Saturday, December 2nd, 2023: 12:00-2:00
CAS Writing Program faculty warmly invite international undergrads (whether or not you are currently taking a WR course) to join us for a Saturday afternoon Historic Downtown Tour with donuts. Thanks to funding from BU Student Wellbeing, this opportunity is FREE for students. Our meeting point will be in downtown Boston, a short walk from the Government Center station on the MBTA Green Line. Just take the “B” straight from the center of the BU campus, and be downtown by noon to meet up with us. Our guided walking tour will explore downtown and the North End, while stopping at different delicious donut shops and learning more about Boston history.
After the tour, participating students were asked to submit photos and reflections of the event to be entered into a contest for a $50 gift card.
Read the winning reflections by Sol Rubattino (CAS ’27) here:
A few months after having moved from Panama to Boston, I challenged myself to fill a plain poster in my dorm with a written record of all the new and fun experiences I had here in Boston before going back to Panama for Christmas break, so I had stories to tell when I got home. Given my competitive nature, this soon turned into a personal challenge, and I was determined to take advantage of every chance I got to add a new activity to my poster, which is why when the opportunity presented itself to participate in the Underground Donut Tour of Boston for free, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity.
At first, I honestly thought the tour would just consist of checking out a few donut spots in Boston and finding out a bit about their background. But it turned out to be way more than that: We got the best of both worlds, diving not only into the history of donuts, but the history and culture of Boston itself. During the tour, we visited spots like the Boston Harbor, Quincy Market, the Greenway Carousel, the Boston City Hall (apparently the second ugliest building in America), and the Union Oyster House, which the tour guides mentioned is the “oldest continually-operating restaurant in the U.S.” I never expected to be so hooked by such interesting tales as the famous heist of the golden Grasshopper Weathervane sitting atop Faneuil Hall—which turned out to be stolen by a resentful ex-employee of theirs—nor did I expect to hear the story of how a captain from Maine cleverly invented the donut hole to fix the issue of uneven cooking.
All this was accompanied by the incredible taste of the donuts: the Honey-Dipped donuts (which I thought were plain, but a nice start to the tour), Blueberry, Gingerbread, Apple Cider, Black & White Cruller, Oreo Cheesecake, and Boston Creme. It was truly impressive how the organizers of the tour accurately determined the quantity of donuts to offer us. Overall, we tried seven different donuts, eating only about a quarter of each to avoid being too full for the last one, and when I reached the final donut (which happened to be my personal favorite) my stomach had just enough room left to enjoy it.
When the tour was over and I got back to my dorm, I felt like the whole day had been a dream. Like it had happened a long time ago or in another place far away; that’s how different the experience felt for me compared to how my everyday life had been since I moved to Boston in September. I couldn’t believe I had learned so much, eaten so much, and seen so much in such a short period of time. On my poster, I wrote, “The Underground Donut Tour: 12/02/2023,” and I liked the idea of having the memory documented (along with all the pictures I had taken). Since that day, I’ve felt a little more enthusiastic about exploring the city, and have actually made plans to tour even more parts of it. The experience had started out as something I was doing to check an item on a list—in my case, add an item to a poster—but had ended up being a genuinely enjoyable experience that made me want to go out more out of pure curiosity and motivation. Who knew donuts could do so much?
Registration is closed, as this event has passed. For additional questions, please contact Christina Michaud, Associate Director of English Language Learning, cmichaud@bu.edu.
