@moooop — I lived in Boston immediately after college, and learned to drive shift there. (That was interesting.) You are SO correct about no one starting up at the green, but I always thought it was to allow the three cars running the light through the red. My favorite was the one where a driver realized he needed to turn left from the far right lane across three lanes of cars waiting at the light. I swear I saw that one at least once a day while commuting in on Boylston St (I think that was the road).
Boston driving prepared me for going up against NYC cabbies.
I think the Boston drivers are similar to drivers in Italy. On more than one occasion I’ve sheparded frozen with fear strangers in Rome across a traffic circle with the admonition to, “Follow me and do not under any circumstances look at the drivers.”
My first driving experience in Boston, occured when I was trying to find a place to move to after graduation. Traffic lights seemed open to interpretation, and definitely not following any Boolean logic that I could identify. Combined with rents that rivaled Manhattan, I decided that I’d head to California.
Btw forget about the California roll, more dangerous are the u-turns that drivers will perform without warning as they consult Google maps on their phones. In any given drive around my neighborhood, I’m likely to see 2 or 3.
I have twin sons. After several visits, we came up with the college visit Bingo card too. We thought we were so original. All the tours include “we are the best schools for…” 'top-rated…"
CalTech - My STEM focused DS was shocked at the size of CalTech. His high school in NorCal is larger. We were also not impressed with the various labs we could peek in as we walked around. They seemed old and out-of-date. I will grant this is a very small sample. DS decided he was not geeky enough and didn’t apply.
UCLA - Gorgeous campus. Make sure you have your walking shoes. DS1 and DS2 liked it. They both commented that the dorms were a long way from academic buildings. Also, more hills than they expected.
USC - Also gorgeous campus. Did not get the “bad area of town” vibe that we heard about. Campus tour and then college specific sessions were well done. The only concern with this one is the $$$. What will the FAL look like?
ASU - This is the safety school for both. Their older brother is currently a senior in Barrett Honors College. They were both impressed with the individual attention they received. Essentially one-on-one tours. They met with a National Merit Advisor, Barrett Advisor, Assoc Dean and a Professor. They both agreed they would be happy here if some of the top choices don’t pan out.
I am a proud Masshole. Drives me crazy when people here in FL don’t know what to do at a rotary (not many down here but therexhappej to be 2 in my neighborhood.). Can’t tell you how many people I’ve almost read ended as they came to a full stop at an empty rotary.
I moved into the city after college graduation- Move In Day (Sept 1) always made me sad because I misdeed being in college so much!
Ok, back to bad colleges. We visited U Miami last week. It was much nicer that we expected and I could have happily sat with a beer at their pub by the lake while D and her friends finished the tour. But then I wouldn’t have been able to see the last stop - the dorms. The hall was so narrow and the rooms so tiny with cinder block walls that I thought I was in a jail. They are building new dorms but these nightmares will still be there. Maybe they saved it for last hoping you had already fallen in love with the school?
Whenever someone cuts us off or is weaving on the highway up here in Maine, we always check out the driver’s license plate. About 90% of the time, it’s Massachusetts…
@MaineLonghorn when I lived in NY the bad drivers were from NJ, in Oregon they were from Washington. In California they are from Arizona (aka zonies). I think it’s a combination of people being outside their normal geography and our tribal tendency to define an evil “other”
The thing about Boston is that there is no need to drive. Just like NYC. Park somewhere, then take public transportation and walk. Here in Southern Maine, we don’t even have to drive TO the city. We can park for free in Portland in a nice lot and take the train to North Station or the bus to South Station, thus avoiding the entire issue.
My observation re Boston drivers vs Italian drivers is that the latter are more merciful. When someone is passing a long line of cars on a winding 2-lane highway overlooking a cliff that falls straight down to the sea, and a car coming the other way appears, one of the Italian drivers will slow down and let the passer in.
But Californians own the CA stop. There was a news story about a woman who drove her son to a summer camp every day for 2 weeks, and it took her through a state park. Apparently there was a stop sign that the woman just took as adversary and not mandatory and she rolled through it for 10 straight days. Oops, there was a camera there and automatic tickets were issued, but of course it took some time to match up the license plate/driver and get the tickets mailed out. They were something like $175 each, so once they started coming, they kept coming day after day until she had a whole pile of them.
I used to live in NH and drove frequently to Logan but refused to drive anywhere else in Boston. I have lived in CA for 10 years now and have commuted all over the Bay Area for work. I can say that drivers in both states suck. What I notice more than anything here in CA is that nobody uses their turn signal. Ever.
My favorite story about bad drivers in CA is being in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. Beside me was a guy driving a pickup truck with the window down, bare left foot out the window, and a newspaper opened across the steering wheel. Just so wrong.
I wish I had something to share about a least favorite school here, but I’ve liked all three tours we’ve been on. Once we hear from the rest of the California schools and do a couple of additional tours, hopefully I’ll have something to share!
Back to the Spiders - amazing! I live about 10 mins from UR and am over there a lot. Love the school but unfortunately I couldn’t convince any of my kids to stay in town. That spider mascot is awesome. If I had to pick the creepiest mascot, I’m picking the Providence Friar. I am a Catholic and that thing’s face is nightmare inducing. Oh, and for fun, check out the Rhode Island School of Designs “unofficial” mascot…
One final note re driving in Boston. In most places in the country, if you are driving down a street, and want to turn right into a parking lot, and for some reason miss the turn, the remedy is easy: make 3 right turns and you go around the block and end up back where you were right before you missed your turn. You try that in Boston and you might end up in Rhode Island or Nova Scotia, or in a worst- case scenario, Worcester.
My D was less than impressed with the campus of Texas A&M college station. Don’t get me wrong, she loved Aggie spirit and traditions! But the campus is architecturally uninteresting and sprawling. IMO, the football stadium is absolutely huge and beautiful, but looming over the campus as it does, it kind of gives the impression that football is the Most Important Thing.
^ All TAMU students stand for the duration of every home game (symbolizing readiness to jump down on the field and play, if the coach calls out for their help) so your impression that football is the “most important thing” at TAMU is arguably correct. The students also attend “yell practice” at midnight before every home game. The football tradition at TAMU is huge.
I live in California and we always called the slow rolls through stop signs, “California Stops.”
As for Boston drivers, the first time I was ever in Boston there was a BU football game going on at Nickerson Field. (That’s my college tie in to this thread.) People were literally driving onto the sidewalks of Commonwealth Avenue to get around traffic, and also to park their cars directly on the sidewalk.
