Life Outside of Residency

After Hours at BWH/CHB

The quality of your educational experience is of course paramount, but one of the most important aspects of our program is the camaraderie that exists between the residents. Beyond the friendships that are forged, there are excellent opportunities to stretch various interests to help balance your life outside of the hospital. These include the arts, sports, nature, and entertainment.

Downtown Boston is a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides: the harbor on the east and north, and the Charles River on the west. Unlike many cities, much of the waterfront is recreational space. The Charles is lined by the 17-mile Esplanade, a green space for all to enjoy. The harbor offers boating of all kinds, fishing, and a number of community beaches. There is a Harbowalk with many parks and other venues. The Harbor Islands are part of the National Park system and are accessible by ferry for day trips and picnicking. Through the heart of the city, a red line designating the famous Freedom Trail brings you through the history that is central to the founding of our nation. You could also venture onto a Duck Tour to get a land and water view of the city. Parks such as Boston Common and the Public Garden are easily accessible green spaces to enjoy.

The city of Boston is made up of some twenty unique neighborhoods with Cambridge and Brookline as bordering

communities. It is diverse, with a vibrant variety of people and language and cultures. There are over 27 hospitals, 3 medical schools, and some 65 colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education that attract more than 200,000 students, making it an ideal place to learn and explore. This student atmosphere lends itself to an energetic nightlife, from clubs surrounding Faneuil Hall to cafes and coffee houses. Restaurants (also visit: Zagat) abound as do a number of live music venues (including Boston Symphony Orchestra) at which Latin, classical, jazz, and popular music are performed . Boston is also home to top-quality museums (for example, the Museum of Science, the Children's Museum, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Institute of Contemporary Art and theatre. If you like sports, Bostonians are tried and true fans and truly enjoy game day, cheering on the local favorite Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins.

You can also get involved yourself in a city league through various community organizations. Notable annual city events include the 4th of July celebration with the Boston Pops and fireworks, the Head of the Charles Regatta, and the New Year celebration, First Night Boston.

Public transportation including the MBTA subway system, bus system, and commuter rail provides extensive access to many nooks and crannies of the city as well as the surrounding area. This makes accessible nearly any neighborhood as well as many free and low-cost social opportunities throughout the year. Our residents have enjoyed the free summer concert series at the Hatch shell on the Charles River and those at Copley Plaza, the low-cost annual membership to the sailing club on the river via Community Boating, and numerous city events throughout the year.

As residents affiliated with Harvard, we enjoy university-associated discounts and access to various city-wide venues.  If you love the outdoors, it’s refreshingly easy to access the best hiking in New England in the White Mountains or visit the more local areas of the Blue Hills or Middlesex Fells Reservations. During the summertime, enjoy the beautiful beaches of the North Shore, Cape Cod, or Martha’s Vineyard. When the snow falls, you can easily place yourself on a ski hill, cross country course, or snowshoeing trail. And, a New England fall filled with vibrant foliage is a don’t miss. Cities such as New York City and Montreal are also easily accessible by car or bus, making for a fun, urban weekend excursion.

One of the best parts of the program is the residents with whom you work. As a member of the med-peds community, lots of social activities occur outside of hospital walls, giving you the opportunity to forge friendships and mentoring relationships. You can often find our residents spending time together in their free time, doing one of the many above-mentioned Boston activities!

We also have monthly mentoring meetings at various locations around the city over food and conversation. There are med-peds program-sponsored events from bar-b-ques, happy hours, class dinners, journal clubs as well as a fall retreat for all med-peds residents. In addition to all the med-peds activities planned, our residents are fully included in all the social events and program activities within the residencies at BWH and Children's Hospital so there are lots of things to do with your colleagues and friends.