the first lazy sunday

waking up at 10am to the sunlight pouring into the cozy living room as you realize you have zero obligations for at least the next 24 hours may be the best feeling in the world. we went to church this morning in the cutest little chapel in cambridge. I met h's roommate who is an anesthesiologist, who went to byu, got her md from the med col of wi, and now is living her best life in boston. freaking goals.

everyone here is so put together seeming and quirky. i love it. while h was in a meeting, i walked over to the longfellow house across the street. home to the famous poet (and the first one to make a living off of it) henry longfellow. it was owned by the og george washington at some point before that too. i usually think history is my least favorite subject, but when i'm traveling it reminds me that i actually find it super interesting. the longfellow home was probably the best historic house tour i've been on. my favorite thing we learned about was henry's son, charlie. charlie was a victorian era punk who traveled to japan to stay with his woman, got giant tattoos all over his body, and sent back some dope asian artwork and sculptures every so often to his parents who were worried about him. relatable. another relatable character, fanny appleton. she was a young woman in a high class fam who met henry in the mountains of switzerland on vacation w her fam. it was a fling for her, but he fell so hard. he was writing poetry about her and publishing like mad. poetry in this era was not abstract like it is today, so it was pretty clear to the world that he was in love w her. he asked her to marry him, like so many times (i think it was many years), and she was like 'no i'm 20 and you're like 30. i just want to live my life and be single. i'm too young for this committment.' and he was like 'babe i love you, please please marry me' for the next 7 years. needless to say, it was a long, one-sided courtship. but finally, she said yes, and her dad bought the longfellow house for them and all the land up to the river so they could keep the view forever as a wedding gift. fanny really had it all. unfortunately, one day she was sending some letters to her friends and sealing the envelopes with wax, when something happened (i think the candle fell or something) and her dress caught on fire. they couldn't put it out in time and the next day she died of severe burns. but if it wasn't for this conundrum, true friendships wouldn't have come out, the Dante Club never would've been formed, and we wouldn't have the translation of Dante's Inferno that we have to day. fanny is the reason why anyone cares about henry longfellow. henry was an actual genius though, he could speak like 9 languages and write in 12. as we stood in his study, i realized that in my heart i know i want to live a somewhat posh life. i want to belong to a board of directions, attend fancy galas for charities, have my friends over for tea and talk about interesting and important things, be able to converse in many languages, and have an elegant portrait of our family hanging in a gold frame on the wall. jk, not the last, whenever i see those, i think about bac q's picture in their foyer and i laugh.

after this history adventure, and a great realization that women are the only reason anyone cares about history, h took me to a popular date spot in cambridge... mount auburn cemetery. bostonians are freaking weird. it's actually super pretty tho, V GREEN. there are trees from all over the world, so it's pretty much an arboretum with some well-known dead people. we climbed the tower to seen the view of boston and let me tell you, this city is amazing. it kind of reminds me of paris, because the river runs through it. and it started to drizzle a little bit. i love rain. the rest of sunday was super chill. we walked back to her place and i learned how to make halal sauce to go with our dinner. i played on her piano, and realized i'm not to shabby at improving, but i still mega suck at sight reading. i attempted to start learning the guitar too.

this was probably the most relaxing day i've had in 5ever. h is the best. i would walk thru boston a million times over for her, and because of the fact that i am in love with this city.

currently, i am sitting in the old south church, which has the most beautiful stained glass windows and chandeliers wondering where my adventures will take me the next 24 hours. life is wonderful.

thoughts on solo travel

pros: meeting new people, talking with old friends

cons: finding ways to entertain myself, not being able to take a nap in a public park for fear of looking homeless (even though technically i am)

grateful for: good home cooked meals, playing instruments, classical music, history, good stories, awkward people, half coherent chats, learning new things, fruit