I had limited time in my trip to Boston. We were only there for two days. That meant we needed to be strategic in deciding what to do to get in as much as possible in those two short days.
Our first focus was to get ourselves fed in time to make it to my meeting with BU’s gastronomy program. A quick sandwich at Quincy Market did the trick. Then, I got to use the “T” (the subway) for the first time as we headed to BU’s west campus. It will be a nice way to get around if I can just remember where the four green lines go.
In my meeting with the grad school, I got to see the kitchen where I will be taking classes and even briefly meet world renowned French chef Jacques Pépin, who was there for a special event. I seriously cannot wait for my culinary arts lab this fall. I got officially registered while I was in the meeting, so I am completely set to start classes.
After the meeting was over, we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. I really wanted to go to Cambridge and explore Harvard University. When I was a young girl, I dreamed of going to Harvard Law School one day. My dreams and expectations have changed over the years, but I can still remember being that girl in a small town with big world dreams.
Walking through Harvard brought me back to that time where I believed I could accomplish anything as long as I set my mind to it. I felt a renewed sense of inspiration walking around Harvard’s campus. I may be attending a different school in Boston, but I am so ready to dig into my new studies. The truth is I am so happy that I finally found my true passion and am deciding to lean into that. Boston as a whole reminded me of that after a rough few weeks at the job that I am soon going to be quitting. I got a glimpse of what my new life is going to be like, and I think that will help get me through the remainder of my time here in DC.
Cambridge is absolutely beautiful. There is just something exquisite about Harvard’s campus. I would love to walk around during the fall when the leaves are changing. What a New England experience that would be. For now, I will have to wait. However, we had an awesome time exploring.
Harvard Square was a wonderful place to walk around. I found a bookstore (Harvard Book Store) that will likely replace Politics and Prose as my favorite local bookstore. As much as I will miss Politics and Prose in NW DC, I will not be lacking a good place to buy books. I already bought three when we were in Cambridge.
My favorite part of the bookstore was the “food writing” section. I did pick out one book from this section, but I actually want to read all of them. I will be coming back here to give them all my money. I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t think about how amazing it would be to have a book of my own end up in this section one day. Something about being at Harvard was making me dream big.
Catie Cooks 