As with the title, our project reached a lovely conclusion with the test burn at the start of week 6. Everything had been leading up to the field test: liaisons with the supplier, investigations into the financial/technical/environmental issues, investigating the impact the project would have on the company as a whole, etc etc. Anyway, at the start of week 6, we did what we'd been looking forward to for weeks: we set the fuel alight. Success! Our findings were noted and the following week was all about building the presentation that we had to leave to the company president/CEO - our Global Scot Stewart Wood. At the end of week 6, we presented our findings to the engineering department who gave us feedback and threw questions at us in preparation for our final presentation. After a couple of days of furious redrafting, practising and final information-gathering, we were ready. The presentation was delivered on week 7 and the project has now reached a successful conclusion; we received gratitude, congratulation and best wishes all round as two of our three bosses go on vacation. Now all that's left to do is write a report in such a way that everything we have found and every thought process we have undergone is in writing in one almighty dossier.

So week 6, once we had returned from New York, involved (as stated) the work trip to Baltimore on Monday/Tuesday, dinner with our Global Scot on Wednesday (who gave us really useful insights into his career and the Global Scot community, as well as paying for a lovely meal) Cirque du Soleil on Thursday (which was something I didn't think I would enjoy but turned out to be absolutely mind blowing), and at the weekend we covered the last points of tourism - visiting TD Gardens and having a tour as well as eating in Cheers and the Cheesecake Factory - before relaxing with a couple of beers after two hectic weeks.

Week 7 has consisted of going away parties, getting soaked by the Boston equivalent of monsoons, American football at the Gillette stadium, and a family visit. My parents, my sister and my brother in law arrived in for me to show them my favourite bits of Boston, which has resulted in an intensified exploration of the culinary experience (me eating like a pie) and me realising just how much I've come to know Boston in my time here. I don't feel like a tourist anymore, I feel like I'm showing them round somewhere I've lived for years! It's been a nostalgic week. The weather has been fantastic since they arrived and in a marvellous piece of business awareness, I decided to buy some expensive sunglasses for my last week here. I'm sure I'll get to wear them in Scotland someday.

Well, time to finish this week at work, then I'll probably get all philosophical in my final blog and compare Boston to Scotland in one glorious discursive essay. Or I'll just list the pros and cons.