Adventures in Commuting

My last year of medical school is flying by. As part of my fourth year, I've been doing electives at other hospitals to see what their pediatric programs are like. So far, I've worked at Brown, Tufts/NEMC, and Mass General. Sweet, huh? The only downside is that I've been commuting in from Worcester every day. WEAK. Here's the rundown of my travels, whether you like it or not.

September: Worcester to Providence
Leave: 7am/Arrive 8:30am/Car-Garage-Shuttle to Hospital
Cost: Gas alone (free parking)
This trip doesn't have too many options. Unfortunately for me, the Worcester/Providence rail line is freight only and 146 South is the only way down. Despite going down there during rush hour, the drive was never too bad. There are some nice landmarks, including Purgatory Chasm, a defunct drive-in, and an active drive-in. On Mondays and Tuesdays, traffic could get pretty nasty right outside of North Providence (around 8am), but the stop-and-go never lasted more than a half hour or so. Plus, the free parking Brown gave me made life pretty easy. Hoory for Providence!

October: Worcester to Boston's South End
Leave: 6:38am/Arrive 8:30am/Car-MBTA Lot-Commuter Rail-Walk to hospital
Cost: $250 (Zone 8 pass), $1/day parking
This was Commuter Rail month. I bought myself the Cadillac of T passes, the vaunted ZONE 8. This pass granted me access to any and all forms of MBTA transportation, including ferries, the train, subway, and buses. Having that potential was pretty cool, but I doubt I got $250 worth of transportation out of it. Anyway, I took the Commuter Rail from Worcester to South Station and walked from there to New England Medical Center. Door-to-door was about 2 hours. I was able to sleep for the hour-plus train ride, but the train was almost never on time. That, and there are precious few trains going back to Worcester between 12pm and 4pm, which is when I got through with work. Oh, and 4 hours of each day was spent commuting.

An interesting phenomenon on the Commuter Rail happens as the train gets closer to South Station. People will stand up in the center aisle to get a better "spot," allowing them to bolt off the train the instant it stops. Sheesh. They must really like their jobs...I prefer to sleep.

November: Worcester to Downtown Boston
Leave: 6:20am/Arrive 8:00am/Car-Alewife Station-Red Line-Walk to hospital
Cost: Gas to Alewife, $4/day subway, $5/day parking
This has been a hybrid month. I drive from Worcester to Alewife Station, pay $5 parking, and take the Red Line to Charles Street/MGH. It's usually a benign drive, but can get pretty hairy early in the week. It's given me a chance to listen to what Massachusetts blue-collar conservatives who like Disturbed have to say on the Hillman Morning Show. I know, it's a guilty pleasure, but oh so enlightening.

Alewife station also happens to be the site of mass hysteria. The parking garage only has one exit, so during busy evenings it can take up to 20 minutes just to leave. To avoid this, people will burst off the train as it pulls into Alewife and sprint up the escalators in order to be the first people out. If you snooze, it'll be almost half an hour before you're back to Route 2.

In conclusion, I only have one more week of this incessant travel before I can relax. I've blown quite a bit of money, but the hospital experience has made it well worth it.