I recently had the delightful good fortune to be accepted into graduate school, and have decided to attend MIT’s program in Art, Culture and Technology. Cambridge is a helluva lot farther away from sunny Southern California than a hop, skip and jump, and my journeying to a brand-new city has provided more meat for your favorite travel blog. I can only imagine your excitement.
I’d been to Boston before and really liked it, not only because the locals call it Beantown and that sounds delicious (I don’t know if they’re the kind of beans that get brewed or the kind that go into enchiladas, but both are tasty so I’m pleased as punch with the arrangement). I had never, though, been to its sister city Cambridge or seen the MIT campus, so I made plans to visit after attending a wedding in DC (which happened to be the most awesome wedding I’ve ever seen, let alone been a bridesmaid in. Mazel tov, Deb and Eric!)
I arrived in Boston on a Monday morning, having gotten less than three hours’ sleep (the wedding was Sunday night). I gave myself a pep talk, hummed a few bars from the Rocky theme song, and told myself that was all I needed to navigate a city I’d never seen before. Truth be told, I did well the first few hours: I made my way around on the T (Boston’s awesome subway line) and found my hostel easily enough, and so set out to explore the MIT campus with the wind at my back and a song in my heart.
I had three goals: to explore the building my department was in and see where my studio would be (yay!), to get a look at the housing facility I’d be living in (another yay!), and get a general idea of the area and its resources. I didn’t have any concrete appointments to see anyone. I kinda figured I’d just show up and look around.
That’s when the trouble started.
My first stop was the New Media Lab, which I’d read (with great relish) was where my department was to be housed. I found the building, looked up at it and almost fell over. This is where I’ll be spending the majority of my time for the next two years:
How amazing is that? It doesn’t even look real. It looks like a set piece out of an over-budget Spielbergian science-fiction movie.
Now, here’s where a wrinkle presented itself: the building is brand new, as is my department (Art, Culture and Technology). The people are still moving into the building, and are actually a sub-set of another department (the School of Architecture and Planning). As such, no one I talked to that first day quite knew where I should go. More than a couple people actually said, “What? MIT has an art department?”
Once I finally found the receptionist for the building I thought the confusion was over. Oh, how naive I was!
Me, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed: “Hi, I’m a newly admitted student, would it be possible for me to look around the building and get a feel for the facilities?”
Receptionist: “What research group are you in?”
Me: “Uh, I’m not in a research group…”
Her: “What? How could you not have chosen a research group at this late date? How did you even get in without choosing a group?”
Me: “Oh, wait, you’re thinking of the Media Sciences. I’m in Visual Studies.”
Her: “…what?”
Me: “Uh … Visual Studies of Art, Culture and Technology. I’m pretty sure my department is housed in this building, if you could just direct me to their offices …”
Her: “Do you have an appointment?”
Me: “No, I’m really sorry, I do not have an appointment.”
Her: “Well, we can’t let just anyone in here. If you don’t have specific permission from the director of a research group, I can’t allow you to wander around the building.”
Me: “I’m not just anyone. I’m an admitted student. This is my school. Are you sure Visual Studies isn’t housed here?”
Her: “I don’t even know what that is.”
Me: “Is there someone else I could talk to?”
At that point she rolled her eyes and went into another office, where I heard snatches of, “Yeah this girl just wandered in …. I know, I told her …. ok.” She returned to reiterate to me that I was not allowed in the building without permission. I told her that Visual Studies was a sub-set of the Architecture Department, could she direct me there? Then she said, “OH! Architecture, yeah. You need to go here.” She pulled out a map and circled a building a half-mile away.
She handed me the map and said, “I HIGHLY suggest you CALL before you just show up.”
And so, no longer quite so wide-eyed nor bushy tailed (truth be told, I didn’t have a tail at all) I took the map and set out for Attempt #2.
To be continued…
