Letter from Boston Mini-Vacation By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
つかの間の休日 大学院に入ってからというもの、ろくに睡眠も取れない日々が続いている雅子さん。自分でもずいぶん疲れがたまっていると感じていました。そんな折、友人から突然、ニューヨーク行きを誘われて…。

During my first month of grad school it seemed I had boundless energy. I could function for about three days straight with only one night's worth of sleep, and I'd still have enough juice left over to go out on weekends. These days, however, it seems that I need even more sleep than I needed in junior high school.

Now I often come home from school exhausted, take a "nap" and not wake up until the following morning. Weekends are even worse: after going to a party, I might come home and not get up until the following afternoon. This is not good, since my schoolwork is not getting any easier. But it seems that I simply can't push myself any harder. I think I've reached my first slump since entering graduate school.

While I was thinking this way, I e-mailed my friend, Dai, asking him whether he wanted to go out for lunch. He surprised me by replying, "Let's go to New York tomorrow." Without thinking much, I said "Yes."

I had already made plans to meet one of my ST readers for lunch that afternoon, but after lunch I was free for a long weekend. Sure, I had homework, but at least I could take off without having to miss any classes. So, I met Dai at the Greyhound station that evening, and we took the bus to New York.

Dai is a job-hunting senior, so he had a few business errands to run in New York. However, he kept saying that the real reason he wanted to go was to have some authentic Chinese dumplings.

Dai grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but he spent this summer in New York, and he missed those dumplings. I couldn't believe this, since Boston has a Chinatown too, but it's true that I've looked for this particular kind of Shanghai dumpling in all of the stores in Boston, and I haven't been able to find them.

Actually, though, I think he's been in a slump, too. I remember having rushed off to New York during my first year at Wellesley "just to see a play," but the fact of the matter was that I wanted to get away from Boston and everything that city represented for me. It worked. This time, too, I was able to completely forget about my student life in Boston and have fun for a day in Manhattan.

When we arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, we split up. Dai went to visit one of his friends, and I went home to my parents' house. We planned to meet up again the following morning.

Even though I'd come home for Ryuji's concert only a month earlier, my mother seemed concerned that I was so tired, and she kept on telling me that I ought not push myself so hard. She gave me some money and told me that I ought to buy something or get a new haircut or take a vacation. I was surprised to hear her say this, since most people, including her, seem to take it for granted that I have limitless energy and willpower. Anyway, I gratefully took the money.

The next day Dai and I first went up the Empire State Building. A lot of the buildings around my house were visible through the metered binoculars on the observation deck, and indeed, I was able to point out the building where my former school bus stop was.

Dai still had to see various people that day, but we met again at Battery Park in the evening, this time for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry costs only 50 cents for a round-trip, and the scenery is beautiful. After the ferry ride, it was time for dinner, so we met up with a bunch of Dai's friends from his summer job and finally headed over to Chinatown to have those famous dumplings. They were delicious, and his friends were really nice too.

The following morning, we met at the Port Authority again to take the bus back to Boston. We never really had a chance to talk to each other much before then, so all those hours on the bus were well-spent, but it was a little sad that our weekend had to end so soon.

After we got back to Boston, Dai gave me a book of New York poetry that he thought I'd like, as a reminder of our trip. It was funny since I'd also bought him the same book of poetry, only in postcard form.

After eating dinner together, we parted at the T-stop. Now it seems that we've already returned to our respective routines. As usual, we hardly contact each other now. It's funny how being in a different place can make everything seem different. But the good thing is, I can always remember how free and happy I felt during our little vacation to New York.

Shukan ST: Nov. 22, 1996

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