Boston ~ Day 4, Emerson Tour

June 26~Bettina and I started the day early as usual, only this morning we were very tired. Our legs still ached from the very long walk from the UMass campus to the JFK Museum the previous day, so we mutually decided to skip the reservoir walk. We spent the time on our computer, checking our emails and working on our blogs. We also planned on having a special home-cooked meal later in the evening, so we decided to take the "T" to Star to get some spaghetti and sauce! Plus a bag of grapes (for a treat) and some mayonnaise (need a sandwich spread besides hummus). We saw on the newspaper racks that every front page had Michael Jackson's picture on it, so it was officially big-time news that he died! Still so sad. Later I used the payphone to call Tamara to seal our plan to meet up at the "Frog Pond" later that afternoon, but she didn't pick up. Still, Bettina and I had hopes that we would bump into them somehow, and if we didn't see each other, fine.

We set off on our trip to Emerson college at 'bout 1:00, so we'd have plenty of time for the train to get us there. It turns out that Emerson is located right near the Boston Commons, so a half-hour before we had to do the tour, we searched for Tamara, Joe and their kids around the Frog Pond, but we couldn't find them anywhere. It started to drizzle after a while, so chances were good that they didn't even go that day. We had plenty of time to relax before the Emerson college tour, so me and my sister had a lovely sandwich picnic near the Frog Pond, close to this huge statue on a hill. We were fine until the rain became a little harder, then we had to search for shelter.

We went to a Starbucks nearby so Bettina could use the "facilities", but a sign said only paying customers could use the restroom. So we decided to buy ourselves some big cookies. They were called Outrageous Oatmeal, and they had these beautiful multicolored raisins on top. I asked the guy behind the counter for two cookies please, and so he gave me two, but he forgot to charge me for them! How about that?! Free cookies?! However Bettina wouldn't have us taking cookies without paying for them, so I went back to the counter and said "I'd like to pay for two cookies please", but instead of the guy it was a girl, and she gave me two extra cookies and charged me for those! She did not know that I had the original two! Bettina let it slide after that, who can beat a 2-for-1 deal? (It might've been 2 for nothing, but oh well.)

We found Emerson College easily, it was practically next-door to the Public Gardens and the Boston Coomons! Nearby was a Barnes and Nobles, and we love bookstores, so we went in to check it out, but there was no place to sit down to read, and it stopped raining outside, so we left the store. We sat down at an outdoor-cafe table and ate our delicious Oatmeal cookies. A little bird flew near our table, so we shared tiny crumbs with it until it got close enough for Bettina to take a photo. It was cute.

After that we went inside the Emerson admissions office and sat and waited for the tour to begin. While we waited, we watched a slideshow of cool facts about Emerson. A lot of successful people like Jay Leno, the Wachowski brothers (of Matrix fame), Denis Leary, the guy who marketed the Furby dolls, and the producer of Friends (Kevin Bright) all went to Emerson! Eventually three tour guides came in and split up the now large group of campus tourists into groups of ten or so. We followed two guides whose names were Sarah and Emily. Sarah reminded me of Tina Fey, and she said her major is in Production (kinda like Tina Fey in the show 30 Rock). She was nice. Emily was nice too, but she seemed to be a little less experienced as a tour guide. Sarah was great though.

The college was great too! It was very big and beautiful, and we went through theater stages, peeped through the windows of recording studios, sat around a table used for Marketing students, got a glimpse of one of the dorms, and listened to Sarah and Emily talk about the great majors Emerson had to offer. You could be a moviemaker, a journalist, a writer, a musician, a producer, a graphic designer, comedian, political pundit, or even a stage-hand! I was very impressed, as I dream of someday working in the movie business.

The tour ended up at this big and beautiful theater called the Cutler Majestic. It looked like an old fashioned opera house with fancy booths and fantastical ceiling art! As we left, I fancied myself going to a college like Emerson. Might be really fun. Anyway, Bettina and I went out for burritos at a nearby "Boloco's", and we sat in the Public Gardens enjoying the tranquility of nature. We brought along peanuts with us, but we didn't bring them for ourselves. We brought them for the pigeons and squirrels!

Oh what a good time we had! The animals in the Public Gardens are so tamed by tourists that they have no trouble at all walking up to humans and eating out of their hands. We attracted many different squirrels and pigeons, and even Mallard ducks, who were a little greedy. Didn't see any swans though. Huh. The squirrels were the best customers. As they ate out of our hands, we were able to pet them on their heads as they nibbled! And the pigeons went all over our laps to get at the peanuts in our hands! I felt just like one of those Disney heroines like Snow White or Cinderella who all the animals love and trust. Many people walking past would smile at us and maybe stop to try and feed the animals themselves, but we had a grip on the market. Nobody got so many animals as us.

Eventually though we had to tear ourselves away because we'd been at it for a couple hours. I'll never forget those moments though. We took the "T" back to our apartment, and then we called our parents on Skype and told them all about our day. After that, we made our very own spaghetti and sauce dinner. It was delicious, and it was extra good because we had the pride of cooking it ourselves. Unfortunately we couldn't finish it all, so we stored the rest away in the fridge for later. Then, happy and fed, we went to bed. (Hee-hee, a rhyme!)