Brilliant Boston

Eh..eh…masih ada satu kota lagi yang sempet saya kunjingi di winter trip saya kemaren. Mehehehe… For some reasons, I feel more excited of going to this city instead to NYC. First, Kalo udah nyampe Boston, technically we are so close to Cambridge, Massachussets. And what comes in mind about Massachussets? For me, it would mean two things: Harvard, and MIT. Yep. Dua kampus itu yang pengen banget saya kunjungi. So, the thing is, when I was a kid, I used to have this book about science and technology, and in one of the pictures in the book is pictures about MIT campus. Massachussets Institute of Technology. Dan sejak itu saya punya mimpi untuk menginjakkan kaki di kampus itu. And Harvard… Gosh, siapa sih yang gak tau Harvard? It’s one of the oldest and most prestigious university in the whole wide world. Iya, saya sih cukup tau diri that I am not that brilliant to go to any of those two schools. But if I had the right to brag, syarat minimal iBT untuk MIT adalah 100, dan iBT saya 99. MHUAHAHAHAHA…. Beda tipis.

Anyway. Selain karena pengen banget ke dua kampus itu, satu hal lagi yang saya asosiasikan dengan Boston adalah… New Kids on the Block!
Iya. Saya generasi 90an. Dan percayalah, di zaman dimana saya berstatus pre-teen (baca: ABG), NKOTB adalah the coolest boyband. Dan NKOTB ini kan dari Bostoooonnnn…

Kita berangkat ke Boston dari NYC naik bus. Sekitar 3-4 jam gitu deh. Di Boston, nginepnya nggak di hotel. Kita semacam nyewa kamar gitu, nemu hasil searching di Air BnB. Just a note, if you are travelling on a tight budget dan gak nemu temen yang bisa ditumpangi, Air BnB ini bisa jadi salah satu opsi untuk nyari akomodasi yang murah meriah.

I love Philadelphia. And I LOVE BOSTON EVEN MORE.

Oke.Excuse my excitement. First, it’s a beautiful city. Sama seperti Philly, this city has a lot of history. Ever heard about ‘Boston Tea Party’? Oh well, Boston is one of the oldest city in the USA. So you can see the classic buildings here and there. Second, I find that the transportation system here is easy to understand. Nyaris kek Melbourne. Saya gampang ngerti deh sistem subway trainnya. Dan murah. Weekly pass nya cuma $16, dan kita yang kemaren beli weekly pas seharga sekitar $31 di NYC tentu saja langsung cerah ceria. However, walaupun agak-agak bernuansa kota pelajar, Boston ini hitungannya biaya hidupnya lumayan tinggi.

So yeah. Sesuai dengan misi utama, kami mensetting tujuan di Boston: Harvard dan MIT!

Begitu nyampe di subway station terdekat ke Harvard, I was stunned. Astaga. Bisa juga saya sampe di Harvard!

John Harvard statue

the gate of Harvard

yah, gak bisa sekolah disini, foto sama plangnya pun jadi

The school looks so classical, with huge buildings that looks like medieval castles. It’s qite a big campus, and we visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Setdah ya, kampusnya sampe punya museum sendiri!

the classic building

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Next stop, kampus impian saya: Massachussets Institutes of Technology.  MIT, sodara-sodara… Even though it’s not so far away from Harvard, MIT is so different from it. Sementara Harvard terkesan klasik, MIT lebih berasa sophisticated. I literally had glassy eyes when I finally arrived in the campus. It’s just felt so surreal, being in this campus that I once only dreamed about. Sempet masuk ke salah satu gedung kuliahnya, and I had the shivered, when I was imagining students walking through the corridor, sitting in the lecture room.

MIT ini kampusnya di tepi Charles River. Jadi dari kampus ini kita bisa liat the view of Boston’s skyline, which is beautiful.

I would definitely put Boston in the list of the cities I want to visit again and again. I find that there are still anumber of places that I would love to go there. So yeah, Boston, wish to see you, again and again!