Ex-flatmate has since left Boston but his brief stay with me has been the highlight of my six months in Boston so far. It was a surreal experience to see Ex-flatmate in Boston, showing him around and introducing him to my new friends and life here. Detailed blogging of his stay will hopefully eventuate in the coming weeks, but highlights include: 'leaf peeping' in Maine; getting a flat tyre on a major freeway on our return from Maine; playing tour guide and taking Ex-flatmate to my favourite eating haunts; exploring new bars and pubs; chilling out to awesome live music at Matt Murphy's pub; and seeing the Isabella Gardner Museum. Also, Ex-flatmate missing his flight out of Boston and being forced to stay another day was not quite a highlight, but certainly memorable.
Boston is a great city to live in, it's small and easy to get around, has quaint, quiet neighbourhoods that gives the city character and charm, and has a decent selection of places that can be spent dancing, drinking or hanging out during the night. Despite all this, pangs of homesickness have inevitably hit, occurring when things at work have gone pear-shaped or when I'm forced to spend nights solo. These are dangerous times where the mind dwells to dark thoughts and pines for the good old days back in ever so distant Sydney, a familiar home where the comfort of family and close mates beckon. When Ex-flatmate departed it triggered a new wave of homesickness as I know that it will be many months before we'll hang out together again. Sure we can share laughs over the phone or even email, but how can one compare musing about life and love over a beer in a cosy pub to chatting via Skype? You just can't. The saving grace is that I've made some good friends in Boston and we have loads of fun together, but sometimes it's not just quite the same as going out with Ex-flatmate et al.
Back in Sydney, I know Ex-flatmate will miss the States. Prior to Boston he had partied his way through San Francisco and New York in a frenzy of random fun events, chance encounters with interesting people and generally had a blast doing what we all seldom really do on a day-to-day basis, that is, taking time out to enjoy life and be happy. It's been a life-altering experience for him on many different levels and he tells me that he'll start a blog and write about it, so when the time comes I'll link to him if he wants. Should be an intriguing read and I'm looking forward to it.
Now my tourist guide stint is over and it's back to business as usual. My flatmates now again are just my pets, 'Fetch' the turtle and my (unnamed) Siamese fighting fish. But that's OK because there will always be the next visit by Ex-flatmate. Besides, I can look over the photos we took during his stay, remember, and laugh.
Fetch the turtle. Despite the looming close-up shot, Fetch is still a baby and only 2 inches long.
My other flatmate is a Siamese Fighting Fish (they call them Bettas here in Boston).
1 comment:
Hi Ben,
It was an awesome few days in Boston and I can say that my liver is still recovering!
Even though we hadn't seen each other for six months it was like nothing had changed and before you know it we'll be chatting, drinking and chilling out to tunes again.
Hope you enjoy reading my blog and yes feel free to link me in!
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