It's been real, Boston

Well, today is my last day in Boston. My room is packed for the most part and I start loading my car this afternoon.

Sunday night, I got to spend an evening with Cassie, Meri and Mandy. For the last year, I've been begging them to go to the Greenbriar Pub with me in Brighton Center. So, finally, the obliged me and we went! And....now I know why we NEVER went before. It was the most annoying place we've ever been, filled with a ton of drunk, belligerent Irish guys. After 1 drink, we went to one of our favorite places, Devlin's for a much more laid back atmosphere.

Last night, I spent my time with my Life is Good friends, Meredith (and Melissa) and Channing! These are the girls that I'm going to miss a ton!! I had a few tears roll down after driving away from Channing's house at the end of the night. But, thank goodness for Skype!

We went to Sunset Bar and Grill (the worst mexican food and margaritas in town) but I didn't care--just to be with my friends was worth it. I am so glad that I worked at Life is Good--and the only reason is that it brought me to these girls. I have never met more genuine, loving people in my life. I am truly going to miss them and I can't wait to visit them or for them to come visit me!

 I forgot about the giant water straw......and while I know the picture below is not the most flattering, this pretty much sums up how much Meredith and I can be completely silly around each other and not care!

And I'll miss Russell, too....I guess. :)

When I look back on the past year, despite the (many) difficult times, it was still a wonderful year and a year that I'll never forget. Moving this far away from home by myself really gave me a chance to know myself better--and now, I'm not quite so afraid of life like I was a year ago. I'm young, fearless and ready to tackle anything and everything that lies ahead of me. Being an adult and independent isn't so scary; Meredith and Channing showed me that, and I couldn't ever thank them enough or repay them for that. As I enter this new chapter in my life, I am in a much better and more mature place than I was before.

Things I won't miss about Boston:

• Snow, snow and more snow. 
• Digging my car out of the snow
• Falling on my face in the snow....in public.
• Coco refusing to pee outside in the snow, and instead peeing in the house.
• The 57 bus
• The B line
• Rude people and bad driving
• The night I lost my ID and WENT BALLISTIC, blaming the doorman at Whisky's
• The T at 5:00 on a weekday
• Traffic during a Redsox game
• The opera program at BU
• Being homesick
• Walking everywhere to the point where I could never wear cute shoes
• Mascara running down my face because it was SO COLD

Although most of these have to do with the cold and snow, that wasn't the biggest issue I had with Boston. Moving up here made me learn a lot about what I don't want to do with my life and what I don't like. I learned that I wasn't being true to myself and to who I am. Too bad it took me moving 1,875 miles away from home to figure that out, but if I had never gone, I would have never realized it.

Now, since I like to end on a good note--a compilation of things that I will miss:

• Chit chats sitting on the stairs during closing time at LIG
• The friends I've made
• Bostone Pizza
• Regina Pizza with John Stanton
• Pizza Etc, my late night weakness
• Boloco
• The North End and cannolis
• Boston Commons
• Vomiting on a restaurant table (it wasn't me!.....but you know who you are.)
• The night I lost my ID and WENT BALLISTIC, blaming the doorman at Whisky's
• Parties at Clay Hilley's house that ALWAYS got busted, haha. 
• Duck Tours and Andrew coming to visit (he'll visit Nashville, though)
• The Prudential Center
• A really fun night with Amy Oraftik and a few firefighters from Southie
• Devlin's
• Redsox game with Cassie and Charlie
• THE LAST DROP (I know, I know....I'm the ONLY one that ever liked it)
• Laughing hysterically at "I'll be Home With Bells On" with good friends
• The "ease" of getting around town (public transit just doesn't exist in the south)
• Dr. Pope's extremely bitchy, but completely lovable attitude/personality
• Bitching about opera with all of my BU opera friends
• The fall weather

I know 5 of the top 10 is food--so what! I like to eat...! Other than that--I want to thank everyone that contributed to memories I made while I lived in Boston. There are some memories that I definitely will NEVER NEVER forget--and some that I will continue to laugh about for years. I'll definitely come back to visit!

And, last but not least, I'll miss you, Jonathan WIMPY!

hehehe

xo,
Amanda