Boston = a home for aliens

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start from a very broad image, my biggest revelation since I moved to Boston.

God blessed me with a several amazing opportunities to travel through the US, as well as a few other countries. And everywhere I went, the question 'What is your name?' has always been followed by an 'Oh, so where are you from?' Either my strange name - Dasha - or my accent (which I do have no matter how hard I try to conceal it) give away my foreign self. But in Boston... so weird... I never know what's gonna follow the question 'What is your name?' No one seems to be surprised by my name, or accent, or appearance, or the color of my passport. They've heard names a lot harder to pronounce, and seen passports of all colors of a rainbow. The thing is - in Boston, MA everybody is from somewhere, mostly from abroad. Here I don't feel like an alien. I had this strange feeling - that I belong here - the moment we moved to the Bean town.

I remember as I first tried getting a coffee in Starbucks. I felt anxious placing my order, I repeated the phrase a few times in my head, perfecting it, making sure it was short and clear: 'A medium Latte with no sugar and a chocolate chip muffin, please'. Sounds so simple. So I thought... The guy taking my order didn't understand me. He asked me a question, that I in my turn did not understand either. It all went wrong. Apparently in Starbucks you're supposed to ask for a 'grande', instead of a 'medium'. I guess that caught him off guard. Although who doesn't understand the universal term 'medium'? Anyhow, I helplessly looked for Jamie - just what I really wanted to avoid doing on my difficult journey to independence. As he saw my eyes full of terror and confusion, he rushed to my rescue.
I got my latte after all. But my self dignity and confidence suffered badly. 'I can't speak English, Jamie! People don't understand me!' - I exclaimed in despair. 'It's not you!' - Jamie said. 'The guy can't speak English! He is Indian, his accent is much stronger than yours. I couldn't even understand him in the beginning, it took me a while to figure out what he was saying... People will be having trouble with understanding you - mostly because of their poor English. Don't judge them, they're foreigners.'

After this little incident, I'm not worried anymore about somebody not understanding me. They hear all kind of accents all the time and should be used to them by now. I'm sure mine isn't the worst they heard.

So yeah, Boston feels very natural and right. Any foreigner from anywhere in the world will feel at home here.