It’s been 3 days (I think) since I came to Boston and I already don’t remember what day or date it is. Is it Friday? No wait, may be Thursday? The only way I know it’s either of these 2 days is coz my sister mentioned her upcoming plans for the weekend.
Have I been so busy that I already cannot keep track of days? Actually no, its been quite the opposite. I haven’t done much at all! I’ve been sleeping, eating, reading, listening to music and just ‘being’. To be honest I am TRYING to let go of the need to keep track of the date or time. One of the reasons for my break is to do exactly what I want and when I want. I try not to think about what I will do the next day or even few hours from now. I wake up each day and ask myself “what do I feel like doing today” and I do whatever takes my fancy. I don’t care that I am in a new city and I “should” go sight seeing. Or that it’s sunny outside and I am indoors or it’s raining outside and I want to go for a walk. What I care about is what I want at this moment. The only touristy stuff (if you can call it that) I’ve done in the first 3 days was a walk along the Massachusetts Avenue (or Mass. Ave. as it’s called by the locals) which is the main street in Cambridge and leads to the Harvard Bridge which then leads into the neighboring city of Boston. Nothing exciting about this stretch of road, looked pretty similar to a busy high street in London except that there are TONS of places to eat in. Must try some out while I am here! Besides that I did manage to sort out essentials like I now have my new travel laptop (which is amazing btw, it’s a Lenovo Yoga 2, 11.6″, only 1.4kgs, can be used as a tablet and laptop and all for $450!!). I also spent a few hours in Pret A’Manger trying to make sense of my new camera and taking pictures of the street, the buildings and the… ermm… coffee cup. Pret coffee mugs are pretty, what can I say.
So what is my initial impression of Boston?
- It’s a bustling city but the streets and pavements are so wide that the crowd isn’t overwhelming. Also, there’s an abundance of open spaces and parks.
- The city is colourful, houses along the street are different colours, ranging from purple to blue to yellow and the fall colours are absolutely stunning!
- People on the street will actually look you in the eye and smile and say “hey, how are you”. The first few times I caught a strangers eye I quickly looked away and then mentally reprimanded myself that I am not in London and that it is OK to smile at strangers.
- The cars are BIG, trains are more spacious but the underground tubes in London are better (that’s saying something!)
- Lastly, Americans like their food sweet. Their baked beans are really sweet and so is their “natural” hummus, the coffee @ Starbucks comes with sugar (unless you explicitly ask them not to) and their “natural” peanut butter is sweeter than the sugar added stuff in the UK. Ha!
Hungryrover 