Orientation

So we had orientation yesterday. City Year has two such orientations beginning each service year: the first one is for Massachusetts residents and the second for everyone else. I attended the latter.

It was a pretty smooth experience, but we did have to fill out massive amounts of paperwork. The AmeriCorps contract , which a staff member walks you through as you initial your understanding at every third paragraph, must have taken 45 minutes alone. Happily I was able to meet some fellow corps members, all of whom were really excited and friendly. My roommate noted that everyone was much more welcoming and gregarious than most folks are on similar occasions, such as a first day of school or new job. It must be the service-oriented vibe.

Thankfully it wasn't all paperwork, and we were allowed a generous 90 minute lunch break. A group of us went to a nearby restaurant (the name escapes me, the Something Grill?) which was pretty reasonably priced and accepts food stamps. I got to know some of the senior corps members some but not too much; excessive fraternization between senior and current corps members is frowned upon. We also took intermittent stretch breaks, learned more about each other through games and became intimately familiar with the "hands up" gesture used by City Year to get people's attention.

The only baffling part of the six-hour experience was the assessment test we took at the end. We were told this two hour test was just implemented this year in order to "insure the diversity of ability among teammates." It was like the SAT, with separate math and reading portions all in multiple choice format, but it was way easier and carried no penalty for failure. I assume this test was administered to ensure that we really did have more knowledge than the kids we were helping.

So that was orientation. The real work starts next Tuesday when we get start our first service day.

Taking the Train

I've always been fascinated by trains, and moving to Boston gave me the opportunity to try intercity commuting via rail. When I got my ticket, I was so excited I went around for weeks telling everyone I was going by train like a five-year-old. What follows is an account of my trip.

The Silver Star, or "Silver Snail" as a station attendant called it, backed in to Union Station in Tampa around 5:17 pm, the exact time it was supposed to leave according to my itinerary. Most of the passengers gathered at platform 6. A man came off and started taking tickets, seating people according to their destination. Most people ahead of me were disembarking in Orlando. They were told to wait at a different platform, and they begrudgingly dispersed. I was told seat #11, and I climbed aboard.

The interior of the coach car resembled that of an airplane, but the seats, windows, and legroom were all bigger than anything I'd seen in first class. Seat # 11 was a window seat, which meant I was right next to the two 120v outlets installed at each seat and could put my pillow against the window come nightfall. I noticed that there were a handful of other passengers in the car before the train unceremoniously lurched forward with no cry of "all aboard." We were off.

The scenery along the Silver Star is not much to look at south of the Carolinas. As the drab scrub and palm passed by I decided to check out the dinning car. Normally they take reservations for set times, but I wandered in and they seated me anyway. Across from me was an older fellow named Lanny. We got to talking, and he told me he was celebrating his recent retirement from the Tropicana Juice company by taking a sleeper car all the way to Virginia. He and a buddy were going to hike the Appalachian trail all the way back down to Florida. We both ordered Maryland Style Crab Cakes, which were pretty good but not worth the price I paid for them. The meal included a salad with semi-ripe tomatoes and a hard, microwaved roll.

Overpriced food aside, there are advantages to taking a train over an airplane. The "turbulence" on the rails is always lateral, so you never get that icky feeling in your stomach like when the plane drops a couple feet. Instead of the overpowering drone of jet engines, you experience the melodious wail of the horn whenever the train approaches a road crossing. There are plenty of places to walk to on a train, and you can see a lot of the rural America that politicians have left for dead. Also, you get three checked and two carry-on bags, (try fitting that on an airplane) although all bags must be 50 pounds or less. I never any reception problems using my cellphone.

We pulled into Union Station in Washington D.C. at about 3:15 in the afternoon. I had spent the night restlessly in my coach seat and was grateful to get off the train. I met my great aunt Marty, whom I had not seen in several years, and we proceeded to stroll around the station. In the '80's Congress spent over $160 million to save Union Station from the wrecking ball. Their efforts did preserve some interesting architecture, but the station today is essentially a shopping mall surrounded by train terminals and is not a welcoming place for history buffs.

Once Marty and I saw all there was to see, I went out into the city and took a few exterior shots of the station as well as of the capital building. Marty and I then had dinner at a neat little cafe perched in the middle of the grand lobby. After dinner I bid her farewell. I still had several hours until my next train to Boston arrived, and by the time it did I was suffering from a sinus infection, lack of sleep and a desperate need to shower.

My train from D.C. to Boston had a distinctly commuter feel to it. The seats now faced each other, and the footrests, trays, sleeper car and dinning car were now gone. Fortunately the 120v outlets remained. Another restless night awaited me, but as the sun came up I caught shadows of cape cod style homes overlooking pristine lakes and marinas stocked with yachts. At times I felt like I was on a toy train traveling through an idealized model of New England landscape.

At 7:55 am on the third day of my trip I finally pulled in to South Station. A roommate picked me up and we drove out to Jamaica Plain without incident (I only forgot one bag!) After hauling my luggage upstairs I concluded my voyage with a well-deserved shower.

Overall my trip was 39 hours, with 32 hours on the rails. It began on the Silver Star Line from Tampa to Washington DC (22 hours) capped with a seven-hour layover in DC. The last leg was a 10 hour trip on the Northeast Regional to Boston. The ticket cost me $113 dollars, thanks in part to a 10% discount that Amtrak gives to all AAA members.

Was it worth it? After all, I could have gone by plane for roughly the same price and saved so much time. I will say that traveling coach over the long haul on a train is not for the squeamish or fastidious. The worst part about it is not having access to a shower. I do think it was worth it for the experience, but if I ever travel overnight on Amtrak again I will pony up for a sleeper car so I can sleep peacefully and shower.

Moving to Boston

My first thought after learning I had been accepted into City Year, once my joyous, incoherent shouts had died down, was how am I going to move to, much less live in, this city? After all, living in Boston ain't cheap, and I had never had to rent an apartment before.

I knew I was going to get an apartment and share it with a number of roommates, probably 2-5 other people who were all City Year Corps Members. While City Year does not help you with rent or housing directly, they will get you in touch with other incoming corps members through their Beloved Online Community website. I found the BOC was a good starting point for contacting potential roommates.

Unfortunately, I quickly ran into what I have deemed the roommate/apartment paradox. My plan was to get three other roommates to agree to live with me, and then we would lease an apartment together. However, whenever I got two or three roommates together, one of them would bail when another corps member offered them a room in his or her apartment. I felt like I needed an apartment to secure roommates, but I was not comfortable signing the lease on an apartment before I had enough roommates to make the rent. It was a catch-22!

The conflict resolved when I contacted my City Year Buddy. A Buddy is a current, outgoing corps member assigned to you to answer questions about your year of service. I asked her for apartment advice, and she informed me that some current corps members had a place they needed to get rid of when their lease expired. My remaining roommate and I called them up and secured the four bedroom apartment through their realtor. We has little trouble finding two more roommates through the BOC.

Our third-story apartment is within walking distance of the Orange Line and is priced at a reasonable, by Boston standards, $1650 per month. That's $412.5 per person, a bit under the $450 maximum my buddy recommended individual corps members should pay, excluding utilities.

If you are new to living on your own or leasing an apartment, the easiest thing to do is to secure roommates through the BOC website and get an apartment by contacting current corps members. You are more likely to pay realtor's fees (typically 1/2 the first month's rent) and may be forced to lease a month before you would like to move in, but you get convenience and peace of mind. Of course, you can try finding an apartment on your own, using a broker or through Boston Criagslist.


No matter what you do, it helps to have a friend or relative who can scope out places for you, especially if you are moving from out of state or otherwise cannot visit the apartment before you lease it. Do not even bother with Craigslist unless you or someone you know can visit the apartment beforehand. My roommate and I encountered at least one scam on Craigslist, but other corps members were able to find decent places using the website with no problems. Caveat emptor, I guess.


In addition to the BOC and your City Year Buddy, at some point CYB should email you an invite to join their Google Group. Do it. The Google Group is a great forum to communicate with your fellow corps members and CY staff, and you can find useful information ranging from health care forms to fun Boston activities. As of this writing, people are still posting last-minute housing and roommate offers, which help if you are accepted to the program late in the year.

Your living arrangement securing experience may differ from mine, but hope this post has at least helped you on your journey.