football @Tufts

Actually another larger-scaled match was held at the 4th but that day I went to Harvard Square with Vicki so we kind of missed out. What a pity. This one's a rather compact one, taking place on a particular Wednesday, during which Salina and I went to Tisch Library instead of the Discover America field trip.

That was a drowsy afternoon. After I went back from the library with Salina we found virtually nothing to do besides idling the rest of the day away, lying at lounge. Good news for us that Akito, Jorge, Ignacio, Giordano, Ofilio and Ramon decided to play football later that afternoon, which turned out to be our only entertainment that day.





Before the football play, there was a hilarious interlude: these guys invented a kind of "relay table tennis," running around the table, taking turns hitting the ping-pong. Very creative indeed.





It was a sunny, breezy afternoon and the sky was azure blue; that's another thing I esp love about Boston: the beautiful weather. The sun rises early and sets late, while the sky is always marine blue.









Salina spotted something funny in the sky and I lifted my head: it was something like a hot air balloon serving for commercial purpose. Dunno, maybe it's common in US, but that was something I had only seen in movies and I got real excited.



OK, switch back to the football play. That was actually my very first experience of watching real people playing football (have seen lots of EPL matches but they were either on online-television or the satellite TV in sports bars like Tavern or Brass Monkey. ) Spitze!




Ramon: about to shoot.



Jorge the Speedy.



Ignacio.



Ofilio in his Argentina shirt.



Akito.




Giordano the goalkeeper.

@Harvard

This entry is about my biggest fancy throughout Boston: Harvard!

That was a dream-like pace, strolling in the Harvard campus. The sunlight was sifted from the leaves, with which cast shadows on the ground. The trail, the buildings, made of similar red, sienna bricks-- such harmonious correspondence was simply divine.

That was our guide, a history major in Harvard. Somehow people like him sounded alike-- clever speech with an appropriate amount of sarcasm delivered by a certain preppie kind of accent; that was a sheer delight simply listening to him.

Just see how attentive everyone got. Bet even more attentive than we were in our placement test.

Just imagine actually becoming a part of such campus-scape. I could die for it.

That meadow was simply luring. If only I could lie on it as a Harvard student-- well in my childhood imagination I would be holding Shakespeare or something, but chances are I'm already holding Shakespeare in NTU, and there's no way that I study English Literature in Harvard-- since I'm going to switch to another field in gra school. Seems that as we grow up, some dreams are simply doomed to evaporate-- sad, but that's life.

Science Center, entitled: the ugliest building campus-wide. True, since it's without the enchanting sienna bricks. Well, the science department of Harvard doesn't really appeal to me, anyway. :p

The Memorial Hall Tower.

Inside it's pretty much like a church. Love the mosaic art!

Here comes the library selection.






Exclusive entrance: what a blessing that one can actually enter it.




Good enough that I could take a picture in front of the entrance. It was way too sunny that I could barely open my eyes, tho.



That was Vicki's turn of taking such a picture, but my point is: Akito, how did you get in?



The Bostonian style that I truly yearn for: sitting on the step of some library, (in this case, that of Harvard) barefoot, holding a grande cup of coffee, listening to iPod while reading newspaper. A perfect balance of academic and recreational temperament.





Here comes another one: just look at the posture: indolent, yet genuinely elegant. Some say he's effeminate, but who cares?





So we drew an end to the Harvard tour.

busker @Davis

This particular guy was, in my opinion, the most impressive busker I saw throughout Boston. I even made up a story for him so here it goes:




"He was sitting on the bench in the T station, holding a guitar, with an old, ebony-furred dog accompanying him, which looked just as old as its owner appeared. He must be among the senior citizens, judging from his graying hair as well as his hoarse, husky voice. He seemed rather preoccupied, his eyes closed, frowning, paying virtually no attention to the passersby walking to and fro around him. He was isolated, secluded in his own world with his guitar, his dog, and did not notice the curious look an Asian girl cast on him. He was not alone, as long as that girl was looking at him, watching, listening to the songs he played, wondering what he had gone through as much as what would become of him.

He had not been interrupted, for the audience, pretty much the Asian girl alone, dared not to strike up a conversation and intrude the performance. He was absorbed in his own world, while the audience refrained from trespassing. It was a mystery, though, whether the world had marginalized the man, or the mad had marginalized the world.

He might have been a confused "elite" individual at one time, getting straight As, a high school quarterback, seeing some cheerleader. Everything had been way too smooth for him and he never had a sense of fulfillment-- every success came simply too effortless. He could have conquered the world, yet being so good at everything somehow made him feel good-for-nothing. He was elected as the prom king of his high school graduation ball, yet he felt lost. He just didn't belong-- that was one single thing he failed during his entire life-- he failed at fitting in in the world.


So he graduated from MIT, receiving a PhD in electric engineering. He turned down quite a few offers-- Microsoft, Oracle, Dell-- enticing offers that one would die for-- he merely treated these with indifference. Some said he was aloof, which he would probably not deny, while his only refutation would be, he was, after all, clueless about what he should do, what he actually liked to do. Some gave suggestions, all of which he turned down yet again. Finally, he decided to carry his guitar-- he was never that good at playing guitar-- and found a T station, sitting down with his dog, singing to the passersby. Decades passed, he got old, his dog got old, yet he was happy, though still lost.

He might as well continue on leading such a life: being attached to a certain T station (in this case, Davis,) observing passersby, singing to himself, while his dog would be his sole companion. Of course he would get old, really old, yet he would still insist on going to the T every day. His dog would die, and years after, he would die too-- holding his guitar, with his eyes closed. He would die alone, while the passersby may think he is just meditating, pondering over which song to play next."

Downtown Street

That day I was actually supposed to go to the Scavenger Hunt, but since I went to Harvard Square with Jorge, Makito, Atsumi, Salina, Lin-chen and Eric in the morning, we missed out the hunt for we spent too much time eating at Mike's. (Heard that the Hunt started late, tho.)

So we were in the T, not knowing where else we could go. We decided to let the fate has it: we went aboard the T, and since I lost at the finger-guessing game, I had to hit on a couple, asking for their advice-- turned out to be Park Street. Well, that was my favorite part, hitting on passersby for further direction, very Bohemian.

We ended up spending the whole afternoon shopping at Downtown Street: a place with lots of shops and reasonable prize.

Around Park Street, there were many historic sites; besides those along the Freedom Trail, even the shops on Downtown Street seemed rather quaint and antique. Love the architecture there! I was not so much shopping as taking photos.

We kind out lost traces of each other during shopping, and miraculously we reunited somewhere near this statue.

The pigeons perching near the statue: weren't they lovely!

So we called it a day.

(terribly windy that day and I could hardly open my eyes. thus I looked horrible. = =" how I wanna delete this photo but since I need something to draw my conclusion, that seems to be the necessary sacrifice...)

Quincy Market

Since we had to take the T and then change line at Park Street, I was under the illusion that Quincy Market must be miles away from Davis. It wasn't until I went to Quincy Market for the second time that I realized: I could have just followed the red line of Freedom Trail, which would lead me straight to the market. ^^"

Here we were, Quincy Market.

As I mentioned before, Boston was filled with buskers; Quincy Market, undoubtedly, was where I had seen the biggest number of buskers. I was even stopped by one of them and was asked where I came from; that was a chaos, for I didn't really know he was actually addressing to me, I mean, I wasn't even looking at his performance!

After some struggle he finally got my answer: "Taiwan," and there he went: "This girl comes from that far away only to see me!" I was embarrassed and hurried away, while everyone else on that spot simply burst out laughing. Come to think of it, that was actually a very unique experience. And I happened to have taken a picture of that very guy before the anecdote. Magic!

Left-hand corner, the crouching guy. (he totally got me)

After that interlude, I lurked into the beige building from the picture above. Inside were dozens and dozens of food stalls: Starbucks, New England Chowda, Pizzeria Regina, Fudge... etc etc.

My very first cup of Starbucks in Boston: Blueberry White Tea, which tasted, uh, unprecedented.

The Fudge stall. Like a whole bunch of colorful toys; thanks goodness I am never that attached to goodies (except chocolate!)

And that was totally hilarious-- lobster lollipops! I tried to record this moment of amusement but it turned out to be a big, blurry red.

Me in lobster hat: nothing but goofy. (thought I was turning 20!)

And so I came back, taking a picture of the fudge assortment bought in Quincy Market on a table (which later became my favorite table) in Lewis Hall.

Happy 4th! Harvard Square & Riverside Fireworks

Since it was 4th of July, we had a day off. During the day I went to Harvard Square, which is the place I fancy the most all over Boston. Have been Harvard-fanatic ever since my elementary school years. Anyway, I went with Vicki, and since we had only been to Tufts for no more than three days, we didn't really know how to walk from Tufts to the Davis Square so that we could take the T. A generous guy helped us: while we were asking for directions, he actually offered us a ride, which saved us from another ten minutes' walk.

So we arrived Harvard Square. There were quite a few buskers performing there-- a very American stuff for me. If I simply add up the buskers I saw in Boston, it would definitely outnumber all the other buskers I had seen throughout my life. And all of them happened to be quite talented: really nice songs they had presented.

A closer look at Harvard Square: this place was, for sure, very flourished. All the passersby, striding, meandering, sometimes even sauntering by; the street seemed to be always occupied by people. Somehow I enjoyed strolling with such a parade, and I even happened to be ill at ease, regarding crowdedness. Guess it's bcuz by doing so, I felt like a Harvard student as well as a Bostonian. :p

After some shopping, Vicki and I went to 燕京 for lunch. We were helplessly craving for Chinese food: the American foods provided by Dining Hall were solely driving us crazy. That was also my very first experience eating outside the Dining Hall, and I was absolutely shocked by the portion given: despite that I shared with Vicki, we couldn't really finish that single plate. Tasted good, tho, and surely economical. :)

Later that day, we went to Kendal to watch the fireworks. It was like absolutely cold when I walked out of the T: it drizzled, and the wind was simply piercing through my coat. The rigid coldness sort of disabled me from staying along the river side, and I therefore took shelter at MIT.

And inside MIT, it looked... lifeless. For sure it looked like something state-of-the-art, yet I just prefer something maybe more humane.

So this is where the brightest of the brains worldwide holding a seminar. I was only inches away from the chamber door but it simply felt inapproachable.

Darkness curtained the sky and it was getting even colder outside. The fireworks started late, tho, for the sun there set at, like, eight o'clock.

Overall, the fireworks were gorgeous. Pity that the coldness was handicapping me and I didn't make it to take any pictures. Standing, soaked in the rain and the freezing air, I felt like the fireworks was gonna last forever. And thus I said to myself: jeez, that was a really affluent country.