Boston Area Visit - Page 3

bclintonk · 11-06-2009, 03:09 PM

^ vinceh,

LOL. Yes, you've captured the spirit perfectly. I came to admire the way Bostonians use driving as a form of artistic expression---free yourself from the bounds of convention and let creativity reign, but with a particularly aggressive "in your face" attitude. As a friend used to say, "In Boston there is no such thing as a moving violation!"

But as much as I admire it in Bostonians, I think they're outdone by the drivers in Rome and Naples who take a similar approach but elevate it to a whole new level of intensity, speed, and daring. Such artistry!

Pizzagirl · 11-06-2009, 03:12 PM

I can't wait to drive in Boston and be told continuously and repeatedly that I'm "#1 in their book" by the local drivers. I guess that other finger is just a "Boston dialect," right? Cool. I love local dialects!

My self-esteem is going to go through the roof, vinceh, having so many strangers tell me how great I am. This is gonna be awesome! Maybe I should make sure to have each of my kids practice driving in Boston so they, too, can get such a warm welcome!

(I love Boston. Just joshin' ya.)

Bromfield · 11-06-2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

free yourself from the bounds of convention and let creativity reign, but with a particularly aggressive "in your face" attitude. As a friend used to say, "In Boston there is no such thing as a moving violation!"

There are conventions when driving in Boston--outsiders just have to figure them out. For example, the person turning left when there's a light but no left turn signal has the right of way. Cars in the rotary have the right of way. Once you get that down, it's all good. I agree with poster who pointed out that driving in some European cities makes Boston seem tame. Athens was my nightmare and I even knew the alphabet and could read the signage.

marite · 11-06-2009, 03:33 PM

At least there are sidewalks in Boston. In Florence there were none, and trying to walk from point A to point B sometimes felt as if we were taking our lives in our hands. Oh, beware jaywalkers, especially in Cambridge.

Kei-o-lei · 11-06-2009, 03:41 PM

Definitely doable . . for those that like 2 colleges in one day :-)

Notes here:

Mon: Tufts AM, Brandeis PM:

the travel between these two will be almost all surface streets and a tad confusing, so planning to eat lunch at/near Brandeis will give you more buffer to get lost and collect those "you're number one" greetings; if you get out near Brandeis early there is a restaurant row in Waltham (where Brandeis is located ) on Moody Street just south of Main (this map has links to Asian Grill or Bison County; many others in the immediate area: Waltham Restaurants - Boston | Urbanspoon
From this map click the "zoom in" tool twice, then migrate southwest to see where Brandeis is located

Tue: Wellesley AM, drive out to Clark PM ... After Clark, keep going west and get next to Northampton area, spend night there.

This will be a nice leg; Wellesley is a lovely campus and fairly easy to find; going out to Clark is pretty straightforward, then on to Northampton will be nice, too; for a fantastic lunch go to Blue Ginger in Wellesley; expensive and will take time, but it's a foodie destination (Ming Tsai's place: Blue Ginger — Ming Tsai
if you lunch at Clark instead probably best to eat on campus; Worcester is not known for anything culinary (as far as I know) except the hot dog restaurant sometimes shown in the Zippy the Pinhead comics :-)

Wed: Smith, Mt. Holyoke.

What's not to like!!!! it's the "Happy Valley"; the Haymarket Café for coffee and Eastside Grill for burgers are both dependably good and real "Happy Valley" places; for music the Iron Horse has varied venues and acts, even during the week: Iron Horse Entertainment Group Main

Added comments: for "doing Boston" on Sunday I'd strongly suggest using the subway (the "T"); it's how people get around; depends in part on where your hotel is located; would be easy to go to Harvard Square and find WGU's museums and interesting locations . . .such as the "Statue of the Three Lies" in Harvard Yard :-)

Bon voyage!!!

Kei

ParentOfIvyHope · 11-06-2009, 03:51 PM

Pizzagirl: I think it is doable, colleges are close by in MA and you can do two a day.
Add Brown in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a nice place.

Are you planning to go this weekend. I'm flying tonight and will be at MIT till Monday?

We had a long one around 10 days by road covering MA thru Pennsylvania.

goaliedad · 11-06-2009, 04:06 PM

And of course, remember the breakdown lane is the passing lane in the state of MA.

One suggestion to make all of the admissions sessions fun (one I only wish I had thought of during our campus tours (now completed). Buzzword bingo.

Everyone here knows that 95% of all admissions presentations go over the same things. In order to keep you and your child listening (especially after a couple days of these) draw up lists of favorite buzzwords admissions people use in these sessions (I'm sure lots of people here can give you plenty of suggestions, if you don't know them all by now). You listen to the presentation, checking off the words as they use them. When your last one is checked off, ask a question using the work "bingo" to win. For those of you too polite to interrupt, I guess you could nudge the other one and write bingo on your sheet.

Trust me, you'll need some reason to pay attention by the time Wednesday rolls around.

Aside from the sarchasm above, your tour sounds like a winner. It is not quite as packed as one we just completed (although ours was shorter), but for a dedicated tourer, it should be a good mix of schools for the region.

To give you an idea of how packed a schedule can get in one day, we visited 2 schools in St. Paul on one particular day. Not only did we get 1 hour admissions visits and 1 hour school tours at each campus, but we also got 1 hour meetings with each coach and watched 3.5 hours of practices at 2 different rinks, neither of which were on campus at either school (4-8 miles apart). Between each event, we never had more than 30 minutes. We were beat when we called in pizza at 9 PM back at our hotel by the airport.

Pizzagirl · 11-06-2009, 04:09 PM

No, this is in the spring. But I hope you have a lovely weekend with your daughter! Thanks for the Brown suggestion; however, as I indicated upthread, that level is out of the ballpark.

ParentOfIvyHope · 11-06-2009, 04:16 PM

^^^: I might go back again during the spring break. How about 'Bentley'? Few of the students go there from DD school every year but don't know much about it.

CountingDown · 11-06-2009, 04:26 PM

Pizzagirl,
Agree with others that it's western MA or Maine in the time frame you have, but that otherwise, I like the list and the timing.

DH and I have both done two-in-a-day tours. Our MO is that kid and a parent does the tour, then parent does the info session, kid sits in on a class, strolls through the department said kid is considering, talks to a coach/prof, etc. Unfortunately not many schools will do interviews with juniors before May; they are still trying to get the incoming class finalized. If we were in Boston on Sunday before visiting schools, we'd be driving around to various campuses and walking around to get a feel for the place -- just in case one was an immediate turn-off, you could forgo that official visit and decide on a tour of another school.

Bromfield · 11-06-2009, 04:53 PM

Won't give you food suggestions for Boston because those are readily available. For Worcester--there's not much at all. I worked at Clark for three years. Folks I know who live nearby (foodie types) go to Boston, but if you have to eat in Worcester, there are a few decent restaurants. They are: 111 Chop House (steakhouse), The Sole Proprietor (seafood), Dino's (old school Italian) and Maxwell Silverman (steaks, seafood, etc. in a restored tool factory). If you like Indian (Surya is pretty good). The cafe in the Worcester Art Museum is really quite nice and the food is pretty good (lunch only).

Knowitsome · 11-06-2009, 04:59 PM

Moved to metro Boston (and lived there for six years) and remember on Day One being mortified to see people doing 80 in the breakdown lane as traffic slowed. Turned to my wife, and said, "If I turn into one of these maniacs, please shoot me."

Fast forward two years. The family is getting together in a central location (Ohio) for Thanksgiving. I'm driving with my sister (never lived anywhere but Wisconsin) to a studio for a family portrait. As the light turns green, I immediately turn left in front of two lanes of oncoming traffic. Until I see my sister's eyes bugging out, I didn't even realize what I'd done.

I've lived all over the country, and EVERYONE complains that the drivers in their area are terrible. My experience is that there's no (US) comparison to Boston drivers - not to say they're terrible in their own realm, but for "tourists", it can be shocking how aggressive they are.

As for rotaries, I always got great pleasure pointing out to DW (from New England) the bodyshops located on the periphery of the circle ("See? I TOLD you these things are just another mob scam to drum up business!).

Enjoy the local dialect!

bclintonk · 11-06-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pizzagirl

No, this is in the spring.

Oh, if you're not going until spring then I take back what I said about Saturday tours. They're much rarer in the spring.

ttparent · 11-06-2009, 05:31 PM

Another important convention when driving in Boston.

If you leave enough space in front of you to fit a car during moving traffic, it is an invitation for someone to cut in front of you. A corollary to that is that if I am butting right up against the car in front of me (essentially tail gating), don't even think of trying to squeeze in between me and the next car.

cadence76 · 11-06-2009, 07:17 PM

Some distances/times--Wellesley to Amherst, about 1hr 40 min, Smith to Mt. Holyoke 35-40 min depending on Rt. 9 traffic--go through Amherst on the way (it's not out of your way), Bradley airport is actually only about 15 minutes up the highway from Hartford, and Colby to Amherst is 4 hrs. 15 min.