A new commute

For the first time since leaving Princeton I am beginning to feel settled. More than 3 hours of travel time a day while I spent the summer commuting into Boston from my parents home in the suburbs left me with little time and energy. But finally I am in an apartment, biking distance from work, and feel as though I will be able to begin engaging in the exciting new city around me.

One unexpected surprise is that it is now September and instead of going to class in the morning I still go to the same office I occupied all summer. Although I always knew the position would be for a year somewhere in the back of my mind it felt like a summer job. Now instead of moving back to New Jersey I have moved closer to my work and the reality of working life is beginning to sink in more and more.

I have commuted to work from my apartment for a total of two day thus far and it has certainly been an adventure. Yesterday a line of bike commuters formed around me as we all made our way down Beacon St at 7:30 in the morning and today a woman in a car honked at me and told me to get off the road. I suppose I will soon learn which roads the bikers take to avoid such drivers. My attempts to stay off the major roadways and bike on side roads led me t0 a bench in a park by the Muddy River not being able to tell north from south (and I usually consider myself a decent map reader). Having grown up near Boston I always considered I had a sense of it, but actually living here is making me realize that I only knew individual places within it. Now I am learning the web of curvy streets that connects all those places that are familiar.