Yikes, it’s mid-October.
How the heck did that happen? I look down from green trees and 80-degree weather; look back up and it’s back to my Canadian slippers, hot tea, fog and orange skies. New England fall is happening in full blast and it is one of the most beautiful seasons of time and life that I could hope for.
New England fall is not so different from North Carolina mountain fall. They’re both gorgeous.
There’s something about the fall foliage next to the water here though that makes it different and more distinctively Boston. I’ve taken 7.52 billion instagram photos in the last two weeks on any given commute to and from my apartment. A few of the better ones in an album that could be titled “Brookline is THE prettiest:”
Ok, not my neighborhood — just kind of near it on the Charles River. Too pretty to not include though.
The past three weeks have been a seeming blur in some ways. School is picking up and it’s really hard to feel like you’re staying ahead of the ball. I’m kind of running alongside and look away every few seconds in hopes that I’m keeping up. School schedules are rough! At the same time though, the past three weeks have felt like three months. In a great way. It’s just funny how free time has transcended from time that I would spend alone exploring or catching up into time that I use to hang out with new friends or already have fifteen social things scheduled.
In extremely happy social news. Katie came to visit. My first hometown visitor! I tried to play tour guide to my best ability and I think that I did a decent job. We basically walked and ate our way around Boston. From Fenway to Cambridge, Brookline to the North End, we had a lot of food (and somehow missed lobster!? next time!). It was funny to me how overwhelmingly excited I was as I waited to see her at the airport. It felt like it had been far longer than a month and a half since I had seen her. Definitely one of my happier reunions.
Roommate Sarah + Katie + Me at Eastern Standard.
Me + Katie at JFK’s home in my neighborhood.
I think I wore her out sufficiently. From eating and traipsing around, it was kind of a joyfully exhausting long weekend. I think the best investment I made in her visit was a reservation for us to go on a lighthouse tour Saturday morning.
The weather ended up being beautiful and we had the BEST time. We were sure that we’d be the only two under 65 (and it wasn’t that far off) but the boat trip was just such a crazy gorgeous, unique way to see the city and some sites. Definitely a recommendation to visitors. It doesn’t even cost that much. Through LivingSocial (which is always doing deals) we went on an almost-two hour cruise for $10 a piece.
Long Island Lighthouse
Boston Lighthouse.
Graves Lighthouse.
Boston from the water.
Katie + Me.
I also took her to our first BU hockey game.
Man, Boston University gets riled up about hockey. It was awesomely different from what I’m used to.
One of my favorite things about my decision to come to BU is that the experience is so vastly different than what I had for undergraduate. You can forget football and tailgating; small town and conservative tradition. Nope, here you have city streets and hockey.
It was a great weekend of best-friend time and also showing Katie the new life here. I was really grateful that she got to meet a lot of my friends and really see what Boston has become for me.
Love this girl. 22ish years of friendship.
After spending a weekend off the map with Katie, it was a busy week getting together school items throughout the week that followed. Luckily, just as exhaustion was kicking in–so did a long holiday weekend.
(Thank you, Boston for your old puritanical ways and proximity to Canada.)
We had Columbus Day off yesterday.
That meant a weekend full of laziness in the best way.
Chinatown for the first time Friday night.
Saturday was full of college football and friends and my first Canadian Thanksgiving. (Wish I had more photos. I swear though, no turkey means it wasn’t really Thanksgiving.)
Sunday was full of NFL. I got to go to my first Patriots game, thanks to Andy. It was freaking awesome. You take a train way outside the city; they drop you in the middle of the woods. After hiking in it seems like you’re in a stadium in the middle of nowhere.
Gillette Stadium.
It was pretty interesting to compare the Panthers stadium experience to the Patriots one. Gillette Stadium is just so huge. Our view was excellent though and the game? The game was incredible. Gives me goosebumps thinking about how much I love sports.
That night was followed by an awesome Red Sox game that we were able to catch on TV.
With such an amazing Boston comeback sports night, Monday seemed like the entire city had called the day on sports celebration–even though it was a regularly scheduled holiday.
It’s been a crazy few weeks; but it’s just because I’m keeping life wonderfully full. Here’s to doing better in 25 and posting more updates more frequently so that when I do–you don’t have to read a novella.
Happy “Monday,” friends.
actually on the line 