A ride to the North End on the Train: $0.00
Dinner at Giovanni's Italian Restaurant: $0.00
A chocolate covered Strawberry, a Chocolate Mousse Cannolli, and a slice of Chocolate chip cheesecake from Mike's Pastry;the best pastry shop in the U.S.: Priceless
Boston is very fast paced, much like New York, but it's not as crowded and like New York, has a rich history to be enjoyed. We were able to take a tour of the campus on Monday and learned about some of the buildings. The freshman common room looks like the great hall on Harry Potter--it was incredible! Taylor's Dad played tour guide and showed us around the city and then we went to a Religion class of Mom's and that was very interesting. We followed that up with a train ride to the North End of Boston for a delicious dinner at Giovanni's Italian Restaurant and then ended the night at Mike's Pastry! It was so delightful and so overwhelming, because there was so much to choose from.
Tuesday, we went to a few lectures; the first was, "Europe's place in the U.S." I didn't attend that one. Taylor and Dad found it very interesting, they told me it was about the idea of joining all countries together. Then we went to this lecture about the Air Force's place in the armed forces--very interesting. There were two gentlemen there that are fresh from the academy and there were men there that had been in combat and then those like us who were just there to listen and learn. After a quick slide show about what the air force does, it turned into an open Q/A session. I won't bore you all with the details, but I just have to say God Bless all those men and women in the armed forces. After that lecture, we went out for pizza and then closed our evening with another lecture called, "Sarah Palin, the Modern Feminist." The lady that spoke was very well informed and spoke about Sarah and her standing on abortion and why she infuriates the "pro choicers." Sarah is a women in Politics, and is very educated, and yet, she has a family of five and her last being a child with special needs. She makes "pro choicers" uncomfortable, because they teach women that in order to be successful, you have to be like a man, therefore, you can't have a family; in other words, you can't do it all. Well, Sarah does and that's why the media is trying to eat her alive. You can have it all!! Anyway, when the lady was done speaking, she opened it up for Q/A and these girls started grilling her with all sorts of questions about abortion and why it is necessary and why it should be the woman's choice (i.e. if the child has a disease, or the child will be disabled, or for the health of the Mother, etc..) Well, the woman made that choice to crawl into bed with Mr. What's his face!! As you can tell this was my favorite lecture that we went to. Anyway, after that girl made that statement about aborting children with disease, I about flew off the handle. Many of you know that 16 Months ago my Brother and Sister had a little boy. His name is Ryan and he is a Miracle, I know that sounds cliche, but hold him and you will see. Let his wrap his little arms around you and hug you and smile at you. You would never know what he has gone through. When my Sister was in her first Trimester, they found something wrong. They diagnosed little Ryan with Insephilasile(can't spell that), which by definition means the he had a growth outside of his brain that the doctor said could be full of brain matter. The doctor immediately suggested abortion and of course, because of Lisa and Jason's moral beliefs, they refused. The doctor gave them several outcomes, none of which were positive, because Insephilasile is almost always fatal. She told them that he could die in the womb, that he could be born stillborn, that he could come out and not be able to breath through his nose or suck, which means that he couldn't eat, he could be a total vegetable, he could come out and the mass on his head would be inoperable, he could live for a few moments or a few hours. Well, my Sister carried him to term and imagine her and my Brother's heartache not knowing what the outcome would be. When he was born, they were able to operate because he was breathing and sucking on his own. The brain mass was full of fluid and they were able to drain it and place a shunt in his head to keep fluid from building up. For the first few months of his life he seemed fine and then, he started to get a little colicky and at first that didn't alarm Lisa and Jason and then he stopped eating. They took him in, and his shunt had an infection, and the doctor said that it was like having a major migraine for days. They replaced the shunt and he was like new child--very happy and loving and the a few months down the line he began having seizures, and it took a while to get them under control, but he has been placed on medication and it has stopped them(two months with no seizures). He is the happiest baby that I have ever come into contact with, he cries very little and never stops smiling. He reaches for everyone, and has no stranger anxiety and hugs and pats you on the back. He is amazing! So when I hear women speak about how it should be their choice to kill a child if they aren't perfect, I just want to tell them that miracles happen, that he is missing a part of his brain and isn't very far behind most children his age. I want to tell them that abortion abortion is NOT the answer. Well, You better believe that I spoke up and told Ryan's story, I just wanted to place him in their arms so that they could see.
Today, we took the train to the North End and went to the freedom trail and we saw a few of the sights, but got so cold that we decided to go inside the Quincey Market to have some lunch and get warm. We went to Mikes Pastry again, and then took the the train back to Cambridge and went to the book store for a bit and then came home for a little nap. I am just relaxing in the apartment and Taylor, Mom, and Dad went to a forum on National Security. It's nice to have some down time.
Here are some picture from our tour on campus, and then today on the freedom trail, as well as a photo of Longfellow's House and 11 Shaler Lane, which is the quaint little neighborhood that Mom and Dad live in. It's quite cute. Enjoy!
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