Walking Shoes, I Endorse Them

Although Downtown Providence feels like a quaint town, last night there seems to have been a party. Ironically, Mark, the hotel manager, told us at breakfast that this part of town consisted of mostly teachers. My companions and I agreed that it was a college party, so to hear that the noise was created by teachers was surprising, and made us consider what they were doing and celebrating. Tonight in the area, we will probably hear the cheers of Boston hockey fans for scores and either the win or loss. We will not have much sleep either way since we will be leaving for Dartmouth at 6:50 AM.

On our ride to MIT I got to see the bridge I built for my physics final. It is called the Boston Bridge, but it is not in Boston. The other architectural feats that you don’t see in San Francisco; maybe the architectures fad when Boston was built was done by the time it came for San Francisco.

The most memorable part of the MIT tour was the hacks. Hearing the stories of how some students managed to change the message in the lobby, how they got a cow, police car, a house, a lunar lander and more on the school’s dome and how they coordinate pictures using windows on a building. 

Then the architecture of the school was just as unique. I did consider applying to MIT, but after the stories that the tour guide told the group, I would like to learn the secrets of the hackers and go to that school as well.

Occasionally during the tour I had this swaying motion. It reminded me of the time when I went on the Mexico cruise for my school’s music program. While returning from the ship, where we encountered erratic swaying of the ship due to the moon and our circular course, I still had the sway that kept me upright when the boat passed over the waves. Similarly, the plane rocked slightly due to the turbulence, and I presume my body responded to the movements by centering my body alignment with the plane. I noticed the feeling when we were standing listening to the tour guides at both MIT and Boston University. It took me a considerable amount of time to return to my natural alignment after the cruise, so I wonder how long it will take for my body to stop swaying.

Boston University has a span of 1.2 miles; the distance from our car to the Undergraduate Admission Office was about a mile. We walked the distance from the car to the Undergraduate Admissions Office twice in addition to the extra distance the tour guide took us. At MIT, we walked around the school on one half of the road, and then crossed the street to the other half. Then when we arrived at L’Espalier, we walked to the park, then crossed the street, came back, then walked further, came back, then walked in the other direction. I did all of this in heels. It hurt less when we were walking because my foot became numb and I concentrated on the pain, but when we stopped each time the pain got worse. I think my foot will take a few days to return to its natural position, and the calluses on my foot increased exponentially. In the morning, I actually considered wearing walking shoes, but I thought that we wouldn’t walk that much, and I didn’t want to carry extra shoes and my backpack for my shoes. I learned my lesson; walking shoes are for walking, and heels give feet two hours before numbing them with pain.

One of our stops before going to L’Espalier was the Boston Library. The library wasn’t filled with as many books as I imaged for a library of that size. There were also a few cutout figures that Andrew, Erin, Frank, Kathleen and had our pictures taken with. As accounted in the previous paragraph about the pain of my shoes, Kathleen also had enough and we took off our shoes as we walked to the door of the library, and then put the shoes back on.

We also got to go into a candy store. I felt like a kid in a candy store literally and figuratively. While Andrew, Erin, Frank, Kathleen and I were in the candy store, Ms. Larson bought shoes that she tried out by running around a park near L’Espalier.

L’Espalier was a great restaurant. We had a four course meal and little hors d’oeuves. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in my bag that was checked in by the restaurant so I couldn’t take pictures of the food. The presentation of the food was a work of art, and the food blended complementary flavors for a complex, deep dish. The ambiance of L’Espalier consisted of jazz music when it was quiet and low lights with candles. Our conversations with Chelsea and Grace, Boston University and Brown respectively, were light and casual. They created a new insight for both of the schools, and we had a laugh between the stories of Chelsea and Grace and our own. By the way the name of the restaurant means the vine that grows on buildings.

Charles Ramsey has excellent taste in restaurants.