Things I'll miss and not miss about Boston

When I was a senior in high school, I got rejected from some colleges and heard that the valedictorian got rejected from MIT but accepted to Harvard.  I hadn't heard of MIT but at this time I decided to take education really seriously and that this MIT school would be my goal.  It was a childish goal, but that's how I first come to learn about MIT and Boston.

For spring break in 2006, during my senior year of college, I visited Boston with a great friend.  We enjoyed Boston a lot, which further attracted me.

In 2009, I finished my Master's at UCLA and happily accepted an Associate Staff position at MIT Lincoln Lab.  I moved to the heart of Boston -- the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Now that I've been here for 3 years, I'm leaving for the next stage.

Things I'll miss about Boston:

• work: without going into specifics, the world-class researchers, resources (from computing to textbooks to journal libraries), and freedom have been phenomenal.  I still proclaim that MITLL is the #1 place in the world to work.

• personal relationships: words cannot express

• location:
• living 1 street from the #1 hospital in the nation
• living 1 street from the subway
• living 1 street from the charming Charles River and Longfellow Bridge
• living .8 mile from Boston Common (the oldest park in the nation)
• living 1 subway stop from MIT, where I can see doctors for medical things
• 10-minute drive to Logan Airport (international airport)

Little nuisances I WON'T miss about Boston:

• tiny/expensive apartment (approx $1,000/sq ft for buying)
• no cell phone reception (at home or at work)
• parking: 
• takes 10-20 minutes to find a parking spot by my apartment (sometimes upwards of 45 minutes or longer)
• must move car often due to street cleaning and whatnot.  on those days, you must move car by 7 or 8am.  if you fail to do so, your car will be towed.  luckily, i've avoided this for 3 years, but it surely involves a lot of effort to stay on top of the situation.
• cars get broken into.  mine did, and all i had visible was a cheap $100 after-market CD player installed.
• commute: 30-minutes to drive to work; 1 hr or more via public transportation
• rudeness: unspecific to Boston, large cities have enough people that there often exists at least a few really rude people in any large crowd, and that such rudeness has a platform for many to see.  unfortunately, i was a direct or indirect audience participant a few times.  oh, and driving in my car is like front-row seats for the show.  related, i'm convinced taxis have no brakes or turn signals.  oddly, they use the horn as a substitute.

I'm packin up and moving out in 1.5 weeks.  Bye bye, Boston!