"Different circumstances, I imagine." He wasn't quite sure about better. He didn't know how the other man came to end up in this place, in this situation—but John didn't think fondly back upon the reasons he left his home country. With no family, no connection to the soil he'd grown up on—what reason was there to stay?
Curiously, Doctor Smith picked a piece of his pastry off the greater whole and dipped it into the honey-sweetened tea. He took a bite of the soggy baked good and his expression crumpled. "No, don't do that." He muttered after sampling the mix of flavors. "Anyway, so... of those list, Boston clearly excluded, favorite place?" He didn't need much to craft a conversation out of—even with a total stranger.