My Trip to Cambridge
Luke Earhart
November 12, 2009
Filed under A & E
Boston has appeared in many movies, band names, and television shows, but there aren’t too many things depicting the town above it, Cambridge. This is the town that actually holds many famous universities and institutes such as Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
I took an overnight trip to Cambridge to check out MIT. Since MIT is my top college choice, I definitely wanted to get a good feel of what the campus is like, and I’m glad I did because I learned a lot. I’ll skip the story about the frustrating delayed planes and the transit rides, and jump right into when I got to Kendall station.
Kendall station, or Kendall Square, is where the “Red Line” subway stops nearest to MIT. I had just gotten there at seven during the nighttime, and it was pretty windy. I met my host for the stay, Zach. He is currently pledging to the fraternity Phi Beta Epsilon (PBE everyone called it), and so we went to get dinner there first.
The first thing I noticed as I was eating is that there is a lot of racial diversity at MIT. Asians, Indians, people of the Spanish persuasion, you name it, all from a variety of many different countries. These guys talked about more than schoolwork, although obviously there is a lot of work at MIT. They talked of sports, games, some party they had last Saturday . . . the tone was always friendly. After that, we went to Zach’s dorm which is located in the architectural monstrosity that is Simmons Hall.
Simmons Hall
I get it, architecture can be cool, but I believe you should never place aesthetics over convenience when you have to live in a place like that. Basically, about one-fourth of his room was not there for the sake of architecture, and he had a roommate too. So I slept on their tile floor with a sleeping bag. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but their bathroom is also one of the smallest I have seen. The part that affected me was that the shower head was only about six feet maximum, meaning I had to do a cowboy stance so that my head wouldn’t knock into it. Plain enough, I wouldn’t want to live in Simmons Hall.
The next morning I went around the campus by myself, just exploring, going to a few classes, and taking pictures. I bought some breakfast at the local student center, one of the eight restaurants in there. The one I chose for the morning was Anna’s Taqueria, which sells awesome breakfast burritos.
Anna's Taqueria, Courtyard View
As I walked around, there was no doubt that MIT is an urban campus. While many people are rushing along, some are just enjoying the day and sun. Cambridge has more sunny days per year than Daytona, by the way. Modes of transportation on campus ranges from simple footing it, to even a guy on a unicycle; he must have had good balance. The busiest intersection is right beside the entrance building to Infinite Hall, which is just a very long hallway. Floods of students pour out of the building and usually go to the student center to get lunch or whatever else they need.
Very Busy Intersection
Along the way to the Kendall gift shop, I saw some of the outer buildings of the campus. One of the buildings was the Strata Center. The jagged edges, curves, and overall weirdness of the building’s architecture hinted at the work done in the labs there, surprising. Not just students walk those streets either, many shady business men and joggers do too.
Strata Center
Eventually, I had to get back to the dorm and rest up for my long walk back to Kendall the next morning. Zach’s fraternity served a great meal of shish-kabobs and I looked around just a bit more before the day ended. I happened upon the entrance to Kregse Auditorium, where just a week or two ago, President Obama talked about clean energy and complimented MIT on successfully growing a battery.
Kresge Auditorium
Finally, I wanted to see the Charles River, right beside MIT which I had not seen my whole day. It’s a humongous river, I heard from one student that it can take almost twenty minutes to walk across the bridge. I also saw a great view of the Boston Skyline.
Charles River and View of Boston Skyline
Overall my visit to MIT and Cambridge was excellent. I bought some souvenirs, saw most of the campus, and saw what college life consists of in a city environment. I enjoyed my stay and look forward to December, when the early action applications are accepted. Whatever happens, I will visit Boston and Cambridge again, and it will be more than a feeling.
