Global Perspectives from Boston University

How to live before you die

2011-03-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

When I was Google Steve Jobs, I suddenly found out that he gave a commencement to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005, since Steve jobs is being on medical leave and still did a great job at the introduction of Ipad 2, I watched that video with all of my respect.

It was a great speech, inspiring and encouraging. Mr Jobs told the graduates some of the most important things happened in his life, started from his born and raised, to the failure and success through his life. In his address, some sentences made me thought for a long time ,he asked himself for 30 years “if today were my last day, would I do what I’m about to do today?” He then says that “whenever the answer has been no too many days in a row, I know I need to change something”.So I asked myself would I do what I'm about to do today?or future? I have thinking for a long time, and still have no answer.

Be honest, I'm not that brave as Mr Jobs. I'm afraid of drop out from school, and doing things that I love, sometime it's hard to make decision between things you love to do and things you have to do.I can just stuck to the situation what about to do, learning finance,I'm not saying finance is something I don't want to, it is something I'm ok with, but I don't have a strong motivation for that.

I watched a movie long time ago, it said that life is about compromise.I guess I just compromised with my life now,but still I hope one day when I become economics independent, I could travel around the world, to capture the beauty of nature and our civilization.

Steve jobs commencement:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

The Field Trip

2010-09-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Like most of us, I really enjoyed our first field trip. I had already done the duck tour but this was very different. And although I visited a large part of Boston , it was something completely new and different !

Indeed, I did not imagine that the harbor and the islands were so beautiful. This is a typical landscape.

Who has never dream to live in this kind of houses on the sea borders?

The thing which surprised me the most is the island (I’m really bad to remind the names…:S) where some houses had been built for the poor. This was meaningless: these poor do not care to live close to the sea but they want to live next to their job and shops because most of the time they do not have a car.

This trip allowed me also to become aware of the distinct parts of Boston : the Economic center and the industrial center. And it permited to understand the functioning organization of the city.

So this trip taught me a lot about the city where I will live all the year!

See you in class!

2010-09-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! How’s your weekends?? And a busy week is beginning again!

The field trip has passed for a week!!! But I’m still keeping a fresh memory~

2 weeks ago, when I heard the news of having a field trip, I was so excited and looking forward to it. I have been living in inner land for my whole life, so it’s very excited for me to have a small trip on a boat!

The weather was great~!! But I never thought that when the boat is speeding up, how strong the wind will feel!!!! If you ask me what’s the most impressive thing that day, I will definitely say the wind!!!!

At the beginning, professor Bruce made a brief introduction of the Boston Harbor. It was amazed to me that the first lighthouse of the US was built in the Boston harbor in the early 18^th century. And I couldn’t believe such a clean harbor was once seriously polluted. In 1773, a group of colonists in Boston threw ships of tea into Boston Harbor for officials in Boston refused to return tea taxes. I can’t imagine how hard it is to make this harbor clean as now after the tea party event.

When I just came this city, I never thought there are so many islands around this city. And among the 34 islands, the Long Island really impressed me. To be honest, the reason why I like it the most is its shape! For I have seldom seen a real island, and I always shape an island as a circle. It’s same to that I like Italy, because it’s just like a huge boot step in the ocean.

One more thing, I really love the small villas along the harbor!!! They’re so cute!!! How I wish I could someday live in one of them……away from the noise and stress.

Ok~ it’s too late ~~ good night guys~

See you tomorrow~

Monica

First trip, but definitely not the last one

2010-09-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

It was really an amazing class last time and it's also the first on-boat class in my life(As well as the rest of my life,maybe).

The trip was an unforgettable experience which includes a nice breakfast in that Starbucks(The Double-chocolate Brownie there was fantastic), a lovely weather(not like this week), a fancy double deck boat, a series of beautiful islands with graceful or funny names, and a lot of stories about how do all this happened in the history of Boston Harbor.

What impresses me most was the value towards to envirnment and the resolution to completely change it of the government. They spent huge amount of money to clean the water and change the entire harbor from the dirtiest harbor to the clearest. Obviously, all the environment investment have already paid for themselfs. The real estate prospers because of the magnificent seaviews which conduce to the dreamed houses of most people , and the tourism .They all benefits from the improvement of the environment in Boston harbor. Furthermore, the intelligent idea of freezing the land in the "big dig" project really amazed me, it is not only a smart and daring idea but also a big decision made by the government. I think it all comes from the innovation of this city benefits from the advanced educational atmosphere.

I drew a picture about the trip we experienced right after last class, but I haven't find a scanner so far to put it in this blog. So I just drew another one on my laptop and here it is:

Mr. Berman said the next trip gonna be on the top of the tower at quincy market. I believe that must be a quite different view of this city compared to boat tour. So, look forwarding the next trip and hope that will not be the last trip for this semester!

Boat trip, boston life

2010-09-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hi,everyone.

We all had this amazing experience aboard. I believe the memory would be deep inside everyone's mind, even after 5 years or more. It brought the whole view of Boston harbor to us. Unfortunately, it was too hard for me to hear Berman without a loudspeaker, and sometimes I just have to choose between standing among the crowed people and watching the marvelous city view, such a tough choice.

The whole trip took about 2 hours. We started our journey at Boston Long Wharf and our boat went across the Massachusetts Tumpike Bridge, toured near the Peddocks Island and Fort Independence, travelled over the Quincy Bay then we headed back. When I was at the edge of the boat and stared at the sea and the Boston City, especially the beach houses on the islands, I just assumed that there were a real toy kingdom. The houses were like Legos, while the sea was looked as a really huge green jello. This place is so different from China.

Since I paid my most concentration on the spectacle, I only caught a little information that Berman gave us. I knew that a lot of islands got their names based on their shapes, such like long island, nut island and ragged island. And Berman illustrated us that Harbor was not as clean as what we see nowadays, for sewage caused a lot of pollution and Boston government spent millions of dollars to fix it. And there were many traffic bridges and express ways over the field, hence the government put out the 'Big Dig Plan' to shape the entire view picture of Boston Harbor, and it cost a lot. I think Berman spent these three hours not only just want us to look at Boston from sea, but also to feel the environment and to figure out how this city became so beautiful. I was so impressive by the struggling the government have done.

Suddenly, a sentence rushed in my head, which Berman said many times in the class, and it is ' I love this country and it is the most beautiful country over the world'. If the government always forces on the issues that how to make every citizen more enjoyable lives on more clean fields instead of making the rich richer, the country should be the most beautiful country over the world, shouldn't it?

Above all, I want to share a picture I took. A seagull was standing on the column of t

he bridge and glowed with sunshine. I thought it felt happy, so do we.

Have fun!

Siqi Wang

The Boat Trip! A way to Visit, Educate & Learn

2010-09-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hi There Fellaz,

How ya doin’? Hope you all had a good weekend!

I have to start by thanking Bruce for organizing this first instructive field trip.

We all had a great time and learnt more about the city of Boston and its history.

For instance, facts like the big dig and the cleaning of the harbor allowed us to develop a more precise knowledge of what are the economic advantages and strengths of Boston city and how those two main events evolved and collided with the economic growth of the city and its region.

Indeed, the Big Dig is a project that revolutionized the urban life and traffic circulation within the city and its suburbs. Where is now what we call the green area there used to be a big highway. This precise highway was a major cause for noise and pollution and literally separated Boston in two.

The project ended up in costing Boston city billions of dollars as the project ended five years later than initially planned. Although, achieving this project has led to immense satisfaction and pride for the Bostonians since and has allowed the city’s economy to fructify the new signs of an upcoming wealth and develop itself in a new tradition of respect towards nature and the environment.

In other words, the Big Dig was a real success and appeared to be one of the most impressive achievements the city had ever made. Literally, they had to freeze some parts of the ground and dig under so that the buildings wouldn’t collapse. This was a grandiose engineering process.

At last, the cleaning of the Boston’s Harbor was another major achievement. Boston was well known for its merchant activities and its numerous shipping from one central point, the Harbor.

Therefore, this created a real need and challenge for the Bostonians. They were facing for the first time massive pollution of the Harbor and economic priorities. But finally the cleaning process begun and visitors and tourists can now come to see the harbor and appreciate fully the view of the 34 islands and its nature.

Since, Boston has officially turned into a much more ecological and pleasant city as of as much for its citizens, students or visitors. This has been a great change for Boston and appears to be nowadays a great example of a rapid evolution of the urban environment learning how to adapt its infrastuctures to the new worldwide ecological priorities.

See you guys tomorrow!

Terence

Boston Harbor field trip!

2010-09-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
I thought going on a field trip to see the Boston Harbor and area around it was a great experience. I am from an ocean town and I know how much a harbor can mean for a town and its development. I thought showing us the history of Boston outside the classroom gave us, or at least me, a new way to look at Boston for my self and I think it will be very helpfull later in this class.
The harbor is very important in looking at Boston and its development historically. The harbor made it possible for Boston to connect with other towns and later internationally. I remember you telling us about a lighthouse we passed, and I believe it was the first light house in America, and it was the only way ships knew that they had reached Boston and how to navigate from that. Through trade and shipping the harbor set the ground for Bostons economy. Trading of fish, transporting ice, settlers coming in from Europe to settle in the city and because of this and much more Boston became one of the richest cities in that time.
I got the feeling from hearing about and seeing Boston this way that the Harbor and areas around it, is what it is today because of peoples hard work and devotion to the city. Today the Harbor plays a big part in Bostons economy; tourism, real estate, fish, trade, etc.
This trip opened my eyes to see Boston in a different way, not just as a beautiful city with an amazing harbor, but I am excited to learn more about how the different parts of Boston, for example the Harbor, affects and contributes to the community.
I will see you in class tomorrow!

Elise

Wonderful First Field Trip

2010-09-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, did you guys have a nice weekend? It was really a wonderful experience for me to go with our whole class for the first field trip. I think it’s a good way for us international students to learn the history of Boston. Hope there will be more opportunities to have classes outside.

Boston’s Harbor has always been a great port for its good conditions and it was once a main source of income for the local people. The early settlement of British made nonnegligible contributions to this harbor. They brought new technology and crops here, and soon made Boston’ Harbor booming. Boston is an economic center of the New England area, but I never knew why. After this tour I figure out Boston’s Harbor may make great contributions to the city’s development.

We went on board soon after Pro. Berman’s brief introduction to Boston Harbor. That was the beginning of the exciting time we spent on the sea. The scenery was fantastic when I was looking around from the sea. And of course it was quit windy on the boat. So exciting!! There were 34 islands on both sides, most of which are named after their shape, Long Island and Moon Island for instance. I couldn’t image how they were different many years ago compared with present. On our way, I saw the airstrip on the left, and the wharf on the right where there were so many containers.

We visited Quincy Market afterwards. Pro. Berman told us that there was once a highway running through this city which was quite noisy and was replaced by the tunnel now. When it comes to the Big Dig, I feel it amazing that this huge project cost too much and wasted lots of time while the Cleaning project was a big success.

I’m looking forward to have more field trips and learn more about Boston!

See you soon.

Junyue Pang

Get your cameras ready!

2010-09-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

I love skylines! I especially love the Boston skyline! So I was very thrilled when I realized that there are actually two different breathtaking skylines. There is the beautiful view of the city's skyline from Charles River but now I think that the skyline from Boston Harbor is even better! I'm not sure if there are other cities, which can offer the same... My favorite waterfront building is the Custom House Tower, the 1910's "internet". That tower plus a telescope were all you needed in order to know what ships and what goods were about to arrive in Boston Harbor...

Our field trip began in the Christopher Columbus Park, Boston's first waterfront park. Then we finally got on the boat and we all saw this amazing Boston Harbor skyline. I actually still can't imagine how bad the waterfront used to be before the "Big Dig", because the Harbor is so clean and the Greenway so beautiful, but well, it cost a lot of money, too: project "Big Dig" was finished five years behind schedule and a couple of BILLION dollars over budget. At least it created over 20,000 jobs! Oh, and the best is that the project was financed by federal taxpayers... :)

The second big project in order to improve Boston was the Boston Harbor Project. Much less expensive but also of extreme importance to the city. The project turned the harbor from one of the dirtiest to probably the most beautiful and cleanest harbor in the country.

Here is another before-after picture of the waterfront:

The harbor used to be Boston's most important source of wealth. Shipping was very important. Now shipping is not as important as it used to be, but the harbor remains to be a very important place. Nowadays visitors and tourists come to see the harbor.

While on the boat, Prof Berman told us very interesting stories and anecdotes about literally EVERY island we saw (there are 34, but we didn't see all of them). Too bad that it was very windy and I could not always hear everything. I really liked Spectacle Island, which used to be two "drumlins" (a new word for my english vocabulary!)

To me it was very fascinating to see the 'projects' in Quincy: Housing for the poor by the ocean!

After the boat trip we went to Quincy Market, where our first field trip ended. I hope that the next one will be just as exciting, educating and fun!

See you in class,

Christian

Boat Trip to Boston Harbor

2010-09-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, hope you all had a great weekend.

Last wednesday we all went on a field trip with professor Bruce Berman to the Boston Harbor. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sun, which was perfect cause we were going sailing around the harbor and the surrounding islands.

The trip was very interesting because the harbor contains as many different cultural aspects as it does. For instance we saw the industrial part, the commercial, an old home for the mentally challenged, poor houses, the oldest functioning lighthouse, the airport and of course the newer luxury houses.

It seemed that every island have a story that help shape our and my understanding of Boston as a city.

Besides learning about the the harbor and the islands, we also talked about how this part of boston used to look. Boston has done a great job on cleaning up the harbor. Before this harbor used to be filled with waste and pollute the air with foul smells. The harbor now looks great and is one of the most attractive places in Boston to reside.

Professor Berman also told us about how the green area of Boston used to be big highway divided the city in two and created a wall of noise and pollution. During a big and long process called "the big dig", the Boston city froze the ground so that they could dig under the building without them crashing. This was the first time this technique was ever used, and it worked as intended. As a result of this plan, the highway is now underground and where it used to be is now a green area full of life.

In all it was a beautiful and very informative trip, which learns you a lot more about Boston than any classroom assignment can ever do. The trip has definitely open my eyes in terms of Boston history and which opportunities the city has in its beautiful and unique harbor and waterfront.

looking forward to the next trip. see you in class everybody.

Ps. It is certainly not a problem having more than 70 students on a trip :)

Jesper

From Captain Alisa to my fellow pirates.

2010-09-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

What a boat trip guys ! hun ! Windy but instructive !

Captain Bruce told us a lot last wednesday : about the islands and the Boston history ! But who's a better story teller than an 330 years old Lady Pirate! Here is how I have experienced the very old and quite more recent changes of Boston.

The first inhabitants of Boston were native americans fishers. With the pilgrims fathers arrival, it quickly became one of the most important trading harbour in the world. Almost all the english imports to new england arrived by those waters, that's how Boston ended up being the revolution's birth place. Ever heard of the Boston Tea Party ? All those retailers were fearless when it came to money! Trust my pirate's experience, they were tough guys who would fight to death to protect their goods!

We, pirates, use to love all those islands, in Boston Harbour. Pirates love Islands. It's the best places to hide ! I actually left a treasure on Castle Island. Here is the a clue: find the hot dogs !

Today there are 34 islands in boston harbour. All this sea front real estate has been taking worth years after years. Some people still use the islands as a shelter. Really mates can you believe this?!?! We pirates were the first to love those islands ! Who are the thief now hunnn ?!?! Bostonians used to use them as training camps for the fire fighters. They were sending there peoples who had the pledge or the cholera ! They even builted a house for the poor there!

But let me tell you about the Big Dig ! That's impressive. The city is "moving toward the sea" since many years. Indeed lots of wharf have been build during years and years and they started to fill in some sections. Water used to cover the whole quincy market!

Some how they decided to build a gigantic ugly highway witch was almost shaped as the water front. Obviously the city was way less appealing at this dark time! Even for pirate I swear! What a waste of money! Can you immagine how many bottles of rhum we coud have bought instead!
Speaking of what, our pirates lives were misarable at the time. The Boston bay was disgusting. the water was more smelly than me and my crew were !

But finally Bostonians woke up, they have been cleaning the harbour, which cost way less than the big dig ! Big dig was very efficient though. I have to admit, Boston is such a beautiful green and clean city know. I confess that I kind of enjoy my stay out of my boat sometimes!

Last pirate's tip: visit mysecretboston.com and try "la voile" french restaurant....

Fieldtrip

2010-09-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we went on our first field trip. The main topic was the Boston harbour. Its importance and contribution to the city's economy and the development from a dirty, smelling harbour to one of America's most beautiful and cleanest ones.

Before getting on the ferry, we had a brief historic introduction. Afterwards we took a cruise through the harbour passing by the many different unique harbour islands. Boston's citizens, or who ever named the islands seemed to be very innovative and creative people. These talents are emphasized by the ground-breaking names of the islands. The longest one is called Long Island, whereas the green one is called Green Island.

After we have passed by the tiny pieces of land, we made our way to Quincy, a little city half an hour away from Boston. After several minutes we returned to the harbour of Boston, were we landed again.

We finally took a walk to Faneuil Hall were our trip ended.

Ferdinand

Field Trip

2010-09-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Did you have a fantastic weekend?

I still feel excited every time I think of the field trip last Wednesday. Hope that this kind of activities will be more in the future.

The trip began with a brief introduction about the history of Boston's Harbor by Pro. Berman. As a city that once was a major shipping port and manufacturing center, harbor plays a significant role in the development of Boston, a harbor city. It was the harbors that brought so many opportunities to Boston. Nowadays, real estate and tourism become more important sources of income instead of trade. And beside the Marriott long wharf stands the Boston Custom House Tower, a part of which are handmade with sophisticated structure.

Turning around, I was amazed by the beautiful view. Unlike other harbor I saw, the harbor here looks clean, with an enjoyable smell of the sea. It has been a long time since I went to the seaside in Han Nan, an island in China and I really missed this familiar smell. Pro. Berman told us that Boston’s harbor used to be stinky because people dumped 280 million gallons of waste per day into the water. There was even a hit song called “Dirty Water” at that time. But the Boston harbor cleanup project came to rescue and represents the transformation of Boston harbor.

Aboard on the boat, we set off finally. Passing through the Dorchester Bay, followed by Quincy Bay, the boat went with the waves of the water. Pro. Berman showed us the islands along the way. There are 34 islands which were used as hospitals, jails and military bases. These days, one of the islands become a good place for kids to go camping in holidays and some become good places to invest in real estate. We were also told about the origins of the islands’ name, for instance, “Moon Island” where police and firemen were trained and the “Long Island”, are named because of their shapes. To my surprise, many islands I saw were part of huge glaciers that was one mile high and some glaciers formed the drumlins.

The public houses near the water were built for sheltering the poor because it was the most undesirable place to live. There were no supermarkets, schools and hospitals—In a word, a place cut off from the outside world. But now, some people are willing to give millions to own house here!

Another big project that cannot be ignored is the Big Dig project, which was aimed at replacing the highway which used to cross through the city to solve the traffic problem. In order to avoid bringing trouble to many citizens, they decided to build a tunnel and consequently, they figured out a crazy idea to do so: frozen the earth. At a cost of 18 billion dollars, ironically, the “Big Dig” cost more and spent more time than the “Cleanup” project. The good thing about the “Big Dig” was it created about 20,000 jobs.

Standing before the Faneuil Hall, we can see the trails left on the floor by water long time ago. Berman told us that three important things contribute to the development of Boston: the human capital, the innovation, and the money of the dead. Again, harbors help a lot by taking smart people and creative ideas from all over the world to Boston.

This interesting trip surely helps me to get better understanding about the history of Boston and the importance of harbor to the economy prospers in this area. I’m already expecting the next trip!

...

2010-09-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey you guys~How's your weekend?
The boat trip has ended for like a week till I start now to write something about it.
It was fun, as the first time of my life to be aboard a boat like this. Maybe that's the reason why the memory is still so fresh even after so many days.
Luckily, the weather was good, the sun felt warm and gentle. i was deeply moved when the boat was drove off the harbor. White spray bloomed out from the poop, scattered aside the water. Strong wind blew our girls' hair, with the thunder of the engine, we headed to the sea.
Sailing around the Boston harbor was like walking through the history. Every single detail, the height of the trees, the length of the islands' beach, the light colored sailboats, the smell of the sea, or even the building on land far away, formed into a story about itself.
The cleanup project and the big dig are the two top significant things to remember. No wonder the water could be so beautiful, this huge infrastructure had brought purity back to the harbor, and back to the Boston city.
Bruce said, right after the trip, "Boston's fortune is based on the dead men's money. " It came to me the question that--" Whose isn't?" This is like the cycle of the natural rules. People are making money from the death of others. New things grow upon the old ones. The example of the ice king shows a good example of that. Boston is using this, to build the entire city. We can never stop, making mistakes of excess and manage to make it up after that. It started from the very beginning, from 1773, from the Boston tea party. Maybe only history knows, business is crucial and fair, and all about the pursuit of freedom.
However, when we ported at the Quincy's, everything calmed into peace, especially the paranoid thoughts of mine. The houses aside the coast were really a feast for eyes. They were so gorgeous that when I looked at them, there became a warm spring flew over my body. Still, beyond the puzzle and stress of the city, you can find this kind of place, expressing the meaning of family and friendship. It was the moment when the boy next to me burst into words:" Ten years, I'll need ten years to own a house, to own a life exactly like this. " The man was so young, ambitious and cocky. That is, fortunately, we are so young to dream and fight for the dreams. Suddenly, the "declaration" made him outstanding. Perhaps we can make differences, according to this amazing age. Spray of the poop bridged a rainbow over the sea. Everything seems so pretty, and polished with hope. Maybe only history knows, it would know, what may happen tomorrow.

sherry

First field trip in Boston

2010-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this field trip we made all together ; yes it was worth to wake up earlier on this sunny Wednesday. I have to admit that I adapt myself very well with my new lifestyle ; indeed on Sunday I was on the beach in Rhode Island, in Newport, and as you can imagine I can’t expect such nices trips in Paris or in Metz …

I didn’t imagine that the main activity of Boston Harbor was the real estate, in addition to shipping, tourism, and industrial activities. The houses with each their squares of green grass are common here ; why not living on a boat ?

I learnt the megaproject of the « Big Dig » , a 3,5 miles tunnel, which was concieved in the 1970s in order to replace a highway and consequently, solve the problem of the traffic congestion. It’s unbelievable to know about the figures : its estimated cost, in 1985, was $2,8 billion ; its real cost reached $18 billion, which approximately amounts at $8 billion in the 1982 $... The second big Bostonian project was the « Boston Harbour Cleanup ». This project wasn’t financed by the Government as the previous, but by the Bostonians ; it can be an explanation of the speed this project was led ; it transformed the harbor from the dirtiest to one of the cleanest of the country. As a consequence, the Real Estate value varied a lot, and is currently the best investment that can be done in Boston.

A meaningfull data I remember is what makes the Boston story : the innovation, the human capital, and the money of dead ( and rich ) people. Boston was established in 1630 by English colonists; Harvard was created in 1636 ( I hope my memories are good, I read it in an old guide before arriving here … ), thanks to John Harvard wealth, a ministry of Charlestown, who left his library and half his estate to the institution after his death. Even though I’m in BU and proud of it, how not to be recognized when studying in the oldest institution of higher education ? This historic part is to remember that skilled people, european creations ( as well as churches ) remain definitely sources of the expertise of Boston, and still make it strong today.

I learned a bit about the 34 islands in the Boston harbor area, which belong to a National Park. I think Castle Island is not any more part of it, since it’s nowadays connected to the land by a road. What about this Island named Penikese Island, one of Mr Berman’s favourite one? It’s located in Buzzards Bay, and is now obviously primarily grass covered. I read that the state purchased it in 1904 for $25,000 and built a leprosy hospital to isolate and treat all Massachusetts residents with the disease. What a strange story...

The last memory of this interesting trip: when I left, the bare-chested “sailor” on the boat with us, gave me a kiss hand, a glass in his hand ... I think American people are welcoming enough! Thank you Captain Berman.

I’m sure to learn interesting and usefull things about Boston during this semester, by reading some of your posts and ... When is the next field trip?

Field Trip

2010-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, everybody. Do you have a fantastic weekend?

Before arriving at Boston, I wonder that why such a city could assemble so many top universities and be a metropolitan area in the US. On September 22nd, Professor Berman gave me an opportunity to recognize this city deeply and think what makes Boston strong.

On Wednesday morning, enjoying the sunshine of Boston, I started my field trip. Living just beside to Charles River, I had not been to take a boat trip to look around the city. It is my first time to visit the Boston Harbor, which is mentioned by Professor Berman in the first class for many times. At the first sight of Boston Harbor, Berman introduced the Boston Custom House Tower to us, which is the most sophisticated building in Boston to contact with others in Europe or India. Then we boarded on our small boat instead of a luxury cruise that is not possible for just 6 dollars. During approximately one and a half hours on the boat, there is a brief introduction to those little islands along our routine from Berman who seems being familiar with every island here and knows the history and interesting stuff relating to each one, such as the name origin of several Islands and the cheapest but delicious hotdog on Castle Island. Those lovely houses on the islands are attractive to me. I wish one day I could have a trip to one of the 34-isaland and enjoy some days there.

Except for the introduction to these islands, Berman let me know the cleanup project standing for a transformation of Boston Harbor. Before the cleanup projects, the water was so polluted that over 280 million wastes were poured into the harbor. Searching on the Internet, I found that there was even a song in 1966 called Dirty Water about the sorry state of water in Boston. After the government investment of 5 billion dollars to implement this project, both the water quality and citizen’s life quality have significantly improved, and Boston Harbor is transformed to be one of the cleanest in the nation even being safe for swimming. During the trip, I also saw some fertilizer plants using for cleaning water which contribute the current clean condition in Boston Harbor.
Another significant project for Boston is the Bid Dig. I can’t image that people can not listen to each other within 5 meters because of the heavy noise from the highway. As a result, there is even no window on one side of Long Wharf. The Bid Dig reduces the vehicle hours of travel and commutes and leaves a green environment for Boston Harbor.

Berman addressed for many times that it is harbors that provide the opportunity for Boston being a central commercial area and a metropolitan city. The shipping from all over the world brings smart people and numerous innovative ideas. They built churches and trained other people forming the foundation of so many famous institutions in Boston, which is the most important source for keeping Boston strong.

It is not only an interesting trip, but also an educational and meaningful guide encouraging me to broad my horizon to recognize Boston.

See you on Wednesday:)

Boat Trip! as the movie.. jajaja

2010-09-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!! Ok lets talk about our boat trip… well, I’m here in Jaime’s room trying to write about it (by the way I think it was awesome, I had a great time and I hope we can do more field trips) and I think I need something to drink so my mind starts to work. I’m back here in the room with my coffee and my friend is almost done with the post…

Wednesday 22^nd of September was just the perfect day for a trip like we did. It was a sunny day and we got by the Starbucks in long wharf at 8:50 am. We drank a coffee and we were ready for the adventure.

I remember asking Paloma if she was all right that morning because the last time we took a boat (we went whale watching) one person "she" threw-up all around the boat.

Before going into the boat, Professor Berman talked about how important was the sea for the economic development of the city. He explained us that there was a very important building near Quincy Market because the watch of that building was the most technologically developed in USA. Also from that building they could see boats coming to the harbour before others.

After the explanation, we went where the boat was. I was the third one to enter the boat and I run to take a good place in the front part.

The boat started to go out of the wharf and professor Berman told us about the airport at one side and the boats at the other.

Then we started to see a lot of islands (I remark that they are 34). I remember Spectacle Island (that was taller because they used the Big Dig soil), Long island, Moon Island (where police and firemen use to train)… And Castle Island that is not one of the 34.

I also remember talking about the lighthouse, that worked manually and had a special pattern (Professor Berman talked about 1-4-3 and 30 seconds to say “I love you” if I remember well).

The Harbour was very clean and the reason is because they invested $5 billions on the “eggs”, a machine for keeping it clean.

By the end of our way, we reached Quincy Port (I think it was its name) and the teacher encouraged us to find the fertilizer by smelling.

Then, our way back to the harbour, enjoying the see breeze.

That’s all I can say about my experience on our trip. See you in class folks….

Sameer Mirwani Daswani

Trip to Harbor Islands!!!

2010-09-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends as much as I did!

About the field trip we went on last wednesday, the first thing I have to say is YEY! I didn't

get sea sick! jajaja Earlier this month I went on a boat ride to see whales and I got sea sick for the first time in my life, so I was really worried that this would happen again... But it didn't, so YEY!

Anyways, now really talking about the field trip. I was thinking about the maps I saw in American Management class, and where we actually were on the boat, and I drew a little rout of what I think our boat did. Basically we left out of Quincy Bay through the middle of the 34 islands. We saw spectacle island to our left, that's for sure, but what I can't remember is if we say Long Island and Moon Island to our left or to our right. Looking at the map, it made more sense to think that this was our rout. Since the end of the tour was in the water treatment plant (which I looked up was in Deer Island) I guessed that was the rout we took. So there you go, nice trip through the islands!

I've never been any good at writing blog entries because I never know what to say, so I'm just going to say what I found most interesting about this trip. First of all, the fact that the harbor didn't smell bad at all, was amazing. In all the harbors I've been in, there is this wierd, unpleasant, peculiar smell, and it's great that this harbor desn't smell like anything. I noticed this fact the first time I went to this harbor, but I simply found it wierd, I didn't know all the story behind it. Boston's harbor went from being probably one of the most disgusting harbors on Earth, to one of the cleanest, for sure. They used to dump 280 million

gallons of waste per day, that really had to stink! They built public houses near the water because it was the most awful place in town, and now there's probably people who would kill to live in such a place! I mean, look at it! Huge houses, their own beach... it's great! (oh, btw, this is a comment mostly directed to Mar, I'm using the pictures you posted on fb, because I forgot mi camera... so if you think they really look alike... it's cause they're yours! jajaja GRACIAS!!!)

Another thing that I found very interesting was the fact that before, these islands were part of a huge glacier that was one mile high. I can't really picture what this must have looked like, but it had to be increadible. Also, the Big Dig project was quite impressive, how they rerouted the highway completely and made a tunnel. It would have been great to see the before and

after of this project. Besides this, it was shoking to see how much the level of the water has changed during the years. This didn't only happen because of the tides, it was also because they constructed inside the ocean, but it's nice to see how they've left a little line across the city to show were the water went up to.

I've learned many things in this trip, geography and history, and I really enjoyed it a lot. If someone asks me now to name several Harbor Islands, I would know them for sure, because seeing them has actually helped me know the names, due to the fact that several of them are named after their appearance. I hope that the next field trip we go on, is as great as this one!

See you all in class!!!

Paloma

I've changed my idea of Boston!

2010-09-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Hope your week end was great!

A lot of times from when I’m here i talked to some friends that were at home and they asked me a loto f times how was boston, if i liked it and so on…

Before wednesday my impression was: nice city, nothing special a good place were to study but i don’t know if i really like it, but than we went on our field trip!

At the beginning i wasn’t happy at all about this trip, i was thinking of a tour of a dirty Harbour in the middle of a city with a lot of commercial boats and a bad smell, and it was definetly to early in the morning for me!

I had to change my mind as soon as i got out from the t: i saw the port and everything was perfect, nice weather i was with friends and was for sure better than every other else class i had till than!

We took the boat and we went around the islands, we saw the coast, the plane landing and the professor was explaining how all this just few years ago was totally different, how could it be possible? It was really hard with such a landscape to even think how did it look like when the sea was dirty!

It’s incredible to think at the big dig, the highway moved, the cleaning of the Harbour, the costruction of a all Island with the land took away for the dig and all the nice houses on the coast changed all the landscape!

In this moment I’m thinking: we really need something like this in a lot of places in Italy, but i know it is much harder!

I really have to thank the Professor (but also the weather that helped a lot…) cause now I’ve got an other idea to tell to my friends about Boston! Is a great city with people that really care about their bay, the sea and that worked hard to realize a better place where to live!

Hope to do a lot of other field trips so that i can learn much more about the place that gives me ospitality in this semester.

See you soon!

Marcello

2010-09-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

I hope your weekend went great. I came back just a few hours ago from visiting Washington. If you have the chance to go I strongly recommend it, it is a fabulous city with a lot of historic monuments and interesting museums.

Focusing on the boat, our field trip was a great experience that helped us to have a different view of the city. We had a spectacular day, great weather and better company.

We started with a brief introduction of the professor in the harbor. There he gave us a little insight on the importance that the harbor had and still has for the development of the city.

Then we got on the boat. During the trip I was pretty impress with the previous use that the Island had. For example they were used as prisons or hospitals. (It caught my attention that the Shuttle Island was filmed there).

It was also pretty funny the name that the island were given (very intuitive). Long island, Spectacle Island etc.

Further on we learn about how the coastal has change over the time. Real state companies have gown a lot in this areas.

It is quite difficult to imagine how was the city before the big dig and the harbor cleaning. The harbor has go to be one of the dirtiest to one of the clearest thanks to the great investment the Bostonians did. After getting off the boat we walked to the Quincy market. We went through where the old high road was, and we all notice that it was a nice area for having a walk. The big dig was not only expensive but also very annoying for Bostonians, but after seeing the result everyone could say it was worth it.

To conclude it was very nice having a field trip with all the class. I hope we can repeat it soon.

See you all this Wednesday!

Cheers

Maria

Boat Trip!

2010-09-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I'm writing this blog to share all my opinions about the most interesting and unusual class have have ever had in my whole life. At first, I should say that we were very lucky because of the weather but in addition I would like to say that was hard waking up so early! My first impression of the Harbor was great and I enjoyed drinking a good coffee there. After that, we went to our boat trip and, a part from the wind, I enjoyed a lot seeing the city from the boat.At the beginning I didn't realize that there are 34 islands around Boston!

When we came back Mr. Berman explained us that the Harbor was very different in the past. Even if now it's an attraction for tourists and an important location for real estate, many years ago was all dirty and was the main part of the economy because trade and shipping were the main business. Bostonian Citizens decided to undertake a huge project to clean up everything from pollution and grunge, the result of the "Big Dig "was an area completely different which changed the life of all the citizens. The project was financed by bostonian and cost about 5 million $ but the result is amazing! Boston Harbor is a treasure since the past era; before was fundamental for commerce and now for tourism, financial hub and real estate. In both of cases it brought wealthy and welfare.

I really appreciate having this experience and I also had a lot of fun!

Thank you everyone! see you on wednesday!

Ciao ciao

Francesca

Field trip --> Ana Garcés.

2010-09-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Definitely is really difficult to say anything that you haven’t pointed out yet!

Well, I’ll give it a try!

The field trip was fantastic. We all had fun and enjoyed this different view of Boston. I have been trying to look for a picture of the Harbor when it was dirty and stinky, but apparently everybody wanted to forget those times and I have not found a single picture like that. Instead, there are tons of beautiful pictures of the Harbor and the islands, and of course, tons of pics of the cleaning process.

Here you got some of the pictures of the Harbor done on our field trip:

(I really love & enjoy sailing; this seemed a lovely place to practice!!!!!)

(This might be too big to practice with)

I was really impressed by the fact that the airport was placed in an island. Not anymore, as they linked it to the town, but I was shocked by the fact that huge airplanes had to land on such tiny space. Then I realized that we are in America and everything is bigger (just take a look to the food, everything is super size!), so it was not that big deal, but I was still impressed. I looked it up and it covers 2,384 acres (thanks Wikipedia). If you still do not get along with the American's measures let me tell you that 2,384 acres are 9.6487 square km. Also the fact that the airport is so close to the city impressed me. While we were shippimg we saw several planes quite close, it was the first time that I had the chance to see a plane flying so close!!! That was cool!!!

I also wanted to see the change that Boston has gone trough thanks to the "Big Dig". As I was not able to picture in my head how awful had to be the city before restructuration I looked it up and found this comparison thab in my opinion is perfect to appreciate the change that the city has suffered.

The pollution and noise had to been terrible. Know I do understand why they avoided windows!!!!

Well, hope that these pictures help you to understand in a better way the evolution of the city.

See you all on Wednesday!!!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Ana Garcés Rubio.

Sunshine-Trip

2010-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Spending last wednesday outside was probably the best decision one could make. Luckily we all did. It was probably one of the last days for catching hot rays of sunshine. Maybe I caught a bit too many, but I had to stock up :-)

Although the harbor looks very protected on the map and is shaped in a way, that the city is protected and not exposed to the rough sea, it didn't appear that cozy and protected on the boat trip. Probably it still is a pretty big harbor.

I think all of the 34 Islands contribute in calming the ocean down as well. Their names are not the most creative ones, but at least, it is easy to identify them. Long Island, Green Island and my personal favorite Spectacle Island.

I think I recall Mr. Berman telling us, that some of the 'left over soil' was piled on top of that Island, and that it didn't use to look so pretty.

When you look at pictures, the Big Dig must have had an enormous impact on the entire city. I cannot imagine at all, how the harbor would have felt like before that.

Now it is such a beautiful place, so it was really good decision made here.

Sitting on Joe's outside area and spoiling oneself with really good seafood must have been a different experience before the Big Dig than it is today.

Seafood and tourist attractions makes me think of the other big project we've been talking about: the cleaning of Boston Harbor. It has become a recreational part of the city, where tourists as well as locals go to relax. Many people would love to live there - the real estate prices in this area may be a serious problem though.

Another very interesting fact I have learned, is that the shoreline shifted enormously and did go back as far as Faneuil Hall.

I'm looking forward to our next field trip already, hopefully with some sunshine as well!

Jenny

Our Frist Field Trip

2010-09-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

did you guys have a good weekend?

Waking up early was hard,, but I really enjoyed our first field trip on last Wednesday:)

I could learn about Boston history, economy, Big Dig, Harbor project, 34 islands, etc. After the trip, I felt that I stepped closer to Boston.

Thank you Prof. Berman!

I want to talk about memorable things that I learned from our trip. The Big Dig and Boston Harbor Project.

First, The Big Dig(Central Artery/Tunnel Project),(CA/T).

The Big dig project is the expensive high project in U.S. This project was started to solve the traffic congestion on Boston. It changed the transportation system in Boston from ground overpass to underground highway and created green spaces on the ground(about 300acre).

The Big Dig taked about 14 years and costed about $14,700,000,ooo!

Second, Boston Harbor Project.

I was surprised to hear that 'About 20 years ago, Boston Harbor was known as the dirtiest harbor in America'. Today, it is fascinating. MWRA(Massachusetts Water Resources Authority)'s Boston Harbor Project includes wastewater treatment facilities centred around Deer Island. Because of this the condition of harbor and water quality has improved and people started to have interest in the many islands of Boston.

I learned many things that I missed by reading your reviews

and want to have another field trip with you guys.

See you on Wednesday!

Field trip

2010-09-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

After this boatrip in Boston bay, i think that I better know Boston.

Firstly, i think that it's really difficult to imagine how was Boston before the

cleaning of the bay.

The bay was dirty , covered by the pollution and now it's completely

different, we saw a beautifull bay with really charming island, it's true that the

wheater was really good and it helps to make the trip more pleasant.

After a few minutes on the boat we could see this amazing view of the waterfront and

all the building of the financial district.

The second important thing that I've learn is the creation of the big dig, this

huge tunnel under Boston.

This 14 billions dollars project, was achieving to replace the previous

elevated roadway .

I'm sure that it has change the all city, and to be honest i think that Boston

is one of the nicest city i have ever been.

This two projects have metamorphose Boston, in 20 years, the city become a clean

and pleasant city to live or study, giving a second life at the waterfront and the bay.

See you in class.

Quentin

Owning a house on the seaside?... Who's in?

2010-09-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, my name is Camille AUGIS and I am the owner of the In Love with Harbors Real Estate Agency.

Heard you were interested in that pretty stylish white house in the Harbor, with a great garden as green as … a cucumber with that little patio facing the sea ? And of course, as a real estate investment is really complicated you want to hear a little bit more about the history of that special neighborhood right?

Ok then, welcome on board!!!

Boston Harbor Islands is a great environment for a summerhouse. First it is only 30-45 minutes from Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall and Downtown. These are wonderful places where you can go for shopping, going to the restaurant or the delicious Food Court (strawberries topped with white or mil chocolate or if you aren’t a novice, let’s give a try at Godiva’s!) or just hanging around.

Then among these 34 islands, you have to know that prices weren’t used to be that high and the islands hadn’t that many constructions until then. This incredible raise (prices and constructions) is mostly due to the water-cleaning program. All these islands used to have various uses such as prison, hospitals, military bases… now they converted into airport (you can actually see this wonderful steel bird just above your heads taking off), housing, a welcoming land for two huge eggs that actually became the key for the water cleaning process that begins several years ago. You have to know that this area between Cap Cod and Cap Ann, besides being beautiful and definitely useful to take some fresh air, used to be the economic lung of Boston. Thanks to the airport, transportation, exportation, etc; it has managed to keep being so dynamic.

These islands are nowadays, besides its economic wealth, a national park.

If you don’t know Boston, you should definitely use the MBTA. The “T” is actually the oldest subway. Boston is a great city with high standards of living. With the BIG DIG project, which costs about 18 million dollars financed by the city, you will find in Boston parks everywhere. This project was one of the most expensive and consequent one never done before, and allows the city to breath again by digging throughout the city buried highways to prevent citizens from noisy and pollute areas.

Last but not least, taking the ferry to see the Islands is the best promenade ever (as you can notice on that sunny Wednesday). Some universities usually take their international students over there to teach them in the best way why is Boston and the Harbors such important places. You will never get bored with having a house over there. Taking the ferry to go on vacation is simple, fast and always different and exciting. You would feel like you are leaving on a cruise whereas you will just go in your summerhouse!

So my only advice before anything else would be: bring your family with you and lets go “boating” to your dreamed summerhouse! You will never regret it!

Thanks for your attention and that wonderful trip with you, for any further question don’t hesitate and come talk to me as soon as you want at the agency!

Boat Trip

2010-09-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

You want to know something about the city of Boston? How it has been and what it looks like today? – Then go on reading!

Let’s begin with the meeting point of our trip: Boston ...

H istorically the harbor has been the main part of Boston’s economy.
A ll the trading ships from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world arrived here, and increased the wealth of Boston and its people, especially entrepreneurs, like Frederic Tudor or King Camp Gillette.
R eal estate is that, what constitutes the harbor’s economy today, as there are faster, more comfortable and efficient ways for trading and especially for travelling.
B ut I can tell you – you wouldn’t want to own a house at the harbor in the 1970’s, because at that time there was just one thing that occured while thinking about Boston harbor: dirt! All the wastewater was put right into the river and the ocean.
O f course they had to solve this problem, so they started the Boston Harbor Project. Unlike the Big Dig this project was mainly financed by people, living in this area. That’s also why in contrast to the Big Dig the Boston Harbor Project didn’t exceed the estimated $4.5 billion and was finished on time. Today it’s one of the cleanest harbors. On our boat trip we also got a short impression of how the plants look like when we saw Deer Island.
R eady to leave Boston Harbor? – Let’s take the boat, enjoy the light brise and head for the ...

B eing lucky to catch such a sunny day we got out of the harbor
A nd entered Dorchester Bay, followed by Quincy Bay.
Y ou should know that there has been a glacier a long time ago, which left all of the 34 islands that surround Boston and protect the harbor, starting from Deer Island going down about 50 miles and end up with Hull Bay.
S urely you all know the 34 names of the islands by heart, so I don’t need to mention them.

&

I t’s interesting to know how everything changed, concerning the islands. Earlier some of them were even used as prisons or as a home for poor people. Today this changed a lot.
S eems that the attraction of the islands rose, too, when the whole area became cleaner and more beautiful. That’s why today a lot of tourists enjoy visiting the islands.
L iving on an island on your own would be great! - So that’s what you think? - I tell you, it’s possible! But just if you are a part of one special family...
A family owns a house on one of the most beautiful islands here in Boston. They got the permission to live there but just until the youngest member of the family died and that was several years ago.
N ow they should already have left the island. But they insist on the fact that the youngest member is still alive.
D o you want to know how this is possible? - Maybe by always using the same names!
S o enough about the bays and islands. Let’s go back on the boat, enjoy the great skyline and end up with the ...

C hallenging! That’s what you can say about the Big Dig. There has been a huge highway, located next to Boston Harbor and downtown.
I n order to release the area from all the noise and the traffic, they had the idea to build a tunnel. But how could they build a tunnel without causing any damage to the buildings?
T he solution: they froze the earth! The huge problem of that project was that in the end it costed much more than expected and it took four times as long as it was supposed to take.
Y ou want to know the good news? – You didn’t need a fridge for twenty years!

I think it was a really nice trip!

See you next week,
Teresa

field trip to Boston harbor

2010-09-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Field trip we had on wednesday
gave me a chance to learn about Boston more.
Luckily weather was so good,
and on the boat wind was not that strong than usual as professor told us.

On the boat, I looked around and learned about lots of things of Boston.
During our field trip I heard lots about Big dig.
I think it helped boston in many ways and improve the quality of life in boston.
That reminded me about one project in my country, Seoul.
It was almost same as Big dig and it's called Chungyechun project
It's about eliminating overpass that was once symbol of development and reroute the stream that was hidden under the road.
There was lots of debates about that before started but it finished successfully like Big dig and I think both of them was really good decision.

One thing I remember that wasn't a good result of Big dig was Spectacle island.
I saw many Islands on the boat and it was most interesting one to me.
It was quite big island and seemed like it is divided in to two.
Impressive thing was that once it was really dirty island covered by clay and reshaped by dirts that were from Big dig, became this beautiful Island again. I couldn't believe that it wasn't that clean and also other island with nice houses was once really not that good like these days. and at that point I could realize importance of clean water project here.

As professor told us innovation was the most important thing
in Boston's history, I really agreed with what he said.
It's so nice to live in the city where big innovations like Big dig,
Boston harbor project and Clean act is done and been going.
Also it was really nice experience for me to know more things
about boston like shape of boston harbor is looks similar to Cape code to Cape ann, treatment things of water in boston, glaciers in the past, shippings and also other histories about here.
I wish we can have another field trip to experience real Boston again.

Boat trip

2010-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

First of all I hope that all of you had a great time this weekend.
I am here to give you my impression about the boat trip we did past Wednesday.

At first I have to say that I wasn’t very enthusiastic at visiting Boston harbor. Harbors in most of the big cities are famous for being dirty, damaging by pollution, contaminated by factory rejections.
So we took the T and we stop at aquarium station on the red line. And this is what I saw :

It was amazing! How one of the biggest harbors of the East Coast could be so immaculate.
Then all of the international students embarked and here started the visit tour presented by our devoted teacher Bruce Berman.
Boston area includes 34 islands. Each island has their own history and details. I don’t remember the name of each one, but some of them really make me a deep impression.
For example we have an island which was used as a prison, another one used as a military place, another one is a vacation meeting for a lot of kids every year.
But the one which impressed me the most was the island were all the infrastructures to clean the water were settled. Indeed, thanks to an investment of 6 billion dollars this island was born and the spoilt water treated before been rejected in the ocean.
After 30 minutes we finally arrived in the farthest part of the trip called Quincy bay. Here is a very charming seafront which according to the professor, is able become one on the most attractive place for residents.

On our way back we talk about what made Boston city one of the most prosperous and wealthy city of the East Coast. Three things, firms that settled there since 1970, then money from dead people, and then human capital and resources. Indeed Boston includes very attractive universities.
Back to the land we discuss about the the Big Dig. This 18 billions unique project had leterally consisted on replacing the highway by an area of grass and burying the highway undergroud.
It was one of the most complex project ever done. It has required engineers, and technologic innovations for almost 6 years.

After this rewarding trip we went to Quincy market have lunch with some international students. And this is how finished our introduction to American management class.

Hope you enjoyed my post. Can’t wait for another trip like this one.
See you on Wednesday guys!

Alex

2010-09-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hi folks !
Hope you spent a good weekend, I wanted to post my feelings about the boat trip on Wednesday.
First, whereas I thought we would meet in a very cold and hazy morning in a dark and dirty harbor after a very short night… Well, even if the night has been quite short, I was really surprised to board in a modern and sunny harbor. I arrived there at 8:30 after taking the red line until the T station Aquarium.
After listening to a brief introduction by Mr. Berman about the history of Boston's Harbor and the importance of it in the economy of Massachusetts, we were explained that nowadays tourism and real estate represent the most important source of income of the area.
We boarded for a 1-hour sailing trip to discover the bay of Boston and its 34 islands such as Spectacle Island, Long Island, Green Island, Moon Island, Peddock’s Island…
Looking at a map of the Boston harbor, we can see that it is part of the Massachusetts Bay between Cape Ann (in the north) and Cape Cod (in the south). The Boston Harbor includes 5 main bays: Dorchester Bay, Quincy Bay Winthrop Bay, Hull Bay and Hingham Bay.

Despite a hard wind which made the crossing choppier than we could have thought, Professor Berman tried to emphasize the richness of such an area. He showed us all the different islands, the origins of their names and their stories. Many of them now form a part of a national park whereas, before they were used as hospitals, military bases and even as jails …
After a slight stop in Quincy, where we saw a huge boat from the navy, the Uss Salem. We came back to Boston seeing the America’s first lighthouse built in 1716 and the Logan International Airport and the Boston light.

Back in the harbor, we were shown by Prof. Berman, the last huge project of Boston, called “Big Dig”, which cost 18 billion dollars. The aim of such a megaproject was to replace the highway which used to cross through the city by a long green park, the greenway. A project which now enables the Bostonians to spend more time in a peaceful space.
Another project was made up, the “Boston Harbor Cleanup” which aimed at make the harbor as clean as possible.
These two projects have been carried out successfully, and I’m glad to live in such an ambitious and great city.
Thank you Mr. Berman for such a trip,
See you all on Wednesday!
Harold

Field trip through Harbor Islands!!!

2010-09-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends as much as I did!

About the field trip we went on last wednesday, the first thing I have to say is YEY! I didn't

See you all in class!!!

Paloma

2010-09-26T19:38:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody,

as Bruce Berman instructed us .... I will now share the experiences I made during the Harbor Islands adventure with you

First of all I have to say that I was surprised that the whole group managed to show up at 9 in the morning.

After some introductory words Mr Berman gave us some interesting historical information about the harbor district. One of the most striking buildings of the Boston skyline for instance was former used as look out for ship owners. The temporal advance of knowing their ship would reach the home harbor with valuable goods entirely presented an advantage for the local merchants.

Next topic we covered was the economic importance of the harbor for Boston's economy.

The main sources of income are tourist like us doing a boat trip or whale watching. Another more profitable source is the real estate sector. Many people as almost everywhere around the world like to have a sea view from their apartment in addition to a beautiful city location hence the prices exploded the last decades. By the way the properties on the harbor islands are strongly limited.

Another declining source is fishing and cargo shipping.

Few minutes after entering the boat we experienced a completely new view on Boston's skyline:

During our way out to the Harbor Islands Mr Berman tried to give us some information about the Islands we passed concerning their shape or their names. I say trying because the acoustic was quiet poor out on the windy boat platform.

We passed one Islands with slower pace so even I could understand Mr Berman's words. They showed some buildings for Boston's socially disadvantaged people. So although they are poor they at least have a nice sea view...but seriously the buildings are absolutely misplaced because of the big distances to the city center and educational facilities.

After some more beautiful sunny minutes on the boat we came back to Boston harbor and Bruce gave us some final information to explain the city's success and beauty.

Boston has a big financial and educational sector which is because of it's former impact on world trade. One could say the banks founded in Boston and still exist are still profiting from dead men's money. The educational institutions in Boston would probably not be the world's best without it's strong economy and hence the investment in this sector.

Another big impact on Boston as we know it today had the big dig (a project which last for a long time bringing some of the most jammed streets into tunnels under the city) and a project financed by Boston itself which facilities still keep the harbor's water clean and it's estates valuable.

Concluding I have to say it was a nice day and I am looking forward to more fieldtrips like this!!!!

Chris

Boston Harbor

2010-09-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I suppose when tourists or Bostonians visited Boston Harbor a couple of years ago they did not enjoy it at all. Nobody wants to spend any time at polluted water. However, this has finally changed due to the “Clean Act”. So when we visited the harbor last week, it was clean and nice. Everyone had a great time taking a round trip on a boat seeing a great city from another perspective. We were able to look at the entire city from the water having probably the best view imaginable.

The harbor looks nice. OK. But what does it contribute to Boston’s economy? The harbor is an important economical institution for Boston. The shipping industry is an important factor for Boston’s wealth and the labor force in general. However, it is not only the shipping business that the harbor offers to Boston’s economy. Furthermore the harbor is a famous place visited by tourists who spend a lot of money during this trip.

As we can see Boston Harbor is a nice and very important site for anyone who has a connection to Boston. There are even people who live on boats there.

See you in class!

Daniel Sandberg

Boat Trip

2010-09-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

Waow I have to say that it’s REALLY hard to post something interesting on the blog after what you all have written… Anyway, I’ll give a try…

So, we had to give our impressions on the Boat Trip that we did (I won’t precise which day we did it, as we all know when it was haha) and I really enjoyed it, as everybody apparently. Indeed, it’s 100 times much more pleasant to have class on a boat and to learn for instance, about the economic impact of this harbor on Boston, than being in a classroom. This trip was entertaining and rich of new information for us so what could we expect else ? To do it again maybe… !!,

We've seen a lot of islands (there are 34 islands around Boston as everybody knows) on our way to Quincy Bay and hopefully, some of them have really simple names such as Long Island, Moon Island, Spectacle Island, Peddocks Island (Did you know guys that some scenes of Martin Scorsese’s movie “Shutter Island” take place in this island ?!)

We also have learned that Boston used to be one of the dirtiest harbor in the United States as the waste weren’t enough treated before being dumped into the harbor. Since almost $5 billion have been invested in the Boston Harbor Project, by the government to clean the harbor’s water and reconsider the way of treating waste, the harbor of Boston is now famous in the USA for the clean of its water. Indeed, you can’t smell anything when you’re near the water… !

Secondly, a huge national project has been conducted at the end of the 1990’s, called the Big Dig which has especially lightened the traffic jam in the center of Boston, and has made the harbor much more pleasant as a place to live.

Those two huge investments have helped the Boston Harbor to become as active as it is today. Indeed, shipping is still nowadays one of the principal activities of this harbor such as Tudor did in the 17^th century. Besides, fishing is a big part of the Boston Harbor's activity too as we saw for instance, many boats from Cosco, the Chinese company. Thus, it has contributed for sure to the economic wealth of Boston, but the tourism has played an important role in this play too. Thanks to the high activity of the Boston Harbor and thanks to the two projects about which I spoke before, the harbor became more attractive for the tourists as well as Boston.

Finally, one of the other strength of Boston is “dead people money”… In general, people used to invest the money of a relative died, into a city’s project and it has been a real factor in the growing economic wealth of Boston.

Moreover, people have created and built churches and a lot of institutions such as MIT, Harvard… to create a human capital in order to support and develop the growing economic wealth.

I hope that we could make an other trip like this one soon,

See you on Wednesday !

Jade

Bonsoir !

2010-09-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Last wednesday, we went on a boat trip, to visit and learn about the Boston's harbor.

First of all, Boston's harbor is situated between Cap Code and Cap Ann and contains a lot of islands. Indeed there is 34 islands as Moon island, Bumpkin island, etc ... and are all part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. this Area was established in 1996.

During the trip porfessor Berman told us lots of information about theses Islands, but to my mind there was two key informations. The first one was the Central Artery/Tunnel (The Big Dig), and the second one, the cleaning project.

1) The Big Dig project is one of the most expensive highway project in the United States, and one of the most complex undergroung engineering project, it cost US$18 billion. The aim of this project was to redue the traffic especially for North-South trip.

By creating underground highway, it allowed to have green spaces in the center of Boston, as you can see on the following picture.

2) The cleaning water project. Because of the harbor pollution, the health of the community started to become affected. That's why they created MWRA.

Nowadays, Boston's Harbor is one of the most clean harbor in the world. Most of the facilities are located on Deer Islands wich permit to treat waste water from 43 surrounding communities of Boston. This project cost US$6 million.

See you on wednesday

Benjamin

Boat trip...

2010-09-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!!

Last wednesday we went for a boat trip to Boston Harbour with professor Bruce Berman. I had a great time as the weather was perfect...I was aware of Boston's weather before coming here but for the moment it is nearly better than in Spain!!

During the Trip, professor Bruce was telling us about Boston's Harbour History and also about its 34 islands. I have to say is one of the cleanest harbour I have ever seen. I remember also all that was explained about Boston's Big Dig, I found it really interesting because I did a case study about this project in Spain with professor Warburton...it was such a failure!!! That makes me remember that there was an island that we saw during the trip that was quite taller than the others, that was because they use to throw there all the sand the got from the Big Dig. I think that island was Spectacle Island...but I am not completly sure!!

Getting to Quincy Bay, there were some houses just near the sea that were build by the goverment and given at a low cost to the poorest part of the population of the city. That wasn't a good decision as they were quite away from the city so all that people living there didn't have the way to go to the city center. I also found interesting that coming back, Mr.Berman told us about an island that had an hospital where the movie "Shutter Island" was filmed...I watched that film in the plane coming to Boston, it was great!!

After the boat trip we went for a walk through the financial district, where we saw quincy market, the city hall and other important buildings. After that, my friend Sameer (the one in the photo below) and two italian friends went to have lunch near Quincy market.

I hope you liked my post although is not one of the biggest....by the way, I am one of the 10% that prefers to live not near the sea!!

See you all next week,

JAIME

Feed back of our little last trip

2010-09-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone

It’s the time for the all of us to share our differents thoughts about this first field trip!

Every thing started on September 22sd in the Quincy Market area. We all took the boat and at this time our nice trip through the Boston Harbor Islands begin. The weather was perfect to learn about our new environment.

You have 34 islands that constituted the harbor and that were a part of the National Park since 1996. At the beginning, they were forming a big glacier (1 mile high) which carried huge rocks on it. The first island, we have passed in front was the Airport which represent 3 islands actually. Then we continued our trip and were passed by the Cosco boats and containers, which are a Chinese cargo company. Then we could see, Long island (because it is long) or Spectacle Island (because it looks like a pair of glasses). During all this trip I was wondering how the harbor could be so clean and well maintained. In fact, in the south of France Harbors are so dirty you have plastic bag everywhere and it is not a such big one than the Boston one so the question was killing me. Mr. Bermann answered to that very easily: the water treatment, which is based on the “clean water act” in 1972. It is important to keep this Harbor clean, because it is one of the pillars of Boston’s economy and so a part of New England.

The other key sources of the Boston’s economy are also:

- real estate

- Tourism

- Financial Hub

As for me this trip was really interesting, for some reasons. First, seeing a city from the sea is so much different and really interesting because you see thing you have never seen before. Second, as Boston my new city for 1 year, it is good to learn about it, and this trip made me closer to the city. To conclude, It was very nice to spend this trip with you guys from all over the world and also learn about each other cultures and countries. Cant wait to see u all on Wenesday

Cheers xx

Boat trip in Boston

2010-09-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!!!

I want to share my feelings about the boat trip we did last wednesday with Mr Berman. Fortunately, the wether was very nice and we got an outstanding guide! I was very enthusiast to discover Boston because it's a beautiful city with a lot of history and I want to learn about the city where I'm going to live during one year.

The adventure began with a brief introduction of the Boston's history. The harbor is situated between Cap Ann and Cap Cod it's one of the most important in all the united states, particularly for the economical aspect with a lot of trade of good by ship. My first impression was that the harbor was very clean. It shows that the cleaning project whose has cost 6 billion dollars works very well!

I was very surprised to learn there are 34 island around the Boston area! And they all have an utility whose have changed during a lot of years like prisons, hospitals, military bases...

3 of all this island are used for the airport and some housing for the poor has been built in an other.

It was also very interesting to learn that each island has a name like "Spectacle island" or "Moon island".

Mr Berman told us that the "Bid dig" or the central Artery project has completely changed Boston but it cost 18 billion dollars!

I want to thank Mr Berman for this trip.

See you all on wednesday!!

Alex

Hi everyone!

2010-09-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I will write about out last feilf trip to Boston harbor.

At first we met at the Long Wharf and took boat. We passed the Logan airport to our left side. Boston harbor has 34 beautiful islands and we passed through some islands. I remember the Moon Island that looks like moon, the Spectacle Island that looks like eye glasses and the Long Island. Also we saw some cargos near the harbor. Once the shipping was great industry field, but now the scale is not much as big as the past. But in 80's, it was the main factor to boost the growth of Boston. It also caused the water pollution around harbor so that once Boston was dirty city in USA. After the cleaning project started the city became the cleanest. It costs a lot and as Boston was great boosting city so there were many rich companies to get into Boston and they paid huge taxes so city can use that money.

On the way back, we saw the light house little far away. It is the oldest light house in the USA and also man-operating light house. Also I heard that it has special pattern using light.

Also we talked about the Big Dig project. It started at 1985 and ended at 2007. IT was the most expensive project in the USA. The total cost was over $ 14 billion dollars. The Big Dig project caused many changes to Boston. Although it was expensive, it creates 20,000 jobs which mean that can help the economy of Boston. The project dealt with traffic congestion so after this projects Boston has more organized section of city and roads.

Comparing with the past, the real estate of Boston grows very high and still it is rising.
Walking through the Quincy market, we could see some thin water mark on the ground and it means the seashore in the past. As Boston is growing and wealthy city, many merchants are coming and use their money to develop this city such as building churches, schools and institutions. Due to those resources, there are more and more brilliant and smart expertise appears in Boston area.

Although I have been Boston for 2 months, I　still do not know much about Boston. The field trip to Boston harbor was very nice and full of new information. I felt like I am being Bostonian. I hope everyone enjoyed the trip, too.

See you on Wednes day guys!

Love,

Alice

Boat trip! Javier Lliso

2010-09-26T18:22:00.001-07:00

Hey!

Its hard to say things which have not yet been said! To start with just wanted to say how great the boat ride was, even the weather was perfect!

All the islands looked really nice, and it is very impressive that there are actually 34 islands! Some are definitely a must see. I hope I get the chance to visit some of them. Especially Spectacle Island seems very interesting given the fact that a lot of its soil is from the big dig.

What is really incredible about Boston is the capability of adapting the city has had. The Big Dig was an incredible effort to make the city a lot more friendly and efficient. Its hard to imagine now that less than 5 years ago there was a huge highway in the middle of the city! What the Big Dig actually cost, ($18 billion) is not less impressive. Its also an incredible engineering job. What seems very hard to imagine is the fact that they used ground-freezing to be able to create the big dig. It is actually very interesting how they had to work so hard to be able to make a tunnel under the city! and in the end, it worked out fine.

Speaking about the Boston Harbor clean-up project is also very important. The fact that up to 280 million gallons of human residues were dumped daily gives us an idea of how dirty it actually was. That maybe isn't the worst part, you cant forget the smell! We should be very thankful for the functioning of this project, and being able to experience a clean harbor. What is incredible about this project, is how efficiently it was carried out. A judge was appointed for the project, and that made everything work much better. Especially if we compare it to the scandals and problems which surrounded the Big Dig!

What I found very interesting about the way Boston is set up, is how thanks to both these projects, the real-estate market close to the water sky rocketed. There are apartments and houses with incredible views today, in lands which use to be not very valuable. Proof of this is the houses for the poor which were made to help those less favored, right at the sea front. Not only have these projects made real-estate much more valuable, but they have made tourism a very important industry for Boston.

We cant forget about the importance of us students for the city! The amount of students who live in Boston is incredible. I believe this is a great advantage for us, makes the city much more vibrant and alive!

Therefore, what I find incredible of Boston, is the capability of this city to adapt to changes, and how hard it has worked for what it is now!

Take care!

Javier

Boston a habor city

2010-09-26T18:17:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody,

On Wednesday, Sep 22., we went on a field trip to explore the Boston harbor. At 9.00 am we started our excursion at the Christopher Columbus Park. The Boat took us around the harbor.

I learned that the Boston harbor consist of 34 islands, which belong to the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Some of the Islands are Long Island, Spectacle Island (named after its shape), and Snake Islands, and more.

The Bostonians spent a lot of money to clean the harbor, over $5.0 bn, now it is one of the cleanest in the US. This led to a dramatic increase in real estate prices along the waterfront. Before the cleaning, the premises were mostly used for public housing to shelter the poor. Not a good idea as Bruce pointed out, the houses are away from schools, super markets, and jobs. Hence, are not suitable for people who cannot afford a car to go to these places.

Another big project around the harbor was the big dig, a city development project that submerged the highly frequented inner city highway. It started in 1982, and was finished just recently. The initial costs were estimated to be $2.4 bn, however, this could not be achieved, and the actual cost rose to a total of $15.0 bn. Luckily, as Bruce said, the costs were shouldered by the federal government.

Finally, I want to concentrate on the history of the harbor, and how it affects todays prosperity, and economic progress of Boston. Due to its location the harbor was soon one of the most important ones in the world, attracting a lot of trade and commerce. This brought wealth to the city, at one point the richest city in the world. The wealthy traders built churches and colleges, such as Harvard, MIT, and BU. In addition, the sea trade required sophisticated financial institutions to handle the transactions. Both, the colleges and the banks found back then, account for Boston’s current economic success. The university and colleges further higher education and research, while the banks provide attractive jobs to the college graduates to keep them in the city.

I think that the field trip helped me to extend my mental picture of Boston, and will help me to understand this growing, vibrant city furthermore throughout the semester.

Take care!

Malte

Harbor Cruise Field Trip

2010-09-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

So that a lot of people already posted the facts, I think it’s not necessary to repeat them again. Instead I will explain my own impressions of the trip and what I picked out of it.

The Harbor-Cruise was amazingly interesting and highly educational. How the geography of the Boston Harbor influenced the wealth and how this influenced Boston like it is today. How the mistakes that were made in the past by not caring about the water-quality and building a Highway that divided the city, have been identified and removed. The amount of money and time invested in these big projects to secure the future wealth and prosperity of the city is impressive, like the technics used to realize them.

The history of Boston and projects like the enlargement of the waterfront shows, that change was always necessary and will always be to sustain the wealth and the attractiveness of the City. The changes are impressive if you take into consideration that not so long ago social housing seemed to be a good idea and now it is a place where everyone wants to life.

In my opinion the clean water is maybe the most important improvement. The good smell and the beauty of the ocean are key factors for a city on the coastline. When people love their town they are willing to contribute to it in either taxes or personal engagement more, what leads to successful city where people love even more to life in. The growing economy in the last 30 years are proof of this success and the vision of earlier leaders of the City and State who have been brave enough to bring these changes to life by investing great amounts of money, time and work.

The trip was summed up with the story of Frederic Tudor and the change that is always necessary to stay successful, no matter if it’s a private business or a public Institution. To see new trends and changes that needs to be adapted step by step.

I had a great time and I will remember this lesson: take the environment as it is, take care of it and meanwhile use it in the best way for achieving prosperity and securing the future and if necessary revise wrong steps I might have taken. This lesson can apply for every part of life.

I am excited for the next field trip. The expectations are fairly high after the first one.

Leo

Hey guys!

2010-09-26T17:50:00.001-07:00

Hi guys!

I had great time in the field trip we had last Wednesday.
I was surprised how close the harbor was and how everyone did not forget to bring their camera!

Anyway, our great journey started from gathering around at the circle in front of Marriot Long Wharf and listening to what Mr. Berman said about the harbor. He mentioned about Custom House Tower. If I remember it right, it was the tallest building in Boston, and before the land reclamation, its light was useful to the boats sailing around Boston harbor.
On the boat, it was interesting that harbors nearby looked different. Long Wharf, once was a commercial wharf, is now used as a recreational and cultural center. But when we were just a bit out of the Long Wharf, there were different wharfs with different uses. I was impressed with many cargos on the ships.

We were told that there are thirty four islands along the harbor. Of course we didn’t have a chance to see every island but we certainly saw some beautiful, or at least, meaningful islands. The islands have their own roles. For example, Deer Island has a water puri system and Spectacle Island is used for recreation.

When we were about to turn back to Long Wharf, the story about a town that was provided to poor people was interesting. They had inconvenient life there, but got paid off because of the real estate. The government may have thought about the result, or not, but I think it is a happy ending anyway. I guess real estates are really important all over the world as what Mr. Berman and a teacher from other class (I know many of you take that class!:)) said. The vessel was cool too. But it seemed like Navy had left it there for a long time.

Mr. Berman talk about the Big Dig, and how the waste had to released couple years ago. Bostonians complained about it even though it was only amount of daily release back in the days because the endeavor to purify water and harbor made them so clean. When we walked into the town and saw the seashore line, I was amazed by the effort of Americans to reserve their history.

I had a lot of fun during the trip with you guys! But I regret that I forgot my camera! We are definitely going to have another field trip, so I’ll not forget then, and take a lot of pics!

Thank you for reading my long entry and I wish you all the best!

Min Whan Yang

Big Dig & Boston Harbor

2010-09-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hellooo!!!
Last wednesday I had the most interesting class that I've had since I was a Kid...when the school took you on a field trip for the day you got together with your class mates and you hads thousand different stories for the week! This field trip wasn't that kind of trip but it was pretty interesting.
Everybody sayd that the weather was nice...sincerely I was in the outside and I thnik that it was to windy and very cold in the boat. I didn't catch to much of what the teacher said, but..yuhu!!!it was an outside class!!!hehe
I live in a city where the harbor was the most important source of commerce, but that was when America was discover, so I didn't know to much about harbor's city till last wednesday. It surprised me how clean it was, and later we were told about this huge project of the city of Boston which explained everything.
Besides the harbor I found amazing the Islands. The natural park, the names, the airport heading to the sea... Even though we didn't get to set a foot on one of them and spend the day at the beach for example, we were able to get some idea of what were the islands, how they've helped in the past and how they help today. Today you can visit Harbor's Islands either to walk through nature, have a ggod day at the beach..or you can find some interesting facts, like the huge vasts of water in deer island or the lighthouse in the distance.
After that we arrived to Quincy Harbor. Wow! I do want one of those houses!!or get a ride in the huge navy boat!
Let's get back to Boston.
After we arrived we learnt about the Big Dig. A national project which was 8 times more expensive than planned and took three times the expected time and tons of rats appeared!! But it changed Boston. If you search pics, you'll notice that is a different city. Much cleaner, quieter and nicer.
I hope you enjoyed as much as I did and you learnt a little too!!
See ya next week!!

The field trip of boston harbor

2010-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,
Last wednesday we went to the boston harbor for field trip,it was a really nice day to have our journey,and also it was the moon's festival of China.

I been dreaming about taking a boat go out for sailing,but my first time,which was the last time, went to sailing wasn't a very pleasure experience,beacause I been sick for the whole trip...while this time was different,the wind were not that strong,so the ship wasn't waving very intensively,I really enjoyed the field trip.

Our trip began at the Marriott Long Wharf,which is locate at boston harbor district.After professor Bruce gave a short brief introduction about boston harbor,we got on a boat all the down to the Fore River shipyard.The most amazing thing was that there is the USS Salem resting in the harbor!

It was a awesome trip,I really appreciate that I have this chance to see what boston is like.What makes boston wealth and prospect?Definitely,the industry of education.In Chinese we say：读万卷书，不如行万里路.Literally it means traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books,while I think it means travelling is a good way to experience life,to make our knowledge vivid.The field trip made me fully understand the histroy and geography of boston harbor.Unfortunately it seems the association of chinese education has already forgot that words.

Anyway,back to our topic,at the end of the trip professor talked about the "big dig", a project was developed in response to traffic congestion on Boston's historically tangled streets,finally resulted in the most expensive highway project in the US,and related to" criminal arrests,escalating costs, death, leaks, and charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials."(wikipedia)

To conclude my essay,I should say 1:4:3 boston!
I fell in love with boston at first sight!

Tao Xu

2010-09-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

Few days ago, we went on a boat to visit the Boston Harbor area and see the different islands. It was on wednesday and the weather was really great for this kind of trip!! Unfortunatelly, i am probably the only one who forgot his camera so I don't have pictures of this trip. We learned interesting informations especially about the history of the port and the different islands but also about the big tunnel in Boston. Afterwards, I saw a documentary on this huge tunnel and it is really impressive and I think it is one of the most amazing construction project of the world. What I really learn this day is the story of the tunnel of Boston because it is the most impressive and I like this kind of huge projects.

See you

My impressions about boat trip

2010-09-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I'm coming to the blog to share with all of you my impressions about the last wednesday morning boat trip.

First thing : what a breath of fresh air !!!! It was so good to be in the ocean on the boat with a beautiful view on downtown Boston !!!

About the explanations and the speech of Mr Berman, I' have to be honest I did not understand a lot because of the wind on the boat !!!! As one of the aim of the trip was to understand the geography of Boston bay, I tried to draw the trip we did on an map. Have a look at the map and don't hesitate to let me know if I'm wrong !!!

I've been very impressed by the explanations about Big Dig because I'm interested in the huge construction. I knew a lot about the Big Dig before coming to Boston but I realized how it has changed life of all bostonian people. I have found very beautiful how the excavated dirt from the Big Dig have been used to resurface Spectacle Island. Now, it looks very wild and natural.

I hope you enjoyed my post.

See you on Wednesday,

Boat trip, my impressions

2010-09-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

HI everyone!

Coming back to the blog to share my impressions about the boat trip we did last Wednesday morning. Thanks to Mr. Berman we are all more informed about the city where we live for one semester or for the all year.
We all can consider that It was the perfect day to do a boat trip, the sun was shining, there was no clouds and not so much wind. So luckily nobody was sick!

Boston’s harbor is located between Cap Cod and Cap Ann; on the eastside we could sea the airport built on three islands and in the south the industrial district of Boston.

To beginning the journey we all met at the Central Wharf in the harbor front district, it is a fundamental place in the city because Boston developed its economy and get rich thanks to the harbor, with the businesses relationships with Gran Britain and Antilles. Nowadays, the economic function of Boston harbor includes transportation, industrial manufactory and business (the exported products are essentially: alcohol, paper, wood, gas, fishes). But, as we were able to noticed, the most profitable is the real estate in fact, a lot of people dream about a house next to the sea or better, on an island!

Boston’s harbor is located between Cap Cod and Cap Ann; on the eastside we could sea the airport built on three islands and in the south the industrial part of Boston.

By navigating on the Boston Bay I noticed that there were a huge number of islands, 34 actually which belong to a national park. Every island has it own history, for instance Georges Island is known for its beautiful beaches and a castle called Warren fort. On Little Brewster Island there is the older united state lighthouse. Others islands owe theirs names to theirs shapes such as long island or Spectacle Island.

To finish the trip, Professor Berman told us about the “Big Dig” also known as the “Central Artery Project” the cost were about $18 million paid by the tax of Boston’s citizen. The project was to build a green area instead of a noisy highway.

I enjoy this trip with all of you, good luck for the beginning of the week!
See you Wednesday, bisous
Clara

Trip to the islands!

2010-09-26T15:36:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!!!
I can see that no one forgot to bring their camaras except me! I dont have any pictures! But I have the whole trip on my mind! ; )
I had an amzing trip! I just not only enjoyed the boat trip, i also found it realy interesting!
I was suprised that the harbour has 34 islands!!! And soo small!!! I also conidered very intersting the reason of existance of them. They are rests of an acient glaciar! And that the harbour was also a war strategic place!
Im glad that the island are protected inside a natural park!
I wish it doesnt get too cold and i can take my parents when they come!
Hope to do more trips like this!
See you guys in class next wednesday and prepare for Tudor´s quiz!
Besos!!
Carolina

Selling England by the Pound

2010-09-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

If I’ve learned anything from blogging is that blog entries should be positive and brief, so I’ll try to stick to this golden rule.

Two weeks ago, I had a funny idea of Boston. In my mind, the city was something like this:

Apart from learning about islands’ names, public projects’ budgets and the word “drumlin”, this is what our field trip did for me:

It expanded my view of the city! Two things about this map are important:

1) It is cool because it has a picture this new movie “The Town”, in which the neighborhoods of Fenway and Charlestown are shown among gunshots.

2) It represents the dynamic nascent economy that developed around trade, thanks to its naturally protected harbor.

As professor Berman pointed out, today Boston’s key strengths are innovation, human capital and the financial sector, but these big three are all the result of the investment done by fortunes made through national and international trade.

So, to certain extent, apart from geographically expanding my view of the city, after the trip I think of Boston in a historical way, covering from Tudor’s stubborn adventures to the skyscrapers + universities formula of today.

Hopefully, now that I have a wide idea of this economy I can start to fill in the gaps, learn what parts play each neighborhood in Boston’s economy and position this city and Massachusetts in the vast American economy.

FIeld Trip

2010-09-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I hope you have a great weekend. I want to share my feelings of the field trip last Wednesday with you guys now.

Through Google Map, I find out that the voyage was really a long one. Our boat left Long Wharf and traveled south-east, crossing many quiet, beautiful islands, and finally reached Fore River shipyard, where the huge USS Salem, the heavy cruiser of World War 2, rested. We went to a park where a flyover stood several years ago after the voyage, because it was a clue of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. (The big dig) We also went to the Quincy Market where we finished our wonderful trip.

There is no need to describe the details; you guys have already done great jobs here. I want to tell you the answer of the question I was thinking about on the trip: What makes Boston a great city. I think it is the willing to change. The pioneers, the early colonizers of Boston, made a lot of money by fishing. But they did not stick to the old way of accumulating wealth. Instead, they used their money in various places: They constructed Faneuil Hall for the development of the city; they did investment; they built universities; they perfected transportation systems… Their offspring are also seeking new ways to make Boston better: they clean up the harbor, thus helping the development of the real estate market; they do the big dig to release the heavy traffic of downtown area. Their payback of their devotion is the wonderful Boston prosperous both in economy and living standard.

Change and risk go hand in hand. I know the obstacles appearing in the big dig: ceiling collapsing, leaking, cost overrun, and other more serious problems. But that is not the excuse of staying where they were and do nothing. I remember Fredric Tudor, the so-called ice king, but his empire no longer exists due to his (or maybe his company’s) conservation. I also remember the majestic battleship Salem, once the unmeasured king of the ocean, now is in the harbor, rusted to wrecks---- he belongs to the past. Time is fleeting; the world is changing, so we must keep up with the time.

Fortunately, the people of Boston know this. They keep changing and make Boston a great city.

Boston by Boat....

2010-09-26T14:06:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody,

In this post, I will tell you about the things I learned of Boston, the histoy of New England and how the region managed to be wealthy.

First, Boston is a city with a beautiful harbour, in which you can have the best view on the city, especially on sunny days ! The harbour in composed of marinas and boats for the leasure part, but also of a commercial parts, with a lot of container from all around de world (China, ...).
The harbour is a main factor in the city's wealth, because it used to be an important ship harbour. But the wealthy of Boston didn't come from the sea.
Around the city, there is 34 islands, with houses, plants and other things which were great actors in the development of the city and are now national parks. For example, one of them is specialized in water cleaning. Boston used to be a very poluted harbour, but the city invested several bilions dollars to clean and maintain the water good, which is a very important thing.
A long time ago, there was more islands but some of them were linked to Boston, in order to extend the city (airport and castle island).

Nowadays, the wealth of Boston also come from tourism and finance. The city is becomming a big place in finance and some banks and other companies are here. These companies can use the importance of universities, which have very good reputations (Harvard, MIT, BU...)
The tourism is also a big part of Boston's devellopment. The city is quite old and cultural. The atmosphere in it is really quiet and we have the feeling that we are in a europpean city, without huge buildings, stress, etc.

To conclude, I learned on wednesday that the wealthy and the development of the city is the result of several factors, industries and uses of the goegraphy and geology of the region (e.g. Frederic Tudor). It was very interesting to see all these evolutions, the history of the harbour and with a weather like this, I can easily say that Boston is one of the most beautiful city on Earth (after Lyon of course)

See ya

Max

Field trip!!

2010-09-26T13:57:00.002-07:00

Hi Everybody,

Hope you all have enjoyed the weekend and the good weather!

Even though I have been on a whale watching trip a few weeks ago I saw Boston Harbor from another view after our boat trip last Wednesday. We learned a lot about the harbor, its history and the economical aspect. I will try to point out some of the topics here.

The Harbor and the waterfront are so beautiful and really worth visiting, but this has not always been the case. It used to be one of the dirtiest harbors but this all changed with the Boston Harbor Project. It cost $4.5 billion, but was worth all the money. This also made the waterfront a very attracted place to live!

Historic Boston Harbor was very important. Frederic Tudor, also known as the Ice King, was a very successful man who understood how to take advance of something as simple as water. He founded of The Tudor Ice Company in Boston and shipped ice to Caribbean, Europe and even India. The company harvested ice in bonds around Boston.

Fishing (especially lobsters) is still an industry in Boston but what is more economical dynamic is the tourists. Boston is a big tourist destination which makes the Logan Airport very important. The Big Dig was a mega highway project that changed the traffic huddle in Boston. It is the most expensive highway project in USA. Before the project it took 45min to get from Logan Airport to BU and now it only takes 15 min! It is not only faster to get around but it is also prettier - it transformed from an asphaltjungle to a nice green view because the roads are now hided in tunnels under the city. They actually took all the ground and put it on Long Island, which is why it looks so high.

What I love most about the harbor is the islands. There are 34 of them and they are each unique and have their own little history. Many of them are named after their shape for example The Spectacle Island, Moon Island and Long Island.

That was all for now. Hope there will be more field trips.

Trine

no title

2010-09-26T13:57:00.001-07:00

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A ride with the wind.

2010-09-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hi future managers!

Luckily, we all got in time (even the spanish people!) for the boat trip, and no one was left behind. Some had the chance to smoke before the exciting departure and we all heard a brief introduction about the history of Boston's Harbor, coming out from Professor Bruce Berman's mouth. By the way, have any of you seen his boat?

What still strikes me the most of the Americans is that they use simple and logical words to name things. in this case, we have all seen that one of the islands looks like some spectacles, and therefore has been named after 'Spectacle Island'. Another one of the 34 Harbor Islands is called 'Moon Island' because it is also shaped like that. It is an easy way of remembering their names. In Europe, people would try to be so original that they would complicate it even more. For ski resorts, the slopes are numbered. In the US, they hace names! Bruce told us that he planned a private boat trip to Spectacle Island this weekend, he had good weather for sure. I am so jealous! Coming from an island in Spain called Mallorca, I am used to the sea. It gives me the sensation of peace and liberty..away from the noise and the city. The other day at the trip, I realized how much I appreciate the place where I come from and that if I had to choose between living next to the sea or right in the city, my choice would be the first option without doubt!

Going back to the topic, I have checked out the difference between Boston before and after the 'Big Dig'. What a difference it makes! The 18 Billion dollars that it cost to make it, together with the work of about 20,000 workers and within the time frame of 20 years is pretty impressive. As we learned, these projects take a long time to be planned and even to be made! The result was worth it. Otherwise, the other day when we were walking next to Quincy Market, the noise would have been horrible and a deterrent of our conversations if it would have been like in the past. Cars passing above us, some beeping...The carrousel music was far more entertaining than that.

The Harbor is very clean. Much more than Harbors is Spain for example. The estimate of 5 Billon dollars that Boston Harbor invested in cleaning it up has been effective. No bottles thrown inside, no plastics that can get caught in the motor of the boat...good! The 'Long Wharf' is known due to the extension that was made @ the Harbor. Before, the water was right below the building of the clock. Now, its further away and many building surround the Harbor, hotels like the Marriot or InterContinental too. Before, the Harbor was used mainly for shipping, like in the days when Frederic Tudor, the 'stubborn' man decided to export Boston's ice to the Caribbean and later to India. Real Estate is the best investment that can be made in Boston right now. Especially if its close to the sea, because everyine wants a view to the ocean. With the Harbor, the reputation of Boston's universities such as MIT, Harvard, BU, etc...the state is considered to have great expertise and new innovating ideas.

It is incredible how they built houses for the poor in the islands, and how the value of the houses in the port have increased due to its cleaning investment. I wish I would have a house there! The only thing I wouldn-t like id to live close to the fertiliser plant. The smell wasn't too comforting at Quiny Port. However, we have all noticed that it gets pretty windy around the Harbor Islands, and thats also a reason why there are some windmills built to profit from the wind energy. They are for sure much nicer to view than the electrical power towers!

Even though the wind was cold on our way back to Boston's Long Wharf and it messed up the girl's hair a little, it was worth the excursion.

What no one will forget is that 1:2:3 'I Love You' is the way the old lighthouse works.
Next excursion:to try the best Hot Dog on the island after class!

See you all on Wednesday,

Take care,

Tess.

More about the field trip

2010-09-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

Public housing was installed in the area, as the harbor was formerly not a great place to live, due to the stink produced by the 280 million gallons of waste poured into the water daily. However, after the cleanup, these houses have become a good investment for those who bought them for a good price from the government and are now selling them for more than a million dollars!
In 1986, the non-profit organization "Save the Harbor" was founded (http://www.savetheharbor.org/)

Remember the lighthouse? One of the oldest in the US and still not fully mechanized, in order to keep "the charm" for visitors. Wasn't 1-4-3 the sequence to say "I love you"?

This is the view of the harbor in South Boston, what a splendid weather we enjoyed!

No wonder why real state has rocketed in the area, it is near downtown Boston, there is no high way in between any more and living by the sea is everyone's dream.

The economy was previously based on fishing and ship commerce, however now it has turned into a very turistic area with plenty of hotels and restaurants.

Can you imagine the old sore line near the customs home?!

Great field trip!

2010-09-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Hi guys !

I want to post my impressions of the great field trip we made last Wednesday, I learnt a lot about my city for 1 year! Thanks Mr Berman!

During this journey we discovered the harbor of Boston and his area! First of all, we began with Central Wharf heading to Quincy, sailing through the Boston Harbor Islands! At the beginning, there was a big glacier which melted, as a consequence there were a lot of islands (34 like long island or spectacle island for example) which now belong to a national park! Before they were used as prisons, hospitals, military bases…

Boston’s harbor is located between Cap Ann and Cap Cod and it was one of the most important harbors of the United States. On the eastside, we could see the airport, which was built on 3 islands, and in the south we could see the industrial part of the Boston.

Economically, the harbor was really important because of the trade of goods by ship! We can take the example of the Ice King, Frederick Tudor who shipped ice from Boston to places all over the world!

Nowadays the harbor is still important, we saw cargo ships from Chinese companies (Cosco), which underline the activity of the harbor!

But actually, the most important economical pillars are tourism, real estate and the financial hub with firms like Google or Microsoft which moved to Boston in the past!

Then, Professor Berman told us about a big project called “Big Dig” which also knew as the Central Artery Project”: The noisy highway was moved into the underground and he was replaced by lots of green spaces which make the area of the harbor so beautiful and peace! This project cost $18 million.

Walking back to the city, we saw Quincy Market, one of the most popular areas of Boston with a lot of shops, bars and restaurants!

Finally, I really think that we are lucky to spend our time in the wonderful city!

See you on Wednesday!

Arthur

Boston Harbor Islands

2010-09-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS TRIP

Hello Everybody!

It looks like everybody had a good time last wednesday when we went to the first field trip. I have to tell I also had a lot of fun especially because the weather was perfect for this kind of adventure through Boston Harbor Islands. I am going to write here the impressions that i had about this trip.

At this point it is difficult to say something that hasn’t been mentioned before, and also because everyone of us where there in the trip and we had the possibility to see all the islands and every detail of the trip, so I just want to concentrate this post to tell something about the Harbor Islands that might be interesting for us and also for the purpose of the class and the field trips.

Just to make clear I think it is important to say that there is a group of 34 isllands in Boston´s Harbor that are used as prisions, habitat places, military bases, some of them have big stru

ctures that clean the water, etc....

When we started this trip in the left side of the boat we could see "Logan International Airport". I think it is really important to mention this, because this airport its important for Bostons economy nowadays, because its a big and important entrance for tourism and goods to Boston. In the right side we could see the industrial part of the Harbor, that´s an specific place where boats come from all over the world to ship goods

It is interesting that when you are in the boat you can see the differente sights that makes a nice contrast, because there is in one side the airport, in the other part you can see the city of Boston with tall buildings and in the other part you can see the industrial part of Boston where all the trades are donne, and its is pricesely the airport and the industrial part of Boston what makes the city of Boston to have all the things we need to live here.

Continuing the trip in the boat we were able to see all the other islands that are part of the Harbos. The most interesting one i saw is "Spectacle Island" because it has a glasses form, and also another island where the engineers put all the sand that they took of Boston when they were building the Big Dig.

The most importante thing, is that these islands have different purposes apart for just being habitat places, they were also used as a prision, as a place to train soldiers douring war. But now what i think is the best pourpose the islands have is that theyre helpfull for building water cleaners that mantain the water of the harbor clean. And i think it is really important, because as Professor Berman said "water is a source of wealth, and everybody likes water". That is really truth and i think one way to take care of this zones is by cleanind the water, which was a really expensive thing, but eventhough i think it is worth it.

When we came back to land, we talked a little bit about the project of the Big Dig, that built with federal resources, and it was made to hide the sub way and instead of having it in the city, they constructed it down the city, and where it used to be the subway there are now green places, as the Columbus Park where we had this talk.

In conclusion, i would like to say that its fun to do fild trips but it is also nice because we can have a bigger idea of why Boston is as beautifull as we know it now, its interesting to know the economy of the region, the big projects that the government has been doing here, and the social impact that this kind of activities have. Hopefully we can do this kind of trips more often.

Thanks!

Eduardo Gómez

WONDERFUL Field Trip on Wed.

2010-09-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone,

How are you this week?

I am very glad to have the field trip on Wed. Wednesday is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival according to the lunar calendar (I think many of you have already heard of it.). Even though we don’t have a day-off to celebrate it, I really think this boat trip is worthwhile not only the beautiful scenery I have seen also the deep-meaning stories told by Prof. Berman.

The economic functions of Boston Harbor nowadays include shipping, industrial manufactory, transportation, tourism and the most profitable one: REAL ESTATE. Owning a villa on such beautiful harbor or a nearby island, I think, must be one of the most people’s dreams.

When we went aboard and began our boat trip from Long Wharf to Quincy, felt the broadness of ocean, I was deeply attracted by the fascinating scene around me. I just cannot imagine that maybe 20 years ago the Boston Harbor is known as “the dirtiest harbor in America”. With the huge expenditure of the clean-up project, Boston Harbor’s beauty now is beyond my description. There are 34 islands which all have their own stories. For example, the Spectacle Island got this name because it has the shape of glasses and Long Island just because it’s quiet long; the Castle Island is not an island any more, and on that island has the cheapest hotdogs, less than $2! I also learned the meaning of signals send from Lighthouse: 1:4:3 stands for I LOVE YOU. What a romantic message to be send to!

When we come back from Quincy Bay and finished our boat trip, Prof. Berman told us some more things about Boston’s history. The prosperity of Boston is owing to three factors: human capital, innovation of companies and the money from dead people. Besides, two significant projects for reconstructing Boston Mr. Berman has mentioned are the Big Dig Project and Boston Harbor Project. Even though the expenditure of the Big Dig is high and some corruption happened during this project, it is worth waiting for that way long time. After the accomplishment of the Big Dig Highway Project, the congestion has been solved, and people can get to the Boston’s Logan Airport through Callahan and Sumner tunnels under Boston Harbor, which is part of Central Artery. The Boston Harbor Project has used about 6 billion dollars to clean up the ocean water and invest in the treatment facilities at Deer Island. This project has been considered as one of the nation’s greatest environmental achievements!

When we took a walk through Quincy Market, I just cannot believe that many years ago here it is still under water. Tide went up and down reaching the road and Market which attracts a large number of tourists today. Looking at the modern Boston and compared it with the old one, I was totally astonished by the tremendous change of the city I will stay for one year.

After class finished, we went to the Quincy Market to have lunch there. Foods were not very cheap but there were so many alternatives from Starbucks snack to Chinese noodles you can pick from.

At last, I’d like to say it was a really great opportunity to know better of Boston as well as its development. This field trip is interesting and educational. Thus, I am looking forward to next field trip!

Hope all of you have a nice weekend (the weather is so terrific for going out)!
See you soon.