The universities of Boston

So, about the universities in Boston's northern region -- Cambridge.

Harvard's buildings are not particularly impressive from the exterior. I only saw the inside of the Memorial Hall, built to honour the Harvard students who fought in the American Civil War, and it was nice, but not particularly large.

Glimpse of the Memorial Hall interior

So the site itself isn't particularly worth visiting, to be honest, BUT I joined an official historical tour of Harvard Yard, led by an inexplicably endearing recent graduate (he graduated last week) who told the folklore of Harvard in a simultaneously dramatic and deadpan manner. He was from the Boston area, and unmistakably had its ubiquitous accent, and yet the only adjective I can think of to describe him is "droll" (a word which most Americans are unlikely to know the meaning of, I'll bet)!

This is the nicest photo I have of Harvard Yard. Seriously.

The Harvard museums, though, which are on the campus as well, are well-worth the visit. The Harvard Museum of Natural History was particularly impressive, with its Glass Flowers collection -- and I personally enjoy evolution exhibits every time I see them, even if they are often pretty similar.

Not only scientifically accurate but incredibly realistic glass models of flowers

My look at MIT was even briefer, actually, but I had a fun moment when a distinctive-looking building caught my eye. It was designed by architect Frank Gehry. who recently designed one for my little university back home, too. Had I time I would have definitely visited MIT's Science Museum for its AI displays. Maybe not its sole campus tour though, which is aimed at prospective students. I think that ship has sailed...

On Privilege: There But for the Grace...

Amongst all this frivolity I have to mention that I haven't forgotten how lucky I am to have the freedom to walk down the street, to travel, to study and to basically do as I please, free from oppression, prejudice and violence.

I am having a wonderful time travelling the world, with the money, privilege and opportunity to do so, and be cared for by family and friends, judged neither for my choices nor who I am. Not everyone does.

Makes me sad to think this mode of expression isn't just art, but necessary

I am not religious but I think I will be forgiven for borrowing an expression I really believe in -- there but for the grace of God, go I. And whatever you believe or don't believe in, whoever you are, whatever you have or don't have, it is up to all of us to recognise our own privilege and stand up for those who don't have that privilege.

Gadsden flag at the USS Constitution at half-mast

Orlando, FL, and everyone with less privilege than I, I'm thinking of you.

There's a chair in there

So, Boston is significant among American cities due to its role in establishing the nation.

But slightly more recently, Boston is famous for being home to two prestigious universities: Harvard and MIT.

Both of these famous universities are in the suburb of Cambridge, just north of the city proper, which happens to be where my mother and I are staying. We've rented an airBnB apartment there, in fact, and I'm really enjoying it because it's given me an idea of what home life is like in the area. The house, with its wooden facade, molding and bay windows, from what I hear, seems to be typical of New England/East Coast architecture, but is certainly a novelty to me.

settee sofa in the apartment

One funny thing is that everywhere we've been - Boston Public Library, the universities - has what I think of as 'fancy chairs' -- carved wooden chairs with fabric upholstery -- often with teens sprawled on them using their mobile devices (playing Angry Birds, no doubt), or in the case of our own building's foyer, left unceremoniously in a corner. And in the apartment living room, under the bay window, stands a settee sofa with floral upholstery. I've been drawn to it every time I enter the room, but on closer inspection the wood is cracked in a few places and who knows, maybe it was just picked up from a kerbside or something by the homeowners as an extra furnishing. My point is that this kind of decor is clearly a dime a dozen here so we must look so silly exclaiming over "pretty chairs"!

Oh look - I meant to talk about the universities and I've spent the time talking about pretty chairs. (See what I mean?) Oops.

Bah - I mean, Boston

So it has come to my attention that I am forgetting to explain the places I'm going, especially to my friends back home in the land down under. So, let me do my best to explain the places I'm visiting - American folks, laugh as much as you like at my mistakes, but do correct me afterwards, please!

So my first major stop on this trip (after just a couple days in Virginia) is Boston, Massachusetts. I haven't been here before, but my cousin from Virginia happened to be working there this week, so I thought, hey, there's an American city I've actually heard of, why not check it out? So I did.

Now, I don't know why, but the name 'Boston' has always conjured up vaguely cosmopolitan images for some reason. Probably I've assumed any city I've heard of would be a large cosmopolitan city. Now, that is NOT Boston's claim to fame. What Boston is, though, I really like.

I discovered that Boston's main significance is historical. The colony of Massachusetts was established after the Mayflower landed in Plymouth in 1620, and the Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in England, settled there. Ten years later, though they formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. Its architecture and food today has its own New England flavour, I think. It's easy for us as Australians to think things might be kinda similar across the USA, since our country isn't much smaller, but again the population thing - each region of the United States is pretty different.

Paul Revere, revolutionary

Boston played a pretty big role in the American Revolution, ie. the political and military lead up to America's independence from Britain. (It has been suggested that Aussies are not so patriotic because we didn't fight for independence - in fact, the way some people tell it, a bunch of our governors just got on a boat, took a bit of a cruise, drank a lot and agreed to unite as a federation. Doesn't exactly light a fire of passionate nationalism in their descendants, but certainly seems to have shaped the general Australian culture.)

The Freedom Trail: follow the red brick road

How do I know this? Well, a must-do when visiting Boston is the Freedom Trail. It is a trail of historical sites across the city, such as the Old North Church, USS Constitution ship, Boston Common park and site of the nation's First Public School. My personal favourite was the house of Paul Revere, a local revolutionary figure (made famous in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" in 1861) because I could go in and see a display showing how people lived back when the house was built, and later during the time of the revolutionaries like Revere as well. It is always much easier to imagine how people from another time lived while standing in one of their buildings compared to viewing a museum display.

Old State House and tourists on the site of the Boston Massacre

The other thing of note, for me, was the museum of the Old State House, outside which the Boston Massacre occurred. The Boston Massacre was when frustrated American revolutionaries harassed British soldiers and in return the frustrated soldiers (without orders) opened fire on the people of the colony. All the events are written there for all tourists to read, and even the children's exhibits and fun activities ask, "What do you think? Were the Patriots traitors or were the soldiers taking away their freedom?"

I admire this effort to encourage visitors to think for themselves and make up their own minds, but it's still kind of amazing to see. From what I know there are countries that will always stick to their historical thinking and present the facts in a certain way to justify past actions. It's interesting to think about how different places present their history, as well as the 'facts' themselves.

Loin d'ici

I get the feeling plane trips are going to be blog updating time on this trip!

I'm on the plane IAD -> BOS, which is Washington DC to Boston for those who haven't been to this corner of the world.

I spent the past few days after arriving in the US in northern Virginia. I was just a hop away from DC but I was never tempted to head down there (I was there in 2012). Instead, I stayed in the lovely local area where my uncle lives. It's suburban, incredibly green (especially to those of us from a sunburnt country...) with large houses on large lots. I am lucky to have family living in such nice areas and it makes visiting them that bit nicer. (Note to self: clean up my space at home so it's a sanctuary rather than a sacrifice for people to visit me!)

Great Falls, VA

It was also gorgeous sunny weather, so a trip to the "local" national park, Great Falls, was a delight. Naturally, in the two years my family have lived in the area none of them have actually made the trip. It really was a lovely space that I would LOVE to have local - I'd grab a dog and head there at the first sign of good weather! (Kirsten, you'd lend me Fozzie, right?)

View from my window seat

I love flying over land because there's something so much to see. Or along the coast in this case -- best of both worlds. God, everything is so beautiful from up here. (Zoë's Loin d'ici is also a great flying song.)

Omg captain just announced we begin our descent in 12 minutes. This is the shortest flight ever!* Talk to ya later!


* As an Aussie any flight shorter than 4 hours seems short to me!

two and a half weeks on the west coast, twenty fourteen

For the sake of continuity, here’s the highlights of the 2014 West Coast trip:

·       Mom and I spent a week in San Francisco, just exploring and having fun. I was thrilled at the romanticism of the business/tourist parts of the city, horrified at the grittier parts -- and left very much in love with SF.

·       Where I live in Australia the sky is very, very blue. Most days the sky isn’t only clear and cloudless but really, truly azure. It’s been fun for me to see how the sky looks different in different parts of the world. SF’s sky was the most interesting I’ve seen so far: often cloudy, sometimes grey, sometimes blue, spectacular sunsets in pastel pinks and oranges over the city.

·       I stayed with my Californian uncle in Sacramento for a week and a half. I say Californian but that’s only in name – he’s lived there for many years now, but living with him for a week I’ve gathered that his lifestyle is mostly British, a couple parts East Coast with a splash of Chinese thrown in. Which matches his background. (Those of you who have read my East Coast adventures will have realised along with me that my family’s becoming a melting pot of its own, dontcha think?)

·       It was during this trip that I realised that I’m a bit in love with the USA. I didn’t watch much TV or movies growing up, but I read a lot of novels and these days, my main source of reading is blogs. Almost every book I read as a child – if it wasn’t Australian– was American. As a child I loved The Baby-Sitters Club. As a tween I loved Roswell High, as a teen I read Twilight (so sue me), The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, some old books of my mother’s like The Yes Girl and My Wolf, My Friend and I was a massive RENThead. 90% of my blogfriends now and over the years have been American as well. So it gives me a sense of wonder – almost nostalgia – to discover names of places I’ve read about, or imagine my blogfriends living in.

(Side note: don’t get me wrong, I read plenty of good Australian fiction, but they rarely made it as big and once I started joining fandoms, there wasn’t much choice. Let’s not underestimate the corrupting power of influence of fandom.)

Asian grocery in a small town in Virginia

·       Also, America is huge. Sure, Australia isn’t much smaller geographically. But boy does the massive population difference matter. Sacramento has a large, established Chinese population, and my relatives, being part of it, frequent the Asian groceries and stores. Boy, every single Asian grocery in Sacramento was the biggest one I’d ever seen! Australia's Chinese population isn't small, but the Asian supermarkets are definitely 'specialty stores', to cater for what’s seen as a niche market.

3 aisles of frozen dumplings? This lazy cook's idea of heaven!

I have NEVER bought fresh bamboo shoots before, only out of a can

The topic came up when I met a lovely volunteer at the California State Railway Museum who asked me where I was from (the accent throws some people – I love it, it’s a great conversation starter). He then asked me what the hardest part of living in Australia is. Having been in Sacramento for about a week already, my reply came quickly: “Big country, small population.” The size and sheer number of Asian groceries available in the quiet residential area my uncle lives in was proof that having a big population means there are more facilities and services available to minority groups.
“In Australia, you consider yourself a minority?” he asked me in surprise. “Oh, not at all,” I replied. “But the sheer number of members in every population and interest group means there's just more of everything -- in number and in variety.”
Perhaps this is where the stereotype of Americans being materialistic mass consumers comes from.

Well, it's a very different environment, for sure -- but I'm not at all convinced that's a bad thing.

We meet again!

Uh, hi guys!

I’m writing to you from somewhere in the Pacific. Or, more accurately, 37 000 ft* above the Pacific Ocean. I don’t think there’s many recognisable landmarks here, or at least they’re not shown on this flight map.

Since I’m here – yes, I am on my way to the USA again. I don’t really ever plan trips, but when my mother decides to visit her family, I tend to go along. I mean, why not?

I started this blog in 2012 when I visited the East Coast and in fact the USA for the very first time and people really seemed to enjoy my naïve observations of the US, so I thought I’d continue it. Only thing is, I visited in 2014 too – and spent that trip on the West Coast. I guess I must’ve assumed that since it wasn’t my first trip to the country, I wouldn’t have anything interesting to add. Or perhaps I just plain forgot about this blog… my point is, I didn’t blog at all that trip. (You must have been simply desolate without my blathering.) But actually, every time I’ve come to the US I’ve been somewhere new, and of course discovered something new. Thus, the chronicle continues. So hello again, from 2016, where I visit both East and West! Whoo!

The next post will be a quick catch-up on the highlights of 2014’s West Coast trip, so no one will be left wondering what they missed. (I know you won’t sleep until you find out.) Then it’ll be straight on to real-time updates from USA 2016!

* Don’t ask me how much that is in metres. They’ve only given me feet and I haven’t paid for WiFi…