First stop: Boston!

Nothing feels better than a cold-then-hot shower after a looong day of navigating the Roman transit system.  I'm writing this post from a monastery close to the Vatican where I am staying for two nights of my journey.  The nuns don't speak any English, and I got in trouble today when I took the key out of the home instead of leaving it in the key box like I was supposed to…whoops.  I'm not going to write too much about Rome right now, since I have 2 days left here, and I want to do an all-inclusive Roman post :)

The first stop on my adventure was Boston.  The flight wasn't too bad, even with a layover in Charlotte.  When I got to Boston, though, my backpack (which I had checked at the gate) never came on the carousel.  See, this is a problem, especially since I'm backpacking through Europe.  When I inquired at baggage services, they said my backpack made it to Charlotte, but not to Boston!  I filed a delayed baggage report, and they said it would come to my bed and breakfast that night.  I rented a car and drove to my bed and breakfast in Lexington, MA (which I found through www.airbnb.com).

It was pouring rain, which I found very difficult to drive in, being a desert-dweller my entire life.  When I arrived, my host, Evita, was so sweet and gave me a towel and helped me with my bags.  Her husband, Eugene, offered me dinner, which I was incredibly grateful for, as I had eaten nothing but granola bars and ginger ale the entire day.  The house was amazing! They had a piano (albeit extremely out-of-tune) and really cool guests.  Evita and Eugene are from the Philippines, which is awesome, because my mom and her husband are serving an LDS mission in the Philippines.  There 2 couples about my age staying there from Quebec.  We got to talking and they invited me out on the patio with them.  When I saw Maxim carrying a ukulele, I grabbed mine, and we had a great jam session.  It was perfect, exactly how I imagined spending my nights.

From left to right:  Maxim, Helene, (?), Clemence

 The next morning, I found that my backpack still had not arrived.  After making a call to US Airways, they told me it was en route to Boston.  I asked them to hold it at the airport, as I was departing to Rome that night.  I thought I'd check out downtown Boston, maybe take the Freedom Trail tour.  When I arrived, I quickly realized that I was not going to find parking anywhere near the Freedom Trail, and even then, it was cost more than $15.  It stressed me out to think about paying that much for parking, so  I decided to check out the Harvard campus and called my buddy who just moved to Boston, Trevor.  Tevo and I met up at Harvard and grabbed lunch.  It was a lot of fun to see him again!

I know, the camera on my phone sucks…the camera on my iPod is not much better.  I finally caved today and bought an actual camera…eek.  After lunch, I headed to the airport to hop on a flight to Rome!  I still can't believe I actually got on the plane.  I was so freaked.

P.S. I highly recommend the BnB I stayed at in Boston...https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/605955