A couple of days ago I returned from my weeklong trip to Boston, Massachusetts for the 2008 Annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). My time there flew by and I am now fighting off the jet lag from putting my body through a five hour time shift twice in a week. 

Here is a rundown of my week: I arrived in Boston on Wednesday night, made my way to my hosts for the night (a friend of a friend), and watched every second of ESPN, college football, and NBA that was on that night. On Thursday I went to Harvard, walked the entirety of the Freedom Trail, poked around Boston Common and downtown, ate at Cheers, went to the Celtics vs. Pistons game, then went to meet my friend Ben upon his arrival in Boston at his sister’s house (she and her husband graciously hosted us for the rest of the time). On Friday Ben and I hung out at his sister’s for most of the morning and caught up with each other (he is at Regent and I haven’t seen him since we left Vancouver). Then we went and checked out the convention center where the conference was being held, came back to the house and had dinner and dessert with our hosts. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were virtually the same: each day we went and listened to several papers (some good, some mediocre, and a few bad), wandered through the book display, met new colleagues and reconnected with old, and attended various drink receptions. 

All in all it was an excellent time. I thoroughly enjoyed being at the conference and loved every aspect of Boston. If it wasn’t so darn expensive I would live there in a heartbeat. 

Here are some pics from my trip.

Boston – SBL 2008