sometimes in september . . .

you realize 

there is almost nothing left of the chocolate you bought 

in Germany in May

and it's sad

like the end of summer

but worse

because instead of the consolation of fall--

crisp and lovely, full of soup and tea and sweaters--

you have only
empty wrappers

Wrapping up Boston

I'm leaving Boston for Dublin in just a few short hours! I thought I should wrap up my discussion of Boston before I forget all about it in the next few weeks.

On Thursday, I saw the awesome Boston Public Library, considered taking the eucharist at the Trinity Church but decided against it, and walked most of the Freedom Trail while clutching some Dunkin' Donuts mint hot chocolate (it was chilly). The Freedom Trail was fun. I saw lots of interesting historical sites--many of which were related to Paul Revere and his midnight ride.

After the Freedom Trail, I met up with Patrick and we went to Regina's Pizzeria in the North End. Apparently lots of famous people have eaten there. I know this because their signed photos were on the wall. Rob Lowe and Leonardo DiCaprio apparently think it's the best pizza in the world. I thought it was pretty good. We had a pesto pollo pizza. It had a little too much ricotta cheese for my taste.

After dinner, we went to the famous Mike's Pastries and got some canolis. Yum. But all that ricotta cheese made me feel a little sick. We tried going to to the Bunker Hill monument but it was really cold and the visitor's center was closed, so we ended up just chilling and watching a really bad 70s movie called The Andromeda Strain. I wasn't a fan, but it was entertaining and a nice end to a tiring day.

Friday, I went the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I saw works from Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Degas, Sargent, etc. You know. No big deal. I also really enjoyed the exhibit on mummies and the contemporary art. I was there for three hours but didn't see nearly enough. I assuaged my disappointment by reminding myself that I have four more weeks of vacation and lots more art museums to visit.

After the MFA, I went to lunch with Patrick at CPK and then we went shopping. I love H&M. We finished off the evening at a Star Wars party with some people from Patrick's ward; it was May the Fourth after all (which I only found out recently is a thing). We watched The Empire Strikes Back. And had some incredibly awesome guacamole.

Goodbye, Boston. It's been fun.

My blogging might be a little more sporadic/non-exist over the next week while I'm in Ireland and England. I probably won't have access to a computer and I don't know how up I'll be for blogging from my iPod Touch.

Concord, MA

Today involved lots of geeking out and extreme amounts of excitement: I visited Concord, MA, home of Louisa May Alcott. My love for Little Women is so deep, personal and abiding that I have a hard time explaining it to other people. Visiting Orchard House was an experience beyond my capacity to fully describe.

I've been pretty low-key, zen even, about my trip so far. I'm not too intent on seeing anything and if things have fallen through, I haven't really cared. The only things I've insisted I needed to see while I was out here were Orchard House and Walden Pond. I knew I was excited to see these things, but even I was surprised at my own enthusiasm today. Just driving into Concord and seeing the streets got my adrenaline going. I couldn't stop smiling when I saw Orchard House appear through the trees. I made my friend take several pictures of me standing in front of the house before we even found the entrance to the visitor's center. I also texted one of these pictures to each of my eight siblings, so they could know I was experiencing such a momentous moment (redundant, but whatevs).

There were only four of us on the tour and it was the first time through the home for all of us. As we were introducing ourselves, one of the women there said, "It's kind of a really big deal for me to be here, so if I start crying, don't worry." I laughed, but mostly because I understood that I might burst into tears at any moment as well.

The house was lovely, although very different inside than the one featured in the Winona Ryder movie. The outside was essentially the same, but the inside was set up differently. The highlight of the tour was seeing the actual desk where Little Women was written. I don't know why it matters so much to see the desk, but it did. I stared at it for a good long while.

In the course of the tour, I learned a few interesting things I hadn't known before:

• The real Meg, Anna Alcott, was an actress who met her husband, John, while performing opposite him in a play in Concord.

• The real Amy, May, was an accomplished enough artist that hers was the only work by an American woman accepted in a prestigious French art exhibition.

• May was also the first art teacher of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial.

• The Winona Ryder movie was actually filmed in Alaska.

Okay, that last part is probably not true, but our tour guide did say that--even though she followed it up with a "Actually, that's not true."

After Orchard House, we saw Sleepy Hollow cemetery where Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott are all buried. (Daniel Chester French is actually buried there too.) It was really creepy in an awesome way and I was glad I wasn't there alone and it wasn't dark. We were even approached by a man carrying around a black cat who wanted to tell us more about Daniel Chester French. Odd. But I loved it.

We followed up the cemetery with lunch at a little cafe, a quick drive-by look at the Old North Bridge ("the shot heard round the world"), and then a visit to Walden Pond.

I loved Walden Pond. It's huge and beautiful and I can see why Henry David moved down there. I was ready to move into the nearby woods myself. His little shanty looked quite comfortable (actually, it was just a replica--the real one was disassembled for use as firewood and the roof of it was put on a pigsty--really). Maybe I'll build my own up Provo Canyon. It would solve my I-don't-know-where-I'm-going-to-live-this-fall problem so nicely. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately . . . " I could do that for two years and two months and two days.

I wish I could post some of the lovely pictures I took there, but alas. You'll see them soon.

Tomorrow, I'll actually go into Boston proper!

Cambridge, MA

So, I've spent most of the past couple of days in Cambridge, MA. I love it. There are so many old houses and buildings and lots of red brick--it's just so pretty and old.

On Monday, I had a lazy morning trying to take care of stuff for Europe (like calling my bank and telling them not to freeze my cards when I start spending money in Dublin), and then met up with my friend Patrick for lunch in Harvard Square.

We went to a sandwich place called Darwin's. (I took a nice picture of myself standing in front of it which I would post if I had access to a computer with an SD card slot.) We both had portobello mushroom, mozzarella, basil sandwiches (so good) and ate them in a little grassy area along Mt. Auburn Ave (Or was it Mt. Auburn Street? I don't know actually). After that, we visited the Mt. Auburn Cemetery where I took pictures of EVERYTHING. Lots of headstone and flower pictures--pictures that no one but me will ever want to look at. Again, I'd post them for you but I don't have a camera USB cord or a computer with an SD card slot.

We spent about two hours wandering around the cemetery. Apparently, it's the first landscaped cemetery in the United States. It was beautiful--peaceful and quiet. There are a lot of famous people buried there, most of whom I'd never heard of. But we did look at the graves of some people whose names I recognized: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science), and Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes Booth and one of the most famous Shakespearean actors in 1860s America).

In the middle of the cemetery is a tower that you can climb and see an awesome view of Cambridge and Boston.

After our cemetery-ing, Patrick showed me around Harvard campus and we headed back to Harvard Square where we got dark hot chocolate at Barlick's (YUM) and looked around the Harvard Coop--Harvard's university bookstore that is run by Barnes & Noble (I know, right).

Later, we met up with Patrick's bible study friends, Tom and Courtney, for dinner at a place called India Castle. It was delicious.

Today was rainy and overcast, so we didn't actually go to Walden Pond or Orchard House (that will happen tomorrow!). But Sarah and I did do a session at the Boston Temple (which was really pretty). We also ate at Chipotle (shout out to Gina & Rebecca!), ran errands at Target, and went to J. P. Lick's, an ice cream place in Harvard Square. I had chocolate pretzel ice cream. Again, yum. (I love food.)

Sarah dropped me off at the Harvard Coop where I read poetry while waiting to meet up with my friend Natalie. I came across this amazing poem that I think I'm going to make copies of and pass out to students who ask me if they missed anything important when they were absent from my class.

Natalie and I went to a concert by Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo, who I guess were in America for the Japan-U.S. Cherry Blossom Centennial. It was a beautiful concert that took place in beautiful concert hall on campus. The concert hall was in the same building where the Harvard freshman dining hall is located. BYU's Cannon Center has a lot of room for improvement.

After the concert, Natalie and I grabbed dinner at a cool little place on Harvard Square. I can't remember what it was called, but we had hummus and red lentil soup. So good.

And now I'm seriously considering moving to Cambridge.

Epic Vacation Part 1: Boston

Yesterday, I commenced an epically long, solo vacation. I'll never have the time or probably the money to go on a vacation like this again, so I'm trying to take full advantage of the opportunity to go to a lot of places and see a lot of things. I'm going to try to blog about it somewhat regularly, depending on how good my Internet connection in Europe will be. My itinerary? Boston, Massachusetts; Ireland; England; Germany; Austria; and Washington, D.C.

I arrived in Boston yesterday morning after a red-eye flight with a brief stop in the JFK airport. I flew JetBlue, which I had never done before. I recommend it. I had a very nice flight attendant named Victor who said he liked my bag and gave me two cans of tomato juice. (I always drink tomato juice on airplanes but almost never at any other time.) He also bought a movie for the guy next to me to watch. Victor was so great.

After eating a breakfast of toast and jam, the first thing I did in Boston was take a nap. Then, I went to a baby shower for my friend Sarah (I'm staying here in Boston with Sarah and her husband, Michael). After the baby shower, I had another nap. In the evening, we went to dinner at Antojito's, a Mexican/El Salvadorian restaurant. We got a ton of food so I had a bit of everything: papusas, tacos, gorditas, some fish, rice and beans. Yum.

After that, we went grocery shopping. I learned that out here in Boston, they call grocery carts "carriages." We watched about half of Bringing Up Baby (during which I had another nap!) and then went to bed. I was so tired.

This morning, I went to church at the Boston Longfellow Park 2nd Ward with my friend Patrick. It's a ward that's pretty full of graduate students. I enjoyed how many of them tied their different fields of study into what we were talking about in Sunday School. No but really. I did. During the fifth Sunday combined meeting, we also were given chocolate and crayons and we had story time. I loved this ward.  Church was followed by a munch-and-mingle with the Longfellow Park 1st Ward where I saw my friend Natalie. Apples and celery and peanut butter were served. (I'll probably be chronicling the food I eat more than anything else I do while I'm traveling.)

This afternoon, we tried to go to Boston Commons and Boston Public Gardens (where the Make Way for Ducklings statues are!), but we experienced a lot of authentic Boston traffic and we couldn't find parking, so we ended up just kind of driving around for nearly an hour. I enjoyed it though. There are a lot of awesome old houses and old buildings here in Boston. We passed by John Kerry's house and a house that Louisa May Alcott may or may not have lived in.

On the way back, we stopped at the Fenway Stadium and walked around outside of it. It's pretty small, but it's a 100 years old and that's cool. I took some pictures that I'll have to upload when I have access to a computer with a SD card drive.

Long story short, I've been in Boston for two days and have seen mostly nothing. But I'm enjoying myself. Tomorrow, I'm going to Harvard Square, Harvard campus, and the Mt. Auburn's Cemetery where a bunch of famous people are buried. Tuesday is Walden Pond and Orchard House! Should be awesome. I'll keep you all posted.

"A vacation from my problems!"

Many months ago, probably whilst bemoaning our lack of funds for real traveling, my sisters and I had a brilliant idea: why not vacation in Provo? We could walk around our own city, act like tourists, take pictures, and see things we've never seen before. Yesterday, we set out to fulfill our plan of vacationing in Provo. Other than the obligatory hike to the Y, we tried to go places and do things that at least one of us had never done before. We also attempted to do things that didn't cost any money (besides some minimal eating out). Unfortunately, this meant that canoeing the Provo river, hiking to the Timp Caves, or doing things at Sundance were ousted from the itinerary.

We had to be more creative.

We (one brother, two sisters, me) started our morning out with a hike to the Y--a good reminder of why this is not my favorite Provo hike. I much prefer hiking in Rock Canyon or Provo Canyon. But it was fun, nonetheless.

Nice day, eh?

After our Y hike, we headed to Ripple's for lunch. For those of you who don't know, Ripple's was the actual filming location for the LDS classic film The Phone Call--which classic film was the inspiration for cult favorite Napoleon Dynamite. Yep, Provo is a pretty rockin' famous place like that.

Trevor joined us for lunch.

Mmmm, yummy. Look at those fries with good old-fashioned Utah fry sauce.

Lunch was followed by a trip to Brigham Young University campus--for which, of course, Provo is most famous. Since I'm heading into my sixth year as a student at BYU this fall, touring campus seemed a little boring. But I'd never been through the exhibit in the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitor's Center . . .

. . . so we checked it out.

After that, we swung by the HBLL so I could pick up some books I had on hold, and, while there, checked out the Florence Nightingale exhibit (which, by the way, ALWAYS freaks me out when I walk by it because it includes a life size wax statue of Nightingale).

BYU was followed by a trip to North Park which, incidentally, was formerly a baseball field and the site of the Western Boys Baseball Association's 1961 Little League World Series. Yeah, I know. Provo is pretty awesome like that. The reason we went to North Park, however, was to check out the Pioneer Museum there, which I'd never before explored. On display at the Pioneer Museum are lots of old things that belonged to Provonians, like this trunk:

Easily my favorite part of the museum was the label on this trunk:

The excitement of seeing SOMEONE's well-worn trunk was almost overwhelming. Nothing in the rest of the day could top it, but these Pioneer Rules for Eating were also quite exciting and enlightening:

Also on display was this Alice in Wonderland collection which belonged to a children's librarian in Provo. Lovely.

After the museum, we headed to the Pioneer Village next to the museum which was supposed to be open until 4:00pm, but was locked and closed at 3:30pm when we got there. Laura's shock and sadness over this is evident below.

To assuage our disappointment, we headed to Stan's for some more good Provo eatin', since we were hungry again and needed a late afternoon snack.

Yes, the only authentically Provo food available is diner food accompanied by fry sauce, so we had some more of that. After which, we headed to see the Provo City Veterans Memorial.

At the park with the memorial, we came across this pretty awesome world map next to the playground . . .

. . . which meant Laura got to visit Mexico as well as Provo.

Other events of the day included checking out the Cherry Lane Boutique, trying to go to Startup's Quality Candies (which was closed), and walking up and down Center Street in Provo's Historic Downtown.

Spending all day in the sun driving and walking around VERY familiar streets wore us out by the evening, so we headed to Macey's grocery store for a few items, went home, made dinner, and relaxed the rest of our evening away.

Yay Provo.

Lesson learned: Provo has lots of free things to do and lots of little things to see, but money makes vacations more fun.

Washington, DC, here I come. Two more months!