Katie's Graduation Party
It began on Saturday when I drove down to East Hampton for Katie's graduation party. I have been friends with Katie for over 8 years and have known her pretty much forever (we played Park and Rec basketball together in 5th grade! there are some really priceless pictures of us from that team), so she is one of the few people for whom I would drive 4 hours in one day for a graduation party. I had a great time so it was well worth it- I got to spend time with Katie as well as a few other really good friends, Alicia, Lily, and Tyler. Other than us, a lot of Katie's family and neighbors were there. It was such a beautiful day out and a chill backyard party, so we all had a chance to catch up with each other. I've more or less officially and permanently moved to Boston, and Katie and Tyler moved to their own apartment in New York two days after the party, so since we're all spreading out, it's rare to get time to hang out together like at the graduation party.
Tennis and Hampton Beach
The next day I continued to take full advantage of the summer by playing tennis for an hour in the morning with Camilo and going to the beach with my friend from undergrad Sarah and her sister in the afternoon. Camilo and I have been dating for over 9 months and friends for over 2 years, and this was the first time we managed to find a nice day without plans when we could both wake up early enough to get to the courts! I drove an hour up to Hampton Beach earlier to meet Sarah and her sister. It was both my first time going to Hampton Beach and the first time I had seen Sarah since she returned from studying abroad in China.Though I had followed her blog during the past semester, hearing her stories were still unreal. She had practically no internet connection and basically couldn't leave the country on her visas if she wanted to get back in. The beach was packed because it was so hot out. We would lie on the beach for about an hour and get really warm, then jump in the 55 degree water and run back out. Actually, Sarah and her sister would jump in, I went in up to my ankles and ran out because it was numbing-cold.
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| Reunited on Hampton Beach |
July 3rd (pre-July 4th festivities)
Our office unexpectedly got out at 3pm the day before Fourth of July, which afforded Camilo and I an opportunity to go explore the ships in town before the Pops concert at night. In honor of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, about 10 foreign naval ships sailed in to Boston Harbor for the week. On Tuesday, we went to see the Norwegian and Danish frigates, and were able to take a free tour of the Norwegian one (the Thor Heyerdahl). The sailor who gave us the tour was about our age, maybe younger, but he was explaining how he was in charge of one of the biggest sets of guns on the ship. We got to walk around the bridge (the control room) and see a lot of the different guns on the ship. We even held and looked through the sailor's on-deck gun. I think Camilo may have enjoyed the tour a bit more because it focused on the fighting and war games the ship plays with others, but I have to admit it was cool to tour an active navy ship.
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| In front of the Norwegian ship (Danish ship next to it) |
At night we met up with Brigid and went to watch the Boston Pops perform on the Esplanade. It was packed by the Hatchshell where they were performing, so we crossed over the bay to get closer to the orchestra. This was the first year I'd been in Boston for the Fourth of July, so it's the first time I've seen the Pops concert. I thought it was fantastic: first of all, it was a full-length concert for free. Not only did the Pops perform, but they were joined at various times by the Dropkick Murphys, actresses from Mama Mia, and Jennifer Hudson. We knew there would be no fireworks that night, so when the Pops played the War of 1812 after an hour and a half and left the stage, we began to pack up, thinking the concert was over. After walking away for about 5 minutes, we heard the loudspeakers near us saying that Jennifer Hudson would be on stage again soon and then "the best fireworks display in the nation!" So we went back and sat down to watch the last half hour, but unfortunately there still weren't any fireworks. The concert was still incredible, from the instrumental John Williams' selections to the Patriotic choir to the summertime sing-a-long. I really love Pops concerts.
Fourth of July!!
I did not get to really sleep in on my one day off during the week. Instead, I got up slightly later than usual to meet Camilo, Brigid, and Nicki for a holiday brunch/lunch down by the water. We ate at Joe's on the water so we could watch the USS Constitution and USCGC Eagle do their turn around in the harbor, watch the Blue Angels do their flyover, and watch the US Navy parachute men unexpectedly perform their jump.
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| USCGC Sailing through Boston Harbor |
After lunch, Camilo and I went to the other site of the tall ships to tour naval ships from Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Colombia. He was of course most excited about the Colombian ship, the ARC Gloria, which is the flagship of the Colombian Navy, so we went on that first.
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| Standing with the Colombian ship in the background |
It was really impressive, new, and one of the largest ones there. Toward the aft of the ship, they set up a table where they were selling stuff the brought from Colombia. There were a ton of t-shirts, bags, jewelry, and some rum. I was particularly confused by these sombrero earrings in the color of the Colombian flag, but Camilo swears they are very popular at home and people wear them around a lot.
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| An example of the curious Colombian earrings |
After viewing the foreign ships, we increased our patriotism by watching a Cape Verde concert in Government Center while waiting for my parents. It was their 25th Anniversary and so they also came to Boston for the first time on the Fourth of July to watch the concert and take a mini-vacation to celebrate. They went off on their own for dinner and drinks as Camilo and I went to find Brigid and Nicki again to picnic and watch the fireworks for real. We showed up 2 hours early with our blankets, drinks, and snacks, and spent time making fun of the crazy people around us, including a local Hispanic family where the mother spit and entire mouthful of water out on either her husband or brother, and a group of high schoolers who we couldn't quite tell which was dating which. We also watched a lightning storm rapidly approaching the fireworks area from Cambridge. Luckily the lightning never got to us or the river, but the concert was interrupted for a half hour, and the fireworks almost delayed as the Esplanade near the concert was evacuated. Finally, just as the rainstorm began, so did the fireworks. They were impressive, but the craziest and most impressive thing that night was that Boston got thousands of residents and tourists to stand in a downpour to watch a few explosions in the sky.
CeCe's Goodbye Party
Last fall I realized I knew one of Camilo's co-workers from BC: CeCe had dated a guy I knew from band for a number of years. She stopped being Camilo's co-worker on Friday, so I joined Camilo and some others from LEK to celebrate her last day of work. We expected the celebration to be a few drinks and maybe dinner at their favorite happy hour bar, the Tap, and the night began as such. We were about 10 people, including 2 swaps from the Sydney office and one from the London office. Because there were other Aussies around, I invited Brigid to join us as we moved to the Cactus Club for margaritas and apps. After staying there for about an hour, we proceeded to go downtown to the Estate nightclub. I was rather excited, as Camilo and I have not had a proper night out in a while. There was no line and no cover, so we all walked right in. Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of people either, but we were a large enough group that it was alright. Although I enjoy spending time with my law school friends, it was interesting and a lot of fun to go out with some non-law students. We all had an amazing time, and CeCe really appreciated everyone who went out to celebrate with her.
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| Myself, Brigid, Laila (Camilo's co-worker), Ben (Aussie swap), and CeCe |
Cape Cod Beach
Somehow Camilo convinced me to spend a day on the Cape, but since we were invited by some of his friends from work I couldn't really protest. My previous experience on the Cape was driving from home for 3 hours, only stopping for dinner, and driving home because we couldn't find anything exciting to do. My impression was that it's a northern version of retirement country Florida where people went if they couldn't afford a real vacation like to the Caribbean or Europe. However, after today, I admit it's not quite that bad. We sat on Marconi beach for about 4 hours, went in the water, did some body surfing, tried to play whiffle ball, and walked around the sand. Afterwards, we stopped at a local fish shack for clam chowder, lobster bisque, lobster rolls, and fish sandwiches. I rested for most of the way home, but one part of the ride I remember is when Eric Clapton's "Layla" came on the radio, and instantly I thought of the two O'Connor beach trips I took with my Honors class at BC. I still think I would prefer going to Watch Hill in Rhode Island if I'm going to drive over 2 hours for the beach, but the Cape might be nice for a weekend trip sometime so we can stay late, have a bonfire on the beach by night, and wake up to the sand and waves in the morning.
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