About Boston

Museums The Children's Museum The Boston Historical Society Harvard University Art Museums Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Institute of Contemporary Art Museum of Afro American History Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Printing Museum of Science Music, Dance, Theatre The American Repertory Theatre Arts Boston The Boston Academy of Music The Boston Conservatory of Music The Boston Symphony Orchestra Boston Center for the Arts Dance Umbrella The Handel and Hayden Society Huntington Theatre Majestic Theatre North Shore Music Theatre The Wang Center Shakespeare in the Park Other Arnold Arboretum Boston Marathon Boston Nicknames Boston Trivia Boston Sports Teams Boston Swan Boats The Boston Freedom Trail Boston Public Gardens New England food specialties The Franklin Park Zoo John F. Kennedy Library The New England Aquarium U.S.S. Constitution Just Outside of Town Charles River Museum of Industry DeCordova Museum MIT List Visual Arts Center Minute Man National Historic Park Peabody Essex Museum The Stone Zoo

The Back Bay
The Cradle of Liberty
Boston: A College Town
Nightlife
Relaxing in Boston

The Back Bay

The New England College of Optometry is located in Back Bay, one of Boston’s 21 neighborhoods. The college is steps away from restaurants, movie theatres, and shopping.

Back Bay is in the heart of Boston and it’s an easy hop on the T to get to any of the distinctive areas of the city. You can stroll to Beacon Hill and have a drink at Cheers, eat dinner in the North End (Boston’s Little Italy), take in a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, shop in Faneuil Hall Marketplace, or cross the Charles River to Harvard Square to study in a coffee house, or hear the street musicians.

The Cradle of Liberty

Boston is the birthplace of American freedom and boasts many historical landmarks. Follow a fully costumed guide by foot (or take the trolley tour) on the Freedom Trail to visit 16 historical sites, from the Boston Massacre to the USS Constitution. Or, take a harbor cruise to see the oldest continuously manned lighthouse and hear tales of famous revolutionary battles. A short distance out of town takes you to Lexington, where Paul Revere rode from nearby Concord, where the first battles were fought.

Boston: A College Town

Boston is truly a college town, with one of the highest concentrations of colleges and universities in the world. In fact, at The New England College of Optometry, you will be among the more than 194,000 students between the ages of 20 and 34 from all over the world, who contribute to the vitality, diversity, and character of the city.

The city is filled with opportunities to learn. You can attend a seminar at a nearby college, take skating lessons on Boston Common’s Frog Pond, or take a free swing dance lesson in Faneuil Hall and stick around for a dance.

Nightlife

Experience Boston’s nightlife on Lansdowne Street, where playing pool at Jillian’s or listening to live music at the Avalon are popular activities. Or, catch a show or hear music in a Harvard Square coffee house or even experience a new culture in Boston’s Chinatown (the third largest Chinatown in the country).

Relaxation

Boston is called the "Walking City" because of its great walking and bike paths.

The city is also known for its beautiful open spaces. Stretching from Boston’s Back Bay to Franklin Park, the 1,000-acre Emerald Necklace, designed by the architect who designed New York’s Central Park, provides Bostonians with a bit of nature in the city.

Boston Common, the oldest park in the history of the U.S., is part of the Emerald Necklace, and provides students, residents, and visitors with a lush place to walk and relax, take a ride on the Swan Boats, or play ball in the park.

If you want to venture out of the city, you are an hour from the beaches of Cape Cod and Rhode Island and an hour or so from New England’s ski areas in New Hampshire and Vermont.