The City of Fountains

Boston has quite a few fountains. For reals. It seems like everywhere I go, I find one! I mean, there were the ones at the Public Gardens. Then there was one in the Prudential Mall and another in the courtyard of the mall. Plus the one in the courtyard of the First Church of Christ the Scientist, and the courtyard of the library... They're everywhere!

It's awesome that I've had time to continue my explorations, which have now basically become fountain hunting missions. I've had a couple of good walks around, and I love it here! Last night I went for a wander with another of the RC's just to explore, and we found several interesting sights. First, Berklee!

Then we stumbled into the courtyard of The First Church of Christ the Scientist and, I think, Northeastern University (College?). This site was absolutely beautiful and I loved the view of the city from the reflecting pool.

I then become obsessed with the reflective qualities of the reflecting pool...

And in the background of the first picture, you can see a fountain. When we reached it, there were a bunch of children running around trying to beat the heat by playing in it. It was really beautiful. Had I been more properly dressed, I would have joined them...

After that, we wandered into the mall at "the Pru," which is the Prudential Center. The mall's pretty upscale, from what I gather, but it had a lovely courtyard and fountains both inside (a whole wall!) and outside.

By this point, I had a hankering for an adult beverage, so we stopped on our way back "home" to get one. I had a Rapscallion Honey, which is a Massachusetts beer. It's brewed in Holyoke. It was decent and adult, so I was happy.

Today, my adventure was the library. I went to the studio to sign some paperwork to get paid (I missed that on the first day of orientation) and had to break a rule...

In case you can't read it, that sign above my head says, "Please do not sit here." Awesome.

Anyway, walking back to the T stop to head back to the dorm, there's the public library, a huge, old, beautiful building. It not only houses books, but art as well. Right now, they're doing an exhibition of travel posters from all over the world and it was really cool to see them. I learned that France is the most visited country in the world, which is kind of cool.

I also wandered into the courtyard of the library (courtyards are also a theme here, I'm beginning to realize...) and this fountain was so brilliant it inspired my pose...

That's what I've been up to lately. Sure, I'm working a little bit, but I actually get quite a bit of time to go adventuring and exploring. It's kind of awesome. And the kids are awesome too--my girls seem very sweet, two of them even coming to church with a group of us on Sunday. The kids who don't speak English as a first language crack me up, especially when one of the French ones described his first time driving in Paris as "uh... epic?" I suppose it doesn't translate as well into the written word, but it was hilarious, trust me.

There's a Korean kid here who speaks SO little English it's really a wonder. I spoke with him a little but most of my Korean's gone. We worked out a great system for move in, though, and he bows a little when he sees me. Awww.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will hold!

Much love.