I love college campuses, even though it’s been many years since I spent any time as a student on one.

I love the buildings, and the libraries, and the bookstores. I love checking out the architecture and the landscaping, and people watching, and buying a sweatshirt to wear so I can pretend that I am an alum.

On a rainy day last summer, I had a layover in Boston with my best friend, Anita. She and I took a couple of hours and explored the Boston College campus.

Boston College was founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The main campus is currently located in the once rural area of Chestnut Hill. Having graduated from a Jesuit university myself, I have always been appreciative of their commitment to integrating intellectual, personal, ethical, and religious formation; and to uniting high academic achievement with service to others.

For anyone considering attending BC, here are a few interesting statistics: There are 9,059 full time undergraduate students, of which 53% are women. The Class of 2009 had a SAT range of 1260-1410 for the middle 50%. There are 650 full time faculty members. BC grants undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees and 90% of the Class of 2008 intends to pursue an advanced degree. The BC Eagles play at the NCAA Division I level.

Because it was pouring down the rain the day we visited BC, we didn’t have too much time to walk around the grounds and were forced to admire the distinctive campus architecture between raindrops, or from indoors.

The campus is accessible on the T’s green line. Get off at the Boston-Newton boundary on Commonwealth Avenue. Cross the street, walk by St. Ignatius Church, and follow the perimeter road to campus entrances.

Photo credits:  Mary Jo Manzanares

Post from: The Boston Traveler

Have you noticed how the nights are getting just a little bit cooler? And in the mornings, there’s starting to be a little crispness in the air.

When the weather gets like this, I start thinking about the fall foliage, and how beautiful nature can be this time of year.

Word is that this year’s foliage New England foliage should be spectacular. The warm days and cool evenings are perfect conditions for dramatic color and foliage.

If you’re interested in planning a driving tour to see the foliage, check out the Massachusetts Office of Travel Tourism site for a listing of New England foliage events. There’s also a foliage timetable map, along with suggested scenic drives. The website is updated twice a week with “leaf” reports.

There’s also a Fall Foliage Hotline at: (800) 227-MASS.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

People who should follow extra stringent measures to avoid getting seasonal influenza belong to one of four high-risk groups:

• Anyone with a chronic medical condition, whether a child or adult
• Women who are pregnant
• Adults aged 50 years or older
• Children between the ages of six months and five years

To help slow the spread of flu-causing germs and avoid catching the highly contagious virus, the Massachusets Department of Public Health advises everyone to:

• Get an annual flu shot
• Frequently wash their hands with soap and water
• Always cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze and then wash their hands again
• Avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth
• Steer clear of others who are sick with the flu

If you’re in Massachusetts and notice any of several common signs of seasonal influenza — such as intense and persistent fever and body aches lasting several days, a dry cough, and/or extreme tiredness continuing as long as weeks — see a doctor immediately. Medical intervention is especially necessary for those who belong to one of the four high-risk groups listed above because influenza can open the doorway to more serious diseases. Then if diagnosed with the flu, abstain from contact with others so that you don’t pass it on to someone else.

For more information about flu clinics throughout Massachusetts, visit the MassPRO Flu Clinics website. And, for general details about the kinds of flu, their symptoms and causes, and recommended prevention methods, visit the Influenza Website maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

As someone fortunate enough to have never caught the flu (yet), I hope everyone reading this is as lucky.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

One major point of the service is to decrease the number of non-emergency calls to the traditional emergency number 911. As a result of the new distinction, individuals who have inquiries about disaster, health, and human services issues can now get assistance from 211 operators between 8am and 8pm on weekdays. The service is also capable of 24-hour operation during major disasters.

The website for Massachusetts 2-1-1, as the service is formally called (or Mass 2-1-1 for short), clarifies that the statewide “information and referral line” also “[s]erves as a resource for finding government benefits and services, non-profit organizations, support groups, volunteer opportunities, donation programs, and other local resources.”

So, if you plan to visit or move to Boston in the future, make sure to remember that 211 is the number to dial to receive assistance with non-urgent matters before they become urgent. I just hope this doesn’t confuse the heck out of people unable to tell the difference between a personal crisis that could be helped by the people who staff 211 and a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate intervention from the people who staff 911. We’ll likely see the results of one observational study or another soon.

Learn more about Mass 2-1-1 and its purpose at the FAQ.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

Anyway… While digging around the Web shortly after publishing the piece in order to find material for another potential post, I stumbled across an informative video put together by some folks from the popular local blog Bostonist. The footage was totally state-of-the-art when it made its online debut since it was recorded the very first morning that the CharlieCard system went into effect.

Of course, the historic day in Boston transit history was December 4, 2006, and here’s what an intrepid staff member at Bostonist reported as he demonstrated how to put some travel money on a CharlieCard at a train station vending machine and then verify the balance. Warning, though—if you tend to get motion sickness easily, the jerky camera movements might trigger an unwanted attack. Otherwise, enjoy the stunning 49-second clip after the jump!

Post from: The Boston Traveler

The results of a recent study titled Footloose and Fancy Free: A Field Survey of Walkable Urban Places in the Top 30 U.S. Metropolitan Areas confirmed what I’ve suspected for quite some time: Boston is one of the best locations in the United States to live if you enjoy walking. The city placed second in the Walkable Urbanism report, behind only Washington, DC.

I first realized how easy it is to get around Boston by foot when I decided to take an off-campus job downtown during graduate school. The position would allow me to earn more money than teaching alone (Boston is a very expensive place to live, you know) and recoup after endless hours of brain-numbing study by getting away from it all on weekdays.

So, like any logical person, I called the transit department for train directions to my destination. I was unfamiliar with the area then, but it took no more than three lunch breaks for me to notice that just about every train stop in metropolitan Boston is no more than two or three blocks from the last one. Some are even as close as one block or less, such as the Park Street and Boylston Street stations on the edge of Boston Common.

From that realization on, I started walking almost everywhere I have to go, and I’m not alone. The Footloose study conducted by Christopher B. Leinberger—a land use strategist, real estate developer, and current visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC—is only a preliminary attempt to quantify the relationship between the numerous factors that make a city more conducive to walking than others. But, I can’t argue with the overall results, which provide additional evidence why Boston is a great city to visit, especially when the weather’s good (unlike now—Brrrrrr!!!).

The top ten walkable cities in the United States as determined by Leinberger’s walkable urbanism study are:

1. Washington, DC
2. Boston, Massachusetts
3. San Francisco, California
4. Denver, Colorado
5. Portland, Oregon
6. Seattle, Washington
7. Chicago, Illinois
8. Miami, Florida
9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
10. New York, New York

If this particular subject matter is up your alley, you can get a copy of Footloose and Fancy Free for your own in-depth reading and/or learn more about walkable urbanism at the Brookings Institution website.

Post from: The Boston Traveler