Last weekend Athol and I went to MIT, where Athol did his MBA 1994-1996. We wanted to go to the shop where he did all his grocery shopping as a poor student (he used to buy milk and bagels to eat) and buy his favourite 'steak tip sub' but they didn't sell it anymore :( anyway, we got 'The Reactor' premium sub which was made up of sliced beef, mushrooms, onions and provolone cheese all toasted in a baguette, it was good! Here's Athol at Laverde's Market along Mass Ave.
We went to eat in the lounge where Athol slept for a couple of days when he arrived at MIT and had no place to sleep. He slept on one of the couches facing the window so that the security guard wouldn't see him. The one night, the security guard nudged him and told him to leave. The Catherine Stratton Lounge has recently been revamped so is quite nice now.
Athol came to Boston in 1994 with vitually nothing - a few dollars and some clothes - with no money to pay for tuition and no place to live!
He eventually convinced MIT Housing to let him sleep in a vacant dorm room until the student arrived. So he sleep in a dorm called Ashdown (they have changed the name of the building since) with a room mate. Here is Athol outside the window of his dorm. He also eventually convinced a professor to create a scholarship especially for him so that he could study at MIT. He agreed to give Athol the scholarship depending on his grades every year. When deciding to come to MIT Athol had had a full scholarship from another American university which he had turned down to come to MIT.
Ashdown was just along Memorial Drive so he had a view of the Charles river and walked along the river everyday to get to the Sloan Building (MIT's business school). What a beautiful view! It was a lovely winter day, so we were enjoying every little bit of sunshine :)
We walked along the river up to the Alfred P. Sloan School where Athol had studied.
They have since built a big modern building next to the Sloan School.
We also walked to the MIT dome, this was the very place where Athol graduated in 1996.
Athol was also very fortunate to have a host family when he was here. They helped him where they could, they also gave him some linen for his bed as he was using his t-shirt as a pillow case and his clothes as a blanket! :)
Athol is such an inspiration, it took a lot of guts to come to MIT with no tuition and place to live. He has accomplished so much in his life and I am so proud of him. It was great to see where he lived and studied back then, a great walk memory lane with him :)
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