Summer Trips: Helping Jessica Matriculate

Once Julia's youngest sister had made the scholarly decision to attend our alma mater, The College of the Holy Cross, we started planning to help her get there. In fact, we took Jessica there ourselves. Who better to get you moved into college than two alumni? And why not make a vacation out of it for ourselves?

So Julia, Jessica and I flew to Providence during the week before Labor Day. We got in a game of Scrabble on the way out. Julia won but I have protested the outcome of the game sighting "discrepancies and other things."


We landed late in Providence and drove to southern suburbs of Boston to spend the night. Of course Julia and Jessica were hungry and nothing is open late for food in those parts. Well, almost nothing. We grabbed some microwaveable burritos at a gas station. They were surprisingly good and moods improved.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and headed into Boston - technically we got on our way around noon but our internal clocks were still on Pacific time. We had a reservation to stay the night at a hotel in Beacon Hill called the Liberty Hotel. The hotel is located in a building that was a jail until the 1990's. They have done significant remodeling but some of the bars still remain.


From the outside the building looks great. Also, we were only yards away from Rajeeve's Beacon Hill condo. Rajeeve was one of my college roommates and still is one of our best friends. We had a great view of the hotel from his roof deck.


And that's where we went next. He has great views of the Charles River too.


After taking in the view we grabbed lunch in Beacon hill. Then Raj took us through the Boston Commons to Newbury Street. Jessica was happy to find out where Boston's fashionable shops are located.


We did some more Boston sightseeing and had dinner at Raj's place with another Holy Cross alumnus, Luke O'Neil (now world famous writer and performer - watch for his new rap album). After dinner Raj, Julia, Jessica and I headed over to The Alibi, the bar at the hotel. At Alibi I almost felt like we could have been at an LA bar but I don't know of any in LA with that much outdoor space. Too bad they can only make use of it part of the year. I guess because we can be outside year-round out here in LA we don't appreciate it as much as they do in Boston. Alibi had a full crowd of patrons even on a Wednesday night.

The next morning we got up to see some more Boston sights. We strolled through Beacon Hill and eventually made our way to the Green Dragon. This is the tavern that served as the de facto headquarters for the early American Revolution. But earlier in the day Raj took us to the site of the first ever surgery administered under anesthesia. The site is called the Ether Dome and it is housed within Mass General Hospital. I think that this may have been the highlight of Jessica's day. Blood, gore etc. (she wants to be a dentist)!


As matriculation day was quickly approaching we headed to Worcester, MA Thursday night. Somehow I was able to remember the way to Dino's, an Italian restaurant that Julia and I went on dates to when we were Holy Cross students. We enjoyed a filling Italian dinner and then drove over to another college haunt - a coffee shop called Cafe Dolce. Now that the tastes from our Holy Cross days were back in our system Julia and I decided to reacquaint ourselves and introduce Jessica to our former campus. We drove over to campus and gave ourselves a midnight tour. Some things have changed there - I think mostly for the better.

Friday was spent gathering the items that Jessica would need to start her college career. The folks at the Auburn Bed Bath and Beyond eventually got us on our way with way more stuff than I remember having when I started college. In the midst of shopping we were able to visit one of our favorite restaurants, O'Connor's. Oakies! We didn't even look at the menus once we sat down. We ate a couple of Guinness pot pies and we were satisified. Next we popped in at the Eskander house and Julia and Jessica got to meet the Eskander kids for the first time. Meg brought out some old college photos and we reminisced on our former college days... all on the night before Jessica's college adventure was set to begin.

Saturday, day one, was here! Jessica's big moving day went smoothly. Although she and two other first-year students were assigned to a room designed for two and not three students somehow we made all their stuff fit.


Jessica was moved in and ready to start a college adventure much like I and her big sister Julia did thirteen years before. I can't believe that it was that long ago but the memories are so vivid and happy that I feel like I walked that campus as a student much more recently. I'm so excited for everything that Jessica and her fellow classmates have to look forward to. I'm glad that Julia and I got a chance to help her move in.

Matriculation successful!