Boston (This was awhile ago March 23-28)

I went to Boston for the first time and loved it. It is a wonderful city. I was able to do a couple presentations, one on research in ESL writing conferences and the other on my MA project. Both were great experiences that helped  me get my feet wet in the professional development world. The convention was great but I wasn't able to go to many other sessions because I was sick and tired a lot. The morning I flew to Boston Warren had his hernia surgery and we woke up early. Consequently I didn't get much sleep. I also didn't get sleep on the plane ride or the first night in the hotel because of different  circumstances. I have had issues with mono a couple months ago and it felt like it had come back. So I spent most mornings sleeping in and getting rest and then going out later to the conference and listened to others' presentations. It didn't help that after the conference I tried to do as much as possible with colleagues around Boston and make the most of the trip. It was still amazing and beautiful around Boston. We were able to go to a Boston Celtics game, travel around the Freedom Trail, go to Harvard, and eat at a few different restaurants. The Boston cream pie is the best at the Omni Hotel. I was also able to bring home a Boston cream pie for Ila too! We traveled around using the subway system which was very easy to use and understand. This was my first trip were I was able to use a subway. It was fun watching and seeing so many different people. As if you can't tell I don't get out of Utah very often. I really loved it there. I would never drive there but I could live there and just use public transportation. Fortunately BYU paid for the most expensive parts of my trip because of the research and presentations. Thank you BYU! I can't wait to go back someday with Ila and Warren.