Greetings from Cambridge!

I have arrived (safely, for all of you who told me to have a safe trip, as though there’s any way I can ensure the pilots who fly planes I ride will fly safely) in Cambridge, MA, to begin a 2 month stint as a research assistant for a Harvard professor. Two days in I have begun to get a feel for the city and am nearing the point when (at least around this campus) I no longer need to carry a map.

My room for the first half of the stay is nice, a room in the landlady’s house that she rents to boarders. Nothing large, though larger than my last room, but it suits me well.

My office is also nice though small, and is located in the Taubman building of the Kennedy School of Government. I’m not quite used to this whole “one monitor” thing they have going on—do people still do that?—but the co-workers are friendly, the area (at least for summer) is quiet, and the work is interesting if slow-moving.

Apparently my first cousin once removed (according to an unimpeachable source on family relations—my mom) lives in Cambridge. I say apparently because I don’t know what it takes to be a first cousin once removed. We’re going to meet for the 4^th of July and take in a fireworks display.

At some point I need to figure out all of the things I want to do while I am here, and the sooner the better so that I can begin to research how to do them. Among the highlights:

1) Fenway Park (shocking, I know).

2) If possible, Cape Cod league baseball (see a pattern?)

3) Boston Tea Party ship

4) Old North Church

5) Fenway Park (I couldn’t help it).

If anyone has ideas, let me know.