Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Feeling Nostalgic

Aside from the first year and a half of my life (to which I have zero recollection), I lived in the same house until I was 18.  My parents still live in that house.  When I left, I was moving to Boston for college.  In the last 6 years (whoa that’s a long time!), I have lived in 7 different apartments (+1 dorm room) in 3 different areas: Boston, New Jersey and LA.  Boston was for college, New Jersey was to be near NYC / music and LA for music.  It’s kind of crazy to think of just how much moving I have done after spending my life in one place.
Always moving has it’s ups and downs.  I enjoy the ability to start fresh in a new apartment, having the opportunity to reorganize for the beginning, starting with a clean space.  But when you move to different areas (Boston to NJ, NJ to LA), you’re basically starting from scratch.  You have to meet new people, get accustomed to new surroundings, build a new support system, find your way around and get lost a few times.  
And then you miss the old places you used to live.  You go back to visit and it’s just weird.  You feel like at the end of the day you should be walking/driving back to your old apartment.  Waking up in the morning and continuing to live the life you once had while you were there.  Sometimes those times of my life feel so far away I wonder if they ever actually happened.  And sometimes they feel like they happened yesterday.
Sometimes I contemplate where I’m actually supposed to end up.  With all of this moving, is it really helping me determine where I want to live and spend the rest of my life?  Because I feel like I have no idea.  I assume that someday it will all make sense to me but right now it’s just frustrating as I find myself missing different aspects of my old life, while also not being able to imagine leaving aspects of my current one if I chose to do so.  Don’t freak out everyone, I’m just thinking out loud.  And missing Boston and NYC.  I don’t ever really miss NJ, just the friends and “family” I made during my two years there, but I was close enough to NYC that I miss that.  But I often find myself missing Boston more than I can explain.  And I’m not sure if it’s college I’m missing, the city itself, or different aspects of my life that felt in place while I was there.  And the few times I’ve gone back since college, it’s been weird for me, so why do I spend so much time missing it?
A couple days before I moved from Boston, I went on a long walk around the city, taking pictures of places I’d been, places I hadn’t, cool buildings, pretty scenery, everything that I wanted to remember about this city.  Here’s a few of those pictures.


Not from my last days in Boston, but this was my room in the apartment Justine and I lived in together.

Our living room / kitchen / stairway to the bathroom.  This apartment was pretty awesome. 

The building of my first studio apartment.  There's a small red box (and arrow) to my apartment on the 4th floor.  Loved this studio.

The strip of apartment building across from the Fens where I used to live.

A corner of my studio. :)

These pictures are from my parents visit.  Looking down on the strip of the Starbucks I used to work at on Newbury.

Gorgeous views of Boston.

Looking down on the Christian Science center.

Beautiful Charles River.  I wish I took advantage of the city more and spent days down there or went running along the river.  Too bad I didn't run in those days.

Now here are pictures from my last days:


My "backyard" aka: Fenway

I love this statue outside Fenway.

Cool view.

I keep this picture framed and always displaying in my apartment. Love it.



Probably one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken in Boston.



The gardens.




I spent a LOT of time on Newbury St.  Not shopping but walking + working. 

Berklee!

BPC

Love this picture.  Mass Ave & Boylston intersection.

More Berklee.

More Berklee.  Mostly business classes took place here.

Okay, okay.  So a few turned into a LOT! I love (& miss) Boston! :)

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