I’ve always loved to travel, and to see new places. A goal that I sort of secretly held for Karen and I when we were married (and still do, its just more difficult as a student) was also a goal that I tried to keep for myself for years: to visit one new place every year. Typically, we’ve been successful in that.
While I’ve travelled a great deal, and I’ve seen much of what at least my own country has to offer, I haven’t lived in many different places. At this point in life, I’ve lived in three different states. While cultural differences in different geographic locations fascinate me to no end, those same differences can be simultaneously fascinating and frustrating when you’re living with them. In the South, things moved at an impossibly slow pace (unless one was constructing a new building, in which case it was up practically overnight, because that’s how they seem to define the concept of progress down there), you were waited on when someone felt like it if you went into a business, no one had any clue what to do with snow, and people were always polite to your face, regardless of what they said behind your back.
There were a lot of great things about the South, as well (the weather is foremost in my memory at the moment), but the things that I listed above were the things that I found to be most negative. I didn’t mind them at first, but they began to really annoy me after a while. There were other, specific things to Virginia, as well, like the fact that there was no such thing as an acceleration lane on the expressway, and that you could drive completely insane as long as you didn’t speed, because the only traffic law that any police officer seemed to care about at all was the speed limit (which was always posted incredibly low there).
All of those things are the things that don’t exist here in New England. After just short of eight months here, though, there’s a handful of things that are making me scratch my head in bemusement, and I thought that you might find them funny, as well.
Traffic patterns are just weird if you didn’t grow up with them (Karen did, and so she’s quite comfortable here). I’m glad to say that acceleration lanes are back in my life, but the cities here are just much older than those in the South, and thus were designed around foot traffic, not motor vehicle traffic. This manifests in practical ways, like roundabouts instead of traffic signals at many intersections (of which I’m a fan), but also in chaotic ways to the uninitiated, like streets branching off at incredibly odd angles at intersections. And circular intersections…those are always fun. With poor signage. And, in Massachusetts specifically, there are no lanes when you exit from an Interstate. So, you go from a structured four lanes of traffic to no distinguishable lanes, with traffic coming in from multiple exits on all sides and weaving in and out of each other to reach the outlet to their destination. Seriously, it’s chaos.
Karen and I live in the “greater Boston area,” but are just across the state line in New Hampshire. Our current city is sort of a bedroom community for the Boston area…many choose to live here because of the cost of living decrease. Because of that, I anticipated some continuity when we moved here, but the differences between New Hampshire and Massachusetts can actually be quite profound. Massachusetts, for example, prefers to regulate necessary things (with which I have no problem). Recycling is legally mandated in many areas. Cleaning the snow off of your car before driving is actually a law. New Hampshire, conversely, really doesn’t like to be told what to do. There’s no income tax here, and no sales tax, either (yet they still maintain excellent public services to their residents, such as health care for children). Don’t want to have insurance on your vehicle? That’s not legally required of you here (which is really concerning to me). Don’t want to wear your seat belt? That’s now a law, either. Very few traffic cameras exist here, and there are fewer laws in general. The license plates say “Live Free or Die,” for crying out loud. Going between the two on a daily basis is almost its own sort of regular culture shock.
Some things that I love about New England? The people are straight forward, but very friendly. They say what they think, and you don’t have to interpret. Pedestrians always have right of way, especially in crosswalks! If you’re in a crosswalk, you barely have to even look. Just walk, because traffic stops for you. Every town has a common, which is sort of cool, and makes a great landmark for navigation.
And, when snow happens (and it always happens), they really know how to deal with it (the main streets were cleared the next morning after 28 inches of snow dumped on us this year).
All that to say, every place has a different set of advantages and disadvantages, things that are irritating and things that are brilliant. I was ready for a different set of advantages and disadvantages, so moving is nice. I’m sure that we’ll do it all over again in a few years, and where will that one take us? Only time will tell…
In the meantime, I’m going to need to buy a lot more cold weather gear.