Boston’s Museum of Science had its tenth annual “College Night”. Now, on the surface, through the brochures and advertising this event sounded like it would be a great success. The roster included plenty of events ranging from exhibits to laser music shows. I was excited to see the highly acclaimed Body Worlds 2 exhibit featuring real live bodies, as well as the long time running Butterfly Garden Exhibit. Laser light shows accompanied by the tunes of U2, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin were shows I looked forward to. And the most exciting part of this event was the price: free. What I didn’t acknowledge was the fact that when the word free is dangled like a carrot in front of a bunch of college students they will come. And boy, they sure did. Throngs of college students from Boston (Silly me forgot that Boston is one of the most highly populated college cities in the country) and other areas of Massachusetts flocked the MOS this past Monday by the bus load, they were packed like sardines in Green Line trains and they swarmed the entirety of the museum like it was a beehive.

The goal of “College Night” was to bring about a sense of community to the college students of Boston, to give them a taste of what Boston has to offer, as well as giving them a good time for free, but what resulted was what I can only sum up as one giant mess. People were waiting in over one hour lines just to hear an announcement from a chipper-voiced employee, “All tickets are sold out for all exhibits and shows. I repeat all tickets are sold out.” With all the tickets to the aforementioned highlights the museum has for its guest sold out it left the unlucky ones (what looked like thousands) to peruse the actual museum, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but still disappointing.

I was one of the unlucky ones, with the brilliant idea at 5:00 PM (The event began at 4:00 PM) to wait until the lines died down before getting my tickets, only to find that the later it got the more people were crammed in. But, I made do and explored all the Museum had to offer. I hadn’t been to the MOS since I was a kid, back then it was totally fun, although I didn’t bother to read or understand the Science behind the exhibits. I basically looked at the Bubble Machine and jumped around, which isn’t too far from what I did this time around.

Not an avid fan of science, I found myself acting like a child again and didn’t do too much reading, rather I played around with the interactive exhibits. I climbed into the “Apollo Command Module” which simulated the actual size of the spacecraft; small and crammed. I also got to “Fly Through the Body” starting at the colon (how appealing) and went all the way up to the head. It was interesting to watch computerized flesh turn to bone, to travel through our bodies, to see what doctors and scientists see, but what we often take for granted.

I was informed of a newly discovered form of solar power created through spinach extract; spinach absorbs more sunlight than any other plant in our environment; I guess Pop Eye knew best. On a more serious note there was a display regarding Mammography and Breast Cancer which provided information on the disease as well as reminding the viewer of the importance of monthly breast checks. As I ventured into the Blue Wing of the Museum I saw more stuffed animals than I ever expected, from birds, to bats, to huge lions and jaguars the liveliness of the taxidermy was startling, but well worth checking out. To end the night, after I gave up my attempt to wait for the chance to check out what I thought was the “coolest” stuff, was the walk through the exhibit of child-birth called “Where You Came From”, which oddly enough truly touched me. It was a humbling to see and it forced the viewer to think about the miracle of life through the mechanics of the highly tuned human body.

I was able to leave “College Night” at the Museum of Science impressed, even without the access to the featured events. I checked the population meter at this exhibit, it read in the billions, then I looked over the railing to check out the front entrance and this number didn’t seem too surprising.