By Jonah Schumer

Only a week left, and we arrived in my hometown of Boston. Unfortunately, we spent more time than planned on the bus due to a flat tire. We started the morning off still in the Big Apple where we went to the campus of Columbia University and had wrap up and spoke about the meaning of “In The Heights” and our most recent speaker, Scott Fried. Of course, it was the day I chose to make a five minute speech about the meaning of home, which was concluded by Billy saying “What? You spoke so softly that I had to read your lips.”

wrap up on the Columbia campus

We then went to brunch at the famous Tom’s Restaurant featured in Seinfeld, where I made the mistake of ordering oatmeal which was definitely instant (I bet Jerry wouldn’t put up with that!).

in front of the famous Tom's Restaurant

We then hit my favorite Boston hang out spot, Quincy Market, where we had dinner and watched the street performers. One guy was juggling chainsaws and squeezing his entire body through a tiny racquet. In my opinion, a feat one can only do if a certain body part is missing. Besides NYC, Boston was the only city that sounded familiar to me when Billy described the skyline.

At the end of the day, we met up with the participants of a Jewish teen program at Brandeis University called Genesis. It was nice to meet new people who are doing a program that is a little similar to ours. They told us about Genesis and we were more than happy to tell them about our travels on Etgar 36.

Elena telling the participants of the Genesis program all about our Etgar 36 experience

I am looking forward to spending a full day in the great city of Boston!