This semester, I’m an intern in the TV/Podcast/Video Department at America’s Test Kitchen, an independent multimedia company focused on a trial-and-error approach to the culinary arts. I’ve been working at their (incredibly cool) office/kitchen/studio space in the Innovation and Design Building at the Seaport, helping them with the production of one of their two cooking shows: Cook’s Country. ATK chooses their recipes very carefully by tasting and testing every ingredient to try to get the most delicious recipe. I’ve had the honor of working as a taster during my internship, and it is definitely the most fun task for which I have been paid. $12 an hour to try different types of chocolate cake all day? I’ll take it. If you join their website, you can see that they often publish TASTER’S REVIEW to announce their findings.
So far, working at America’s Test Kitchen has been an absolutely incredible experience, and I am so grateful for the opportunity. What I am not grateful for, however, is the commute to the Seaport from the Innovation and Design Building.
If you are not yet familiar with the geography of Boston, the Seaport is just about as far from BU as a place in Boston can be! So, for this blog post, I thought I would do a COMMUTER’S REVIEW in the style of an America’s Test Kitchen tasting review,
NOT RECOMMENDED: Uber/Lyft
While Uber and Lyft can be incredibly convenient services for short rides, it is very hard to get an affordable ride to and from the Boston Seaport. I have yet to see a price under $20 on either app around the beginning and end of the work day. On top of that, the traffic to get downtown can be extremely slow getting into the Seaport, so you will not save much time.
RECOMMENDED: MBTA
The T may be the most obvious and popular choice for a commute from BU all the way downtown, and there’s a reason for that. Once you get the hang of it, the T is a wonderful and easy-to-navigate service that costs very little and can get you to the Seaport in about 45 minutes. However, you have to keep in mind that the trains can be extremely cramped between 8am-10am and 4pm-6pm, so be prepared with a Plan B if it’s too full! (Pro Tip: If the Green Line is too full, try to take the 57 bus down to Kenmore station and get on a C line train from there. The C line tends to be the least full!)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: BlueBikes
While BlueBikes have been on campus since my freshman year, I’m embarrassed to say I just discovered how wonderful this service was two weeks ago! I signed up for a membership after finding that the T was constantly full, and now I’ve biked to work almost every day. This option is the best because it never takes more than 40 minutes to bike to the Seaport, you can always rely on a bike station being nearby, you get in your daily exercise, AND it’s much more sustainable than any engine-run transportation! One thing to keep in mind is that you should not be using a BlueBike to get to the Seaport unless you are familiar with the route enough that you don’t have to look at your phone. GPSing while biking can be extremely dangerous. Also, NEVER bike without a helmet! In Boston, cars can get quite close to the bike lane, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
