Between the 6 - 14th of May 2011, we went on a Business Excursion to Boston. Participants of this excursion were: Prof. Rasmussen and Steffi Wallenburger as well as the students of the bachelor degree course Leisure and Tourism Management (LTM) and master’s degree course Tourism Development Strategies (TDS) of the FH Stralsund
The preparation for the excursion started in March. We met once a week where our coordinators Prof. Rasmussen and S. Wallenburger provided us with new information regarding our excursion's organization. During these meetings, there were also small presentations by students, talking about the city Boston as well as about companies, we would be visiting. Then finally, after all this preparation time, we met at the airport in Hamburg on the 6 th of May 2011, checking in for our flight and therefore star ting our excursion to the USA, to Boston.
After finally arriving in Boston on Friday night after a long flight, we checked in into our hotel at approximately 8 pm, being exhausted from our journey to the US.
The weekend was placed at our own individual disposal. Some students of our group went to New York and the other students stayed in Boston, taking the opportunity to discover the city.
Due to Boston's rich history, the main attraction in Boston is the "Freedom Trail". The "Freedom Trail" is a walking tour which starts on the Boston Common and ends in Charlestown. The trail is in form of a red line, going along all important buildings and neighborhoods in Boston. Most of the buildings were important meeting places during America's War of Independence. The "Old State House" for example, is not only Boston's oldest surviving public building, but is best known for its balcony, where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians in 1776. The Trail also leads alongside the Faneuil Hall, served as a public meeting place and marketplace for over 250 years. This is a perfect choice spot to stop for lunch from the food court in Quincy Market, where approximately 20 restaurants and 40 food stalls are located under one roof.
We think that we were not the only ones who liked to go there and grab something to eat, taking a seat at one of the tables in the central rotunda and observing other people while eating. :)
Another interesting attraction along the path was the world's oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution. The impressive walk ends in Charleston, at the Bunker Hill Monument. From there, you have a great view over the city, the harbor as well as the North Shore.
All in all, we did the Freedom Trail in two days, and combined the walk with a water taxi tour which was included in our T- ticket, taking the opportunity to watch Boston's great skyline from the ocean side.
We think that the "Freedom Trail" is a great walk, not only to get an overview of the city, but also to learn something about Boston's history and to "experience" the richness of Boston's history.
Boston's two main parks "Boston Common" and "Boston Public Garden" were nearby our hotel. It was a good place for enjoying the sun which didn't come up too often -unfortunately. Due to the bad weather conditions and especially the strong wind, we couldn't do the whale watching tour, which we are all still sad about.
However, two of our master students were really lucky: They went on the wrong ship on Saturday and did the whale watching tour instead of a boring harbor tour. ;-)
But we did visit the Boston Aquarium which houses many marine animals. Furthermore, we used the other disposable days during our excursion for eating prober American food (pancakes, waffles, ice cream, burgers, donuts...), for other sightseeing and for shopping and even more shopping!
Business meetings
On Tuesday we had a great guided tour through the Harvard University with Joseph, who made the whole tour with his funny and critical presentation very special. He told us a lot about the history of the Harvard University and lots of interesting facts and stories behind the university. Really amazing was the story of the library and its six floors under the ground. We got to know about one alumnus, who travelled to Europe to get to know the country and very important for him: to collect new books. He went back to America with the Titanic and unfortunately he died during the well-known accident of the Titanic. Joseph showed us the whole university and told us about the 3 lies of the statue, which is standing in front of the university. First of all it says that the founder of the Harvard University is John Harvard, but he wasn't. Secondly the statue shows a man, who is not John Harvard and the last lie of the statue is the year, the university was founded. All in all it was a very funny guide tour with Joseph and we are very thankful for this.
