Rhode Island & Cambridge (Cambridge Mass, that is)

Just reached the end of Fall Break, basically a 4 day weekend. (Columbus Day + 1 day off) Plan was to take it easy and catch up on all that work, but things were more interesting than that. First trip was to Rhode Island for a big art/craft/antiques festival.

There was mostly the kind of stuff you look at but probably wouldn't buy. Lots of knitted hats - not that they were needed, it was insanely hot for October. And, I got to tick off another US State. Just need to pop up to New Hampshire and Maine now!

I just spent two days in very-nearly-Boston, visited Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's a lovely place, I haven't got any photos of it because all of it just looks so nice. Old brick buildings, green spaces, cute cafes, very pedestrian friendly. I did get this photo of the river with Boston on the other side:

Walking round Cambridge gave me hope that I could live abroad after all. So far, I feel like England is the only place where I could live for the long-term. But maybe I just need to find the right city.

While I was walking round the area with all the MIT buildings, there was a small memorial service for Steve Jobs. There was a plaque on the ground - put there a month ago - covered in tributes of flowers and, of course, apples.

So... Much... Work...

I've been in Massachusetts for a month, and my excuse for starting the blog now is that I didn't take any photos. Today I grabbed my camera and pointed it at everything that moved, so at last I have something to show from my adventure.

It was overwhelming when I arrived all those weeks ago, partly because the accommodation people weren't expecting me for 2 days. When I got the keys to my room, it looked like this:

 

 Now, with some help from Walmart and Target, it looks like this:

Yeah, I couldn't cope with a double room.

At this stage I've slipped naturally into a routine. It's a new place but nothing is surprising, thanks to growing up with American telly. The only thing that has unsettled me is making card purchases with a signature rather than a PIN.

Today - my first photo day - I woke up at 6am and made it to breakfast for the very first time. They had an entire table dedicated to a doughnut mountain, it was beautiful. I came across an associate at breakfast and we headed down Main St to pretty Elm Park.

It's already starting to look like autumn!

Before going in the park, we decided to climb Newton Hill. It's basically fenced by trees and very quickly, you feel like you've left the city behind.

We found some steps leading to nowhere

At the top of the mighty hill (walk took about 10 minutes) we found

A pole

 A tire swing

And Fall

After we considered Newton Hill to be thoroughly explored and conquered, we continued on to Elm Park. (My sources tell me that it was the first city park in America). It has a rather pretty lake

Some intriguing art

And some stoic waterfowl.

On a final note, I naively and perhaps arrogantly assumed I wouldn't have to work too hard this year. But the workload is terrifying. Essays are the main cause of my mental breakdowns, so let's hope I can last until December without crying in an exam or running away to Alaska.