Von brought me on the fast and furious food tour of Boston this afternoon, a whirlwind journey through the back streets of the North End in quest for the best pizza in Massachussetts and cannoli made-to-order. We meandered through Boston Common along the way and stopped for a brief chat with Mora from Von's host family over superlative caffe latte. All in all, a day well spent, although the sudden drop in temperature was something I did not quite expect to have to cope with.

I'm not sure why I hate to admit it, but in many, many ways this place is so much nicer than Duke. This is despite the cramped dorms, the strange housing situation, the elitist Harvard image and general preppiness. I feel more at home here. How do I explain it? I feel like I have fallen in with "my people". This really has no bearing on grad school application, since I know that the life of a PhD student is very different from that of an undergrad; what I think I'm trying to express is regret that I wasn't accepted here, independent of the irrational desire to be in a "brand-name" school (which Duke kind of is anyway). It's a ghost road that Von got to travel down separately from me (after my being in the same class as him from P4 to JC2), and one that I now have a glimpse of, right here in front of me, and yet not.

Books:
When the Emperor Was Divine - Julie Otsuka