Go Red Sox

I am not a baseball fan.

In my entire life, I've never played in any sort of baseball league (little league included). I've never been interested in the world series. I didn't have a team to follow. And I certainly never had a desire to learn about any specific player. In fact, now that I think about it, I've never watched an entire game of baseball in my life (little league, professional, community teams, or any other baseball game).

This all changed since I've been in Boston.

I watched the Red Sox play a week and a half ago and I now consider myself a Red Sox fan.

Boston vs. Seattle 

Emily and I

FENWAY

Panoramic!

Though I still don't consider myself an avid fan, I now have a team to root for. 

Go Red Sox

Goodbye Alaska. Hello Boston.

The past few weeks have flown by!

I wrapped up the Upward Bound Program in Fairbanks, Alaska. Those six weeks in Alaska were amazing. I met some great friends while I was up there and learned so much from my experience working with Native Alaskan youth.

Looking back and thinking about memories of Alaska
Note: I took this picture, thus I am not in this picture.

I left Alaska last Sunday.

After three plane rides, two layovers, almost 4500 miles, and 16 hours, I arrived in Boston.

So far, I've been here a week and it has been amazing.

Here are a few things I've done since I've gotten here (don't worry, pictures are coming soon, I just haven't uploaded them yet):

• Family Home Evening at Harvard (the chapel is located there)
• Hanging out with Rhiannon Johnson (a good friend from home who happens to be interning at Mass General too! It's great that I actually know someone here. Rhiannon has been a part of many of these activities) 
• Eating veal at an excellent Italian restaurant on the North End
• Eating a famous Mike's Pastry cannoli
• Going to a Red Sox game versus the Seattle Mariners (Boston won 3-1) 
• Sailing on the Charles River (Thank you again Greg! It was a blast!) This was my first time sailing and I think I was probably more of a hinderance than a help. Fortunately, I didn't go overboard.
• Walking around the Harvard and MIT campuses.
• Learning the Massachusetts Public Transportation system
• Getting lost in the industrial district while trying to find a delicious hotdog stand (then we found it and it was closed. Curse you Speed Dogs!) 

And perhaps my personal favorite: 

Riding on the back of Ben's scooter on the first day of work!

Yes, we got some hilarious looks from the other motorists. 

Yes, it was worth it. 

More pictures are coming soon...

Happy Birthday America

Here's to you, Freedom.

This 4th of July was a pretty epic experience for me. No, I didn't see any parades. No, I didn't see any fireworks (I'm in Fairbanks Alaska, they don't set off fireworks on the 4th of July because it never gets dark). I did however exercise one of my God-given rights: the right to white-water raft the tallest mountain in North America.

That's right.

I got to white-water raft the Nenana River in Denali National Park, home of the tallest mountain in North America - Mt. McKinnley.

It was amazing. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of what took place during the ride. But it was fantastic. It was one of those moments I've had this summer where I said to myself, "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this."

Today (my day off) my co-worker, Victoria, and I decided to rent kayaks and float down the Chena River that runs through Fairbanks. Though definitely not as awesome as rafting Denali, it was still fun and relaxing.

 My view.

I should probably go buy a kayak. And my own river.