On Sunday I slept in and woke up just in time to get ready and catch the bus to the orange line to meet Shannon in Brookline for brunch at Zaftigs. Shannon was my "elf" my first year at MHC, leaving me and my roommate candy and posters in front of our door for a week in the fall - one of those "sounds kind of crazy but is really sweet" welcome-to-college traditions that women's colleges seem full of. I had a blast returning the favor the next year when I lived in a triple and we were paired with a triple of first years down the hall, mostly because our own elf's had set such an awesome example :) Shannon's writing her dissertation for her PhD on LGBT students at MHC and Smith while also teaching undergraduate Gender Studies and Sociology at Tufts - it sounds like being a PhD candidate is absolutely an insane balancing act! We agreed that it now makes so much sense why some of our professors were late turning back papers and projects - it was frustrating as a student, but we never acknowledged how many other things they had going on besides just grading our stack of exams. I had such a great time talking with her while we enjoyed some delicious food (including, of course, one of their famous potato pancakes), and I can't wait to see how her latest chapter turns out.
After brunch, I caught the metro over to the Museum of Science! Mom and I visited about 8 years ago when we were visiting colleges that I was considering applying to, and I enjoyed the museum so much that I made it a top priority to visit when I came back the next time. I completely expected to come to Boston all the time, attending school just 2 hours away, and then somehow I spent 4 years never leaving the Valley except with the crew team (and after races we got on the bus and went home). Last time there was a small human biology exhibit, but now they've completely redone it. The Hall of Human Life is an interactive area full of media displays and hands on tools - you get a wristband with a barcode on it, then scan it at the various stations to test your balance, learn about how ears grow (and where yours falls on the average curve), see your pupil reactions to various animals (they get bigger if you like something or smaller if you have a fear response), see the pressure points in your feet as you walk, and compare your social network size to that of other visitors. The area just opened so it was pretty crowded, but I hardly ever waited more than 30 seconds for a station. They have a corner where researchers can apply to come and collect data from museum patrons - when I was there they were doing a study on balance and it was pretty fun to get to be a data point and see how the structure I learned in college for setting up experiments could be applied to a "real world" situation.
After spending about 2 hours just in that one area of the museum, I wandered out to the rest of the exhibits. I saw the lightning demonstration in the Theater of Electricity, and spent a good deal of time staring at the giant kinetic sculpture (for lack of a better thing to call it) in the entry. The museum looks out over the Charles River, but I think it must be too late in the year for rowing because I didn't see any this time. There's a fun Math section with all of these antique models demonstrating various mathematical principles, and a new area that they're developing on the science of Pixar and animation! I left when it was closing at 5pm, but I feel like I could have stayed at least another few hours - there was so much I didn't see.
When I got home the house smelled like chocolate cookies! Kathryn couldn't decide which kind to make so she made the white chocolate cranberry oatmeal and the double chocolate with white chocolate chips - yum! We chatted and started a pot of chili, then she went to pick up David from the airport while I tried to avoid eating all of the cookies before dinner. When they got back we went on a nostalgic 90's TV romp, finding YouTube videos of shows like Supermarket Sweep, Shop 'Til You Drop, Guts, and Carmen Sandiego - I didn't actually remember seeing most of them when they originally aired, but they were so funny, especially the 90's big hair and shoulder pads ;)
Outside of the orange line stop, I think at Roxbury Crossing?
With Shannon!
T-Rex arms ;)
The kinetic sculpture/perpetual motion/ball-rolling awesome fascinating thing
Go visit, I promise it's worth it
I walked into an exhibit room and was greeted by this
Cold day on the Charles
A bee-hive in the Hall of Human Life
Where I was having so much fun I pretty much entirely failed to take photos! I'm sorry, it's really awesome
Gnome friends!
Demonstrating why a car is safe in a lighting storm
There's an exhibit of historic exhibits ;)
In the Math exhibit - I love double helices, don't you? There's just something so pretty about it
I knew if you cut a moebius band in half you got a longer one, but did you know that if you cut it into 3/4 and 1/4 you get a moebius band linked to a loop? Neither did I - now I want to try it!
Giant moebius band with a directional arrow on a track
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