I love weekends.
Oh wait, except this one.
Don't get me wrong, not all of it has been bad. Trust me. I like to make all situations into positive ones. This one has one great story though. You ready kiddies to hear a tale of tales? I call it.
To Boston; From Hell.
Oh. Get excited.
So for Memorial Day weekend, a girl that graduated a year before me (cute Sarah Bennion. We had Art History together. Really fun girl.) and I were planning on going to D.C. She emailed me that she didn't feel good about it though, so she was thinking of us going to Boston instead. Since I have already been to D.C. before, I was really excited to go to a new place that is home to baked beans, clam chowder, and parking cars in Harvard yard. So I rode the train up from Harrison, New York, to Hartford, Connecticut. It was about a two and a half hour train ride, but it was on a real train. It was pretty fun. I accidently stole the seat of a deaf man, and I felt pretty ridiculous. It is one thing when you steal from a healthy person, but when you steal from a disabled person that had a sign directly above the seat, yeah, you feel a bit sheepish after that.
When I arrived in Hartford, Sarah picked me up from the train station and showed me a bit around. We then went to Cosi to feed my starving belly, then got some Ben and Jerry's and walked up and down the street with all these fun little stores. It was really fun to talk to her. I saw her in February and we have been planning on visiting each other, but distance and time were in the way. It was great to talk about life and our little adventures we have had out here. We got home, she showed me the freaky basement (A Haunting in Connecticut has truly messed me up) then went up to see what there is to do in Boston. We both know it is a cool city, but we really didn't know what to do there. So we looked up stuff, decided on a few things to do, then went to bed.
Later that evening...
Poor little Madeline, one of the twins she nannys for, had a horrible ear infection during the night. She was howling and wailing in pain. I surprising wasn't phased by this and slept quite well. Poor Sarah, though, did not have the best sleep. She came in the room I was sleeping in and told me that she did not feel up to the trip to Boston. I told her that was totally fine, because it was. You never know what life is going to throw at you, so I was completely understanding. So she told me that a guy in her ward said that he would be fine taking me up to Boston. He is from the area (Hartford, not Boston) and was nice. I was thinking, "What the hell, I have nothing to lose," so I took up the offer. She drove me to his house, we talked to him for a couple of minutes, then we were on our way. He's twenty-three and likes music. I thought that would bridge some of the uneasiness.
Oh.
I was wrong.
I was polite and tried to make some conversation so the two hour trip to town wouldn't be that weird. He had other plans. Whenever I tried to start a conversation, he would quickly answer in the shortest amount of syllables, then silent up. I was figured a few things out then.
-He really didn't volunteer to take me.
-He didn't want to take me.
-He was not planning on having a good time.
Oh goody.
We finally got to Boston after a two-hour drive. He then asked me what I wanted to do. I didn't know; I don't know what is in Boston. He was not very helpful giving ideas. So all I could remember was the U.S.S. Constitution is harbored there and that it was fleet week. I said why don't we go down there. So he reluctently took me down there. It was a good half an hour--forty-five minute walk, and I tried some conversation again, only to be shut down. Wow. Fun time, let me tell you. I wanted to tell him so many times that we should just go back home, but then again, it was a freaking long drive there nad he went out of "his" way to drive me there. So I was just trying to make it a good experience. While walking to the boats, he asked me what I would do if the ship wasn't in. I told him that I would have honestly been fine and that weird things like that happen to me all the time, so it would just be another great story for me to tell. He was not impressed by that answer.
The boat. We found it. It wasn't gone. That is always a plus. Before the boat, there is a street called Chelsea ST. I was freaking out saying how that is my name and that that is just the most amazing thing. He didn't care at all, and seemed put off that I wanted to take a picture of it. So I didn't want to ask to get my picture taken under it. It would have been "too much" to ask of him. We got to the Constitution and come to find out, it is a wooden ship. It fought during the war of 1812 and the oak that made the sides was so strong, that whenever the Brits shot at it with their cannons, the balls would bounce right off. Pretty cool ship, if you ask me. Unfortunately there was a line, and pretty mediocre at that. He seemed put off by that, so I was like, hey, looking at the outside is fine with me. Fun right? Not really. We then saw the outside of a WW2 battleship. Ships amaze me. How they stay afloat and not rot out is incredible. They are huge and so heavy! There was this hilarious kid that was pretending to shoot one of the big missles at a ferry and I was just laughing hysterically. He, however, did not find it funny.
After looking at the boats, he was like, well it's one-thirty. Do you want to go eat? I was starving but I didn't want to make a big deal. So I said only if you are. We walked back into town and went by all these little restaurants. He then stopped, looked at me, and said "Well here you go. I'm not hungry so you pick something from here." I was overwhelmed! I honestly wanted some clam chowder, but I didn't want to feel like an idiot. so I just said that I wanted a diet coke. He seemed put off, then walked away. I was thinking to myself, what did I do to put you off so badly? We then proceeded to go to a bakery called Mike's Pastrys. Pretty amazing stuff. I bought some famous cannolis that had me stopped three times by people offering to steal them from me, so I thought that was pretty cool. We then walked through a farmer's market, then into some town square. I told him I wanted to buy a postcard for my cousin. Of course, he seemed turned off by that, so I felt rushed. After that, though, he made me watch some lame street performance. I was like, oh really now? So we stayed in the square for at least a half an hour, then started walking back to the station. I told him that I wanted to ride a train from Boston to home, but we sadly couldn't find the train station there. So I had to get in the car with him again. Of course, there was no talking, and I almost fell asleep at least twenty times. I felt like a fool.
In Hartford, I told him that he could just drop me off at the bus station so I could go home. I was exhausted, embarrassed, and felt like a total idiot. He dropped me off at the farthest end of the curb, and got on his phone and started making plans with a friend. In front of me. Nice, right? So I wanted to show that I was appreciated for him "wasting" his time, so I gave him a hundred, thinking that he would turn it down at least, so I could just give him a fifty, but all he did was look at it, said a fake thanks, then turned me out.
I've never been to a bus station in my life. So here I am, with my backpack filled with a box of tampons and a toothbrush, thinking, how do I get home? He left in a hurry so I had to try to figure this out. I caught a PeterPan bus filled with all these hardcore, street, people, and I am this little utah mormon girl, by myself with a box of tampons. What fun!
I made it safely to New Haven and made it on my train with, again, only thirty seconds to spare and made it home. Needless to say, spending eight hours with a complete stranger that doesn't give a damn about you is quite exhausting. Hopefully I will make another trip to Boston and actually have some real fun. So thanks, Tim, for nothing.
