The flight was relatively uneventful. I sat next to a girl who is starting a Masters degree program at Boston University. We talked for a bit, and after I picked up my bag at the carousel I stopped to say bye. Her boyfriend was there to pick her up, and they simultaneously asked me if I was taking a cab. I said yes, that was the plan, and then again in unison they asked if they could give me a ride! I graciously accepted...I wonder if this means I can say that I hitchhiked to campus? That's what I've been telling people here...
They dropped me off right in front of the Big Dome. I followed signs to the orientation check-in...which apparently is closed until Friday. So I had no idea where to go today, until I remembered that international students came up a few days earlier (so they all had the chance to check in), and I had become Facebook friends with Evgeny, an Israeli international student who is doing the same program as me. I sent him a message as soon as I got computer access and luckily he came through and told me where to go this morning.
So today I met up with the other 16 kids in the Discover Urban Studies and Planning Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (DUSP FPOP). We had a (free) breakfast in the Urban Planning department's main classroom, where we learned a bit about the courses and about urban planning in general. Then we had a (free) lunch with ice breakers. Then we got (free) $10 subway passes, which we used to go to the Roxbury and Jamaica Plains neighborhoods, which were the traditional Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, respectively. We met up with a Masters in US&P from MIT who showed us some rejuvenation projects he was working on. We learned that we were probably the first tourists to enter those areas in years...
Then we went back to downtown, explored the Common and the large library. We then walked to the Prudential Center where we got (free) access to the observation deck, 50 stories above the city. Next we went to a Thai restaurant for a (free) dinner, and that was our day.
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