New York is a State

During my last few 'rousing' weeks sitting at home collecting dust, I did manage to rattle off a job application (for a position at the Museum of Science in Boston), go to a few more Bikram Yoga classes, meet with Meghan for archery, visit with Monica Gray before her departure to Minnesota, and order a shiny new lap top (sorry, Acer). I can't wait for my new PC to arrive--though today I discovered there actually is a 'wireless button' on Acer, so now I can once again connect to WiFi and get lots of things taken care of without having to go to the public library!

Meghan at the range

Last Saturday I finally caught a flight up north, to Boston. I planned it just right so that I would arrive in time for a little girl's birthday party, the daughter of Seth's cousin. However, my flight path from Raleigh followed directly behind a storm and my flights were delayed and/or canceled. I arrived over 8 hours late, missed all the fun, and wasted a day.

In Boston I finally met with Seth and we stayed with his sister, Chrissy, and her family in Brighton. We spent the next three days looking at apartments, share houses, etc. in Waltham and Watertown, and by the end we decided to expand our search to the more bustling Cambridge. The most promising place we found was of course a bit expensive, especially with oil heating, so I think we will just have to continue our search later. We spent so much time looking at places that I never had a chance to explore Boston--besides meeting with Seth's brother-in-law, Jens, for lunch at the Prudential Center. One of our excursions, however, was meeting a friend of Seth's from UNC (Paul) who just so happened to live around the corner from Chrissy. It's a small and very weird world.

Near Prudential Center (Newbury St.). Gnomes.

Dropping a few things off at Seth's new office at Brandeis

Yesterday Seth and I took the train from Boston to Syracuse, with a 2 1/2 hour layover in Albany. The train was actually really nice, like a super deluxe bus, and I got to watch the stunning scenery of Massachusetts and upstate New York pass by through the windows. *Note: For those readers who are not familiar with American geography, New York is a large state which contains New York City. New York State is predominately rural and sparsely populated. Seth lives about 7 hours outside the city.* We were greeted by his parents at the station--it was really nice to see them, particularly since I have not seen them in about 3 years.

Riding the Amtrak through New York

We will be at Seth's parents' house for an undetermined number of days before driving back to Boston and North Carolina. It is so lovely and peaceful here--when I was in Australia and I thought of how nice it would be to return to the US, I would usually be picturing these farming communities in New York and certainly not the rich suburbs of the hot and humid south.