Day 60: Two months down, two to go

“Making the most” of a place is not only what you get to see or whom you meet, but also how that place or experience – the act of listening and observing – changes you; and to what extent those memories and that legacy of being receptive live on when you go back…

Today is the halfway mark of my stay in Boston. In the last two months I’ve managed to see a large part of the city and surrounding areas (although, as can be seen from the map, there’s plenty more to see and I fear that two more months won’t be anywhere near enough). When I first came here the temperature was 25 C and the leaves were still green with an orange hue. Right now the temperature is -4 C and there are no leaves to be seen.

During that period I also gave three guest lectures to undergraduate and graduate students; completed and submitted a collaborative grant application; transcribed four interviews; wrote a book chapter; revised two conference papers; conducted classroom observations in undergraduate and graduate classes; carried out a survey with students; had a successful promotion interview on Skype; met with colleagues in Miami; read 12 journal articles and 2 books; took 3,900 photos; wrote up 42 pages of reflections and fieldwork notes; and watched more than a few hours of C-SPAN.

During these two months I’ve also had the pleasure of reuniting with many friends, including colleagues and former students of the Salzburg Academy (feels like Boston is the centre of the universe as so many people have, even briefly, been here over the last few weeks), as well as sampling Boston’s amazing diners, restaurants and cafés. 

However, perhaps the most rewarding aspects of my stay here have been those that cannot quite be quantified or articulated easily:

• the pleasure of making new friends and the hospitality and kindness of people who have known me for a few weeks, if not days;
• the opportunity to finally immerse oneself in the customs, rituals and ways of a country and a people, which – due in some extent to the power and salience of its popular culture that I grew up with, but also perhaps due to an ‘internal compatibility’ with its vision and values – has always felt deeply familiar, inspiring and home-like;
• the thrill of stepping out of my comfort zone, whether that is in order to start a conversation with a stranger or to walk around an area I have no particular reason to be in;
• the liberty and simplicity that comes with life in a shared apartment or tiny studio that reminds me of my student days;
• as well as the appreciation of the daily comforts that we’re so accustomed to and which we don’t even notice unless we lose them;
• the clarity about the people, places, things and situations that I miss and are important to me (as well as those that are apparently not as important as I thought).

Just before I left Britain back in late September, a colleague of mine encouraged me “to do all the things you’ve always wanted to do but you never get the time or chance to do [due to the constraints of routine or normal work]”. It was a great wish and has stuck with me because I’m only too aware that time flies by and I will soon be going back; I would hate to have regrets about not making the most of my time here. Knowing me, it’s a safe bet I’ll regret not finishing this or that paper, not visiting this or that museum etc. But I guess “making the most” of a place is not only what you get to see or whom you meet, but also how that place or experience – the act of listening and observing – changes you; and to what extent those memories and that legacy of being receptive live on when you go back. Which means I have two more months to hone my listening/observing skills. And, if possible, write a couple more papers.