An open love letter to Boston

Boston is mine. Pictured in November 2014 on Newbury Street.

Boston is home to a lot of things. The Red Sox, the Celtics and even Dunkin Donuts is from the Boston-area in Quincy. Boston is my home.

Boston makes me feel more welcome than my actual home in Syracuse, NY. It welcomes me everyday and each time I've been away for a while. Boston has more to offer me and I have taken advantage of that in the last two years. I like being able to walk around Boston knowing where I am going and feeling as though I belong. I used to have a retail job at the Prudential Center and I like the feeling of pretending to be grown up and going into the city to work then always seeing friends after.

I have taken Boston as my own. I take advantage of where I am. I have been to Museum of Fine Arts probably six times in the last school year (it helps that students can get in for free) and other countless museums (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is my favorite!). I have gotten to know small businesses and frequent them regularly. I know exactly what I want when I go into Quincy Market and where to find the best cannoli in the North End.

That was fun for a while but I grew tired of that and quit that job. Boston is more. Boston gives me that cultural living aspect of a city I've always wanted. There are urban musicians and rich business professionals walking the same streets and ordering at the same Starbucks and I find that somewhat beautiful. Boston is historical and modern at the same time. There are concert venues next to some of America's oldest buildings and that is Boston for you. 

I love it. I worked in Boston. I hope to work in Boston. I ride the T by myself. I go out to eat in Boston. I shop in Boston. I hang out with friends in Boston. I go to concerts in Boston. I photograph and walk aimlessly in Boston. I feel like a true Bostonian. 

In some ways, I feel like I know Boston better than Syracuse. I was thrown into Boston, forced to get to know my surroundings but with Syracuse it was learned and if I don't know something by now I might never. I am always learning in Boston. I've been to some of the neighborhoods of Boston and feel welcome there.

Boston is never somewhere I expected myself to be. I grew up shy and away from the real world. Boston has taken me on a whirlwind adventure the last two years and can only hope that the next two years are the same. Boston is mine.