Life in Boston improved greatly over the next several months, and by the first of the year, I was loving it here (even the snow). I thought I had everything figured out:
-Winter's best handled with the right wardrobe and frequent trips to cabins tucked under Vermont mountainsides.
-It is best to allow Massachusetters, or whatever you call them, to revel in being "Massholes", especially when it comes to driving - it's not a battle worth fighting - you just have to grow your own tough skin and run a few red lights, too.
-Summers are not hot and not humid. Massachutans will disagree with you on this point. Just stand firm on this one and tell them they are wrong.
-On the other hand, 30 degrees is a heat wave in the middle of January. If it doesn't feel like it is, you might want to reconsider living in Mass.
-If you root for anyone but the Patriots, watch NFL games in the privacy of your own home. This also applies to the Celts, Sox, and Bruins. If you don't like sports at all, you might want to start.
-Cities in Mass have backassward pronunciations. Just learn them and don't fight it. To start with, "Worcester" has two syllables.
-It takes about 2 hours to drive from one end of this state to the other. It is small.
-It takes about 45 minutes to drive out north or south out of this state. It is small.
-Beer and movie tickets are expensive. Get over it or don't go out in the city.
-The T stops running at 12:30am. It sucks, but it's true. Get used to taking cabs...or walking a lot.
-New England hot dog rolls are better than normal ones. It's just true.
-New York City is 4 hours away by bus. Take advantage.
-You will have to go on an expedition if you get a craving for Taco Bell. There are none inside Boston's city limits. So if you're driving outside the city and happen by one, eat there.
-Massachusetters are like the French. They're hard on the inside and harder on the outside. But you can crack through that outer shell if you consistently spend time with them (or spend money at their establishments).
-Summer weekends are best spent on or near The Cape (known as "Cape Cod" to everyone else in the country). Bostonians leave Boston by the droves on Friday afternoons and return in the same fashion on Sunday evenings. Beat them or join them...but either way, do what they do. They know what they're doing.
So in any case, I had things all figured out. And then I decided to move, got a job, and decided to become a resident of the great state of Massachusetts. I've realized over the past several months that, shockingly, I didn't have it all figured out. It took me fully 10 months to land a job here. My roommate and I lost our favorite apartment because we didn't jump on it THE DAY we saw it. It took me $243, three trips to the DMV, a number of calls with AllState, an endeavor out to the concrete-laden City Hall, and an overnight FedEx package to license myself, register my car, and obtain a parking permit. Then it cost me another $133 to get her out of the tow lot the next Monday. It will cost me another $40 when I pay the ticket which so kindly greeted me when I reached her, dusty and downtrodden, in the lot. Instead of parking in my valet garage, I have to search for a place on the street - and have already gotten yelled at for "stealing" people's spots. It took a half-day visit from Verizon and 3 separate visits from DirecTV to set up our connections to the outside world. I have to pay a cab fare to come home from my favorite bar now, when I used to stumble the 5 minutes home. I have to ride a bus to get to the ducks in the Public Garden or in winter, the ice on the frog pond in Boston Common.
Things change, and they usually change in packs. My life is anything but horrible now - the job was a necessity and will serve me well on my way to PA school - the apartment is huge and comfortable and really not so inconvenient to the city - many of my friends moved to Southie right alongside me - the beach is close by. I still "get it" here much better than I did when I first moved here. But Southie is a new beast, governed by a new set of rules, and it's my job to learn them all over again - the streets to avoid, the restaurants to frequent, the side of the street NOT being cleaned this Monday... I'll learn the rules and this place will feel like home just like the last one did, and life before this will fade into a faint memory. I guess that's what they call "adapting," and it seems to me like it's one of the most crucial skills we need to survive. Eat your heart out, Charles Darwin.
