Some must-do’s are:

Boat around Boston

As the weather warms you begin to see more and more boats on the water alongside the straining college crews. The Charles River is a great place for casual boating adventures and, if you’re inclined, sailing lessons (we even offer some through BU). I like to pretend I’m a pirate.

See the seasonal blooms at the Isabella Stewart museum

This art museum has an amazing courtyard which, though beautiful in the summer and fall, is a sight to see in the spring. The courtyard features vibrant blue and white Hydeangea macrophylla along with other flowers with complicated names. A great place to sit and contemplate contemplating.

Cheer on the Red Sox

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to enjoy going to a game at Fenway. The fan culture is just as exciting as the game itself, sometimes more so. There is no better way to spend a spring afternoon than eating hotdogs, drinking beer, and cheering with friends. Everyone is going to be there anyways.

Take a trip on the commuter rail

As amazing as Boston is, sometimes you just have to get out of the city. The MBTA commuter rail can take you to some great towns both north and south of the city. Stroll around and shop in quaint towns like Gloucester or Newburyport. Head south to see the historic city of Plymouth. There are some nice beaches if you are looking for a quiet picnic and national parks and forests if you’re looking to stretch your legs.

Relax on patio bars

As the weather warms, restaurants begin opening up their patios back up for drinking and dining. Sitting in the sun and watching the city pass you by while you feast on various dishes is a great way to relax after a day of shopping. Favorites include: Charlie’s Kitchen, Noir, and Marliave.

Attend a festival

Spring is the beginning of festival season in Boston. From now until the end of fall you can pretty much attend one every weekend. We have everything from beer, wine and food festivals to film, art and science festivals. Right now we have Boston’s annual Independent Film Festival (where one of our professors is showing off her recent documentary).

These are just a few of the many things you can do during Boston’s spring. For more suggestions check out these lists:

• Things to Do
• Things to do in Boston this spring under 25$

So whether you’re visiting Boston, have recently found an apartment, or have already been here a semester or two take some time to experience everything it has to offer.

Once a year, I throw a party.  Now, I can’t tell you what kind of party it is, but it’s Beersgiving, and you, prospective graduate student, are invited.  Except next year, it’s in Los Angeles.

So here’s how it goes.  Fellow screenwriter Chris and I invite a bunch of cool (and not lame) of-legal-drinking-age people over to one of our apartments and prepare a feast: last year, it was cajun-rub turkey, and this year, it was apricot-tequila turkey (and not as good as last year.)  Usually, we’ll try to get together and do something wholesome and family oriented.  For example, the year of the very first Beersgiving, we watched the cult smash megahorror, Jordan Downey’s ThanksKilling. Gobble.

That’s all hogwash, though.  How I celebrate holidays of lesser capitalist prominence isn’t what’s important to me about both of these potluck-centric parties.  I don’t consider myself any sort of saint, but after at least four years of undergraduate study, I came to a realization: there are a whole lot of people that have to spend certain holidays alone.  I wanted an opportunity to make that easier on people, and I lured them in with turkey and macaroni and cheese, and it totally worked.

Your graduate cohort is a family, which means that for the next two years (or however long your program lasts), you’re stuck with them, usually for the best.  They’ll build you up, cut you down, and won’t come to your Thanksgiving party, but these precious people will also have the heart to look you in the eye and tell you exactly how and why your advertising campaign or script or essay on the Messiah in musicals sucks so bad.

I’ve really come to rely on the people in my program, but don’t tell them that.  I’ve found that my reputation as “the honest guy” sort of proceeds me at BU COM, but whenever I’ve needed something from one of my cohort, a quick text message and look over whatever I’m working on reminds me that yes, graduate students are much better people than everyone else.

This year’s party ended with a rousing game of Bang!, one of my favorite Spaghetti Western card games.  A certain film student knocked another film student out pretty quickly, and tensions there are high or whatever, but all-in-all, it was good.  Somehow, five meat eaters and four vegetarians consumed an entire sixteen pound turkey, which leads me to believe that vegetarianism might be some sort of ploy by the soy industry, but I’ll keep my theories on that to myself.