National AAHPERD Or Should I Say BACK BAY BLACKOUT

This past week was the National AAHPERD Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. I had been waiting for this event for quite sometime and it was finally happening, well for the most part. After hours on the train, we were only 30 miles from our arrival, and I was checking twitter only to see a tweet that stated the following: "Back Bay area out of power do to two transformers blowing up." We were all shocked and worried whether or not we would be able to make it off the train to the hotel. We got off the train into pitch darkness. No street lights, no stoplights, no building lights, complete blackness, the city was quiet, there were tons of people on the streets roaming around. A major hotel had to be evacuated which left thousands of people on the streets of boston. We got to the hotel by using our Iphone GPS, thank god for technology. The hotel was pitch black and it was a maze to get to our room. Walking down the darkest of dark hallways. Showering and getting ready for the night was the biggest pain since we were not able to use hot water and see what we were doing. This was another time that our IPhones came handy for us. The next issues arose for us about an hour later when most of our phones died. We walked miles to an area that had power and some of us were able to charge our phones. Getting to this area was not such a great experience because we walked through a bad area not knowing where we were going. We stopped and asked plenty of people where to get food, but we kept getting the same answers that most of the places were closed since it was late at night around 11pm. We finally found a place . The walk back was very sketchy for some of us since a few of us were asked to buy cocaine from people on the street, not to mentioned we witnessed a drug deal on the way there. We went to bed hoping the power would be restored in the morning, but we woke up with even more of a disappointment then just the power being out, but the conference was cancelled for that day. This now turned into a day of tourism for us in Boston. This was not so bad after-all. I was able to explore most of Boston by walking and a trolly ride that we paid for which came along with a duck tour.  The duck tour personally was a waste, but the trolly part of it was quite worth it.  That night it was still dark out with no power so we roamed the streets and met up with Elena Fallons friend from Northeastern. She took us around Boston to a fancy Italian restaurant. This was probably one of the best meals I ever had because I was so hungry.  After the dinner I had a cannoli from a cannoli shop, It was the biggest I had ever seen and it tasted the best. It was oreo flavored, and simply delicious. We arrived back to the hotel, and still were without any power! This time the hotel was giving out one glow stick per room to each and every room, but we roamed the halls and kept taking them off the walls to use for ourselves.  Admittedly a selfish act, but I wanted to be able to see when I showered, unlike the previous night. Later on in the night the hotel actually regained some power because they were able to get their hands on a generator. The next morning I had my alarm set to wake up early to go to the early morning boot camp seminar. I woke up to find out the conference was cancelled until 10 am. I went back to sleep right away. This time I woke up to discover that the conferences' FINAL decision would be held at 11 am at the Sheraton Hotel. We all decided to go to the hotel and wait for the announcement. I was standing in a room filled with thousands of people only to find out the the WHOLE conference was now cancelled all because of the blackout we had been experiencing. This time we had generators working in most of the hotels and the town stores, but where the conference was taking place, those buildings did not feel comfortable using generators to supply power for the conference because they were scared for the safety of us. The third day had turned into yet another day of touring Boston. Despite this setback, I was still able to meet a good amount of PE teachers from all over the country. It was great to be able to talk to them, but I couldn't have imagined all the people I would have met at the conference. I was very upset because this was my first conference I could have attended, and it was not even being held. The overall experience I had on this trip was great. Even though the conference did not go through, I truly enjoyed spending my time with my fellow peers and future co-workers on the blacked out streets of Boston!