Blogs are hard.
Or maybe I'm just bad at them. Either way, instead of going with the traditional "sorry I haven't kept up with this damn thing" post I'm going to tack a slightly different tack.
Deal with it, I owe you people nothing.
Well now that that's out of the way let's chat. Boston is awesome, although I spend most of my time North of the Charles River in Cambridge and Somerville. These are Boston's younger, hipper, and better educated cousins. I can enjoy everything the area has to offer, while constantly being surrounded by people who are smarter than me and don't talk in bizarre "Southie" accents. Although, I must admit, listening to my neighbors argue in northeastern faux-english most nights as I fall asleep is truly a treat.
There's a lot to do and even more to see, which makes describing the last three weeks (!) all the more difficult. In part due to my own laziness, I've cobbled together a list of pros/cons of picking up your life, loading it into a car, and moving across the country to Massachusetts.
The Good:
Diversity: I'm the kind of guy that generally gags when I have to hear someone wax poetic about "diversity," but I must say it is seriously cool to hear people speaking at least 3 different languages each and everyday. I buy most of my beer at an Indian market. Countries represented within the Fraenkel lab alone: Romania, Israel, Malasia, China, Germany, and every corner of the US. It kind of makes being the token Texan seem pretty trivial. Oh and don't even get me started on the food...
Work: Other than griping about waking up for 9am lab meetings, I have never dreaded going into work. It's just the right mix of frantically working, relaxing with fun people, and reddit. Another tech in my lab put it best when she said, "It's kind of amazing when you think about how lucky we are to come into work with the same 15-20 incredibly intelligent people, all doing what we love. Not many people can say that. Makes working at a grocery store look all the more miserable in hindsight."
Home: I could not be happier with the location, size, and price we were able to swing. I have more grocery stores, coffee shops, and bars around me than I know what to do with.
The Bad:
Driving: While I don't have to do it often, getting around town by car is hell-on-earth. The roads were clearly arranged by drunken puritans, who clearly wanted to see their great-great-great grandchildren suffer. Aggressively driving through the roads is fun though, you just have to let the hate flow through you.
Prices: Being an adult is expensive. Being an adult in an expensive city, (strains my vocabulary to its breaking point) is double expensive?
The Ugly:
No happy hour: DAMN YOU DRUNKEN PURITANS!
All in all I'm more than enjoying myself. More details and pictures to come (*not legally binding*). In the meantime, here's a sandcastle in Revere, MA.
Much Love,
Bryan
Or maybe I'm just bad at them. Either way, instead of going with the traditional "sorry I haven't kept up with this damn thing" post I'm going to tack a slightly different tack.
Deal with it, I owe you people nothing.
Well now that that's out of the way let's chat. Boston is awesome, although I spend most of my time North of the Charles River in Cambridge and Somerville. These are Boston's younger, hipper, and better educated cousins. I can enjoy everything the area has to offer, while constantly being surrounded by people who are smarter than me and don't talk in bizarre "Southie" accents. Although, I must admit, listening to my neighbors argue in northeastern faux-english most nights as I fall asleep is truly a treat.
There's a lot to do and even more to see, which makes describing the last three weeks (!) all the more difficult. In part due to my own laziness, I've cobbled together a list of pros/cons of picking up your life, loading it into a car, and moving across the country to Massachusetts.
The Good:
Diversity: I'm the kind of guy that generally gags when I have to hear someone wax poetic about "diversity," but I must say it is seriously cool to hear people speaking at least 3 different languages each and everyday. I buy most of my beer at an Indian market. Countries represented within the Fraenkel lab alone: Romania, Israel, Malasia, China, Germany, and every corner of the US. It kind of makes being the token Texan seem pretty trivial. Oh and don't even get me started on the food...
Work: Other than griping about waking up for 9am lab meetings, I have never dreaded going into work. It's just the right mix of frantically working, relaxing with fun people, and reddit. Another tech in my lab put it best when she said, "It's kind of amazing when you think about how lucky we are to come into work with the same 15-20 incredibly intelligent people, all doing what we love. Not many people can say that. Makes working at a grocery store look all the more miserable in hindsight."
Home: I could not be happier with the location, size, and price we were able to swing. I have more grocery stores, coffee shops, and bars around me than I know what to do with.
The Bad:
Driving: While I don't have to do it often, getting around town by car is hell-on-earth. The roads were clearly arranged by drunken puritans, who clearly wanted to see their great-great-great grandchildren suffer. Aggressively driving through the roads is fun though, you just have to let the hate flow through you.
Prices: Being an adult is expensive. Being an adult in an expensive city, (strains my vocabulary to its breaking point) is double expensive?
The Ugly:
No happy hour: DAMN YOU DRUNKEN PURITANS!
All in all I'm more than enjoying myself. More details and pictures to come (*not legally binding*). In the meantime, here's a sandcastle in Revere, MA.
Much Love,
Bryan
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