Living in Boston

CityGal55
Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:44:30 +0000

nvk–I am a Chicago girl, but moved to NYC before freshman year of high school. I still consider myself a “Midwesterner” at heart.

Be prepared for a lot of Midwest stereotypes. There are people who will outright say that the only parts on the country that matter are California and the Northeast–everything in the middle is completely unimportant. Some people will assume people from the Midwest are hicks, boring, uncultured, not hip, not aware of music and fashion (even thought Chicago is hipper to new trends than 95% of the Northeast and California.)

I haven’t run into any real “problems” with people over the Midwest, but believe me, there ARE ignorant people…even sticking up for Chicago is hard sometimes–I can’t IMAGINE what it’s like to tell people you’re from Oklahoma or Minnesota.

There are some differences between Chicago and Boston, personality wise. Overall, people who work in stores (especially Newbury boutiques) are not as friendly as people in Chicago. Some don’t even acknowledge your walking into the store! Maybe I’m just used to over-friendliness, but there does seem to be a lack of respect for customers in a lot of stores. On the other hand, a lot of people here are absolutely amazing–mostly the people who work in less snooty fields.

Overall, though, living here is not a major change. If you are used to city life, you will get used to Boston fast.