Hello again! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I am so excited to have the chance to go home and eat and/or make some delicious food. It will also be nice to have time to see my friends from back home and family. It will definitely be a working break though. It’s that time of the semester when classes are starting to wind up and final papers are being assigned. It’s pretty crazy to think that after Thanksgiving there are only about 3 weeks left of the semester!
This past weekend was quite exciting for me. On Friday I went into Boston to go to the Public Library to do some research for a paper for my MIT urban history course. The Boston Public Library is probably one of the most amazing places in Boston. The architecture is absolutely gorgeous and the library is kind of like an oasis of peace in the city. I discovered my favorite part of the library, the Venetian Courtyard, this summer when I was living in Boston. In the courtyard of the library there’s this beautiful fountain and a portico covering about 15 little wrought iron tables and chairs. Even though the whole city is bustling around you, the courtyard remains surprisingly quiet. It was the perfect escape inside the city, especially when it got pretty hot.
Okay back to the paper. So my paper is on the idea of religious art in a public/civic space. I’m studying this mural series called The Triumph of Religion that the artist John Singer Sargent painted in the early 1900’s and the controversy surrounding one of his murals that was deemed to be antisemitic. I went to the library on Friday to find some primary sources and was pleased to find that all of the research librarians were so helpful and that I was able to have access to a wealth of resources. I even got to go into the rare book room and touch letters from Sargent himself! It was a gold mine for a history dork like me.
After my amazing research experience, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a friend from home who goes to BU Law. Saturday the Boston adventures continued with a trip to Regina Pizzeria, the oldest pizzeria in Boston, located in the Italian North End. As a New Yorker I’m a natural pizza critic and this pizza was pretty darn good. That day the Museum of Fine Arts was opening up their new American art wing so I took my friend who was visiting from Amherst. Wellesley students receive free admission to the museum so it’s a great place to go to hang out, learn something new or escape poor weather (unbearably hot, unbearably cold, snow, rain, or any type of weather that typically passes through Boston). The opening event was awesome though because they had a bunch of special programs and a live symphony. Best of all it was free! That night we walked past Fenway park and over the bridge to Cambridge to go to my favorite cafe, Cafe Luna, and hear some live music.
As you can see I kind of have an obsession with Boston and it is definitely one of the reasons why I applied to Wellesley. I knew I wanted to be close to but not right inside of a city. What’s great about Boston is that it’s a very student friendly city because there area ton of college and postgrad student here. I’m a big proponent of learning outside the classroom and I feel like some of the most interesting things I’ve learned have been things I learned when I was out exploring Boston. The thing I would recommend most about exploring Boston is to just spend time walking around. It’s a great way to get the lay of the land and check out what’s out there. I will definitely be posting more about Boston in the future so stay tuned!
And now for my place of the week. Another place I have a love affair with besides Boston is the lake on the Wellesley College campus. Walking around the lake is probably one of my absolute favorite things to do. Anyone that comes to visit me here absolutely has to go on a walk around the lake because it’s just lovely! It’s cool to see how the lake changes with the seasons. Because the walk around the lake has such a variety of habitats, this is going to be a multipart series about the lake so get excited! Our first place is going to be the “boardwalk” that goes through the wetlands part of the lake. Enjoy!