The first time I visited Boston was when I was looking at Emerson College. Up until that point, my familiarity with the city included that Paul Revere poem and the rare guilty pleasure of watching an episode of Dawson’s Creek, the college years.

I visited the city in the fall of 2005 to tour a college I was considering, exploring the spell that Beantown has over high school graduates everywhere.

What makes Boston the ultimate college destination?  Every one there seems to be a student. People wear sweatshirts with emblems from their school of choice-B.C., Harvard, Tufts, Suffolk, Boston University, North Eastern, and M.I.T.

   Worrying about which school to go to is a big decision. Which city will be to home for the next four years is often an emotional puzzle that high school seniors try to subtlety piece together.

   What makes Boston so comfortable is attributed to many things. Because students account for a great population of the city, there are a lot of deals for students. Many attractions, including the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA for short), is free to students, and a student can take advantage of a program, appropriately called Student Advantage where they save on everything from clothes from specific vendors to food joints and bus tickets to New York.

   Boston is too small to intimidate but too big to hold you back. Each neighborhood in Boston has a particular characteristic that attracts individual interests. You can shop the sweet boutiques on Newbury street in Back Bay, or eat at the trendy cafes in the South End. If you’re cramming for a test until the wee hours of the morning and need a sugar rush, you can hop over to Boston’s Little Italy, the North End and grab a cannoli at Bova’s, a family owned bakery that is open 24 hours of the day. Brookline has a few great independent bookstores. Allston has the good bars. South Boston has the Irish heritage. Cambridge has the art scene, the music scene, and the intellectual scene. A lot of my time was spent at Club Passim; a quaint venue tucked away in Harvard square, which hosts and promotes Boston’s abundant folk culture. Almost every neighborhood has an opportunity for an internship, which is very important to students. I remember feeling guilty when talking to my friend who goes to school in Vermont and can’t for the life of her find experience in her field. I buttoned my mouth; afraid to tell her I’ve acquired three during my time in Boston.

   And then there is Fenway. Fenway has the Red Sox. And the Sox are in essence what makes Boston, Boston. And it’s also what makes Boston the ultimate college town. Massachusetts is one of those states that actually feels significantly culturally distinct from other states. When you’re there, you’re very aware of talking to Bostonians, eating Boston food and soaking up what is a distinctly “Boston vibe.” Fenway is the Boston vibe.

   I remember the parade after the Red Sox won the series in fall of 2007. The intersection of Boylston and Tremont Street were jammed with fans screaming and drinking and wearing their Red Sox hats, and jerseys, as the parade passed by in duck tour vans and other floats. There were people standing on fire hydrants drenched in beer and sweat, little girls dressed in cheerleading outfits with matching red, white and blue pom poms. There were old men crying. I stupidly brought my 35 mm, expecting to capture the excitement and soon realized I was never going to capture everything I really wanted to, never mind get through the crowd at all. I settled on a few people, including a man, who reminded me of Jerry Garcia, who gave me a huge smile and said “You believe this kid? It’s stuff like this that makes us to be proud from Boston, huh?” I told him I was a student and he said that didn’t matter much. “This is what it’s all about,” he said. I’ve never heard optimism like that anywhere else.

   When you are a student in Boston, you are quickly recognized as a Bostonian. You learn each street like it was where you grew up. Suddenly you’re dishing out directions to tourists in the Boston common. You’re watching the Red Sox pass by on a float in a flash of color and sound, and you’re with them, and swept up in the crowd with them, and you’re carrying their trophy high in one of your hands.

   It’s this camaraderie that makes Boston the ultimate place to begin your adult life.

-Barbara Ford