This past August, I moved from San Antonio, Texas –– the seventh largest city in the United States –– to the tiny town of Clinton, Mississippi, to attend college. While I love Clinton in all of its quaint beauty, the small town cannot compare to the big city life I'm use to. Things just aren't the same when you move to near polar opposite atmospheres. Here are 10 things everyone who's moved from the big city to a small town know to be true.
1. Boredom
Compared to the big city, small towns have nothing to do. Back home, I had three movie theaters within a 15 minute drive of my house. If I want to see a movie now, I have to drive to the next town over
2. You can't fade into the crowd
You want to go out in public without facing people you know in the big city? Cool, go for it. Want to avoid people in public in a small town? Good luck, it ain't happening, you know the whole town.
3. You can't get hungry late at night
Because everything closes at like 10 p.m. You wan't food at one in the morning? You get Taco Bell, McDonald's or Waffle House, and those options lose their appeal real quick.
4. You go down the same road for everything
Walmart? Turn left. Kroger? Turn left. Taco Bell? Turn left. Wendy's? Turn left. Sometimes I just want to turn right!
5. People from small towns don't understand highways
Don't get me wrong, I love small town drivers, but for the love of all that is holy they do not understand how to drive on freeways. In the big city, you have places to go, you can't afford to go 60 mph on the highways or wait behind a semi, you speed and you weave and you do what it takes to get where you're going.
6. Public school rivalries aren't a thing
At least, not within the town. Because a town only has one high school. In San Antonio, there were multiple school districts with mutliple large high schools, and the rivalry was intense. In a small town, there's rivalry, but it's with the school the next town over.
7. The shopping leaves something to be desired
When you live in the big city, you have shopping options galore. A short drive would offer me multiple malls and shopping districts, and –– if I really felt like shopping –– an hour away was a gigantic outlet center. If I feel like shopping in Clinton (you guessed it), I have to drive to the next town over.
8. An "adventure" means getting lost in the middle of nowhere
Back home, an adventure was going to Six Flags or the new shopping mall or maybe driving out to a state park. Living in a small town, an "adventure" normally requires getting lost in the middle of nowhere. Like this week when my roommate decided to take a diffferent way to the Reservoir and we would up in a town even smaller than Clinton with no cell phone service. Not my idea of an adventure.
9. You actually have to explain where your small town is
New York City? Great. Dallas? Awesome. Phoenix? Fantastic. Pearl, Clinton, or Brandon? Good luck because if you're talking to someone from "not 'round these parts," you're going to have to do some locational explaining in reference to the closest "big city."
10. You really do love the small town
As much as we city slickers may complain about being bored or having to drive to go shopping or only having two exits on the interstate, we wouldn't change the small town college experience for anything. Small towns have a life all their own, with their own mini cultures and cute areas to explore, you just have to do some digging.
