Alright, before I forget all the details that make a trip worthwhile, here was my reading week in text and pictures.
Woke up sleeping on a matress at my mother's place in my old room at 6:30 am. Had gone to bed ~3 hours previously after getting back from a girls night at Slainte. I was trying to pick up two half-decent looking broads while sitting in a bar stool but neither of them would give any. Ate brie with apples, which is a bizarre food.
My sister was flying to Boston with me and staying for a couple of days. We got to the airport and did the whole customs thing fairly smoothly. My mother had wanted me to have a 1-on-1 with Ali about her recent crazy teenage behaviour, but in 5 hours of transit I did not feel the correct opportunity presented itself. Flight was quick and ridiculously bumpy.
We met my uncle at Logan Intl. and drove right to the Maine house in Cape Porpoise, part of Kennebunkport. I wish I had taken a picture of the house, because it's huge, and it's located on this little dirt road shared by the neighbours in the middle of a big patch of forest. Can't hear a sound. My aunt, cousin and her husband and kids were for President's Day weekend. Drove around the Cape for a bit with my uncle (he loves the history of those little towns), watched some olympics, went to bed on the pull-out upstairs.
Woke up early and tried to get some homework done. Had some blueberry pancakes and Cocoa Krispies for breakfast. Ate lunch at Alison's Restaurant in the middle of quaint Kennebunkport, where I had a cheeseburger and let my cousins try to convince me to get a summer job down there. My uncle, aunt, sister and I drove up to a mall in Portland where I picked up some headphones, mini-tripod and some shirts at Filenne's. Near the mall was a brew-pub restaurant where I had a tuna-steak dinner with mango-chutney and mandarin oranges. Amazing. Drove back to Cape Porpoise, watched some Olympics (skating), drove to the local market to buy some Maine beer, then went to bed.
Grabbed the car and drove around the general area, taking a few pictures when I saw some nice scapes. I first went right to the Port, a 2-min drive from my uncle's place. Took some pictures of the marina, but decided they'd look a little nicer later in the day.
, a quaint spot that one could imagine might be a little busier in the summertime.
Next I spent a good deal of time getting lost on backroads - at least know I know the area pretty well. The coast is lined with beaches and cottages and those really flat marshes that seem to dot the whole eastern Atlantic coastline. Internal to the road is mostly forest and a few farms. I drove through Kennebunk, and then through Kennebunkport, where I parked and walked around to sample some of the shops I had seen earlier. The bookstore was a little disappointing, and most of the businesses were seasonal, but the setting couldn't be beat. These are a few pics taken behind the main street where the harbour comes in to the town.
I headed back to my uncle's in time to see my sister and aunt off (who was driving her back to Boston for a 7 pm flight). The cousins all headed back to Massachusetts that day as well. My uncle drove me around a bit more and we grabbed some junk from Kennebunk to make up some pizzas. I picked up some more beer at the market and we watched the Olympics for the night. Oh I also went back to the Cape where I had been earlier to get a sunset panorama.
Day 4, Tuesday February 21
For the first time in longer than I could remember, I slept in. My uncle and I ate breakfast and read Geoff's Globe & Mail article. I took care of some work, and decided to make a day trip out of a drive to Portland while my uncle did some work of his own (hi-speed wireless line in that house, believe it or not).
Portland is the largest city in Maine, which is really only about ~70,000 urban; a few hundred thousand in the metro area. I parked the car and walked around for a few hours, stopping in the odd coffee shop to chat with some locals. What makes the city interesting is its misproportionate number of art galleries and music venues. I didn't really take any pictures while I was there, but here's a picture of one of the streets I walked down that I pulled off the net.
I drove back down the interstate to Cape Porpoise, where my uncle and I chatted, made pizzas and watched Olympics. Ben & Jerry's was on sale at Shaw's Market so I grabbed some of that and had a premium, micro-brewed beer-float in my stomach.
We locked up the house and drove back to Hudson, MA that evening, where my aunt and uncle have a condo they pass the weekdays in. I said hi to my aunt who had been there since Monday...grabbed a beer, watched some Olympics and went to bed.
Day 5, Wednesday February 22The massive amount of work I had promised myself I'd take care of during the week was just not getting done, so I dedicated the day to doing that. Of course, the Canada game was on, and I had to watch that. I was sorry I did of course, and in the end, I really didn't get much done. When my aunt got home from work (my uncle works from home) we figured we'd head out to Natick, MA to an Indian restaurant they enjoy. After having eaten there myself, I can now say that is my favourite restaurant on the eastern seaboard. My goodness. After dinner we stopped at a CD store where I grabbed the
Go Team LP and a Starbucks. Returned to Hudson and went to bed shortly thereafter. When I was about to turn out the light in the guest room I noticed something on the nightstand. It looked to have been made and arranged by one of my little cousins at some point...
Day 6, Thursday February 23With only a day left in the New England leg of my trip, I was starting to get concerned about my work. There was no way I was going to get anything done in Montreal, so I was going to be swamped back at school if I didn't do something right there. Over a bowl of cereal and a copy of the Boston Globe, I pondered my next course of action. It was clear that I was not productive in the house, so a change of location was needed. A library perhaps. I knew there were some nearby, but it clicked that I could do one better than that.
I grabbed my uncle's car keys and headed out on the interstate toward Boston. I arrived a half hour later in Cambridge, MA and parked the car. After a sandwich stop, I walked over to the main courtyard on the campus of Harvard University. There, if you look to the north, you can't help but see the staircase of school's massive reading library, the same building that's been featured in countless academia-based movies.
So
this was my study spot. How could I find a better one in all of the world? I started up the steps but was offput at the top when I came face-to-face with a large sign saying "Harvard ID carriers Only!". Naturally, they don't want tourists coming in their haven of knowledge and silence. But I was already at the top of the stairs, so I said "what the hell". I talked to the guard at the front and he sent me to some circulation desk. I sat down with a lady there and threw my 'prospective grad student' pitch at her. It had worked so well lately, I thought it was worth a shot. "I've been in Boston for the week," I said. "Today is Harvard day - been chatting with a number of professors and just wanted some place quiet to get a couple of my assignments done before heading home." She narrowed her eyes and looked at me disapprovingly. I really didn't think I was getting anywhere since I had already heard the attendant in the booth next to me turn away three people in similar positions. So she stared at me for what must have been 5 solid seconds, then said "ID please". I handed over my driver's license and she started writing on a slip, and then she handed it to me.
So yah, I walked up the marble stairs to the famous second floor reading room and sat down with my laptop. The room has massive ceilings bookshelves on the edges and a long row of oak tables with reading lamps attached to each. It took me half an hour or so to get over the fact that I was sitting here amongst people who were either (a) loaded, (b) a genius. But I was able to shrug it off eventually and worked for three straight hours on my astronomy project. When I felt I had done enough, I packed up and walked around some more. Note the comment on the bottom of the pass saying I wasn't allowed to enter the bookstacks. But oh did I enter them.
I drove back to Hudson in rush-hour and pulled into my uncle's survey just in time to meet them leaving to go to my cousin's place. I followed them there, chatted for a while, came back and had left over Indian food. Man....so good. So tasty. Watched figure skatin', had my last beer and went to bed.
Day 7, Friday February 24Woke up at 9 am to catch my 11:30 flight to Montreal. Said good bye and thank you (they never let me pay for anything) to my uncle at the airport in Boston, and grabbed my plane. Less turbulent this time. Landed in Quebec around 12:30 and started my two-shuttle-bus trek across the city to the Sheraton downtown (centre-ville!). Checked in after some credit card pains (I've spent way too much cash this term) and chilled in the room waiting for the rest of my party. Dan and Winkels arrived shortly after (they had driven a rental car up from Hamilton) and Sarah right after them (she was in Ottawa for the break at her parents house and took the bus to Montreal).
Promptly went to my favourite place in the world, Couche Tarde, and grabbed some beers. Ate some food at the Eaton's centre. Got wrecked in the hotel room later on, then walked down St. Laurent to a couple bars. I couldn't believe some bouncer turned us away for no other reason than that we weren't French. After I become fluent I'm going back there, getting in and spouting off english ramblings in a francophone accent.
Day 8, Saturday February 25It's fucking cold in Montreal. Windchills got down to -25 or so. Woke up with a shitty hangover after apparently head-butting Sarah in my sleep and grabbed a coffee. That day we did some walking, bought some more beers and decided to head down to the original Peel Pub with the group promise that we'd actually finally make it to last call (3am of course) without falling asleep. The deed was done.
Day 9, Sunday February 26Hungover again but feelin' strangely fine, I took another early morning walk around Montreal. Checked out the McGill campus for the first time and hiked up Mont Royal after falling on my face a zillion billion times (they actually had snow and ice there). Great view of the city up there. Back in the hotel room we ate crossaints, salami, donuts and muffins, while trying to avoid doing anything productive. We walked to the Science Center just because and learned a whole lot of nothing about Magnesium. Had the best Snickers bar of my life there though.
After that we cabbed up to Schwartz' deli, the famous original Montreal Smoked Meat joint. Busy as shit all the time, but food was great (even the pickles). If I go to McGill we'll go there and y'all gotta put a couple of those back. Looks so gross but tastes so good.
Day 10, Monday February 27McGill day. Met with my potential supervisor, Tracy Webb. She was wicked nice. Her research really seems interesting, so I gotta say I was pretty set in thinking I'd found my school. UBC and UVic still have to fly us out west though, so we'll see how those compare.
Talked to some grad students and they took us to Thompson House, McGill's graduate pub and restaurant. They were some crazy girls...nice, but out there. You always hope that maybe the physics stereotype doesn't always apply, but i've yet to be thoroughly surprised.
Started the drive home aroud 6:30 and got in around midnight. As I pulled up to my apartment it felt as though I'd been gone for ten thousand years. I was up for most of the rest of the night working on all the shit I didn't do while I was away, and that load carried through till yesterday (hence my previous post).
In any case, it was a good trip. Seven beds in two weeks days. Probably a bunch of good stuff I already forgot, but that's probably the longest post I'll ever care to write, so there we go.
