Donnerstag, 26. November 2015

Bostoooooon

108 days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From last Wednesday till Sunday, I was in Boston, Massachusetts.


Wednesday

I got up at 3.30am. (#TheThingsYouDo)
My friend and fellow Aupair Michelle picked me up at 4.30am and drove me to Syracuse what took an hour so that I could be there one hour before the bus leaves. And guess what - the bus left 20 minutes late! At least I had two seats for myself. I couldn't sleep, but I listened to music and kind of slept. Half sleep. There was something wrong with the bus so we all had to get off in Albany, New York. They changed buses and after a 40 minutes break we were on our way to Boston again.
Surprisingly we arrived on time! I don't know how they managed to do that. But we were in Boston around 1.35pm. So the bus ride took about 7hours.

Katha (my friend from back home, the one that already visited me in Ithaca) picked me up from the bus station. She is studying in Boston! So we went to her dorm and I made myself look like a person.

Lunch was so great! Really, the food in that university is not bad. No comparison to normal school food. Also, the students don't have to pay for it. Well, I guess the costs are included in the fee they have to pay in general, but they don't have to pay extra. And I was allowed to eat for free too because every student has a certain amount of "guest meals". Soooo all you can eat for free! It's like in a hotel there. With buffets and stuff. I'd really have a problem if I lived there. Food all day long for free ...

After lunch, we took the T (Boston subway) to get to the cinema.
MOCKINGJAY DOUBLE FEATURE !!! Oh yes. It was great. Terrible. But great. It's over now! ohmygod. It's so weird when you look forward to these movies coming out every year and now it's over!
You know, for Katha's birthday, we always had the tradition to go to the cinema because all of the good movies come out around her birthday. At first, we watched Twilight and then always The Hungergames. I wonder what comes next ...
the cinema
By the way, I'm getting used to American - salty - popcorn. Ugh. Still miss sweet popcorn though.














the dorm
On our way back to her dorm, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and I had my first Munchkins ever. They're good! Actually we only wanted 25 of them, but DD was about to close so the guy gave us all of them. Which were about 40. 


Thursday

We went on a Duck Tour!
It's with these vehicles that can drive on streets and also float on water.
I'm always a bit skeptical when it comes to City Tours cause sometimes they are SO boring. But this was one really fun. Thanks to our guide! He was crazy. But really funny. I like him. 



please pay attention to his purple beard

 Afterwards, we walked through Boston to have lunch with one of Katha's friends.

On our way there, we went to the library which is beautiful and we also saw the Tipton! Remember The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ? The original hotel is there!






The Tipton !!


















We had lunch in a "German" restaurant. They had some German dishes, but the most  German thing there was the decoration that consisted of different kinds of beer.



Afterwards, we walked to Primark. On the way, we stopped at a cafe to eat cake. A lot of walking and a lot of eating, yep.

Boston (Berlin right next to it)




I bought shoes at Primark cause my shoes (my favorite ones !!!) kind of broke on Wednesday. Wearing the new shoes resulted in a blister that hurt like hell. So at the end of the day, I limped through Boston.


Cupcake Art

After Primark, we bought Cupcakes and walked some more.











Inside of Quincy Market
My pal Samuel Adams


It's FOOD for your Christmas Tree
We also walked (limped) through  Beacon Hill which is a beautiful neighborhood. I went for the first time into a Whole Foods! It's like our Wegmans (maybe Wegmans is even better, shht).

In Beacon Hill



In the Public Garden

















Friday

University time!
I accompanied Katha to her Chemistry and her Psychology class. I didn't understand one word in Chemistry (dropped it in school two years ago), but Psych was interesting. And now I really want to go to college! As a real, whole time student. Oh well, next year.

Katha also showed me the campus.







In the evening, we went to MIT and Harvard. I ate at Chipotle for the first time. We also had Cannoli from Mike's Pastry. The. Best.


Saturday

Shopping on Newbury Street!
There is not really more to say about that.
On the way to Newbury Street





















At some point, it was so cold that we wanted to get hot drinks from Starbucks. Then, we saw a Ben & Jerry's shop. A Ben & Jerry's shop !! So we had ice cream instead.

Newbury Street




















We walked to Quincy Market again where I had my first Lobster Roll! And Boston Cream Pie. It was delicious.



But actually we went there to see the tree lighting! Yes, they lighted their Christmas Tree on November 21. Why not :p
The ceremony was quite fun. Everybody sang Christmas songs which was kind of weird. But - slowly getting into the Christmas mood, as I said.



We took a lot of ugly selfies. I am only gonna post one xD 
Sunday

Katha's birthday!

I profited from the chocolate her family back home sent her. Yay Katzenzungen! My German friends will understand me.

And then it was already time to go to Ithaca again.


I had so much fun in Boston!
The only thing that I didn't like was the bathroom in the dormitory. Common bathroom. No need to say more.

xoxo
Christin

Freitag, 13. November 2015

Niagara Falls + Philly

3 months !

THREE MONTHS.

95 days.

Holy moly.

Last Tuesday, three months ago, I left Germany. Well ... You know, the days feel long, but if you look back, it doesn't feel that long. So on one hand, I'm like OMG THREE MONTHS IS SO LONG and on the other hand, it feels like I arrived yesterday. 

Whatever! This post is not supposed to be about my weird feelings, but about last weekend!

Friday - Niagara Falls

I worked till 4pm and then I drove with my hostfamily to Niagara Falls, Canada !! 
We stopped for dinner in Seneca Falls and at around 9pm we arrived in Niagara Falls.
I shared a "suite" with my hostfamily, so I had my own bedroom, but we shared the bathroom.
The view from our room was breathtaking.

My hostmom and I went to the falls to see them in the dark. It looks really pretty.

View from our room

Canadian Niagara Falls = Horseshoe Falls
Before going back to the hotel, we ate pancakes at IHOP - they serve breakfast all day long. Pancakes, Waffles, Crepes ... I wish we had one of these in Ithaca!

Saturday - Niagara Falls and Buffalo


We got up when the children woke up ... You really don't need an alarm clock when you have children.

So the day started early, but the breakfast was goooood. I love hotel breakfasts. Cereal, croissant, bacon, scrambled eggs, waffle, muffin ... That's my kind of perect start into the day.

We went to see the Falls in daylight and I think they're even more impressive during the day, because you really see the water flowing and it's just SO MUCH water.

There are the American falls and the Canadian Falls, the Horseshoe Falls. I guess these are the famous ones. I didn't even know that there are different Niagara Falls before I went there.

American Niagara Falls





By the way: Germans pronounce the word Niagara letter for letter. We say N-I-A-G-A-R-A. Americans say N-I-A-G-R-A. They skip the second A.

However, we also went behind the falls. There are tunnels and holes in the wall and you see the water falling down in front of you. Damn impressive.

Behind the falls
I felt so small looking at the falls. They reminded me of how powerful nature is ...

Afterwards, we drove to Buffalo, NY. Back in the US! I really want to go back to Canada. Toronto is not that far away ...

In Buffalo, nothing really interesting happened. We ate lunch at some - apparently - famous Italian restaurant. They had pictures from celebrities who ate there hanging on their walls. I only knew Keanu Reeves :p My hostdad said it's famous because it's so old. The food was good, but not THAT good. American.

Keanu Reeves was there ^^














Afterwards we only went to some kind of Art Gallery and to a book shop.

I don't really understand American cities. They are not walkable. They do have sidewalks, but nothing to look at. Only buildings. You can drive with your car to a museum or somewhere else, look at that, get back in your car and drive home. You could walk through the city, but there is really nothing to look at. It's so weird. I didn't see something like a "shopping street" either. I guess they have their malls for that, but I really miss that in the cities.

Buffalo
Back in Ithaca, I went with my girls to Pizza Hut and we slept in one of their houses because we had to leave early for

Sunday - Philadelphia, Ocean Grove

Loooooong way there
We left around 6am after a rather short night and arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around 11am.

It was love at first sight! I LOVE Philadelphia. It's an old city and I don't know, it has a certain atmosphere ... It's my favorite American city after NYC so far.

We went to see the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence which was signed in Philly. They don't have the handwritten one, but the guy there said that the one they have is one month older than the handwritten one. Alright.






For lunch, we had - of course - Philadelphia Cheese Steaks. They have nothing to do with normal steaks. But they were good!

Cheesesteak
After that, we drove to the Rocky Steps, you know, the steps from the Rocky movies? I haven't seen these movies but I saw that scene where he runs up the steps. So that was cool too.

Then, we drove to New Jersey. Actually we only wanted to go to an outlet, but it was close to the Atlantic Ocean, so we decided to go there too.
I just love the sea.










Finally, we went to the outlets. Apparently, the taxes in New Jersey are not as high as in New York, so that was gooood. You know, when you buy something here, the price that's on the item is not the price you have to pay. You have to add the taxes which is really annoying.


Actually I didn't want to buy anything because I really have to save some money. But ... I am weak. I couldn't resist!

We were in Ithaca again at 00.30am.

Such a great weekend !

xoxo
Christin