Boston, Massachusetts 1

For most people when you lose your "khakis" you've lost your pants. When you're from Boston and lose your "khakis" you can't start your car.

Heidi's grand old house in Concord.

Holy shit I was looking forward to Boston, I loved the accent and was grateful to spend some extended time in one place. First I had to leave New Hampshire, so after saying goodbye to Heidi, I jumped on my bike and headed into downtown Concord. I was hoping to see some covered bridges, this is apparently what New Hampshire is famous for. That and the most crazy licence plate slogan yet: "Live Free or Die".

However the the closest "good" covered bridges were a bit of a distance away and in the wrong direction. So I just bought a few souvenirs and ate breakfast at chain very similar to IHOP (pancake place for those playing back in Australia). There was a stunning capital building in Concord too, but motivation was waning that day.

From left to right, top to bottom:
Christina, Jessica, Anjali, Natalya, myself and Blair.
Taken from the steps of their house.

In all honesty I was feeling a little under the weather; it seemed as though I had somehow caught a cold. Who thought that eating bad food, getting little sleep, drinking heavily and riding around in the cold could make a person ill?

My phone had run out of credit so I had to ring up T-Mobile to recharge it. After 15 minutes of being on hold, the operator picked up and told me the system was down and I'd have to call back later. Luckily through a open WiFi connection I was able to send Christina (my Boston couch surfing host) a brief message through the magic of Apple iMessage. Lucky for me she had an iPhone too. I said I'd be leaving Concord soon and would be in Boston in 2 hours or so.

It was raining that day and I was already cold from my sickness, so I put as many clothes on as I could and lethargically set off for Boston. Luckily I already had the address of the house so I was able to just follow my GPS's directions.

The street which the girl's lived.

When I arrived at the house I met Anjali, and not long after the rest of the girls started to slowly arrive one-by-one. Blair then Natalya then Jessica and finally Christina came home. We all chatted about my trip, what each of them were studying and their plans for the future. It was a little weird for a person like myself to be the centre of attention from so many people, but they all seemed really excited to meet me. I guess there might have been some nervousness there too, I was their first couch surfer, a very large motorcyclist from a country on the other side of the world!

The girls all studied at Tufts University which is a very well respected educational institution located Medford - a town just outside Boston. All were final-year undergraduate students (called "seniors" in America? Have I got that right?), except for Jessica who I think was a post-grad. I loved the diverse mix of the group in terms of race (Caucasian, Indian and Asian), background and personality. Each person was interesting in their own right. The girls had known each other for a long time - it was like living in some sort of college sitcom! Plus the house itself was really awesome, it was very old with an interesting layout, situated on the most classically American suburban street. The only thing I can liken the inside to was a cubbyhouse, but bigger. It was awesome.

Everybody loves Halloween!

I stayed up in the loft, which I guess was essentially a converted attic. Pretty comfortable since I got my own bed, but standing at 6'4 I had to be careful near the edges of the room not to hit my head!

That night most of the girls and I headed down to a local pub. Unfortunately I was still feeling a bit under the weather from my cold and they were all studying for midterms, so we couldn't have too much of a big one.

All the girls had pumpkin beers where the bartender would line the edge of the glass with sugar and cinnamon mix margarita-style. These girls loved pumpkin, and as it was approaching Halloween there was plenty of pumpkin goods to be had.

Taken near Tuft's University.

This obsession with annual flavours - especially pumpkin around Halloween - was a pretty foreign concept to me. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like it in Australia. Around this time in America you can get pumpkin beer, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies (which were later baked by Christina), pumpkin hot chocolate and almost every food retailer or restaurant will have some food containing pumpkin. Even the big chains like Starbucks will join in.

Pumpkin is also especially interesting as an Australian as it is mostly served in a sweet manner (like pumpkin pie), which I guess makes sense as it is a sweet vegetable. It was met with much surprise when I told Americans that we only tend to have pumpkin savoury style in Australia - like baked pumpkin in a roast, in a risotto or in a salad.

Christina and I get lunch.

I found the obsession with pumpkin quite endearing to the American people. A feeling that I'm sure many would take offence to - coming from a foreigner who lives in such a small country. The all powerful and mighty US being endearing!?

But I loved how everyone got so excited about holidays and themed food in the States. Every year it seems that some Australians try and get us involved in Halloween, which is either met by stereotypical Aussie apathy or annoyance due to the way an American holiday is forced on us by the retailers.

Not to say that I think Halloween really belongs in Australia - I won't be celebrating it back home - but it sure is fun in the country where it originated. It feels more genuine rather than just retailers trying to make a quick buck before Christmas. Americans have been encouraged to embrace and celebrate it since they were very young, and it is consequently a bit more "grass-roots" than just ploy to sell shit - even thought that's obviously still taking place.

Tree within Tufts University.

I've got to point out that pumpkin beer is not considered to be some sort of girly drink either. Plenty of guys I met in America were drinking pumpkin flavoured stouts, ales and porters. I had one up in Fargo but it wasn't really my sort of thing. So that night I just got a regular local beer - which was fantastic by the way.

Oh and it also must be said that many of the girls I'd meet in America have an outstanding taste in beer. I don't think drinking it - or maybe being a beer snob like me - is as confined to one sex as it is back home.

The next day Christina invited me out for lunch and a walk around her University. We went to a sandwich shop with an adjoining café. The coffee and food was great despite the hipstery nature of the place (I don't mind hipsters by the way, they make for great baristas!).

We then wandered around Tufts University, where I tried to get some photos of some good fall foliage. Apparently I'd come a bit too late, as the tree she was intending was looking a bit scraggly now (see above), but still the colours were amazing! I walked back to Christina's house as she had classes to attend.

Anjali, Blair and Natalya put up with me during study.

That night the girls (plus Anjali's boyfriend) all gathered around for a study session. I tried to leave them alone so they could concentrate, the last thing I wanted was to disturb their studies during midterms! So I bought a few beers and put in some couch surfing requests from the attic.

After a while I realised that there was not much studying going on so I came and joined them. It was like being in University again! Except without all the exams, stress and drama - I was glad I could relive my university years vicariously.

The next day, to the Boston Universities!