It was a short ride from Brenda's house to our Warmshowers contact in Boston. I have mentioned it before but for those of you who have never heard of Warmshowers, it is an online hospitality service for cyclists, similar to Couchsurfing.
Our contact, Josh, is an MIT engineering graduate who lives in an MIT fraternity with another 21 or so students. The 6 storey red brick house they live in is equipped with a commercial kitchen in the basement, a bike room, dining area, lounge and of course numerous creatively signed and decorated doors leading to bedrooms that resemble a creatively chaotic fusion of artist studio and science lab.
Josh's room is decked out with comfy couches, a loft, various street signs and chains suspending a desk and chair from the ceiling for those seeking an "elevated" study experience.
The view from the roof top invites one to stay a while.
Josh and us.
(No, he does not have a prosthetic leg. It's his probably slight too long one-leg-cycling tights which help protect his pants from getting caught in the chain)
Josh is a very laid back guy who made us feel very much at home at this cool place.
The students take turn cooking fantastic dinners every night, which we had the privilege to eat from too.
The house is filled with extremely creative and somewhat "nerdy" installations. For example, each step of the stair case in the picture below is equipped with a motion sensor so that each step you take triggers the sound of a piano key being struck.
The chandelier in the dining room is clearly a product of unique culinary inspiration. Take a close look and you will discover a collection of curled and twisted cutlery.
Yes, this is the Christmas tree. If you would like to make your own, here are some of the items you will need:
Folding ladder, vacuum cleaner, broom, huge bundle of extension cord, empty cereal boxes, stuffed animals and convoluted strings of Christmas lights. Add additional objects to taste.
After a few days at the frat house, we started noticing a low, droning rumble which periodically reverberated through the entire establishment. It turns out that this is the sound of the door bell! Hahaha. I so want one for my house!
One day we went for a little stroll through town. Here are some Boston impressions.
I love the wrought iron fences and red brick buildings.
The Boston Common with its public outdoor ice rink.
Sunset reflection in the water
Josh and his girlfriend Laura offered to give us a tour of MIT on evening, which turned out to be quite a fascinating excursion.
Below, the famous MIT Dome.
Outside the senior dorm house is the tire swing; a beloved part of MIT's student culture. It takes a bit of skill and practice to get it right. Basically you sit in the tire, run around the tree in a semi circle ultimately twisting the rope around the tree. As you untwist you gain lots of momentum which, if you are practiced enough, you can harness to swing yourself around the tree again in the other direction etc. Eventhough I almost crashed a few times, it was loads of fun and a remarkable work out.
After a tour of several buildings, we attended a gymnastics robot competition. The students had been given the task to develop robots that could carry out some of the basic gymnastic moves on the floor, rings and high bar such as front and back rolls, hand stand, pike, iron cross, swinging etc. It was amazing!!! Not all robots resembled the human form, but nonetheless, these structures were remarkably athletic.
Getting ready to roll...
I wish I had a video of this that I could post here because the presentations were just so cool.
Unfortunately I had no video camera with me at the time but here is a link to a robot competition that Josh, our host, competed in a few years ago. These robots are not gymnasts but object collectors. Quite funny, enjoy!
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