I decided to immigrate to the United States in my early 30s, and when I was heading to New Jersey, I imagined endless highways, enormous supermarket parking lots, and similar-looking suburban houses when I thought of America.

However, after moving to Boston, Massachusetts, and living here for over ten years, I realized how simplistic my image of America was. Massachusetts feels like entering another country within America.

Moreover, the fact that the air from before America was formed and today's America breathes in the same space is striking.

Walking through Beacon Hill in Boston, the gaslight flickers between the red brick buildings, and it feels as if the time of the 18th century continues to this day. The narrow alleyways, barely wide enough for a car to pass, and the uneven cobblestone streets may be inconvenient, but the people here embrace that discomfort with pride in their history.

The old houses and pubs along the Freedom Trail, along with the traces of those who dreamed of independence, constantly remind us that this city is not just a living space but the birthplace of the concept of America. In Massachusetts, the weighty value of the old feels greater than that of the new.

Another word that defines this state is intellect. Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT, feels like a giant classroom. It's not uncommon to overhear conversations about the origins of the universe or new drug developments at the café next door. Knowledge, research, and discussion flow like the air of everyday life.

Yet, strangely, a warm romance overlays that cold intellect. The sounds of people running along the Charles River, the autumn leaves that cover the entire city in red, and the snow that swallows the sounds of the world in winter.

The American simplicity and efficiency that people often talk about lose some of their strength in Massachusetts. This place is complex, stubborn, and not easily defined. A 300-year-old church stands next to a modern glass building, and the sophisticated urban landscape of Boston coexists with the quaint fishing villages of Cape Cod within the same state. People may initially seem cold and indifferent, but as relationships build, they become deep and lasting.

Living in Massachusetts means living each day on the taut tension between the past and the future. It's natural to discuss today's political issues in a pub steeped in the history of the Revolutionary War and to check the latest technology on a smartphone while walking on centuries-old cobblestones.

This place shows that America is not just a vast country but a profound one. To someone who says all of America is the same, I would unhesitatingly suggest they walk the autumn streets of Massachusetts. There, they will see a completely different, deeper face of America.

A day in Massachusetts always poses the same question: What time am I living in? If you want to hold onto unchanging values in the midst of a rapidly changing world, you will naturally be drawn to the sensations this rugged yet elegant state offers.

I too, today, live on that strange boundary, listening to the old stories and new voices that this land tells.