Skimming a few of the previous posts, it’s apparent that there has been plenty said about the nature of our service work with Community Servings; so, rather than talk more about our volunteer work, I thought I would discuss the activities we did today outside of volunteering.  Following a 9 – 3:30 work day (we were let out early, woo!), we took the T back to our hostel to change quickly before heading off to The Institute of Contemporary Art.  Apparently, there is free admission every Thursday to the gallery there, so the majority of the group went to check out the exhibit and meet up with Claire, a Lafayette alum, at the museum.  While I personally am not huge on contemporary art, I knew it would be a good time with my team members and well worth skipping an afternoon nap.

After getting slightly turned around on the way to the museum (luckily we had Carly and Aubrey to figure out where to go), we made it and met up with Claire.  Because we are the awesome, and slightly goofy, group of people we are, we spent the first 45 minutes coloring at the museum before heading to see the art.  Once we did see the art though, we were quick to appreciate how incredible some of the pieces are.  While some were confusing to the average viewer, others were easy to see the intricacy required for such works.

Following the museum, we had some great talks and picturesque views of the Boston Harbor at sunset on the way to Cheers, a restaurant in Faneuil Hall, to meet up with the rest of our group.  Once at Cheers, we all indulged in some fantastic food, conversation, and even got to celebrate Carly’s ½ birthday and Julia Ben Asher’s ¼ birthday!  While we were all pretty excited about that, it was no comparison to the excitement for Mike’s pastries after dinner.  Mike’s pastries was a quick walk from Cheers and served some of the best pastries in Boston, with our group no doubt being their best customers of the night.  Stuffed and full of energy/sugar, the team trekked back to the hostel to call it a night.

While today was great, one of the main take-a-ways I have from not only today but this trip in general is that life is all about the people in it.  This group has really bonded this week, an example being the deep conversations we have on a regular basis to learn more about each other.  This communication has led us to get to know each other well, and made spending time together a blast.  I think we are all excited about our bittersweet last day at Community Servings tomorrow, but looking forward to heading back to Laf Saturday as well.