My experience at Boston (Harvard: apartment complexes, neighborhoods, school)

[nycricanpapi]

Hello all just wanted to say my experience when I went to Boston. Well coming from NYC, I expected for Boston to be very diverse. However it is not so diverse. I only saw White people there. Is it like this in all of Boston? Also the drivers do not drive fast lol... They drive slow.. I thought that they would drive like in NYC. Also it is so hard to find parking in Boston smh... I had to park in the parking lot numerous of times. Oh, I was so surprised that almost nobody had the Boston Red Sox sticker on their cars. In NYC, you will see lots of cars with the Yankees sticker. Overall? I like Boston. It is a cool city. When I was over there I felt like I was in Manhattan lol. When I was in Boston I didn't hear anyone with the Boston accent. Is the Boston accent still there? Also, everybody runs through the red light lol! Why everybody runs through the red light?

One question: If I want a taxi over there, do I need to call in the company or I can just hail a cab?

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by nycricanpapi

Hello all just wanted to say my experience when I went to Boston. Well coming from NYC, I expected for Boston to be very diverse. However it is not so diverse. I only saw White people there. Is it like this in all of Boston? Also the drivers do not drive fast lol... They drive slow.. I thought that they would drive like in NYC. Also it is so hard to find parking in Boston smh... I had to park in the parking lot numerous of times. Oh, I was so surprised that almost nobody had the Boston Red Sox sticker on their cars. In NYC, you will see lots of cars with the Yankees sticker. Overall? I like Boston. It is a cool city. When I was over there I felt like I was in Manhattan lol. Lastly, I didn't hear anyone with the Boston accent. Is the Boston accent still there?

One question: If I want a taxi over there, do I need to call in the company or I can just hail a cab?

Glad you had a good time!

Parking is a pain. And Red Sox stickers aren't too common, but they can be found all over the Boston area.

Boston's not as diverse as NYC, and both its diversity and people with Boston accents tend to be outside of the downtown neighborhoods.

And to my knowledge, it's possible to hail a cab in the busier parts of the city (I got one from Harvard square to Brighton once), but calling might be necessary if you want to pick one up from an obscure location. In general, I think cabs are less popular in Boston than in New York. I prefer to take trains/buses rather than cabs if possible.

[Cliff Clavin]

You only saw white folks who didn't have a Boston accent? What part of the city were you in? Are you sure you didn't miss Boston entirely and wind up in New Hampshire?

I've never heard anyone say we Bostonians drive fast. The lack of Red Sox decals on cars seems like an odd observation too.

With that said, glad you enjoyed your visit. Sorry to hear about Jeter.

[nycricanpapi]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

Glad you had a good time!

Parking is a pain. And Red Sox stickers aren't too common, but they can be found all over the Boston area.

Boston's not as diverse as NYC, and both its diversity and people with Boston accents tend to be outside of the downtown neighborhoods.

And to my knowledge, it's possible to hail a cab in the busier parts of the city (I got one from Harvard square to Brighton once), but calling might be necessary if you want to pick one up from an obscure location. In general, I think cabs are less popular in Boston than in New York. I prefer to take trains/buses rather than cabs if possible.

Yeah that may probably be it. I was in downtown. I had a blast over there. I will definitely will be going back.

Originally Posted by Cliff Clavin

You only saw white folks who didn't have a Boston accent? What part of the city were you in? Are you sure you didn't miss Boston entirely and wind up in New Hampshire?

I've never heard anyone say we Bostonians drive fast. The lack of Red Sox decals on cars seems like an odd observation too.

With that said, glad you enjoyed your visit. Sorry to hear about Jeter.

Yeah all the good players from the Yankees are leaving, now y'all are going to win all the world series lol, just playing.

[miu]

What... no comment on how tiny Boston is compared to NYC????

Originally Posted by nycricanpapi

Yeah that may probably be it. I was in downtown. I had a blast over there. I will definitely will be going back.

Yeah, downtown is fairly white, although Chinatown is close by. But out outlying areas of Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica and Mattapan are very diverse in skin colour... sort of like your NYC boroughs. Our downtown financial district is like your Wall Street area.

[Bob Lanata]

[SIZE=5]nycricanpapi[/SIZE]

Glad you had a good time sir and you were a stranger here but once. I am in NYC once a month for work and I just love the energy. You would have to have spent alot of time in our city to catch the diversity of it all and some of our foods will give NYC a run for thier money.
Hope you come back again and as I look out the window of where I am working out of today, I see the Charles river and a lot of snow. Be glad you are not driving around here today

[UsAll]

Originally Posted by nycricanpapi

Hello all just wanted to say my experience when I went to Boston. Well coming from NYC, I expected for Boston to be very diverse. However it is not so diverse. I only saw White people there. Is it like this in all of Boston? Also the drivers do not drive fast lol... They drive slow.. I thought that they would drive like in NYC. Also it is so hard to find parking in Boston smh... I had to park in the parking lot numerous of times. Oh, I was so surprised that almost nobody had the Boston Red Sox sticker on their cars. In NYC, you will see lots of cars with the Yankees sticker. Overall? I like Boston. It is a cool city. When I was over there I felt like I was in Manhattan lol. When I was in Boston I didn't hear anyone with the Boston accent. Is the Boston accent still there? Also, everybody runs through the red light lol! Why everybody runs through the red light?

One question: If I want a taxi over there, do I need to call in the company or I can just hail a cab?

Having lived in & traversed throughout Boston itself and greater Boston/Eastern Massachusetts at-large for over 22 years and having visited it multiple times before in decades past, I always saw people of all races/colors, ethnicities, and nationalities everywhere I went . . . in all or nearly all circumstances. Even in central Boston (downtown, Beacon Hill/West End, North End, Chinatown, Back Bay, Fenway, et al and in all the surrounding areas and suburbs). As to non-whites (e.g., especially blacks and Hispanics), I'd see them every day or nearly every day and in all circumstances nearly everywhere I went (working, shopping, schooling, recreational activities, using public transit, visiting needed services such as the Post Office or banks or hospitals, etc. etc. etc.). How could you possibly be in greater Boston and not see blacks, Hispanics, Asians, et al? You must have walked into another dimension of our universe or some parallel universe (perhaps you entered the Twilight Zone?) but you couldn't have possibly been in Greater Boston/Eastern Massachusetts and believably say that all one ever sees here is "white people".

Even in any apartment complexes I've lived in (even more upscale buildings in upscale areas), there were black and/or Hispanic fellow residents, employees, visitors, et al . . . and certainly Asian of all types (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern/Arab, et al). And you see them represented in the local police, fire, and emergency services forces throughout the area and region as well and as political representatives on many levels of government and the public sector. So I'm perplexed.

Even the present governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is black (African-American) and his name is Governor Deval Patrick.

I'll be sure to tell all my black and/or Hispanic friends, associates, co-workers, professionals (doctors, dentists, et al), service and repair persons, building staffs, police officers, firefighters, hospital staff persons, retail store staffs, etc. etc. etc. that they, in fact, really don't exist and that I must be just imagining them to exist.

[Urban Peasant]

I went to NYC twice in the past two years and encountered many people without the New York accent. That just shows that a lot of people from elsewhere have moved into the city and settled down. That same goes for Boston. Check up census stats and you'll see population has grown in both cities and neighborhoods have been gentrified. You won't find as many old time folk anymore unless you look harder.

Parking is always a nightmare in Boston and always will be. We don't have much space up here. Drivers drive slow because our narrow roads are old cow paths that twist and turn unlike New York's grid layout. Red Sox stickers may not be common but lots of people wear Red Sox caps around here. Taxis can be hailed but they aren't that easy to find because there aren't that many of them around. The best way to get around Boston is the rapid transit even though it can get quite crowded and prone to breakdowns.

But Boston's Downtown is mostly WHITE ? I walk through Downtown Crossing all the time and see just as much Black, Brown, and Yellow .

[G-fused]

I was raised in NYC, then went to grad school in upstate NY and lived there for a while then moved to Boston 4 yrs ago. Boston is no NYC, which is why I moved here instead of back to NYC. I had enough of NY, not that I don't like it, just had enough of it. Anywhoo, if you're coming from NYC Boston does not seem diverse at all so I get that.

They're just different places so one will be dissapointed if they are lookingn for a smaller NYC.

[nycricanpapi]

Originally Posted by G-fused

I was raised in NYC, then went to grad school in upstate NY and lived there for a while then moved to Boston 4 yrs ago. Boston is no NYC, which is why I moved here instead of back to NYC. I had enough of NY, not that I don't like it, just had enough of it. Anywhoo, if you're coming from NYC Boston does not seem diverse at all so I get that.

They're just different places so one will be dissapointed if they are lookingn for a smaller NYC.

Good to hear from a perspective of a NYer. Thanks for your input.