Nate Knows Nada

I’m still working on trying  to like this city.  As I
discussed with BF last night, the two things that get me down are the
following:

1. Always having to feel like one is struggling to get any little
   bit of whatever done.  Since it often feels like people here
   (maybe it’s the East Coast) are trying to screw me at whatever turn, I
   find myself having to be suspiscious and aggressive all the time,
   almost preemptively, so that I don’t get run over (literally and
   figuratively).  This is far different than my previous experiences
   in urban areas.  And the “natives” (who strike me as a lot of
   dour, unhappy [generally] white ethnics) are particularly effective at
   making one who’s moved here as opposed to lived here forever feel like
   one shouldn’t be here in the first place.
2. Yeah, it seems I focus a lot on the negatives here and perhaps
   even to see them more than the positives.  But I haven’t found
   many positives here that I couldn’t get somewhere else. 
   Everywhere has bookstores and cafes and funky bars and such.  What
   makes Boston any different or more interesting in some way than other
   places?

Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to how I might begin to
try liking, or at least living at a detente, with Boston?  I’ve
been here a year, and so “just giving it time” is no longer a strategy
that I want to hear….