Bonding with Beantown

Following my interview with MGH earlier this month, I was offered and accepted a position and am currently in the process of relocating.

Part of the allure of Boston for me is it's public transportation system. With a ferry/water taxi, commuter rail system, buses, and 4 dedicated train/rail lines (the 'T'), you can't go wrong getting around the city. In order to find an apartment I spent five wonderful days in the hub from Dec 9th to the 14th.

9 Dec - Saturday

I had worked Friday night into Saturday morning and was unable to sleep prior to my flight so my only plan was to have dinner and sleep when I arrived at my hotel. This worked in my favor as the weather in Detroit was less than desirable and the plane had to be de-iced, which is not a procedure I, someone with plane anxiety, had experienced. Thankfully I slept through most of it and we were only delayed by thirty minutes or so in total (I believe it was more like an hour but the flight is so quick we still arrived within twenty or thirty minutes of our scheduled time).

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor, which operates a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and back as well as from the hotel to the blue line airport T station and back (SUPER convenient). The rate was extremely affordable thanks to my Chase Sapphire card and it's travel perks and the hotel was very nice.

The first Bostonians I encountered on this trip were the shuttle driver, who was really nice, and an international traveler we picked up next, Brandon W. He had been backpacking for a month in Europe and while he currently lives in Las Vegas for work, he was on his way to his mom's to pick up his 17 year old jack russell terrier. He was surprised I was from the midwest, he didn't think I had an accent.

10 Dec - Sunday

Time to be productive! My first plan was to walk out to the harbor for the amazing skyline view of Boston proper and to get a photo for my moving announcement. Next I emailed the listing agent for the Chelsea apartment I'd been obsessed with since I first started looking and he responded that he was able to meet me there in the early afternoon. I decided to try out the commuter rail so I took the blue line from airport to state and then transferred to the orange line to north station for commuter line access. The blue line seemed new, clean, and modern while in comparison the orange line definitely seemed older and dirtier with a Chicago-like charm. The orange line has individual drivers as opposed to self driving cars and the drivers even make the stop announcements - which I enjoyed greatly (according to the internet the blue line has drivers too but the train I was on had automated stop announcements).

I picked up a Metro paper from the North Station (which happens to be connected to TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins) and purchased my round trip ticket for the commuter rail - on which I would only be traveling one stop. Moreover, I only then found out it runs only every 50 minutes; luckily I wasn't too far out from the next departure. The train was nice, comparable to any high speed train I've been on here, Canada, or in Europe.

I decided to have brunch at Chelsea Station, just a quick walk from the commuter rail station - which in Chelsea was not much of a station, just a stop. This place was fantastic.. the waiter could've been better but the food was excellent. I got a call from someone named Barbara from the brokerage firm/listing agency for the apartment and she met me over at the property. It's a gorgeous building that I believe was built in 1900 and while technically in the historic Bellingham Square neighborhood of the 2.21 square mile city of Chelsea, MA, it's right on the outskirts of the beautiful and equally historic Admirals Hill neighborhood of the same city. Definitely interested, I told the agent I'd fill out an application and then circled the block to look around.

I missed the next commuter rail train so I decided to try my luck at the bus. Caught it without issue into town and visited the Faneuil Hall market and Hard Rock Cafe. The Metro paper had advertised an afternoon show at the Wilbur by none other than former Buzzfeed king Matt Bellassai, and I just had to go. "Whine About It" was one of my favorite guilty internet pleasures and the 42$ ticket to the stand-up show included a signed copy of Matt's new book and a meet & greet (photo). I got carded at the theatre because I just looked "so damn young," definitely laughed a lot, enjoyed myself, and thought he only went too far (for me) once. Sitting at the table with me were Katie, a Michigan State grad, and her friend Lynn. They were super nice and recommended a few towns to live in (Charlestown, Burlington, Allston, Somerville, Roxbury, and Cambridge).

My plan for the rest of the night was to find an Irish pub with trad tunes but I failed. Paddy O's did have good live music but I wouldn't call it Irish or trad so I split after one beer and headed back to East Boston for the night.

11 Dec - Monday

I visited Chelsea again to get a better grasp on the neighborhood to see if it was really going to be somewhere I wanted to spend at least the next year and I found a lot of things I liked. I rode the bus in this time and walked 2-ish blocks to the water and a nice little park under the freeway bridge. Continuing around the corner another block I ran right into Mary O'Malley State Park, a great place to run and walk the dogs. There is also a large Market Basket grocery store within walking distance to the apartment as well as a 7-11 and a Dunkin Donuts. The Chelsea District Court being on the corner did not thrill me but there didn't seem to be anybody hanging around that shouldn't have been.

I used the other half of my round trip commuter rail ticket to get from Chelsea to the north station and I visited the Bobby Orr statue and then walked on into the West End for the famous Pizzeria Regina. I had a "white pizza" and I have to say it was pretty delicious. In the North End I found the Paul Revere House Museum and the as seen on TV Mike's Pastry.

My mom had been hounding me about my ring size so I stopped into a random mom & pop with a sign that said "jewelry and watch repair." The owner's name was Ralph and he and his three old buddies were all very, very nice. It definitely made me want to reconsider my apartment choice (I had only really been looking in Chelsea and East Boston) and they hooked me up with two realtors, Eric and Giancarlo. Evidently everybody knows somebody in Boston who owns real estate or is a realtor. I thanked the guys and then headed out to explore the Old State House Museum (and Boston Massacre Site).

I settled in early and slept in late - after all, while this was ultimately an apartment hunt it was also a vacation and I needed to relax.

12 Dec - Tuesday

Today was supposed to be apartment search day but the realtor (who had contacted me via Facebook when I had posted in a Boston group looking for a place) rescheduled last minute for Wednesday. This was fine with me as I had plans to go to the hospital anyway and meet up with my co-workers.

On my walk I visited King's Chapel burying ground, part of the Freedom Trail. Established in 1630, it is the oldest burial ground in Boston. I took my first trip on the red line T and traveled across the Charles River to Cambridge for lunch at a place called VEGGIE GALAXY! I was really pumped and it did not disappoint. Everything on the menu is vegetarian and can be made vegan on request. I ordered a reuben with potato salad and it was absolutely divine. I also just really loved the vibe I got from the town.

I got a mocha from Flour bakery and then checked out the MIT museum to pass the time until I had to be at the hospital. I had to leave my coffee in the lobby and unfortunately upon picking it up after visiting the museum I squeezed it all over myself and the floor. This resulted in a trip to Target where I purchased a sweatshirt and therefore was far more dressed down than I had intended for my meeting with my future coworkers. I was also late to the hospital. All things considered, it turned out okay and while I couldn't find the lab and my phone refused to work I was able to contact my future boss from a hospital line and he came and got me.

We headed out to the Tip Tap Room which is just across the street from the hospital and while a teeny bit pricey they had a great beer list and delicious chocolate mousse. I greatly enjoyed hanging out with my new coworkers and I can't wait to join them in the lab! One of them even lives directly across the street from the Chelsea apartment I had looked at.. another point for that place!

13 Dec - Wednesday

Apartment day. I had high hopes for East Boston! Unfortunately the weather was the worst it had been all trip.. it was only 8 degrees with the wind chill and I hated every second of it.

I was meeting the realtor at 1230 and while I had comprised a list of well over 10 places to look at plus four places she had mentioned, she had only been able to schedule appointments for four places in total. I wasn't too thrilled at the lack of options but I tried to stay positive. I had really wanted to live in the Jeffries Point neighborhood of East Boston ("Eastie") but the apartments we were looking at were located in Eagle Hill and Orient Heights.

Directly behind the blue line airport station is a huge park that seemed really nice. I walked through that and toward Angela's Cafe, a popular Mexican restaurant in Eastie featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri. I'm trying to learn my terminology but I kept calling the houses in Eastie row houses but I just learned that brownstones can be referred to as row houses and that's not the image in my head. Brownstones have tons of character and the houses in Eastie, at least to me, and what I saw in Eagle Hill, were all flat-fronted, flat-roofed, vinyl-sided three story apartments. There was a lot of broken glass on the sidewalks and it just didn't feel as nice. I may have been swayed in a negative direction due to the cold but I just wasn't feeling Eastie. I got to the area way too early so I looked on my phone for a coffee place and found "Honey Dew Donuts" which sounded like a fun place to chill and read the Metro. What Google failed to tell me was that it was merely a tiny counter inside of a gas station and not an actual sit down place. Therefore, for 45 minutes, I stood uncomfortably in a busy gas station and made small talk with the nice lady running it who was from Revere (and also thought I shouldn't live in Eastie or Chelsea- this was popular opinion among many Boston area residents).

Finally the realtor showed up in an Uber (YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WALK IN THE FREEZING COLD TO THESE FOUR APARTMENTS?!) and the first place, 65 Condor #3, was an absolute hole. It was being renovated but it was in the same state as I had seen it weeks previous when I saw the listing on Zillow. I did not have high hopes that it would be completed by Jan 1st and I also didn't want to rent an apartment without seeing the final product after remodel. Furthermore, only the apartment was being renovated, not the common area (ie. the stairs). The next place was about a ten minute walk away from the first and that walk was quite hilly. East Boston has an interesting history and was actually created by connecting several islands by land fill (land reclamation - not landfill as in trash). This place had a nicer exterior but was also next to an abandoned building (which would hopefully be bought and renovated soon as well- although that would result in construction noise). The place was nice enough and was a one bedroom but for the price, which was only a little less than Chelsea, it wasn't worth it to me. The third place was the nicest of all three on the outside and while the renovation seemed a little sketchy the place was REALLY cool. It had two small bedrooms and was actually composed of several rooms. It had a washer & dryer IN unit and a storage area off the back of the apartment as well as a tiny back deck and a shared enclosed yard. There was an amazing view of the city skyline (although later I realized this is only true in the winter when the leaves are gone from the trees) and while it would've been cool to live there and I could've actually kept all of my stuff, I would've needed a roommate because the rent was 1800$ a month and it was also directly across the street from East Boston High School and that was a big tick in the con column for me. I decided against even looking at the fourth place, which I believe was in orient heights. The realtor would've gotten an Uber for us but base don what I had already seen I just wasn't even interested in looking at anything else. We called it a day and I immediately texted the Chelsea realtor to let him know I wanted that apartment!

On my last night in the city I rode on the only train I hadn't yet, the green line! It was very cool- the track was street level and the electricity was above like a street car yet it was still technically a subway car- I don't know how else to explain it! The cars were also all connected without door sin between and in one direction there are actually four different routes so you have to pay attention that you're getting on the right train as the line branches out. Anyway, I got off at Copley to visit "the Pru" (the Prudential Center) and go to the skywalk observatory. Unfortunately there was some type of event going on and part of it was blocked off so it wasn't a full 360 degree view of Boston but I did get to see most of it and I stayed while the sun went down.

For dinner I ate at Five Napkin Burger, a chain with only five locations, four of which are in New York. I didn't find it to be anything amazing and probably wouldn't go again. For dessert I grabbed a cannoli from Eataly and enjoyed the rest of the night reading in a comfy bed in my Hyatt hotel room.

I'm happy to report that I got the apartment in Chelsea and I am moving in the first week in January!