life on the Gondolas
Location: SinglePost