Moving is scary. It is a massive undertaking. Moving to a new city for a career change takes that stress and amplifies it manifold. I have moved to a new city a total of three times so far in my life. First was ten years ago when I moved from India to the US to pursue my PhD. The second was when I moved to Nashville with my husband to train for my post doctorate work. This was the place where my husband and I started living together for the first time since our marriage. We built memories here, bit by bit, laugh by laugh. It’s the place where we adopted our first dog- Princess Waffle who also happens to be the best dog in the entire world! I was starting to get very comfortable with the life we built for ourselves here and then the pandemic happened. Poof. Two years passed in the blink of an eye. After two life altering events including one traumatic personal loss, I was ready for a big career change. I decided to transition from academia to industrial research.

Two and a half months ago, I moved to Boston- the mecca of biotech and pharmaceutical research and the city of dreams, ‘sapno ka sheher’ for many. Moving to a big city like Boston alone without my husband scared me. After having seen the good, bad and the ugly of a LDR, I was not ready for another one. It is undeniably hard and inflicts a lot of emotional damage. It always feels like I exist in two places- half here and the rest in Nashville with my husband and our fur baby. After moving to Boston, I had to relearn to be on my own. Finding a temporary housing and living with two complete strangers as roommates was not fun. There have been days when I came back home from work and broke down because I missed by family. I was so intimidated by the public transportation system when I first got here. I am ashamed to admit that I still avoid changing from red to green or orange line in the T and uber instead if I need to go somewhere other than work! On top of everything, settling down in the new office and befriending new people at work is no simple task either, especially for an introvert and socially awkward person like myself.

However, the scariest things in life can also be rewarding at times. Boston is a busy city. And you get a weird contentment after being part of the same big city hustle that every individual here is going through. There is also no greater joy than discovering your new favorite chai joint in the city or correctly following the GPS and reaching a new park by the riverfront (well, sometimes!) or making a new best friend in an adorable doggie named Turbo while commuting the T!

And now, finally, I am gearing up to fly back to Nashville for one last time to help my husband and Princess Waffle move to Boston. How do you say goodbye to a city that was your home for four years? Nashville was our home. I am lucky enough to feel this way about more than one city. But I read somewhere that you merely lose the vessel, not the memories and that you just have to build a new place to hold them.

How long will we live in Boston? Will we build the next phase of our life and grow old here? I guess we will find out!