Samomatic

The past week in Boston went by way too fast, but I did get to catch-up with friends and co-workers. On Sunday night, Pat, Ryan and I went to the St.Anthony’s Feast in the North End.

Feast is definitely a good word to describe the North End. There were lots of food, drinks, games, and concerts but I still don’t know who St.Anthony is except people like to pin dollar bills to his figure.

Summer in Boston have so much happening and the overall mood is very relaxing.

I worked in the New England Aquarium for 3 days and it was a lot of fun. Even after spending hours near the giant ocean tank taking photos of the different animals I didn’t get tired of the seeing the expressions on the children’s faces when a shark or sting rays swims by.

I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes and watch them feed baby penguins, perform a endoscope check on a French Angle Fish, and join the seal trainers during their training sessions.

Tim and I went on a whale watch and we were very fortunate the whales were breaching (jumping) out of the water! Hard to imagine the power needed to send these 30 tonne animals out of the water!

Work starts tomorrow for me, I am quite excited. Hope everyone have a good start at school and work for the coming term.

So on Monday I went on a whale watch, it was a beautiful day with a very calm sea (1-2ft swells).

I was amazed at the size of the whales, at one point we were moving parallel with a fin whale and it was bigger than our boat!

A lot of time they surface, everyone rushes over but the whale has already made a deep dive into the ocean already.
With the boat, my arms, whale all moving at the same time it was pretty tough to lock on a shot.
Everytime I go indoors I would feel slighly woozy so I stayed outside. By the end of the 4 hr trip I was a little pink and light-headed from all the wind.
I definitely recommend it to those planning on visiting Boston, the staff on the boat were very knowledgeable and throughout the trip provided facts and described different species of whales and their behaviors.

Afterward, I did a photoshoot at the Aquarium focusing on the different animals.

After that I dragged all my belongings to the bus station and hopped on the bus, they gave me some slack and allowed my 82lb luggage. The bus trip lasted 14hrs and by the end even though I didn’t do anything, I felt like I was beaten up. Now I am back home enjoying my mom’s cooking!

In about 24hrs I will be hopping on the bus and heading back to Canada. It has been an amazing term and I am going to miss the people I work, live, hang out with. Goodbye Boston.

Last thing I did at work: Souped-up Randy’s car. I think the stickers gave him an extra 10HP!
I am going to miss my furry friend, Tiger, and his meows.

On the other hand, I am excited to go home, catchup with my friends, eat my mom’s cooking :)

Went with about 15 co-workers to Maggiano’s Little Italy for dinner. This is an all-you-can-eat family style restaurant, they will keep replenishing until you are satisfied.
From the full page menu we chose:
Appetizers: Calamari Fritte * Stuffed Mushrooms
Salads: Caesar Salad * Maggiano’s Salad
Pasta: Fettucine Alfredo with Broccoli * Gnocchi in Tomato Vodka Sauce
Entrees: Chicken Saltimbocca * Salmon Lemon & Herbs
Desserts: N.Y. Style Cheesecake with Seasonal Fruit * Tiramisu

Randy was challenged by the HR Manager to finish the piece of cheesecake without hands or utensils.

She printed this out and tape it to his cubicle. haha

Meanwhile, I have started photographing for the New England Aquarium. The people I work with are great and I really enjoy shooting at such a challenging environment. :)
3 more days of work. heading home very soon.