Day 2
We continued on the Freedom Trail for a bit longer today. We stopped for lunch in Little Italy, where Heather and I stumbled upon this great little authentic Italian place (authentic Italian in Little Italy…go figure…. we were still excited though) where we enjoyed some good conversation with other patrons and our waiter and delicous food, though the portion size was a bit more than I could handle.
We took the subway to Harvard, where we explored the campus for a little while. While it was fairly nice, I have to admit I was a little unimpressed by this legendary Ivy league, though I did get irrationally excited when we saw the gigantic library. The whole area around Harvard was interesting to explore. Boston is a city that definitely embraces its academic identity.
Day 3
Our third day in Boston was the 4th of July. We split up- half of the group went to reserve a spot for viewing the fireworks by Boston Harbor and half of the group went to hear the Declaration of Independence read from the balcony from which it was read over 200 years for the first time it was read aloud in Boston to the public. There was a huge crowd there and a military band marched through and played traditional patriotic songs. While standing there, we spoke for quite a while with a couple; the man was from Italy and the woman was from Texas. They had some really unique insights about what it meant to be an American in this day and age. The man spoke to us about how Americans seem to all have this idea that they have much more freedom than citizens of other countries, though not many Americans can really expound on this idea. We have found this to be true in asking people around the country about what it means to be an American – there seems to be the instinctive response to say that we have “more freedoms” than any other nation but other than rattling off a couple of 1st amendment rights, few people can really back this statement up.
Hearing the Declaration read from this balcony where so many years ago, people heard this revolutionary document read for the first time, I couldn’t help but get chills. The cliché “patriotic” feeling doesn’t come around that often for me, but this experience provided it as I really listened to the list of offenses committed by the British monarchy against the first citizens of the American colonies. Of course, the document provides a few reality checks too- referring to the natives of this land called America as "savages" and reminding myself of the complications behind the stated but not upheld "all men are created equal". But it also gave me a chance to appreciate how radical this document was – to tell one of the most powerful men in the world, the King of England, that they would no longer stand being treated as citizens without basic rights and demanded the ability to govern themselves, despite being a very new nation.
From there, a couple of us followed the parade after the reading of the Declaration to Faneuil Hall where we heard the mayor of Boston speak, as well as a feel-good “achieved the American dream” speech from a graduating high school student who had come to America from poverty in Kenya and now plans, in his words, to become a doctor so he can work to cure AIDS, cancer and help children in poverty. High aspirations, huh? We then went to the spot near the harbor where the rest of the group had staked out a prime spot for watching the fireworks.
We continued on the Freedom Trail for a bit longer today. We stopped for lunch in Little Italy, where Heather and I stumbled upon this great little authentic Italian place (authentic Italian in Little Italy…go figure…. we were still excited though) where we enjoyed some good conversation with other patrons and our waiter and delicous food, though the portion size was a bit more than I could handle.
We took the subway to Harvard, where we explored the campus for a little while. While it was fairly nice, I have to admit I was a little unimpressed by this legendary Ivy league, though I did get irrationally excited when we saw the gigantic library. The whole area around Harvard was interesting to explore. Boston is a city that definitely embraces its academic identity.
Day 3
Our third day in Boston was the 4th of July. We split up- half of the group went to reserve a spot for viewing the fireworks by Boston Harbor and half of the group went to hear the Declaration of Independence read from the balcony from which it was read over 200 years for the first time it was read aloud in Boston to the public. There was a huge crowd there and a military band marched through and played traditional patriotic songs. While standing there, we spoke for quite a while with a couple; the man was from Italy and the woman was from Texas. They had some really unique insights about what it meant to be an American in this day and age. The man spoke to us about how Americans seem to all have this idea that they have much more freedom than citizens of other countries, though not many Americans can really expound on this idea. We have found this to be true in asking people around the country about what it means to be an American – there seems to be the instinctive response to say that we have “more freedoms” than any other nation but other than rattling off a couple of 1st amendment rights, few people can really back this statement up.
Hearing the Declaration read from this balcony where so many years ago, people heard this revolutionary document read for the first time, I couldn’t help but get chills. The cliché “patriotic” feeling doesn’t come around that often for me, but this experience provided it as I really listened to the list of offenses committed by the British monarchy against the first citizens of the American colonies. Of course, the document provides a few reality checks too- referring to the natives of this land called America as "savages" and reminding myself of the complications behind the stated but not upheld "all men are created equal". But it also gave me a chance to appreciate how radical this document was – to tell one of the most powerful men in the world, the King of England, that they would no longer stand being treated as citizens without basic rights and demanded the ability to govern themselves, despite being a very new nation.
From there, a couple of us followed the parade after the reading of the Declaration to Faneuil Hall where we heard the mayor of Boston speak, as well as a feel-good “achieved the American dream” speech from a graduating high school student who had come to America from poverty in Kenya and now plans, in his words, to become a doctor so he can work to cure AIDS, cancer and help children in poverty. High aspirations, huh? We then went to the spot near the harbor where the rest of the group had staked out a prime spot for watching the fireworks.
We spent the whole afternoon hanging out with each other and talking to the kind people around us, enjoying the beautiful weather, the good music and each other's company. The fireworks show was actually worth the wait, I thought. The trek back to the bus in the midst of a crowd of thousands and thousands wasn’t quite as enjoyable and we were all more grateful than usual to return to our bus, where we began our drive on to the Big Apple.
No comments:
Post a Comment