- My long distance partner and I moved to Massachusetts thinking it would be a great place to put our lives together.
- We developed our works in Boston but found it too expensive and not enough for us.
- After two years, we found a vacation in a quiet place an hour west of Boston, Sudbury.
My partner and I started our long-term relationship on opposite shores – me in Lake Tahoe and him in New York – but we wanted to put our lives together somewhere new after a few years. several together.
We spent months researching where we would like to move and build a great future. Finally, we looked at Massachusetts.
For years, places like US News & World Report have named it the best country to live in because of its high standards of living standards, such as the ability to ability and happiness of the general population.
We were even more convinced once we saw the videos of the bright leaves of New England in the fall – I saw our life there as a part. “Gilmore Girls” and a Hallmark movie episode featuring a rain-soaked cobblestone.
We headed to the capital of Massachusetts, Boston, in the summer of 2019 once I got a job and registered for classes at Harvard.
The city was not what we expected, and we struggled to get used to it
Boston had beautiful leaves in the fall but it wasn’t enough to make up for our issues with the city. DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images
The city was indeed beautiful, but I soon realized how different our experiences were from what we expected.
Massachusetts has high rent costs in certain areas, and Boston’s overall cost of living meant that we couldn’t build on our savings while living there.
Our bills mostly went to our $3,000-a-month Boston apartment that was marketed as “luxury living space for young professionals” but was actually small and it’s out of date.
Every day, I went to a grueling commute, passing potholes and aggressive drivers through a city with the worst traffic in the world. Now, I was paying to park my car in the garage which cost about a quarter of our rent every month.
Although Boston offers many public transportation options, my partner (a born and raised New Yorker) found them unreliable at times. Between the day and night traffic and the few green spaces in the city, fresh air sometimes felt absent.
We struggled socially, too. My family says I’m so friendly that I get to know every barista and grocer I meet, so I was surprised when I couldn’t meet the people I met in Boston. Being from the country, we often felt like outsiders.
Even our cats, who live in a very small apartment with a view of the dilapidated building next to us, felt like: Boston was not for us.
After 2 years, we went to remote areas to heal
While I was in Boston, my partner continued his veterinary practice and I received a good education. But in 2021, we knew we had to go – two years since we moved to Boston in August 2019 felt like ten years.
The city had let us down, and we were upset about it, but we had not lost faith in the district at that time. So, we sought out slow living about an hour west in the little-known Massachusetts town of Sudbury.
Once we moved in, our rent was $550 a month – our apartment was bigger and nicer, with updated appliances and linens. We also had great views as our windows overlooked the dog park and forest.
The Sudbury air felt good as we were surrounded by green spaces. Although our city was smaller than it was in Boston, the people we met felt kinder, more cohesive, and more welcoming.
We stayed there for over two years until we moved to downtown Las Vegas in December 2023 to be closer to families in need, but we are still grateful for our time in Sudbury.
Despite our struggles, we have a lot to be thankful for in Boston. We grew into adults and continued our careers there – and the city taught us that we need space and silence to thrive.