So, after much wrangling with time and babysitters, Jim came home a day early and Brighid and I got to go on the college visits in Boston this weekend. In retrospect, all the obstacles placed in our way were well placed, as we ended up touring Boston during a Nor’easter – can you say “not fun” in a Boston accent? (it goes something like “Nawt fahn”)
We arrived late Friday and checked in to the Fairfield Inn in Woburn, Massachusetts. Quite a little dive for a Fairfield. It looked okay in the lobby and breakfast area, but the room was that dingy, greyish/brownish no-tell motel color. It’s only for the weekend, though, and we don’t plan to spend too much time in the room.
Our first appointment is at 10 AM at Northeastern University. Big school. I checked out the important things – they have 2 Starbucks on campus, along with 5 Dunkin’ Donuts, a Wendy’s, a Taco Bell, a grocery store, a dining hall, and a laundry. I expected the tour to be cancelled due to the weather, but after our information session, we met James, our tour guide, and we did indeed do a walking tour of the campus. This is a big place. Lots of buildings, lots of students, lots of everything here. We learn a lot about the co-op program, which is why we are really here. Brighid was completely taken by the co-op thing at the information session at school. But she is a bit intimidated by the size of the school, so even with the wonderful co-op program, I think Northeastern has moved down a bit on the list.
We make shorter visits to Boston University, Suffolk and Simmons College, and all get ruled out for one reason or another. We were supposed to visit Brandeis on Sunday, but opted to head home early, stopping at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT on the way home (also ruled out).
I wish we had more of a chance to see some of Boston. With the weather as bad as it was, after our college visits, we took a quick trip to Fenway park, bought Brighid a t-shirt, and headed to Whole Foods for some snacks and drinks for a late lunch. We rented Knocked Up and had a late dinner from a local Thai restaurant so we didn’t have to brave the weather. All in all, we did learn Brighid probably would be better at a smaller school, but we missed all the Boston sight seeing we could have done!