The city of Muncie, Indiana has been called many things. A study called it a middletown. Some naysayers say it's a dying town. All my friends claim it's a nowhere town. But it’s my hometown, and I love the place I grew up. If you've lived in Muncie before, you'll probably recognize there are some unique traits that come with living here.
1. You were excited to discover the town of Pawnee from the TV show “Parks and Recreation” is based on Muncie and shows the map of Muncie upside down.
2. The size of Muncie isn’t bad. Not too small, not too big. And you can get anywhere in 10 minutes which is good when you’re running late.
3. You never know what to do on the weekend because you’ve already done everything. There’s a mall, a Meijer, a bowling alley, a movie theater, and a road of restaurants.4. Because there is an abundance of restaurants in Muncie, there are some really good places for breakfast food. You've frequented these in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
5. Everyone is friendly. You’re always likely to know someone like a former teacher, classmate, or friend when out running errands.
6. Or sometimes you just start chatting to stranger. But the conversations run friendly and aren’t too long.
7. Ball State University is here but the Big 10 rivalry runs strong. IU or Purdue?
8. The drug culture is always in the newspaper and more pronounced than you really want to admit.
9. If you want to go anywhere else, you’ve learned there will be a lot of driving involved on bad roads.
10. But you’re pretty good at keeping yourself entertained in the car by now.
11. And you are mesmerized when driving past the rows of cornfields and beanfields.
12. In the country, there’s no light pollution. It’s so incredibly dark at night but that means you can see the stars and the Milky Way.
13. Muncie isn't a bad place to live. And it has best sunsets out of anywhere in the world.