All Categories

Bye, bye Boston, see you soon!

5/21/2015

“And so it is...” as the song goes... “the final curtain...” My year in Boston has come to an end but I’ll take home the thousands of memories, jokes, laughs and adventures that I experienced here. Now after packing four bags and looking around my empty apartment before stepping out one last time onto Boylston street and overlook Comm Ave., I can only think back on this year and smile at all the wonderful memories I’ve made, all the wonderful people I’ve met and all the great friendships I take with me.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I’ve enjoyed writing and that it helped provide you with a sample of what life is like as a BU international student. Now as I write this final entry I take a moment to think of what I’ll do next, going back to Mexico and graduating in December (finally) tops the list, however as graduation nears (at an alarmingly fast rate) I must start to think of what will the next step be and where will that path lead me? I still have a few options and a lot of decisions to make (law school, Poli-sci master or PR...) but one thing I am sure of, this year at BU will help me in more ways than one. This year at BU will not only look great on my resume as an international experience and I not only learned from the American Criminal System, doing Business in the US or of how to lead through service; this year at BU taught me so much more. If you decide to come to BU and spend some time here you’ll understand what I mean when I say the following: Boston really helps you learn about yourself. I’m not sure what it is but there’s something magical about this place, something I will take with me forever and something I hope to at least visit some time soon.

And now, for one last time , good bye dear reader, thank you for sharing this with me and I hope you enjoy Boston as much as I did!

Paco

1 Comment

How lucky are you: The 2016 Presidential race

5/4/2015

0 Comments

If you’re interested in politics, particularly those of the U.S., you must know that the last couple of weeks have been exciting and interesting with three Republicans announcing their intentions to run for President: Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky, and Senator Ted Cruz from Texas. Joining them, just this week, is former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who also announced her candidacy, becoming the first Democrat to do so officially. The next couple of months will be even more exciting and I would give anything to be back in Boston during the next stages. If you are interested in politics, believe me this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss.

For now, the main events in this young race will continue to be candidates officially announcing they are running. Those expected to announce are Republicans Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, and Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin. All are expected to run with Gov. Bush, Gov. Walker, and Sen. Paul being among the favorites to take the nomination. On the Democrats’ side, Clinton is running as the favorite to win the nomination, however she could get a run for her money from the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, or Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland. Current Vice-President Joe Biden is also expected to run, but his chances to earn the nomination remain very slim, and the same could be said for Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York.

The next stage in the race will be the primaries. These are elections (or caucuses) held in every state between members of the same party to see who will be the party’s nominee for President. The first primaries will be the caucuses in Iowa and New Hampshire, tentatively scheduled for the third and fourth weekends of January 2016. Once the primaries are done, there is a National Convention for each party. The Democratic National Convention will be held on July 25th, while the Republican National Convention will be held a week before that on July 18th. The host cities for both conventions are still being selected, but at least one of them will be held in the Northeast, and I’d strongly recommend to anyone interested that they make their way there. It is also during the conventions that candidates name their running mate for Vice President. The Vice Presidential candidate is often selected to balance a perceived weakness of the main candidate. For example, if the candidate is perceived as weak in foreign policy experience, the Vice-Presidential candidate will often be someone with experience and background in foreign policy.

The rest of the 2016 summer will be filled with campaign stops by the two candidates, and it will be interesting to see how they shift their message from the primaries to the general election. During the primaries, candidates look to gain their base support (for Republicans’ that’s Conservatives, while Democrats appeal to Liberals and unions mostly). However, in the general election they are both fighting for the independent vote, who are people that are not registered with any party and who represent a more moderate sector of the electorate. Therefore, the messages a candidate can send are often contradictory with the messages he or she sent earlier in the campaign. All in all, the next 18 months should be incredibly interesting, and you’ll be lucky enough to see it firsthand while living in such a political city as Boston.

Photos from MET International Facebook page, album "Fall 2012 MET International Election Event!"

0 Comments

Travelling in the U.S.

4/29/2015

0 Comments

One of the great things about coming to spend a year in Boston is the many opportunities you have to visit other parts of the States. New York City is just a five hour train ride away, Washington D.C. is not much farther, Chicago and the Midwest are just a short flight away, as are Miami and the Southeast, while San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego wait on the other coast line. And that’s not even taking into account the great places closer to Boston like Cape Cod, New Hampshire, or Maine, which are all fantastic spots to ski, visit the beach or simply get away for a few hours. In either semester there are places to visit: in the fall semester you have Thanksgiving Break, which is a perfect opportunity to explore, while during the spring semester, Spring Break is also an excellent opportunity to travel.

Personally, I’d recommend adapting your travels to your personal tastes and hobbies. For example, if you are an NFL fan of a team other than the Patriots, I’d recommend taking a trip to that team’s stadium, watching a game, and taking in the whole atmosphere. If, on the other hand, you prefer visiting museums and important landmarks, New York City is the place to go. Fan of history? Philadelphia is flooded with it. Fan of Country music? Georgia, Texas, and Arizona are places you could visit. The price of travelling in the U.S. is far lower than you might think at first, and even finding accommodation can be accessible through new apps like Booking or AirBnb.

Personally, I’ve been fortunate enough to take three trips during my stay here. The first was in September, when I travelled down to Miami to watch the Dolphins host (and beat) the Patriots. The flight back, packed with Patriots fans staring at my Dolphins jersey was well worth the ticket. That trip was just a two day trip, but I got the most out of it that I could: from arriving early in the stadium to greet the players coming in (getting pictures and autographs was a must), to walking around the stadium while other fans tailgated, it was all an unforgettable experience.

The second trip, which was a five day experience, was over Thanksgiving Break. That was to Las Vegas - another great and fun experience and a place that is more than just casinos and parties. It has a rich history and great stories around every corner.

The final trip was over Spring Break, when we went to New York for a few days, visiting the most important museums and landmarks before travelling down to Miami to find some much needed sun.

All of my travels have been unique and incredible and I hope yours will be too. A piece of advice I should give is that, while travelling alone is great and a fantastic opportunity to spend time with your thoughts, travelling with people you recently met and getting to know them over a trip is even more amazing and something that will strengthen your friendship and enrich your experience in Boston. I hope that when you are here you, too, can find great places to visit and can live your own adventures to share when you’re back home.

0 Comments

The things you should do when you get to Boston

4/21/2015

0 Comments

Thinking back to my first few weeks in Boston, I decided to make a small list of the things I wish someone had told me that would’ve made it easier. I’ve decided to post it here for you future Terriers:

The Charlie Card

The first thing you need to know about Boston is that its public transportation is usually good enough to get you anywhere, and one of the best ways to use it is through a Charlie Card. A Charlie Card is a plastic card you can get at the main subway (known here as the T) stations, such as Kenmore. You can add value to the card or buy monthly passes that are often a cheaper option. I know BU also has a special student pass, so if you’re interested in getting it you should talk to the BU off-campus services as soon as you can.

http://www.bu.edu/sustainability/what-were-doing/transportation/mbta-pass-program/

Move-In Day: September 1st (also known as the Apocalypse or Ragnarok in some cultures)

On September 1st, thousands of students throughout Boston undertake the arduous task of moving in to their new off-campus apartments. Trying to get a van anywhere in the city without an advanced reservation will be close to impossible. If you are planning on living in an off campus apartment and your moving day is September 1st, I suggest making advance reservations for any kind of van you need, and try to do the whole thing as early as possible, because parking will be hard to find that day anywhere in the city where students live.

Ask away, people will help!

I know a lot of us are sometimes unsure about asking for help from strangers or simply asking someone for directions, but people in Boston are amazing, and they will help you! So if you’re unsure of where you are, or how to get back home, or what T-line to take, ask away! It’s the best, cheapest, and safest way to find your way.

Don’t stress! It’s not that hard!

At the beginning of the semester your classes will probably seem overwhelming and tough, and yes they will be demanding, but not nearly as hard as you first imagine. First of all, most of the assigned readings won’t be too long and will often be very, very interesting, so it won’t be hard to get them done. The work is usually evenly distributed throughout the semester, with a few highlights when midterms occur. In general, classes here are very manageable and stress is often more of an obstacle to a good grade than the material itself.

0 Comments

What to expect when you're abroad

4/13/2015

0 Comments

Being abroad in Boston is awesome, fun, interesting, and never boring. You make new friends, experience new things, explore the city, go to classes, work on team projects, check out the local night-life scene (if you’re over 21, obviously), play sports, and so on. However, in the midst of all these activities, every once in a while everyone misses home, their families, their life-long friends, and even their routine. Every once in a while everyone feels a little homesick.

Being homesick is totally normal and everyone goes through it in their own way. There comes a point in the semester when, despite all the fun you’re having, part of you just wants to be home. The important thing when feeling homesick is not to let it grow. At BU there is always something to do and people to do it with: whether it be going to a basketball or hockey game, heading down to the FitRec for a pick-up game or working out, going to the library to work on some of your studies, or simply hanging around with the other international students in the city is always a great way to get your mind off of your homesickness.

Another great way to prevent homesickness from kicking in is to stay in touch with your friends and family throughout the semester. With Skype, Facetime, Whatsapp, and the thousand other messaging applications it is quite easy, and fortunately BU’s WiFi broadband is large enough to handle all the long distance friendships going around. Another tip I’d give is to make sure you have a local phone people can call you on. This is not only cheaper, but incredibly convenient to help find something to do around Boston or figuring out where everyone is. BU’s George Sherman Union is right across the street from a well known electronics store which I’d suggest you visit as soon as you’re here, since it has several pre-paid plans from the main U.S. mobile carriers that will help you stay in touch with home.

Boston is a fantastic experience, which only gets better when you share it with your friends and family back home!

0 Comments

Sports at BU: Intramurals

3/30/2015

1 Comment

One of my favorite aspects of BU is the amount of sporting activities you can find on campus; whether it be going to the gym, playing a pick-up basketball game, joining a club team, taking sporting classes, swimming, or simply jogging around, there are activities for everyone. The particular one I’d like to address in this post is the Intramural tournaments. Intramural tournaments are organized by the BU Fitness and Recreation staff for a variety of sports. Depending on the season, you can find either flag football, outdoor soccer, indoor soccer, softball, broomball, ice hockey, mini golf, or even wiffle ball. In most sports, you will find there is a men’s division, women’s division, and co-ed division, with each of them divided in A or AA league.

During my first semester in Boston, a lot of us came together to form “International Love F.C.,” a soccer team made up of twelve players of five different nationalities. The team started as all usually do, with a couple of hiccups, poor coordination, and a reliability on individual talent rather than on the strength of team. However, by the tournament’s end it was a whole other story: we started playing a single unit, no matter who was in the field and who was out, we knew what we played and what our strengths were. In that first tournament, we managed to get through the group stage unbeaten and made it all the way to the semi-finals, where we lost to the four-time champions in a 3-1 decision. Despite not reaching the final, none of us felt the season had been a failure. After all, we lost to a team that had been playing together for four years and we had only just come together two months before. The best part about joining ILFC was the camaraderie within the team; most of us quickly became good friends off the field and, even now (as most of that first team has left), we are still in touch constantly, talking not only about how everyone is doing, but also how ILFC is doing in its second season.

Having to essentially form a whole new team for this second semester was a challenge, but sports is one of the most unifying tools there are. We’ve had our hiccups for sure, but for the second straight season ILFC just finished the group stage unbeaten, and we are now ready to start the playoffs on Monday. I know that whatever we accomplish in this tournament will be thanks to the effort and dedication not only of those playing this tournament, but also those that came before them last semester and set the basis for International Love F.C.

Playing intramurals at BU has been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences in Boston, and I’d strongly recommend to any sport aficionado coming next semester to create your own team in whatever sport you like. Trust me, it’s so worth it!

1 Comment

The BU Classroom Experience

3/20/2015

0 Comments

One of the most important aspects when choosing where to go abroad besides the nearby places to visit or the culture of the city is the culture in the classroom, and this is one of Boston University’s strongest points. At BU, I’ve taken classes in a vast array of subjects, from law with Principles of Criminal Justice and Criminal Law to business and economics with Business in a Changing Society, International Economics or Project Management to Philosophy with Reasoning and Argumentation to multidisciplinary subjects like Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Leadership through Service or Introduction to American Management, Culture and Institutions. What I’ve found is that while every teacher and subject is unique in its own way the Boston University culture itself is a careful balance between theory and practice, where the teacher’s lecture will often be enriched by a thorough class discussion.

One of my favorite subjects from last semester was Leadership Through Service with Professor Chuck Agan and I would recommend to any future terriers to consider taking this course. The class itself is designed around a semester long project of community service, you are split up into groups depending on your personal interests (Do you want to help the environment, work with kids, cater for the homeless, etc.). Working in those groups you’ll have to find, choose an organization to work with and agree with them on your working hours. For my team that organization was Eastend House near Lechmere station in Cambridge, we worked with them for over 25 hours over three weeks near the end of the semester and it was an invaluable experience, one that added so much to my year abroad.

Another one of the classes I’d recommend to those majoring in social sciences is Principles of Criminal Justice with Professor Cadigan, this class will help the student understand the basis of the current justice system in the U.S. and will provide guidelines for fruitful debates about hot topic issues, like racial bias, mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines; this class was particularly important since it allowed me to understand the history of the civil rights movement and the current issues still in existence in the U.S.

All in all the experience you’ll have attending any of the BU classes is one of enrichment, where in a collaborative effort students and professors discuss the topics and practice the theoretical concepts in real life cases.

0 Comments

Going to the BU vs. BC ice hockey game

3/11/2015

0 Comments

Being an avid college football fan, I thought I had some understanding of what a college rivalry meant, but it wasn’t until some of us attended the Boston University vs. Boston College ice hockey game on November 7th, 2014 that I truly understood what it meant. You see, one of the first things you learn and feel at BU is the rivalry and competing spirit that overtakes every Terrier (BU’s mascot) when BC is mentioned, and this goes back well over a century: you see, both BU and BC lie along the Green-B line on the T (for you future Bostonians who aren’t yet familiar with the local slang, the T is what we call the subway), and both universities fight to hold bragging rights over the other in every aspect of college life, and in none do they do it more so than ice hockey. Therefore, wanting to experience this first-hand, four students from MET International embarked on an adventure down to the dodgy end of Comm Ave to watch our Mighty Terriers eat chicken - I mean face the Eagles....

It was a warm Saturday afternoon (remember those Boston?) when we decided to jump on the T and head down towards BC. The car we jumped on was filled with white and red jerseys of fellow Terriers on their way to cheer our boys on: you see, this game was particularly important because for the last couple of years BU decided to take it easy on the Eagles and had lost a couple of games against them, losing the last three games these sides had played, but this was the year when BU was to make it right again. So there we were, finally getting off at the last stop, right across from the BC campus. We made our way inside, not knowing what to expect: would it be a horde of belligerent fans, jeering at us on our way to the arena (did BC even have an arena?); would there be Eagles mascots all over the place to try and intimidate the visiting fans? Soon enough it became quite obvious that BC fans are actually pretty decent losers and don’t take it out on the winning fans when their team gets utterly owned by a superior side, but I jump ahead. After walking around the campus (which, by the way, should have better signs to guide visitors around), we found our way into the arena. Fortunately our seats were almost exactly next to the BU student section, providing us with an excellent vantage point to take in the whole rivalry experience.

The game (which I won’t describe for two reasons: first of all, at the time of watching this game my knowledge of hockey was close to 0, and number two, despite attending a number of hockey games since then, my knowledge of hockey has only slightly improved), was filled with excitement and chants from both student sections. Besides the family safe songs of “safe school, backup school,” or the traditional and exciting, “GO-B-U! Let’s GO BU!” the most entertaining cheers were some of the ones I can’t write on this blog, due their colorful language. The experience during the game was unlike anything I had ever experienced: you could feel the student spirit in the atmosphere. The BC band and student section (unsuccessfully) cheering their boys on and trying to silence us were faced with dismay when they realized they couldn’t; the shouts of excitement at every BU goal coming from the fans in scarlet were an ice bucket on an arena that had failed to intimidate our Terriers or their fans. The way the arena bounced as the BU students jumped with every goal our team scored, or the deafening sound of pure joy when we won the game are memories that will stick with me forever. But the most amazing thing was realizing the connection shared between the student section and the team, which is just a reflection of the way BU students are connected to their university here.

It took me a while to realize that’s what the rivalry is about: it’s not about hating the other side, it’s about being a part of yours, loving it, and cheering it on despite and against all odds. BU won the game 5-3, but the thing I’ll take away with me is the way the student section made me feel: proud to be there, proud to be a Terrier, and very proud of choosing BU for my semester abroad.

0 Comments

Why Boston is a wicked place!

3/4/2015

0 Comments

When I decided on Boston University as the place I’d attend for my year abroad, people kept telling me the same four words: “you will love it.” I’ll be honest, at first I very much doubted them, but after the 50th person said the same thing, I started to believe there might be something special about this place. It didn’t take me long after arriving from Mexico City to realize they were right. Boston is a unique city, one with over 80 universities and over 250,000 college students, 8% of which come from abroad. The numbers themselves, though, don’t tell the whole story.

The first thing you notice upon arriving here is how nice people are: welcoming, polite, helpful, and very warm. The second thing you’ll find out about Bostonians (by the way, everyone here, no matter where they’re from, eventually becomes a Bostonian), is how proud they are of their city, their local teams, and even more so of their universities and, yes, their students. As soon as you’re enrolled here, whether it be for a 4-year major, as a 2-year post-graduate student, or an international student here for only 6 months, you become part of Boston, its culture, history, and local customs.

After the initial impression of Boston, it was time to meet my new home, Boston University, and boy was I shocked by what I found. First of all, BU doesn’t have a campus per se; its campus is Boston, or more specifically, Commonwealth Avenue. And no matter what Boston College says, Comm Ave (like everyone here calls it) belongs to the Terriers (more on that later). The first thing that you realize about Boston University is the diversity, particularly visible in the MET International program. In under a day I had met people from three continents and had already agreed to form a soccer team with most of them. Little did I know that we’d grow into a fantastic group, one that would care for each other, go together on our own particular adventures around Boston, and even have our own International Edition of Secret Santa. But more importantly than that, we became a group that one way or another will probably stay connected, despite the years and miles between us.

This is the end of my first post - sorry to you dear reader on the lack of details, but it was just meant to be an introduction to my first impressions of Boston (which occurred in August 2014). Most of the following posts, however, will cover my experiences in this, my second semester in Boston. I hope you enjoyed reading this - see you next time! (When I’ll explain why BU rocks and BC... not so much!)

0 Comments

Paco

Archives

Categories