I’m not going to lie; I was not exactly in the best of spirits during the week leading up to spring break. I didn’t have plans to travel anywhere except my own apartment, and all my friends were either going on vacation with their families or too busy to hang out with me. It quickly became clear that I would be spending the majority of my spring break alone in Boston which was not exactly the most exciting thought. However, I decided to make the best of the situation and find ways to have fun on my own. I went out every single day from Tuesday through Friday, and I visited places in Boston that I had never been before. This experience showed me that simply going outside and exploring the city on your own is rewarding. Although I’m still jealous of the people that got to vacation in Europe, I no longer feel like my spring break was lame in comparison. Here is a quick recap of everything I did to create an enjoyable spring break for myself:
On Tuesday, I visited Thinking Cup for the first time which is a cozy cafe located on Newbury Street. I decided to try their matcha latte which was pretty good but just a bit too grassy for my taste. I also made a stop at Trident Booksellers and Newbury Comics, two of my favorite places to casually browse on Newbury Street. For dinner, I treated myself to one of my favorite ramen places in Boston, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. Since it was a Tuesday night, there was no line, and the service was very quick — less than five minutes.
On Wednesday, I decided to have a chill cafe day, so I hit up Jaho Coffee Roaster & Wine Bar which is one of my favorite local cafes. I’m a big chai latte fan, so I ordered their maple soy chai latte and proceeded to spend five hours there doing work on my laptop and listening to music. In the evening, I visited one of my friends in the Northeastern engineering labs, and we spontaneously got some late night El Jefe’s. Unfortunately, we did have to wait almost 30 minutes in the El Jefe’s line, but other than that, it was a laid-back, relaxing day.
On Thursday, I took the red line to an area of Cambridge that I’ve never been to before called Porter Square. I found a cute little bookstore that I got lost in for a good hour; I can always count on bookstores to give me that extra boost of serotonin. Afterwards, I visited Honeycomb Creamery which I had found on Google Maps when planning out my trip the day before. I got a scoop of their honey lavender and Irish cream flavors, and I am still thinking about how delicious it was to this day. I then walked to Harvard Square where I visited another bookstore, and I ended the day by grabbing dinner at Andala Coffee House, a Middle Eastern restaurant near Central Station. All in all, it was a great day for exploring and getting my step count up.
On Friday, I made a trip to the North End, an area I had never properly explored before despite living in Boston for over two years. I know Mike’s Pastry is the most famous pastry shop in the area, but I had heard from a friend that Modern Pastry is better. I decided to give it a try. I ordered their cream puff and their Napoleon pastry, and both were absolutely delicious.
And that was my spring break! Even though I didn’t get to travel out of the city, I still created unique experiences and made great memories exploring Boston on my own, and I will definitely be revisiting all of these places in the future.