In character

​When we arrived at Harvard, we had not intended to go on a tour, but found the Harvard walking tour outside the metro station. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and made the tour very entertaining. The campus was very open, and even though had a historical feel, was still very welcoming. I found the campus environment very comfortable, especially with all the open space.
The Boston team then took us on a self-guided tour of the Black Heritage Trail. It led us to the Beacon Hill area. The one thing that I noticed was the short doors of many of the buildings. I was able to fit exactly into the frame of some of the doors. Beacon Hill was noticeably a well-off neighborhood. It is hard to imagine that it was once the home of the African American community and was converted to the home of the wealthy. We ended our tour at the Museum of African American History/ African American Meeting Hall. The park ranger gave us a brief introduction of the meeting hall and filled us in on other information that we did not see on the self-guided tour map.
For lunch, we went back to Chinatown to have pho. Afterwards, we headed to Boston Commons to go on the Freedom Trail tour. The highlight of the tour was that the tour guide was playing a character the entire time. It was very entertaining seeing the youth so excited about the tour, where they would run and catch up to the tour guide to hear everything she was saying. The way the tour was presented was very story like and conversational. Although I learned many of the historical information in class, it was a great refresher that was more memorable. Afterwards, we went to the Quincy Market to explore and eat dinner. I tried the hot buttered lobster roll from the Boston Chowda Company. We also made our way to Mike’s Pastry in Little Italy to try their famous cannoli. The bakery was very crowded and had a very long line. There was no distinct lines, so we had to be very assertive going in. After we got our cannoli, we stopped by a nearby park area to eat. I’m not a big fan of sweets, so for me, it was a bit too much. I think it was good to share with someone else, but not for me to eat the entire piece by myself.
-Diana Lin