NEU Coast, NEU People: What It’s Like to Be a Northeastern Student from California

As a Californian, whenever I’d tell people from home that I was going to Boston, Massachusetts for school, the most common reaction I’d receive was a wide-eyed look of astonishment. “Boston?! How are you going to survive the weather?!” 

People from California are notorious for not being able to stand cold weather. And honestly, the stereotype is pretty accurate. I’m definitely not too stoked when the temperature gets below 65°F. 

Surprisingly, I was never really worried about the weather when coming to Boston. Yes, I knew it would be cold, but I also figured that it would be rather foolish to miss a great opportunity due to the weather. I wanted to come to Boston to push myself out of my comfort zone and be given a chance to reinvent myself. 

Before I moved, I was incredibly anxious about the transition from home to here. How could I start living without my parents? What would happen to all of my friendships back home over time? Would I even make friends in college? Did I even know how to establish friendships with people who aren’t like me? These were just a few of the myriad of questions that would spring into my mind whenever I would think about college. While I don’t have the answers to all of these questions yet, I have been pleasantly surprised at how welcoming this city really is. 

I haven’t been here for very long, but the one thing that I’ve learned is that the people are really what make this place, and people are what will eventually make it feel like a second home. I haven’t known anyone for very long, but seeing all of my friends is still the one part of my day that I look forward to the most. 

Initially, I thought that making friends that had completely different backgrounds to mine would be tremendously difficult. Would we have the same sense of humor? Would we have similar interests? Would we look at each other like the other was an alien? 

I was pleasantly surprised at how things turned out. My friends come from a wide range of backgrounds. For example, I now have friends from New York, Malaysia, Japan, Bermuda, Germany, and India, just to name a few. Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around the fact that we laugh at the same jokes or like the same music because we’re so different — yet we’re so similar at the same time. 

What I love most about the people here is that they challenge me to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things, and are like family at the same time. It’s a relationship different from the one I share with my friends from back home, but one that I’ve learned to treasure so much. 

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