ON THE STREET

Bored in Boston

No money...no problem

How many times have you been caught in the middle of Boston with little or no money? This seems to happen a lot with Boston teens; you don’t feel like going home, but you’re incredibly bored when you get in town. One can think of something to do, but it’s usually expensive or inaccessible. But what if you had a list of things to do without a heavy cost? We had a mission to create such an inventory. It was a brisk and breezy Wednesday when we set out on our journey. Here’s the free and cheap stuff we came up with.

Gabe and Tyler start their journey...

The Computer Clubhouse

To get to the Computer Clubhouse, we took the Green Line to Science Park, and walked to the Museum of Science. On the second floor next to the garage was a door where you could pick up a phone and ask for the code to get in. When we walked through, the first things that caught our eyes were the clusters of computers lined across the walls. Straight ahead was a green screen. At the Clubhouse, you can be a game designer or an editor, with all the top notch professional software, and at absolutely no cost. But probably the best aspect of the Clubhouse is the friendly and helpful staff and mentors.

Game Stop Demos

When we got to Downtown Crossing, we felt like playing a good video game. We simply walked into Game Stop on Winter Street, and waited for our turn at the “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” stand. After getting to the controls, we played quite the heavy battle; well, not really, the entire session was just a can of pure wup-ass from one to the other.

Boston Common

As we walked toward Park Street, the overwhelming open space surrounded us. There are lots of things that we did in the park.

We think the fresh air can get to your head, because most of it was just goofing off. We saw a huge and majestic tree, ripe for the climbing. After climbing as high as we could, we jumped down.

Chasing squirrels is a great way to blow off steam, especially since they’re impossible to catch. But we almost did. After getting inches away, we came to the realization that rabies does exist in this world, so we backed away, and proceeded to do something else. After doing some flying high fives, we played leap frog, and, may we add, failed epically at doing so. Clearly just being on the Common makes you want to run around like you have a bee on you, but it’s a great way to spend your day having fun and exercising.

The great squirrel chase...

Public Garden

It’s pretty relaxing and conveniently placed next to Boston Common and Copley. The Public Garden has great things to do. We began by sitting on the docks where the swan boats take off. It’s calming, stress free, and it has a great view. Another fun activity is to just join a random jogger who’s running by. It was awkward at first, but the guy that one of us ran with got over it. It’s a great way for exercising. The garden is a peaceful place, which is great for walking your dog, and ending a long day. But we’re far from done.

Hats and Sunglasses

I don’t think it really matters where you go -- Downtown Crossing, Faneuil Hall, or Copley -- you can have some fun anywhere. Going into Filene’s Basement on Boylston Street to try on hats was what we did next. Odd, good-looking, or straight-out ugly, there’s a hat for everybody. Finding it was a blast. We went through bunches of hats and finally spotted a couple of good ones. After putting those down, we proceeded to the sunglasses. They’re not that great at Filene’s, but if you go to Newbury Comics -- on Newbury Street or at Faneuil Hall -- it’s quite the experience. Newbury Comics had around 100 different pairs of sunglasses, shutter shades, and fake glasses. Just finding an actual pair of real sunglasses is almost impossible, which makes it fun. There’s 3-D glasses, Cyclops glasses, one way mirror glasses -- enough to make your head spin. If you take a camera, you can capture the whole experience and show it to your friends.

The Inner Harbor Ferry

We used the Inner Harbor Ferry to get from Long Wharf, which is right next to the Aquarium, to the Navy Yard, which is in Charlestown. It’s a 10-minute ride that was relatively smooth. The Harbor air was brisk and refreshing. At night, it has the best lit-up view of the city, and during the day you can see the planes really close up as they take off from Logan Airport. Although your student pass doesn’t get you on, it only costs $1.70, and all link passes work. This is an exciting way to travel, as long as you don’t get sea sick.

Sittin’ on the dock of the bay...

Faneuil Hall

Going through Faneuil Hall may seem ridiculous without money, but you’d be surprised. There are a lot of things you can do without cash there. Just walking in, we could see all of the street performers, from drummers to extreme-stunt-artists. There were enough people to keep us entertained all day. After the street performers, we took a little stroll through the food court and grabbed a bunch of free samples. We went outside to the carts and shops and went window shopping for a few. Faneuil Hall may seem expensive, but when you think about it, it’s a good place to just sit down and witness civilization.

After our trip, the main conclusion we came to is that a fun day doesn’t depend on how full your wallet is. It seems there’s fun in all corners of Boston; you just might need a friend to help you find it.

The end.