thanks to my buddy Warren, Boston has been a relevant city in my life the past three years. as a freshman in college, i found myself in Boston whenever an urge to get away from New York came over me. my first experience of Boston came a few weeks after 9/11 when two of my friends and I went up to MIT and boarded a cruise boat to attend a semiformal thrown by Warren’s chinese student club. later that year, head and jeff joined me on a “road trip” as we drove to Boston to hang out with Rich and Anita, MIT cats that we met through Warren who were kind enough to host us. my summer before sophomore year, i went up yet again, this time with graceface and reggie, and we spent several days with Warren including a night in a huge home of a lawyer who was away on vacation, thanks to Warren’s frat connections. since then, I have been in Boston two more times, once with Hsin as we took a winter break trip, and once last year during spring break with Nigi as we visited Warren and Novi (at Harvard) and also found ourselves throwing money away at Mohegan.

Boston, for me, is a very unique town in that it’s not quite as grand and magnificent as New York or pretty and interesting as San Francisco nor is does it feel as monumental and important as Washington DC – and yet, the town gives off a distinct aura that is tough to capture with words. i think of cold weather, Ally McBeal, a true college town, Red Sox / sports-crazed, rude white people, and very very limited offering of quality Korean food. driving along the Charles River, it’s been a sweet treat for my memory to recall the different faces of Boston – the icy frosted waters during the winter, the cool glistening blue amid the not-too-impressive skyline in the summer, and clear reflections of the colorful foliage in the autumn – there is a puritanical austerity to the environment and yet it feels cozy and very down-to-earth.

i write of Boston because tomorrow, i will be embarking on my 6th trip to Boston. while the number may still be relatively low, i feel as if this trip will mark the end of my college experience away from Columbia. as a senior, Boston (and to a degree, Dartmouth), has been the getaway spot of choice. perhaps i will visit once more before the school year ends, but to know that this trip may be one of the last conjures up sentimental thoughts and makes me aware of how fast the times have gone. was it only yesterday that i tasted the late-night delights of Quan’s Kitchen or walked the streets of Harvard Square stopping by at Au Bon Pain for a chicken grilled sandwich?

the mean streets of Boston, see you tomorrow.