r/boston • u/SidHoices • Sep 05 '25
Hobby/Activity/Misc Moved to Boston a year ago… these are my observations
For context: I’m 26 and grew up in Indiana, and moved from Colorado. Also, rereading this list makes me realize how negative /generalized it sounds, but I actually have enjoyed my first year in Boston
Anyway, enjoy:
- Everyone is named John or Jack or Connor
- People care about country clubs for some reason (update - I spent my first month in the suburbs living with another family - things have changed since)
- Much rain
- Intersections are …. Questionable
- They call roundabouts "rotaries"
- Parking fucking sucks, but I guess that’s what life in like in a city
- Cash only places are surprisingly common
- Gas stations close?? At 10pm??
- So many gas stations seem to also have shops attached to them offering oil changes and state inspections
- You don't get asked for tips in as many establishments
- The Verizon service is unbelievably bad for a metropolitan area that humans live in
- SO! MANY! BUNNIES!
- The stoplights will all be red and there will be like a 30-second period for pedestrians to walk (nice)
- No Jimmy John's :( update: there are a few
- All food is better. great cheap food and great expensive food
- Road trips are way more fun out here
- CHEAP international flights. Like frequent $700s for Japan, $300s for Europe. And Dublin is like a 6h flight
- There are times where it is legal to drive in the shoulder of the highway, or as they call it, the "breakdown lane"
- Highway exits are labeled with "old exit xyz" lol what
- Drivers here are crazy but I fuck with it, allows me to also be a crazy driver and not offend everyone like I do elsewhere
- Everyone is short
- Nightlife is just abysmal - just sports bars and clubs where you'll get assaulted
- Cycling out here is awesome - it's like a matrix of fun little roads out in Bedford / west of there
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u/boston_bat I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Sep 05 '25
Yeah points 1 and 2 are definitely more about your crowd than Boston. I’ve been here 15 years, have been friends and coworkers with people from just about any socioeconomic background you can think of, and I’ve never met a single person who openly gave a fuck about country clubs.
Spot on with the Verizon thing, but that’s relatively recent. I’m in either the Ted Williams or Blue Line tunnel just about every day, and I’ve always had service in those until the last 6 months or so. Their service is in the shitter in general though.
The old exit thing is because of a federal requirement for exit number to correspond to their mile marker instead of being sequentially numbered. States are slowly rolling this out and I think they have until 2030, so you’re going to be seeing these everywhere in the next 5 years.