My "midterm break" if you will-- trip to Boston

So when last I wrote I had just started formation. Since then I have COMPLETED my time flying the T-6 and I am halfway done with pilot training!! Formation was really fun and really rewarding-- it was pretty incredible to know that I am capable of flying in close formation (10 feet away from another aircraft) and am also capable of doing aerobatic maneuvers to include barrel rolls and cloverleafs in formation with another aircraft. To finish up the T-6 we did 2-ship low level in which we flew 500 ft above the ground, 200 knots airspeed, in formation with another aircraft. It was cool to get to put everything together at the end of the program and demonstrate everything we had learned.

Because we pushed ahead of the schedule midway through T-6, we were actually quite fortunate to finish our T-6 training about 2 weeks early. Because we didn't have anything scheduled until our centrifuge training, we got some time off. So I chose to go to Boston to visit Anson for a few days.

I arrived Thursday evening and hung around MIT while Anson was finishing working on a big group project for one of his urban planning courses. We then went back to his house and the next day while he was at school presenting the project I took his advice and visited Mt Auburn cemetery. The cemetery was consecrated in 1831 and was the first "garden cemetery" in the country. The cemetery now stretches over 174 acres and serves as both a cemetery and an arboretum. 

Famous "residents" include Edwin Booth (well known and respected Shakespearean actor and brother of John Wilkes Booth), Dorothea Dix (nurse and hospital reformer), Fannie Farmer (the cookbook author), Buckminster Fuller (scientist and architect and interesting character), Winslow Homer (artist), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (poet), prominent Boston family the Lowells, Bernard Malamud (author) and many others.

I ran to and from the cemetery and then after showering I walked to MIT to meet Anson. I wandered around Cambridge a bit, crossing over the Harvard Bridge and admiring the beauty of the Charles. It was interesting to walk around Harvard and MIT and be reminded of the what its like wandering around a university campus. It brought back a lot of memories from Oxford and made me really nostalgic. 

Once I met up with Anson we got on our bikes (I used the citywide bike system of Hubway) and we rode up to Prospect Hill and the Prospect Hill Monument. It gave us a great view of the city of Boston but sadly the monument was closed and we weren't able to climb it.

On Friday evening we went to the Thirsty Scholar (a pub now famous for being the location of the opening scene of The Social Network) and met up with Johan. It was great catching up with Jonah and it was crazy to think about how long all of us had known each other. Johan and Anson went to school together through 2nd grade, Jonah and I were in the same class my 4th grade (his 3rd grade) year, Johan and Anson went to middle school together, and we all did the same internship at the Human Relations Commission. After a little while we were joined by an Academy 2012er Casey Horgan who was a JINSA traveller with me the summer after graduation. She is currently at MIT and we got to talk a bit about UPT and I gave her my incredible wisdom and knowledge....


The next morning, we (along with Anson's roommate Subra) got on the Downeastern Train to Portland Maine. Anson wanted to ride the train and we thought it would be fun to go to Maine. It was a really nice ride and Portland was a cute little town. We had lunch at an "Irish pub" and then wandered around the town a bit before touring the Maine Mead Works and getting to taste some of the mead. It was really good and much better than I expected. It was an interesting way to spend the day but an enjoyable. We shared the train ride back with many Justin Bieber fans who were traveling to Boston for his concert and we enjoyed watching them and seeing how excited they were for the concert. Also ridiculous were the number of limousines we saw pulling up to the TD Bank Garden for the show. These parents really went all out for their kid's night out!

 On Sunday morning we relaxed a bit and caught up on the sleep that we had missed out on over the past few days. Once we had sufficiently recovered we went to the JFK museum. I have always been really fascinated by JFK, his personal story, his presidency, and his legacy. I love his polities and the causes that he was passionate about, but I can't seem to reconcile his personality flaws and his womanizing with the clear devotion he had to his wife and family. Personal issues aside, the museum was really interesting, very well done, and I really enjoyed it. Another cool part of the museum was the exhibit which featured Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 capsule, the capsule in which he became the first American in space. As a self-professed space geek this was obviously very cool for me to see. I learned quite a bit about Kennedy (as well as his family and the legacy of his siblings) and all of the programs and events that happened because of him and his legacy.

We left the museum and went to MIT for the annual Diwali celebration. This included Indian food and a show that included traditional dancing, singing, music, and even an example of acapella mashups between traditional Indian songs and One Direction and Adele! The show was really interesting and fun, despite the horrible corny jokes of the emcees.

On Monday, before heading off to the airport, Anson and I rode down to the Beacon Hill neighborhood and wandered around. Beacon Hill is the richest area and in our walk we saw Senator John Kerry's house, Louisa May Alcott's former house, the registered voting address of JFK, and the Massachusetts Statehouse. We then met Jonah and his girlfriend Kathy for lunch and then I headed off to the airport and back to Wichita Falls. It was a fun couple of days spent in an awesome city with a great old friend and a very needed break after the busy hecticness of pilot training.