Sarah: The Boston Marathon

Sarah ImageFirst off — congratulations to all of the newly admitted COM students! Becoming a BU Terrier is no easy feat, so go ahead and be proud of yourself. It was so great getting to meet some of you this past weekend at Open House. I hope we sold you on BU/COM. If we did, great! Take a sigh of relief and enjoy the end of senior year. If not, here’s another reason to convince you that Boston is the best place to go to college.

In just about one year from now, if you decide BU is the school for you, you’ll experience a Bostonian tradition like no other. On Patriot’s Day, the third Monday of every April, people from all over the state, the country and the world line the streets from Hopkinton, MA to Copley Square for the Boston Marathon. The marathon began in 1897, and Boston’s college students have been celebrating ever since. BU students look forward to Marathon Monday like six-year-olds looks forward to Christmas morning.

This year, I experienced the marathon from the inside. I traded in last year’s flip-flops and t-shirt for sneakers and a neon orange volunteer jacket. From 9-6, I helped set up one of the hydration stations and passed out water to runners as they finished the last mile of the race. I must admit that handing out water to world-class athletes was a bit intimidating at first, especially after our station caught wind of a volunteer colliding with one of the Elite women. After awhile, though, when I saw how appreciative people were to be given a cup of water, it became fun. There is more strategy is passing out cups than one might think. It was certainly a long day, but every “thanks for volunteering” I got from the runners made it worth it worthwhile.

Being posted at mile 25 all day was an experience in itself. From the first to the last, I got to watch over 23,000 runners as they neared the finish line. The Elite runners passed after only two hours, some looking almost as good as Ridiculously Photogenic Guy. Mile 25 was not as nice to others. Even after 6 hours of running, though, the volunteers stuck around to hand out water, and also to cheer them on to the finish line. Watching thousands of runners, all with different ages, genders and motivations, almost made me want to run a marathon. Well, maybe not quite. But I definitely have a newfound respect for all those who do.

I learned how crucial volunteers are to the marathon. Hydration volunteers only make up a small group of hundreds that volunteer at different posts throughout the course. I would have enjoyed Marathon Monday no matter what, but I’m glad I did as a volunteer this year. The free jacket was also a perk.

Marathon Monday brings the Boston community together like nothing else. This is an opportunity I could not get anywhere else. But don’t take my word for it.

See you next year!

Jason: The Last Month of School

Jason ImageSo it looks like the weather won't be getting warm any time soon, but I figured I'd talk a little bit about what I'm looking forward to as we enter the last month of school. Coming up next week is a Boston holiday when the Boston Marathon comes through the streets of Boston. You guys may recognize it from an episode of last seasons COMlife. But this isn't your regular old marathon. There are runners from all over the world and the entire city of Boston (including the schools) close down to celebrate the big event.

Just before that though we've got our first open house for COM! On Saturday many of you will be coming to Boston to hear about all the awesome things we've got going on in COM. It's a great opportunity meet and chat with current students, faculty and staff! You'll get to have lunch in Warren Towers and hang out with the COM ambassadors and fellow perspective students. It's going to be great weather and I'm looking forward to meeting you all.

Looking ahead to the summer, I'll be staying in Boston and continuing my internship with WGBH. By that time we'll be underway with production of the JFK documentary so I'm excited about that. Also by the time you read this I should have found out whether or not I'm going to Madrid for the documentary film program!

Anyway, that's all for now! Hope to see some of you in the next couple weeks at our open houses!

Richie: A Picnic in Boston

Richie Duque
Richie Duque

Hey guys!

Everyone on campus has been super excited since Spring finally decided to come to Boston. I walk around campus and see people playing frisbee, tossing a football around, or just laying out on the grass trying to catch a tan (yes there are some areas with grass on the BU Campus). Well, since my girlfriend was visiting for the week I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and plan a little picnic in the Boston Common.

We went to a Whole Foods Market and bought some “picnic” food on Saturday. I’m not to sure of the usual “picnic” food, but we did get cheese and crackers, some all-natural sodas, sandwich materials, vegetables for salad, and some raspberry licorice for dessert. Then on Sunday we prepared everything, put it in a backpack, grabbed a blanket from my dorm, and were off. I have to admit the floor was a little wet from some rain earlier in the morning, but the day was beautiful. The sun was out and we had an awesome meal. I even brought my laptop and put a chill Spring-time playlist on my iTunes to accompany the beautiful day.

The Swan Boats were open in the Boston Commons and my girlfriend and I went on a ride around the little lake. Afterwards, we packed everything back up again and walked down Newbury Street. A lot of the shops had prices that scared my wallet away, but my girlfriend managed to find a bunch of awesome sales at the new Forever 21 store.

It was also the day before the Boston Marathon so we got to walk on Boylston Street and see where the finish line would be. People from all over the world were walking around. We were in a sea of different languages.

The day was basically awesome. It took a while for Winter to end but Spring time in Boston is great. I definitely recommend the picnic idea to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. The only thing I regret was we were missing the big red and white checkered blanket!