Friday, July 29, 2011

Boston VS. Dallas

Everyone said that it would be quite the culture shock moving from Dallas to Boston. Here are a few of the differences...
Brashleigh in Boston

Brashleigh in Texas (at the Rodeo no less!)


Housing
Many of the differences between Dallas and Boston have been the differences in 'creature comforts'. These ended up being total non-issues. We moved from a house to a ~500 sq ft dorm apartment and love it! My classes and Brad's office are both right across the street. The longest part of our commutes is the elevator ride down 20 floors. Tough life, I know! :-)



House in Dallas



Dorm Life in Boston



Yes, our place is a bit smaller but the view more than makes up for it!

Transportation
Another creature comfort that it turns out you don't actually need is three cars! Now we ride the "T" (Boston's subway system), use zipcar and get our groceries delivered (since there isn't a grocery store in walking distance). Sometimes we use our homeless cart to walk 3 miles to Target. Okay, we actually only did that once. :-)

Transportation in Dallas

Transportation in Boston

Work
One of the biggest differences in Boston is that I no longer earn a salary; now I pay someone else to let me work! The transition back to school was much better than I expected. One of the best things about no longer working in consulting is that I don't have to travel all week for work. I love being home and getting to cook Brad dinner every night!





Brad has had a transition as well from working for Mustang Technology Group, a defense contractor, to working for Acorn Product Development, a mechanical engineering design consulting firm. Brad was blessed with TWO job offers within a week of us moving here. Everyone at MIT told us he wouldn't have trouble finding a job. We just had no idea how quickly the jobs would come. It was a huge blessing that he was able to start working just days after I started school!

Food
Food was a large concern when moving here because we LOVE tex-mex. We rapidly replaced our weekly mexican meal with the North End's Italian food (including Mike's Pastry's cannoli!!). It is SOOO good!!! 

Delicious Mexican at Joe T. Garcias in Fort Worth- literally the best mexican food in Texas.

Italian food and cannolis in the North End- yummmm!!
Another food obsession that we have is Chick-fil-a. I was so sad during our last lunch at Chick-fil-a in Dallas the day before we moved. BUT it turns out they have a Chick-fil-a right next to one of Brad's clients (30 miles outside the city). In Dallas we dressed up every year as cows to get a day of free meals (we would go for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!). Brad was still able to dress-up for Cow Appreciation Day last month and he brought food back to campus for me. Yay for a little bit of the South up in North! 
Chickfila in Dallas
 

Chickfila in Boston


Church
Churches in the South seem to be slightly different from the churches in the North in both quantity and size. Our church home in Dallas had 10,000 members and has started a $115 million dollar building campaign. Our church home in Boston has 300 members and has services in a building that is 100+ years old. Both are great bodies of believers whose goal is to glorify Christ!

First Baptist Church of Dallas



 Hope Fellowship


Running
I'm a big runner and I have had a pretty big upgrade in running scenery. I typically ran the Katy Trail in Dallas with my amazing running partner Melanie. I realllllly miss her accountability to run in the morning and her entertaining life stories. Running over and around the Charles river has been pretty nice though!

Katy Trail in Dallas





Charles River running trail



Georgia Tech Alumni
We had a great community of Georgia Tech Alumni in Dallas. We loved being on the exec team and knew we would miss our North Texas club. However, it turns out several of my closest friends from Tech have moved up to Boston since graduation. I love hanging out with friends that I've had since  before freshman year!!
North Texas Georgia Tech Alumni Club

 GT Friends in Boston

Friends
We miss our friends in Dallas terribly but absolutely love the friends we've made so far in Boston. Starting school with a group of 50 intelligent, fun-loving, and super nice individuals (plus all their S.O.'s (significant others)!) has immensely helped the transition to Boston. I'm excited to see the relationships that develop over the next two years!











2 comments:

  1. Hey Ashleigh!
    Happened to stumble on your blog while searching for 'Texas to Boston' moves! How has the transition been? I will be moving to Cambridge from Dallas next month and I don't know a soul in Boston! If possible can you recommend any housing (apartment rental) options in Cambridge? Would be very helpful if you can.

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    ReplyDelete