Summer 2005 (Boston, North Carolina, NYC, and the Northeast):

Back in the early months of Spring I'd planned ahead to move up to Boston, MA for the summer. I was hoping to get a civil engineering job doing construction or as an intern in one of the Unis up there. No progress seemed to be made with my job searches. Jessica Peters, my girlfriend at the time, was my saving grace. She asked her father, Dr Craig Peters, who was a professor at Harvard and medical surgeon in pediatric urology for Children's Hospital of Boston if he knew of anything. More than amazingly - there was. I was snapped up by Harvard's Biomedical Engineering Department as an undergraduate research assistant for a project working on heart surgery. Jessica flew back to Boston after her finals and had begun settling in about the time I showed up. I had no wheels, and I was somewhat strapped for cash. The Peters family was incredible to me to say the least. Kathy, Jess' mum had helped get their guest apartment arranged for me. Mrs. Peters had also arranged for me to look after a neighbor's home while they were away.

That first week was tough to adjust to and figure out. I was highly dependent on the Peters which I preferred not to burden them with. I bought myself a cheap 3 speed bicycle. The weather was chilly and damp. One afternoon Jess and I had been out on Newbury Street and were driving home when an SUV came out of its lane, due to its speed in the corner on the wet road, and entered our lane with nowhere to go. The Volvo Jess was driving slammed into the car as there was no other option. The accident was jarring, and left the car totaled. Fortunately nobody was hurt. So things weren't looking to happy that first week. Luckily, the bad fortune was over and the rest of the summer was a blast.

At the end of the first week I cycled into Children's Hospital and met with Dr Del Nido, the chief cardiologist at Children's whom introduced me to the team I was working with. I didn't have a very clear idea as to what I would be working on. I hadn't even had time to polish up on my biology, let alone my anatomy... So, I clearly recall my first meeting. I was dressed in a black blazer, blue shirt, white tie, black belt, cream slacks and polished Italian styled black shoes. I didn't fit the part. I walked into the overcrowded room with about 20 people stuffed inside, half of which were dressed in scrubs, the other half t-shirts and jeans. Pedro Del Nido's presence was clearly impressive as everyone seemed to straighten up and look more aware as he entered, with me in his shadow. He sat down and with a hand gesture, catching my attention as it was clearly directed at me, announced to the room that there was somebody new on the team for the next few months. "Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you're here to do" - he preached. Shit!

I stood up and calmly obeyed. "Good afternoon everyone, I'm Richard Plowes, here from the University of Texas at Austin, and I'm a civil engineering major, so I'm probably somewhat out of place amongst all of you doctors..." Laughter erupted in the small room. I felt my cheeks begin to blush, but luckily Del Nido spoke up soon enough to save me from further embarrassment to explain that most of the people were Biomedical engineers from Harvard or Boston University. He didn't waste any time, as he then asked that people start reporting the progress on their projects. It was dimly lit, and after four hours of powerpoint presentations on heart surgery that was as foreign to me as Mandarin Chinese we ended. Del Nido introduced me to Paul Novotny and Marius Linguraru and told me I'd be working with them. That Thursday I made my first of many 30 mile round-trip bicycle commutes to the lab at Harvard where I worked the entire summer. The learning curve was ridiculous, without much mentorship either. I was to pick up and learn new computer programming languages at various proficiencies. Research and learn all about the mitral valve surgery that the project was to focus on. The most challenging part was actually extracting information about the project from my supervisors. I had an immensely interesting and good time working on something that was beyond any R&D I'd ever seen before.

Well the researching at Harvard continued, the bicycling wasn't enough. I found a rugby club and a touch rugby league that I joined. I even managed to get Jess out to the touch games as they were co-ed. I think more than anything else, the touch leagues were just a good way of meeting friendly young adults, as the evenings were always capped off with a Magner's Apple Cider at the Banshee Pub. Jess and I planned most weekends to do something out of town, although we did do our fair share of tourist attractions in Boston. The first week in Boston we got to see my first Broadway play, and now my favorite - Phantom of the Opera. Nicola came and visited once. I also visited her place in Storrs which is very quaint and serene. Her house is modest but has the view a millionaire often dreams of overlooking a lake with lush green countryside all around. Ryan Peters, Jess' brother, joined Jess and I on a water adventure down a river that I'd floated twice in a previous summer in the Catskill mountains. I remember the day starting out beautiful and dry, but became more and more ominous the nearer the time we go to the river. By the time our tubes were in the water, freezing cold water, the first bolts of lightning sounded off in the nearby distance. After it was too late to change our minds, the rain was pouring down on us, the lightning was gruely and we decided to abandon the river. We clambered up the sides of the river bank and sought refuge in a country guesthouse. Eventually things calmed and we returned to the river, but I have my suspicions that'll be the last time Jess goes there... haha!

I just recently received the majority of the pictures I think from the summer, but I liked this one I had on my computer at work of Jess, and the Saaaaaaaaabe.

There are so many stories to be told of the summer. We also ventured off to NYC, Salem, Newport Rhode Island and some other coastal towns that were just fantastic. Terrie and Ryan joined us for a while. I have ridiculous house sitting stories... Man o man! I'd best not get started on all of those just yet... Did I even mention we went to the Outerbanks in North Carolina? The entire summer I pretty much became a part of the Peters family and they really are an extraordinary family that I owe so many thanks to. I had a brilliant time and I really hope that I get to see you all soon, maybe at your new home in Charlottesville!? Thanks again for a wonderful summer.