Boat trip! Javier Lliso

Hey!

Its hard to say things which have not yet been said! To start with just wanted to say how great the boat ride was, even the weather was perfect!

All the islands looked really nice, and it is very impressive that there are actually 34 islands! Some are definitely a must see. I hope I get the chance to visit some of them. Especially Spectacle Island seems very interesting given the fact that a lot of its soil is from the big dig.

What is really incredible about Boston is the capability of adapting the city has had. The Big Dig was an incredible effort to make the city a lot more friendly and efficient. Its hard to imagine now that less than 5 years ago there was a huge highway in the middle of the city! What the Big Dig actually cost, ($18 billion) is not less impressive. Its also an incredible engineering job. What seems very hard to imagine is the fact that they used ground-freezing to be able to create the big dig. It is actually very interesting how they had to work so hard to be able to make a tunnel under the city! and in the end, it worked out fine.

Speaking about the Boston Harbor clean-up project is also very important. The fact that up to 280 million gallons of human residues were dumped daily gives us an idea of how dirty it actually was. That maybe isn't the worst part, you cant forget the smell! We should be very thankful for the functioning of this project, and being able to experience a clean harbor. What is incredible about this project, is how efficiently it was carried out. A judge was appointed for the project, and that made everything work much better. Especially if we compare it to the scandals and problems which surrounded the Big Dig!

What I found very interesting about the way Boston is set up, is how thanks to both these projects, the real-estate market close to the water sky rocketed. There are apartments and houses with incredible views today, in lands which use to be not very valuable. Proof of this is the houses for the poor which were made to help those less favored, right at the sea front. Not only have these projects made real-estate much more valuable, but they have made tourism a very important industry for Boston.

We cant forget about the importance of us students for the city! The amount of students who live in Boston is incredible. I believe this is a great advantage for us, makes the city much more vibrant and alive!

Therefore, what I find incredible of Boston, is the capability of this city to adapt to changes, and how hard it has worked for what it is now!

Take care!

Javier