Brandon in Brandeis... and Boston

I wake up and look at the clock, it's 5 AM. Wait, we get to wake up later today, I thought, remembering that our train was scheduled later in the day, albeit still early.  The cohort met at 8:50 AM and promptly went to the hotel's Starbucks for breakfast.  I had a simple chocolate croissant to start my day.  Afterward, we started yet another walk to the train station in Providence.

Rather than the Amtrak today, our cohort decided to take the MBTA out to Boston today. The train isn't as oriented for long periods of travel like the Amtrak trains, but was comfortable nonetheless. After resting for a moment at South Station, we moved down to the subway where we would take the Red Line to Porter Square then to transfer to the Commuter Train to finally get to Brandeis.  We did, however, take a small detour for lunch at Porter Square at a small pizza restaurant called Stone Hearth Pizza where we ordered a nice cheese pizza and chicken pesto pizza.  The pizzas were thin crusted with cheese that melted right in your mouth, I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to eat and there's a Stone Hearth Pizza nearby.

After our pizza we made our way to Brandeis University. My first impressions weren't too great as the first building, the Women's Studies building, we saw was quite bland. As we made our way up the hill, however, the rest of the campus began to unveil.  The buildings got more and more beautiful and interesting as we went on.  Eventually, we reached the admissions office where we met with Officer of Admissions Marina Offner. She gave us a private information session, giving us history of Brandeis as well as information on the admissions process.  Ms. Offner was extremely detailed with her explanations, answering many of my questions before I could even ask, which was great.  After the session, we joined the tour scheduled for 3 PM.

Usen Castle from behind

Our tour guides were Katie and Dennis, a pre-health major and theater and English double major respectively.  Both were extremely charismatic and made the tour flow extremely well, covering everything from their newly built library floor to their famous castle, the Usen castle.  Afterward, we went back to catch the train back to Boston where we had reservations for a dinner at Menton, a French-Italian restaurant.

We were originally planned to have the dinner with Brandeis admissions officers, but they were unfortunately unable to make the dinner, leaving the cohort to another meal with each other.  The service at the restaurant was amazing, and I really mean it.  We felt extremely underdressed, but no one seemed to mind. Immediately after greeting us, the restaurant offered to hold our bags for us, a service that seemingly no restaurant offers.  After being seated, we were waited by an extremely nice gentleman by the name Merrick. We were offered two styles of dinner, the prix fixe and the chef's tasting.  We took the four course meal prix fixe.  I ordered the Hiramasa, a sashimi-like appetizer.  I then ordered a Wild Striped Bass and Quail for my entree.  Finally for my dessert I had a Brioche Sticky Bun.  The meals were exquisite and delicious, and the Quail even included escargot. Tonight actually marks the first time I had escargot, although I did have an opportunity about four years ago.  My friend who tried it during that time described it as "AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE" (shout out to Johnnie Tan) but never said if it tasted good or bad.  After trying it today, I can tell what he meant.  The first impression of the snail was normal and wasn't too special, but soon the aftertaste came and I was stunned.  I wasn't stunned in a bad way but I can't say that I would eat an escargot twice in the same day. Soon, dinner ended and we took a four minute scenic walk back to South Station by recommendation from Merrick.

#teambrown1

Boston at night is truly something to marvel.  Although I have never really seen San Francisco at night, I'm sure that Boston can be comparable or even better.  We crossed the Summer Street Bridge over the Taunton River with the Boston lights shining over the water, creating quite the romantic scene.  Finally, we took the MBTA home, but unfortunately the train had to slow down due to poor visibility, causing us to come home at around midnight.  However, it was worth coming home late because just as we were about to enter the hotel again, we all heard bangs which we assumed were gunshots for a second, but looking up we realized they were fireworks. As Ms. Scott put it, "Only in Providence."  

Now the four guys of our cohort are sitting in Jack and Kevin's hotel room, finishing up our blogs.  I'll be closing off this blog and hopefully heading to bed soon.  As for my health following up on yesterday, I'm not as fatigued and my stomach is digesting well, but I've been better.  I'm looking forward to moving into the dorms on Sunday, and hopefully if I get a double I have a nice roommate.  'Til next time!