OK folks. Sorry about not actually updating with the second part of my vacation in August, but luckily I have close to no readership, so I doubt this actually matters to anyone.

Obviously, since writing that post I have moved to Boston (I left on the 26th of August, so it’s officially been 2 weeks today!) and am now getting pretty much used to living in this city. Surprisingly, I have found it FAR more difficult to adjust to this city than I did to NYC, and I’m not entirely sure why.

I think part of it might just be a natural sense of weirdness that comes along with transitioning from the working world back into the world of academia. When I was applying for grad school, and then finally accepted and chose Boston University, there was of course, the idealistic fantasy of spending days poring over interesting health research, working my ass off in an attempt to become a fantastic future public health provider.

Then reality set in once I started classes, and realized, Damn–this is actually a lot of work. And suddenly, the mind-numbing work I did just months previously seems somehow attractive.

BUT, before you begin to doubt that I’m not enjoying myself, I’ll put your mind at ease. I am enjoying classes, and I know that even though I’m feeling intimidated by the work load, I know it’s only a matter of weeks before the excellent student I once was reappears and inhabits my body again. I mean, today alone I almost single-handedly came up with a PSA aimed at preventing violence against women targeted to men. And I came up with it quickly. And it was a really good idea! And I thought, Wow, maybe I do actually have a future doing something constructive. It was nice for a change.

Anyway, what’s been even weirder though, than the transition between working life & grad school, has been the transition between NYC and Boston. It wasn’t a direct transition, as Elliot and I had been living on LI for June & July, but still, one can’t help but compare their current city to the last city they lived in.

Here’s my current pros & cons list for Boston:

Pros

  • Everyone here is interesting. A lot of people read on the T (I would say more than read on the subway in NYC.) And they’re reading about varied topics. And they just sort of RADIATE smart. Well, not everyone does, but plenty do.
  • I know a LOT of the neighborhoods already. This could be a pro or a con, depending on what one likes in a city, but its sort of nice to operate on a smaller scale in order to become more intimately familiar with a lot of the area, rather than just a select few parts.
  • People walk at MY insanely fast pace. I was walking home from Washington Square tonight, and the two people walking in front of me were walking at the same break-neck pace I walk when I’m alone at night (aka just as fast as you can walk without jogging). This NEVER NEVER NEVER happened in NY. It may have been an anomoly, but I’ll be watching to see if it continues.

Cons

  • The T. Oh my god. The T. What is up with this transportation system? It runs above ground, so the trolleys, which are, for the most part, two measly cars long, have to stop at all traffic intersections. Therefore it takes forever to get anywhere. It closes at 12:45 a.m. when last call for bars is at 2 a.m. Then there is the craziness about having to swipe your card, even if you got on at the back of the train. It’s just a chaotic system in general, and in my opinion, not as convenient as the NYC subway.
  • Undergrads. are. EVERYWHERE. I mean, granted, I live on the Brighton/Brookline border, and I have to go through the regular Boston University area to get to my classes at the Med School campus at the South End, but still. Its almost sort of creepy how much the young people outnumber older & middle-aged people. And I’ve never seen so many pairs of dumb over-sized sunglasses in one place before.
  • It’s expensive. Well, NYC was expensive too, but I was making actual money there since I was working. Now I’m living off of loans. But I guess I can’t really blame that on Boston.
  • Don’t even get me started about the accent.

I’m sure that in time this will become home to me, just like Astoria did when I lived in NYC. I guess part of me misses being able to relax on a Friday night in the East Village without worrying what time I’m staying out until, and having no work to do over the weekends, but I know that ultimately, I’m doing the right thing by being back in school. I’m really excited about the possibility of doing a research fellowship here, and actually paving the path for what I imagine is going to be a pretty great career helping under served women domestically and abroad.

All it’s going to take now is patience, and hard work. So I guess I’ll have to work on that…