O'Brien

Name: Alyn O'Brien

Guiding Question: Would I ever want to live in Boston when I get older?

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Museum of Science Museum of Fine Arts
 * Museums:**

[|The Boston Common] [|The State House] [|Park Street Church] [|Granary Burying Ground] [|King’s Chapel] [|King’s Chapel Burying Ground] [|Benjamin Franklin Statue/Boston Latin School] [|Old Corner Book Store] [|Old South Meeting House] [|Old State House] [|Site of the Boston Massacre] [|Faneuil Hall] [|Paul Revere House] [|The Old North Church] [|Copp's Hill Burying Ground] [|Bunker Hill Monument] [|USS //Constitution//]
 * Freedom Trail:**

-6 hour drive to and from Boston -Taking the Subway (the T) -Canolis from North End -Newbury Street (Cafés and shopping) -walking through Public garden (paddle boats) -Faneuil Hall open air market
 * Experiences**:

North End (Italian) China Town
 * Restaurants:**

(Required) This plan is a “best guess” as to what you and your mentor think you will be doing. It is not meant to be a hard and fast schedule for your Exploration. The plan should illustrate how you intend to complete a minimum of 80 hours.


 * = Date ||= Location/Activity ||= Number of Hours ||
 * pre-trip || research || 5 ||
 * total || transportation within boston || 5 ||
 * = 5/28/11 ||= driving to Boston ||= 10 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 5/29/11 ||= freedom trail ||= 8-10 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 5/30/11 ||= museums/experiences ||= 8-10 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 5/31/11 ||= museums ||= 8-10 ||
 * = 6/1/11 ||= experiences ||= 8-10 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||> driving from boston ||= 6 ||
 * = 6/1/11 ||= experiences ||= 8-10 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||> driving from boston ||= 6 ||
 * =  ||= dinner ||= 2 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||> driving from boston ||= 6 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||> driving from boston ||= 6 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||> driving from boston ||= 6 ||

Journal #1  All of our traveling plans are set in stone. We've done a little bit of research into museums in Boston that we can visit. We don't leave until May 28 and our plan of action  will be followed then. We are a little concerned about Memorial Day Weekend traffic heading up to Boston but other than that we are very excited to make the trip.

SSP: Have fun! I am sure you are excited to get this trip going. If you have any questions while you are there, email me or call me.

Journal #2

We are right in the middle of trip. We arrived Saturday night and the drive up was not nearly as bad as we were expecting. We were ready for awful Memorial Day traffic but we purposefully left a little late (12 p.m.) to try to miss traffic and we arrived at about 6:30. We were very anxious for our first day in the city on Sunday. The memorial day weekend train schedule and lack of departures made if more difficult for us to get to, from and around in the city but it was manageable. We explored Boston Public Gardens and the Freedom Trail the next day and it gave us a good sense of the city and got us excited for the rest of the week. The Museum of Fine Arts had a special on May 30th on Memorial Day and had free admission all day which saved us over $40. The lines were insane but it was well worth it!! We were planning on also going to the Isablella Stewart Gardner Museum the same time but it wasn't open on Mondays so we chose to just take the trip back to the area on Tuesday.

Journal #2 (June, 3rd 2011)

Yesterday we got back from our trip to Boston. We left around 10 am and got home around 4. The trip was exactly what we were hoping for, and more. We were able to visit three amazing museums (Museum of Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Museum of Science), walk the Freedom Trail as well as visiting the Boston Public Garden, Boston Commons and the North End many times. After spending about five days in the city and relying on public transportation for everything we now feel very comfortable with using the "T" and other ways of city transportation by ourselves while going into the trip we were pretty hesitant. We ran into a few mishaps such as forgetting our train tickets at home, messing up the departure time of trains and we also managed to get a parking ticket when we parked our car near the train station during the day. But overall, we had so much fun and could have had a better and more smooth trip!